001Good evening and welcome to the Tuesday, February 17th, 2026 business meeting of the Wall Township Public School District Board of Education. Please stand for the flag salute. United States of America to the stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Mr. Smith, roll call and sunshine announcement, please. >> Okay. It is the wall township board of education meeting for which adequate notice under the open public meeting act was provided by notice to the co-star Asbury Park Press all Wall Township public schools town of clerk's office and a posting in the board administration office on January 8th 2026. Take a roll call. Miss Adams >> here. >> Miss Barbieier >> here. >> Miss Bby >> here. >> Mr. Buffa >> here. >> Miss Diovani >> here. >> Miss Lawler >> here.
002>> Mr. Smith >> here. >> Mr. Mr. Wandra >> here. >> Mr. Mouth >> here. At this time, I'm going to ask for a motion to go to executive session for those items indicated on the agenda. >> I'll motion. >> Mr. Buffer, >> second. >> Miss D. Giovani is second. All in favor? >> I. >> We will anticipate returning for public session at 7 p.m. Good evening and welcome to the February 17th, 2006 business meeting of the Wall Township Public School District. Uh at this time, I ask everyone to please rise. Uh we will have the Wall Township NDCC color guard to present the colors and the pledge. color guard all in. Maryian flag of America to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisibley and justice for all. Forward ar right face
003forward march Um, Mr. Smith, can we have a a roll call, please? >> Take a roll call. Miss Adams, >> here. >> Miss Barbier, >> here. Miss Bby >> here. >> Mr. Buffa >> here. Miss DGiovani >> here. >> Miss Lawler >> here. >> Mr. Smith >> here. >> Mr. Wandra >> here. >> Miss Hazel Garut >> here. >> Mr. Mau >> here. >> Thank you, Mr. Spike. Uh at this time there is no uh student or chef coh staff showcase this evening. So we're going to go right to Hazel for the uh student representative report. Hazel. >> Thank you. Good evening members of the board of education, administration, and community members. I'm pleased to share the latest updates from Wall High School. Academically, students have officially wrapped up midterm exams and closed out the
004second marking period. The building remained focused and productive throughout this busy time, and students are now transitioning into the second semester with renewed motivation. We are proud of the dedication our peers demonstrated in preparing for and completing their assignments and we look forward to the building on the on that momentum in the months ahead. Recently, Wall High School held its National Honor Society induction ceremony. This special evening recognized students who have demonstrated excellence in scholarship, leadership, service, and character. It was a meaningful celebration of hard work and commitment and we congratulate all newly inducted members for their outstanding achievements and contributions to our school community. A special thank you to Miss Smith and Miss Morren for making the incredible night happen. Looking ahead, Wall High School has will begin its attitude and gratitude mindset initiative
005on the 12th. This schoolwide effort is designed to promote positivity, resilience, and appreciation among students and staff. By fostering a culture centered on gratitude and personal responsibility, we hope to continue strengthening the climate and sense of community within our school. In athletics, our boys basketball team continues to have an exceptional season, finishing their season. and the team is currently 17-1, an impressive accomplishment that reflects their dedication, teamwork, and perseverance. Their success has energized the school community and generated a strong school spirit. Wall High School continues to thrive in academics, character development, and athletics. Thank you for your continued support, and I look forward to sharing additional updates at upcoming meetings. >> Thank you very much, Hazel. Appreciate that great report. And as always, you're welcome to stay and as as long as you would like.
