001Good evening and welcome to the September 16th, 2025 business meeting for the Waltown Republic School District. At this time, please stand for the pledge to the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Mr. Mike, sunshine announcement and roll call, please. Mr. Waltown, the Board of Education meeting for which adequate notice under the Open Public Meeting Act is provided by notice to the CoStar, Asbury Park Press, Township Clerk's Office, all Waltown Republic Schools, and in the Board Administration Office on January 9th, 2025. Take a roll call. Ms. Adams? Here. Mr. Adnesio? Here. Ms. Barbier? Here. Mr. Berenton? Here. Mr. Buffett? Here. Ms. DiGiovanni? Here. Mr. Smith? Here. Mr. Wondrak? Mr. Mao? Here.
002At this time, I'm going to ask for a motion to go into executive session for those... ...whatever items indicated on the agenda. Mr. Adnesio? Mr. Berenton? Second. We anticipate that we will be returning from executive session at 7 p.m. Thank you. All in favor? All in favor? Good evening, and welcome to the September 16th, 2025 business meeting of the Waltown Republic School District Board of Education meeting. At this time, I would like to introduce the Wall High School NNDCC Color Guard. They will present the... ...and we will stand for the pledge. And, short. Mary. Colors. March. United States of America, for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, and with justice for all. Halt. Order. Mr. Smith, can we have a roll call to reconvene to public session, please? Take a roll call. Ms.
003Adams? Here. Mr. Adnesio? Here. Ms. Barbier? Here. Mr. Berenton? Here. Mr. Buffett? Here. Ms. DiGiovanni? Here. Mr. Smith? Here. Mr. Wondrak? Here. Ms. Sophie Keping? Here. Mr. Maliff? Here. Thank you, Mr. Spine. At this time, I'd like to make an announcement. Perhaps you noticed Dr. Handerhan's absence tonight. Please be aware that our superintendent of schools, Dr. Handerhan, will not be attending this evening's meeting. She sends her regrets, as she underwent emergency surgery yesterday, and is currently recovering at home. We wish her the absolute best of luck and a very, very speedy recovery. Dr. Handerhan also wanted to extend a warm welcome back to all students and staff. Additionally, she wishes to give a special thank you to our custodial and maintenance teams for their hard work over the summer, which made it possible for school
004to open this September. We could not have opened without their dedication and efforts. Tonight there is no student showcase. So at this time, I'm going to introduce this year's student representative, Ms. Sophia Keping, who is going to give the student representative report. Sophia? Thank you. Good evening, everyone. My name is Sophia Keping, and I'm honored to serve as the Wall High School student representative this year. I met many of you back in June, and I'm truly thrilled to officially represent the high school alongside our student council president, Hazel Garote. Hazel and I will be alternating reports each month for the remainder of the school year. So the first day of school was held on Thursday, September 4th, and our year is already off to a strong start. Leading up to that, on Wednesday, August 27th,
005Wall High School hosted freshman orientation, which was an incredible success. Student council and NHS members welcomed our incoming students, guided them on tours of the building, and shared advice to help them feel prepared for the year ahead. Despite the ongoing construction constraints, we are still here to help you. Thank you. As we saw the construction constraints within the building, the day ran smoothly and left our freshmen feeling supported and excited. The event concluded with student volunteers from various clubs and athletic teams greeting freshmen in the cafeteria and encouraging them to get involved in our community. This past Thursday evening, Wall High School hosted back to school night, where we had an excellent turnout of both parents and teachers. Families had the opportunity to meet the teachers and learn about classroom expectations. Student volunteers helped direct
006parents who were in a high school situation into the classroom. We've had a lot of fun with our students, and we really appreciate all of their support. throughout the building and hazel and i provided announcements over the loudspeaker to guide the schedule it was a great success it was a successful evening that showcased the welcoming and supportive environment of our school i am also proud to share that our school spirit is at an all-time high our friday night football and soccer games have seen incredible attendance and energy with students parents and community members coming together to support our teams in addition the sportsmanship deployed by displayed by our students has been truly impressive and is setting a positive tone for the year finally each class has recently met with our administrators to discuss expectations exciting
