Tammi Millar, and anyone else hired by Mike Ritacco while he was stealing millions, should be fired today. And, any BOE member who has relatives hired by Ritacco should quit, now.

I call B.S. on the Ritacco Board of Ed...they had to know what was going on...get them all out!!

The Ritacco 6 must go! Resign now, or face a landslide of embarrassment and perhaps investigations.

The current BOE doesn't do the job they were voted in to do.
They rubber stamp everything. Committee meetings are a joke. 30 minutes long.
The board president himself recently said, he relies on the recommendations of the superindentant and did not know the details.
Well... isn't that how Ritacco got all that money through the insurance stuff... they relied upon his recommendations then. The BOE tries to say.... oh, but now we really look into the insurance stuff... yea but... what about the rest!!!
Are you hiring the best qualified people or just friends, family, etc... and maybe that is why test scores have trended downward for TRRS compared to other schools.
Do you really need all these staff positions? no
I can go on and on..

The BOE is the check and balance of the admin.... bottom line they have breached their fiduciary duty.
Why didn't Tammi Millar stand up saying she was there on behalf of the BOE??
She knew she would get a tongue lashing by the judge.

Will people without "friends" now be able to work in the TR school system? Just ask around and see how many teachers, etc. can't get a job in Toms River because "you have to know somebody". Hope those days are over!

If the Board of Ed can honestly say that they didn't know what Ritacco was up to, then they are more stupid than we think they are. They should all be booted out due to incompetence come on taxpayers....these are your hard earned tax dollars that are being wasted!!! Do not allow them to continue to destroy the Toms River reputation!

There are members of the BOE that called it right a long time ago, however, no wanted to listen to them.
There should be a house cleaning in the administration though. Either they knew what Ritacco was doing and looked the other way. Or they didn't know what he was doing, and for that matter, they don't belong in a postion like that.
There's only 2 things that should matter to the school administration: the school curriculum, and all that entails; and the cost of that to the taxpayer. Period. The end.
Not putting on concerts, and not speculating on real estate.

Never mind resigning -- every BOE member during Ritacco's reign should be in jail.

Let the new indictments begin!!!

also i know mr roselli is a nice guy but he too was there during the cardone etc yrs..all buds with ritacco...should have hired someone from outside toms river to fill that position

Forget the BOE stooges. They couldn’t and can’t help themselves. They were born to be just what they are. BOEs, MUAs, local governments and all associated local committees, boards and commissions in Ocean County employ a small group of law firms for almost every legal action procured within our county’s borders. Most of these political inside law agencies are owned and staffed by elected and appointed state, county and local lawyers that bill us for millions of dollars each year (usually not itemized). If this small group of politically-connected law firms is so superior and skilled than all the other law practices available to us, why do they miss so much corruption over and over again that repeatedly takes place on their watch? After reading the comments over the past couple of years on the Patch, it’s clear the people have a pretty good handle on the what’s, why’s and whose of unsavory associations demeaning our standard of living. What I don’t understand is why our country no longer has law enforcement that can see the same shortcomings and respond accordingly?

Many years ago prayer and God were taken from our children. We see, in general, how it has effected them and our society. It's all relative. <><

If tammi were to resign/quit etc.. every person who works for Patch would have their resume on the superintendent's desk the day after. THere's a reason Patch is critical of Mrs. Millar. Did you ever notice patch never runs any positive stories about the toms river school district? Never reports the accomplishments of our children, their teachers.etc? They'd rather beat the ritacco horse all day long and be the new rag in town.

They should clean house at the TR BOE. I can't understand how no one questioned the logic, never mind the wisdom, of naming The Ritacco Center. Back then there should have been red flags and questions as to how any organization could name a facility under their control after a sitting President! What message did that send to anyone and everyone who worked in the TR School system? Who would be fool enough to speak up if they disagreed with Ritacco or questioned his actions or policies after that? He didn't name the center himself - one of his faithful minions had to suggest it and push it through some sort of approvals process. Who on Earth would vote against it and not be in fear of losing their job?

No one on the BOE realized that there is a "bidding" process that is law for public school districts? The only person that was aware of any illegal activity was Mr. Ritacco? Really? What were the spoils to be gained for people who vehmently campaigned for a spot on the BOE? Signs all over TR, radio commercials and glossy mailers. All that outlay for a "non-paying" position? You win, then you allow the Superintendent to do it all himself? WTF?

Everyone: Please be mindful that our Terms of Service prohibit posting unproven accusations or charges, or making any assumptions or claims that can't be proven. Repeated posts that do not comply to our Terms of Service could lead to suspension. Thanks very much.

Terms of service.... Ha! What a joke. That's one of the reasons why these criminals can fleece the taxpayers as openly as they do. If you "journalists" (I use the term loosly) would worry more about doing your job and less about terms of service they'd be less inclined to do it. You of all people should be defending ones rights to speak their minds, not stifling it. Don't know why I'm bothering. You'll probably delete this anyway.

my question refers to the last part of the article being discussed..... why did the employees of the district , not have a grievance or an arbitration situation ... was it trust or was it something else ? Did the employees do anything he asked because they trusted him ,feared him or were made a promise of something ?