006Okay. Uh at this time, we're going to open up the floor for our first uh public comment. Uh the board requests that those individuals speaking will be courteous and mindful of the rights of other individuals when [clears throat] making comments. Specifically, comments regarding individual students and school personnel are discouraged and will not be responded to by the board. Students and employees have specific legal rights afforded by the laws of New Jersey. The Wall Township Board of Education bears no responsibility, nor will it be liable for any comments made by members of the public. Speakers should consider their comments in light of the legal rights of those affected by or identified in their comments and recognize they are legally responsible and liable for their comments. And I ask you to please observe our policy of three
007minutes per speaker. So uh first public comment is on any school related issues. Anyone would like to speak at either of the microphones please come come down. Hi. Good evening. My name is John Reo. I have three amazing boys at Old Mill. I'm here tonight to respectfully request that the district conduct a formal review of our current school photography vendor, Lifeouch, and evaluate alternative providers as part of the standard due diligence regarding student data privacy. For context, Lifeouch is owned by Shutterfly, which was acquired in 2019 by Apollo Global Management. Apollo's formal CEO, Leona Black, was documented with financial ties to Jeffrey Epstein, including approximately 150 million in payments between 12 and 2017 for tax and estate planning services. A US Senate finance committee investigated and raised concerns regarding the size of those payments. And
008in 2013, Mr. Flack reached a six 62.5 million settlement with the US Virgin Islands related to claims connected to Epstein. Apollo's current CEO Mark Ronin also appeared in released Epstein related documents connected to professional financial discussions during that period. To be clear, there has been no evidence that Life Touch has misused student photographer um photographs and this request is to is not about accusations. However, Lifetouch does manage sensitive student information including names um the their student names, school names, grade levels and photographs. Because of this corporate governance concerns that have been widely reported, many families across the country are requesting their districts to review vendor relations that handle student data. I respectfully ask the board to conduct a formal review of the district's current photography vendor agreement, evaluate alternative vendors and competitive bids, and publicly
009share the district's student data privacy and retention safeguards related to photography services. Taking these steps would straighten transparency, maintain trust, and ensure Wall Township continues to uphold the highest standards for protecting student information. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else for public comment? >> Hi. Hi. Uh, my name is Lindsay. I'm a Wall Township resident. Uh, my son Anthony is a United States Marine and I submitted his information so that he could be honored on the Wall Township military wall of honor. He volunteered to serve his country and he is whis willing to risk his life to protect the freedoms that every one of us in this room enjoys and he was denied. After learning of this decision, I reached out to the principles and the members of the board of education seeking clarification.
010I received a response back explaining that eligibility requires a diploma issued from Wall Township High School. My son received his diploma through the Mammoth County Vocational School District, a program that he entered with the guidance and support of Wall High School. He followed a path that the district helped put him on. I'm a lifelong Wall resident. Um, I'm a graduate of Wall High School. So is my husband and so was his father which makes Anthony the third generation of our family to come through the school system. Anthony attended Wall Township for 10 years. He was guided by Wall to enter the Alps program. He wrestled for Wall Township High School all four years and he wore wall across his chest. He represented the district with pride. I looked up the student eligibility criteria in the
011NJSIA bylaws. It states in article 5 that a student must be enrolled in the school that they represent in order to compete. My son was enrolled and he was eligible. He represented Wall Township without question and and at that time the district recognized him. But now after earning the title of United States Marine, he's no longer being recognized. And I really feel that this is wrong. You cannot recognize him when he represents your school and refuse to recognize him when he represents our country. This wall of honor should exist to honor those who come from this community to choose something greater than themselves. And my son is one of them. He was raised here and he was educated here. He represented the district and the right thing to do is to advocate for my son
012to ensure that he gets the recognition that he has earned. So I I encourage you to please reconsider this choice. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. >> Is there anyone else for public comment? Seeing no one else, we're going to close public comment at this time. Next up is we have a uh special presentation, the 2024 2025 audit. May I ask Mr. Smite, can you introduce the auditor who will be giving the presentation tonight? >> Yes, we have Mr. Brian Waldron from HFA here to present to the board of education the 2025 audit findings. >> Good evening. Thank you very much for having me. Uh as as uh Brian mentioned, my name is Brian Waldron. I'm a partner with Homeman Fernie Alson. I've been working on the count for wall now for several years
013uh with my partner Matt Hullman. And uh tonight I just wanted to give a very brief high overview of the 2025 year-end audit that was submitted prior to the deadline of January 15th of 2026. this uh this past month. Um the our firm provides three opinions to the school district. The first and most important opinion is our independent auditors report. Uh this report states that the financial statements are materially stated on all respects. Uh they are conducted in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, government auditing standards and the uh requirements set forth by the department of education. Uh we've issued an unmodified opinion. It's a fancy accounting way of saying a clean opinion. Um uh so it's the best opinion that we can render to the school district. Uh the second of two opinions is
014our independent auditor's report on compliance and financial reporting. Uh there is a significant amount of compliance uh reporting that needs to be done in accordance with the department of education. Uh and we have issued uh an unmodified opinion again in this report. Uh and there were no instances of non-compliance to report to the state of New Jersey. And then the third opinion that we have uh which we found all the way in the back of the report is our internal control report over financial reporting over major programs. Uh because the school districts receive significant funding from the state uh and federal governments. It triggers what we call a single audit. So additional audits uh have to be uh performed in accordance with um the generally accepted accounting principles and those set forth by the state
015and federal uh grant agreements. Uh this year for the federal side we attested the IDEIDA grants and on your state side we attested your transportation aid and your debt service aid. Uh and again all of those grants that we attested we have no instances of non-compliance and then unmodified opinions. So again best opinions that we can give uh no comments or recommendations uh in the report this year. Um I like to highlight uh in the school districts that have them which are very few across the state of New Jersey. Uh I was talking with Brian earlier and I believe this will be the fourth uh year hopefully upcoming that the district will receive uh what they call a certificate of excellence award. So it's a nationally recognized uh ASBO award for financial reporting. Um I
016would say there's roughly about 40 may less than 40 across the state of New Jersey uh that have this representation in their financial. So again it's just a uh congrats to the district on uh the best financial reporting that you can have in here. Uh so it's another high level audit on a federal side as well. Uh so again we're hoping to apply for that again and and receive that recognition. I think we'll be for the fourth year now for that. So um you know hats off you know to the board for that for the good news there. Um overall into fund balance uh in your general fund which is really the most important uh overall um operating fund that you have. The district ended with roughly about $20 million in total overall fund balances.
