##VIDEO ID:nnKLV9MveXw## e 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 and welcome to the Wall Township Board of Education for Tuesday December 17th please join me in saluting the flag at this time I'm going to ask our board secretary Mr Smite to please read the sunshine announcement and perform roll call yes this is the Wall Township Board of Education meeting to which adequate notice under the open public meeting Act was provided by a notice to the co-star ASB Park Press Township clerk's office all Wall Township Public Schools and a copy in the board Administration office on August 29 2024 take a roll call Mr adeso miss barbier here Mr buffer here m g Giovani here Mr Mali here Mr Nasser here miss shimko Mr wandra here miss stes here at this time may I please have a motion for the board to adjourn to Executive session for the items listed on the agenda I'll make Mr Mali may I have a second please Mr wandra all in favor any opposed we have one opposition okay thank you thank you Mr Nasser no at this time the board will be adjourning for executive session we anticipate returning for public session at 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 good evening everyone at this time we're going to be reconvening the Wall Township Board of Education business meeting for Tuesday December 17th please join me in saluting the flag United States America stands na indivisible andice for all at this time I would ask everyone to to join me in a moment of silence and reflection for the victims of the school shooting in Madison Wisconsin yesterday thank you there really are no words to describe the horror um and the sadness that we feel for the families affected at this time I would like to ask the board for a motion to accept oh I beg your pardon Mr Smite please do roll call Mr Ania here M barbier here Mr Buffa here Mr D Giovani here Mr Mali here Mr Nasser here Mr wandra here mes here thank you at this time I would like to ask uh the board for a motion to accept the resignation of Pamela shimko which was tendered on December 11th 2024 I'll make a motion Mr Buffa second miss djovani all in favor I any opposed any extensions thank you as many of you know Wall Township has a long tradition of supporting um our students in the Arts um at this time I'm going to be turning the floor over to Dr handerhan um for something special that our students did for our other students um one of the greatest things is to to see examples of students supporting other students and uh this was actually uh I was provided a link to this uh short video that I'd like to share this evening and it is um uh it's produced by our television students and it is um a tribute to our school musicians and um I think it's an absolutely wonderful um example of our students supporting each other so without any further Ado I would like to share this video with you junor um I would say one of my favorite parts of the football games are seeing the van during halftime after we're standing up and cheering for so long it's to sit down and relax and hear something comforting and exciting and school spirit so I love them personally what's up I'm Christian sukki also known as uh C money I'm a part of the soccer team and I also go to the football games a lot at wall high school and I just love seeing the band especially my two guys Brandon Risco and Aiden Denton I love seeing them out there because the football games are already exciting but the band adds an extra level of excitement so big shout out to all the band thank you guys so much he's Reinhardt I play football while BR football Nick Rogers football we want to say we appreciate the band for getting us hype every game sometimes the student section can't do it and the band does shout out mik coplin my guy Shout Out Mr take that risk Risco shout out all you guys thank you hi we're from the lacrosse team we appreciate you guys making the pep rallies and football games so fun y hi I'm Ella I'm from the lacrosse team and I'm Callie I'm from the track team we just wanted to thank you guys for making the football game so fun we always look forward to your out time performances uh we're a bunch of student athletes at wall High School some football players lacrosse player and uh we wanted to Lon fan know we appreciate them and everything they do and they bring a lot of energy to the field and it's important to us I'm Joe and I'm Mason and we are the track captains and we just want to say that we're so appreciative of you guys from the band and it wouldn't be high school without you guys you guys are truly one of the kinds [Music] so wall TV production um got together to make sure that our musicians in the marching band felt appreciated um certainly over the years we um have I hope they realize how much we respect and love them um for all the effort that they put forth throughout the year um their efforts are always appreciated um obviously our musicians for the marching band start their work well early in the summer in order to be prepared for our football season and that work continues throughout the year as they participate in um orchestras for our shows and their own performances they're tremendously dedicated and um I will say as a former band parent um very quite simply I'm sorry for what happened um at their um performance at the Thanksgiving game and I think a simple apology that the performance um was interrupted I am truly sorry that that happened um but that in no way reflects how we feel about them and their dedication and I'm thrilled that our high school students also recognized that they uh they needed to be recognized with this video and that they were willing to participate I think it speaks a lot to um how much they are revered and honored within their High School community so I don't want to lose sight of that so that's that's going to be um the completion of our student showcase for this evening at this time I'm going to be opening the floor for public comment if you have something to share we have a Podium at the top of the stairs and down here at the floor so please feel free good evening uh Andy Kupa I am a w resident and still uh a parent of a wall student so uh it's no secret tonight is a special night it's Christine and Adam's last meeting of a longtime service to the board and to the community and myself and some of the other board members we felt it was important to come out tonight and to uh say thank you um for the experience that we had on the board with both of you um and in some humble way to say thank you for the whole Community um you've LED with um Integrity honor and uh commitment which is something in this time and age because it's very easy to criticize and um have second opinions or other opinions and you give up so much of your time and I just felt it was important that you hear that from one of the people that served with you but also one of the people that has benefited from your service um and I appreciate it from uh the bottom of my heart but also especially for my heart for my two students who went through the wall system and I wish all of you a h happy holiday and um hope that uh you continue with your board service because it's an honorable thing that you do and that's it thank you thank you Mr [Applause] K good evening I'm sorry good evening my name is Gail Mah and I am the proud president of the Wall Township Education Association the Wall Township Education Association the wtaa is dedicated to supporting its members and the Wall Township community addressing both the educational and emotional needs for students and their families recognizing the financial struggles many face specifically in our district the wtaa has proactively sought assistance for families right here in our town the Wall Township Education Association has applied for a grant from the paracone family charitable trust a local Foundation committed to charitable initiatives we are thrilled to announce that our Grant application was approved providing us with $122,400 to assist nearly 160 Wall Township families during this holiday season this funding will help ensure that families can put food on the table and buy needed clothing for their children highlighting our commitment and the paracone family's commitment to the well-being of our students and their families the wtaa would like to extend our gratitude to Mr Jeff janone for his invaluable assistance regarding the paracone Family Trust Foundation just three weeks ago Jeff proposed this initiative demonstrating his his commitment to our community without his suggestion the grant would not have been submitted and consequently it would not have been granted we would like to express our gratitude to