e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e for good evening everyone welcome to the business meeting of the Wall Township Board of Education for Tuesday July 16th please join me in saluting the flag to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you at this time I'm going to ask our board secretary Mr SMI to please read the sunshine announcement and perform roll call this is the Walltown Board of Education meeting for which adequate notice on the open public meetings Act was provided by notice to the Asbury Park Press co-star all Wall Township Public School Township clerk's office and a posting in a board Administration office on January 4th 2023 take a roll call Mr adio miss barbier here Mr Buffa Miss D Giovani here Mr Mali here Mr Nasser here miss shimko here Mr wandra here miss tis here thank you at this time the board will be going into executive session may I please get a motion for us to adjourn to Executive session to discuss the items that are on the agenda I'll make Miss G Giovani second Mr malof all in favor thank you at this time the board will go into executive session and we anticipate returning at 7:30 thank you 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 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 my good evening ladies and gentlemen good evening ladies and gentlemen at this time I will be reconvening the business meeting for the Wall Township Board of Education for Tuesday July 16th please join me in welcoming members of our wall High School n NCC color guard with their presentation of the colors and the flag salute [Music] left wheel m [Music] to the flag of the United States of America and to the for it stands one nation God indivisible with liy and justice for all color guard March off the colors love forward thank you and I'd like to thank the members of the nncc for coming to a meeting in July and also um offer my best wish es to the colonel who is also here supporting his students righty at this time Mr SMI will you please uh perform roll call let's take a roll call Mr anesio here miss barbier here Mr Buffa Miss D Giovani here Mr malif here Mr Nasser here miss shimko here here miss stes here thank you at this time I'd like to make the announcement that the firm of Cornell Morino and Osborne have merged with meth fessel and worble may I please have a motion to approve methfessel and warble as board counsel for the 20242 school year effective July 1st 2024 at a rate of $170 per hour I'm MO Miss D Giovani first Mr wandra second Mr SMI Mr anio yes Miss barbier yes Miss D Giovani yes Mr Mal yes Nasser yes Miss shimo yes wandra yes Miss St yes thank you there is no student showcase this evening we hope that students are having a wonderful summer um I will be opening the floor for public comment but prior to doing so the board requests that those individuals speaking will be courteous and mindful of the rights of other individuals when making comments specifically comments regarding individual students and school Personnel are discouraged and will not be responded to by the board students and employees have specific legal rights afforded by the laws of New Jersey the Wall Township Board of Education Bears no responsibility nor will it be liable for any comments made by members of the public speakers should consider their comments in light of the legal rights of those affected by or identified in their comments and recognize they are legally responsible for and liable for their comments at this time I'll be opening the floor for public comment if you would like to participate please come up to the podium and share with us bety cross I live in Wall Township uh my first question I have for tonight is uh a settlement agreement was approved for the Central School trailer case there were two letters they're found on ecourts um and it says on July 1st the matter indifference in the above entitled action has been amicably adjusted between the parties so it is a lawsuit between the student and the Walt tanter Board of Education and I do not see it anywhere on the agenda so we have waited almost 5 years uh this started in August of 2019 we were promised from Mr Adano uh anybody can go back and listen to the audio we are going to be so transparent on the trailers you are actually going to be sick of it uh we never got that we got the cover up completely from the start with Miss Cornell's firm I had to sue for documents won that case Cas Miss Cornell's firm had to pay $41,000 to my attorney they were all to do with the Central School trailers Mr Smite who has his head down as usual um was deposed Ted Hopkins was also deposed Mr SMI lied and said the trailers were inspected they were never inspected Ted Hopkins said he was never in Princeton he had no idea where the trailers came from and uh he has no idea why Mr Smite would actually lie and say that uh the the trailers were inspected when they were not um I spoke to Ted Hopkins on two occasions that was before his deposition because I think he wanted to be sure he got his story out um he told Mr Smite to not buy the used trailers he said to buy the new trailers uh so we need to get the truth out and Mr Smite needs to be fired this is a person that had been named business administrator a couple of weeks and was going against the advice of the architect Mr smice at the time was also a licensed architect he did a lot of work for Michael Raco uh Michael Raco went to jail provin Bal went to jail the people from Bas went to jail and here we are now we have a settlement that you're hiding you'll be sued for and you lose you cannot hide settlement agreements we found out the girl uh with the warant case that was settled September 23rd you have also not released it so you need to get your head out of your you know what and start being transparent and start being accountable because people are absolutely sick of it um the rumors that have gone around with this latest lawsuit how everybody else knew what was going on but the people up here didn't know Dr hran you got to get out of your office and and start doing some work um you can't be sitting in there just worrying about the lawsuits we spend double and triple what other school districts are spending in Ocean Township hell you you have got to start thinking about the students and not 20 pages of stiens every month I put in opras Mr SMI hasn't return them uh her date of termination is June 30th you can come up with what everything you want but why it doesn't show July July 3rd when she terminated it it I I can't figure out um nobody trusts the board you need to hire somebody to do an internal investigation I think it's Mr Santiago you need to interview these people and it can't be from anybody on this board and it cannot be Miss Cornell or thank you m cross your time is up the floor is open for additional public comment at this time now for something completely different um I'm Dave fck Wall Township I am also the secretary treasurer for the New Jersey lacrosse officials assoc assciation we are the governing body for boys lacrosse officials across the state uh I've been in High School lacrosse official for 26 years and was a high school and college football official for the better part of 20 years I'm glad to see that the board is reviewing their policy 5570 on sportsmanship and given how hot it's been I had that kind of time to look through it and actually really