001Good evening everyone. The executive session of the Wayne board of education regular meeting of June 25th 2026 was convened in the conference room of the Wayne board education 50 driveway New Jersey. Statement of compliance setting forth day, time and location was read and requirements of the open public meetings act was taken. The meeting was recessed and is now being ask everyone to please stand for the flag followed by a vocal sign. >> 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. >> Thank you everyone. Please be seated. >> At this time, we're going to honor our business partners. Mrs. Leandry is going to read proclamation from the board. >> Whereas uh the Wayne
002Board of Education recognizes that the overall well-being of virtually every community is defined and judged by the strength of its public schools. Whereas the Wayne Board of Education recognizes the most important stakeholders in every school system are students and their parents. Whereas the Wayne board of education also recognizes that local employers and other businesses also have a vested interest in success of schools. Whereas through its policies and practices, the district has sought to create appropriate arrangements enabling employers and businesses to support learning opportunities in and out of the classroom through direct donations, contributions toward instructional programs and activities, volunteer projects providing mentoring opportunities, work study placements, and occupational training placements. Whereas many arrangements between schools, businesses and and employers that have grown out of this environment have brought about a profound change to the way
003schools and businesses work together as opposed to maintaining traditional philanthropic relationships. Whereas the board of education and Wayne business community recognizes the benefits of true partnerships that support the long-term interests of students and schools while providing for for sustained business involvement. Now therefore, be it resolved that the Wayne Board of Education recognizes the following business and employers for their efforts to enhance educational opportunities for the students of the Wayne Township Public Schools. Thank you. >> Thank you. And thank you to all our community members who support our students uh in the workforce. Sadena, >> thank you. Thank you very much. And um you know, I love this time of year. Obviously, it's the the culminating event and factors that uh why we all come here and why we all you as board members volunteer and
004us as educators, we report to work every day. Um, I've had the pleasure in the past five days to attend six promotions or graduation ceremonies. Uh, I will be honest, today was my last one, but it was a very meaningful one for me. My youngest child uh, graduate high school today, so that was my sixth and final graduation ceremony for uh, this school year. But I had the pleasure of attending the uh graduation at uh Wayne Hills and I know Wayne Valley had a spectacular ceremony as well. One thing I I noticed in all of the the ceremonies, while they recognized our students and they recognized obviously they can't get there without the amazing staff and faculty we have here with our schools, but we're not just we're not just graduating students who who have
005mastered uh academia and are going to prestigious universities, serving in our military, going to the workforce. uh we are putting forth good humans and that was very reflective in the comments of the teachers that spoke about them and the the students comments about their teachers at those same ceremonies. I will say that um we you know the valadictorians are saludiatorans at Wayne Hills uh the valadictorian was Shayan Chhatawala and he will be attending uh Duke University. uh he plans to study computer engineering and one of the things I said to him on the stage I took him aside and um is that Duke uh declines more valadictorians than any university in the country and how that our valadictorian has accepted there really states uh wonderful thing and speaks highly about that academic programs that we're
006putting together here. Um the saludiatorum Shinuk Sony uh he's uh premed going to be a premed student and he talked about going to Manhattan and interviewing medical schools and they them interviewing him and he selected POSRA um to continue and one of the things I you you should know about it too he's already developed an app that helps uh the elderly um find um supports they need as they look into assisted living homes and and so forth. you know, to a high school student developing app for the elderly really speaks volumes. Uh Gavin Chen, the valuator at Wayne Valley, he will be attending Carnegie Melon University in the fall to study electrical engineering. And Chloe Crochek, uh a saludiatoran at Wayne Valley. Um Chloe will attend University of Pennsylvania where she's looking to uh to
007pursue material science and engineering uh and continuing her passion for research. And she's also quite a fine athlete as well. So, I enjoyed spending this time and um I also was with the soluditorians and the validictorians at the wonderful event on June 30th at at the Brownstone. Uh I encourage everyone if you want to know hear about more great news going on the district, go on to our website, go on to our social media, check out our district newsletter. It really speaks volumes uh about everything has gone in on the course of the school district and what our students are accomplishing at the end of this year and celebrates again our our our teachers. We are in a wonderful place because of this not only the teachers the entire staff um we're heading in this