017that's broken down into various different reserves. The largest of that roughly about $13.5 million of capital reserve. Um, as the district continues to budget and spend monies for capital improvements, uh, that will obviously be imperative to use and manage, and I know in year 26 budget, we've already anticipated some of that funding. Uh, the district operates about an $88 million budget. So, it's roughly about 20% of your overall fund balance uh, represented to your to your overall budget. When we're looking at these numbers at a high level, anything above that 25 to plus percentage is uh could be considered a little too excess. Uh so anything less than that 10% could be too lean. So anywhere between a 10 to 20 25% is really kind of the sweet spot of what we would like to
018see the districts have. We all know the issues that have going on in the state of New Jersey with funding issues. So you always want to make sure that you have the funds available to you as the district does. Uh so again, as long as the administration continues to operate and manage those funds accordingly, you know, I don't see any issues that the the district is a and a good fine sound position. Um I could go on and on here today, but you know, if there are any specific questions, I'd be happy to answer them. I just like to thank Brian, his team, uh for their work this year and getting all this completed on time. It's never an easy task. Uh there's a lot of stuff that goes on behind the scenes and we
019do appreciate the trust from the board as well. >> Okay. Thank you. There are there any questions from any board members regarding the Okay. Thank you very much. >> Of course. Thank you very much for having me >> and thank you Mr. Smith and your staff for putting together the budget and for the the good report that we got from our our auditors. uh that we get every year. Great. Much appreciation. Uh at this time, I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Handhan for a superintendence update. >> Thank you very very much, Mr. Maliff. Um I would like to extend my sincere appreciation to the Wall High School color guard, Colonel Jax, and our student representative to the board of education, Hazel Grot, for all coming out and joining us this evening. I know
020how busy um busy uh the high school students winters are. So, we definitely appreciate their attendance. Um I also feel uh compelled to um to speak to the uh Wall High School's alumni uh military wall of honor. Um I just would like to say and I feel I could speak on behalf of the board of education that um the armed forces are incredibly admired and u revered by this board of education and um you know there is no greater service uh there is no greater sacrifice to those that serve and their families. So I I I feel I'd like to start with that because that all of us I do know uh feel very passionately about that. Um the project that was uh undertaken was a uh school-based initiative at Wall High School to honor
021the alumni of Wall of Wall High School. Um it was not a uh board of education directive. Uh but um you know the high school is very excited about honoring uh veterans that uh graduated from Wall High School and also those that are currently serving. U however u you know because there is such a commitment to veterans on this on this board. Um you know there I think the conversation is certainly one that is alive. um that you know it it's one of a bigger conversation. There's uh you know students that attend our schools in elementary school, students that attend through intermediate school and yes some in um some attend the high school and you know for many reasons some students may u attend Mammoth County vocational schools. Some may u decide that they want
022to attend private school. some um you know may even you know their families move to another district but we're very much part of the wall high school Wall Township public schools experience. So I think um certainly the words spoken here this evening are words that u resonate because we have nothing but reverence and respect and um while the um it may be a bigger conversation because um again there are other veterans that um you know may not have made a qualification may not have specifically graduated from Wall High School but their um service is definitely something that we value and um you know we look forward to future conversations to see just how uh you know we can be inclusive because there are many um you know members of the Wall Township public schools uh
023that did not attend Wall Township public wall high school. So, um I just wanted to um I felt compelled to mention that that uh this one um aspect was a wall high school building based project, but I think it's uh certainly worth a bigger conversation in a larger context. Um you know, certainly beyond Wall High School. So, um with that, I I did want to include that in my report this evening. Um, I would also like to take a moment to thank our operations team. Since our last board of education business meeting, we had an extremely um, you know, for New Jersey, a very big and icy snowstorm compounded by temperatures um, such low temperatures that I haven't seen probably in decades um, at least from my perspective. And u, our operations team, they worked
