e e e e e this is the Wall Township Board of Education meeting for Tuesday April 23rd 2024 please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all Mr SMI may have the uh Sunshine announcement roll call please yes this is the Walltown Board of Education meeting for which adequate notice was provided in accordance with the public meeting act by notice to the co-star Asbury Park Press all Wall Township Schools the township clerk's office and the board Administration office on January 4th 2024 take a roll call Mr anio here M barbier here Mr buffer here miss DG ovani here Mr Nasser here miss shimko here Mr wandra Mr Mali here miss Stites okay may I have a motion to go into executive session uh for items a d e g and H I'll Mrs djani uh and Mr uh second Adam Mr Mr Nasser second thank you roll call please okay uh all in favor all opposed extensions okay motion Carri e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e so cute I know good evening everyone at this time we will be reconvening the Wall Township Board of Education business meeting uh please join me I'm welcoming our wall High School n andcc Cadets with the flag salute flag of the United States of America and to for it stands Nation God indivisible withy and justice for all C right wheel March forward color color arms thank you before we resume our meeting um I have a very special recognition this evening um for Cadet Master Chief Brendan Lang who is a senior um at wall High School Brendan has been selected for an incredibly uh outstanding honor um he has been selected to be a part of the best defense Foundation Next Generation student program where he will be uh one of 16 students who accompany 60 World War II veterans on the battlefield return program this June where they will be going to France uh commemorating the 80th commemoration of dday and the Battle of Normandy um this is a I believe 12-day program um and this is a tremendous tremendous honor that is well deserved um I am so proud that Brendan will be representing Wall Township um there have been kids all around the world that attempted to um join this program and I know that he will um really be an outstanding reflection you are such a great reflection of your parents um and our community and we are just thrilled for you so thank you y and now I'm going to let you escape Mr Mr SMI will you please do roll call yes roll call Mr anesio miss barbier here Mr buffer here Miss D Giovani here Mr Mali here Mr Nasser here M shimko here Mr wandra Mr Mason Adam Miss Megan Cappy here and miss titits here would you like us to adjin at this time the uh board is going to adjourn to the front row for several show showcases all set okay it's my pleasure uh we to uh speak with you this evening and uh introduce the first of two presentations this evening um and it truly is my pleasure thanks Mr apprciate that okay to to welcome you to our Board of Education meeting to share really some highlights um and actually it's a very visually stimulating thank you thank you Miss sertz wherever you are shout out and I'm going to turn the floor over to you okay thank you all right thank you uh I just want to thank the board of ed for giving each of the schools an opportunity to um pick a month to Showcase something that is going on in their buildings um I know we've seen some things over the course of the last five or six months uh something that I decided to do uh this month was to uh really just highlight some of the um clubs activities and some of the extracurricular events that we have here at the intermediate school for those out there in uh YouTube land that may not recognize some of the things that we do and all that we have to offer for the Intermediate School we put together a little video for you um some of the things are things that have been happening currently in this school year some of the pictures you'll see were from last year because they haven't happened yet uh and then I'm going to selfishly plug that on Thursday we have volley for autism um which is a large fundraiser um that um uh Susie panasuk and all the teachers have spent the time to put together um I got to experience it last year for the first time uh it was really amazing um and it is a uh charity fundraiser that we do that um then turns the profits over we use them for some of our students and our self-contained classes um to uh kind of uh beef up some of the field trips and opportunities for certain students and then we also give a proceed of the um of the event to a local organization in Brick Township that helps um uh parents like myself who have kids on the Spectrum to um identify services that they need and support them in ways that that schools typically can't so that's my selfish plug so I hope we see everybody here on Thursday [Music] once upon a time there was a little ogre named Shrek who lived with his parents in a bog by a tree it was a pretty nasty place but he was happy because ogres like nasty [Music] [Applause] [Music] I want sunsh I got rain I got rain I got rain and then I saw her face I saw his face I'm a I'm not a a my in my mind I believe I [Music] believe I believe believe I believe [Music] [Applause] [Music] a [Music] [Music] [Music] a [Music] [Applause] [Music] I think I want to come back as a sixth grader at wall intermediate school so can benefit from three years of really stimulating activities and uh really the the messaging was very clear that um when students get involved it really enhances their educational experience um and I just want to uh punctuate that underline it and highlight it because um you know for for those of you that are here and for those of you that are out and I'll quote Mr Land TV Land please um encourage your children encourage your grandchildren to your nieces your nephews your friends get involved because it makes such a difference and um you know the experiences are so robust and I'm incredibly grateful that we're able to um this community is able to provide them for our students so um thank you to all um next up um it's my pleasure to [Music] introduce Miss it's it's um something that's incred L special and it's a wonderful tradition for uh Wall Township Public Schools and that's the essay contest that is sponsored and run by the wtea regard and it's entitled a teacher to remember and um it's it really is a very moving contest and um it's my pleasure to introduce to you the wtea president and one of its is one of its Vice presence come okay okay you can stay there um because I Miss galar and um she'll be leading this portion and oh see I see I told you miss Campbell and I just want to give a shout out to these uh two individuals because uh just as we saw the excitement coming out of wall Intermediate School they are very much a part of that um excitement and uh you know really just being uh special individuals for okay keep talking okay well I'll really turn it over now thank you good evening good evening um I am proud to announce our a teacher to remember essay contest this is the first year we opened it up to first grade through seniors in high school previously we did fifth grade eighth grade and seniors and I'm very proud of the 204 students that took the time to write an essay all of the teachers received the essays that were written they were wonderful and what we're doing tonight is we're going to be announcing the winner for the building which is very hard to decide because they're all um hit your heart with the letters that they wrote um so we're going to start with a Allenwood um and each School a student was chosen for the letter that they wrote the essay that they wrote to a teacher in that school we have one um building where it's not teacher in school and uh student in school but we'll talk about that later so the first one I would like to uh bring up is meline Campbell who is going to speak about Miss Jen salt who would also come up please just start a teacher to remember my teacher to remember is Mrs salt Mrs salt is a gym teacher at Allen School Mrs salt is kind funny caring and very patient and helpful sometimes third graders