001Good afternoon. Welcome to the October 14th meeting of the Ball Township Board of Education. At this time, please stand for the pledge to the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Mr. Smith, sunshine announcement and roll call, please. >> Yes, this is the Wall Township Board of Education meeting for which notice under the open public meeting app is provided by a notice to the co-star, Asbury Park Press, township clerk's office, all Township public schools in the board administration office on January 9th, 2025. Take a roll call. Mr. Miss Adams >> here. >> Mr. Anio, >> Miss Barbier >> here. >> Mr. Burton >> here. >> Mr. Buffa >> here.
002>> Mr. Dioani >> here. >> Mr. Smith >> here. >> Mr. Wandra >> here. >> Mr. mouth >> here. At this time, I'd like to ask for a uh uh to go into executive session. I have a motion. Thank you, Miss D. Giovani. >> Second, Mr. Smith. And uh roll call for all in favor. >> I uh we will go into executive session for the items indicated on the agenda. Uh and we anticipate that we will be back for the meeting at 7 pm. Thank you. Good evening and welcome to the Wall Township uh public board meeting for October 14th, 2025. At this time, we welcome the Wall High School NDCC color guard to present the colors for the pledge to the flag. Forward. March. Right wheel. March. [Music] I pledge allegiance to the flag
003of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. [Music] Ready. Right wheel. March. [Music] Ready. Go. Ready. All up. Mr. Smith, roll call, please. >> Miss Adams, >> here. >> Mr. Anio, >> here. >> Miss Barbieier >> here. >> Mr. Mr. Burton >> here. >> Mr. Buff >> here. >> Mr. Dioani >> here. >> Mr. Smith >> here. >> Mr. Wandra >> here. >> Mr. Mallet >> here. >> At this time, I'd like to uh welcome our student representative tonight, Miss Hazel Grot, who is going to give the student representative report. And welcome. This is your first time before us. We're very happy to have you. I know you're going to be trading off with your partner, but welcome. And
004we're anxious to hear your report. >> Thank you. Good evening. My name is Hazel Gro. I'm the president of the student council and I'm excited to be one of the Wall High School student representatives alongside my talented friend Sophia Keeping. We have taken this opportunity with great responsibility and enthusiasm. Sophia will be attending the next meeting. The first month of the school year has been off to a great start. Our homecoming spirit week showcased impressive participation from every grade level in the dress theme days and especially during the pep rally and homecoming game which really brought the whole school together. Fall sports are in full swing and it's been great seeing students come out and cheer on their teams. The pep rally began to kick off America's 250th birthday and the 175th anniversary of all
005with speeches from Mammoth County Clerk Miss Christine Hanland, county commissioners Mr. Thomas Arnon and Mr. Nick Drogo. The pep rally included a series of games and events with students from each grade competing against each other and the staff. In addition to the games, all our fall sports teams were highlighted and introduced. The cheerleaders performed routines and the marching band played throughout the pep rally. Our homecoming court consisted of 10 seniors nominated by the class of 2026. Angelina Adalia, Maline Peterson, Hazel Guo, Ella Shley, Lindon Chen, Ra Patel, Rex Peterson, Luca Rule, Thomas Pisky, and Daniel Mahoney. Our homecoming king and queen was Ra Patel and Maline Peterson, and they were crowned at the game on Friday night. We had an amazing night full of school spirit and excitement. Last week, our school celebrated the week
006of respect, which focuses on the importance of respect for oneself, others, the school, and the community to prevent bullying and foster stronger and more inclusive community. Throughout the week, students participated in various lunchtime activities to promote kindness and connection. Some activities were the chalk walk where students drew and wrote positive messages on the sidewalk for peers and staff to see. Window kindness wall, which filled the breezeway with notes of encouragement, nging a connection, a game where players answered questions to learn more about each other. Together, these activities helped build a supportive and respectful community. That's all from Wall High School for now. Thank you for your time. We look forward to sharing more updates and new initiatives at our next meeting. Thank you Hazel for that report. Much appreciated by the board. Uh certainly you're