008great direction. Um we are really starting to uh embrace the sense of family that is here uh within the community of Wayne. Um, and then the community, you talked about community partners. The scholarships uh from both Wayne Valley and Wayne Hills for our seniors graduating exceeded over 266 $260,000 um from our community partners alone. So again, um I equate that to, you know, when we when our children are young and you kind of give them a push on the swing for the first time because you want to learn do learn how to do it on their own. this is not going to get them through life, but it kind of gives them that first push to get them on their way so they have everything they need to keep swinging going forward. Um, so thank
009you to our community partners. Thank you to this board of education uh and overall Wayne community. It has been an amazing first year for me. I've really en enjoyed it. Um, I love what I do and I love being part of this community. So, thank you. >> Thank you. and congratulations on your first year anniversary witness. >> Thank you very much. >> As I said to the board when we started the process, we got to get this right. I think we got it right. >> Thank you. Um revisions to the agenda. >> Xemer school resource legal. We're going to add item number one, approval of HIP determination. Resolved that the board affirm the superintendent decision on HIPP case number 81 2520 2025-2026 following an appeal as required by the NJSA 18A 37-15B6E. >> At this
010time we'll open the meeting to the public for agenda items only. This portion of the meeting is open to citizens for comment on agenda items only. Residents are asked to state their name, address, and subject matter. Comments may be limited to three minutes per person. Members of the public are discouraged from speaking negatively about an employee or a student. The board bears no responsibility for comments made by the public. Comments regarding employees or students cannot be legally responded to by the board. Other comments may be responded to tonight or at a subsequent meeting under all business. Do I have a mover? Mr. Alquinn Straus. Anyone from the public wishing to speak on an agenda item? >> Seeing no one post. >> Uh we had a couple committees that met tonight. >> So we had the
011um facilities and transportation committee meet today in attendance was Mr. Padlac, myself, administrators Jenny DeMarco, Lauren Tibbitz, Richard Scabitzky, and Matthew Giri. Um, I'll be very quick as far as facilities goes. We discussed some stuff for the Tunis die partial roof replacement. There was a outdated wiring issue or a wiring correction. Um, we looked at uh Mr. Gary's going to revamp our facilities use, try to restructure it, do some price adjustments for the 2027 2028 year. Um the PNIness interior alterations and elevator lobby edition is on schedule. So that's going well. Um the PA systems for Lafayette and Wayne Hills High School, the POS are in. Um they're going to be moving forward to be completed hopefully by the end of summer. The partial roof replacement for Tunis die also uh should be closed out
012by the summer and the media center should be fully operational. We also discussed uh some rough estimates put together by Mr. Giri for um project bond improvements. So this is taking in uh to consideration all of the district's buildings and infrastructure, anything that may need improvement, kind of putting it all together and see where we can prioritize. And it's it's just a general rough estimate. Um so that's it for facilities. with transportation. We have the uh some the end of summer bus routes are are out. Uh they're already put together and bus passes have have been sent out on Monday. We are having a little bit of an issue uh retaining some summertime drivers. We're trying to remedy that. Um and then some retired vehicle auctions is going to be from July 11th to July
01314th. It's going to be an online auction only and we are waiting on some new buses. Uh the they were put in for order. So, we're just uh we're waiting for some funds to free up for the orders to go out. And then we're going to look into training our drivers with uh drug paraphernalia training. And that's all I have for that committee. >> Uh policy committee met this evening intends for myself, Mr. Alqu, Mr. Favor, Mr. Mr. KNO and Mr. Sadino. Uh we reviewed uh changes from uh the state on policies to ensure that our policies uh meet any new mandates, bring policies up to date, and then eliminate any red policies. Next, we're going to move the agenda to some highlights on the agenda. Um there are some enrollment issues along with the
014demographic uh trends are in there. Uh education curriculum is there. We're updating curriculum, textbook approvals, and some professional development for our staff. Uh our normal monthly bills and payroll and budget transfers. Uh whole bunch of hiring as normally is at this point in the year all the vacancies. And I can pretty much say we pretty much have every open vacancy filled at this point right now, which is a monumental task, especially looking for some disciplines um in the high school curriculum that we have to fill. um was not easy uh getting some people um and as Mr. Paul said the uh policies on here are just provisions and we maintain line with state regulations and state law. Do I have a move for the agenda? Mrs. Regalosao, Mrs. Landry, any discussion on the agenda? Seeing
015none, roll call. >> Mr. Agnes, >> yes. >> Mr. Elwood, >> yes. >> Mr. Faber, >> yes. >> Mrs. Leandry, >> yes. Mr. Paul, >> yes. >> Mrs. Rioloso, >> yes. >> And Mr. Pap, >> yes. >> Motion carries. >> At this time, we'll open to the public for general comments. This portion of the meeting is open to citizens for comment on any topic. Residents are asked to state their name, address, and subject matter. Comments may be limited to 5 minutes per person. Members of the public are discouraged from speaking negatively about an employee or a student. The board bears no responsibility for comments made by the public. Comments regarding employees. Students cannot be legally responded to by the board. Other comments may be respond to tonight or at a subsequent meeting under all business.
