##VIDEO ID:GxhrNmf5Al8## e good evening good evening and welcome to the Wall Township Board of Education business meeting for Tuesday November 19th please join me in saluting the flag good evening at this time I'm going to ask our board secretary Mr Smite to please read the sunshine announcement and perform R 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 coast star Asbury Park Press Township clerk's office all Wall Township Schools and the board Administration office on August 29 2024 take a roll call Mr adio miss barier here Mr buffer here miss dgani here Mr Mali here Mr Nasser here M shimko here Mr wandra Miss Stites here thanks very much at this time may I please have a motion for the board to adjourn to Executive session Mr malof may have a second I'll second Mr Buffa all in favor any opposed all right perfect so the board is going to be adjourning to Executive session and we anticipate returning for 7 p.m. e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e good evening everyone at this time I would like to reconvene the Wall Township Board of Education meeting for Tuesday November 19th please welcome the members of the wall High School n andcc Cadet team as we uh do the flag salute right wheel flag of the United States of America and to the stands na indivisible andice for all right wheel March arms C as always thank you so much to our Cadets as well as the colonel has joined us this evening for the color guard at this time I'm going to ask our board secretary to please perform roll call Mr Smite take a roll call Mr anio miss barbier here Mr buffer here m d Giovani here Mr malof here Mr Nasser here M shimko here Mr wandra here miss stes here thank you so much second Megan Cappy thank you Aron Richie and Michael southwell thank you thank you this time I'm going to be turning the floor over to Dr handerhan for some introduction thank you so much Miss Stites uh we have a very special uh recognition this evening for one of our incredibly talented U faculty members and uh to really um to start us off I'd like to introduce one of our supervisors Miss Kelly weiner to begin this recognition all right so we just wanted to take a moment to recognize Miss Jill Alexander uh who just won the art educators of New Jersey high school divisional award uh Miss Alexander is an inspiration to her students and her fellow colleagues she is a fantastic teacher and artist and still practices her craft today so we just wanted to say congratulations to Jill [Applause] like to andess so happy that I get do what I did and I just want to say thank to for always supporting because I feel like I couldn't do what I do without me so thank you so much for all the support such a and administrator [Applause] at this time I will be opening the floor for public comment reminding folks that we've got microphones at the top of the stairs as well as down below so please feel forward to come forth hello all Township Board of Education I'm Molly Taylor a 7eventh grader at wall Intermediate School I'm here to propose the idea of adding girls flag football to wall High School our neighboring High School such as minor Squan and Neptune along with private schools such as triny H St Rose have competitive girls flag football programs in all 18 Shore conference schools have girls flag football teams and 88 schools in New Jersey competed in 2023 I feel like all female student athletes would benefit from adding the program to this school this sport has provided me and many others with opportunities I currently play on two travel girls flag football teams and I have been able to play at MetLife Stadium twice make new friends build my conf confidence while playing the sports with the sports growing popularity gaining status as an Olympic sports in 2028 starting a team would give W High School female student athletes additional opportunities to compete and Athletics After High School the NAIA has sanctioned girls flag football as a scholarship Sport and the NCAA has announced that they're exploring scholarship and Championship options I've traveled over an hour throughout New Jersey just to play weekly but having it available at the school would be a huge opportunity for me and many girls in our town my dad introduced me to this Sports when he was athletic director at Irvington High School where they became Champions state champions in 2022 because the NFL is expanding the sport of girls flag football irvington's team was flown out to Oregon by Nike to play in a national championship tournament in which they won there is no reason these opportunities can't happened for wall High School female student athletes I'm not expecting the school boards immediately add the sport without questions but at least I would like to send a form to all students 6th or 12th grade to see the student body interest thank you so much for your time and consideration I'm open to any questions or suggestions you guys may have thank you so much it's always amazing when we have perspectives shared from our student body um we certainly appreciate you for and thank you for coming out and sharing your great idea anyone else for public comment bety cross I live wall it's going to be a tough act to follow I hope you follow up with her and I hope uh you can put something in place um brought my hat my make America great again hat today because maybe we can make W great again um every week it's something else between what I see in the football happen in robbing it at a bank I mean my God what is going on here um you got to get your act together um the school you need to come