007welcome to stay around as long as you would like. All right. But I know students at this department are very busy. So whenever you wish, you know, we will see you again very soon. Okay. Thank you for your report. >> Thank you. >> Uh there are no special uh no student presentations tonight. Uh at this time, we're going to open up the floor for our first public comment. All right. And uh the board requests those individuals speaking will be courteous and mindful of the rights of other individuals when 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
008be 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 the uh by or identified in their comments and recognize they are legally responsible for and liable for their comments. And please observe our policy of three minutes per speaker. We have a microphone at the top. We have a microphone here. Uh please step up to the microphones and identify yourself. Good evening. Uh Leah Bby, Wall Township. Um I'm here today to discuss a few issues that have been going on. uh one that is pertinent uh continues and seems to be getting worse and uh that is the busing issue uh that is consistent and and like I said continues to get worse. Um, I experienced myself um last week. My
009son's bus was on time and I drove uh at around 4:15. I drove down the road in my neighborhood, two blocks down um and there was another bus at 4:17 dropping off elementary school students. Um this is almost an hour after dismissal. This is um an issue that I don't know if anybody have seen a lot of people talking about um online. Um I heard I don't know if this is true, but uh one of the parents of that bus I I I asked um them what happened. They said I heard that 10 bus drivers called out and this was Friday of last week. Um, I am uh I don't know if there's a shortage of bus drivers, but uh again the lack of communication between the administration and the public regarding these issues, we
010are just left here twiddling our thumbs and wondering what is going on and no one is talking to anyone about it. Um, if there is an issue and you are working on it, we'd like to know. That way we're uh on the same page as you. Um and you know people can be a little bit more lenient and understanding when we are all informed of what is going on. Um so just keep that in mind. That is a serious issue a lot of parents are having concerns with. Uh in turn also this makes the pickup the pickup lines very long um because parents uh need to get their kids to extracurriculars or after school activities and relying on the bus to be on time or within 10 15 minutes late is fine but an hour
011is a little outrageous especially regularly um at least once a week. Um so that is all I wanted to bring up tonight. Thank you. Thank you very much. Anyone else for public comment? >> Good evening, Angelique Pinto Wall Township. I would like to comment about the schedule and curriculum changes in the elementary schools. Again, I am once again requesting you revert. From what we have been told peace meal since the spring was that the administration made the changes to create the time 15 minutes a day, 75 minutes a week for morning meetings which we have come to know is mostly seven mindsets program programming. Myself and so many others, parents, students, and teachers have come before you month after month to oppose these changes that include reducing gym ban during school hours, library technology, and
012even the end of the uh school day dismiss dismissal activities, etc. Also, no one will say how much this is costing the district for seven mindsets, but what these kids are losing in their specials and daily activities is not justifiable. I know other school districts, you can find a few contracts online from around the nation uh for sizable communities like ours that have spent um I don't know anywhere from over a hundred to 200 $300,000. I know it depends on the tier you choose, but it looks like this marketing product aims to get you to just keep buying up. In addition to your tier, you can buy webinars. Speakers go to events like Seven Mindsets Life Summit and Seven Mindset University. As I'm sure you are probably aware since I believe we just sent three
013administrators, two teachers, and a school social worker to Disney Springs for a three-day conference, the total cost of more than $6,000. Um, this is a marketing product that sells you seven basic concepts. Everything is possible. Passion first, we are connected. 100% accountable. Attitude of gratitude. live to give and the time is now. What needed to be studied about for these three days in Disney Springs? What is it about these uncomplicated concepts that we had to turn four elementary schools upside down to make time for? Also, there's no um continuing education credits given um for anyone attending those because it's not really an academic uh program. Um, Allenwood, by the way, just offered a technology program after school. Of course, it is for a fee, but it sold out in like an hour. This is one