016Do I have a move? Mr. Agnes, Mr. Anyone from the public wishing to speak? >> See, no one willuff. >> Yeah, do my fluff first. All right. Um, Ferris, uh, with Tapp to Wayne, uh, I want to thank Mr. Pavle for attending my athlete of the year dinner, uh, this past week. It was, uh, another great night, our third one. Um, uh, for the third year in a row, Wayne Valley Swimmer is the athlete of the year. Um, which is pretty cool. Um, and we gave out $8,000 in scholarships. And I want to announce that the Big Blue Swim School is going to add 2,000 next year. Next year we're going to be doing 10,000 in scholarships for for next year. So look out for that. >> Great job for us. Thank you. >> Thank
017you. >> Uh good evening. Uh good evening everyone. My name is Cleopados. I work for the New Jersey Educational Association and I'm here on behalf of uh Peter Oberori uh to speak. >> Sir, let me uh and I apologize for interrupting. Are you here for the Donaldson hearing? Yeah, >> we're going to do that next. >> Oh, okay. >> Thank you very much. >> I can do that. >> We actually are going to. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, anybody else for public comment? >> See, no one moved close. Mr. >> Favor, Mr. Point, Mr. Ko, I'll turn it over to you. >> Thank you. I'm just making you jump up and down, looks like. Yeah, please step up. I will note to the public that uh we're going to have a DonaldElsson hearing which under New Jersey
018state law uh gives a member of the staff who's not uh his employment has not been renewed an opportunity to be heard by the board. Uh this uh procedure is typically done in executive session to provide appropriate confidentiality but state law also permits uh members of our staff to request certain discussions to be held in public. uh this employee has uh requested this discussion in public. So at this time uh honoring those rights and based on that request uh we're going to give an opportunity for that staff member's uh remarks to be shared and I believe that there's um union representation is going to speak on his behalf. So um this is not a back and forth. It's not a Q&A. This is a traditional Donaldson hearing. Sir, uh the floor is yours. >> Thank
019you. Uh so good evening everyone. Uh my name is Cleo Papados. I work for New Jersey Educational Association and I'm here on behalf of Mr. Peter Oprahori and uh we thank you. So tonight the district's position is simple that Mr. Coprahori cannot perform the essential functions of a custodian but that explanation but that explanation ignores the larger question before this board. The real question is why a loyal employee who successfully served this district for 11 years removed from the position he had performed successfully for a decade and then placed into a different job that ultimately became the basis for his termination. Mr. Oprahori is 62 years old. He is a lifelong resident of Wayne. For 11 years, he reported to work, served this district faithfully, and earned every positive evaluation. He rarely used six time.
020He rarely used vacation time. He was trusted with district deposits, district mail, district deliveries between schools, responsibilities that directly supported the operation of every building in this district. For over 10 years, the district never claimed he could not do his job. For over 10 years, this district never required any accommodations. For over 10 years, the work got done. Then suddenly in 2025, Mr. Oprahi was told that his position was no longer needed because technology and email had made it obsolete. We ask that you open your eyes and ask a simple question. If that position was eliminated, why is it still being performed today? The mail is still being delivered. The deliveries are still being made. The duties continue to exist. In fact, this district is now using other employees and paying overtime to perform the
021work that Mr. Oprahori successfully performed for 10 years. This district may call the position eliminated, but the work itself never disappeared. The problem is that Miss Opori never h so Mr. Epori was made a custodian in 2025 since his position got dissolved. The problem is that Mr. had never been a custodian. He spent more than a decade performing the mail room duties and floater duties, but not custodial work. He received little or no meaningful training. He was placed on a night shift and in the beginning was frequently left alone. He was expected to succeed in a physically demanding position that was completely different from the work he had successfully performed for 10 years. Surprisingly, he suffered a soldier a soldier injury, I'm sorry, and developed restrictions that affected his ability to perform custodial duties fully.