out with an announcement I mean Trac you're not even looking up you know you you you need to listen to people um I take my time to come here and most of the time people got their heads down Kathleen djan she never looks over she's looking right now though thank you um New Jersey district per pupil that came out today uh 32595 for Wall Township 2223 2324 is over $33,000 uh you can't have the account and Brian SMI comes up with oh the account told us we got to take these numbers out it's very deceiving um I posted it on Facebook today and we can't be I think we were ranked 72 out of 74 so only two districts spent more than us in the district um what else I literally looked at this for like 10 minutes um you know the problem is too when we have a lot of board members that are handpicked by the union we we're not working for the students and we see that over and over again um I'm glad to see we're getting finally separated Horizon I wish we would have health insurance in a separate bank account because you can't follow anything like I've been saying for a decade should be investigated Brown and Brown should be investigated what else uh tuition I see the state is paying us 24,000 to send one high school student here they're paying 22,000 to send one Intermediate School student but guess what it's costing us 33 Grand and then you have one per person paying private for like $8,000 we can't lose money on students coming in it's not worth it especially if they get hurt and they get sued I saw that video of a football some something happened in wall high school on November 5th how disturbing with the police called I'm going to open that like to see the police report minutes are horrible as usual Mr Adam Nasser nothing is attached I don't want links I want attachments so when I go back and look at something I find that the link is missing because Brian SMI put it in a link and now you can't find it we need links I mean we need attachments God knows who did the curriculum instruction minutes there's no name on it not good what else HR um yeah you talk about health insurance being your time is up okay I'll wrap it up you talk about health Insurance being on you know on target but how could you possibly tell prove it with attachment your time is up right do we have anyone else for public comment at this time anyone else for public comment either to the top or the uh bottom microphone all right thank you for sharing your perspective and at this time I'm going to be closing the floor for public comment at this time I would like to turn turn the floor over to our fantastic student Representatives we have Aon Richie Michael southwell and Megan Cappy uh congratulations to Megan Megan was our homecoming queen um so that was great um excited for you and all of our students I think had a great time at homecoming so at this time our fantastic seniors the floor is yours it's hard to believe we are already a quarter of the way through the school year we just started the second Market comped and are excited for the holidays auditions for The Fall drama are taking place this week and with the show going to be performed on January 10th and 11th as fall sports are ending let's talk about the incredible season some teams had the football girls soccer and girls volleyball teams all made it to the central Jersey group 2 sectional final the football team still has their big rivalry game against Squan on Thanksgiving this has turned into a division game which if they win they'll be titled to winning their whole division go wall beat gone girls tennis and boys soccer just wrapped up their great Seasons a few weeks ago and finally three great achievements by wall high school athletes Sam Brett Michael horley and Alexa Mason just had their division one Signing Day the other day today just concluded the fall flag football for our Unified sports team they started off with a scrimmage against Tom's Central Regional and then played two games against the Tom East Raiders and the Toms River North Mariners all players did an amazing job and so so did the cheerleaders helping them towards Victory now the team will start practicing for basketball this winter and then kickball in the spring good luck to them thank you so much as always we welcome you to stay but if you've got some things that you need to uh get working on that's great I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and a lovely uh holiday break as it's coming up and you guys are getting ready so if you guys want to stay or go I'm gonna leave that up to you all right thanks as always great job guys [Applause] okay at this time I'm going to ask Dr handerhan to introduce a special presentation thank you miss miss stes it is um my pleasure to introduce members of our wtea to um honor some of our educational support Personnel uh for those of you that um regularly attend or watch our board meetings you'll note that I think usually in may we um the WTA sponsors an essay contests a teacher to remember um and it's really a very moving a very very moving um event as um you know to hear the words directly from the students is U it's exceptional and it's a it's a it's a very special moment for the honored Educators uh the association approached the Board of Education and um you know uh floated the idea that you know it's it's such a success uh the essay contest for a teacher to remember that wouldn't it be great if we did the same for all of our educational uh support Personnel so without any further Ado I would like to welcome the members know who is speaking tonight miss s okay Miss s come