Toms River (CDP), New Jersey

The Ocean County Vocational Technical School is a public school district based in Toms River that provides technical and vocational education to residents of Ocean County, New Jersey, United States. The district provides a number of full-time public high school programs and also serves adult students. The district operates under the supervision of the Ocean County Board of County Commissioners and an appointed board of education. As of the 2021–22 school year, the district, comprised of seven schools, had an enrollment of 664 students and 128.9 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 5.1:1.

Toms River Fest was a major festival event held at the campus of Toms River High School North in Toms River Township, New Jersey, during the summers of 2005, 2006 and 2008. It was selected by the American Bus Association as one of the Top 100 Events in North America for Group Travel 2006. The festival, originally conceived as an annual event, has not been held since the last one in 2008.

The RWJBarnabas Health Arena (formerly known as the Ritacco Center, Poland Spring Arena, and Pine Belt Arena) is a 3,208-seat multi-purpose arena in Toms River, New Jersey. Opened in 2003, the facility hosts various local concerts and sporting events for the area.

Toms River High School North is a four-year comprehensive public high school, and was the second public high school established in Toms River, in Ocean County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, operating as part of the Toms River Regional Schools. Toms River High School North is the largest of all schools in the Toms River Regional School district. The TRHSN mascot is the Mariner, and the school colors are navy blue and gold. The other high schools in the district are Toms River High School East and Toms River High School South. As of 2020, the school day starts at 7:15 am and lasts six hours and 20 minutes. Toms River high schools have some of the earliest daily opening and closing high schools in New Jersey, closing at 1:35 pm every day. Parents lobbied for later high school start times in 2014, but the district found that the cost to purchase the additional buses and additional drivers necessary to accommodate the change would be prohibitive.As of the 2021–22 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,886 students and 133.9 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 14.1:1. There were 437 students (23.2% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 96 (5.1% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.

The Ocean County Mall is a super-regional mall, opened On July 20, 1976, by Edward J. DeBartolo Corporation, located in Toms River, New Jersey on Hooper Avenue (County Route 549). The mall is accessible from Exit 82 of the Garden State Parkway via Route 37 East. The mall is managed by Simon Property Group. The mall has a gross leasable area of 791,125 sq ft (73,497.9 m2).The mall is anchored by Boscov's, JCPenney, and Macy's. The center went under development in 2019 bringing a slew of national retail and restaurant tenants like ULTA Beauty, On The Border, P.F. Chang's, HomeSense and more. It also contains several eateries, and a food court. The Ocean County Mall is the only enclosed mall in Ocean County. It is a popular destination for tourists in the Toms River area during the summer season.

Toms River Regional Schools is a comprehensive regional public school district primarily located in the quickly growing coastal community of Toms River, located in Ocean County, New Jersey, United States, along the state's Jersey Shore. The district includes Toms River and the adjoining boroughs of Beachwood, Pine Beach and South Toms River. It is the largest suburban school district in the state, and the fourth largest school district in New Jersey (after Newark, Jersey City and Paterson). It is also the largest school district in the state that is not an Abbott District. As of the 2018–19 school year, the district, comprising 18 schools, had an enrollment of 15,472 students and 1,171.6 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 13.2:1.The district has three high schools -- Toms River High School South, Toms River High School North, and Toms River High School East—as well as three middle schools—Toms River Intermediate School East, Toms River Intermediate School North (formerly Intermediate West), and Toms River Intermediate School South. With the opening of Intermediate South in 2005, all sixth grade classes were shifted from the district's 12 elementary schools to the three middle schools in order to alleviate overcrowding. Also at that time, Intermediate West was renamed Intermediate North. Intermediate East and Intermediate North are currently the two most populous middle schools in New Jersey. To raise money for the schools, the district created Toms River Fest, a major festival held during the summer in 2005, 2006 and 2008. The district is classified by the New Jersey Department of Education as being in District Factor Group "DE", the fifth-highest of eight groupings. District Factor Groups organize districts statewide to allow comparison by common socioeconomic characteristics of the local districts. From lowest socioeconomic status to highest, the categories are A, B, CD, DE, FG, GH, I and J.