read it your policy has a couple flaws in it in item one it says understand and follow the rules of the contest uh it has been modified to respect the rules of the contest why not have two bullet points one with each word cuz saying that you don't understand them would be like a coach walking out on the field who's not prepared to teach class coach doesn't understand the rules that's the same as a history teacher telling their students that the United States is a democracy versus a constitutional republic they should understand the rules there's also no specific mention in the first section about respect for the officials and the training that is undertaken before they walk on the field and that is a glaring Omission get to that in a minute the section defining sport unsportsmanlike conduct is vague and item two what would be defined as a violent or abusive behavior that needs to be specified the closing of the policy says that failure to exhibit good sportsmanship May subject the individual to disciplinary action there's no specifics what would that disciplinary action be a core on this is how you will Implement that the actions of the participants and fans can be skewed in communication with Administration after a game I would urge the district if they truly want this taken seriously to have a site man manager at every home contest to Monitor and report back truthfully truthfully on about the behavior of the players coaches and most importantly the fans I can tell you that wall high school has what can be bluntly described as a horrendous reputation on the athletic fields particularly in the two sports I've have been affiliated with officials in both Sports have told me how it is a serious chore to work games involving wall High School while on a macro level I'm referencing anecdotal information from officials I know working multiple Sports I will concer in the sport I'm a most affiliated with boys lacrosse the behavior exhibited by the players coaches and fans particularly parents can kindly described as questionable more succinctly it is abusive toward officials and the opponents in 2023 immediately following walls lost to Summit in the group finals at hopo Valley the wall players and parents were shouting at Summit players telling that they insert word here sucked and other things that are not fit for a public meeting in addition the officials were accosted after leaving the field by players coaches and parents well I would like to say this is a one-off isolated incident it most C it most certainly is not I wrote way too much and I have very little time left uh I will tell you I did offer to the athletic director at back to school night in 2023 I offered to her that I would speak to the team prior to the season coaches players and parents I sent an email followup never got anything in return I can't do wall high school games my daughter just graduated in June so I cannot officiate wall high school games I do love this community I understand passion I also understand that High School athletics is a vital part of an education learning how to win and lose is great but you have to be able to do it with some class thank you sir the floor remains open for public comment at this time do we have anyone else for a public comment seeing none I will be closing the floor for for public comment we do not have student representative reports this evening we do however have some special presentations and I'm going to turn the floor over to Dr handerhan to introduce thank you Miss titites um it is my pleasure to introduce our assistant superintendent for curriculum instruction Miss Jennifer McAn as she shares um some of our state assessments and also um some really exciting updates coming out of curricul curriculum and instruction so I turn this over to you thank you thank you for waiting so patiently I know you're all waiting with faded breath to see what's what's coming okay so our first presentation for this evening um as we are required by the NJ dooe once we receive our district test results for our various State assessments we are required to present those results to the Board of Education as well as to the community and we have recently received our NJ GPA and access for L's results which we're going to go over this evening let's see okay so our first assessment is the New Jersey graduation proficiency assessment which is the NJ GPA um it is administered to all grade 11 students and it is designed to measure the extent of which the students are graduation ready in both language arts and Mathematics the graduation Readiness is reported separately for each content component the ELA component is aligned with grade 10 standards and the mathematics component was aligned to Algebra 1 and geometry standards wow that is really small for all of you to see um however I can um point it out to you in grade 11 the NJ GPA Ela results we are scored on two different areas whether they are not yet graduation ready or whether they are graduation ready and in ela we had 94.7% of our students who have met the requirements and are found to be graduation ready um in addition to that we are required to report out in each of the sub subgroups um demographically um but I don't have that written in front of me but they are um up there for public knowledge and will be posted on the district website in terms of mathematics again um two uh levels that we are um graded on um not yet graduation ready and graduation ready and in mathematics we had 73.5% of our students who met the graduation requirements so some notable achievements over the past two years we've been able to stay pretty consistent in terms of the percentage of passing um last year we were at 97.2% um for ELA and 72.4% for mathematics which shows us the programs that we have put in place at wall High School to provide that academic support for our students is working as well as adjustments that we made to curriculum over the past two years some intervention strategies that we will offer to the students who have not met the requirements um we one will continue to review the standards that were assessed we'll evaluate our scope in sequence we'll reflect on some of our instructional practices providing professional development to our teachers as well as continuing to offer the nights for Success program through through Title One funding for any students who did not meet the graduation requirement we will suggest that they attend the nights for Success program and they'll have the opportunity to retake the assessment in October if they have not met their graduation testing requirement from a different pathway if the students continue to not be successful after taking the graduation assessment in October like I mentioned there are other Pathways that the students can meet their testing graduation requirement that they would then work with their guidance counselor and ensuring that they meet one of those Pathways the access for L's assessment is administered between February and April to all of our ESL students in grades K through 12 the assessment consists of four sub assessments so the students are assessed on listening speaking reading and writing which then measures their oral language their literacy and comprehension skills this particular assessment is aligned to the weda standards and there are six proficiency levels the oral language component is 50% listening as well as 