on up thank you so much good evening everyone the wtaa would' like to thank the Board of Education Dr handerhan and all the students who participated in our ESP contest where our students chose to take personal time and write about their favorite ESP the wtea had over 40 essays to read about our amazing esps ESP is short for educational support support professionals educational support Professionals Day is tomorrow Wednesday November 20th and this is a wonderful way to recognize our ESP winners educational support professionals are the unsung heroes of public education an indispensable part of every student's educational experience which comes from the work of unsung heroes of our school communities esps are the individuals who ensure the entire school system run smoothly throughout the school year they are the backbone of or better yet the Foundation of our school Community without a strong Foundation a building will crumble these inspiring individuals include our administrative assistants bus drivers cafeteria staff custodians maintenance and mechanics and power professionals who can imagine a school building without our ESP staff we are excited to announce the 2024 winners of the ESP remember essay I'm sorry esp2 remember essay contest and our students would like to share their essays with all of you so we'd like to start with Miss Harper rrom she is from Allenwood school and she would like to read and she would like to read to Mrs Amber Gordon one of our bus [Applause] drivers Dear Miss Amber you are the best bu driver thank you for keeping us safe and making sure that we are okay you always say good morning and goodbye to us I also love your hair one reason that you are the best is because you respect us you drive carefully and make sure that we are all buckled this is one reason why I love you as my bus driver another reason why you are number one is because you always greet us with a smile on your face you are friendly and supportive to the kindergarteners to the fifth grade safties these are all reasons why you are the best bus driver thank you Miss Amber for driving all of us to and from school [Applause] safely maybe if we could keep our student um writers and our our honores down in the front row we'll bring everyone up for pictures as soon as we're done next we have anley Kelly from Central School who will read about Mrs Katherine Rosano a power professional it oh wait my name is ky I am in second grade at Central School I would like to tell you about a very special person at school her name is Mrs Rosano I have type 1 diabetes and Mrs Rosano is special because she helps me I've been with her since kindergarten she watches my device called the descom it watches my blood sugar numbers Mrs Roso looks to see if my numbers are higher or lower if my numbers get high I might get cranky she takes me to the nurse the nurse will give me sugar and I will feel better if my numbers are high I have to walk a bit to bring them down or get more inst my sister an walks with me I am lucky to have her with me every day I get to play with my friends and have to worry about my blood sugar number about my blood sugar because Mrs Ros watches it for me I can learn better because of her Mrs Rano is very kind to me in the whole class I happy that she's my ESP and I will always remember her next we have Connor Barrett he is from the high school and we'll read about Mrs Charlene Russell a power professional Connor has his sister that would like to read for Miss Russell is a PA professional at wall high school she's important because she helps me with math and in my ninth grade French class she helped me with reading books for English class she was always positive and encouraging she always guided me and made sure I knew what to do for example Miss Russell made me aware of what team my shirt where to go at what time and when it was time to go go do different things during Unified sports she's really [Applause] helpful next is Lena furry she from Intermediate School and we'll read about Mrs Nancy otar Peterson a par professional good evening I'm Lena Fury and I this is my ESP to remember teachers pair a professional staff one word for a domain of jobs I chose pair of professional it's one word that could mean more than just a job they aren't just helpers for kids they motivate you push you to do your best it's much more than a helper my seventh grade year Mrs otat was in in most of my classes she isn't just a pair of professional to me she taught me to look at things with a brighter look she opened a door for me even when they seemed locked she always showed me a way in she made sure to check on me when I was having a bad day knowing that someone goes out of their way to ask it always brightens up my day I Lov talking to her about field hockey and the sports I did she didn't just show me what being kind was she opened a door for a whole new world of possibilities we don't give enough credit to those in classrooms I wish we did because they are some of the most important people in our everyday classroom lives they help the lives of students in the overall flow of the classroom I thank Mrs otat for changing my life for the [Applause] better next we have Patrick Kenyan he's from Old Mill school and he will read about Mrs ingred Butler an administrative assistant hi I'm Patrick Kenyan I'm in fourth grade and my ASP to remember was Miss Butler my school secretary Miss Butler The Old Mill school secretary has been a member of our school Community for a long time she started out as a parent and was a part of hold mill hman