014of the subjects we were getting for our kids with our taxes that was built into the school day that has been 86 for seven mindset morning meetings. Where are we going with this? Are we going to just keep buying up and spending more? I know my middle child, a freshman at the high school, was pul pulled out of gym uh either last week or the week before to go to the library to open a seven mindset account. I know the kindergarten orientation spoke about rewards and um different awards for kids that promote the seven mindset um material. I don't know what we are involved in or where this is going, but the time is now. If you see what I just did there to stop this, it's your function and role to shape the policies
015and opportunities for our students in our public schools in the way that the majority of people in our community request. We have voiced our opposition repeatedly. Um, you should not operate in a vacuum and force your own agenda into this district against the majority of parents and stakeholders just because you site decided to or just because you want to. That is not the authority you have been given in this role. Uh, at back to school night, I saw a sign in my youngest child's classroom over in Allenwood. Um, it was a saying from MLK Jr. and it said, "The time is always right to do what is right. So, please do the right thing right now and give the kids back their activities and their time. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. Anyone else for
016public comment? >> Hi, Melanie Cortis. Wall Township. I'm sure we are all aware Wall School's unfairly made headlines again national. I just learned this time using our students as a negative example of this generation and their perceived shortcomings. Lucky us. I definitely don't want to dwell on that nonsensical story we can't control if the media deems a social media rant newsworthy. But as the parent of a high schooler, I do want to address access to our students and response from the district. My older child was a student during quite a few school scandals here. Many, many mornings. There were cameras across the street, but they were always on private property. Last week's nonstory shows the reporter speaking to students in the high school parking lot. I don't expect an answer tonight, but what I ask
017is that the board clarify or review the policy for media presence on school property. The required media consent policy, which parents sign before the school year, only goes as far as the newspaper. I quote, "I would assume the intent was not for students to be the subject of national news or even tri-state news. Maybe hopefully this is a one-time thing and my concern is unnecessary, but as a parent who has been through this with the wall high school news cycle, the time to make this clear is now. I personally am always happy to have my child in the Co-Star, but do not consent to my child being approached by larger media on school property." And as for responding, there's always just too much no comment from Wall School District. I just ask you to counteract
018this. Play their game. Ask CBS or Inside Edition or Dana Parino to cover a unified sports event. Offer to host them at the fall play. Let them see the school spirit at Thanksgiving game. Let's comment with pride, love, and support. Kids are listening. Just minutes ago, I heard them talking about this and one remarked every single year. And sadly, they aren't wrong. So, let's stick up for them. Show them we know they are more than screen gazing basement dwellers who don't want to dance. Also, shout out to the PTO who answered the call just two short years ago to bring this dance back based on student interest and would have happily kept it going. There's no blame here, but let's also make sure our volunteers feel appreciated and not blamed. Thank you. >> Thank you.
019>> Anyone else for public comment? >> There's someone up top. >> You want to talk? >> STEM. What did you want to say? No, you're too shy. Do you want me to say it for you? >> Do it. >> Okay. >> Sorry. Do you want to go first? >> You can speak. >> Would you like to speak for your child? >> First you up. >> Good evening. >> Hi, my name is Magnus. I go to Alwood and I'm not happy that they cut all the specials and that um they're counting gym and morning meeting as recess. >> Recess again. >> Morning meeting and gym as or morning meeting. >> Morning meeting and gym as recess. I mean as a gym. >> And what was I going to say? >> Anything else? >> Just the specials.