024tirelessly to remove the snow from our campuses. folks. It was incredibly challenging and taxing job and I am so incredibly grateful to them. So, I just wanted to give them a big shout out. I would also like to mention that our midyear district goals um these are the specific act objectives and activities that support the district goals. Uh they are viewable on our website. So, if you go to the district goals, you'll see our midyear progress towards all of our goals. These goals are um outgrowths of the third year, third and final year of our strategic plan. So um for a mid-year update, please visit our website. Kindergarten and preschool registration is underway. If you have an incoming kindergartener or if you wish to register your child for preschool, please do so as soon as
025possible. It is important for budgeting and planning purposes that we have the enrollment information as early as possible. Speaking of budgeting, our 2026 2027 budget workshop session is scheduled for Tuesday, March 10th at 5:45 p.m. This open to the public meeting will also be livereamed. So, if you're interested in um you know, the the uh workings, full board workings of our um school budget for next year, we invite you to attend or please tune in. I wish to congratulate those being recognized by the Crimson Knights Foundation at this year's gala. This year's distinguished alumni award is awarded to Dr. Megan Wamck. The exemplary BOE employee award is being presented to Dr. Tracy Skinner and Patrolman Michael Malone is this year's recipient of the Excellence in Community Leadership Award. The annual gala will be held on
026Thursday, March 19th at 6 PM at the Spring Lake Manor. Please visit the district website for ticket information. The gala is a fantastic evening. Please come and support our educational foundation. We are very grateful for all that the Crimson Knights Foundation does to supplement program and support our students and staff. Thank you, Crimson Knights Foundation. Each year, superintendent are required to report out on data pertaining to school violence and vandalism that occurred during a designated time period. The school violence and vandalism reporting categories include alleged hibs, confirmed hibs, acts of violence, vandalism, weapons, incidents involving substance abuse, and restraints or seclusions. Please visit the district's website to review the specific breakdown of reporting for each school. The data from the time period one which is September 1st through December 31st 2025 speaks to the numbers
027of closed matters. Any ongoing matters would not be reported during this particular reporting window. So during reporting period one, Wall High School had a total of 13 New Jersey Department of Education closed categorized incidents. two confirmed hibs, four alleged hibs, two incidents of substance possession, and five code of conduct incidents that led to removal. Wall intermediate school had a total of 36 NJDOE closed categorized incidents, six confirmed HIS, eight alleged HIS, one incident of substit substance confirmed use, one incident of restraint, and 20 codes of conduct incidents that led to removal. Allenwood school had a total of six NJ DOE closed categorized incidents. One alleged HI and five incidents of restraint. Central school had a total of four NJDOE closed categorized incidents. Three confirmed HIS and one incident of restraint. Old Mill School had a
028total of three NJ DOE closed categorized incidents. Two alleged HIS and one simple threat. West Belmmore School reported no incidents and Wall Primary School reported no incidents. If a member of the public has any comments with respect to the data from time period 1, you will have the opportunity to share that information during the section of the meeting dedicated to public comment. Last week, our WTPS experienced the loss of our facilities manager, Mr. Scott Croanda. Although I know that Mr. Maliff will be mentioning his passing in his report this evening as board president, I would be remiss if I did not express my deepest condolences and gratitude for all that he has done in this district. Um, Mr. Croanda has been here for over has been here over a year and he during that time
029uh his legacy is an enduring one. Um he has been so instrumental with um with our construction projects um our day-to-day operations. Um you know we are very sad of his passing and um you know he will be missed. Last week I also shared with the WTPS community that I will be having surgery at the end of this month. I will unfortunately be out for a period of time. However, I am very happy that the district will be left in such great and capable hands during my recovery. And I do want to stress, please know that I look forward to returning this school year so that I can participate in our many endofear activities and celebrations. Um I would like to mention that um whether it's a a you know it's a permanent superintendent, whether