can be a little hyper especially in gym class Mrs salul is very patient explaining rules and answering questions she she has taught me how important it is to help others every year we participate in the kids heart challenge that is organized by Mrs salt this is a fundraiser to help the American Heart Association Mrs salt works very hard to make sure Allen would reach his hour goal so far this year I have raised over $600 and this school has raised over $118,000 I um did this essay before um it ended so I actually raised $800 and the school raised over um $23,000 we are learn we are learning about heart health and raising money to protect All Hearts especially other kids Hearts this lesson is important to me because I try to use it every day here's one example of how I helped others in kindergarten there were two new kids to the school I went with Miss guile to give them a tour of the school here's another example if I am doing or was doing partner work in any grade I help my partner if they need it I also raised $100 this past Christmas to donate to the no kid hungry charity in CCD my class made Valentine Valentine's Day card to help elderly in nursing homes making others making others happy makes me feel proud of what I have done these are skills that I have learned from Mrs salt and I am looking forward to using them every day we will all Miss Mrs salt when she retires because of her impact on our lives [Applause] our next student is skylie Jade Carmen who is going to be talking about Mrs Kira [Applause] lafer a teacher to remember many teachers Focus mostly on teaching their students everything they need to learn that year and on the other hand some teachers do the same thing but with a little spin on it they make it so interesting that their students want to come to school every day my teacher Mrs laita is just like that first of all Mrs laita has already taught me so much in this school year for example she has taught me many things in math like long division multiplying 1digit by four-digit numbers and dividing with remainders she's also taught me ways to remember how to do things like multiplying 8 * 7 how to remember lines of latitude and longitude and multiplying two digit two digit by two digit numbers secondly she also tells us to always try your best and if you don't understand something you could always ask for help and it's okay if you don't understand something it just means that you need a little extra practice every time I'm feeling unsure of something I always think of what she says and try to work it out by myself and if I'm really stuck I will ask her for help lastly Mrs Alita is very kind she has a good sense of humor and she's and she's very good at math she always compliments me on my hair and outfits and she makes learning fun I also love how she connects experiences from her own life to math for example for example a way she helped us remember how to change improper fractions into mixed numbers is that when you are adding mixed numbers in fractions you will think of her daughter Savannah as her boy jumping when she really meant we will rock you so far this year Mrs lafita has become a huge role model role model to me I wrote this essay about Mrs laita because I believe that she should be recognized not only because of her incredible teaching abilities but because she has made a difference in my life she has shown me that hard work pays off and that I should never give up these lessons will continue to have an effect on my life throughout the rest of elementary school middle school high school and college thank you Mrs lerita [Applause] our next student is Andrew Daniel and he is going to be speaking about Miss Jill Turner [Applause] a teacher to remember I have I have been at Old Middle School for 5 years and I have had some amazing teachers through these first few years however my third grade teacher Miss Turner stands out the most to me Miss Turner is very kind and funny and she is an amazing teacher Miss Turner taught me many great lessons the greatest lesson she taught me was how to multiply numbers this is special to me because it was the first thing she taught us in third grade and it gave us an idea of what third grade math would be like that year doing multiplication with Miss Turner gave me the confidence I needed to do harder math problems sometimes I learning how to multiply was really tough but miss Turner taught me that it was okay to make mistakes as long as I kept trying she never got mad or frustrated and she always helped me to do my best she even taught us many fun songs and games that we could use to help us memorize our math facts these lessons that she taught us these lessons that she taught me are important in my life for many reasons because I learned so much with Miss Turner last year I am more confident about math this year and I'm doing really well in fourth grade because of everything she taught me I also know that even when things are hard I should never give up and that I should keep trying until I get it right finally she helped me to discover that learning new things can be fun the lessons that I learned from Miss Turner help me succeed in other areas of my life like in football g&t and even when I get older and have a real job I will always remember Miss Turner as the best teacher ever [Applause] our next student is Brooklyn Fergie and she is going to speak about Mrs Paula dap um a truly amazing teacher is hard to find difficult to part with and impossible to forget especially Miss dab Miss dab was the best teacher I could ever ask for and I will never forget her Miss D was very hardworking caring and especially kind she would help me with Concepts I didn't understand and help me get through things that were tough when I first came to West felmore Elementary School I didn't have good handwriting and I wasn't good at math and when you welcomed me into your colorful classroom you taught me how to write with beautiful cursive and taught me so many things in Math Miss tap not only taught me handwriting in math but she taught me how to be a very kind person and thoughtful of other people's feelings which is a very important part of growing up I tend to level up and doe to miss st's wonderful teaching and guidance helped me in many great ways to be able to advance to fourth grade Miss sta helped me so much and we did so many things together like all the fun Marvel parties and especially the wind Dixie party um this staff had also taught me so many lessons in third grade that are super important to me and are very important in life in third grade Miss that Tau taught me not to care about what other people think this is important to me because I would always wear my hair in front of my face because I was afraid of what other people would think of me after Miss stff told me I started to wear my hair up almost every day this lesson is important to life because if you always care about what other people think about you it makes you not want to be yourself Miss St has taught me so many things that helped me throughout the year and important lessons that help me understand certain things Miss staff is truly the best teacher ever thank you for all the lessons you taught me and all the fun we had [Applause] we're moving to the Intermediate School Maddie joins has written an essay about Mrs Amy Bramley [Applause] teachers are very important people in kids' lives not only academically but mentally too I'll never forget Mrs Bramley because of how I have learned so much from her class while also having fun and making new friends because of all all of the group work that we did her teaching techniques suited me very well and I feel that I excelled academically she never failed to put a smile on my face every every time I walked into her classroom and she still says hi to me every day when I walk into School Mrs Bramley is truly my most memorable teacher one of the reasons Mrs Bramley was such a great teacher is because I've learned so much from her class her class was one of my most memorable ones because I felt it was the one class