020>> Yeah. >> He misses his gem time. All right. Ty. Okay. This is T. >> I'm not happy. STEM. >> I'm not happy that STEM is only once a week >> or once every other week. >> Every other week. >> I want it to be once a week. >> Thank you. I'm just a chauffeer. >> Okay. Thank you. Anyone else for public comment? Yes, sir. Right. Hi everyone. Good evening. My name is John Reno. I have three boys at Old Mill. Tonight, I want to raise two serious districtwide safety and communication concerns that parents from every school have brought forward who cannot be here tonight. So, I'm speaking on their behalf. Since the first week of school, families across Wall have been experiencing significant and repeated delays with student transportation. I personally heard from more
021than 20 families describing buses that are arriving 30 to 60 minutes late for both morning and pickup and a uh afternoon drop off with little to no communication from the district. These are just a few examples sent to me by parents. The purple route at Allenwood was late almost every day. Last week my son didn't get home until 4:20. Dismissals at 3:20. Old um old middle school blue bus was late both am and pm most of last week. Pickup after 9:00 am some mornings home at 4:15. High school buses are coming 30 minutes early some days. Kids are waiting outside in the dark before 6:00 a.m. Green Route at Central has no notification system. Parents are using a shared Google doc to track delays. That's unacceptable. And let me be very clear. Parents understand that
022buses will run late sometimes. We understand drivers call out. What we cannot understand is why there's no reliable communication system in place to notify parents before a delay becomes a safety concern. Parents need to know when their children are stranded at a bus stop in the dark or when they don't arrive home as expected. A simple immediate text alert is not difficult and has already exists in many nearby districts. We must do better. This is not a new issue. Lack of communication has become a pattern and it's eroding the trusts between families and the district leadership. The second concern is far more alarming. Student uh safety during lunch and recess. Multiple district employees have reported and parents have now confirmed that many of the staff supervising elementary lunch and recess are not certified in CPR
023or the high maneuver. We eliminated trained lunch aids last spring. Now we have staff supervising large groups of children during the two highest first times of the day and they're not trained to respond to choking or cardiac emergencies. Choking is the fourth leading cause of unintentional death in children on the 14th. Launch monitors are legally responsible for supervising student safety. This is not a funding issue. It's a student safety issue. One choking emergency without trained responders can turn into a tragedy and it will be fully preventable. Thank you. Thank you. >> Is there anyone else for public comment? >> And Allan Wood. I The website you have for the buses is not updated. I know it. It's not updated at all in the afternoons. I know. I hear the buses. I know what they're doing.
024They're calling it in and they're not putting it on the website. update the website that you have the capability of doing it in the transportation office. >> Thank you. Anyone else for public comment? >> Hi, I'm Colleen McCormack of Wall. Um, here to share some information I gathered about the seven mindsets program that is stealing health and fizzed time from our children. I feel the public has a right to know how much has been wasted on this completely unnecessary program. A program that was created by people with absolutely no background or experience in education, which they state quite openly on their website. Since my requests for this information have been ignored multiple times, I was forced to do some digging on my own. No wonder no one wanted to answer my questions. At a quick
025glance through the purchase orders, it appears as though this program alone has cost at least $143,000. Let me be clear. I have no problem with lessons on mental health. What I do have a problem with is this program taking away from the required health and PE curriculum where most of these concepts already exist. Essentially, you're paying these scammers, sorry, entrepreneurs to sorry for lessons our students already receive. A complete waste of funds. These seven mindsets are essentially character education, which is a decades old concept now being marketed with a new name while trying to capitalize on the mental health craze sweeping the nation. It appears most of these expenses were paid for with grant money, but it's my understanding that the grant money runs out in 2026. I'm requesting the district to stop using this
026program and give the time back to health and PE. What better way to improve mental health than by getting up and moving the body? Countless studies prove this very point. In addition, and perhaps the most disturbing abuse of money did not come from a grant, but rather general funds where over $6,000 was spent just to send six people to Orlando to attend the Mindset University. Three administrators, two teachers, and one social worker got a mini vacation in Orlando just weeks after all of our paraprofessionals were fired. On top of that, ninth graders wasted an entire PE period going to the library just to create Seven Mindsets accounts. Perhaps even worse, fourth graders at one of the elementary schools were recently enticed by a staff member to talk with their friends in focus groups surrounded around