030it's an interim superintendent or an acting superintendent, all of the contracts require the approving approve the approval of the um executive county superintendent. So regardless again permanent interim or acting um they require uh in our case Dr. Richens's approval. That said um you'll notice that for the acting uh superintendent it is the date is scheduled through the end of June. um that is uh done for um you know uh you know in case there you know there's there would be any reason that I would not be able to come back I don't anticipate that but it is done because any changes to a date would have to go back to the approval process so please know that despite that um it's essentially an open end um it is uh certainly not my intention I intend
031to um be back uh to work and um I look forward like I do every year to all of the um you know end of the year uh magic that happens and I so look forward to that. So I just want to reiterate that I absolutely look forward to participating in the end of year activities and celebrations uh for so many of our students and some celebrations for our staff as well. I also want to express my uh true excitement for a very very very special agenda item this evening. However, it is not my place to make this announcement. So, I will certainly not but um instead I will turn to um our board of education president because uh I know throughout um his board of education president report um he will be sharing the
032news. So, um, without any further ado, I'm going to turn this back to you, board president. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Handrehan. And we certainly wish you the very best with your upcoming surgery. And, uh, as it is your hope, it is also our deepest hope that, uh, you are able to return to us before the end of the school year to take part in all of the end of the year activities. And, uh, again, our very very best uh, to you at that time. Uh I would like to welcome back to the deis our assistant superintendent of curriculum instruction Miss Jennifer McCann. Uh she has been with us for a while. [applause] She is uh Mr. Gerrio was uh the interim for uh for a few months. Now uh Miss McCann is back
033and she's already she's hit the ground running. We've already had several meetings clear instruction committee meetings took place and I know she is very very busy catching up and teachers and staff better watch out. [laughter] Okay. >> As uh Dr. Handerhan said, we are all very saddened uh to hear last week about the passing of uh Mr. Scott uh Cresandanda. Scott uh is the Wall Township public schools facilities manager and he passed away uh last week. Mr. Crosandanda was a valued employee and an important resource during the final phases of our referendum projects u including this auditorium here and also the uh athletic complex which is hopefully going to be uh nearing completion before the end of the school year. Uh Scott was a very effective manager of our district facilities and maintenance departments and
034our deepest uh sympathies are extended to Mr. Croandis family. Uh now regarding Dr. Handerhan's leave uh as you may have seen on the agenda tonight during Dr. Handerhan's leave uh Mr. Michael Scorano who is the director of human services uh will serve as acting superintendent of schools. Uh Mr. Scorano has chief school administrator's endorsement and superintendent uh certification. He has been our HR director now going on his fourth year. Mr. Scorano has experience as an assistant principal and a principal. And I think we are very fortunate to have someone in house. We did not have to go outside of the district to hire an interim. We can hire we can have Mr. Scorano serve as an acting uh superintendent. And I would like to at this time give Mr. Escarano the opportunity to say a
035few words and introduce yourself to the community. >> Thank you, Mr. Maliff, and thank you to the board of education for the confidence and the opportunity um you know that you've placed in me for this very important role. The magnitude and the level of responsibility of the superintendent position is not lost on me, and I certainly welcome the challenges that will surely come with it. I'm comforted to know that I will continue to be working with our strong central office and administrative team as we partner to keep the district moving in the positive direction set by Dr. Hannerhan and the board of education both past and present. I'm fortunate for the teaching and learning opportunities that Dr. Hannerhan has provided to her team which ensures that the district is well positioned to provide a degree
036of consistency for these unexpected moments. I look forward to reconnecting with the schools, developing new relationships, strengthening old ones, and working closely with the board of education in this new capacity. I also look forward to assisting with the most seamless transition possible as the district moves under new leadership this summer. So, I'm ready. I'm thankful. I'm excited. And thank you. >> Thank you very much, Mr. Scarano. Uh Mr. Mr. Buffett, would you like to speak this time? Mr. Mr. Buffett was the the chair of this of the superintendent search committee. And before we introduce our superintendent, Mr. Buffett would uh like to say a few words about the process. >> Thank you, Mr. Maliff. Um so just no real update on the process. Uh we have a candidate and we have uh somebody that Mr.