50% speaking their literacy score is 50% Reading Plus 50% of their writing score their comprehension score score is 70% Reading Plus 30% of their listening score and then they have an overall score of 35% reading 35% writing 15% listening and 15% speaking this particular assessment because we are working with students who are trying to acquire the language there are six different proficiency levels they can be found to be either entering emerging developing expanding bridging or reaching so our overall score by proficiency level through the district I can't report out by grade level due to the fact of the number of students who are in each grade level they would then be identifiable which would not be um appropriate so our results are districtwide results so you can see maybe that there were 99.7% of the students who were entering 20.8% who are emerging 34.7% who were in developing 27.8% who were expanding 6.9% who were bridging and we didn't have anyone scoring in the reaching we tested 73 students um across the district now any student who tested can fall into any of those Cate ategory so just because you're a kindergartener doesn't mean that you would fall into the entering category you could have fallen anywhere into any of those proficiency levels depending on your acquisition skills this is just the comparison over the past three years how we have scored um you can see for the most part we're averaging um just about where we have over the past two years um Dr Skinner and I the super ADV visor of ESL have dug a little deeper into our current results um to start to move some of those students from the developing stage um over to expanding and into bridging in order for a student who is receiving ESL services to exit the program they must score a 4.5 composite or overall score and this year I am happy to say we had 14 students districtwide who met that 4.5 and have exited the program thank you are there any questions on this particular presentation from the board all right moving on okay back in the beginning of the school year miss nbon the director of curriculum for pk5 and I presented to you as the board and to the community the reading initiative that we were putting forth in grades K through two for this current school year and I felt based off of the data that we had received throughout the course of the school year of how our students were performing it was important to share with you the great success in my opinion um that we had so just to take you back to the beginning of the school year um and in years past we were using a program called Teachers College readers Writers Workshop and that particular program took a balanced literacy approach which meant that we were um using queuing systems in order to teach students how to read versus using a brain-based approach or a research approach to teaching students how to read and we were basing their results and their abilities on reading levels versus other information that's pertinent where are we now so in September we implemented a scientific approach to how to teach students how to learn to read it's very explicit and systematic strategies that our teachers are implementing in grades kada2 the resource that we are using in order to do this is the K2 magnetic foundational reading program we also felt it was incredibly important to provide all students in K to 5 Universal screeners to see exactly what their reading skills were so we implemented a dibles assessment as well as the I ready assessment and I'll get into the differences between the two in a moment and we also revamped our Intervention Program at the elementary level to include a what I need period within their reading block so all students are getting enrichment um or an intervention session with our intervention teachers based on the data from those Universal screeners so what is the Dibbles assessment it is an acronym for dynamic indicators of basic early literacy skills and there are six subsets to this particular assessment it assesses first sound fluency also known as an FSF phon name segmentation fluency known as psf nonsense word fluency nwf word reading fluency WF oral reading fluency o RF and a maze assessment and you're probably saying why are you telling me this the reason is because each of those assessments assess a specific foundational reading category that is incredible L important for our teachers to know exactly where they need to start to intervene so we need we assess phonemic awareness which is the students being able to hear the sounds phonics which is taking those sounds and putting them to the letters their reading fluency their vocabulary and ultimately we want to know if they can comprehend what they're reading so how do we know whether what we put in the place is actually working when we look at our kindergarten Dibbles assessment now because the kindergarteners come in in the beginning of the school year with all different skill sets and backgrounds we did not assess them at the beginning of the year we waited until we had a couple months of instruction taking place so we assessed them for their first assessment in January which is the midyear assessment and at the end of the year so there are four different proficiency levels I'll call it that within the dibles Intensive support strategic support core support and then core carrot support which is basically the students know what it is that they are doing and they're solid in what they know their first assessment in kindergarten we had 43 students who were receiving intensive support by the end of the school year we had eight we had 42 students receiving strategic support and by the end of the year districtwide 18 which is the red bar we had 74 students at core support which would be like a tier one intervention of students receiving some help during that wi period and by the end of the year we had 83 students in the yellow and the students who were solid we had 60 students who knew and had a solid foundation for reading in January and at the end of the year in kindergarten we have 107 students who were demonstrating solid reading foundational skills in grade one they did receive the three assessments and I'm not going to do all three but I will do the beginning of the year and just quickly read down for you in grade one intensive support was 44 students strategic support in the beginning of the year was 49 students core support was 78 and students with a solid foundation were 56 coming into the school year at the end of the school year 16 students are demonstrating that they need intensive support 24 are needing strategic support 73 students core support and 108 students have a solid foundation for reading in grade two we have 47 students who started the year at intensive support 48 who were at strategic support 101 who were at core support and 44 who were at a solid foundation by the end of the school year 26 students need intensive support in the upcoming school year 40 students showed strategic support 101 are showing a core support m need a little bit of help and 77 students are have demonstrating a solid foundation I am super trators and the interventionists who really embraced shifting from a balanced literacy approach to a more explicit systematic approach to reading in order to Sure ensure ourc to2 students are going to have that opportunity to be lifelong readers and really understand what it is