where I felt especially motivated to do my best because there was always a reward waiting for you if you did well this made me pay full attension causing me to learn at my fullest potential additionally we would do a variety of lessons differently suited for how you learn um for example some days we would do artsy projects like making posters the next day we might watch a video and the next day have a gallery walk and walk around the room I liked how she would not stick to the same lesson plan every day because it makes class less enjoyable and it may not suit your learning needs because every kid learns differently another reason why Miss Bramley was my most memorable teacher is because of how enthusiastic about teaching she was and because of the environment she created in her classroom each day I walked into the classroom she would always smile and enjoy every single second of teaching US History because she loves her job her students love learning including me I felt the environment she created in her classroom was something that I'll never forget whenever I didn't understand something she never failed to help help me individually until I understood the environment she created would always be welcoming to the opinions of students but sometimes she would push us out of her Comfort zones allowing us to Branch out one day I was paired to do a project with this girl who I'm who I've never talked to before now she's one of my best friends our friendship was born from the healthy environment in her classroom in conclusion Miss Bramley was a very special teacher and I will never forget her she was very memorable because of her ways of teaching her love of teaching and how she created a healthy learning environment she has changed my learning experiences and my relationships with peers in a great way and I grateful for that yeah just have a moment here we have a student that writes very good and really writes a lot so we actually have um two students from the high school that we couldn't decide which essay we should pick um one is a student at the high school writing about a teacher at the high school and one is a student at the high school School writing about a teacher that they had in the past so I'm going to invite Emily Gil up to talk about Mr Gordon [Applause] cousins I'm a little too tall for this mic um I'd just like to preface this with it makes me cry so since the dawn of time I've always strived for Perfection it's just an innate responsibility that I've succumbed to ever since I was a child I'm a softball player and I didn't pitch a perfect game I thought I was a failure I didn't get a 100 on my test I should have done better or studied harder even tag at recess was a challenge for me because I when I lost it was the end of the world I remember the summer before third grade it was pleasant I spent most of it with my babysitter my future fourth grade teacher and my older sister Lauren a rising fifth grader I remember how Lauren would tell me how much she loved my future teacher Mr cousins she described him as fun easygoing but tough when he needed to be and highly supportive I was truly enthusiastic about it because starting third grade would mean I'm growing up and get to vote in the school elections computer classes would get more rigorous art class would be more creative with clay sculptures however I'd I'd have to face my enemy again the red pen being a perfectionist I hated pens pens symbolized wrong that my work was imperfect they also couldn't be erased which was even more frustrating because I couldn't redo a mistake without being reminded that I made it in the first place when I walked into that classroom for the first time I faced this giant man he was so tall a little red-faced and had the most toothy smile paired with the same glasses he still wears this day alongside him was another woman Mrs Sloan who definitely deserves her own essay by itself the first week progressed assessing where each individual was at getting to know each other and re acclimating to the school environment from the summer haze I got to know Mr cousins better each day more about his wife and sons the cool Vans he used to show up with the cool Vans he used to show up with um he liked to wear alongside his different ties he was father-like loving for all his students but Stern for those who refuse to listen one day he introduced a new topic to me multiplication each student would have to complete a quiz every day um every couple of weeks on our multiplication tables it would start at 1: and work itself to 12: eventually resulting in one big Class party I was stoked to hear this as I absolutely loved Pizza especially when sharing it with my best friends in the world so I started practicing my times tables I practiced and practiced the first test was so easy as 1 time 3 was simply three and so on and so forth so was the second test as 2 * 6 was 12 however as weeks passed then came the thre being new to multiplication this was a little more difficult for me my third grade self went through each equation in my head 1 * 3 2 * 3 and so on until I got to one problem I couldn't remember you only had a little amount of time to do the quiz 5 minutes or so so you really needed to have your facts down pat 7times three I couldn't remember I started sweating panicking because I didn't remember the simple fact that I've gone over with my mom the previous night I rushed through the others and went back to 7 time 3 time's up Mrs Sloan announced my quiz was being taken so I quickly wrote down a number I waited a week anxiously awaiting the quiz results expecting my guest to be right because if it wasn't right then I couldn't hang it up on the fridge Mr cousins handed it back to me with a big 95 and a smiley face on the top saying good job in red ink I immediately froze my eyes wandering down to the reason I didn't achieve Perfection practically on the verge of tears at this point I looked down on it a big red X slash through the number three 7 * 3 3 * 7 was 21 not whatever I scribbled in last minute it took me a second to process the fact that I was a so-called failure even then the tear um even then the tears came strolling down my face one by one they marked up my paper and wetted it as I sniffled Mr cousins approached me noticing my tears and pulled me aside what's wrong Emily he questioned my third grade self held up my quiz to him and pointed to the 95 the red ink and the one I got wrong I was anxious he'd be upset at me as I was upset with myself that I didn't beat Dean Fitzgerald and his perfect 100% because he could remember seven times three and I couldn't Mr cousins son explained to me the most valuable lesson I have ever learned in my entire life I tried my best and sometimes my best is all I can give of course I didn't want to accept this my 95 was unacceptable but from then on out Mr cousins made it his mission to get me to understand that Perfection is unattainable he would mark my all my papers up with his red ballpoint pen making it know that I got something wrong of course every time I'd be visibly upset every single time so he kept persisting he kept drilling it into my head that it was I was okay just the way I was that I tried very hard as a student and that was all he could ask for for months he would put these thoughts into my head over and over he would tell me how great he thought I was doing and how much of an acceptable student I was over and over it's not about perfection Emily it's about growth he would say pretty soon June rolled around summer was in swing again and so was the end of third grade I'll never forget the tears on my face after having to leave Mr cousin's class and move on to the third grade wow lots of crying I can confidently say that Mr cousins broke the spell the red pen had on me he was the first to make me comfortable with failure and accept that my best was my best I didn't have to compete with anyone else only myself it has now been a decade and I think about that class very often I would say about once or twice a week when I have to remind myself