The Seacourt Pavilion is a regional shopping center on Hooper Avenue in Toms River, New Jersey. It is right across the street from the Ocean County Mall. The mall has a gross leasable area of 253,000 sq ft (23,500 m2).The shopping center is split-level, with the parking lot on the east side higher than on the west side. Tenants include Marshalls, Pier 1 Imports (closing 2020), AMC/Loew's Cineplex (closing August 21, 2022), Ashley HomeStore, and HomeGoods. Former tenants include; Old Country Buffet, LA Fitness, (which has its own porte-cochere), Lionel Kiddie City, and Nobody Beats The Wiz.

Toms River is a township located on the Jersey Shore in Ocean County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Its mainland portion is also a census-designated place of the same name, which serves as the county seat of Ocean County. Formerly known as the Township of Dover, voters in a 2006 referendum approved a change of the official name to the Township of Toms River, adopting the name of the largest unincorporated community within the township. The township is a bedroom suburb of New York City in the New York metropolitan area, and a regional commercial hub in central New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township was the state's eighth-most-populous municipality, with a population of 95,438, its highest decennial count ever and an increase of 4,199 (+4.6%) from the 2010 census count of 91,239, which had in turn reflected an increase of 1,533 (+1.7%) from the 89,706 counted in the 2000 census.Toms River is featured in various TV and news media, including MTV's Made and Jersey Shore (seasons 1, 3, and 5), HBO's Boardwalk Empire, and the original The Amityville Horror movie. In 1998, Toms River East Little League won the Little League World Series. The township has what is said to be the second-largest Halloween parade in the world.In 2006, Toms River was ranked by Morgan Quitno Press as the 15th safest city in the United States, of 369 cities nationwide. In 2007, Toms River was again ranked as the 14th-safest city in the United States of 371 cities nationwide.

The murder of Dolores Della Penna is an unsolved murder case dating from July 1972 in which a 17-year-old high school graduate was abducted, tortured, murdered and dismembered by an unknown number of individuals in Kensington, Philadelphia. Her dismembered torso, arms and legs were later discovered in New Jersey, although her head has never been found.Although the motive for Della Penna's abduction and murder remains unclear, investigators believe she may have been targeted by drug dealers either due to her being falsely blamed by former roommates for the theft of drugs or in an act of revenge against her boyfriend relating to an unsettled drug debt. The case itself has been described as one of Philadelphia's most gruesome and enduring unsolved murders.

Ocean County Vocational Technical School Grunin Performing Arts Academy (or PAA for short) is a specialized, public high school program which concentrates heavily on the fields of performing arts such as dance, vocal music, and theater, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades from all of Ocean County, New Jersey, United States. Located in Toms River on the campus of Ocean County College, it is the sister high school of the Marine Academy of Technology and Environmental Sciences, another full-time program that is also part of the Ocean County Vocational Technical School district. Because the school is a full-time program, students take both their performance major and academic courses at the school. The school is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools through July 2027.As of the 2021–22 school year, the school had an enrollment of 284 students and 31.1 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 9.1:1. There were 16 students (5.6% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 5 (1.8% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.

Ocean County College (OCC) is a public community college in Ocean County, New Jersey. Its main campus is in Toms River. Other locations include the Southern Education Center in the Manahawkin section of Stafford Township and multiple off-campus sites throughout Ocean County.

Donovan Catholic High School, (formerly Monsignor Donovan High School) located in Toms River, is the only Roman Catholic high school in Ocean County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, and operates under the supervision of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Trenton. Located in the coastal community of Toms River Township, the school originally opened in 1962 as St. Joseph High School, but was renamed as Monsignor Donovan High School after its founder, Msgr. Lawrence Donovan in 1983, before adopting its current name in 2014.Donovan Catholic became an IB World School in January 2017, offering students the IB Diploma Programme. The school is accredited by AdvancED.As of the 2017–18 school year, the school had an enrollment of 708 students and 61.5 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 11.1:1. The school's student body was 85.6% White, 6.9% Asian, 3.1% Hispanic, 1.8% Black, 0.6% Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander, 0.4% American Indian / Alaska Native and 1.8% two or more races.The school mascot is the Griffin. In the 1960s, the school (then St. Joseph High School) sponsored a contest to name the mascot. Finalists were chosen by the faculty from the submissions, and then the students voted on the finalists. The winning name was George.