Middletown school district moves to fire Toms River mayor from teaching role (updated)

This article was updated Feb. 20 to include comment from Rodrick.

A Middletown school district filed to fire Toms River Mayor Daniel Rodrick, who works in the district as a middle school teacher.

The school district accused Rodrick of taking personal phone calls during instructional time, conducting Toms River business during instructional time, and misleading school district officials about his grading practices. Because Rodrick is a tenured teacher, Middletown Township Public School District must undergo a legal process to terminate his employment.

Rodrick, who began working as a teacher in Middletown in 2002, refuted the charges, calling it a “political witch hunt and retaliation.” Rodrick said he would be filing a lawsuit against the school district.

“Just two weeks before these charges, the district evaluated me as effective and made no mention of any shortcomings in my performance,” Rodrick said in an emailed statement. “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.”

Administrators said the district had heard complaints from students who requested to switch out of Rodrick’s classes, sparking an investigation into his behavior. The school district accused Rodrick of stepping out of the classroom for eleven minutes to take a phone call that wasn’t school-related.

“Leaving sixth grade students unattended and unsupervised for any amount of time—over eleven minutes in this case—while attending to personal business is unacceptable, endangers the safety and welfare of students in that class, and warrants removal from one’s position,” the filing read.

Patch reported in December that Rodrick had been placed on leave from the school.

Rodrick was scheduled to teach five classes this academic year, including a sixth-grade class entitled “Hands-on Construction Lab.”

Redacted documents detailing the allegations were made available Thursday following an Open Records request from Kevin Geoghegan. Rodrick filed a lawsuit last year accusing Geoghegan’s EMS squad of failing to pay Toms River for gas the squad used, according to Patch.

In filings, the school district said it obtained emails from Toms River showing Rodrick, a Republican, had conducted mayoral-related business during instructional time in January and February 2024.

The district said it also began receiving complaints from parents regarding Rodrick’s apparent “untimely” grading practices. Rodrick allegedly told school officials he had submitted grades in a timely manner, but the filing says computer records show he consistently submitted grades much later than the due date.

The school district argues the incidents are the “culmination of escalating performance issues,” including “inappropriate” conduct, failure to attend faculty meetings, and failure to prepare lesson plans and respond to parents in a timely manner.