that I don't need to be perfect he was one of the biggest reasons I got through my first two years at high school at a vocational school the reason I could accept a b-grade knowing I tried my best I think about all his pep talks all his hugs every part of it they say to be loved is to be changed and I truly believe that Mr cousins loved me and in turn changed me it was on February 29th that I went back to West wmart for read Across America week and read to the third grade classes yes I signed up because it was a good opportunity to work with kids and get me out of study skills but what I truly signed up for was to see my third grade teacher and be in that class classroom again I found out that he had been moved down to second grade along with Mrs Sloan so I would unfortunately not be reading to him however we were given 15 minutes to say hi to our old teachers and you bet I ran up that small flight of stairs that used to be the biggest thing in the world to me I stood outside his door and knocked I saw him at his desk and I smiled the next door teacher Mrs dap said that the door was unlocked so I opened it along with a world of memories the room was set up the ex exact same almost untouched from when I left Mr cousins got up from his chair and I don't think I've ever run to hug anyone faster than I did I practically tackled the once tall man who seemed a little less tall now I instantly started sobbing all the memories coming back one by one he said he could recognize me for my smile the same one I had when I was younger which made me cry even more they weren't sad tears though this time they were happy ones happy that I'd gotten the opportunity to be a student I spent almost the whole unfortunately short amount of time I had with Mr cousins and Mrs Sloan Mrs Sloan even cried I have never felt so happy and safe somewhere so confident so loved in any other place in this whole world Mr cousins has done things for me and made me feel a way that some cannot do in a whole lifetime he was the first person to put a name on what I'd been feeling anxiety and the first person to help me manage and overcome it I don't think I will ever be able to forget the feeling I had when he hugged me and told me it would be okay and the last time he hugged me and told me it would be okay I can confidently say that Mr cousins changes lives especially mine and has for so many others that I know and will continue to do so throughout his career as an educator thank you and and our last student is Sophia white who is going to be talking about Mr Justin Santiago [Applause] the concept of teaching is an interesting one teachers are put in place to teach students academics and life skills they're given a syllabus a set of guidelines and are constantly monitor monitored by the administrators quotas for test and quizzes are to be met certain Concepts must be taught lesson plans have to be created students questions must be answered all of these requirement put an everlasting pressure on teachers who also have the responsibility of being role models for their students however even with all these pressures and expectations there are always teachers who go out of their way to engage with students and make learning an enjoyable activity even for sleep deprived teenagers one teacher in particular Mr Santiago does just that and more while I have not personally had Mr Santiago as a teacher I have had the opportunity to engage in various activities with him majorly through student council and Social Club from the first meeting I attended it was clear that there was something unique about his approach to sometimes boring subjects such as school when most teachers have a quiet student they tend to leave them in their secluded Comfort Zone Mr Santiago on the other hand pays attention to these students and actively includes them pushing them out of their comfort zone so that they can grow his unique perspective and personality create respected relationships between students and himself especially with students from the MD classes he's a passionate teacher and has taught me so much without me even having to step into his classroom the greatest lesson I have learned from Mr Santiago is to find the enjoyable parts of unenjoyable things potentially boring projects like Step Up day an event where middle schoolers come toward the high school headed by Mr Santiago and Miss kalenowski can be fun if you incorporate games and Captivate the attention of the students by finding the fun in little everyday things everything is more enjoyable and interesting and students will want to be present in the moment and learn this lesson has changed my life and I find myself abiding by it quite often when I'm unhappy with something I try to find the good parts about it if I or one of my friends isn't looking forward to something I try to find ways to make it more fun just like Mr Santiago for example I am a captain of the 6934 transistors FTC robotics team and with that responsibility I along with the other captains are responsible for teaching the younger members STEM related information the captain's dread coming up with teaching plans and the younger members aren't usually interested in them but remembering Mr Santiago us captains worked together to make an informational game rather than trying to teach kids who weren't interested in what we had to say this made them want to engage and they learned more through a fun activity such as this one than they would have if it wasn't fun ultimately there are many teachers who do a great job at teaching their students especially with all the responsibilities they hold but there are few teachers like Mr Santiago that spark a students imagination and engagement to me that's what makes a teacher to remember [Applause] I want to thank all the students that participated and um maybe we'll have it bigger next year thank you very [Applause] much sort of like what Mr Laughlin did I'd just like to make a plug um the eighth graders have a car wash uh that was just moved to Sunday because we didn't think we wanted to be with eighth graders on Saturday and they were cold and complaining um so um we moved to Sunday it's Sunday from 10: to 1 here and um all of the proceeds are going to go to the American brain cancer Association so if you can find a dirty car that would be great thank [Applause] you boy that's a tough act to follow um I'm I'm incredi I I said that this was a moving um tradition and you know I I I'm pretty confident I delivered this um with my description um congratulations to the teachers um and thank you for the students congratulations to the students uh it's just beautiful and I you know I think back I you know you think back to your own teachers here I am you know in my 50s and Miss Ryan if you're out there I know I've given you shouts out before um thank you for all that you've done for me because uh you know there's there every child connects with a different teacher and I think that um and that's the beauty of uh the beauty of Education because there's so many different um different individuals different professionals working with our kids um you know that sometimes it's just a a great fit and sometimes it's a surprising fit on who clicks so um I thank all of to everyone 204 uh entrance um I probably would have needed a big old box of tissues to read so I probably would be a lousy judge so thank you thank the committee I don't know who was on it but I thank them um I at this point uh before we move on with the rest of the meeting I invited our our board president Christine Stites because uh you might remember last month we celebrated the uh teachers of the the educators of the year and the educational Professionals of the year and um you know because of circumstances U our High School uh teacher of the year was not able to attend so um you know we weren't going to let him get away that easy yeah we had a video for him but uh we just wanted to give him some proper recognition so it's my pleasure to invite U truly one of of the finest and to me he's a young man so a finest young man