022Now, the district points to those restrictions as justification for ending his employment. But that misses the point entirely. The district is judging Mr. Oprahori based on a position he held for one year while ignoring the position he successfully performed for more than a decade. The district's argument is not that Mr. Oprahori cannot perform the work he did for 10 years. The district's argument is only that he cannot perform every duty of a night custodian. Those are two different things. We ask this board to look beyond the paperwork and ask difficult questions. Why was an experienced employee removed from a position whose work continues to exist? Why was he placed into a position he had never performed before? Why was he not given proper training and support? Why was every effort not made to place him
023into work that matched the successful service record he had already established? Mr. Oberhori believes he was singled out. He believes his age and his relationship with certain administrators played a role in what happened to him. Whether that is true or something this board should examine carefully at least the circumstances raise serious concerns that deserve scrutiny. Mr. Orur is not asking for special treatment. He's asking for fairness. He's asking to be judged on the 10 successful years he devoted to this district. He's asking for the opportunity to return to work. He's asking for a pos position that reflects the duties he successfully performed for more than a decade. He's asking this board to remember that behind every personal recommendation is a human being whose livelihood is at stake. Board members, Mr. Oberuri wants nothing more than
024to finish his career with dignity. He wants to work the remaining years before retirement serving this community he has lived in his entire life. We respectfully ask that you reject the conclusion that his employment must end. Conduct a closer review of the circumstances that led to his removal from the Florida position and consider reinstating him to a position consistent with the work he successfully performed for over 10 years. We ask that you please look at the facts, ask questions, and keep an open mind. And please give Mr. Oprahor as a fair opportunity that his years of service have earned. Thank you for your time and consideration. >> Thank you. Thank you, sir. >> Donaldson hearing concluded. >> Any old business? It probably fall under old business and kind of new business to put it out
025there. I know at the last meeting we had at the township uh we had some really uh wonderful passionate students talk to the hosa. I'm happy to say that on the agenda tonight we hired a Charles um Dunn and we hired uh he's a physics teacher at the high school and um he has taken the opportunity to head up the uh hosta program. So there'll be a host of representative. Um we also I don't know if you were mention we we on the agenda we hired a principal for uh Kakanak Elementary School. Uh his name is Mina Khaled. Uh he his his uh agenda information is in the agenda as well. He did really great through the interview process and uh was very well received by um the the staff member and parent. um our
026package goal. We look forward to him and joining us and we um do wish uh Mr. uh Dulo um all the best too as he be moves on to another district. And um we also have on here the hiring of a um assistant superintendent for human resources and professional development uh Christopher Abalo. Um he will serve our district well. He already serves in his assistant superintendent capacity um outside of the district in another school system and we look forward to joining our family here and continue to move us in the right direction. >> Sorry sir I >> not at all >> any new business board member comments >> just want to uh go back to Mr. Mr. Citadino's a report about the uh validictorian saludiatoran and um what he stated about them and it's just
027it's just amazing. I wasn't able to attend any graduations uh due to a work schedule. Um however, just hearing that it's just amazing uh not only for the work for the students, but what the educators and the parents and the whole community puts into it. You know that that's why people come to this town. That's why we need to keep our school strong just for those. And that's just for students. We've had so many meetings where all these uh students are receiving all sorts of awards for their achievements and that's through you know the work of the teachers their their own hard work as a student and the family. So it's just amazing. I just want to just you know reiterate that for for anybody who um you know looks at our school system and
028and they try to talk about anything negative look positive. Look at all the good work that's being done. That's that's >> Yeah. I also um wanted to comment about um the graduation ceremonies were absolutely amazing and just it's a community. It's a family and it's just an amazing feeling seeing those kids so excited and kudos to their parents to the teachers. It takes like it's amazing. But um they have such great aspirations and they're so mature on so many different levels. And they talked about walking through the doors and then walking out the doors at the end of four years and the differences that the teachers see and all that growth and that development. So that's amazing. I also wanted to say about the scholarship presentation. I don't know if anybody hasn't gone to them.
