School Board Ballot Moves Forward With 3 Candidates In Toms River

TOMS RIVER, NJ — Toms River voters will see three candidates on the ballot for the township's seat on the Toms River Regional Board of Education, after a challenge to one candidate was withdrawn.

The challenge filed by Kathy Eagan seeking to have George Lobman barred from the ballot was withdrawn during a hearing before Ocean County Superior Court Judge Robert Brenner on Sept. 4.

The deadline for the Ocean County Clerk's Office to send ballots for the Nov. 4 election to be printed was Sept. 2; that process was delayed two days for the outcome of that hearing.

A request for comment from Eagan's attorney, Anthony Towes, was not answered.

The hearing on Sept. 4 lasted less than 10 minutes after what was more than 50 minutes spent discussing the matter in Brenner's chambers, the judge said during the hearing.

Eagan, who is seeking election to her third term on the board, had contended that Lobman should be barred from the ballot because he was not present when some people signed his nominating petition despite signing a form swearing he was, according to court documents.

Lobman served on the Toms River Township Council briefly in the seat vacated when Mayor Daniel Rodrick was sworn in. Rodrick, in a statement filed in response to Eagan's petition, said he collected some signatures at Holiday City at Silverton.

Rodrick had criticized Eagan ahead of the court hearing saying, "Miss Eagan is accustomed to running unopposed for over 20 years as NJEA county president. Clearly she's afraid of some competition."

He said by phone after Eagan withdrew her challenge that the matter should have been resolved long before that by the Ocean County Clerk's Office seeking an affidavit from Rodrick attesting to the signatures he witnessed.

Eagan and Lobman are two of three candidates seeking the seat in November. Also on the ballot is Josef Pentz. School board members serve three-year terms.

Eagan is the former president of the Toms River Education Association, the district's teachers union and a former teacher in the district. Her daughter, nephews and a niece are teachers in the Toms River schools, according to a recent Doctrine of Necessity adopted by the board to allow the board to proceed on a vote involving the TREA.