um that I um have ever um come in contact with so without any further Ado it's my pleasure to introduce to you Mr Jared mof health and physical education teacher at the high school [Applause] okay at this point I think it's a natural break in the meeting um I'm going to invite the Board of Education to return to the de and uh for those of you that either have homework or um you know or maybe not so much homework uh maybe want to hit the you know go to bed a little early this would be a great time to do so so um please drive carefully everyone e e hi okay everyone we're going to go ahead and resume the board meeting at this time at this time I'll be opening the floor for public comment um for the purpose of commenting on any school related issues if you'd like to speak we've got um the podium down front and the podium up top Betsy Carl that was great to watch um and I want to say great job to Fiddler on the Roof I went and saw that and that was fabulous and then I actually saw of v gonin and um they just the high school kids just put on such a great great performance it was fabulous um Betsy cross I live in wo um I just wanted to go over a few things um I've been sending in some information on cost per pupil and wall and I just can't wrap my head around this um back in 2020 you changed the way you were calculating it and you were deducting out tath pension and reimb reimbursed tath Social Security so it really changed your numbers and I remember asking you that year like what happened and you're like oh it's a new way to calculate it no it's not you can't deduct the number when everybody else is keeping it the same way and your footnote doesn't say that you just started doing it in in 2020 because your cost per pup was 24,000 you're now up to 32,000 so that's what I sent into the Controllers Office saying you know what's going on Bridgewood has 2400 more students but somehow wall shows they have 135 more staff doesn't make any sense Rich's been very helpful to me um Brian SMI were paying for health dental and prescription drugs $445 16 last year and um he had all of his information redacted but the doe gave it um something's wrong here we can't have our second largest line item and you're redacting everything it's just not right um so I have asked the controller's office they said just keep sending in the information keep sending in your comparisons I don't know if you're getting more state aid because of the way you calculate your teaching staff uh Ridgewood is like one teacher for every 14 in elementary we're one and nine um ridgewood's ranked number five districts best districts in New Jersey W Dr 72 something's wrong Ridgewood spending $7,000 less than Wall Township Horizon I can't even figure out what you sent me I sent it into all of you I sent it into Kevin durmer the Department of Education I don't know what's going on with this Self insurance and I don't think you do either because you can't prove it's cheaper and you're uh putting a blank spreadsheet together with nothing in it but when you want $14 million you're budgeting more than Ridgewood ridgewood's got 2500 more students they probably have more staff but I think you count you add in your um coaches and even the controller's office said yeah uh that doesn't make any sense so if you can go over how are you calculating your teaching staff um and put that on the record you have 964 staff and Ridgewood has 829 staff uh but they have 20 2,432 more students so if you could go over that I would appreciate it thank you do I have anyone else at this time for public Comer sure hi Susan McGoldrick Wall Township good evening I'd just like to talk about the nncc program and address the parents of eighth grade students that may be on the fence about choosing the nncc or as it's more commonly known The Roc and possibly alleviate any fears or concerns there may be I remember when my son was in eth grade and making choices for high school there was a lot of information and a lot of fear of the unknown when he expressed interest in the ROC I was worried would he fit in would he be able to keep up what would this mean for his high school experience but even more so during that time my son was fearful of entering high school he didn't have any friends he didn't play a team sport he didn't play an instrument to join a band in short he was terrified of finding his place until he heard about the ROC on Academy night a sophomore now and one of the cadets you saw tonight in the color guard this painfully shy awkward kid found his tribe the nncc at wall high school isn't just about uniforms and drills it happens to be one of the more diverse organizations at the high school belonging to the nncc has given my painfully shy awkward kid a place to belong it has given him that feeling of connection that all kids look for when entering a big new school through this program and because of the relationships made with other Cadets my son has matured and challenged himself in ways that continue to make us proud he's made friends and is proud to be a student at wall High School I've heard other Cadets refer to the unit as a family and that is what it provides it goes beyond the uniforms and drills and helps Cadets find their self-confidence it is not a military program although they do wear uniforms but it is a character and leadership development program that instills pride in their school Community if anybody any parent of any student has any questions about the program and would like to speak to me or any other cadet's parents about our experiences I encourage you to reach out to the Wall anchor Club on the Facebook page thank you oh and one other thing don't let that uniform intimidate you Colonel Jax is one of the most caring and nurturing teachers we have at wall high school thank you to do we have anyone else for public comment at this time okay seeing none I'll be closing public comment okay at this time we're going to be moving on to Megan Cappy and Mason Adam our student Representatives who'll be presenting for us this evening floor is yours thank you it's been an exciting month at wall high school today was bus driver appreciation day and the students were sure to show their appreciation by greeting the buses with sign and huge Smiles we are very lucky to have such great bus drivers in our district our spring Sports have all started and their seasons have been very successful so far our varsity baseball team beat Rumson Fair Haven yesterday 13 to nothing with a grand slam a three-run home run and a no- hitter in the same game the wall high school department of music just finished putting on the Fiddler on the Roof it was a great show and everyone enjoyed it tomorrow night is the second annual walls Got Talent it's at 7:00 p.m. with free admissions so come out and see all of The Talented students at wall High School this Friday is the Junior Prom and the junior class is looking forward to a very memorable evening thank you very much um I know there's a lot going on at the school getting ready for a lot of end year stuff um so you guys can feel free to go home and take care of whatever you've got to take care of thanks for all the hard work and thanks for the reporting [Applause] Dr handran I'm going to turn the mic over to you for special presentation introduction thank you miss titites it is my pleasure to uh I well at this point probably reintroduce is the appropriate verb because uh we have uh really some year-long presentations uh brief presentations from um Miss Tiffany Steiner and Miss kin veryy um truly some AllStars from our student wellness team and uh you know they've been incredibly busy U with Community engagement and incredibly busy implementing the first year the roll out of the seven mindsets and um we've been we're at this point right now where we are at the mindset live to give so I am turning the floor over to them thank you so much thank you again for having us back um it's good to see everybody I don't think I really even have to stand here and say anything because we've just experienced live give we just watched