school but is now one of the most important people that works at our school whenever you go to the office Miss Butler is there to lend a hand even when she's busy Miss Butler always takes the time to stop listen and help anyone who needs it whether she's coining s school events managing schedules organizing attendance or making announcements Miss Butler is there to make sure everything run smoothly she knows the answers to everyone's questions and she is connected uh she communicates with staff students and parents that so that everyone feels connected and knows what's going on Miss Butler makes the funniest announcement that announcements that always make us smile she works really hard to make make our school the awesome place that it is thank you [Applause] next is Matthew Jobe he's from West Belmore school and we'll read about Mrs Anna noon an administrative assistant [Applause] Mrs noon the unsung hero of West belmare Elementary School I'm writing this essay to express my gratitude and appreciation for one of the the unsung heroes of West Belmar Elementary School Miss noon Miss noon is is the best Administrative Assistant because as the voice and face of West Palmar Elementary she serves as one of the first lines of Defense she always goes above and beyond her job as an administrative assistant Miss Miss noon is bilingual which means she speaks English and Spanish this is important because in our school we have a lot we have a lot of people mostly SP mostly parents who speak Spanish and they have someone who they can talk to that understands what they are saying and provides translation to ensure that they have a connection she is also very passionate about her do job and treats everyone as her own as I have experienced this since I used to go to before care for 2 years she tries to bring everyone together and helps others make friends she cares for everyone one time I forgot my lunch and she found me and returned it another time she called my mom as she was on the highway and she was in the middle of the highway to grab my breakfast once she bought a miniat and and dog toy for us to play with in for care which shows she care she cares so much about us before care people I I really appreciate her so much and she is a big part of my youth she is so kind and even watch us let us watch videos of the baron steam bears in conclusion Miss noon shows empathy and for that I am grateful Beyond her job as the administrative assistant in all of those jobs she goes above and beyond she is the heart in the small [Applause] school this concludes our ESP to remember essay contest presentation thank you all for joining us in celebrating our amazing ESP at this time the board would like to mention um first we're going to have all of our recipients and the amazing students who wrote on their behalf we're going to have you go up into the hallway because I think we have a little bit better lighting out there um because we want to get some great pictures um and with permission be able to share them with our community so certainly the school district recognizes um all of our esps um you are the spirit and the soul of our school um your contributions are unbelievable and the school district would not function without you um so every single person who works in the district is so important um and we truly appreciate you and I thank the wtea for having the initiative so that we have the opportunity to have a special night of Rec Rec ognition um because wall School District would not be the same without you so thank you very much and it's a great and thank you to our students who went out of their way um to show gratitude it's really a beautiful thing that you've done and we're very proud that you were able to express yourselves um and I hope you're very proud of yourselves for thanking these special people so thank you [Applause] Miss Wier will be taking the picture she's just heading up these stairs here you guys could just follow her thank you e we're just going to give everyone just a few moments to get themselves organized there so bear with us just a few more moments folks all righty and after that beautiful presentation I'll be moving into my president's report speaking of celebrating I'd like to go ahead and make some special recognitions we're going to start with our wall High School certificate students for October 2024 in grade nine we have student of the month Lila Gant grade 10 Kylie Basset grade 11 mered Brennan and grade 12 McKenzie Riley for our nights of the week for the week of October 7th we have Michael Chadwick Joseph Shields Landon seamers Christian Suki and Mason Wells for the week of October 14th we have Somaya esdale for the week of October 28th we have John fiser and then we also have completed a marking period so we have some students of the marking period one for English we have senior Morgan Brady for family life we have senior John fiser for math we have freshman Alexander Sanchez Hernandez for media TV we have senior Charles Mahoney for music We have senior Ava manol all for PE and health we have sophomore Connor Doro for science we have senior Mia lerio for technology Ed we have senior Joseph young and for World Language we have Junior Quincy yod my report this evening is going to be brief um I with the Thanksgiving holiday approaching I hope that everyone is um also reflecting on what they are grateful for I'm tremendously grateful for our Educators for our esps and the people who work so hard advancing our students in this District um our district is not a perfect District we are microcosm of the