TOMS RIVER, NJ – The Toms River Regional School District has been one of the staunchest opponents of the Phil Murphy school mask mandate and now, they’re paying for it according to the Star Ledger. District officials cited the high temperatures at the beginning of the school year as the reason why students were not required to wear face masks, but now, 217 students and 33 employees have tested positive for the virus, the paper reported today.

The district has 887 students now in COVID-19 quarantine with a higher rate of infection per student and staff than any other district in New Jersey.

School board member Joseph Nardini, a Republican has lead the charge against the Murphy mask mandate. In May, Nardini sent a letter of disapproval to the governor over the new school mask mandate.

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A Jersey gym teacher allegedly forged a doctor’s note to try to avoid the statewide coronavirus-related mask mandate in schools, authorities said Monday.

Gayle Hadley, 53, of Toms River, was arrested on Thursday and charged with one count of uttering and one count of falsifying medical records, according to the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office.

The district flagged the doctor’s note submitted by Hadley to local authorities, which determined the teacher had tried to claim a fake medical exemption from the mask policy earlier this month, prosecutor’s said.

Face coverings in New Jersey schools are mandatory with few exemptions, such as “documented medical condition or disability,” according to Gov. Phil Murphy’s executive order issued in August.

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