everyone good evening and welcome to this special meeting of the Wall Township Board of Education meeting for Wednesday November 29th please join me in welcoming our wall High School n andcc color guard for the flag salute America to the stands indivisible andice car COL go right Face Forward works thank you this time I'm going to ask our board secretary Mr Smite to please read the sunshine announcement and perform roll call good evening this is the Wall Township Board of Education meeting for which adequate notice under the open public meeting Act was provided by notice to the co-star Asbury Park Press uh all Wall Township Public Schools Township clerk's office and in the wall board of education office on November 22nd 201 23 take a roll call Mr anio here Mr buffer here m d Giovani here miss hodnet Mr malof here Mr Nasser here Mr San Filippo here Mr wandra here miss stes here thank you very much at this time I'm going to be opening the floor for public comment on a first we're going to be doing agenda action item as this is a special meeting we're going to be flip-flopping um public comment this evening so our first public comment will be on agenda action items please if you have anything that you'd like to share please come up to the podium Mary Connor's W Township kind of feel weird saying thank you before anything happened but kind of um just want to say thank you um to the board for um taking action and putting a priority and following through and getting us here tonight as well as in addition calling a special meeting prior to uh Academy night so that um the service and Leadership Academy and the nnc DC can be properly um represented at Academy night thank you thank you do we have anyone else for public comment on agenda action items bety cross I living wall I hope you got the microphone fixed because at the last meeting you couldn't hear um the majority of the meeting so hopefully you got the audio working correctly tonight um so I think it's important another thing is you can't change can't flip-flop when you want to do a public comment you can't say oh tonight I'm going to do it on this on action items and next week I'm going to change it back and do something else you did the same thing last week public comment for you can't you can't flipflop so I'm just reminding you you cannot do that so you should know that as the president you can't flip flop actually can thank you Mrs cross so do you have anything for the agenda action please I'm very glad that you hired this gentleman um it would have been nice if it you had his name printed out and you had it over here in the HR report but it's it's not there so um Mr jackets I'm not even sure how to say it um but I'm glad you finally are taking action and doing that tonight thank you thank you do we have anyone else for public comment for agenda action items okay seeing them we'll be closing the floor for public comment at this time um we're going to be moving does well first I'll ask does anyone have anything for the Board of Education report no okay we're going to be moving on may have um an may I have a motion to accept the superintendence report number five the human resources report I'll make that motion I'll second Mr sample Mr adio Mr SMI roll call please Mr anesia yes Mr buffer yes yes m d Giovani yes yes Mr Mali yes Mr nassa yes Mr s Flippo yes Mr WJ yes M yes thank you at this time I'm going to be turning the floor over to Dr handerhan to say a few words please thank you Miss stes uh tonight is a very special evening we um will be introducing wall high schools new vice principal and we will also be welcoming and introducing our teacher of military science so without any further Ado I would like to uh share a few words about Mr David Bender uh Mr David Bender through the process made an incredible um impact through all of the interview committees and I'll speak a little bit about um my impressions and before even meeting Mr Bender I was taken back by some of the words that I had read in his cover letter and I'd like to share them with you as you walk out of my office there is a quote on the wall that says quote unquote take care of your people this is the quote I use to steer my actions every day as an administrator I wanted to become an administrator so that I could help my students and staff and hopefully Drive positive change within a school um those words stuck with me and when I finally got to meet Mr Bender the word there's there's two words that I walked away from our meeting and the two words are sincerity and genuine and those are the two those are the two qualities that I felt as I walked away from the meeting um so without um you know I don't want to steal all the Thunder but at this time I would like to welcome Mr Bender to the podium to share a few words Mr vender thank you uh Dr handerhan for the kind words um I just want to say thank you I appreciate the opportunity um you know it's my 21st first year in education and I've never really had an opportunity to work in my own community and that was why this job was so um so intriguing to me um I live in town I did Coach here at one point um but I'm really excited to work with Dr handerhan uh Mr Davis and try to bring as much as I can much