Mayor Demands Superintendent Resign As Clash Escalates In Toms River

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A conflict between Toms River Mayor Daniel Rodrick and Toms River Regional Schools Superintendent Michael Citta escalated to a public confrontation, with Rodrick demanding Citta resign from the school district.

Citta, in a lengthy letter sent to reporters and posted on the school district's social media, blasted Rodrick in return, calling the mayor's statements "politics and slander". (You can read Rodrick's and Citta's full statements at the bottom of this article.)

Rodrick's demand for Citta to resign came a day after an Asbury Park Press report detailing a letter threatening legal action against the mayor over what was described as "unnecessary and intentional meddling with Superintendent Citta’s statutory authority to administer the district."

The meddling alleged involves a new contract for Citta that was set for a vote at a special meeting of the Toms River Regional Board of Education on Oct. 8.

The proposed contract would increase Citta's salary from $228,159 to for the 2025-26 school year — the amount under his current contract — to $275,000 for this year, and to $308,012 by 2029-30. The board appeared poised to approve the contract, but the special meeting was canceled abruptly, and the contract has not been included on meeting agendas since.

The Asbury Park Press report said William Burns, the attorney for the Board of Education, on Nov. 4 requested an opinion from the New Jersey School Ethics Commission on whether the school board could use the doctrine of necessity to vote on the contract to potentially approve it.

The Doctrine of Necessity is a mechanism that allows school board members who have conflicts that would otherwise bar them from voting on some matters — including personnel contracts and matters involving the superintendent — to participate. It is typically invoked when the number of conflicted members leaves the board without a majority able to vote.

On the Toms River Regional school board, Kathy Eagan, Joseph Jubert and James Capone have family members who work for the school district. That leaves six members of the nine-member board — board president Ashley Lamb, Lisa Contessa, Marisa Matarazzo, Katie Coyne, Kevin Kidney and Paola Pascarella — able to vote on contracts.

The School Ethics Commission issued its opinion Nov. 25. While it does not name the Toms River Regional School District or any of those involved, the details make it clear it is Toms River being addressed. (You can read the document at the bottom of the article.)

The opinion, signed by commission chairperson Robert W. Bender, details issues raised in the district's request to invoke the doctrine of necessity. Those include allegations that Rodrick and Rodrick's chief of staff, Drew Chabot, contacted Lamb, Contessa and other members eligible to vote and demanded they not approve the new contract.

Lamb and Contessa raised concerns about "outside influence and political pressure being exerted on individual board members" at the school board's Oct. 15 executive session, according to the advisory opinion.

The letter also notes that one member — Pascarella — is the stepmother of Peter Pascarella, the Toms River assistant township attorney, and that another member — Matarazzo — works for the Toms River Township Building Department.

The ethics commission said those issues were not an acceptable reason to invoke the doctrine of necessity to vote on Citta's contract.

Rodrick, in his demand for Citta's resignation, said the claim that he was controlling the board members' response were false.

"While I believe such a raise is outrageous, I have no authority over the superintendent’s contract," Rodrick said. "The decision rests with a handful of school board members who, rightfully, have serious concerns about approving an excessive salary increase at a time of fiscal crisis. The superintendent’s focus should be on improving our schools, not on spreading false aspersions or pushing for a pay raise that most taxpayers would find indefensible."

Rodrick blasted the proposed bankruptcy filing that the district threatened during its battle in the spring over state aid along with the tax increases of the last two years — 9.9 percent for the 2024-25 school year and 12.9 percent for 2025-26.

"Toms River residents are being crushed by out-of-control school taxes," Rodrick wrote. "These tax increases are entirely being driven by increasing spending. In 2021, the total school budget was $247 million; by 2024, it had ballooned to $303 million. That’s $56 million in new spending. Meanwhile, enrollment dropped by 1,000 students over the same period."

The tax levy increases were permitted by the state Department of Education in districts that were under adequacy — meaning the district's cost per pupil was below what the state said the district should be spending on its students. Toms River Regional has been under adequacy for more than a decade.

A key part of the argument when S2 — the law that cut state aid to some school districts — was that those districts were not paying enough property taxes to support their students, a figure referred to as local fair share.

Citta, in his response, said the district was faced with a financial crisis that had been warned about from the beginning of S2, when former superintendent David Healy and business administrator William Doering had said the school aid cuts under S2 would push Toms River to a fiscal cliff. That warning was repeated each year of the cuts, including under interim superintendent Steven Genco.

The results of that fiscal crisis have been declines in student achievement and cuts in what the district has been able to offer students, impacts detailed in a lawsuit the district filed against the state Department of Education in 2023. Read more: Falling Test Scores, Rising Absenteeism: Suit Details Aid Cuts Toll On Toms River Schools

Citta said the conflicts started with the politicization of the superintendent search when Healy resigned — a process marked by public arguments and accusations that Rodrick was interfering with the search, which ended with the board failing to agree on an appointment and starting a new search.

Rodrick, who was a councilman at the time, was accused of pushing for the hiring of a candidate from outside the district. Read more: Toms River School Board Member Accuses Councilman Of Interference

Citta, who was one of three finalists in the initial search, was named superintendent after the second search.

He said the statements from Rodrick "have crossed a line."

"Politics and slander have increasingly intruded into this school district, into the work of this Board of Education, and into both my professional and personal life. Silence in the face of that intrusion would suggest acceptance. I will not accept it—on behalf of our students, our staff, or this community," Citta wrote.

"I am not a member of any political club. I do not run campaigns. I have no interest in running for public office now or in the future. I am an educational leader charged with the responsibility of running and rebuilding one of the largest school districts in New Jersey during one of the most challenging eras in public education," he said.

He said the proposed raise was "never been about money for me," and said he returned to being a building principal in 2010 from a role as assistant superintendent when state aid was cut $14 million.

"Despite being legally entitled to retain my assistant superintendent salary, I accepted placement on the principal salary guide, giving back $55,000 annually," Citta wrote. He said his initial salary as superintendent, $215,000, was 185th in the state, and that he had frozen his salary over the last four years because of the district's dire financial situation.

He said the new contract was initiated by the board because his first contract was due to run out in June 2026, and the resulting contract had been approved by the state Department of Education.

"The negotiated and approved contract was a marketplace adjustment to the position," he said, adding the salary for '25-26 would have been 32nd statewide and not the highest salary in Ocean County.

"I understand criticism. It comes with this role," Citta said. "Politics do not belong in a school district, a classroom, or a police department. The residents of this district deserve better. Our students deserve better. I remain committed — without apology — to doing what is right for this community and for the children we serve."

NJ School Ethics Commission Advisory Opinion On Toms River Regional Superintendent Contract Vote by Karen Wall