that they're doing I do need to be a um data geek a little bit and show you some results of one other assessment which is the I ready assessment and this is a completely different type of assessment this is an Adaptive standards based assessment so meaning as the students are taking the test it is assessing them on grade level standards that the NJ dooe puts forth that we are to um um teach students or assess students on but as the students are taking the test if they are getting their grade level standards correct it moves it harder if they're getting their grade level standards incorrect it will move them down to previous grade levels this particular reading assessment for I ready um assesses five different domains phonological awareness phonics high frequency words vocabulary and comprehension although the domains sound very similar to what the Dibbles assessment assesses there are similarities but there are specific standards that the state requires there are five performance levels mid or above grade level early on grade level one grade level below two grade levels below or three or more grade levels below so similar reaction um or results this is kindergarten um changes um um I won't bore you in reading all of it but I will highlight at the beginning of the year we had 30 students who were at Mid or above grade level and 178 students at the end of the school year that were at Mid or above grade level in Reading as per this assessment in grade one we had I'm going to highlight two different things 152 students who entered the school year as one grade level below which is that yellow bar and by the end of the school year 165 students who were mid or above grade level and in grade two we had 110 students who were one grade level below and at the end of the school year 160 students who were a mid or above grade level so what do we do next clearly we have to continue to give our K to2 teachers ongoing support for the shift in um making that change in their instruction but now it's time to start implementing it in grades 3 to five although that we had a pocket of teachers who did implement the magnetic reading program in grades 3 to 5 this past school year it was not mandated but this coming September all teachers in all four elementaries will need to implement the magnetic reading program we will continue to provide that targeted intervention to all of the students in K5 will'll continue with professional development via curriculum Associates who is the publisher of the program as well as offering our teachers the opportunity to go through letters training which we currently we have 30 teachers in the first cohort which is a two-year commitment um of learning all about the foundational skills in how to teach reading and with upcoming title 2 money we will be able to offer a second cohort to teachers in grades K to 5 and we'll extend it to teachers in the intermediate building as well um and special ed of course as to anybody who would be interested in taking the 2-year commitment and like I said thank you to all who had a huge part um in making those results happen so thank [Applause] you thank you Miss mccan um and thank you to our Educators and our administrators who work together um anytime you change a curriculum um and the way we approach a subject it's a lot of work um for our Educators it's a lot of information to digest um and we know that they have been making strides in more than one area and last year did present challenge um and our elementary school teachers certainly uh worked hard with this and Rose to the challenge and I think that the data that you're able to put forth is really really um terrific and I appreciate it I hope that you continue to give us those updates does anyone on the board have any questions from Miss McAn prior to moving forward okay and can I just quickly ask so in the with the upcoming year will we be waiting until January to um test kindergarteners again is that kind of the way that goes okay perfect thank you so much and thank you for your work on that okay all right so at this time um we are going to move into the president's report if you will indulge me we do not have any certificated students to recognize in July um but we will be resuming that when school goes back in September and I look forward to that certainly our district is facing challenge um and our district has undergone quite a bit of grow growth in the past years and um we are once again at a difficult Crossroads for our district and our community um I think it's very important for the community especially our parents of our students to know that the board is and remains committed to your students the administration of this District Dr handerhan remains committed to the students of this District District um certainly everyone is entitled to have opinions and make statements um and that's just the way the process works um but I will say that my experience with Dr handerhan is that she has been not only at the high school but in all of our schools um so to suggest that she get from behind a desk um and get out into the schools is inaccurate and it's unfortunate because it portrays something to our community that's not accurate um and I say that as a parent who had two children at the high school one of whom just graduated we will continue to cooperate with law enforcement agencies um as this current challenge unfolds um listen to be very Frank it's completely heartbreaking for all of us and as I'm sure it is heartbreaking for all of you I do think this is an opportunity or a time and I'm sure this isn't going to be popular with some people but I do think that as a community we each need to reflect on the culture that we expect in each of our schools and everyone has a part in developing that culture um our administrators and the board have a responsibility to set forth uh certain types of behaviors um and regardless of what may be said I have no doubt that this district has absolutely cooperated with law enforcement and responded in a very prompt man um and the timeline is in fact absolutely accurate what has been reflected there is no cover up from the part of our District administration um to say that is disappointing not because it's personally hurtful but because it it causes concern and it's a question of confidence and I want our parents to feel confident sending their children into these schools and I wish everyone had uh you know unfailing confidence um what I can say is that I hope that at the end of the day the district respond is going to prove out the appropriate um interactions that the district has had with law enforcement um and moving forward with whatever future steps are taken I will also say that I think we need to be saying maybe to each of ourselves when we reflect on the social media frenzy and information that is posted and how we receive and digest that information whether we vet that information is that information accurate um I find it extremely alarming um that there are commentary that people knew people knew um well I always knew this um and this has been my feeling with with past challenges the district has faced if adults feel that they have information especially about a topic like this we all have a responsibility to report that information that information can be reported to the wall police that information can be reported to the mammoth County prosecutor's office