positivity uh to wall as I can um so thank you very much I really appreciate you bringing me out tonight and uh I look forward to being here for a long time thank you [Applause] thank you Mr Bender next I'd like to introduce Colonel Richard Jax Colonel Jax as he's approaching the podium I would very much like to say a few a few things about you um in particular um Colonel Jack is um his he has an extensive military record and um as as we spend time together that will uh very much present itself but in particular he is a um very experienced and very dedicated um Roc instructor Junior R instructor and I just want to share a little bit with you um Colonel Jax at one point uh stepped into um an n andcc program with 22 Cadets and in a little over five years that program grew to be over a 100 person unit and within that unit there were six njrc competitive teams and recruited and he has been active he was actively recruiting 40 Cadets per year um you it is through passion it is through commitment that um that these programs grow and that is the passion and that is the commitment that we um we're just so excited to see um you know with our students and with our re really with our community as a whole in this position um so I'm so grateful you're here this evening I know you had quite a drive but um I would like to thank you for your continued service to our country and to and now to the students of wall high school so Colonel [Applause] Jax um thank you it's a a real honor and privilege to be here uh I see some familiar faces Mr adio was actually my boss when I was an EMT and he was the captain of the South War wall Squad um I'll give you an addage that a boss of mine said when I had to give a brief and it was to Congressional people and I said whatat do I say he said be brief be bright and be gone I don't know if I can be brief but um it's difficult for me to talk a little bit about myself because you kind of saw it up here in the Marine Corps in boot camp if you use the world word I you will do push-ups for a long time and we're taught to use the third person um our service magazine does not have any pictures with names on it except if you're a general officer but if I come up here and say Hello thank you and sit down you're going to say what are we getting um a little bit about me I've been in wall for close to 30 years I've coached through all the programs My Two children have gone to school here 2015 and 2017 I talked to some of the security officers to see if they remembered my daughter was The Golden Child my son's a great kid but to see if they remembered my son Sasha so I think we're good and then somebody said well I don't they may remember you I said I hope not um a little bit about me I'm a 36-year marine largely um I done both reserve duty and otherwise my claim to fame was uh I kept 750,000 people free in and throughout the third or second depending on what weak it is terrorist in the world than it was when one province um and we unfortunately I have seven people one of whom had been captured and we assumed dead and six are waiting SIV visas which could take up to 10 years to get here um I fell into the RC program I did a year at Neptune I helped their enrollments and I did I don't recruit I let the parents make a decision but six kids went into the Marine Corp two are staff sergeants and there two sergeants um and so I'm very proud of that uh Ben Franklin the Navy sent me to Ben Franklin as a distress school I just wanted to correct uh the superintendent we weren't an ndcc we were a unit that was going to get closed down we were down to 21 kids and I just said whoa we got to do something and um we just created an enthusiasm it's not it's it's not a it's a working in progress but on average I've done close to 40 I had uh one year two years I think of 37 never had a problem in covid and this year without I literally had my kids try to recruit and we did 53 kids um and what what makes it different is we try to make it fun so I want to talk to the parents for your kids and spread the word we don't I'm not here to recruit your your children this is a citizenship program it's a leadership program and I've made it into a personal development program so the guarantee I make to parents is you will have a better child they will be self-directed [Music] self-disciplined and self-reliant who doesn't want that you know and I don't have a magic cancer I have two kids and Trust Me growing up and sometimes even now on any other week uh but if we just keep at it the second thing is is they're going to have the the values of the Marine Corps and the Navy which is honor courage and commitment so again what's wrong with that picture um for your child I try to make it fun um somebody said in the interview process how do you recruit I stand outside my room and I have a drone and the kid says what what's that it's a drone you do that stuff yeah come on in and it's not a recreational program but by the end of it he's doing friction coefficients and coefficients of lift and this is a kid who hates math and we debunk math and sometimes we get helicopter Pilots to come in and talk to them and so we try to make it fun um it's a family for your child especially for freshman but