At least five students have asked to transfer out of the mayor's class since the school year began, district officials said.
The mayor of Toms River has been placed on leave from his teaching job in Middletown Township as the school district moves to fire him., who has been teaching for over 20 years, was placed on paid leave in December in his job as a tenured teacher at Thorne Middle School in Middletown, according to tenure charge documents obtained by the Asbury Park Press.
District officials said an investigation found Rodrick left students unattended to take personal calls, did outside work during instructional time and failed to submit grades on time, according to the document. In a statement sent to NJ Advance Media on Tuesday, Rodrick denied the allegations, calling the charges a “political witch-hunt” in retaliation for “good government policies” in Toms River. “This is a political vendetta by the members of the Middletown School Board...” Rodrick said. “It is also retribution for eliminating lucrative contracts for political insiders and for speaking out against policies that were depriving Middletown special needs students from a thorough and efficient education.” According to Rodrick, in his more than two decades of teaching in the district, he has never received a negative evaluation and has been rated highly effective for the past five years. But, according to the tenure complaint, several students have raised complaints about Rodrick’s class since the start of the school year, prompting district officials to start an investigation. At least five students asked their guidance counselors to transfer them out of his class for various reasons. Rodrick was responsible for teaching several classes this year, including a sixth-grade hands-on construction lab, according to the tenure charges document. The school district’s complaint also said Rodrick used both his personal and school phones to make personal calls during classes. And, at one point, he allegedly left his students unattended for more than ten minutes. “Leaving sixth-grade students unattended and unsupervised for any amount of time ... while attending to personal business is unacceptable, endangers the safety and welfare of the students in that class, and warrants removal from one’s position,” district officials said in the tenure complaint.Parents have complained about Rodrick’s grading, alleging he does not put grades into the school’s online portal in a timely manner, the tenure charges said. A meeting was held last year with Rodrick and district officials in which he allegedly claimed he had entered grades on time, although records showed they were submitted well past the due dates. Attendance was also an ongoing issue during the mayor’s time in the district, according to the tenure complaint. In February 2024, the district issued written notices alleging his grades were late, he failed to sign in and didn’t prepare some lesson plans. Rodrick was later reprimanded in November for allegedly repeatedly missing faculty meetings and for providing last-minute notifications of his absence. However, he claims that the meetings he missed were for valid reasons, such as being sick, picking up his sick daughter and attending a funeral. He also said that the email documents the district presented as evidence in their charges were fabricated.If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation.and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our
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