Toms River school board member rescinds resignation, wants sick leave

TOMS RIVER - Board of Education member Dan Leonard, who abruptly quit from the nine-member panel on Thanksgiving Day, has rescinded his resignation.

Leonard, 41, of Beachwood, announced his change of heart in a Facebook post on Sunday morning and confirmed his decision to an Asbury Park Press reporter on Tuesday afternoon.

"I have received numerous emails, phone calls and texts from parents, teachers and friends asking me to reconsider," Leonard wrote in Sunday's social media post, which is no longer available for the public to access.

"There were also several rumors flying around as to why I was resigning – each of which can be filed under 'fake news.' Terms like 'quit' and 'abandon' are definitely not words that reflect the values I represent nor are they found in my personal and professional background," Leonard wrote in the post.

Instead of resigning from the Toms River regional school board, Leonard said he has opted to go "on a leave of absence for undisclosed medical reasons" for an undetermined length of time.

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Leonard, a war veteran who served as a paratrooper in the Army's 82nd Airborne Division in Afghanistan, has previously told the Press that he is struggling with neurological-related health issues connected to his military service.

During his deployment, Leonard said he suffered injuries from multiple explosive blasts, endured several hard landings while making combat jumps and has had other medical problems while boxing during his Army career.

Leonard, who was elected to the board to represent his hometown of Beachwood in 2016, is completing the first year of a three-year term. When Leonard announced his resignation on Thanksgiving Day, he said he planned to step down on Dec. 31 – two years before his term expired.

Leonard's initial and sudden decision to resign shocked many of his supporters, who see him as an outspoken bulwark against the school board's Democratic majority. The resignation announcement came less than 48 hours after a contentious meeting in which he broke with his fellow Republicans and voted to approve a new five-year contract for Superintendent of Schools David M. Healy.

He returns to a board still politically divided over the superintendent's corporate-like management style; in addition to disagreements over the cost and scope of a $12,000 investigation into who provided the local news media with copies of a sexual harassment complaint against Healy last summer.

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However, Leonard returns to the board no longer a Republican. Last week, he filed paperwork with the New Jersey Department of State to change his voter registration from Republican to unaffiliated.

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In addition to his planned medical leave from the board, Leonard has also requested a temporary leave of absence from his position as a program director in the Ocean County Human Services Department. He has held that civil service position since July 5, 2016, and receives an annual salary of $43,200, according to county records.

County Administrator Carl W. Block said Tuesday that the line item request for Leonard’s leave was scheduled to be a part of the routine personnel resolution before the Board of Freeholders at its regular meeting on Wednesday.

Privacy laws prevented county officials from disclosing any further information about the matter.

Erik Larsen: 732-682-9359 or elarsen@gannettnj.com