philli and Marilyn paracone who established this charitable Trust for their ongoing commitment to supporting families in need and brightening the holidays for those less fortunate Phil and Marilyn paracone resided in Wall Township for over 40 years and were well-respected entrepreneurs and beloved members of the Jersey Shore Community their sons Rob and Chris both attended Central School wall intermediate and were wall high school graduates Phil and Marilyn passed away in 2024 as did Chris several years before them Rob who is with us today shares his parents' passion for service and philanthropy and looks forward to continuing their legacy through projects such as tonight's donation together we hope that this will make a meaningful impact in our community and we would like again to humbly express our thanks to all those involved in the paracone family charitable trust this evening Jamie Lynn Kathy Ali Tiffany and myself and the entire Wall Township Education Association would like to wish everyone in the community a happy and blessed holiday season hi good evening I'm Robin parado wall High School class of ' 89 i Phil Maryland's son um this is a tough time of year my parents loved Christmas and as Gail mentioned is the first year without them and so they always were always on the lookout for families who always struggled this time of year and um they always very quietly worked behind the scenes to make sure people had a brighter Christmas season so I'm honored to be here tonight I'm proud to represent my family um they're here in spirit they would have loved this tonight um thanks to Jeff and Gail and the union for their assistance and all of you for having us tonight um I wish you all very happy holiday season thank [Applause] you thank you so much and what a beautiful gesture on behalf of your family and a great way for their legacy to um continue so thank you very much Betsy cross yeah that was great thank you so much for the donation um I'm here tonight to talk about a couple things and I'm kind of glad to see that it is the last meeting for Christine stees and Adam Nasser so I am quite happy about that I am sad that Pam shimko is resigning uh that's too bad um I think honor integrity I I don't I don't know I just don't see it so I'm I'm glad the two of you are leaving um I did get back today an Oprah for a claim that was put into the school excess liability fund it was from the 2008 2009 school year and it was for a claimant S Young so uh wall paid out 1,545 35860 through the school excess fund um why that took 15 years to settle I have no idea idea and why uh Craig kleene took uh 7 days and he sent it at uh 455 um couple other claims on the diploma GIF where Brian is a voting juste trustee and the attorney is Wall's attorney um Dennis mckever uh a claim for cou for 68,9 66 Li and then it looks like another 100,000 to CEO and then a Maran a m a r i o n for 100,000 that was the 23 24 school year and then 2425 was J Pagano 7,011 so how we settle a claim um in 2425 before we settle a lawsuit from 2008 2009 I have no idea I also did not see the Central School trailer lawsuit anywhere which makes me wonder how many lawsuits are being handled by Mr SMI because he would know about them and Tracy handam would probably know about them Christine SES may know about them um but that nobody else knows and we're shelling out money to people that Sue and then it gets hidden and it gets hidden from Athena Cornell and it gets hidden from Brian SM and it it just goes on and on so that's why you should come out of all these GIF programs the school access programs and be done with it um Mr SMI is to me he's a liar and a fraud and everything that happened with the trailers uh will eventually it will come out so um I'm glad the two of you are off the board I hope you know it's probably going to be James malof I I hope he does a better job as president of Christine stes uh the order report was still not online tonight um it it just goes on and on the lack of transparency and the lack of accountability than you Mrs cross your time is up thank you and so so is yours thank you Mrs cross not quite yet do we have anyone else for a public comment at this time hi my name is Chris San Filippo I live in Wall Township um I uh came in here and I felt like it was oldtimers day at Yankee Stadium um so uh uh I wanted to come in person um uh to thank Christine and Adam um and of course uh the board for all of your work throughout the year um I missed you guys this year um it's so nice to see all the smiling and happy faces um I want to uh say as a board member who who um had the pleasure to serve with Adam and Christine for a number of years um I think five six years um you guys should be very proud of the work that you've done um you should hold your heads High um the heart and the hard work and the effort that um you put forth um that I've witnessed and seen firsthand is commendable um and I want to say that I thank you um having you know three kids um in in the district um and and the community and um our staff and our Administration and our all of the kids in the district um you know I will say thank you on behalf of all of them um I think when you uh when you walk out the doors this evening um you're going to have uh some breath and sigh of relief and you're also going to have some breath and sigh of nostalgia um so you can um sit there and um enjoy that over the holidays and um you're uh it's it's a mixed mixed bunch of feelings when you sort of um uh serve out your terms right and um and in an honorable uh fashion so um I just wanted to thank you um the other thing I always have to have a joke um I'm also very happy that um our drone um that we have at the high school uh was not taken um away as it was proposed a couple years ago I'm so glad that it's flying all over New Jersey and causing a whole bunch of chaos but um no anyways um Merry Christmas Happy Holidays happy New Year and thank you again thank [Applause] you um I'm a different person now um I am Gail marah uh I am a resident of Township and a teacher and I just want to thank Adam and Christine Christine and I go back way back to meeting at St Michael's Church when things were bad here uh under the reign of the previous superintendent um and she could always be counted on on whatever role that she um put herself into and um we will miss you and um you were so good for this school district um we just want to thank you thank [Applause] you all right do we have anyone else for public comment seeing none I'll be closing the floor for public comment at this time Mr Smite uh just for clarification some of the statements that were made in public comment with regard to a settlement paid out uh by Wall Township schools for 1.5 million that is not accurate um School District was not uh in a settlement school district has not paid out uh or is not going to be paying out a settlement of 1.5 million um that is erroneous uh this is a separate entities meeting and I don't I honestly don't believe it's a it's a settlement it was a I think it's reference was a payment Authority with regard to it could be for a number of diff different issues um with regard to the other listing of individuals which some of them are employees of the district they could be worker comp uh cases uh but again those those are not settlements that um were being referenced those are spending authorities by the uh joint Insurance Fund which yes I am a member uh just for additional clarification the JF is made up of all the school districts that are members of the uh The Joint Insurance Fund uh and you would have to be from one of the school districts to be a trustee on the JY thank you thank you for that clarification Mr Smite of the erroneous information presented and at this time um we will not be having a student representative report this evening so at this time I'm going to turn the floor over to Dr handerhan to present um and introduce our audit thank you Miss Stites um it is our absolute pleasure to have uh the district auditor here this evening Mr Matt hman um and again this audit discussion is rooted in 2023 2024 I would like to make that clarification and um I'm going to turn the floor over to our very um very capable enabled auditor Mr hman thank you very much good evening everyone um I was a partner on the engagement this year my firm is uh HFA and uh hopefully everybody has the sizable audit reports um maybe not currently present but hopefully received them at this point about up to 200 pages so I uh hope everybody got a chance to read through um we will uh I'm just going to touch on a couple of the important pieces in that audit so that when you go back to reference