027mental health strategies. The problem, these focus groups are taking place during lunch and recess. When will you learn recess is time for our children to actually experience their feelings in the limited time you give them? Parents, if all of this does not make you lose faith in the people currently making decisions, I don't know what will. The trust is gone. We need new members on the board who will see the mismanagement happening and are willing to do something about it. People who actually care about what's best for our children and will make sure they get what they need and deserve. Please vote wisely on November 4th. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Anyone else for public comment? Good evening. M uh Mike Zadlock. I spoke at the last meeting and um my issues have still not
028been addressed. Um there is zero accountability and zero oversight for our busting issue that a couple parents have already spoken about. I have reached out to Senator Gopal, Assemblyman Keane. I've spoken to the superintendent and business administrator and no sol no solutions have been brought to any of the parents minds to keep them happy with the safety of our children. Um I had brought up back on September 5th there was a motor vehicle accident involving a bus. I had pulled that motor vehicle accident report from the wall township um records and the bus driver um could not make a accurate turn down a small street. He then decided to unsafeely back up and hit a parked car. Um that's a huge concern because the bus driver did not receive any uh re-evaluation for training. Um
029which is a major concern for our streets that don't have sidewalks. Um I have reached out numerous times and I have zero confidence that this is being addressed or taking seriously because my children can no longer take the bus because we do not feel safe that the bus driver can get our kids to and from home um safely. So, we have to do private trans, which is causing a huge burden on us to have to leave work so our kids can get home safely. Um, this is a massive issue and out of your district policies and regulations, you have 694 of them. Six of them actually account towards this issue, which counts for less than 1%. Most of your policies are outdated. It's 2009, 2016. Where's the updates? Um it seems like it's a copy
030and paste kind of thing from the previous administration to the current and that is not acceptable for our parents. We do not feel safe with our children doing that and I honestly feel that you guys seem like this is a reactive situation when you should be proactive. Um that is a major concern because when an issue happens we can say we've been addressing this issue with you and no one want to take it seriously with elected officials and appointed people. you should really listen to the concerns of the public because this is not acceptable whatsoever. Um, again, there's no solution and we just have to accept what this is happening and that is not right. We are taxpayers and we want the best quality for our kids and we're not getting that whatsoever. Um, there
031was no retraining. The transportation company after the accident happened told the parents they need to call the school. There is a very lack of time from the parents finding out their kids were involved in a motor vehicle accident to being told they can't be told where the location is of the accident but to call the school and the school was lucky enough to have the parents get there which is absolutely unacceptable. Um however when I have met with the superintendent and the b uh business administrator on October 10th I'm sorry October 9th um it seems like I was very dismissive by the business administrator. Um, again, as parent, we should have solutions for concerns for our child, our children. I have filed a formal complaint against the bus driver, but yet he is still actively
032driving the bus with our children on there. That is unsafe for my two young girls to be on that bus with a grown man that obviously does not care about their safety. Thank you. Is there anyone else for public comment? Good evening board of ed and thank you for our time for speaking. I'm Matthew Makin with Wall Township. Um I'd also like to speak on behalf of the homecoming dance and how it made national news. I don't like the idea of being categorized as a kid who just sits on his phone all day and doesn't go to dances. I bought a ticket for the dance. I was going to go, but me and my date were very upset when we found out it was canceled. And then the following days we found out we were
033classified as people who don't go to dances anymore because kids are losing interest and they're addicted to their phones. I don't believe that's true at all. A ton of the dances I've gone to, the venue has always been filled and I believe none of them sit on their phones the entire dance. But the homecoming dance is I'm not going to say it's bad, but it's not as good as the other dances. Kids know that. They don't want to show up for it. But the fact that it made news and the school hasn't done anything to justify the students, I think it's unacceptable. And I wear this uniform every day on Friday. I don't need to also be categorized as a kid who's addicted to his phone. I've been to four I'm going to three other
034dances this year. If I find out that they're cancelled and I'm classified as a kid who's stuck on his phone all day, that's just a waste of money on my part and I don't believe it's right. Hello board. My name is Frankie Dilva and I would just like to say that as she stated perfectly, me and my friends the whole day today we're joking about how we have made national news pretty much every year that I have been a student at Wall High School. Now, this situation is nowhere near as serious as the previous situations, but the fact that our students on our property, which is supposed to be school is supposed to be a place where you're safe from outside influences like that, the fact that students in on school property got interviewed by