our amazing students give back we watched our amazing teachers receive gracefully we've watched us grow and step outside of our boundaries um and really appreciate what we have to learn and grow and give so that is the whole purpose of this month live to give our students have been really stretching themselves and making a difference um um we see that from everything from the car washes to volley for autism to everything that's coming up our kids really I thought this would be the toughest one for our kids to grasp but they have blown my mind and we wanted to share with you some components of what they've already accomplished in this month um these are some of the integration um vocabulary words so words such as helping and kindness and Legacy um fortify citizenship charitable these are words that these kids are seeing and using in their day-to-day classroom and it just goes hand inand with what we're trying to do with our social emotional learning um I want to put some highlights out there now I have to say this every school has done such a phenomenal job we we could stand here for two hours I'm sure everybody would love to do that at 10:00 at night listening to us over and over but I just want to paint a couple pictures of what we're looking at this month old mill making a difference you know they donated over 116 books to Jersey Shore to the patients and families who are spending time there I don't know that a better example of what is lived to give and making a difference and helping somebody who's not in the best spot right now uh stretching ourselves the entire fifth grade learn CPR I'm going to be honest I don't know CPR I just know you press they know the whole thing so we really push them outside their comfort zone but the fact that they now have this confidence that they can go and help somebody that's what we're looking for stretching their abilities um the next one is I love this we talk about kindness like confetti But Central School went above and beyond um they put posted notes on everything Post-it notes on the lockers on the desks they really were able to embrace at such a young age what it means to receive gracefully while giving um they just blow my mind look at those faces look at those happy CH happy children that are really taking a lesson that's outside the classroom these elementary schools and high school and middle school have done this without us asking so the fact that they're embracing this just makes me receive gracefully thinking we're really we're really turning the corner and making a difference Mrs Steiner you want to keep going I absolutely do and I'm going to rewind you back to 100% accountable because this was one activity that we did last month it was delayed a bit so I want to highlight it now and then also just kind of highlight what we're doing to extend this so This was done at wall High School it is a splatter paint activity where limiting beliefs and thoughts were written on poster boards and then the kids were given an opportunity to take balloons filled with paint and kind of smash it right kind of try to make something beautiful some beautiful art out of um limiting thoughts and it was very well received obviously it was a really good visual a really good cathartic for a lot of kids but from here now the kids have decided that they want to live to give and they want to give their teachers this opportunity so they're switching and they're Oran organizing this event and they're going to facilitate it for our teachers and that really is the essence of live to give is kind of being in that momentum of giving another example um that we wanted to highlight was something that had happened at Alan wood school and again this is an example of live to give teachers are always so encouraging of their students and Dr Connell wanted to do something to really build rapport build culture and build bonds between the staff members so she had a um rock paper scissors tournament between all of the staff members and now this was the opportunity for the kids to be the ones who were encouraging their teachers so again another example of live to give um we have our winner up there who is Mrs Morgan a second grade teacher and Mr lindra is also also up there he is our PE teacher he came in second place so um there were no sore losers I think he's going to be very able and glad to participate next year as well and maybe he will be the winner next year but um what a great example of how to build culture and a positive vibe within the classroom finally there's a couple of things that have come up in the wellness department and what we've been able to offer our community I wanted to highlight and we're plugging all these events this evening but we you have another family night about summer safety and success this is a grant sponsored activity the wtaa is very generous helps us put these type of um events together and in a family night it means that we're going to have dinner we're going to have prizes and this one specifically we're going to be setting up some different kiosks to be able to highlight different programs providers and things for kids to do this summer to remain safe just launched our Wellness in the works volume 6 and um one other highlight that I wanted to share was last week we were very fortunate Mrs gilvar and I were very fortunate to be able to present in Philadelphia on future Focus schools and um our presentation was Educators in actions stories of real world resiliency I did put a quote from the CEO of seven mindsets we were able to really share a lot of our triumphs we were able to receive some good feedback from other buildings who highlighted things that they're doing as well and um we're really proud of Wall Township and all of the progress that we've made to conclude our last mindset is the time is now so we look forward to seeing you next month with our last mindset and um thank you again for giving us this opportunity [Applause] thank you so much this time we're going to be moving to the president's report and I'd like to start with recognizing our wall High School certificate students for March of 2024 the students of the month grade nine we had Donovan kleene grade 10 Genevie deette grade 11 Edward Teddy Gunther uh grade 12 Julia farelli we had nights of the week um for the week of March 4th we had 10th grader Michael Copan for the week of March 11th we had senior Tristan O'Neal for the week of the 18th we had John lipincott a sophomore and for the week of March 25th we had 11th grader Anthony Gonzalez we also had students of the marking period for period three um starting for the art Department we had 10th grader Robin glacken for business senior John Brown for English ninth grader Justin Cannon for family life we had 10th grader Katherine Duran for media TV we have Junior Karina Cruz for math we had 10th grader Michael Barcelona for music We had senior gra uh Zachary Nissen for PE and health Junior Kenny jariah for science senior Elizabeth Harts for social studies sophomore Cameron Lynn for technology education we had freshman Nathaniel Schuman and finally for World Language we have sophomore Sophia kepping so congratulations to all of those students I'm sure that your family and friends are very proud um and it's always nice to see hard work is paying off um I would like to congratulate all the uh WTA essay writers and the honored Educators um who received these um essays I'm thrilled that we have the opportunity to share this information and these kind of presentations at a board meeting um because while this is the board of educations business meeting I think it's so important that our community have the opportunity to really see the true um heart and soul of our schools which are our students and our staff and to see the really genuine relationships um that are being built every single day that's a testament to our Educators and certainly to our students who took the time um because of the impact that was made on them to really write and recognize them I'd like to thank Mrs Steiner Miss galary again for presenting