that you can uh have some highlights to look at there first uh item of importance the district was once again awarded the certificate of excellence this will show up on page 11 in the audit report this comes from the uh National asbo Association they reviewed the audit report and what they really look for is any inconsistencies any non incorrect applications of Gap presentations so generally accepted accounting principles throughout the report they will come back and they will comment and if there's any that they find to be material in nature they won't give this award out so it's a pretty prestigious award you go through a lot of um it's a lot of of of review of that report at different levels above and beyond what we do once it's sent to them there's 31 current districts that receive this out of the 66 in New Jersey so pretty nice Accolade there moving on from that you get to really the first piece of that report that we offer the district as Auditors and that's the independent Auditors report you'll find this on pages 15 through 17 um the opinion that's presented on page 15 is an unmodified opinion this is the best opinion that could be rendered for school district in New Jersey uh really means that we had to make no modifications to the standard auditor report if we did find any issues throughout the audit that we felt were material uh to the the financial statements that were presented to us then we would have to make a modified opinion and that's not the case here you have an unmodified opinion in this case uh you could see our report is dated November 8th of 2024 um it's nice to get back on track uh we did not have to wait for State numbers this year so we were able to finally really get back into a good pattern um and you're seeing me a lot earlier than you have in the the past couple years anyway which is nice for me and hopefully good for the district as well so moving on from that report um another page I always like to highlight in the audit uh you'll find the C exhibits and why I point you to these exhibits these are really the most um informative day-to-day exhibits these work off of the annual budget that the district works on putting out every year and you could see your budget to actual results presented here in the audit you'll see that on pages 97 to 109 and uh I would always point if anybody's looking for how that budget really worked out throughout the year those are the pages that you're going to want to see and it's the C1 exhibit that's in that report that's really important there moving past that you'll see once you get to the bottom of that C1 exhibit on page 105 uh there's fund balance numbers that are presented here you could see as of June 30th 2024 The District closed the year with a capital reserve of $9.9 million a maintenance reserve of $1.3 million an emergency reserve of $282,000 a reserve for unemployment claims of $34,000 yearend incumbrances of 1.1 monies that have been designated for the 2425 school year budget of $1.5 million and that left district with an unassigned fund balance of $1.8 million at the end of the year which is under the allowable amount so the district had no excess Surplus at 63024 to report on the next page you'll see a change a couple years ago the on page 106 at the bottom of the C2 exhibit if you're looking for this information maybe you've seen it in the past it used to be presented as trust fund schedules scholarship balance you'll now see at the bottom here page 106 there's $36,000 sitting as a scholarship balance your student activities are also presented here now and there's $37,000 presented uh as Student Activity balance at the bottom of C2 new for this year or since it was in the audit last year but really uh first year that you had a lot of activity here on page 141 you'll see your balance regarding the open Capital project that you have right now um there was an original appropriation of 66,500 from the referendum the prior expenditures going into this year there was 43,7 se4 currently in the 23 24 year you had 6.1 million in expenditures and that left an unexpended balance on page 141 of 59 m953 747 and again remember this is as of June 30th the 24th so I'm I'm sure that's already spent down quite a bit all right and then the last thing I wanted to mention in the audit report there's two other opinions that our firm is giving one has to do with the internal controls of the school district and if we have any issues as we go through the audit and all of our testing that's done if we come across problems that we consider to be significant efficiencies or material weaknesses in the internal processes this is where those would be reported so you would see that on pages 189 through 190 of the report and again I'm happy to note here we had no issues that needed to rise to being included in this report um it's an unmodified report which means we did no no modifications to the standardized report that you'll see throughout many districts the other uh opinion that you have is for your reports on uniform guidance um uniform guidance is a newer term used to be called single audits if you remember that language once you spend over $750,000 in state funding or federal funding a single audit will kick in on your Grant funds so we did have to perform a state single audit and a uh Federal single audit on the federal side the education stabil stabil stabilization funds were tested this year on the state side the extraordinary Aid reimbursement and the tpaf Social Security contributions were selected for testing um again I'm happy to note that that's an unmodified opinion on both of those reports and uh we had to make no modifications and that's a clean of that's the cleanest opinion that can be rendered for school district there was one comment that we had in our internal control report from the prior year that had to do with transfers in excess of 10% um I'm also happy to report that that prior year finding has been corrected in the current year and we no longer have that as an issue for the district all right um other than that I just really wanted to thank the business office uh we put them through a lot of testing we go through a lot of different support documentation there and uh they are always a pleasure to work with um and we also would like to thank the board um for having us perform the audit then uh is there any other questions for tonight at this time I'm going to be asking members of the board who have any questions to please um direct them to the auditor at this time any okay seeing none I'm going to be opening the floor for public comment um for folks who have commentary on the audit or questions on the audit after which time when I close the floor for public comment we will be asking our auditor to please um answer any questions or make clarifications um as possible so if you don't mind we're just going to borrow that Podium for just a moment and we again have the microphone at the top of the stairs and the bottom do we have anyone for public comment on the audit bety cross glad to see you're actually taking questions and not getting escorted out by Dawn cha which you normally are um it's difficult to ask questions when you don't have the audit so I've been writing you for days and you never posted the audit um could you go over what specific items you went over I think you just said um you did a lot of testing what type of testing could you just go over did you look at any bids I know back in uh 2019 when we saw all the irregularities with the trailers we asked to look over the bidding because it was a bunch of Lies when it was told we were they were using Co-op vendors they got around the bidding laws they had bids come in at 33,500 when the architect came in and said it would be 151,000 so those were things that your office should have been doing that you just never did so Mr SMI I know never would have allowed that um but everything that you looked at there was a problem with with the trailers from the purchase to the demo um um and that nonsense of uh what what w got I doesn't even make any sense unless you uh went over attendance and all these other items and bidding so what what samples did you pull and when you said they corrected what they did wrong last year what did they do wrong last year because I know they they've gotten written up in the past for not getting proper bids you just go to your friend your husband's in the business you go to him the kid goes to West Belmore you give the business to him uh and the Mr Smite says well don't go in the building just do your quote based on square footage right Mr Smite that's what we did with the trailers um so uh I'd like you to go over very