037Maliff will be in introducing shortly. I just wanted to take this opportunity to um thank all the people that made this happen. uh was um a lot of work in a short amount of time. Uh a lot of Saturdays, Sundays, Mondays um and it just felt right to make sure that we were giving thanks where thanks were needed. So uh first and foremost the um uh superintendent search committee uh the hours they all put in um in addition to the board uh the the time they put in. Um as far as staff are concerned uh Mr. Scorano, who I'm pretty sure we wouldn't have been able to do this um as efficiently as we did without his help. Uh Mr. Smi uh coming in and making sure that we have had what we needed to
038um get our get our last round off the ground and make sure that we were doing it in the the proper fashion. Uh Mr. Alworth with um coming in on the weekends and making sure we had technology for our um candidates. Uh, Miss Ross Amelia, and I apologize, uh, Mr. Scrano if I said that wrong. Uh, she's the an administrative assistant in the human resources department, uh, took a, it was either a Saturday or a Sunday, um, to kind of be our meter and greeter when, uh, candidates were coming in. Uh, Miss Don Choma and Kim Keer, who, as we all said it time and time again, keep this place running. um Miss Athena Cornell who uh was able to really expedite things um contractually and and things of that nature. Um and last but
039certainly not least, I'm sorry, wait, I missed one person, very important person, uh Miss Kelly Winer, who's been keeping our updates um flowing on the website. Uh and last but certainly not least, um Dr. Handerhan, who um was not involved in the process, but was someone that I relied on heavily to answer questions about how a superintendent search um is supposed to be handled and um uh what next steps were for her when she was brought on board. Um so all these people worked you know came together and worked seamlessly and um the the end result is um going to be you know the the person that Mr. Maliff intro introduces you to uh shortly. So um thank you again to everybody. Thank you to the community. Um and we're very excited about the uh
040next school year. Thank you. >> Thank you m Thank you Mr. both and again thank you for the to the committee and all who uh took part in the uh in the process. Tonight we will be placing on the agenda the name of Dr. David Blekeley to be the next superintendent of schools for the Wall Township School District. Dr. Blekeley has his doctorate in educational leadership from Rutgers University. He has been a teacher and academic supervisor and most recently principal of Mor High School since 2017. Dr. Blekeley pledges to be a visible and accessible presence in the schools and the larger community. We look forward to him building a strong partnership among students, parents, staff, the board of education, and all local stakeholders. Dr. Blekeley is a native of Mammoth County and lives with his
041family in the neighboring community of How Township. Now, I am pleased to invite Dr. Dr. Blekeley to the podium to introduce himself to our community. Dr. Blekeley, [applause] thank you so much, Mr. Maliff. It's a pleasure to be with everybody this evening. I want to start by, of course, thanking the board of education. I appreciate you believing in my vision and putting your confidence in me to lead this great district forward. Um, I would like to say to the community, you know, something I shared with the board members throughout the candidacy process about a little bit about who I am as an educational leader, you know, my belief system can be simply expressed in the phrase all means all. And what that means to me is I believe fundamentally in every single student, every single
042kid is capable of achieving at a high level. And I start with that belief and move from there with everything I do professionally. And it's not just a belief. I would say that and I'm sure many in the room can attest that everything about my experience as a leader underscores that belief that every kid has immense potential. It is incumbent upon me as the superintendent, the rest of the team and the board of ed to design a system that allows students to achieve that potential to to realize that potential and I take that that responsib excuse me responsibility extremely seriously. Um, I would also like to say that, you know, what that looks like and what I'm looking forward to partnering with the rest of the leadership team and the board of ed is it
043really comes down to opportunities, right? I want to make sure that every student has access to opportunities and that every student is supported along their journey to realize the potential of those opportunities. I like to sum it up also with a simple equation, right? High expectations and high support is going to equal high outcomes. Uh, and that's what I want to help further develop here at Wall Township Public School. There's so much to be proud of. There's there's so much excellence currently proliferating throughout the district. Uh, so I want to continue the development uh for the for the betterment of our our student population and for the community. I also want to share as Mr. Maliff said, you know, I'm really looking forward to becoming embedded into this community. One of the really energizing and
044exciting parts of the candidacy process was of course it forced me to learn a lot about Wall Township public schools and the greater Wall community. Um, and what's wonderful about being appointed here on February 17th is I have more than four months of lead time to really immerse myself much further in the Wall community so that I can listen and I can learn and hear the stories um that of the rich history of this of this school district and this community so that by the time I'm ready to sit in that seat on July 1st, you know, I'm fully prepped and and ready to go. So, I'm really excited about that. I do intend to be accessible and visible. You know, my goal is to not just learn about the community, but to be part
045of the very fabric of this community and to earn the trust and the confidence of the community as quickly as possible. Um, I do want to thank my family who are here with me tonight, my wife Kelsey and my son Cameron and my my daughter Kendall uh for their support uh as I embark on this next phase of my professional career. And I do also want to thank to to my touching surprise my three assistant principles uh Mr. Lipson, Dr. Andre, Dr. Dlette surprised me this evening by by coming out to to join me. So, I appreciate that very much that you took time out of your lives. I don't I hope it's not just because you're getting rid of me and you're celebrating that. Thank you so much for being here. Uh again, I
046want to thank the board. I'm really looking forward to collaborating with the board, with the administrative team, with the entire faculty and staff and with the community to, you know, further build out uh our system and uh ensure that we continue the the tradition of excellence for Wall Township High School. I'm sorry, for Wall Township public schools and and all the students at all at all the grade levels, not just the high school. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. [applause] Thank you very much, Dr. Blekeley. We're so very very happy to to have you on board. You know, a loss to Marboro is a is a game for Wall Township. All right. And we're very and it's great to see that your your staff is here to appreciate you and your your family is
047here as well to to support you. We welcome you and look forward to great things and we're looking forward to July 1. All right. Uh there's a couple of things I'd like to include in uh my president's report before I uh ask for some comments from some other board members. Uh last week I had the opportunity to attend the uh patriotic coral concert right here uh in this room which included all the district schools, all four elementaryaries and the intermediate school and the high school. Uh and they all and the the the auditor term was filled and uh everyone there enjoyed some rousing renditions of of songs uh celebrating our country leading up to our 250th anniversary this year. I was not able to attend the uh uh orchestra concert the next day, but I
048did get reports that it was equally uh amazing. So, uh, uh, my appreciation to all of the, uh, the students who participated and all of the adviserss who, uh, facilitated that. A lot of work was done into that. Uh, I want to recognize the contribution of the wall boys lacrosse uh, parents club of $3,000 to the wall uh, boys lacrosse team. I want to mention that uh tomorrow night at Brookdale Community College, our Walt High School basketball team will be taking on Redbank Catholic in the semifinals of the short conference tournament. Uh this is the first time that a wall high school boys basketball team has been in the final four since I believe 1974. And I believe it was 1974 because I was here in the school in 1974 playing on the JV team.
