TOMS RIVER – Board of Education member Paola Pascarella resigned at the most recent meeting, leading to elected officials arguing about ethics issues.
The Toms River Board of Education meets twice a month most of the time. The first meeting is the committee meeting, where they hear reports about curriculum, maintenance projects, and things like that. It’s a shorter meeting held in the media center of High School North.
It was during the February 11 committee meeting that two board members voted to remove Pascarella for missing four consecutive meetings. That decision put an official vote for her removal on the regular meeting the following week. Regular meetings have a longer agenda, are held in North’s auditorium, and are more attended. Coincidentally, that meeting also had the annual School Board Ethics presentation.
Pascarella didn’t attend this February 18 meeting. She sent a letter to the board stating she resigned effective that date.
Board President Ashley Lamb read a prepared statement about it, accusing her of lying on her paperwork that board members submit that shows her income, in order to determine if a member has any conflicts of interest.
Lamb said Pascarella didn’t report “more than $300,000 in income” from the township of Toms River.
“In my opinion, she sent her resignation at the 11th hour to save face,” she said. “She’s been nothing but a disservice to the district.”
The only other board member who commented on this was Lisa Contessa. She said “this board member didn’t do anything she was elected to do.”
Pascarella and Lamb were running mates in 2023, but have since grown apart politically.
Board members had previously accused Pascarella of being a pawn of Mayor Daniel Rodrick.
The Toms River Times was unable to reach Pascarella for comment, but reached out to Rodrick.
“Lamb’s claims have zero merit,” he said. Pascarella’s husband, Kim Pascarella, makes about $90,000 as the township prosecutor, which was reported.
“It is common knowledge for the last month that Paola Pascarella was planning to resign because she was tired of being mocked and publicly berated by Lamb and Contessa for the way she speaks with an accent,” he said.
Lamb and Contessa have said that Pascarella had “incoherent ramblings” in reference to accusations she had made against the board and administration, not her accent.
Rodrick went on to say that Lamb and (Superintendent Michael) Citta have been after Ms. Pascarella and Ms. (Marisa) Matarazzo since they refused to support Citta’s $80,000 raise, which ultimately didn’t come to a vote.
“Knowing that Pascarella was resigning, Ashley Lamb put out this nonsense about not reporting income to make it look like Ms. Pascarella had done something wrong. Mr. Pascarella who serves as the prosecutor makes $90,000 a year so I’m not sure where she’s getting this outrageous number from. To the best of my knowledge all of Pascarella reports were filed. This is just another distraction away from the fact that the School Board continues to jack up school taxes by double digits every year and that they’re going to give him this raise despite the fact, they just tried to declare bankruptcy,” he said.
When reached by email after the meeting, Lamb responded that all board members are required to complete personal financial disclosure forms. The form clearly requires disclosure of any income received by the filer or their immediate family in the amount of $2,000 or more within a one-year period.
“My prior reference to ‘almost $300,000’ was not intended as a precise accounting, but rather a reasonable approximation based on publicly available information reflecting substantial payments to her family well in excess of the disclosure threshold,” she said.
“However at the time she submitted her form, she did not list her husband’s employment – Kim Pascarella who is the Prosecutor for Toms River. She also did not list that her husband receives payment as a board member of the Toms River Municipal Utilities Authority, plus a benefits package. She also failed to disclose that her stepson was the township attorney at the time (who has since resigned) also received a salary plus benefits,” she said.
Rodrick had countered that her stepson, Peter Pascarella, does not live in the same household and the law is clear that it doesn’t count.
“Personal financial disclosures are due yearly every April,” Lamb continued. “The one I am referencing was due April of 2025 and all of those positions were held at the time of her filing. Hence the intentional omission. Under the code of ethics for school board members in New Jersey there is a section that details who is a ‘conflict’ and her stepson would absolutely have been a conflict under that guidance.”
“During her tenure Mrs. Pascarella had also voted on items in the agenda regarding shared service agreements with the township that she should have recused herself from due to her stepson’s employment but she had never treated him as a conflict, which is unethical under the Code of Ethics for school board members in New Jersey,” Lamb said.
The Toms River Times reached out to the district for information on how Pascarella’s replacement will be decided but did not receive an answer by press time. Generally, candidates put their names in and are interviewed by board members and officials. Then, the board selects a replacement from the candidates.