007upcoming changes and opportunities to look forward to in the 2025 to 2026 school year these meetings have helped set a strong foundation as we move forward overall while high school is starting the year with enthusiasm and unity and i look forward to keeping you updated throughout the school year and sharing all the wonderful things happening in the school year and i look forward to seeing you all in the next school year and earlier this year in june to have the opportunity to share once again thank you thank you william thank you sophia we're very happy to have you with us as a student representative this year you are the class president the senior class president so i'm sure you have a lot of duties and a lot of responsibilities and i'm sure that you're going
008to be handling those wonderfully we look forward to you or your partner coming to provide the student representative report every month thank you very much now as always you're certainly welcome to stay but if you have additional things to do which i'm sure you do you're welcome to leave us tonight thank you very much for your attention Thank you. At this time, we're going to open up the floor for our first public comment. These will be public comments on any school related issues. The board requests that those individuals speaking will be courteous and mindful of the rights of other individuals on making comments. Specifically, comments regarding individual students and school personnel are discouraged and not would be responded to by the board. Students and employees have specific legal rights afforded by the laws of New
009Jersey, the Walt Hancher Board of Education. There's no responsibility nor will it be liable for any comments made by members of the public. Speakers should consider their comments in light of the legal rights of those affected or identified in their comments and recognize that they are legally responsible and liable for their comments. And I please ask you to kindly observe our policy of three minutes per speaker. So at this time, anyone who wishes to please approach the microphone. Thank you. You can go up or down. You can go to the top or you can come down here. That's fine. Right there. You have three minutes to discuss any school related issue. I'm sorry? Does it have to be like, I like this or I don't like this? You can say pretty much what you like
010or don't like. It's up to you. It's your time to comment. Thank you very much. Is this working okay? It is. Okay. Wonderful. Thank you very much. You could start the timer now. I don't know how it works. Tell us your name, please. Oh, okay. Very well. My name is Linda Marie Osborn. I am actually an ex-student of Wall Intermediate and Mall High School. I graduated and am now a sophomore in college at Brookdale pursuing creative writing and also education. And my apologies, this was somewhat of an impromptu decision, but I simply wanted to say how, at least from my time as a student, I believe that you guys have done a very wonderful job at making sure the students feel safe, especially because I myself was a very, I was struggling quite a lot
011when I was a student here. I went through a lot of loss and a lot of pain. And it was very scary to be in school, but the staff here all made me feel very, very welcome and very, very safe. And I know that may not be the experience for everyone, but at least for me and hopefully many others, that was a very, very good thing. And I just wanted to recognize any of the faces on this board, but I know you all had a part in making, the school system better for people like me and many others. So I simply wanted to say thank you, I suppose. And to keep up the good work, I suppose. I don't really know what else to say, but I'll, I suppose that's all then. Thank you very
012much, sir. Thank you for your comments, we appreciate it. Anyone else for public comment? Hi, Angelique Pinto, good evening. I am reading this on behalf of another parent, but I do share these sentiments. I want to make sure parents and stakeholders are fully aware of the district's current curriculum plan and how it conflicts with New Jersey law. Here are the facts. New Jersey law requires 150 minutes per week of physical education and health. In the elementary schools, students only have gym twice a week now for a total of 76 minutes. The district is counting the remaining time as health taught during morning meetings by homeroom teachers. This is a direct violation of legislative law S858 passed in 2019, which requires K through six teachers to be certified in PE and health to teach these subjects.
