Toms River Schools To Name Gialanella Interim Superintendent

TOMS RIVER, NJ — Thomas Gialanella appears to be set to become the interim superintendent of the Toms River Regional School District, after the Ocean County College Board of Trustees approved a leave of absence for him to lead the school district, officials confirmed Thursday.

Gialanella's leave of absence to take the position leading the Toms River schools was approved during Thursday's public trustees meeting, said Jan Kirsten, executive director of college relations for Ocean County College.

Gialanella is the executive director of school relations for the college, working with local school districts.

Toms River school board president Anna Polozzo confirmed the board had asked Gialanella to serve as interim while the district seeks a permanent superintendent.

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"During the executive session meeting last night the members of the board that are not conflicted on the superintendent's appointment and contract agreed unanimously to move forward with asking Mr. Thomas Gialanella to serve as interim superintendent when Mr. Healy retires," Polozzo said, referring to the board meeting held Wednesday night. "The board will officially vote on Mr. Gialanella's appointment and his contract at next Wednesday's meeting," on Dec. 16.

The Toms River school board has been wrestling with the dilemma of who will lead the district beginning Jan. 1 when Superintendent David Healy's retirement takes effect. The board had been in the process of searching for a new superintendent, but planned interviews were disrupted when Polozzo became infected by the coronavirus and was ill, she told NJ.com.

That delay led Polozzo and several other members of the board to ask Healy to delay his retirement to June 30, the end of the school year. That proposal, however, was rejected when the board members who weren't conflicted deadlocked, 3-3, at a special meeting on Nov. 30.

Without an interim superintendent in place, the district faced the possibility of the state Department of Education appointing someone to lead the district — a move that could have serious consequences as the district is facing the possibility of up to $9 million in state aid cuts under S2, along with the continuing challenges from the coronavirus pandemic.

The pandemic, and how the 15,000-student district has approached schooling in the midst of it, has been a persistent source of criticism, both from parents who believe the schools should be fully remote and from parents and board members who want the students fully back in school. The Toms River schools opened the year fully remote, and shifted to a hybrid schedule in October and early November with students in the buildings two days a week and receiving remote instruction three days a week.

The school district shifted back to fully remote learning for 10 days right before Thanksgiving when a spike in positive coronavirus tests put more than 350 students and teachers into quarantine. That move drew significant backlash, as did the announcement the following week that hybrid would resume a week earlier than the initially announced Dec. 14 date.

The vote not to allow Healy to delay his retirement came in the midst of that backlash.

This would be the second time Gialanella has served as interim superintendent in Toms River. He led the district for 11 months, from August 2013 to June 2014, following the resignation of Frank Roselli, who succeeded Michael Ritacco as superintendent after Ritacco was arrested and later convicted of bribery charges.

Gialanella, who was the superintendent in the Jackson Township schools before he retired in June 2013, later served as the interim superintendent in the Brick Township Schools.

This article has been updated to correct the length of Gialanella's first service as Toms River's interim superintendent. Patch regrets the error.

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