035national news without the schools knowing is just unacceptable. And the fact that our students were put on blast because of the dance getting cancelled. We're not the first school who's canceled a dance before. The fact that we are the ones who are who have a label on us now of the kids who are addicted to their phones, the kids who don't want to socialize, the kids who only hang out in small groups because it's easier. It's ridiculous. And I went through the comments of the post that CBS made and it was all people saying how they're so disappointed in this generation for not wanting to go out and socialize. But the fact that we're being generalized because of something that was completely out of our control. We didn't cancel the dance. I have many friends,
036including myself, who bought tickets to the dance just for it to get cancelled. Like I like he said, I'm not saying because it was bad, but compared to the other dances, homecoming has never been the most popular option. So to end off, I would just like to say that we shouldn't be generalized because of something that happens. And just because something happens doesn't mean that we have to be on national news every time. Thank you. >> Thank you, board. >> Well said. Anyone else for public comment? And before the NNDCC exits, I'd like to thank you and Colonel Jax for your longtime participation in our meetings. We appreciate it very much and thank you. [Applause] >> At this time, I'm going to turn over to Dr. Han. One second. No, I just want to make
037a comment with regard to the >> Mr. Smith, please. >> Uh, with with regard to public comment, uh, uh, with busing, student transportation, I'll respond to the couple of the speakers with regard to the busing one being dismissive. I take exception to that. I think uh having evening phone calls that last at least 30 to 45 minutes, also participating in a meeting for almost an hour to discuss uh transportation issues a uh resident has. Uh is not being dismissive uh because the district currently does not uh agree with the um allegations that are are being made does not mean uh being dismissive. So there's been considerable amount of time that has been put in uh to address those concerns. Uh with regard to the timeliness of our school buses, uh it is a known issue.
038Uh we have an individual on tonight's agenda, another bus driver that we are hiring. We have multiple drivers that are in training. Uh so we're trying to to bring them in. Um, we realize and I think everybody realizes and it was commented tonight that we're not going to be able to handle when there's a substantial uh absence from the transportation department. I don't know that it was 10, but anytime we're over uh five, six, seven absences. Uh, you know, that's not easily absorbed within the department with the limited number of subs we have. Uh I will acknowledge that the communication going out to the parents with regard to timeliness uh and the schedule of the buses needs to improve and the district uh will make a commitment to make sure that gets done. >> Thank
039you, Mr. Smith. Okay, Dr. Hanahan. >> Thank you, Mr. Smith. Thank you, Mr. Maliff. Um we have two special presentations here this evening. Uh the first is um a video presentation prepared by our assistant superintendent of curriculum instruction, Miss Jennifer McCann. And uh it is one of our required presentations regarding state testing results. So um if you are I think a few of us might be slightly in the way. We might want to move move just a little bit. And um as soon as we do, if our amazing technology department can prompt the video [Music] Good evening. Tonight we will review the results of the 2024 2025 state assessments, the New Jersey student learning assessments, commonly known as the NJSLA and the dynamic learning maps or the DM. These assessments provide valuable insight into how
040our students are performing in English language arts, mathematics, and science, and they will help us identify both our strengths and areas for continued growth across the district. The NJSLA assessments are aligned to the New Jersey student learning standards. They're administered each spring and measure how well students have mastered grade level content. Students are scored on a fivelevel scale ranging from did not meet expectations to exceeded expectations. These results give us a snapshot of both student achievement and instructional effectiveness. We will begin with ELA. The varying shades of purple show our scores over the past 5 years. Please keep in mind that there was no testing in 2020 to 2021 due to the pandemic. So with that said, each grade level is slightly above or slightly below our preandemic scores with some grades like grade nine
041having a more significant gain than the others. This is a different view of the same data. However, it focuses on the past two years and all of the performance levels. When viewing the data, the goal is from one year to the next to see less red, orange, and yellow and more light green, and dark green from year to year. Another way we look at the data is by cohort, meaning it is the same students, but in consecutive grades. For example, you will see 62% of our third graders were meeting or exceeding expectations in 2023 2024, but as fourth graders, we had 73% of the students meeting or exceeding expectations. Not only do we look at the data as an overall grade level, but we also look at it by subgroups, meaning race and program. When