029They are just so moving and so heartwarming and um to think that people leave a legacy and give and offer a scholarship to students in in memory or in honor of somebody is just phenomenal. And with specific goals in mind, I will mention um uh one of them that was a personal friend of mine and he was a wrestler at one point and also worked for the state police. And amazing how they combined the goals of finding somebody who was athletic and had law enforcement in mind for their future and just what a blessing it was to see them come up to the podium, receive a gift, and be on their way to to a bright future. So that's it. >> Great work. >> So I just want to wish everybody a happy summer. Um
030I want everyone to stay safe, make great memories, and also do your summer reading. I'd like to thank Dave Citadino for being the captain of our ship and creating a positive environment in Wayne and getting involved and attending all these events. I know. I was at the Wayne Valley graduation and he was at Wayne Hills. Uh we were at the ceremony together for the breakfast, the 4.0 breakfast. I can't believe that many children have a 4.0 average. That is just amazing. And their parents are so proud of them and it's such a beautiful event. Um and then we had the uh awards ceremony and like Wendy said, you know, there are some families that are so happy to give these awards. I know passed away a couple years ago and my brother-in-law who never really
031speaks a lot uh comes up and talks about his wife and how she was a social worker and he's so proud to give that award to a Wayne Valley student that it just it's so beautiful and I know we honored Susan Karansky her daughters uh came up and the granddaughter gave a speech about her grandma and that was just so beautiful. If you have the opportunity to come see the awards ceremony and the scholarship ceremony, please do. And that's that. That's it. So, happy summer everyone. Okay? Stay safe. >> I just want to take a minute and just reflect on where we were a year ago. Um because it really just dawned on me at this time last year, a lot of people were in a state of panic because we had a lot of
032very senior administrators resigning and moving on to better things. and we had lost a lot of the top tier across the district here. And a year later, we have Mr. Cino, we have Mr. Marco, and you know, we filled a lot of the other spots. And for the most part, it's been a pretty seamless transition. Um, I feel like everything has gone well. We've had a good year. There haven't been any major incidents here. I mean, districts always have challenges and will probably always have challenges, but for the most part, considering that a year has passed, but we've gone in a relatively great direction, it's a tremendous feat, and you guys deserve a lot of credit for really. >> Yeah. >> Coming in here, >> considering the shoes you had to fill that, you know,
033we haven't felt that loss at all. and that just really speaks well to what you've done and I'm really glad that happened. Thank you for brought you guys on and thank you so much. Well, you know, this time of the year is a busy time for board members. Start about the beginning of June. Last night culminates the celebration of the year and the celebration and it's a celebration of our students and the accomplishments that our students make but also the accomplishments of their teachers who push challenge them to achieve and to keep shooting high for what they need. Um, I was at Wayne Valley last night and one young man came, he when I shook his hand, he goes, "I really want to thank you for everything you did for me." And I got to
034tell you, it kind of hit home for me. And, you know, I know people in the town, they, you know, complain about taxes and this and that, but look at the product you're getting for your money. just the list of poor students and the schools they're going to and what they're going to school for. And we could sit here, if you look at the newsletter, you'll see all the schools that our kids are going to. They're going to sending some kids to really high achieving schools. And that's because of everybody. That's because of the administration. That's because of the teachers. When the administration and the board support the teachers, it makes it work. >> And the administration's there to help them achieve what they need to. And our role is to give them what they
035need. And I think we've done a really good job at that in really tough times. And you know, hopefully the times are going to get better, which I'm sure they will eventually. You know, there's a lot of propaganda coming out of Trenton right now. You know, like I read a headline the other day where they said, "Oh, we're going to fix all the layoffs that happened in schools." Well, they can go and read the article. Well, okay. One good thing, they're going to let us know in December what our state aid numbers are. So, we're not going to play three months of guessing what they are. So, that's good. But then, on the other hand, they'll now allow you to to um change your budget from July to December. So if you have to make
036any tweaks in the budget, you can now do it. The problem is if you if you have a staffing issue, you have to let the staff know by May 15th. Having knowing you're going to have extra money in July doesn't help the situation. So as I said, it's another Trenton shell game. And now I read something today. Oh, we're going to fix the health care benefits so they're not 30% increased next year. Good luck. how you're going to do it. But you know what? In all those things, when you hear the negativity and everything else, but then stop stop and look of what walked on our fields, in our gyms over the last week. And you know what? We all should be pretty darn proud of this town of what we have here. And with
037that, I wish everybody a happy summer. You'll see in July our future um facilities committee will be meeting next Tuesday night for the first time and we'll be moving forward from there. Do I have a motion to adjourn? Mr. Favor, this is Thank you everyone. Good tonight.