Torrone, Rhine Ousted After Single Term On Toms River School Board

(Joe Nardini and Christopher Raimann, who were elected to the Toms River Regional Board of Education Tuesday. Photo via their campaign page on Facebook)

Three years after they won election by campaigning on the promise to put the Michael Ritacco era in the district’s past, Joseph Torrone and Ginny Rhine have been ousted from the Toms River Regional Board of Education after serving for a single term.

Torrone, who has served as the board president the last two years, and Rhine were defeated by Joe Nardini and Christopher Raimann Tuesday. Nardini received 6,471 votes, Raimann 5,505, Rhine 4,371 and Torrone 4,248.

Nardini and Raimann, on their campaign Facebook page, said they want to see Toms River’s schools back in the top 10 in New Jersey in test scores and want to see teachers in the school district ”given the opportunity to move up,” rather than the district ”recruiting high-paying administrators.” Which administrators they were referring to is unclear, though other posts on their campaign’s Facebook page criticized the current school board members for granting bonuses to Superintendent David M. Healy for certain goals that were set.

Healy and Assistant Superintendent Marc Natanagara came to Toms River from other districts. At the time Healy was hired, the district had been run by a temporary, interim superintendent, Thomas Gialanella, who replaced Frank Roselli, who was a holdover from the Ritacco era.

Assistant Superintendents Debra McKenna and John H. Coleman both have been with the Toms River district for at least 10 years, according to their LinkedIn profiles.

Torrone, a former superintendent in the Brielle school district, and Rhine, a former Advanced Placement teacher, campaigned in 2012 on “Ending the Ritacco Era,” and won election to the board, joining Ben Giovine, Alex Pavliv and Loreen Torrone, Joseph Torrone’s wife. The group pushed for further reforms to the way the district was doing business.

But the effects of the Ritacco scandal linger in the community, which actively questions the board on spending issues, and not always to the satisfaction of those members of the public asking the questions.

Gigi Esparza, who was a member of the Clean Slate team with Joseph Torrone and Rhine, was re-elected Tuesday as the representative from South Toms River. She was unopposed on the ballot.

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated the interim superintendent before Healy was Joseph Pizza. It has been updated. Pizza was an assistant superintendent. The Patch regrets the error.