specifically what you did this year and why in the world weren't we able to see it um I know you also changed cost per pupil and if I take cost per pupil operating expenditures of 78 milon 831 and add back in unallocated benefits in the pension of $33 million the cost per student last year was $ 35,7 um and that got changed in 2020 you started just pulling everything out and I think Brian always said oh we had to do with that way no you didn't have to do it that way it just makes your numbers look better um we're spending way too much money money we're increasing staff by 30% and we've reduced students by like 33% since 200 2006 so something isn't right this district is not doing a good job under Brian SMI is the business administrator so um I I it's obvious when you won't share the audit when the board won't share it your time is up thanks do we have anyone else who would like to to um contribute to public comment on the audit seeing none I'm going to close the floor for public comment regarding the audit at this time um if there are any questions regarding this audit or any kind of clarifications that you'd like to make please feel free to do so yeah I can definitely answer some of that um I did hear a couple questions in there um the testing procedure that we use is uh it's a it's a pretty comprehensive process it takes us about 30 different documents to process that throughout the audit and it's part of our planning documents that go into it but I can tell you in a summarized fashion we use a risk-based audit if we had all the resources in the world we would look at every document that the district has that's not feasible the district couldn't pay for that it wouldn't wouldn't make sense we use a risk-based audit approach in that approach we look at the controls of the district it's a Control process audit um if we are in an area where we find a higher risk we're certainly going to go into that area and look at that now that being said one of the areas that we do test for compliance um which is a state compliance issue is your bidding and every year we pull a sample of bids that happen throughout the district once again we're not looking at every bid that the district does but um in our testing for the compliance of the bids there has been no issues noted through the years that we've been here um outside of that once you get through the an the internal control testing that we do to establish the controls there's also analytical procedures that are applied so when you look at things from a year-to-year basis you analytically are reviewing all of the documentation that's in this report that's given to us these are not our numbers these are the district's numbers um in this report and we are essentially aing that there's no material misstatements of the numbers that are presented to The District in this case case um as far as the cost per pupil that I can kind of address that's a j schedule that's actually an unaudited figure but still um when the the audit when we had taken over the audit I think it was about five or six years ago the on behalf tpaf pension amounts were running through the expenditures and at that point in time those were removed from the expenditures because they are an in and out for the school district it's a state figure it doesn't have to do with the expenditures of the school district so when we changed that amount five or six years ago yes your cost per pupil that's shown on that J exhibit did dip but it's been consistent since that change was made five or six years at this point it's been the same that's what I said last month by the way Mr hman you just said it a lot better uh attendance I I do not do much with attendance other than we do check the district's Assa reporting which happens on October 15th every year um we do test to make sure that the the attendance that is taken on that day ties to the record that records that are provided to the state and that's what a lot of the funding for the the state aid is based on so yes we do test it some matter thank you M Corno please stop calling out you had your time we appreciate it that's the protocol of the meeting thank you you've asked your question thank you as as he's responded already thank you so much mrman okay thank you Mrs cross enough enough enough we're not entertaining this Mr hman if I can go out on a limb and please clarify that this was not pre-arranged uh but you audit a lot of school districts from uh an organizational standpoint working in our office the way records are maintained and how how would you rate our our district with regard to per forming an audit here yeah I mean I I we certainly audit about uh we have between 35 and 40 school districts that we audit on a annual basis um I would say this certainly is one of the cleaner audits that we do um and I based that around the amount of comments and recommendations that the districts receed through the time that we've done this and just generally through the amount of non-compliance issues that have been found while we're doing our audits we're not found thank you thank you this time Mr smite do you have any clarifications that you would like to make no that's okay can can I make a quick clarification Mr Nasser uh thank you uh sorry to interrupt uh this has been addressed before in the past but I do want to make sure that I say it again um when you look at the Staffing levels at our district versus other districts is important to make sure that you have a Apples to Apples comparison we are a school district that barely outsources any services our transportation's in house our custodial maintenance is in house Our Food Services in house our rap programs in house everything is in house those employees show up on our employee roles when you look at other districts a significant portion of them have their food service outsourced they have their buses outsourced they have all these Services outsourced and when you look at the amount of employees they have versus all the services they deliver it doesn't match up because it shows up as an operational expense not as a staffing expense so I do urge everybody to go in with open eyes and make sure that you're if you're going to look at comparisons make sure that you're comparing to a similar District thank you thank you Mr Nasser Madam president so with regard to comparing ourselves to um I guess we're going back to 2006 to uh have enrollment of 4,415 um students and when making that comparison uh I can tell you in 2006 the reporting was different than it is today uh there was a class of positions within the district uh namely the co-curricular and athletic stiping positions that are that have been included in the annual audit for a number of years now that were not included in 2006 so you have over 200 positions um that are now being recorded that were not I think also and again apples apples within your same school district that you would have to look at the programs both General Ed and special ed that are being offered today as compared to in 2006 and they're just more intensive programs uh smaller class sizes for those programs uh which require additional staff uh I can say with regard to Staffing that we have uh have reduced teaching staff Levels by more than 20 positions just in the last two years um but uh you know going back to 2006 it's an apples apples comparison and there's staff that are not reported then that are being reported now thank you for those clarifications I think that's really important for members of our community to kind of get a little bit of a bigger picture um so that they are not confused or misled by um manipulation of numbers so please stop yelling at out try try hard try does the board have any more questions before we let Mr Holman leave us I would like to um thank you for your efforts on behalf of the Board of Education um and thank you for the audit um and I will um mention that the audit will be once the board approves it U place online um for a full revieww as it stands right now the three-page synopsis as required is posted online um that is a requirement uh but typically the board has the opportunity to have the audit presented to them and digusted in whole and approved prior to presenting that or rather to uh posting it online um and that is that is typical and appropriate regardless of what might be subjected or suggested um and I'd like to congratulate the award and the certification from asbo again um that's really very important and impressive so congratulations to our business office we're very proud of of those efforts and just clarification on that the award is the 2223 audit uh and this this audit will be uh submitted but including