world um and we need to just continue working day in and day out to give our students the best that we have I would like to thank my fellow members of the board um who also work day and in and day out on advancing our students advancing our Educators advancing this District I'm tremendously proud of all of them and Incredibly grateful for all of them and for everyone who works hard um both in our school district and within our greater School Community uh I hope that we can all enjoy a wonderful holiday um that people have time to reflect on what they are grateful for um and to do some good works also so um within our community that's what makes us stronger and that is all I have for this evening for our president's report I'm going to turn the floor over to Dr handerhan for superintendence report and I am also incredibly grateful for Dr handerhan and her leadership in good times and in challenges well I thank you Miss Stites um I'd first like to um as always thank our color guard and the colonel for coming out to start off our meeting um in such a dignified manner I'd like to thank our student representatives to the Board of Education Megan Cappy Aaron Richie and Michael southwell for coming out to join us this evening also a thank you to miss Jill Alexander for sharing her passion for the Arts with and her all of her abundant amazing talents with our students i' would also like to thank all of the students who nominated educational support person uh Professionals in the essay contests um our education service professionals work so hard for our students and our schools and I'm so grateful for their service and for the wtea in sponsoring this event the Unified sports team played three flag football games over the past two weeks last week on Tuesday November 12th the wall High School Unified sports team played flag football against Central Regional High School fans from the school attended and cheered on our team on Thursday November 14th they Brave the cold as they committ competed against Toms River East accompanied by wall high school cheerleaders and fans today the team played Toms River North under the direction of Coach Jared mof they played they outplayed their opponents and demonstrated Improvement throughout this brief season it was told it was told it was a beautiful day I was told it was a beautiful day as parents cheerleaders and a Pep Squad cheered them on um I share this with you this evening because I just want to stress that um it is an an amazing thing to watch Unified sports grow in the uh Shore area so um we're picking up more and more games and we're so incredibly uh proud of our student athletes um and of course uh their educational support personnel and their um their teachers and their fans so uh some wonderful things that are happening on the field dreams as I explained last month during my superintendence report I will ver I will be verbally reporting out on our monthly enrollment numbers for October 2024 the total District enrollment is as follows prek 72 kindergarten 227 first grade 223 second grade 234 third grade 250 fourth grade 23 34 fifth grade 281 6th grade 239 7th grade 258 8th grade 260 9th grade 219 10th grade 219 11th grade 255 12th grade 233 I did receive an inquiry from the public regarding the posting of student discipline on board agendas please note that the disci included on this evening's agenda reflects the consequences assigned in October similarly November's numbers will appear on December's agenda I also wanted to take this opportunity to share some of my thoughts around the notion of sportsmanship in my experience Educators believe that the extracurricular experience for students can be incredibly beneficial to their development communities Across the Nation and certainly New Jersey invest greatly in these experiences through dedicated tax dollars and Investments of time I believe the value in extracurricular programming whether it be artistic athletic or other areas serves as a perfect or near perfect complement to a robust academic curriculum skills such as taking responsibility for one's actions building a strong work ethic being humble accepting defeat with Grace winning with class respecting others being trustworthy and being resilient are just a few of the skills that can be honed in the extracurricular domain these skills and others are the Hallmarks of good sportsmanship and I believe they are essential in building a great citizenry for our future good sportsmanship is valued greatly by this board of education Administration and coaching staff the investment of money and time is not made so our programs can accumulate trophies and medals these Investments are made to advance our citizenry and instill the very important skills that will help realize our school district's Mission which is to empower all students to lead lives of fulfillment and purpose by providing a safe comprehensive and caring educational environment that will enable students to achieve their unique potential academically socially and emotionally as such we expect the highest degree of sportsmanship from student athletes coaches and Spectators having attended many school events I am proud to have witnessed examples of not just good sportsmanship but great sportsmanship I am grateful for these experiences that said we will not condone or support any deviations from the tenants of good sportsmanship when staff and administration are made aware of issues involving poor sportsmanship from a member of the wall athletic Community it is investigated by Administration self-reported to the