013Morning minutes run from 9.05 to 9.20, but teachers are also responsible for taking attendance, leading the pledge, collecting lunch orders, and handling other routine tasks. It's nearly impossible to dedicate that entire block to meaningful health instruction. On top of that, there's no curriculum plan or grading system to measure student performance unlike every other subject. At Wall Intermediate, the new AB schedule gives students only 102 minutes of PE every other week. With no clear plan for how the 150 minute mandate will be met. Parents raised concerns months ago. Educators, including PE teachers from nearby districts, stood here warning this administration that the plan violated the law. Yet the administration moved forward away, anyway, ignoring parents, experts, and common sense. This is not about politics, it's about compliance with the law. It's about transparency, and most importantly,
014about what's best for our kids. Our children need to be, need to have and experience real physical education taught by certified professionals, not shortcuts. Our kids deserve better, and our community deserves better. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else for public comment? Yes, sir. Good evening, I'm Mike Zadlock. I do see that you have a policy about speaking about personnel. However, I know like many other parents, we probably have a busing issue in Red, in Wall Township that is not a crisis. However, I have gone through the chain of communication. I have reached out to the superintendent office. I did not get a call back. I also reached out to the supervisor of transportation, and nothing is being done. In the years past, we've had our children being dropped off at our house. They have since
015changed that. So I don't know if there was some census done where they had to reconfigure bus stops, but new ones were added. And we spoke to the bus driver, and he is absolutely refusing to accommodate us after he dropped off. He drives past our house and goes down our side street. He has a very poor demeanor. That's why I contacted the superintendent and the supervisor of transportation and got no call backs. So I wanted to come to you guys as a proper chain of command to make you aware of this, because it's becoming just terrible. And again, the Board of Education members are considered the need of the community and the set policies. The transportation supervisor told me that there are policies and procedures in place. I read the entire website, all the policies.
016There's nothing saying where a bus stop has to be designated. And again, in the years past, they've definitely made it accommodating for us. Because of this, it's caused a burden on my wife and I. I have to leave work early now just so I can be there, because I don't know where my kids are going to be dropped off at. And the bus driver one day was yelling at the kids. Numerous emails were sent by parents to the transportation office. And the following day, when I finally did speak to the supervisor, a bus accident happened. And I'm not going to lie to you. I'm not going to lie to you. I'm not going to lie to you. I'm not going to lie to you. I'm not going to lie to you. But the bus accident
017happened. And yet no parents were notified. But yet he returned back to work on Monday. And that's why I want to bring this to your attention, of seeing how we can try to work together and make it accommodating for all parents, not just myself. Because it's obviously an issue that you guys should be made aware of. But it seems like no one's doing anything. And the lack of transparency that's been going through the chain of communication is not accommodating or completing the goal of getting our kids to school safely. OK, thank you. Hi, I'm Colleen of . Tonight, the phrase, I hate to say I told you so, comes to mind. From the moment this year's new schedule was sent to parents back in May, we pointed out its flaws. We voiced our concerns at
018board meetings, in-person meetings, phone calls, and emails. All of these concerns fell on deaf ears. While our children's rights are being violated, the only responses we are getting are blank stares, unanswered questions, and denial of any noncompliance while refusing to provide evidence to support that claim. Here are just a few of the many failures this new schedule has brought to light. Arrival and start times are not realistic, with doors opening after homeroom was supposed to begin and buses still unloading while morning meeting is supposed to be taking place. How are our children getting the health minutes you claim they are, albeit illegally, if they are not even at school yet? Dismissal is a nightmare and cuts into the last class of the day. Teachers are voicing their concerns about it because they're the ones living
019it. Are you listening? Recess has been scaled back and restricted, no matter how the admin tries to spin it. Some are reporting schools having the principal as the only adult outside, monitoring the children on some days, while others are saying they're missing out because their band and chorus lessons are during that time. There's been yet to be any information on how the intermediate school is achieving the 150 minute per week health and phys ed requirement. Yet in the presentation to parents of incoming sixth graders, a slide states students in grades six to eight receive PE five days a week, a flat out lie. Manipulation at the elementary level on how health and phys ed minutes are being counted and conflicting answers every time we ask. An unvetted seven mindsets curriculum taking precious minutes away from