that information can be reported to the office of institutional abuse that information can be reported to District administration for people to be stating that they had knowledge of this and they've always known that is very very very disturbing um and I I'm Disturbed and I say this as a fellow parent um I know I've approached people that are related to me and had some very Frank conversations about what is what is and what is not appropriate and and when it is time uh to to make a report so I think that we all need to consider um maybe with our students and ourselves maybe our responsibility in taking a step because that information has to come to light so it goes to the appropriate personnel um so that being said I do want our community to know that there there is no cover up and to suggest that uh District administration or members of the board would cover something up like this is reprehensible and it's damaging to the relationship that we have with our families and our students and we need to make sure that we are moving forward for the kids because at the end of the day we're going to still have almost 3,000 students in our classrooms and we need to make sure that they're all safe so that being said um as far as uh there's been a fair also amount of conversation about um coverups with trailers and trials etc etc um there has been an insurance settlement not a trial there's been an insurance settlement and at this time I am going to turn the floor over to our legal council to discuss a few things including um including just general insurance settlements and what that means um and I'd also like her to to make a comment regarding District policy on uh the acceptance of resignations and how that just in General um kind of may be affecting the district right now I can certainly um clarify um some of the information with regards to insurance settlements of litigation generally the board of course has different policies depending on um the nature of the claims the general liability policy for example does not involve any participation of the board including whether or not a claim is settled or not the board does doesn't participate in the litigation or in the settlements rather the insurance carrier assigns its own legal councel and that legal council um handles each case the carrier directs sort of whether the case is going to resolve whether it's going to settle in accordance with the terms of the policy and any settlement um is done in this manner without any outof pocket um expenses to the board or the taxpayer so meaning that insurance settlements are 100% funded by the insurance carrier not by the board and not by the taxpayer and because these insurance settlements do not involve the board in this way no board approval is required and uh no insurance settlement would appear on the board's agenda so I hope this clarifies um much of the information that has been circulating with regard to insurance settlements with regard you may not um with regard to um the uh employee resignations um the superintendent of course is authorized to accept any resignation from any employee um and at a later Junction the board can ratify uh that resignation so it acceptance can occur under certain circumstances in the moment um and and later the board sort of performs its perun um functions with regard to except that settlement at a later date thank you thank you I think that's probably enough hearing from me this evening um except that I'd like to say that the board remains committed to the wall Community we're here and we will be steadfast throughout any investigations and whatever um percolates um we certain certainly are gravely concerned as our our our entire Community um and I would encourage that if anyone has any information at all that they please contact the wall police or the mammoth County prosecutor's office better to speak and say something than to not okay um and we will update as we can what we we can this is an ongoing investigation that um needs to take place within those law enforcement agencies and the board is not involved in those at this time okay at this time I'm going to be turning the floor over to the superintendent Dr handerhan thank you very much Miss Stites um in my superintendent's report this evening um there will certainly be uh some redundancies um from U Miss Cornell and Miss Stites uh what they shared but I feel that it is it Bears repeating because I think it's something that um you know it I really invite the public to listen to the words that are that are being shared this evening Wall Township Public Schools specifically wall High School is facing a very serious situation regarding a former teacher and criminal charges please understand that there is an active law enforcement investigation and as such what I say publicly regarding the case must be cleared by law enforcement and as such I'm not at Liberty to provide non vetted details as doing so may hamper or undermine investigative efforts as I provided in my letters dated July 4th and July 6th the timeline of events is as follows on Monday July 1st 2024 a Community member shared with the District administration that there were rumors circulating regarding a faculty member as per our protocol that same day District administration contacted the wall Poli Township Police and institutional abuse investigative unit the iiu to convey the reported information on the morning of July 3rd the district received Miss rell's resignation which was effective immediately that evening the district was made aware of the criminal charges on the morning of July 4th I notified parents and staff of this shortly after the information was made public as a reminder if you have any information that may relate to this ongoing investigation please contact Mammoth County prosecutor's office detective Jose Rodriguez at 85337 443 or Wall Township Police Department detective Devin Corso at 732 44945 it is my understanding that members of the community have reached out to law enforcement I appreciate that it is imperative that individuals report information if they have knowledge following the conclusion of the ongoing law enforcement investigation it is my understanding that the institutional abuse investigative unit will do their own investigation if investigated and upon its conclusion the district will per be permitted to conduct and will conduct conduct our own internal investigation that said I would like to speak more globally on the topic of reporting information as this community is well aware we have been we have unfortunately been the subject of very negative National headlines in the last few years often eclipsing the very positive work that takes place in our schools each and every day having LED this District through these trying times as superintendent I have a unique perspective that has enabled me to note some patterns through these difficult times I have heard allegations of sweeping things under the rug while I can only speak to my time in wall I can tell you this allegation is patently false in fact I wholeheartedly believe that the silent majority of Wall Township community members apply a reasonable person's standard as they view these negative headlines as I shared in my letter we can only report or investigate what we have knowledge of blanket statements comments like this kind of thing has been going on for years does nothing but