we're going to put a group together and you have a great from what I understand great kids here now but we want to grow it so that if you have problems with algebra algebra 2 trigonometry calculus something there is pretty good and we can help out it'll give a a chance for freshmen like they do now to hang with seniors I once as a senior when I was a freshman he said who why are you talking to me you can't talk to me so it's a family and we're a team last is a uniform that can be a tough one I can't get around that I'd like to have a boat at the shark Riv River and I'd like us to scrub it we stand inspection but the Navy says I have units in Harrisburg we have a naval uniform you have to wear it and there's ways we can do it and there's a whole bunch of things but that's something I can't yield on hair haircut sit here I mean I had a son who thought he was cut and I said Sasha you're a heck of a lot better looking than that b what did he do the first you know first semester of college he looks by the way my son looks exactly like James Frank I mean he gets stopped all the time but we do not have to have haircuts the na says haircuts are not mandatory so to increas recr I will wave haircuts for the time being uh and we'll we'll see how that goes um what do I want to do quickly I want to recruit recruit recruit everybody here talk to somebody I I followed the co-star and I watched the board meetings which now I'm on camera um but I saw where somebody said I can bring 50 people do it let me help let me talk to parents bust through it I would love to have classes of 40 climbing up the wall saying we don't have enough room we'll figure that one out and second is teams the minimum of four teams I want want to have it's actually a little bit more it's going to be the color guard I've done color guards for everything but baby show and what I what I do is I I try to make it fun where kids get out of class but then I say well have to look at your grades and I have to look at your attendance and you're not doing real well in Pre and you're going to go to college you know and we gently try to bring bring bring them around so don't tell anybody any secrets um we have aor unarmed drill and an armed drill I just hung up with a zoom um call area four which is now area it's still area area three now they just changed it I mean we have tournaments and everything forever the uh area four championships are going to be over here at cols neck in January if we can get the color guard to go and just compete in that I don't care if you fall don't worry about it it's just that we're there the second thing is Marksmanship this once had a great Marksmanship um program you'll see I I don't like wearing this because it's just like really but Marine Corps is very proud of its Marksmanship we are the only service with a rifle that fires at 500 yards um the corpal in the back will tell you the first time you look at the rifle range from 500 yards you see the targets and just like I can't even see my number what do they want me to hit it's actually the easiest of uh of the course and Marksmanship is a great equalizer we can take a freshman I saw a kid at Neptune getting picked on he was small I looked at him and I'm I'm a little bit high energy and I apologize but I said you want to be a rock star yeah how I said I can get you on a Marksmanship team you'll your name will be in the paper more than the quarterback really yeah what do I have to do just listen to us breathe relax aim slack squeeze we'll do it and I haven't been to because we don't have we're not allowed to have a Marksmanship team in Philadelphia because of the well it's not gun violence it's murders and I don't like that and I'm trying to change it I have um the superintendent asked to speak to me he doesn't know I'm leaving yet but um Marksmanship is a great equalizer it's a tremendous sport we're not here to teach Marshal things in junior Roc that's my other promise I make to you we're not going to do punishment PT we're not going to do any crazy stuff there will be no hazing and I didn't do it when I was in the Marine Corps we don't have to okay it's called small unit leadership but Marksmanship is a great thing to know and gun safety is a great thing to know and everything I've read is the the guys who are the the coaches and run everything are so excited because they see kids as freshman and all of a sudden they hit that growth spurt and they go to the tournament and they're scoring and they're just like wow this is good also I know from and I'm I'll be quick in closing I know there's a lot of concerns with with scholarships you can get a scholarship with Marksmanship it's an Olympic event there are almost as many scholarships for Marksmanship as there are for uh football so it's a great equalizer it's a great thing to do um last is we're going to have a physical fitness team and possibly if you all come up with five people I'll do a drone team we'll figure it out if you come up with five to seven people I'll do a robotics team we'll find the money we'll do it and we'll figure it out so we want to have fun last um I talk to the parents what do I need from you one give me a chance don't shoot me first two I will give to the