seven mindsets um I really think that this program is picking up a tremendous amount of momentum I'm thrilled not only for what it's doing for our students but for the way that it's also bringing community members um this is something tremendously positive for wall and I'm thrilled um to have the opportunity to have them come and share with us um I would like to congratulate W Intermediate School the videos that we are seeing month after month from each of our schools is very special because um as I'm sure we can all appreciate we can't really go into the schools and see things in action so when the schools are able to bring their video presentations to us and show us what's happening inside the walls of the schools I think it's special for our community to see that and uh these videos are really getting pretty high-tech production very impressive um finally I would like to thank um the members of the board um we are in April um when we hit the ground in January it is a very busy time um getting on to new committees um getting the budget pretty quickly and learning to digest that and all the things that come with being on the board um I don't know if members of our community recognize but not only do we meet for Business board meetings as a group of nine in public each month and then also for special meetings um but we also we all serve on two um special committees either Personnel finance and Facilities curriculum and instruction and policy oh policy thank you so much which is how we actually um shape shape the district so sorry Mr Mal please my my apologies policy policy um so thank you to the board members um there's also a lot of work that's done behind the scenes individually um it's a tremendous responsibility and time commitment and I thank everyone sincerely um for all the hard work that you're doing on behalf of the community that elected you at this point I'm going to conclude my report and turn the floor over to Dr handerhan for the superintendent update thank you so so much Miss stes um I would once again I'd like to extend a heartfelt thank you to the wall High School color guard and our student representatives to the Board of Education Mason Adam and Megan Cappy for joining us this evening I also want to thank all the students that participated the teacher to remember essay contest the number of entries received this year speaks not only volumes to find faculty members in our district but truly is a testament to the depth of the character of our students thank you WT tea for running this essay contest congratulations to the winners and their teachers that they remember thanks to Mr Laughlin for coming out tonight and sharing all of the engaging activities taking place at wall intermediate um I just to reiterate what our student represent our student Representatives um what they were sharing I am happy to share and uh reiterate that today is National school bus driver day our drivers are integral to the operation of the school district and I am grateful for their commitment to our students and I was thrilled when I learned about U the surprise that the high school had for them today if you can please give them a big thank you the next time you see them tomorrow is Administrative Assistant Day and I am so grateful for their dedication in supporting students families faculty and administration thank you thank you thank you in speaking for myself I depend on them every day and every night and I am beyond appreciative of everything that they do to make wtps shine congratulations to the casting crew of Fiddler on the Roof the production uh was just wonderful thank you Miss Hollander Mr Mella Miss Kelly Mr courhouse and Mr Hollander for all of their hard work and dedication again I'm reiterating um our fine student reps tomorrow night at wall High School be hosting the second annual wall has talent I'm sure tomorrow night is going to build upon the success of last year's program this sat this Thursday night wall Intermediate School be continuing the tradition of volley for autism last year I was so impressed with the mission the magnitude and the spirit of this event I had so much fun I encourage you to come out um it's for an amazing cause it's for a great time and uh it's such an amazingly attended event you'll probably run into people you haven't seen in years please check our website for information and registration details for the program that Miss Steiner was sharing in her presentation summer safety and success family night which is scheduled for May 2nd on at 5:30 at wall Intermediate School the agenda if you weren't able to see it it sounds fantastic please go to the website and um I a a huge thank you to the wellness staff for organizing it and the wtea for sponsoring this very important event coming up the first week in May is Educator and Nurses Appreciation Week many thanks to all of the wtps Educators and advance for all that they do for our students and for each other so just little heads up that um I believe it's the week of May 6 of the first week in May and into May 6th the week in May 6th so just a little heads up uh because um you know it's really a time where we take pause and thank them for all of their hard work New Jersey Law requires school districts to sample water sources in schools every 3 years for the purposes of detect protecting lead Wall Township Public Schools chooses to test our water sources each and every year because the safety of our students and staff is Paramount 171 water sources throughout the district were tested earlier this month this we with this round of testing we did have one classroom water Outlet test higher than what is permissible for Leb this water source course is at Old Mill school the principal has notified via email the parents of students in this classroom earlier this evening over 30 water sources at Old Mill school and uh were tested and with this round of testing and this outlier sample was certainly unexpected this water source has not had any issue in the past the results were received this past Thursday and this water source was cut off prior to the start part of school on Friday late afternoon yesterday another sample was taken we are waiting these results and I look forward to sharing these results with the community all of the water testing is available for review on the District web page under the facilities department and a letter will be sent home shortly on behalf of the Board of Education I wish to express our deepest condolences for the friends and family of Mr Robert Neil Mr Neil was a mathematics teacher at wall High School who was quickly quite actually frankly he was a legend both as a teacher and also as a guitarist um Mr Neil retired actually right before I started but I did have the pleasure to uh meet with meet him one time because um he actually returned I believe it was last school year to participate in uh a faculty band U who performed for our seniors last year during a holiday concert um you know it's you know there's this evening we honored and and participated we provided a forum for students to share teachers that they remember um I would argue that what I've heard about Mr Neil um he was certainly one of those teachers so um our again our condolences to his um Family his friends and uh to those at the high school that um were particularly close with Mr Neil just a reminder that tomorrow we will be having our public budget hearing 5:45 at the intermediate school but this time will'll be in the cafeteria we will also be live streaming so if you're not able to make it tomorrow night uh just know that we'll you know log on and all of the information to see the video uh live stream will be provided for you tomorrow Mrs Stites I'm going to pass the meeting back to you thank you thank you this time we're going to be doing a board of education update I will start by saying that I also attended uh several evenings of fider on the roof at the high school um and it was spectacular um very enjoyable so very very excited to have attended um attended that um I know we have some folks