potentially hurt our students any alleged victims and honorable hardworking staff it also undermines public confidence in our schools in my letter dated July 6th I shared with you that we can't look into matters that we have no knowledge of during my time in wall I have had the opportunity to inquire with individuals who claimed self-expressed knowledge on why they didn't report concerns usually the response Falls in two categories the first why bother nothing will be done anyway the second fear of retaliation to those that believe that reporting concerns would be a feudal exercise I can assure you it is not as mentioned I think the very Public District reported investigations speak to this walou public schools have a close relationship with law enforcement we must so we can best protect our schools what you usually don't hear about is the very many positive results beget from the collaboration between schools law enforcement and Community agencies a lot of great work happens behind the scenes that by Design goes unnoticed respect to the fear of retaliation I offer this all School Employees have an obligation to report suspected child abuse we are mandatory reporters there is no option there is no exception with respect to non-employees or commun community members or family members if you are not comfortable communicating your concerns with the schools or district offices for fear of retaliation please reach out to the New Jersey Department of Children and Families their website States any person having re having reasonable cause to believe that a child has been abused or neglected has a legal responsibil responsibility to report it to the division of child protection and permanency formerly dius it also provides a 24hour 7 days a week hotline their web page also stresses that calls can be made anonymously which can certainly obviate any concerns for retaliation this website link has been and is available on the District student wellness website we must fight for all of Wall's children many of whom are our students wtps is committed to ensuring their safety please if you know something say something but please understand that if concerns warrant notification of a law enforcement we will absolutely notify them I have also heard some concerns regarding whether a resignation can be accepted immediately and without board action there are some circumstances where a resignation can be effective immediately given the it of the situation the formal board action is therefore perfunctory and is memorialized at the next Board of Education meeting know that the Wall Township Board of Education and this Administration is fully cooperating with law enforcement and again if you have any information regarding this matter please reach out to the affir mentioned detectives I'd like to shift gears a little bit and I would like to thank Miss Jennifer McAn for both of her presentations this evening I appreciate all of the hard work and time invested in our reading instruction strategy transitions our District staff and Elementary School staff have dedicated so much time and effort to see these gains is so incredibly exciting I am so proud of their work and I am proud to be their superintendent I am incredibly grateful to you all I am happy to also share that our summer programs have been well attended and the students are having so much fun as they receive academic support enrichment and character education thank you to all of our staff working in the extended school year summer explorers and the summer nights Academy as you know the district has been very busy searching for a new principal for alanwood school once again I would like to thank Dr oconnell for all that she has done while leading alanwood School her dedication and hard work have made such a positive impact and her Legacy is one to be proud of I would also like to thank the interview committee members for all of their time invested into the search of the new principal I am thrilled to say that after a extremely thorough search with three interview rounds and assigned tasks for candidates Mr James stanic has been offered and accepted the position and is on this evening's agenda Mr sarenac is currently the principal of Yardville Heights Elementary School in Hamilton Township and has served in this capacity since 2017 prior he served as principal and assistant principal in Lakewood Public Schools he was a fifth grader in our very own Central School from 2004 through 2013 oh fifth grade what did I sayth grader oh grer I don't think he was a fifth grader in two I'm pretty sure that U you know I'm sure he was an excellent student but I don't know if his acceleration would have um prompted that but prior to his time as a teacher at Central School he taught kindergarten first grade and high school social studies Mr Saranac is a very experienced and Stu student centered principal and these qualities were made abundantly clear throughout the interview process his professional references are outstanding and I know for my conversations with him he is very excited to join our team and it is now my absolute pleasure to introduce to you and welcome Mr James starac thank you Dr handan good evening members of the Board of Education esteemed colleagues dedicated teachers and valued members of our school Community my name is James szac I stand before you today filled with both excitement and humility as I embark on this new chapter as principal of Allenwood Elementary School interestingly enough my journey at Allenwood actually began as a teacher candidate seeking employment in Wall Township over 20 years ago I ended up being hired at Central Elementary School where I taught for nine years and although it grieved me to leave Wall Township it was necessary for me to gain the 11 years of administrative experience that I will use and need to serve at Al Allenwood Elementary School Allenwood has always held a special place in my heart little did I know that the room where I once interviewed would eventually become my office Beyond these walls my story is deeply intertwined with the community my lovely wife is a devoted educator with this district and our children proudly call W Wall Township their own this personal connection fuels my passion for fostering exceptional learning environment where every child reaches their greatest potential having witnessed firsthand the joys and the challenges of the teaching profession I hold a profound respect for our Educators I'm committed to supporting and empowering our teachers creating a collaborative and nurturing atmosphere where they can Thrive I'm proud to call Township my home and I'm honored to serve as a positive role model for our children at Allenwood Elementary School and Beyond together we will build on the strong Foundation of this school fostering a culture of excellence inclusivity and a lifelong learning thank you for this opportunity and go dragons thank you thank you so much um you know this it's such an exciting time um you know I I you know being a principal is an incredibly special position um it's it's a job that I you know that you love and um I will say certainly of your passion for the um you know for that position of leadership it is being a principle is really a calling and you have to feel it inside it's a 247 job and um you know you make an incredible difference in in the lives of those uh children and um you know