anchor and you have my my phone here call me I'm more than happy to talk if I miss step or you believe something we can talk it out because I work for the school system but I ultimately work for the taxpayer and I pay wall taxes so I know what they're worth last is I want to read quickly we talked about giving giving a chance and my thing and I'll be done in a second uh doctor is I don't want to do the same thing over and over again expect a different result we're not going to be radical this isn't George Patton or General Mattis you know the things I'm doing is I studied over the years first thing I did is I went to two units one was cold snck and the other is sou where the my now boss who was my mentor Commander Humphrey's works and I said what will get the program closed out he said low numbers man I said you mean I could take like people I joke as long as somebody has a uniform and shows up for school once in a while that's it so that's what we have to over the Navy is is not happy with us we have to make numbers and what I'd like to do is just break through their numbers far in advance of what they thought but I'll read you this and this comes from I'm not going to read the whole thing goals I want to set a goal of Excellence I'd like us to to go from the most improved unit then I'd like to do do a noteworthy unit which is you achieve some excellence and then I'd like to do a unit achievement that's a big deal you put a streamer on your on the navy colors in the back and you're able to carry that at one time this town had over 150 I'm told 180 if we did it once we can do it again last I will read this is from one of my Cadets and by the way I want to talk about why I'm here quickly I can stay where I am it's a long drive but I'm Moses I tell parents I I can take you to the promised land and I've been there why do I want to come to wall because from 2002 to 2013 I was deployed for 11 years I'm sorry over an 11e period I was deployed for five out without without my family one year was in Tampa in mcdill Air Force Base and also Afghanistan and Iraq and then I did did I I've even forgot 16 tours four years in combat but it was the wall school system that allowed my kids to flourish I never had a problem I had great teachers here and my son and my daughter and take a 13-year-old boy and put him without a father it's not the best day in the world but I could always depend on this school system that's why I'm here it's my time to pay back to my town and to our town so last I'll I'll read you dang win he was my worst Cadet ever I had a big classroom I would turn my back boom dang was gone I call home they only they were his mother and father were Vietnamese boat people they couldn't speak English try to get a Vietnamese translator it was impossible I'd sent letters home certified you know in English it didn't dang knew how to get hold the system so here this is I was a pretty bad student during my freshman and S for year I would always skip class and often not pay attention not pay attention his feet were on the desk and he would literally close his eyes and just be on his phone I managed to keep my grades at a decent level but I would always hide from Colonel Jack every time I skip and he would get disappointed with me every time I did not pay attention or would mess around obviously this was bad I was immature and did not realize what consequences this would be junior year he left for another school cuz his parents wanted to go him to go somewhere closer he's the only Cadet I've never talked to about staying I never said good riddance I don't do that but I just said you know it just so happened I never talked to him then he came back senior year he said I really missed everyone my experience at the other school made me realize how important my time at Junior Roc was so I transferred right back for my senior year this is one of my Fondest Memories and I was involved in all the laughs I shared with my f fellow Junior rooc friends especially with Colonel I will always be grateful for the mature program for the mature person he made me as it taught me leadership skills responsibility importance of putting your best efforts at everything we he did uh D has now graduated from East straussburg he runs a small real estate company what the Vietnamese do is they put all their money together and then they give it to somebody as an investment bank and he is turning around and building houses in North Philadelphia um so in closing I would just ask for a chance keep the lines of communication open I will always recognize your better angels and talk to everybody this is a new Junior Roc it they don't I'm not here to send kids to the military it's leadership it's citizenship and it's personal growth so that's all I have to say thank you very much it's an honor and a [Applause] privilege thank you so much we welcome both of you gentlemen to the team at wall we're very excited to have you um to partner with us I think you're going to find we have some outstanding teachers here we've got outstanding staff and our students are outstanding and you're really going to enjoy them and we're thrilled to have you um at this time I would like to congratulate our folks um who were wrin candidates