on the board who have also participated Mr Mali yes thank you thank you president sites I'd like to thank the uh uh wtea for giving me the opportunity to uh to participate in the pitchet uh uh program I spent uh most of the day at Central School I was first in the cafeteria with Mr kosi and her staff and was very impressed they they bring uh six uh lunches right uh Mr Monas six yeah six different lunches come through and they either they go to uh recess before or after they come in and the lunch AIDS get them all settled and I was very impressed by the way that uh all the the food was uh distributed they have a great uh variety of uh options for the kids there and uh the staff there that I saw treated the kids with with such uh respect and you could see that the the kids really appreciated uh that uh and then I spent much of the afternoon with Mr Joe o Conor custodian there going around and uh you know I pretended to help him uh a little bit to he let me uh push the broom around but then after after I he couple times he went after I already did it he went and did it again and then but uh I want to thank you for that opportunity I also uh want to commend our uh students and our uh advisers for uh pH on the roof like Mrs cross I went to see it also the next night at manisan and I I will say I enjoy them both equally and are you know we don't owe anything our our production didn't owe anything to the one that I I saw the next night so thank you Mrs SES thank you does anyone else on the board have anything right now okay um I know we've got a couple other members of the board that will also be um participating um with the uh WTA pitch it um in the coming months I will be attending some rounds with maintenance and uh I know Mr buffer is going to be going out as well so um we look forward to reporting out on that for you at this time um just going to mention that committee reports um will be published on the website or the minutes um do any of our committee P committee chairs have anything to report out on right now thank you Miss stes uh just updates on some items on the agenda uh there is a Paving project at West belmare that is on for approval that is a referendum project um HVAC bids are coming in uh we're waiting till they all come in it's the first of uh three rounds that are coming back uh there's another award on the agenda for interior alterations districtwide that is a 2-year project project and this is the second time we've bid it um that includes uh work in our toilet rooms in the primary school there's also a contract for landscape design over at the high school uh we are doing a a master plan for the entire grounds not all of it is covered under the referendum work so bringing in somebody to help us put together the entire plan so it all Blends together uh is the the within the scope of this contract and there is a change order for another section of the foundation of Allenwood to get sealed uh it's been a wet April and uh it if there is a crack anywhere we have been finding where it is so uh this change order would deal with that um aside from that I do want to say I saw the Stockton dual enrollment on the agenda for today and I'm absolutely thrilled about it I am a Stockton Alum myself and a proud Stockton Alum uh for my undergrad and I will say that as a young man it definitely shaped who I was not just professionally but personally as well so Kudos Kudos thank you thank you at this time I'm going to be opening the floor for second public comment uh this public comment is for agenda action items um in the event that you'd like to speak we've got a Podium at the top and a Podium at the bottom Betsy cross IO wall I did want to mention that Ridgewood has two public comments you can talk on any topic it doesn't matter what it is I think you should do that here they also let people call in so if you're home can't make it here you can call in for public comment I'm sure with uh all the sophistication we have here we could do that as well um I did want to mention attorney bills we've paid 100,000 to Athena Cornell one thing um I know that dearra kuchka was deposed so I'm hoping that the entire board has now seen her deposition on the Central School trailers um so so you know we know we've wasted a lot of money cuz Mr SMI won't answer any questions for three investigations um if you could answer my questions that I asked earlier I don't want to go over them again I don't want to go over them tomorrow at the budget hearing I'd like to get them answered tonight so I can think about it and then if I have more questions I I will ask it tomorrow um I do just keep sending information to the controller's office and the Attorney General uh and the doe to Mr Morton and Mr richens uh things are just not adding up I don't even know how a board member could even vote on health insurance up here right now I have no idea what you have sent me what I attached to you today all of those documents it makes no sense whatsoever um so we're paying Brown and Brown $55,000 a year they shouldn't even have been hired back in 2012 their bid should have been rejected it was had had no price but Mr SMI made sure they got the business we have had problems ever since um Horizon it's weird on the on the monthly bill I only see like $141,000 in payments meanwhile you know you send me back an exhibited it's $848,000 that's why I'm saying nothing is making any sense um have you done your board member self- evaluations um I was on the call for Ridgewood and they were talking about those for themselves could tell I can't even understand we're on our eighth uh adjustment um work order and now we've hired them for two more projects um it's ridiculous I don't even understand what you said about HVAC Mr Nasser I was there for the bid opening so if you're going after for bid open you got to read vertise it you can't just pick and choose who you want to come in now um I heard that company was terrible I see payments to for catel provco and spel for the referendum um we need really a lot more details than we're getting but eight change orders to Cel with them being hired for two more projects just just isn't making a lot of sense um and I guess that last Mrs cross company that you hired or you were looking to hard for the hbac is the company that manisan is now suing so if you could answer if you've seen deka's uh do we have anyone else for a public comment at this time I guess I'm on uh my name is Jim Smith I live over on Tilton's Corner Road Road uh I've been a lifelong resident of wall I graduated from the West Belmar School in 1949 so I've been around seeing a lot of changes in the way things have been done I've had two daughters who've gone through the wall uh school system and they've done quite well I currently have a grandson going to wall high school and and I've always admired the way the uh wallers worked and but I'm wondering if anyone here has any of you members would comment on some of the numbers that Betsy cross has said about student um the cost per student would anyone say is it really $32,000 per student is that a good number or what anybody care to comment sir I'm sorry this is public comment time we don't generally go back and forth sir we it's our practice that we don't go back and forth so we're more than happy to hear whatever you have to say will that be tomorrow night you might comment or no no okay uh well thank you and um I guess I'll have to start paying a little more attention to uh what's going on here thank you do we have anyone else for public comment at this time okay seeing n we'll close the floor for public comment at this time may I please have a motion to approve the consent agenda I'll make a motion Mr Buffa may have a second I'll second Miss G Giovani Mr Smite Mr Ania yes M barier yes Mr Buffa yes m d Giovani yes Mr Mali yes Mr Nasser yes Miss shimko yes Miss stes yes thank you all right at this time may I please have a motion for adjournment I'll make that motion Mr maloff I have a second Mr adio all in favor thank you and I hope that we'll see folks tomorrow evening