Educators and staff um that you work with so um with that we can't wait to get you on board um I'll probably you know have to you know make a couple phone calls maybe you know get you get you to start as as um as soon as your uh current district will release you we're excited and we'll be in touch cuz we have a lot to talk about so so some other things across the district there are many facilities improvements taking place some projects are publicly visible such as the parking lot improvements at West Belmar Elementary School and some projects are indoor projects um such as restroom Renovations um not as easily seen by the public but uh there's a whole lot that uh is going on for improving our facility ities to welcome our students and staff back in September so uh next month I certainly expect to uh report out with greater detail we're in the throws of it right now uh but I am happy to give an update to Old Mill um old The Old Mill Community the um asbestos baitman project is on schedule and uh things are really knock on W you know moving nicely and um more to come and can't wait to start showing you some pictures uh hopefully towards the end of the month uh on the website of some projects that we're wrapping up so U I would be remiss if I did not I I think we still have a couple members of the nncc here I cannot thank the nncc enough along with the colonel for coming out in July it is um you know right in the middle of their summer break and I'm incredibly grateful for their dedication to our school district uh because it just speaks to to the um just to the honor and character of the n andcc and um you know I look forward with to working with them and growing the program and uh you know we have some really exciting things to look forward to with our nncc uh stay tuned because we're going to be uh showcasing some really special things this upcoming year so with that I'm going to um turn the program back over to our Board of Education president miss stes thank you Dr hand or hand and welcome Mr s I'm going with Mr s we're thrilled to have you um tremendous responsibility uh as with all of our elementary schools we love alanwood and uh we really look forward to seeing all the great talents that you bring to our students and our staff there so I have every confidence that things are going to be super at this time we're going to move to the Board of Education update uh I think the board would like to thank both our middle schools and our high schools for including us in the beautiful graduation ceremonies that were held in June um they were super um even if we had to be inside and I think we all heard the rain on the roof and we're very glad to not be out in the stadium at the high school graduation um but thank you to the staff um who executed beautiful graduations um that honored our graduates who deserved um all that and more um at this time Mr Nasser do you have any referendum updates for us at the moment I believe Dr handerhan covered most of it her report okay thank you thank you um as we move forward and we have more accomplished we really are finally getting to the point that we're going to have some hard pictures you know hard evidence of things that are going on but you can see the work going on all over the district so we're looking forward to that at this time I'd like to mention that committee reports um minutes are posted do I have any updates from any of the committee chairs at this time seeing none we will move on at this time I will again be opening the floor for public comment um in the event you would like to comment please feel free to come to the podium the floor is open bety cross again I live in Wall Township uh glad to see you're saying the Pledge of Allegiance and it's recorded um Mr mcan's presentation nobody could see it you couldn't see the screens couldn't see it on your phone I don't know people could see it at home be nice I think I've saying this for over 10 years have handouts makes more sense um fabulous news on the principal at Allenwood I've heard wonderful things welcome I've had people instant message me he was my teacher when my kids were here thank God we're hiring somebody good so I'm glad to see that and I am very happy um um you went over this uh see something say something um I've been saying it and and nothing's being done so when you talk about there isn't a coverup there is a cover up because we've had it on the trailers so Mr Smite lied he said the trailers were inspected his depositions prove they were not inspected and the archit don't you go on my time you public comment for agenda items only so please refer to the action item on the agenda she talked about see something say something so I'd like you to go over we need to know what the settlement amount was cuz if you think that Mr SM gets to just lie over and over again and just pay out claims agend you're crazy ,000 it quiet Miss Corell paid $50,000 to Goldberg sagala so that was a lie tracing hand hand again miss cross this is for St talking on my time this is for Action it missell the agenda please be quiet Miss Cornell please be quiet miss rizell the papers keep saying she started in September of 13 I all the records I have say September of 14 so if you paid her for another year please let me know because I did put in the Oprah but of course Mr SMI didn't return it and you know he asked for one extension today um I think you could have terminated her I'm tired of these resignations and people getting other jobs like Mr uh Doyle you know 30 miles up getting another job because we accept his resignation enough already you can't keep doing this over and over again I've asked for attendance record since when the teachers get to take time off I heard Miss Rella was off for a couple weeks so this is where people wonder what your timeline is why was she allowed to take time off if it's not true Tracy tell us right now get it on the record um every Oprah I put in nothing has been returned um all these clubs that she was on do you have signin sheets what were they going over who was in the groups you know your internal investigation has to do that you can't hire Athena Cornell's firm to to write another report showing no wrongdoing when there was so get the going now Seth yout you've got um thank you Mrs cross you also have Rose search collecting almost 100 Grand when she didn't work for 26 months so see something say something I'm saying it do something about it don't worry I keep calling the Attorney General the floor remains open for public comment would anyone else like to approach the podium for public comment seeing none I will close the floor for public comment at this time I would like a motion for approval of the consent yeah I'm sorry Mr SM um so once again this is another Board of Education meeting it's another Board of Education where a public comment uh it is said that I've lied uh said twice today it's said pretty much every Board of Education meeting um and and aside from taking exception to it it's just 100% inaccurate I have not lied uh every time it is stated that I did every and this is in reference to the central school trailers being inspected uh that they were not inspected when in fact they were uh there are there are excuse me Mrs cross please don't yell out stop calling out Miss cross part of the reason why we never B disrupting the meeting thank you to public comment because this is