020mandated curriculum. By the way, I'm still waiting on an answer to a question I sent in writing back in May, which was ignored. So I sent it again in June, also ignored, as to how much seven mindsets is costing the district, perhaps cutting the funding for this can bring back the paras. This is just the start of the school year. I stated at the board meeting back on May 20th that your ideas on paper will not play out so nicely in the real world. Well, I hate to say I told you so, yet here we are. I tell my students it is OK to fail. Some of the best lessons are learned after failure. I just hope you can learn from this failure and make the necessary changes for the benefit of our children. Thank
021you. Thank you. Anyone else for public comment? Betsy Cross. I live in Wall Township. I'm going to totally agree with the last person that just spoke. I told you so. People tell you things all the time, and it's constantly I told you so. And then there's never a lesson learned. It just gets worse and worse and worse. We used to say what you're going into executive session for. And I don't know if it was Christine Stites that started it not mentioning the topics, but whether it's litigation, personnel, whatever it is, you should say it. So people don't have to find the minutes and find out what you're talking about. We have three new people running. I couldn't be happier. Leah Bibby, Angelique Pinto, and John Raynaud. And they're all here tonight, which is great. I
022can't tell you how many times we've had people run for the board. They don't even show up at a meeting. They just appear. So I'll be so glad when we get those three people in. If you'd like a sign, people can ask them for signs. And put them in front of your house, like I have proudly done. I'm kind of surprised to see in the bond referendum, we were budgeting $6.3 million for the high school athletic fields. And now all of a sudden, we're at $9.4 million. Why haven't we had any type of presentation on this? Another thing is air conditioning. I can't tell you how much we've spent on air conditioning. Was it already $10, $15 million before? Maybe Mr. Smyth can give us an update. Before the referendum, how much did we spend
023on air conditioning? Because now we're spending, instead of $21 million that was budgeted, now we're spending almost $30 million, $29 million, $7.72. So some really bad budgeting done by Brian Smyth, Adam Nassar, Thomas Buffa. It's just bad. It's just mismanagement, gross mismanagement of money. And it's inexcusable. So that's why we have to get. That's why we have to get people off the board that are not working for the taxpayers and the parents. I see your residency investigator has resigned. I see your rap group leader has resigned. I see the music instructor at Central School has resigned. I see lots of stipends. I see WTEA sidebar agreements. We have three, so everybody should take a look at them. It's just disappointing. And we can't have boys in the girls' locker rooms. We need that to stop.
024We can't have things hidden from the parents, which is what you're allowing to have happen. We cannot have the boys on the girls' sports teams. You have got to address that. And you keep ignoring it. I have brought it up since January, and you still keep ignoring it. So we need you to address it and bring it up and follow all the other towns in Monmouth County that have gotten rid of that. And allowing the boys and the girls' bathrooms. Thank you. Thank you, Mrs. Cross. Yeah, I would like you to address those items tonight. Manisquan also, your . . . Thank you, Mrs. Cross. Is there anyone else from public comment? Good evening. My name is Erica Sprague, and I live in Wall and have three children, one at Allenwood, one at the middle
025school, and one at the high school. I want to talk a bit about movement or the lack thereof. We knew that these changes this year with reducing specials, including gym classes, and focusing more on academics was happening. I understand academics are important, but our children are not little adults who can sit still and focus for hours on end. My fourth grader on Fridays has a two-hour block of math followed immediately by 40 minutes of social studies. That's almost three straight hours of sitting and focusing. Even the high school doesn't have these long blocks, and those students are much older and more developmentally ready to handle it. Elementary kids especially need breaks. They need activity and variety to learn and stay engaged. Cutting gym and specials is only making it harder for them. I received two
026surveys today from two of my children's schools pertaining to student absences, which apparently is a problem in this district. I completely understand the importance of having students in school learning rather than missing school. If this schedule for elementary students continues, you can count on even more absences once children realize what their daily schedule entails. Especially when you add in two early mornings with a break. I'm sure you'll be able to see that. We have two early mornings for fourth and fifth graders who want to participate in band, which now has been switched to before school. You will have more children reluctant to go to school and at their early age, the goal should be for them to love going to school to learn. I appreciate all the hard work that goes into running the schools,
