TOMS RIVER, NJ—The Middletown School Board is engaged in a political battle against Toms River Mayor Dan Rodrick and has now released confidential employment records in what Rodrick is calling a “total hit job” in an ill-conceived political attack by the school board.
“This is a political witch hunt and retaliation for the good government policies we are pursuing in Toms River. In 23 ½ years, I have never received a negative evaluation,” Rodrick said. “For the last five years, I was rated as highly effective. Just two weeks before these charges, the district evaluated me as effective and made no mention of any shortcomings in my performance.”
In fact, the district even hired Rodrick to write the district’s science curriculum in five different school years.
According to a text screenshot from a former school board member, the hit on Rodrick was ordered by former Middletown Mayor Tony Fiore, who is now the Monmouth GOP co-chairman.
That former member, who wished to remain anonymous, said, “They don’t like him, and that’s true. We both know what happens when they [Monmouth County GOP] don’t like you.”
The problems, Rodrick claims, started when he became mayor of Toms River and fired a political consultant with financial ties to the Middletown School Board. He claims that until his election victory, he maintained a good record with the district. Rodrick released his district performance reviews for 2022 through 2024, which both Shore News Network and the Asbury Park Press confirmed as identifying his performance as highly effective by his supervisors.
Today, records on file with the New Jersey Law Enforcement Election Commission show that school board members Jacqueline Tobacco and Frank Capone paid Monmouth County GOP operative Art Gallagher $20,000. Gallagher was fired by Rodrick in January of 2024, and that’s when Rodrick said his troubles began with the district.
Rodrick became mayor of Toms River after defeating former Mayor Mo Hill in a 2023 landslide election. Art Gallagher was not only Hill’s paid campaign manager; he had a $ 120,000-per-year township job with full benefits in Mayor Hill’s administration. He was also paid tens of thousands of dollars to work on Hill’s two political campaigns in 2023 and 2019.
In the 2023 election, Capone and Tobacco each paid Gallagher, the former editor of More Monmouth Musings $10,000 each. In return, it appears Gallagher’s campaign work focused on Rodrick. Several times, Rodrick spotted Gallagher following him, and taking pictures of him on school property and on his way to and from the school each day.
In 2011, while he was running for office in his hometown, he was arrested and extradited on a warrant to Delaware for allegedly illegally taking $750,000 worth of school buses, according to a report in the Two River Times. Gallagher had to suspend his political campaign while he sat in jail. When he was released, he did not resume his campaign. He is also allied with Monmouth County GOP Chairman Shawn Golden. Golden had paid Gallagher on multiple occasions as a campaign consultant.
The district contends that Rodrick sent 11 township emails and made two personal phone calls over a six-month period, according to documents provided by Gallagher, the man who was fired by Rodrick. According to metadata in a file released by the district, Gallagher’s name appears as the file’s creator.
Gallagher, an Atlantic Highlands resident, has a deep political past.
“This is a political vendetta by the members of the Middletown School Board, whose paid political consultant, Art Gallagher, was fired from his no-show job at Town Hall,” Rodrick said. “It is also retribution for eliminating lucrative contracts for political insiders and for speaking out against policies that deprived Middletown special needs students of a thorough and efficient education. All the details will be available to the public in a few weeks when we file our lawsuit against the district.”
The district also claims that Rodrick ‘exposed his belly’ in front of students in a gymnasium.
Witnesses to that event and parents of children who attended say it occurred during a fundraiser where Rodrick had just won a wing-eating contest and rubbed his belly in victory to get the students riled up. It worked because the entire gymnasium went wild.
One of those contracts canceled by Rodrick in Toms River was to Kevin Geoghegan, owner of Silverton First Aid, a paid EMS service. The New Jersey Globe confirmed that the Middletown School District provided Geoghegan with his personnel files in violation of the Open Public Records Act. Toms River is now suing Geoghegan for improperly taking $750,000 in ambulance fees and $70,000 in gasoline from township gas pumps. Rodrick terminated the township’s relationship with Geoghegan, who was also defeated in the 2023 election by Rodrick’s team.
Geoghegan worked with Monmouth County GOP Chairman Golden as a Toms River police officer. Golden and Geohegan also formerly worked together at Geoghegan’s medical company.
Rodrick said Geoghegan’s contract was terminated after township auditors found evidence of theft and possibly fraud by Geoghegan and the first aid squad.
Shore News Network contacted Gallagher on Tuesday. He did not respond when asked about his name on the spreadsheet the district gave to Geoghegan.
Rodrick’s students now stand up for him online on various social media pages. One former student commented on Rodrick’s passion for science and teaching.
Caitlin Behan said, “I had him as a teacher back in middle school…He was never inappropriate towards students and was so overly passionate in his science lectures!”
Julie Hertzog said, “My daughter said he did it when he was announced and came out for a wing-eating contest.”
However, the Middletown School District appears to have bigger problems than a teacher taking a few phone calls or rubbing his belly after winning a wing-eating competition.
Last month, the Middletown High School Girls’ basketball coach was placed on paid leave after being arrested for having a sexual relationship with a student in the district. Justin McGhee was charged with sexual assault against the student.
Shore News Network has also been investigating allegations of a school teacher who showered with the high school football team and was recently promoted to administrator.
The district is also being sued by the family of a student who committed suicide in 2022. The lawsuit alleges the district ignored a pattern of intimidation and bullying that led to 14-year-old Jocelyn Walters taking her own life.
Also, in 2021, a Middletown High School South teacher was arrested for trading child pornography online.
The district has not shown that they followed state law to fire a teacher who needs to be identified as ineffective for two consecutive years.
When firing a tenured school teacher, the district is required by law to put the teacher on a corrective action plan with two years to improve. No such action plan was created. He was listed as highly effective as late as 2024. The district’s actions appear to violate state law at this time.