049I was not on that varsity team. Uh but it was a and we actually made it to the final. Uh we lost to Lakewood in the final, but we did make it all the way to the final. Now I understand is Marboro involved in this as well. Marbor is in the other semifinal against CBA. And so uh I encourage the Wall Township community to come out and support the game. It is I believe the game is at 7:45 tomorrow night at uh Brookdale Community College. Uh at this time I would like to introduce or sorry mention our uh certificated students of the month. Students of the month for ninth grade uh Maggie Houston. For 10th grade, Karina Cherington, 11th grade, Brianna Young. 12th grade Dilva. Our Knights of the Week uh 12th grade, Hazel Gerat,
050our student representative. And Sophia McCormack is grade nine. Grade uh nine also Rizo Aspenadzi. Grade 10, Elizabeth Campanil. Grade 10 also Megan O'Hare. Student of marking period 2. Grade 12, Clarissa Herrera for art. Grade 12, Maline McInness for business. Grade 11, Aaron Robinson, English. Uh Marilyn Maroquin, grade 12 for family life. Broo Mendes, grade 10 for math. Uh, Caitlyn Espinosa, media TV, grade 12. Alvin Lee McInness, music, grade 10. Quinn Cardy, PE and health, grade nine. Grade 11, Jesus Chavez Espa, science, grade 10, Grace Osman for technology education. And grade 12, Reagan Urban for world language. Okay. Uh, at this time I invite any other members of the board of education who uh would like to uh make any county comments. Mrs. Mr. Smith, I know you have some comments you would like to make.
051>> Thank you, Mr. Mouth. This month, I had the pleasure of attending two wonderful events in our school community that I'd like to briefly recognize. On February 4th, I attended the National Honor Society induction ceremony. I would like to extend my sincere congratulations to the new inductees for their hard work, dedication, and commitment to scholarship, leadership, service, and character. It was an impressive and wellorganized ceremony, and it was inspiring to see these students recognized for their achievements. On February 5th, I had the opportunity to attend the 26th annual central central school lipsync event. It was a fantastic night filled with energy, creativity, and school spirit. Thank you to all the performers who made the event so enjoy so so enjoyable. I'd also like to recognize the staff and volunteers who work behind the scenes to
052make the event possible. As well as Principal Monafice for his leadership and support in continuing such a fun and positive tradition. Events like these highlight the strength of our school community and the dedication of both our students and staff. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Smith. Anyone else like to make any comments? Okay, Mr. Mal, I'm sorry. Go ahead, Mr. Buff. It wasn't quick enough that time. Um, I just wanted to uh touch on uh what the auditor had said um as well as you had said um just to congratulate Mr. Smith uh and the business office for their fourth year in a row of receiving the certificate of excellence from I think it's National ASBO. Um, this is not a small This is not a small um thing to receive. Um, I believe and
053I please don't quote me on this. It's on it's on my minutes if you take a look at the minutes, but I think uh 33 out of close to 400 districts I think got this last time around. Um, and uh it was pretty impressive that we're on our fourth year of this. So, good job to Mr. Smi and the business office. Um, I also wanted to welcome back Miss McCann. Um, definitely missed seeing you in that seat for a couple of months. So, it's nice to have you back. Um, miss uh Dr. Handerhan. Um, in in with your surgery coming up. Um, we are well I am uh going to miss you. Um, I know everything will go well and we look forward to your return. Uh, and one more two more actually. Uh, Mr.