this uh audit is the certificate awarded for the prior year audit thank you I believe that's going to complete our presentation for this evening thank you everyone happy holidays Dr hander hand thank you so much Miss Stites tonight is a bit difficult it's a difficult evening for me because we officially bid our farewells to two Dynamic and committed Board of Education members Mr Adam nazer and board president Christine Stites since his appointment to the Wall Township Public Schools Board of Education in September 2019 Mr Adam nazer was a man on a mission right out of the gate he was actively engaged in the superintendent search I will never forget his probing questions asked during my many interviews for this position Mr nazer the answer is 198 Acres the wall Boe owns 198 total acres of land in Wall Township you see during the interview process Mr nazer asked me this question I had no idea how many acres the district owned and it was certainly apparent through the interview Mr nazer indicated to me that if I were a superintendent candidate I should have have a good understanding of the school district of which I am applying I mention this mini vignette because I believe this very detailed question not only spoke to the amount of research regularly conducted by Mr nazer but it spoke to the degree of his expectations in hindsight I Now understand the seemingly random question spoke volumes five years later I now view this his question as a multifaceted symbol thank you Mr nazer throughout our time together Mr nazer has demonstrated tremendous leadership as former vice president of the Board of Education and chair of finance and Facilities his expertise with finance and Facilities has made such a positive and indelible impression on the school District this community needs to know that Mr nazer worked tirelessly on referendum planning and implementation his forward-thinking approach has helped to develop a solid foundation for us to build upon both literally literally and figuratively students 20 years from now and Beyond will still be benefiting from your focus on future planning know that these efforts have not gone gone unnoticed or unappreciated so where do I begin with board president Christine Stites Christine Stites was a familiar face in the schools prior to her joining the Board of Education in January 2020 for many years she supported our schools as a member and leader in the home Old Mill homman school and as a PTO leader she worked tirelessly to enhance programming and experiences for not only her children but all of the school children through these experiences she gained tremendous insight into school operations and time and time again she demonstrated great respect for School Employees I believe it is during the time where she was compelled by personal conviction to take the next step as a leader Miss s's Journey from PTO leader to the board to Board of Education member reminds me of a quote by Anthropologist Margaret me never doubt that a small group of thoughtful concerned citizens can change the world indeed it is the only thing that ever has throughout our time together I have learned that Miss Christine Stites is not one to sit back and complain about a problem she is the special type of individual who wants to be part of a solution as misses transitioned to her role as Board of Education presidents two year president two years ago I have seen true courageous leadership and creative problem solving she has given 150% to her presidency and I'm sure she would have given more if the 24-hour day were expanded she sought Clarity in times of Chaos and has always chosen Integrity over the path of least resistance wtps has been so fortunate to have had such an impassioned and articulate leader as our Boe president for the last two years I believe the beauty of our board of education is that is comprised of different individuals with different backgrounds and different experiences this diversity of perspective has truly galvanized our schools and we are a stronger School District because of tonight we wish Mr nazer and Miss Stites the very best on their next Endeavors and on behalf of our school Community I wish to extend our heartfelt gratitude for their service and for their dedication to Wall Township Public Schools on a personal note thank you so much for all of your hard work your stamina your grit your resilience your encouragement and most of all your leadership you will both be missed well thank you that is um amazing and it has been a pleasure I'm going to be moving into the president's report bear with me as I collect myself um as always I would like to start the president's report by recognizing our certificate students uh starting with the November 2024 students of the month for grade nine Liliana Rizzo for grade 10 Griffin cook for grade 11 Gavin cartella and for grade 12 Ava to soriero our nights of the Week start starting for uh November 4th we have Junior Abigail Kingman for the week of November 11th we have Christian Bola a senior for the week of November 18th we have Junior Briana Gant and for the week of November 25th we have senior Sydney EP congratulations to those students I'm sure your families as always are incredibly proud and the Board of Education thanks you um for your citizenship and stewardship within the schools I would also like to publicly thank Adam Nasser for the countless hours he has invested in living his role as a board member and committee chair he has res he has represented us with the mammoth County School Board and also served a term as the vice president of our board he's been dedicated to understanding legislation that governs Public School Systems has spent considerable time training to gain certified board member status and perhaps most notably worked diligently to help pass the referendum our district is stronger thanks to his focus and Leadership his fellow board members have grown thanks to the perspectives he has shared and I hope he will one day enjoy the fruits of his labors when he brings his own children into the doors of our schools it is important that I also emphasize the contributions of the board members who served throughout my tenure on the board so our community can appreciate the value and diversity of talent we have enjoyed over the past five years mr's Hall Garts Kupa San Filippo and Mrs Mangan and miss hodnet all brought strengths in areas including education business and community service the accomplishments of our district have been the result of collective efforts no one person has ever accomplished anything on his or her own I appreciate the wisdom and efforts of those persons and I'm thrilled that several of them are here this evening I did not know that they were going to be attending so it's great having you back [Music] um to our current board my colleagues who continue the journey forward I wish continued strength optimism and focus our district is poised to move into exciting initiatives that I'm confident will advance our students as Scholars and fellow citizens I encourage you to continue the nonpartisan Cooperative Appo approach that we have worked hard to maintain I will continue to support your efforts and I know you will continue work working hard to the incredible members of The Wall Township Public School System I hope I have made my respect and admiration for your efforts and talent known throughout my service to the board it has always been a priority of mine that the interests in advancing our staff be at the Forefront of our minds when deciding how to shape our district I hope you have a chance to read the email that I sent to you that hopefully takes the time to express at least part of my gratitude to you all unfortunately I would love to have rolled into the end of this meeting um on a high note but unfortunately I do have some difficult um topics to present for our wall Community I encourage you to examine the culture you expect for our children to experience in our schools those expectations must be modeled for our students by adults in the community unfortunately there are people who continue to misconstrue and manipulate information often Pres presenting false information as fact these behaviors have continued to escalate and we must acknowledge the negative impact they are having on our district this month shortly after excuse me shortly after the execution of the United healthc Care CEO Brian Thompson one vocal member of our community echoed the words that were allegedly found on the bullets at the scene deny defend depose on a post to social media that started with the words delay deny defend we have crossed the lines of inappropriate we have crossed well beyond