njsiaa as warranted and consequent quences are assigned as appropriate these matters are not taking light taken lightly nor should they be last week wtps honored our veterans through various meaningful activities across the district special thanks to Allenwood for providing the opportunity for our students and staff to learn precious lessons from our World War II veterans it was an experience that will be remembered by all and I just want to if you um haven't already seen the um the social media posts and some of the pictures on the website I invite you to do so because the um the gentlemen that shared their experiences from World War II uh there are photos that we've um had the honor of posting alongside their biography and their assignments during the war and um I can't tell you you how moving it was for our students how moving it was for the staff um and also how moving I found it to be and um it was a beautiful it was a beautiful Gathering of our community uh the school Community uh the police community and the mun and the municipality um it was one of the most beautiful um come together events that I've had the privilege of attending so if you have not already seen our social media posts uh regarding our um you you know the amazing amazing veterans that came to see us um I invite you to do so next week we will celebrate Thanksgiving and the holiday season will be officially underway tonight I'd like to leave you with the brief but wise words of the ancient philosopher Sena nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart it appears senica let the secret out during the days of the Roman Empire so we officially have him to thank for the seven mindsets attitude of gratitude so Happy Thanksgiving to all of you to your family to your friends and um it's a special time and um again nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart so miss sites thank you at this time um we're going to move into the Board of Education report Mr malof I believe you have a contribution for us thank you uh president sites I just want to take a moment to recognize the passing of one of uh wall Township's former uh teachers and coaches Mr Warren Campbell who was a uh teacher phad teacher at Old Middle School for many many years and also a track coach at uh at wall High School for many many years passed away last month at the age of 80 uh I first came to know Mr Campbell when he was a volunteer coach in the wall Recreation uh track program I then continued uh my association with him uh as a high school athlete as a a runner at uh wall High School uh he coached myself and along U my brothers as well uh I don't think I ever knew anybody who was as enthusiastic about track and field as Mr Campell he had encyclopedia encyclopedic knowledge of uh events and Runners and uh could quote uh workouts that he did years ago he kept a diary of all the workouts that that he did as a runner and those that he uh he gave to us uh he had a great influence on uh on myself on my career as I went on to uh to coach high school track myself for for 20 years and I've had the opportunity to come uh in contact with Mr Campbell many times over those years uh I think he would be uh I'm sorry that he's not going to be uh able to uh enjoy uh the uh wonderful plans we have for our new uh Athletic Complex will which will include a much upgraded track and field facility uh but I'm sure he'll be looking upon that from above uh and be very happy to see that we're moving in that direction so I just wanted to uh uh make that mention about Mr Campbell thank you Mr malof our thoughts are with his family and friends at this time Mr Nasser do you have a referendum update for us thank you this month the finance and Facilities committee met over at the primary school to go over the and take a look at the referendum work that was completed over there um we went through it's a small building so it was relatively quick but um similar to our our walk through at the high school was very impressed with some of the work that we're seeing um there is some still in progress uh the installation of the windows uh just due to the lead time of the windows got pushed to winter break and Spring Break um I will defer to Dr handerhan I know um we've spoken about getting a stakeholder meeting together to look at those plans and start making making them public um I know we're very excited about it um there was a meeting there is a meeting tenably scheduled for the second at 6:30 but um that was two weeks ago I don't know if anything's changed so uh I will defer to her um other than that it this is the time of year where things kind of slow down closing projects out and designing and getting ready to bid out new ones so all the details are at the links on the minutes I would encourage people to visit them visit their website it is a central repository for all things referendum thank you thank you Mr Nasser does anyone else have anything El anything to contribute to the board report I'd like to Echo Mr nasser's sentiments um our district website has pictures that you can follow along progress um and we will continue to update and also to Echo um Dr handerhan mentioning following the Facebook page the social social media posts um each of our schools is really knocking it out of the park um with projects that they are uh doing individually I know um Old Mill just had a book fair and donated I believe it was 100 books to the Emanuel Cancer Center um and I know Allenwood school just had a food drive with I believe the beneficiary being being um fulfill food bank and we've got