027and I know decisions aren't easy. But I want to share these perspectives because I think that they matter for our children's well-being. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else for a public comment? The gentleman in the black shirt is here. Good evening. My name is Leah Bibby. I live in Wall and I am running for Board of Ed as well. I am just here to reiterate what you've already heard tonight regarding the schedule changes and those issues with the transition of our staff and our students being able to handle the new schedule. I understand that it's new and things take time, but I think a better job should have been done over the summer to help with the schedule actually working. I feel like this is a trial and error situation here. And who's the one
028at risk here? It's our children. They're the ones that have to deal with the decisions that were made and them not being, basically them not working. Many issues, I've heard lots of issues with recess. I've heard lots of issues with shortage of substitute teachers, shortage of teachers in general. These are just tacking on to all the other things that are happening. And it's just, I think, it's a lot of work. I think it's a lot of work. I think it's a lot of work. I think it's a lot of work. It's just excessive. And at the end of the day, again, who's the one suffering for our mismanagement of a schedule. Implementimplemation. It's our kids. So buses are being, you know, we've got bus problems. We've got attendance issues. I mean the list just keeps
029continuing to grow. We need to find a way to stop the bleeding. And um um we need to find a way and why they're Gracias um You know, a Band-Aid is not going to do it. So I would love to hear more ideas on how we're going to fix the issues with the new schedule, the issues that have arised and how they're going to be rectified to, you know, make these next few weeks smooth. We're in week two, and it just seems a little chaotic. At this point, I have an entering kindergartner. I will say that both my kids are very happy to go to school. They are very happy to be at school. That speaks to the staff and the environment of the school, but they definitely are struggling with consistency and regulation. Thank
030you very much. Anyone else for public comment? Okay, seeing no one else for public comment, we're going to close this public. We'll have a public comment at this time. Okay, I'll have a president's report now. I'd like to give the Board of Education's great appreciation to the custodial and building and ground staff, as Mrs. Dr. Hanrahan said in her statement earlier, for the tremendous amount of work that had to be done this summer as they worked around all the projects that were taking place in the district. And if you had the opportunity to go around the town over the course of the summer, you saw the progress. You saw many of these projects in action, and they are ongoing still. I'm happy to report that all of the instructional spaces that were part of the
031referendum project are operational. They look spectacular. There's art and music buildings and technology, class of them, rather, at the high school and the intermediate school. And the locker room renovation at the intermediate school has also been completed, and they look terrific. The main entrance lobby, at the high school, is nearing completion, and that looks great. The high school auditorium project is proceeding, and we are looking for a completion date sometime around the end of October, early November. We're hoping for that. And finally, I'm happy to report that the Wall Township Public School District has been awarded a Certificate of Excellence for its annual comprehensive financial report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024. This award is from the Association of School Business Officials International. I would like to congratulate Mr. Smyth and his team
032for getting this award. I believe it's the third year in a row that they've gotten this award, so congratulations to you. At this time, I'd like to introduce our Assistant Superintendent, Mrs. Kelly Bond, who will give the superintendent's report instead of Dr. Hanahan tonight. Mrs. Bond. Districts are required to report on graduation data to the Board of Education. Wall Township's Class of 2025 graduation data is as follows. The total number of graduates, 234. The total number of graduates passing the high school and, of course, New Jersey student learning assessment in math, 173, and in ELA, 218. The number of students who graduated under the substitute competency test process, math, 32, and ELA, 1. The number of students who have graduated under portfolio appeals process, 24. The number of students receiving state-endorsed high school diplomas as
033a result of meeting any alternate requirements for graduation as specified in their IEPs, 2. The total number of students denied graduation, 1. And the number of students denied graduation solely because of failure to pass the high school and, of course, New Jersey student learning assessment, substitute competency tests, or the portfolio appeals process, 0. That concludes the graduation data reporting. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mrs. Bond. At this time, we'll have the Board of Education update. Any Board member wishing to make any comments about any issues? Okay. Seeing none. Committee reports. Committee reports are available on the agenda. The agenda is available on the website. You can go and look that up for all of the committee reports. Any committee chairman or members wish to comment on committee reports? All right. They're all there for
