Roselli: We'll Aggressively Pursue Recouping Misappropriated Funds

Statement as released by Toms River Regional Schools communications office, responding to guilty plea of former Superintendent Michael Jr. Ritacco:

Superintendent of Toms River Regional Schools Frank Roselli states, “Please be assured that our primary mission and focus remains the safety and education of our 17000+ students.  Our schools continue to operate as usual, with a focus on education and student centered activities.”

Roselli continues, “We have not seen the details of the plea agreement of the former Superintendent at this time, however in October 2010 we provided notice to the insurance carriers of a potential claim.  We subsequently filed that claim and since the case is now resolved, we will even more aggressively pursue all avenues of recovery and restitution for any misappropriated public funds.”

Additionally Roselli states, “It is important to note that with regards to district insurances, the district has already made considerable changes in personnel, vendors and process in the course of the past 16 months.  Long before the resolution of this case, the district worked hard to address areas where internal controls needed to be strengthened.  The Toms River Regional Board of Education solicited competitive broker proposals in awarding to AJ Gallagher for property/casualty insurance and subsequently BGIA for health insurance in 2011. The Board added a new section to board policy that requires us to solicit proposals at least every 3 years for insurance brokers.  Our insurance contracts, which have all been closely reviewed by the Board attorney's office, now clearly spell out responsibilities and fees (notably for the workers compensation program).  The entire insurance program is tightly managed by the new brokers and the new district business administrator.  All payments and services must conform to contract. Finally, we have also hired a new auditor through a competitive bid process and said auditor provides an additional layer of oversight to all financial considerations.”

Roselli concludes, “We are hopeful that while we are aggressively pursuing all avenues of recovery and restitution for any misappropriated public funds, that we can now also move forward as a community with a renewed focus on the betterment of the district, both operationally and educationally.”