beautiful pictures there um on our social media a lot of the fun things that they're doing with the kids and that's happening all over the district so um I encourage everybody to enjoy the really positive things that are happening across the district that is going to close it for the board oh excuse me Mr wandra what about the central school they collected a thousand boxes of ser and then they knocked them all over yes I stand correct it I believe it was Central School that had the food drive yes thank you sorry guys I have there's a lot going on there but absolutely they did it was cute and that's also on social social media thank you Mr wandra it was Central School correct my apologies at this time I'm going to close the board report I'm going to remind folks that committee um minutes are posted and we'll be um do we have any reports from any of our committee chairs anything to add from our committee chairs at this time okay at this time we'll be opening the floor for public comment again we've got the podium at the top of the stairs the podium at the bottom please feel free to come and share your thoughts for bety cross I live in Wall Township um I don't know why we're not saying the student count to me it makes no sense there's nothing needs to be hidden I had to Total it myself right now we have 3,24 students and then I think the budget in total was 105 million when you divide 105 uh million dollar by 3204 we like over 33 Grand a kid um people are not getting that value for the money they're just not um so I I just have constantly I'm sitting here and people are texting and you know you got to do better um I don't know I see the one guy here who's on the who ran for the board for right in he'll probably get it I don't I I don't know if I see see the other other person it's like you got to come to meetings you can't just show up and and think you're going to just jump right in here um a lot of the writings um I put in Donald J Trump that's what I put in um because people are just tired of the nonsense in Wall Township so hopefully I'm I'm going to be asked some opinions I've been working in Pennsylvania for a couple months now on the Trump camp aign so I would love to give my input and look at the doe and uh look at Wall Township so I hope to get that opportunity my uh Facebook page Betsy Oprah education is attach to my instagam to the agenda I will now thank you um could you go over why you started now finally separating health insurance took I don't know 14 12 years to do it is the money sitting at a separate bank account nobody can follow the money uh so finally I see you have like a separate Horizon um I have no idea you say It's On Target on target based on what Adam what can you show that it's on target so tra uh Christine stes if you can have Mr Nasser you know you put that in writing an fnf minute you need to back it up you just can't just can't say that um you know we spend so much money on stiens pages and pages and pages with stiens are people actually you know logging in and doing the work are the kids there I I just can't believe how many stiens we have they should really be looked at in wall I see tuition to Asbury is going up 69,000 so tuition just to Asbury it says tuition to other leas wi 12 8,000 then we have tuition to private schools is um milon 697 633 so when people are always saying oh you know we don't spend any money on sending kids to um biotech yeah we do it costs money thank you m at the transfers um lost do we have anyone else for public comment at this time thank you Mrs cross your time is up thank you thank you yes Mrs cross thank you thank you for sharing your perspective do we have anyone else for public comment this evening no I'll be closing public comment at this time may I please have a motion to yes Mr Mr Smite take an opportunity to clarify some points that are made for public comment if we can do it expeditiously yes I'll do my best uh only because there was a lot of information was was put out there and unfortunately most of it is incorrect uh and I just want to provide some clarification some context uh just following up from uh real quickly last month there was a comment with regard to uh District spending $18 million on HC projects uh with regard to the referendum uh and there was uh not did not have the understanding that we could have $118 Million worth of work we actually have awarded um over $29 million of HVAC workers part of the referendum that is to date uh and I should also want to take the opportunity to clarify that none of the work that has been done over the past five years is being redone as part of this referendum that was a statement that were uh redoing work that was done in the last four years that's not accurate uh any of the projects that have been done the last five or six years are not part of the referendum so all the work is in fact um new work uh also was indicated that we had an HVAC lawsuit um in June uh there is no HVAC uh HVAC lawsuit or any lawsuits regarding uh HVAC contractors Etc um with regard to the uh comprehensive maintenance plan that was uh that was discussed last month and that uh we don't spend sufficient funds and maintaining our facilities and you know the figure that's put out there based on the plan that we uh have the board board of education approve it's over $400,000 that we spend on average for maintaining our facilities uh school districts are required in order to be eligible for state aid for referendum type projects we're required to invest 2% of the value of a building we have to uh invest 2% of that value