for the Board of Education um who have earned seats here on the board of ed Miss shimko Miss Barbieri and Mr wandra um we look forward to working we look forward to working also with our new members of the board um we've got some great things that we've accomplished so far and we continue to move the district forward it's an exciting time to be here in wall we thank everybody for coming out this evening um at this time I am going to also open the floor for second public comment on any school related issues so if you have anything you'd like to add you feel free to come to the podium hi Susan mcal Walltown ship um I'm the president of the anchor club for the colonel and we'd like to welcome him we're very excited and we look forward to a great collaboration and I'd like to thank the Board of Ed and Dr handerhan and Mr Davis for taking our concerns seriously and you walked the walk you didn't let us down and I really appreciate that thank you so much thank you do we have anyone else for a public comment my wrong tripod um that was a great speech you just gave that was fabulous we need a hundred of this guy because if he does what he says he's going to do he's going to turn out some marvelous children um my son was a Boy Scout and it was the best thing he ever did um he talked about leadership citizenship and personal growth I mean these are some things that I wish we could actually see from [Music] um the board uh and Brian SM personally so miss SES I've asked you over and over and over again like simple questions um I will keep asking the questions on the trailers because you're being sued and you have a settlement coming up in December a settlement conference they have extended the time for depositions um and it's going to be very interesting so uh thankful to the judge that he allowed that and you know the truth will come out out it's taken a really long time because Brian SMI has refused to answer questions from Dr crem from Mr gorillo it seems from the mammoth County prosecutor's office uh you you can't do investigations when you when you don't talk to the person that actually was the business administrator at the time for the trailers uh you can't and you can't demo them during an open criminal investigation you can't do that and you can't not have that be a problem you can't have mobile lease on site 3 days before the secret bid opening you can't have mobile lease's electrician 4 days before the bid opening it it stinks and when we get to the truth from Brian SMI then we can move on until until we get there and get those answers we're not moving on I will come every single week like I promised you I would and Ralph Adano promised we were going to be so transparent on the trailers and he never was he got rid of his Oprah Michael Gross said get rid of that don't put that in writing get rid of that Oprah so I still have it so I have so much information and it's so helpful because you're not you're not doing your job up here you're not no CFO gets to just say oh I'm sorry I don't want to answer any questions I'm I'm sorry that child almost died too bad because that's where we're at that's where you're at and you're not doing anything about it and I see Adam nasser's laughing as usual CUA why Mrs please director what did you say I'm a clown yes okay so why don't you talk into the microphone and say that Mrs cross please direct your comments I don't think I don't think Adam Nasser who just got sued and lost you didn't win you didn't win the district lost you had to turn over where did you get those where did you get those uh Facebook posts from cuz you're blocked for me somebody sent them to you and why don't you say who sent them to you your time is up Mrs cross thank you do we have anyone else for a public comment okay seeing them we're going to close the oh oh we I'm sorry I couldn't see him sorry hello Board of Education how are you today I just want to say what an incredible job that each and every one of you are doing and I thank you from the from the bottom of our hearts as parents um I'm speaking on behalf of really uh the actual anchor club and and for what you guys have really walk that walk I mean really came through and I'm so proud to be standing up here as a parent and to say thank you because we had a very serious issue you and you guys took it upon you know as Champions and really made this thing happen and happen very quickly too I mean that's amazing of what you guys did in such little time and I know for a fact that this is going to be an incredible program it's going to be really great for our kids and we'll have the parents supporting not only the actual children but we're going to have the parents supporting this board of education as well because you guys have walked the walk so I just wanted to say thank you from the bottom of our hearts yes sir just when you're down just state your name please for the record yes first name is Michael last name atardi I live here in wall of course so again I just want to say thank you so much and for also bringing uh back people that have helped this program in the past Brian Gillespie is a pillar of this community and uh bringing him back to help out is just amazing he's just a great guy he really