Schools

Parents Seek Answers to School District's Delay in Reporting Alleged Police Impersonation Incident

Man is charged with impersonating and officer and committing a sex crime at Intermediate East in January

Concerned parents said that Toms River school officials should have alerted the public immediately about a January incident where a township man allegedly impersonated a police officer and committed a sex crime on a teacher inside a school. 

"I do not like the way the incident at Toms River Intermediate East was handled," parent Jennifer Hoffman told the Board of Education during a regular meeting Tuesday night, her remarks met with applause from some in the audience at High School East.

"I would like you to consider putting a policy in place that parents would be notified sooner than four months," she said.

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Bruce A. Figular, 50, allegedly entered Intermediate East during a regular school day through an open door in January, claiming to be a police officer, and committed a sex crime on a teacher in her classroom, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said. 

Figular was indicted on charges of third degree burglary, third degree aggravated criminal sexual contact, and fourth degree impersonating a law enforcement officer, according to the prosecutor's office. 

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"Law enforcement conducts an investigation and says to me, 'this is confidential, you leave it confidential,'" said Superintendent of Schools Frank Roselli. 

The teacher who allegedly was victimized has been suspended with pay while the Board of Education conducts an investigation. 

"When law enforcement shares with us confidential information, I feel obligated to work with law enforcement and have that information be confidential," Roselli said. "What was shared to me was confidential information. That's how it was presented to me."

The information was made public by the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office in early May. Roselli thenmet with Prosecutor Joseph D. Coronato and parents were notified through phone and email messages.  

"I do agree with you," board member Ginny Rhine in response to Hoffman's concerns. She added that board members were not notified about the incident prior to it being made public by the prosecutor's office.

"That was not our decision. I just wanted to make that clear," Rhine said. 

All four of the regional district's sending municipalities have an agreement to share information confidentially with law enforcement.

"Our schools are safe because of the relationship that we have with law enforcement," Roselli said. 

"Shouldn't the board have been told an incident happened and was under investigation at that time?" asked parent Diane Castner. "That's a pretty serious incident. That's not something minor."

But Roselli said he wasn't presented with all of the details when Chief of Police Michael Mastronardy contacted him about the incident and was not made aware about Figular's alleged past run in with law enforcement. 

"Zero information was shared with me about the background of the individual," Roselli said. 

Roselli said that he had planned to have Mastronardy in attendance Tuesday night to help field questions, but he is out of state. 

Toms River schools have been made safer since the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut prompted discussions about security locally, Roselli said. Further, included in the May budget is funding to hire a full time safety officer for Intermediate East, according to the superintendent. 

"At no time was any additional information shared with me — as it should be — as there was an investigation," Roselli said. 

Figular was challenged by a school employee and presented himself as an active duty New Jersey State Trooper, according to the prosecutor's office. 

"The board will conduct a further investigation of the security issue," said board attorney Stephan Leone. "There is a policy. There was a laxity in enforcement."

Hoffman pushed the board to ensure that security policies are enforced district-wide and everyone entering buildings is checked properly. 

"I could not agree with you more and I'm not saying that because you're here. This board and administration takes safety seriously," Roselli said, adding that providing a safe environment is the first priority of officials. 

The superintendent said that there has been a recent "paradigm shift" where schools are moving away from being places that welcomed the community to places where anyone entering must be scrutinized. 

"Now we have to see everyone outside of school as someone who can do you harm," he said. "And that's something the principals at all 18 schools have to be rigorous for."

"We really have to get everyone to buy into this 100 percent," Roselli said. 


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