I am going to try this one more time. The post that I had made earlier was in reference to "exit 82's" post that anyone who was hired while Ritacco was stealing money or was on the BOE while the same was going on the should resign. This person also stated that even if they have family an friends who were hired during that time frame they should also resign. And, the comment that I made was that I agreed with him/her and I also stated that if that were to happen there would be an awful lot of teachers missing from the classroom,bus drivers,board office workers,janitors, (I think you get my point) throughout the ENTIRE school system today. If you take a look at Data Universe on the APP you would see just what we are talking about with the names that you could play connect the dots with. From the Super on down. Then there was a comment made that if you looked into the school board you would see that there are only four members on the board that have NO connections to anyone in the district. But, then again one of the people would have to resign because he was on the board while this was going on so that would only leave the three members who were voted onto the board after Ritacco was arrested. Where is there any misinformation in this post Tom? If there is please enlighten me? Do you attend BOE meetings? If you do why did you not listen to what Galante, Lazaro,Kenett,Benson and Luthman had to say. Because from what I have read it seems to me that the judge proved them CORRECT!!

I challenge everyone to Google "United States of America v Michael J. Riacco & Francis X. Gartland" to see the actual indictment & all the counts against them. When you do that, you'll realize that there are very few NJ BOE members 'qualified' to notice or root out the kind of criminal behavior that played out in Tom's River. Mr. Ritacco & his pals counted on that FACT. Now Google "Ritacco, Michael - Department of Justice - Honorable Garrett E. Brown v. : Crim No. 10-713 (GEB) Michael J. Ritacco" & read the 50 pgs in one sitting. Try to imagine all those fraudulant transactions existing while the BOE smiled or slept as millions of taxpayer dollars changed hands. After we're done being sick, all school districts should consider employing & paying a Big-4 Accounting Audit Team (KPMG, E&Y) rather than giant salaries and separation payouts to superintendents who can harm your entire district if they choose to. Ban them all from participating in vendor selection if you don't have a "legitimate process" that will root out whether or not they or BOE members & their family members are partners, stakeholders or silent benefactors in such firms. Do biz cautiously with firms that give you only a P.O. Box & go to the address tied to the PO. Execute random audits of vendor books, ops & bank accounts. Allow no subcontractors to support primary vendors unless all Fed IDs, corp backgrounds, D&B & credit histories have been thoroughly vetted & approved by qualified finance professionals.

Also - Are you telling us the Tom's River Board of Ed actually released a statement that read in part, "What happened here was not a failure of the system, it was a failure of an individual and a violation of the trust imparted to him, both statutorily and in practice, by the very nature of his position?" You're kidding, right?! What Michael Ritacco did to your community and what your BOE failed to prevent represents a OBSCENE SYSTEMIC FAILURE inside your entire school system that was bolstered by the BOE's incompetence & lack of skills! No checks & balances, no vendor management, procurement, contracting, accounting, or audit processes to honor your fiduciary responsibilities to taxpayers & Tom's River's students. No transparency, lots of nepotism and outrageous failure by all of you who did not recommend & employ methods, tools, technologies and actions to prevent what happened. If I lived in your town, I'd ask you all to resign over the statements in today's Patch article alone. Employ an educated BOE spokesperson & stop embarrassing your community, our county & NJ.

I've got news for you, Ms. Millar. The school board completely abdicated its responsiblity. In the end, as the long time mouth piece for this corrupt corporation, you're unbelievable.

The board is all elected correct? So it's easy fix next election right?

These sheep love being robbed. How do you think this socialist education model got started. No one votes, no one that has half a brain or isn't in some way connected to the scam. And that's exactly how they want it. It's happening as I type this and always will. Well until the coffers empty which is only a matter of time. Call me a pessimist but I've learned to never underestimate the stupidity or greed of others.

This is what most BOE do in the schools. They give and hand their rights and public elected job directly over to the superintendents. The superintendents, Financial Advisors and Lawyers run the show. Just more BS excuses of the claims they don't or didn't know what was going on. They just look the other way more like it. The superintendent and BOE intentions start out good and quickly goes down hill with greed, special treatment and favors. You soon realize what is going on when you start finding out how or who these individuals no by either receiving their jobs, positions and or placement of jobs.

Billy, unfortunately you are mostly right. I was a board member at our very small school and watched the click approve 4 grand to someone AFTER they wrote themselves out a check first. I caught it, pulled it out and said this is not approved. We can't give this money, it was never approved and the work should NEVER have been done without prior approval, especially by a contracted business administrator who KNEW the laws. The idiotic other board members put it to a vote and three said yes....viola, she/he got the check. Go find out what to do, no one helped. years later I find I should have go to the prosecutor. This business administrator finally retires and TAKES all proof of her/his actions home, out of the school. Damn crook. And laughs all the way. Now, the idiot board member who was the most "qualified" lol at that, is our town financial officer!!! We are all being taken by the louses and let me tell you - you are SUPPOSED to turn your head. These people think they are ENTITLED. the board members who said yes to the illegal taking of money from our school were then treated to lavish dinners and events from the money. BS at the highest level. From kids and OUR taxes. Not theirs. NOT ALL board members will do this, but you are out numbered. It sucks.

would love to know if there is a statute of limitations on this type of lousy behavior.....anyone know?

Judge Pisano, this corruption is rampant throughout the State of New Jersey! Hiring practices alone are an issue that people have been outraged by for decades now. The governor won't touch this issue - the Commissioners of Education are always "Interim" The Superintendents as well. Who is in Charge? Someone needs to do a thorough and complete investigation of these cesspool Boards.

Corruption is always easy to find, folks - FOLLOW THE MONEY.