054Scarano, thank you for stepping up in uh Dr. Hannerhan's absence and assuming the acting role. And Dr. Blekeley, uh welcome aboard. Um we are uh very happy to have you. Thank you. >> Okay, Mr. Wro. I'd like to thank Dr. Henryan for uh saving the cadet program and put her heart and soul into it and we're in a good shape now and have approval from the Department of Navy. Thank you, Dr. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Wandro, for that. That is an excellent point and I'm glad that you made it tonight. Uh uh next on the agenda, we have our uh committee reports. Committee reports are on the agenda. They can be uh accessed by uh going to the school agenda. Any board, any committee chair would like to comment on any of the uh
055committee meetings? Okay. All right. At this time, we're going to open up the uh floor for our second public comment. This comment uh public comment is on agenda uh items. Anyone wishing to uh speak, please come to the microphone. Betsy Cross, Southern Wall Township. Sorry, I missed the first uh public comment. Uh let's see. Congratulations to our new superintendent. Um I wish you the best of luck. You're going to need it. And um you can go back and watch some past meetings and you can see how when the public asks questions, you're just ignored. So hopefully you're going to come in doing something else because residents are really sick of it. Um couple people were kind of just putting together, you know, things that Tracy will be remembered for and they're not very good. Um,
056hopefully we're not going to have the uh lawyer here all the time. If you need her on something, zoom her in. We don't need to be paying a lawyer to be here at all these meetings. It's getting way too expensive. Usually when you give the audit report, we used to be able to ask questions, but we're not anymore under Dr. Handerhan. So hopefully you can change that as well. Um Tracy's make Tracy was making 240. You're only making 220. So we're saving 20,000. So maybe we can get the Paris back. That's something that we've um been fighting for. Um we never introduced Pedro Gero um when Miss McCann was out and glad to see you back, but nobody knew that you were even going out. Nobody knows how this works with sick sick pay, vacation
057pay. Um we don't want to be um paying employees and then letting them cash out hundreds of thousand dollars of sick and vacation pay. Um we've gone into that trouble when uh Mr. Smith was the BA and uh James Hava went to jail who was our prior super. Um so we don't have anything on the agenda that she's going out. So, we don't know how this is being counted and we know that um our Jeff Bertrren got paid and then he cashed out second vacation. We we can't have that happen again. Um uh some bad things for Tracy's legacy might be the you know all the issues we had in the locker room. um the high school principal that uh left after the Disney trip. Um and I think we still cashed out sick and
058vacation pay and was investigated by the controllers's office. I'm not sure where that is, but I'll try and find out. We paid over a million dollars to folks to sit home just over the locker room issue. Uh teacher Rzatello having sex with students, which everybody knew, all the kids knew, plenty of teachers knew, and that was a big cover up under Tracy Handerhan. So, not sure why you're smiling, Tracy. It's pretty sad for a lot of the kids. Um, >> excuse me. Are any of these agenda items? >> Who who said that? >> I did. >> Who are you running the meeting? >> You're the business administrator. You don't run the meeting. The person that runs the meeting is James Maliff. >> Keep your comments on the agenda. >> You shouldn't even be here anymore.
059You should have went to jail with uh agenda items only, Miss Cross. Thank you. >> And Mrs. Cross, your your comments. >> Dr. hand also put my son's picture and an open so good writtens trace. >> No, thank you. >> Thank you. The and these comments are supposed to be on agenda items only. Is there anyone else who would like to make a public comment at this time on agenda items? Okay, seeing seeing none, we're going to close the second public comment. Okay. All right. At this time, I'm going to ask for uh a motion to approve tonight's consent agenda. >> Miss DGI. >> Mr. Buffer. Second. Uh may I have a roll call, please? >> Yes. On item 12, consent agenda. Miss Adams? >> Yes. >> Miss Barbier? >> Yes. >> Miss Bby? >>
060Yes. >> Mr. Buffa? >> Yes. >> Miss Dioani? Yes, >> Miss Lawler. >> Yes, >> Mr. Smith. >> Yes, >> Mr. Wandra. >> Yes, >> Mr. Mount. >> Yes, with the following abstensions. Uh, number 15, A and B. Uh, number 16, Roman numeral one, A, number two, and Roman uh and number 16, Roman numeral 2, A, number one. >> Loaded. All right. Uh, at this time we'd like a motion to uh adjurnn. >> Mr. Pluffer, >> I'll second. >> Okay, Miss Bby is a second. All in favor? >> We are adjourned.