over a 10year period uh and they uh we report on that on an annual basis we uh obviously exceed the 2% because that Target on an annual basis would be about 150,000 that we would have to invest in required maintenance in our facilities and we are over $400,000 on an annual basis uh doing that work and providing that comprehensive uh maintenance plan that report on an annual basis allowed the district to be eligible for the 22 or over $22 million in debt service Aid that the district is going to be receiving as part of the referendum if you recall during that presentation uh we said that we were eligible for state aid uh for the uh for the referendum project in excess of $22 million that's because we have invested in our facilities over the uh past 10 years so uh also uh you want me to report on a regular basis with regard to Oprah uh we have received and responded to 44 Oprah requests to date the school year we we provided a little over 8,600 pages of government records all uh all requests have received a response 43 of them are closed out we have one that has partially responded to and we have additional records to uh provide to that requester um with regard to um the state payments for the students that are attending the district that were placed by the state and the state is paying the tuition of I think it's $24,000 and $22,000 that tuition is based on our budgeted tuition cost for the current school year the 2425 school year in accordance with the formula that the Department of Education uses uh for calculating tuition for a school district so that's based on the documents we support to the state that is the figure that the state uses in paying tuition to the school district um with regard to the comments on $105 million budget our budget is not $105 million uh it's $87 million uh I would encourage everyone to view the uh taxpayers guide to educational spending it's on the department of education's website I'm sure there's a link um that is attached to um articles that are in the paper uh and there's a number of different figures the state uses one of is it's a comparative spending guide so they provide budgetary numbers and they provide actual expens expenditures for each district and they do that so that there that any anyone can compare District to District when reviewing the guide um with regard to the figures thrown out of uh $33,000 per pupil that that's the actual number uh from a a comparative spending guide or from a a district to District comparison basis or on a budgetary basis that's not accurate um that is a number that the state puts out for total spend spending but they also provide a comparative spending or a budgetary number uh which is the number that we report on it's the number that the state pays tuition which is the 24,000 the 32,000 per pupil is the total spending because it includes all costs associated with the school district which would include all the payments that the state makes on behalf of the district as they make with all school district for example State payments on behalf of District's pensions Social Security and other retirement medical is included in that figure uh Transportation costs because they vary by District aren't always included in a comparative uh sense but they are in the total spending uh Food Service expenditures which are not part of our budget uh however they are included in the total expenditure number that was uh referenced or put out by the state and reference that 33,000 including the fees that students pay for their lunch so again that's not part of our annual school budget the capital outlay that we uh include in the budget is also included in in the total special remu funds so the grants we get whether it's a local Grant from um assoc organizations within Town whether it's special ed grants that the district receives uh that is also included in that total number but is not part of our operating budget not part of the budget that the community pays taxes toward also The Debt Service including The Debt Service Aid the state pays is included in that total number so when we report on the comparative spending guide or our tuition of 24,000 it's based on our operating budget not the additional cost that the state's paying for pensions and not the additional cost that the state's paying for the uh for Debt Service Aid and for The Debt Service cost to the district so just to provide some context to the numbers being out because I know somebody uh ask me with regard to postings that are on social media and the information that is out there is incorrect uh so I would encourage anyone who is interested to actually review the taxpayers guide on the department of education's website thank you thank you excuse me excuse me enough you had your you had your time at the at the microphone enough you don't need to clarify for him thank you all right at this time I'm going to ask for a motion to approve the consent consent agenda I'll make a motion Mr Buffa Miss G Giovani Mr Smite take a roll call Miss barier yes Mr buffer yes Mr D Giovani yes Mr Mali yes Mr Nasser yes M shco yes Mr wandra yes M STS yes thank you all righty and as we close out the meeting I would just like to wish a wonderful Thanksgiving to our great students and our great staff I happen to think this is a great school district and it will continue to be great and we will continue to make forward motion and be greater so on that note may I please have a motion to adjourn I'll make that motion Mr Mala second Mr wandra all in favor any opposed any extensions okay thanks everyone have a good night