what it becomes it's the Jerry Springer Show every time the Board of Education or myself go to speak with regard to uh any matter that is brought up so we're talking about something that was from 2007 number of years ago the growth and development committee meetings of the Board of Education they're not written by me or an administrative of the district they written by a board member stated that the trailers were inspected by the architect of record and that I was scheduled to inspect the trailers or visit the trailers the resolution of the Board of Education in 2007 included in the resolution that the trailers were inspected trailers were located at Princeton School District happens to be the district that we are compared to on a regular basis especially during budget time but they were in use at Princeton Regional School District at the time they were inspecting at the time the board made the decision decision to approve the purchase of the trailers and that was not done against the recommendation of the architect it was done in conjunction with the architect uh the original bids that were taken included new trailers and included refurbished trailers the Board of Education selected the refurbished trailers one there was a cost savings bigger contributing factor is that the ceilings were over 10 feet as opposed to 8 foot ceiling height as well as other contributing factors at the time but the trailers were inspected says it in the growth and development committee meetings it says it in the board of resolution it says it in my deposition that I visited the trailer so every time we say that I lied or that I didn't visit them I don't understand why it's even being said I visited I will excuse me Mr SMI Mrs cross if you continue to yell out I will call the meeting into a recess this is is unproductive this does not honor our students this does not honor our community you have someone who is willing to speak right now I need you to stop calling out well it's five years later it's after a number of Investigations and all the investigations came with the same conclusion the only problem is the conclusion isn't accepted by some members of the public but regardless of how many times you say it the trailers were not filthy moldy trailers when they were purchased in 2007 they weren't inspected by the architect they were inspected by Administration that is all 100% accurate liar Mrs cross this is the last time I'm going to tell you when we do not commit not a circus regardless of your ability to make it into it enough you're going to so live by your own rules I'm living by my rules and I'm breaking them by talking to you right now we have worked very hard to put theum back think CH wants to pay out your claim Li I'll just so just for uh also for clarification I was never a licensed architect I did hold a I'm speaking so I did hold licens as a uh professional engineer uh at the time prior to being employed in the district and while also being employed in the district and at that time uh normally that would give you some credibility but um here it doesn't seem to uh also with regard to and we normally hear public comment and you know we don't respond uh uh because we would that would be all we would be doing as opposed to doing the board's business but since I did speak I'm going to take the opportunity to clarify some other things because statements such as oah requests are never returned uh when in fact you know they are returned and I'd like to point out and please indulge me I apologize but you know we handle a lot of opras in this District so for the last school year 2324 we received 132 oah requests uh and we provided over 9,000 pages of government records uh every one of those requests were uh responded to uh including all the documents that were provided this is the 2425 school year we've been in business eight days we've had eight business days as of July 1 we've received 13 O requests already please stop calling out ma'am so uh in with regard to uh not providing responses or not providing records uh to any op requests uh we've already responded to six of those opah requests and provided documents that were available uh to a number of them we have two open requests that are due tomorrow we have two open requests that are due the following day on Thursday and we have three Opa requests that are due on Friday uh we do ask for extensions because in the one example we've received the notice for tort claims uh that have been received for the school year so if we do have Tor claims and they do include information that is and I say required to be redacted by the district they are reviewed and they are redacted we are not permitted to put out confidential personal information whether it's regarding Personnel or whether it's regarding students so that information needs to be reviewed and it requires redaction uh there was a reference made in the first public comment with regard to the oer lawsuit where we withheld documents and the documents were provided uh by order of the Court uh I will clarify that there were no documents withheld uh from the requestor that no additional documents were provided uh based on the ruling of the Court uh the documents that were in question were attorney invoices all of the invoices that the district had received were provided what the district did through our board councel is redact the names and when we redact we black it out the names of Staff School District staff Municipal staff residents anyone who spoke with the attorney anyone who Stoke spoke during the investigation uh to provide uh some confidentiality for them their names were redacted on the invoices when they were requested from members of the public a judge ruled that we were not permitted to redact the names of those individuals and that we had to provide the invoices with the names unredacted uh I will say that the new legislation that was passed with regard to Oprah would probably allow us to redact the names because one of the things you can do is redact personal or confidential information or redact information if you think it would protect those individuals from being harassed by the release of said information uh but the judge ruled that we had to provide the invoices unredacted so that is what the district did but there were no documents withheld and no additional documents that were provided um I clarified the number of opers we responded to uh with regard to the trailers that they were in fact inspected it says it in the in development committee meetings it says it in the resolution and those aren't written by me those are uh acts of the board of education but so thank you thank you Mr Smite so at this time I'm going to ask for a motion to approve the consent agenda I'll make the motion Mr Giovani I'll second second Mr wandra Mr SMI roll call please Mr I you yes but I abstained from 16f noted Miss barbier yes Mr buffer sorry he not here Miss D Giovani yes Mr Mali yes uh I will abstain from 16f noted Mr Nasser yes but I will abstain from 13 A and B I wasn't at the meeting noted Miss shimko yes Mr wandra yes Miss stes yes thank you at this time I hope uh that everybody's staying hydrated and enjoying their summer um and staying safe um and I would just like to restate our commitment to our students in this district and I wish everybody a great remainder of July and we will see you in August meeting is adjourned