rudess we are now well within the Dark Arena of psychosis and mental illness that allowed a person to justify murder these words are no coincidence they were chosen deliberately within a day of an execution committed in broad daylight broadcast across a world stage I cannot begin to Fathom the justification for posting these words followed by a tie read against the Board of Education and a board employee there is now concern among members of the district that it is a call to commit violence at this time I'm going to ask our attorney to detail our contact with law enforcement and then I will detail the steps the district has taken thus far to ensure the safety of our students and staff M Cornell in response to um what was posted as a threat to a member of the school Community um the board has taken that one threat to one person means a threat to the community as a a whole you will notice at this meeting despite holiday time there are no students here in attendance that was by Design um security has been increased at Board of Education meetings a security detail has also been posted at the business office both at taxpayer expense and for those who have no business in and around the schools the uh security has been so alerted any meetings open to the public will now have increased security and we are also exploring avenues for holding some of those meetings off site in terms of law enforcement contacts we have been in contact and communication with the Wall Township Board of Education the mammoth County prosecutor's office as well as the state police and their uh threat analysis unit um again um to have the most current information with regard to these threats um very well aware in terms of our law enforcement Community as well as our school Community um so miss cross here on notice to cease and desist what we consider to be a threat to our school Community we ask that you immediately cease this behavior and otherwise we will be forced to continue to pursue our legal Avenues engage law enforcement and also in the hopes of not only securing the safety of our students our staff and any other that are on school property at any time as well as recouping uh what we hope to be the funds that the taxpayers are expending in response to your behavior thank you immediately after being alerted to the post the district redistributed available security Personnel to The District administration offices once additional Personnel were available in District we also began Staffing a security officer at the building the cost of this step will be shouldered by the taxpayers we have made the decision to excuse our student representatives and nncc Cadets from the meeting tonight and the administration must continue flushing out the appropriate and safest steps moving forward I urge our community at large to consider if this is the climate that we are hoping to cultivate imall we need citizens who recognize the damage being done to speak up and demand better for our district if our stakeholders expect the time and attention of the board and the school admission Administration to be directed to advancing our students and not to entertaining singular members of the public they need to speak um I'm not sure what it's going to take at this point in spite of my deep concerns however I do have confidence in our superintendent Dr handerhan and support her fully as she leads the district through this most recent challenge she deserves the utmost respect and support of our district Dr handerhan is a leader who is unquestionably student focused staff oriented and community-minded it has been my honor to sit on the board since she was hired and partner with her as she has constructed a new leadership chart launched new curriculum initiatives and dynamic and developed a dynamic and sincere relationship with our community it has been my pleasure to watch her blossom in this role and thrive in her position and I look forward to continuing to support her as a member of the public and I encourage people in our district to also Advance their support to her again I wish that moving into this meeting um this was more of a light-hearted message of gratitude but I believe in this community I've believed in this community since the time I sent my children to school here the people who work in our schools and within this District by and large are excellent excellent human beings um and I credit them for really advancing student interest I I think it's important that we re-evaluate where we stand and recommit ourselves to establishing a culture of compassion a culture of respect a culture of integrity and a culture of Honor this kind of posting and the general behavior on social media is reprehensible and it is certainly not an example that we want any of our children to follow we need to model what we expect for our our children we need to cultivate an environment that they will learn in and feel safe in and we need to demonstrate how that's done I do think that the board has made some really great advances in how we conduct our meetings and I apologize that this meeting needed to take a little bit of a uh negative tone but the taxpayer needs to know where their funds are being directed and and why and I do think that we need to pull up this Behavior we need to pull it up short and we need to refocus moving into 2025 um again I wish our board the very very best um I know I will continue to support I'm thrilled that we have previous board members that have come out I think that's evidence of how much boards have worked as a team and will continue to do so I look forward to having our new members join the team at the de um and moving forward and I look forward to when we have our students back in our meetings when we can comfortably do so because at the end of the day that's what a school district is all about so that is the completion of my president's report for this evening at this time I'm going to turn the floor back over to Dr handerhan thank you so much Miss sttes this month I had the privilege of joining our district principles in announcing the teachers and educ Educational Service Professionals of the year the Board of Education will formally recognize these Educators at the January business meeting but to hold us over to then I wish to extend congratulations to Miss Erica lazinski and miss Karen O'Donnell from wall Primary School Miss Christine Shanklin and Miss Elizabeth cross from Allenwood School Miss Kristen Wagner and Miss metria toer from Central School M Mr Joseph Fisco and Miss Lisa V Trella from Old Mill School Miss Allison e ebern and Miss Lisa tronolone from West bmer Belmar School Miss Amy Noble and Miss Michelle sprangle from wall Intermediate School Mr Justin Santiago and Mr Brendan McDermot from wall High School T the season for amazing concerts throughout our district last week I had the opportunity to attend the jazz concert at wall intermediate kudos to Mr montal and the very talented musicians if you hadn't had the opportunity to attend one of our amazing concerts it's not too late while high school will have a concert tomorrow tomorrow night and Central and Old Mill both have winter concerts in January please visit our website for more information i' would also like to congratulate all of our student musicians and the students involved in preparing the video that we showed earlier in the meeting um our marching band uh really they're and all of our musicians they work so incredibly hard um they're out there day they're out there night they're out there in rain in snow frigid temperatures um you know it's they're truly U part of the heartbeat of wall high school and um it was really nice to see that they were recognized uh you know not just regularly by adults but by their peers so um kudos to all that that were involved in developing that uh small video I would like to thank the off office of special services and volunteers for arranging the third annual Polar Express evening for families this annual event is yet another example of the care and commitment our special services team provides I'd also like to congratulate Mr Brian Smite and the business office for once again earning the certificate of excellence um I can tell you um that it is um going through a f year audit uh it is not a um a drive by situation they um you know weeks and weeks the Auditors um are certainly they're on site they're reviewing our documents it is a very thorough process and um I'm so proud of all that they do to um you know manage uh certainly manage the funds but also um you know during the audit it's you know it's I'm fortunate that I get to have a firsthand view of close and person of um how prepared they