Schools

School Board Meets with Ocean County's New Prosecutor

Prosecutor offered his support to school officials to combat drug use

As Ocean County faces a drug epidemic, Toms River school district officials and the county prosecutor are working together to combat the problem. 

During a closed meeting on Tuesday, Board of Education members sat down with Ocean County's new prosecutor, Joseph D. Coronato, to ensure a line of continued communication is open between the two, said board President Ben Giovine. 

"There is a large drug epidemic in Ocean County, and the prosecutor offered his support to help keep our schools clean and our children safe," Giovine said. 

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Board of Education members, in addition to the board attorney and Superintendent of Schools Frank Roselli, wanted to introduce themselves to Coronato to "ensure we have a continual working relationship with [his] office to help ensure the safety and well-being of our schools," Giovine said. 

Topics included programs Coronato plans to implement to decrease drugs and violence, as well as outreach programs to decrease senseless behavior like texting and driving or underage alcohol usage, according to Giovine.

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Coronato recently visited High School North to warn students that his office will work with authorities to crack down on drug use. 

"I'm telling you up front, I'm coming," he told students during an assembly at in the school's auditorium. 

Since he took office in March, each day someone has died in Ocean County from a drug overdose, Coronato said. Of those, 60 percent are between the ages of 20 and 24.

To stop the problem, the prosecutor said that he will take action in Ocean County schools so teenagers don't get involved with drugs in the first place. 

"I'm not going to allow any drugs in school," Coronato said to applause from some students. 

The meeting with the prosecutor was not in response to the alleged police impersonation and sex crime incident at Intermediate East, according to Giovine. Nonetheless, safety and protocol issues were addressed with Coronato.

"But as you can probably guess, those items are kept in executive session since there is a security risk to release those details publicly," Giovine said. 


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