Hearing to take place on Toth dismissal BY CHRIS GAETANO Staff Writer EDISON - The state Office of Administrative Law has confirmed that a formal lawsuit filed by an Edison resident against the Board of Education has been recognized and will be heard on June 6 by Judge John Tassini. The OAL is a quasijudicial state body within the executive branch that officiates conflicts within state agencies and those they oversee. The lawsuit, filed by parent Maxine Lee, an immigration attorney, is in response to the controversial decision by the Edison Board of Education on Nov. 19 to place Schools Superintendent Carol Toth on paid administrative leave until the expiration of her contract in 2010. The vote came one year after the district decided to renew her contract inApril 2006 and has since become a source of conflict between the board and some members of the public who believe that the decision was made without sufficient forewarning, since the vote was not announced in advance, even to several members of the board. Further, there have been accusations of fiscal irresponsibility, since the decision to place Toth on leave rather than dismissing her outright allows her to continue to collect her salary, which, as of April 2008, will be $180,000 a year. The suit alleges that the Board of Education, in its narrow 4-3 decision to place the superintendent on paid administrative leave, is in violation of New Jersey educational law that mandates that amendments or alterations to a superintendent's contract by a board must be reviewed by the state education commissioner. Further, it also states that the board should have, as per state law, provided 30-day notice and held a public hearing before any moves toward Toth's dismissal were made. The hearing on June 6 is tentatively set to take place at 9 a.m. in the OAL's Trenton office in the Quakerbridge Plaza, Building 7, in Mercerville.