are for each and every audit so um my hat is off to them and again congratulations on earning the certificate of excellence the holidays often evoke a spirit of giving and I too would like to recognize the work of the wtea in supporting wtps families in need through the $122,400 Grant from the paracone family charitable trust so many of our families have directly benefited from the generosity of the paracone family charitable trust thank you wtea Mr janone and Miss Steiner for all of your efforts in accomplishing this goal I'm happy to announce that kindergarten registration for the 20125 26 school year will open on February 3rd 2025 and preschool registration will open on February 18th 2025 our total District enrollment numbers for November 2024 are as follows prek 73 kindergarten 228 first grade 221 second grade 233 third grade 249 fourth grade 235 Fifth Grade 282 sixth grade 240 7th grade 259 8th grade 259 9th grade 220 10th grade 219 11th grade 255 and 12th grade 233 I wish to extend a happy holidays to the entire wtps family and I look forward to a sensational 225 thank you Miss stes thank you this time we're going to be moving into the Board of Education report Mr nassor do you have a referendum update for us I do um first off let me take the opportunity to say thank you to everybody on the fnf committee Dr handerhan Mr SMI um Mr adio and miss dtes your leadership during these past few years has been essential the we've gone through some UPS we've gone through some downs but I am confident I am walking away knowing that the district is in a a much better place than when I got here and I I think that is one of the most important things I've had the opportunity to do um I'd also like to say thank you to the community for standing behind the district um we really do have something to be proud of um not just the students the staff but our our entire Community as a whole it's it's a piece of it I'd also like to thank our staff um you know going through negotiations I got to know a different side of things and to Gail and the union um all of our teachers our Paris our custodians our drivers um Food Service workers are there's just so many that come in and bust their rears day in day out to make sure that we have the best outcomes for our students um I'm honored to be able to say that I've been part of something that now I get to send my kids too um as a parent and I'm looking forward to that next chapter um to thank you to everybody I there wasn't much going on with the referendum work so I had to fill the time with something uh our primary school they started the windows over the last break um they're going to be finished hopefully over winter break um if not it would continue into spring break or some after hours uh if needed uh the tiling in the bathrooms which I know is very important to Dr handerhan um is closing out un complete and uh that that's we had the opportunity to go through a few months ago and it was just absolutely amazing how they've really come out I'm I'm really looking forward to seeing what the board does and the administration does after we're gone because I'll be now sitting on the sidelines and on Facebook complaining now I I love you all happy holidays and again it's been an honor thank you thank you um at this time I'm going to ask our custodian of Records Mr Smite to please give us a overview of Oprah um requests and uh also before before I do that I just want to comment I know Madam president you mentioned it with regard to the audit presentation that districts are required um at the time of the audit to provide the audit synopsis that was the attachment that was on uh this evening's agenda and once the board accepts the audit as presented the board is made uh public and provided on the district's website uh on an ongoing basis for uh for uh reference by um the the taxpayers and community so I just wanted to mention that with regard to Oprah uh we report on a monthly basis year-to date and that's uh this is related to the July 1 start we have received 53 Oprah requests all all requests have received a response from the district 51 of them have received a response and have and has been closed out we have one request that has been partially responded to uh and that we are still preparing uh and going to be providing additional documents and we have one request is pending certifications by the request as required by the recent amendments to the oer law uh and to date this year the district has provided uh approximately 9,600 pages of uh government records so uh and with regard to Oprah if you'll indulge me uh you know again there's been uh a number of emails uh posts you know there's been emails sent to numerous School Employees Municipal Employees W police officers County State agencies the media Outlets uh as well as posting on social media regarding opah request uh and it's basically the continued campaign of disseminating false and misleading information so I guess we're trying to make an attempt to to clarify it so so that uh those you know watching tonight or going to watch in in the future are provided with accurate information um statements at oper responses were were are overdue are false um they are not and and have been not uh the district uh one in particular has to do with Opa requests for um attorney invoices and just so people are aware when a request is made to a district or a public entity for an invoice uh government records Council considers that an immediate access document so most people have the idea that we have seven days to provide a response or provide an extension uh if it's an immediate access document we are uh to provide those records immediately um that is sometimes subjective what that means if we get a Opa request at 3:55 in the afternoon and don't see it uh it may be the following day that we provide it but we look to provide them immediately meaning the same day uh request for attorney bills that was received at the beginning of December did receive a response the same day and it received all the attorney invoices that the district was in possession of at that time um request was for September October invoices we provided um the uh September uh invoices uh and whatever October invoices we had and if there was uh invoices that we had not yet received obviously they they were not U um provided uh and I just want clarify that we don't provide the records once they come in you know the custodians of records are not required nor are they expected to produce documents or provide documents that may have been requested in the past if and when they do become available or do in fact become a public record for the school district we don't do that uh and uh what would be required is an additional op request for the records at a future date and uh that is in fact after two weeks of complaining that Opa requests were overdue a request was recently received uh and any additional invoices that the district provided uh or had received was in fact provided in response to that um also just to clarify uh for um as if I can as the board secretary part of the these emails or chain of emails is suggestion to have our two board members elect attend executive session uh meeting tonight with the Board of Education um and the suggestion that like not having them attend is because the board is trying to hide something from them um I you know in a word if I could say it is ridiculous so uh executive executive session is for the purpose of discussing confidential matters and having individuals that are not yet sworn into office noting that they can't be sworn in at this time you uh new board members cannot be sworn in until the board reorganizes and to have individuals uh in an executive session meeting um prior to them being sworn in would be inappropriate so thank you thank you Mr smite do we have any members of the board that would like to contribute to the board report Mr Buffa Madam president I just want to um I'm not going to try to say other things because everybody else already captured the sentiment but um definitely going to miss you and Adam both and uh I've really enjoyed my time on the board with you and um thank you for your service thank you yes Mr M I'd like to share my thanks as well I can certainly Dr handran expressed everything so wonderfully uh uh Christine and Adam you your uh contributions to the board to this board o over since the time I've been here and before uh certainly have been tremendous Adam working with you on the uh finance and Facilities committee uh is was an eye opening your your professional experience uh was so important uh to to that committee and to uh the work that has been done there uh to the