cares and I just want to say I care and there are parents that care and we will be there for you guys we will be there for the students and we will do everything in our power to help get these kids you know in a really great program that I really know that we can really build here so thank you again and God bless everyone thank you again Mary Connors Wall Township um welcome M Mr Bender uh nice to meet you I was really impressed with what you had to say and we look forward to getting to know you better um and having you build a relationship with Mr Davis I know the children um already feel very comfortable with Mr Davis at the helm and I hope your relationship grows and the children um grow from that relationship as well and uh welcome Colonel jaus now that I'm in order um your speech was really inspiring and I know I kept turning back to the cadets and they all looked um very intrigued and happy with what you had to say and that's all that matters to me is that they're happy um and all those um new opportunities to come will really help the students coming up from the middle school and I hope there's parents watching this tonight knowing that as soon as their um student turns 14 they could actually be part of the nn DCC so that even means eighth graders can join um as soon as you hit your 14th birthday um I just had a couple questions I know we had a conflict in our um Township schedule so we have a meeting going on currently over at the middle school for the Genesis updates and I have asked for a copy of any PowerPoint or presentations or handouts because I really wanted to be there um because I do have quite a few questions that I've been talking to uh teachers and different um leaders about how we weigh our assessments major minor and independent and how many per um semester we have so that the grades are not skewed based on maybe just one major that a child gets a 70 um or maybe two minors that they get an 80 or a 60 and and then they could never come back if the um Independence or the majority of the grades or assessments given and they never have a chance to come back from those low one or two minor one or two majors um um and I'm really interested to see what they have to say on that now um and this is something I'm going to admit I have not checked on it but I know at one point we were we had a position open for an assistant business administrator um to assist Mr SMI with um the spending of our big um budget increase and I don't know that that's ever been filled or if it's been closed and reopened so my um ignorance is have we found anybody as an assistant ba to have a second set of eyes on all the spending um going on now currently and certainly in the future thank you thank you at this time is there anyone else for public comment seeing none we're going to close the floor for public comment comment with regard to the question on the assistant business administrator position the position was posted as an accounting sorry we had a posted accounting manager position as well as an assistant ba position and the position of accounting manager uh was filled and that was filled um last early spring um thank you Miss ties I would just like to reiterate that uh tonight is an exciting night for wall high school and um I am super excited uh you know 2024 is looking I mean 2023 is finishing really strong and 2024 just watch out I think that's a watch out okay Miss yes Miss D I just wanted to make a point a clarification there's been a lot of discussion about a a lawsuit pending involving the trailers of course the board of education is not involved in the handling of that lawsuit but I just want to point out being a practicing attorney here in Mammoth County that December 14th is a countywide settlement day hundreds upon hundreds of cases have been called in by the mammoth County judges they're calling in extra judges Reserve judges I personally have 10 cases on for settlement conference that day I did not choose those cases they do not mean that the defense is ready to offer a settlement on those cases they were called in by the court merely based upon the age of the case so they figure hey we'll bring in these cases that have been pending for a year year and a half and let's see what happens they do this twice a year so to say that there's a settlement conference is yes it's factually accurate but it does not mean that there will be any kind of a settlement or anyone's ready to discuss settlement it's just the court bringing in older cases to try to move dockets just so that we're clear thank you movani I appreciate that clarification excuse me in the crowd I would like to mention um that the anchor club which is a booster club for ndcc does have a Facebook page so if there are parents out there who are interested in getting um more involved and getting some more information I'm sure they'd be happy to work with you um and the board certainly supports your your efforts and your Endeavors um at this time I believe this concludes our business for this evening so may I please have a motion to adjourn I'll make the motion I beg your pardon second okay first and second all in favor thank you everybody have a great great couple weeks and we'll see you back in December