034you to see. At this time, we will have our second public comment. This public comment is dedicated to items that are on tonight's agenda. So, anybody who would like to comment on agenda items, please come to the microphone. Betsy Cross, I live in Wall. First thing I'm going to comment on is tuition to Manasquan. And I think everybody's aware of the situation that I had with my son. You used his picture in a lawsuit of yours, and the judge found it horrific and made you take it down. We had asked for you to pay for his tuition at Manasquan, and you refused. And I see a number of times that you're paying for tuition for people to go to Manasquan. So, I know the dislike for me really shouldn't have affected my son, and it
035really did. It's horrific. And Ralph Adonisio was responsible for that. Athena Cornell was here. Brian Smyth was here. Christine Stites was here. So, I'd like you to go over why we're now. It's on an agenda. You know, you've hidden it before, and I have to find it in a line item. But parents should look. If they want to get their kids out of Wall and send them to Manasquan or somewhere else, you should pay for it. Because you've got a lot of bullies in this school. And if they want to leave, they should be able to. It's a general education student that is clearly on your agenda for $10,000 to go to Manasquan High School. So, I'll be revisiting that. Again, thank you. Again, sorry to hear about the music teacher. I'm glad to see
036that Mr. Bryan is setting something up for the Hollanders. It's embarrassing. Nothing's ever been said about them. They're just gone, and nobody on the board has said anything. You've had how many months now? Very embarrassing. What else? I mean, when you read your vision for 2026, it just never happens. You have all these visions. You write on paper. And you never do anything. So that's why it's good to get some fresh people in here. Three new people can really make a difference. Because two more people, and you change the board. Right now, we've got puppets on the board taking orders from the WTEA and people working in schools. It's not working. You are making things worse. You have more lawsuits against you. I heard the first football lawsuit. It was paid out. And Mr. Smyth
037is probably hiding that somewhere in one of the diploma gifs or the excess fund. But everything's hidden. No school goes into executive session like Wall Township. Every meeting, you've got to go in for almost longer than your regular meeting because you've got so much to discuss. Because you're doing so many things wrong, and you keep getting sued. It is so sad. So, again, I'm sorry. So, again, you really need to get the boys out of the girls' bathrooms. We can't have them on the sports teams. And you need to do so much better and get back to these parents that are writing you. Get back to them. Get back to the parents. Thank you. Thank you, Mrs. Cross. Your time has expired. Great. Anyone else for public comment? Seeing no one, I'm going to close
038public comment. Mr. Smyth. I just clarified a few points that were mentioned in executive session during public comment. With regard to the board going into executive session, it is required that the board provide the basis for going into executive session. That basis is included on the agenda. It's not only recorded on the minutes, but it is included on the agenda that is posted prior to the Board of Education meeting. And, again, this meeting includes the categories for the purpose of the board meeting. So, we're going to go into executive session. With regard to the referendum and the initial original budget that was approved, those estimates were prepared in 2021 and 2022. The referendum was approved in December of 2022. The projects were put out to bid over the subsequent two years, with bids coming in
039in 2024. And market conditions do change. The cost of construction. Especially in the public sector. And especially over the past few years. Following the pandemic. I will clarify that the referendum of 66,599,000 cannot be exceeded by law. And is not being exceeded. There were alternates taken on a number of projects. We realized savings on some of the categories of projects. Such as our built-up roofing. Those funds were reallocated to the other category of projects. Including, and it's not AC or air conditioning. It is heating, ventilation, and air conditioning. Those bids did come in higher than initially estimated. But, again, all the contracts awarded were put out to public bid. They were opened at a public bid opening. And awarded at a public Board of Education meeting. If the bids came in over the initial estimates
040of the project. They were rebid to attempt to realize some savings. By making revisions within the project. But, again, the overall referendum amount of 66,000,000 cannot be exceeded. And will not be exceeded when these projects are in fact completed. I'm good. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Spike. At this time, I'm going to ask for a motion and a second to approve the tonight's consent agenda. I'm going to ask for a motion and a second to approve the tonight's consent agenda. I'm going to ask for a motion and a second to approve the tonight's consent agenda. I'll make a motion. Mr. Buffer makes a motion. Mr. Buffer makes a motion. Okay. Ms. DiGiovanni a second. Roll call. Mr. Smyth. Ms. Adams. Mr. Adonisio. Mr. Adonisio. Noted. Ms. Barbier. Yes. Mr. Brereton. Yes. Mr. Buffer. Yes. Ms.
041DiGiovanni. Yes. Mr. Smith. Yes. Mr. Wondrak. Yes. Mr. Malin. Yes. I will also abstain from 16D. Noted. Thank you. Okay. At this time. I'd like to hear a motion for adjournment. Mr. Adonisio. Ms. Barbier. All right. All in favor. Any opposed? Thank you. We are adjourned.