referendum work that still has a lot to go and I and you've laid a great f foundation for that and I hope that you are going to be uh very pleased with what we are going to be able to continue to do which you have so much have had a part of and I I thank you so much for that and you're also your service as as vice president Christine uh your comments tonight highlight why you have been such a uh excellent and passionate not only board member uh but president uh it has been an absolute pleasure uh to serve with you I think that uh you have have guided the board tremendously and you have worked hard right up until last evening working very hard on something and uh uh I cannot express my gratitude or the gratitude that the town should have for you and for Adam uh for what you have done for this board I appreciate our former board members coming out Erin and Chris and Andy uh to show their appreciation for you guys and uh I just wish you uh the very best I hope that maybe some of us can call on you in the future if we uh get stuck on some things and I hope I know that you will uh provide us with some good answers thank you very much thank you Miss djv Yes again I just want to share my colleague sentiment of thanks Adam I do not know what I'm going to do on fnf without you you have a way of just whispering in my ear and explaining to me in about five words what takes Mr SMI about 30 so I do appreciate that Tom I'm sorry for what's facing you on fnf uh as you have to sit in that stead Christine you have been a mentor to me coming on to this board um your your grace and an articulate manner of which and un unparalleled professionalism has been an inspiration and I just hope that um we make you guys proud thank you thank you okay that's it for our border report thank you thank you for your kind words okay committee reports our committee minutes are um published online do any of my committee chairs have anything to add okay seeing none we're going to be moving into our second public comment again if you have any perspectives to share we've got the uh Podium at the bottom of the stairs and at the top of the stairs please come forward do we have anyone for public comment okay bety cross I live in wall um the two new members could have sat in for executive session it's been done in the past it's been done plenty of times at Municipal so it it can be done I know you're shaking your head Athena but it can it cannot um let's see I just wanted to read that claim it says fun year 09 0809 member wall Boe claim number 00266 claim it S Young total Authority requested 1,545 35 5860 so I'll give a copy to I think the co- star is here tonight and they can follow up with you if you're saying it's not that I guess you should go back to the school access liability fund and ask them to correct their report um and C Lou a Marian J Pagano those are all on the diploma JF fund where Mr SMI is a voting trustee and Dennis mckever your attorney is their attorney which to me is a conflict of interest Dennis mckever is not the attorney for the wall board of education he's the attorney for the dipf thank you so you keep sending in bills you just had a bill from from him regarding a lawsuit so that just came back I guess yesterday for $577 from Dennis mckeever's firm for an education lawsuit so maybe you didn't see it Athena but it came back your information's not current I'm talking now thank you certificate of excellence I think is for 2223 so I think miss handerhan you were congratulating Brian I think you congratulated him last year we're talking about 23 24 so if it's on there we'll see but I don't think we need to congratulate him again for a prior year um I'm surprised that these numbers in fnf minutes deficit of 68,000 for Food Service the rap programs negative 29,000 um I don't know how we're doing this with the health insurance but it says Horizon reviewed our stop loss at 125 per person with a few exceptions DEC details can be discussed with Mr Smite due to confidentiality Provisions so who's going to pay those claims if it's the nine of you that's great but um there shouldn't be a three-year contract with brown and brown again when you can't make heads or tailes of anything and there's no presentation to the public on what you're doing with the health insurance um health benefits you got one report for November then you have another one for it says November 12th to 1212 doesn't make any sense um what else so yeah the approval for the resolution for the stop loss carrying the third party administrator that should be tabled um I heard about somebody was beaten in the school till they were bleeding I mean that's something that you really should get extra security and your protecting the children thank you Mrs cross your time is up thanks do we have anyone else for public [Music] comment seeing none I'll be closing the floor for public comment Mr Smite yeah please uh just again for clarification I'm not saying that the report put out by um the the carrier is incorrect correct I believe the report is correct I'm just saying I'm correcting the statement that wall uh Board of Education or the wall taxpayer is paying a settlement in the amount of $1.5 million that is not what the report says uh and that is an inaccurate uh statement as well as the representation that all the other individuals listed and the payment authorities being approved are payments made by the Wall Township Board of Education because that is not accurate and also that they are fact settlements because um I would disagree with the statement that they are in fact settlements um these are payment authorities that is part of the process that uh the GIF follows in um in handling claims that are are made uh with regard to the certificate of excellence I believe that was in fact clarified that the certificate of excellence that is included in the audit is the certificate of excellence that was received for the 2223 audit uh I will note that the congratulations issued last year by Dr handerhan for that certificate was for the year prior to that which would have been the 2122 audit uh and yes we are um optimistic that we will receive the same certificate of excellence for the audit that was presented tonight um with regard to the contract reference that we awarded are awarding a contract with Horizon I mean uh with brown and brown for three years is incorrect the contract is for third party administrated Services uh provided by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield who is our third party administrator for our self Insurance uh health benefit plan thank you thank you can can I add to that yes so uh with regard to the Enterprise account balances uh it's important to understand that we report out and the business office reports out to us on a p&l basis for the year if there are balances in the Enterprise accounts as there is in our food service fund and we are in investing into our facilities for equipment or other Capital items it will show a negative balance because we're spending down the balance um that was noted in the minutes I'd also like to add that uh for confidentiality purposes we do that because our stop loss is limited to $125,000 if we have lasers which are higher limits on certain employees and there's fewer of them by pointing them out or putting that number into the minutes it would identify those individuals similar to our testing uh results when we report them out so that is the reason for that thank you thank you all right at this time may I please have a motion to approve the consent agenda Mr wandra may have a second Mr Nasser Mr mik a item for the consent agenda Mr Ania yes I'm going to abstain uh number seven on the HR report for number one it's a family member yes mrff yes but going to abstain from 177e as it pertains to me yes and will abstain from 17e as it pertains to myself Mr yes yes Mr yes yes thank you prior to adjourning I would just like to wish everyone a happy holidays and I would be um remiss if I did not also recognize the spirits of all of our friends in the PTO across the district um that raised me and have supported me and supported so many folks on the board I appreciate all the work that all of our families do in the district to support our kids and celebrate our kids and add magic to their experience here the things that they're going to remember forever um and I came from those ranks and I will be eternally grateful I wish everyone a happy holiday and um like to make a motion I'd like to make a motion to adjourn can we make a motion to adjourn board Mr Nasser all in favor any extensions anyone um oppos would like to vote no anyone opposed all right guys that's a wrap Mr and e