042we look at the results this way, we see that over the past years, although we are doing well, our students are not necessarily showing or demonstrating much growth. This will be shown in another slide later in the presentation. When we look at the data by program, which means our L students, free and reduced lunch, 504, special education, and general education students, you will see similar similar results from last year to this year. Again, our overall data does not show or demonstrate significant growth. In this particular slide, however, it does show that we need continued support for our EL's population and our special education students. Similar to our ELA data, our overall percentage of students who are meeting and exceeding expectations in mathematics is not growing or declining at alarming rates. However, I would like to
043point out grade 8 and algebra 2 have had continuous growth over the past four years. Grade 8 math has gone from 6% meeting or exceeding expectations to 53% this past year and algebra 2 has increased from 57% to 91%. Similar to ELA, this is the same mathematics data but presented in a different manner showing all of the performance levels, not just meeting or exceeding expectations. Here we have our math cohort data where we're showing our students growth from one year to the next, meaning one grade level to the next grade level. There are some where we demonstrate a decrease in scores and others where we are plateaued and others where we do demonstrate an increase. Here we have our mathematics results by race which shows a year-to-year comparison from last year to this year for
044each of our subgroups. um our students who are Asian, black, Hispanic, multiple races, and white. These are our results by program. Again, our L's population, free and reduced lunch, 504 students, special ed students, and our general education students. Not only do we look at our data as a district, but we also look at each elementary school. There is a lot of data on this slide, meaning multiple years for each of our schools, but I would like to highlight the percentage of students who met or exceeded expectations in both math and ELA for this current school year. Starting with grade three ELA, West Belmar was at 77%, Allenwood at 60%, Old Mill 55%, and Central School at 51%. I would be remiss if I didn't give a shout out to West Belmar. Over the past five
045years, they had a 27% increase, and from last year to this year, they grew 9%. Fourth grade ELA by school, we have Allenwood at 83%, Oldm Mill at 76%, West Belmar at 64%, and Central School at 63%. For mathematics, Allenwood is at 69%. Old Mill is at 70%. West Belmar is at 72% and Central is at 47%. Grade five ELA across our four elementary schools. Allenwood at 84%, West Belmar at 73%, Central at 72%, Oldm Mill at 69%. Allenwood school for grade five ELA has demonstrated an 18% growth over five years and grew 4% from last year to this year. Grade five math we have Central School at 62%, Allenwood at 61%, Old Mill at 59% and West Belmar at 54%. We want students to demonstrate their abilities, but we also want them to grow
046from year to year. With that being said, it is important to look at the percentage of students who moved performance levels from year to year. As mentioned earlier, the district continues to perform well, but we haven't demonstrated growth. When we look at our mobility comparison, you will see just that. Most of our students remain in the same achievement level over a 2-year period. Math yields similar results. However, I'd like to point out that algebra 1 8th grade to 9th grade geometry are two very different courses, but the sequence of coursework within our district and many others. The science assessment is administered in grades 5, 8, and 11. You will see looking at the slide that our scores continue to incrementally increase. [Music] Like ELA and math, we do look at our subgroup data, particularly the
047race and program sections to identify populations that we may need to provide additional academic supports. Our grade three students at West Belmar School showed strong performance in both English language arts and mathematics, an encouraging sign as early literacy and numeracy are essential foundations for future success. The intermediate school grade 8 math demonstrated impressive results showing the strength of our middle school math program and preparation for high school coursework. And at Wall High School, both algebra 1 and algebra 2 results stood out as areas of success, highlighting the dedication of our teachers and students. Of course, with every data review, we also identify areas where we need to improve. One ongoing challenge is supporting the growth of specific student subgroups. We continue to see opportunity gaps that impact overall student growth. And our team is working
048diligently to address these disparities through targeted support and instructional strategies. Recognizing these challenges also allows us to focus our resources where they're needed most. To move forward, we're taking several important steps. First, our schools will continue to engage in data dives, which is a deep analysis of student performance at the classroom and individual student level. Second, we will continue to review our scope and sequence to ensure our curriculum pacing aligns tightly with state standards and assessment expectations. Finally, we're implementing targeted instruction, focused, datainformed support that meets students where they are and accelerates learning for those who need additional help. Schools who receive Title One funding, Central, West Belmar, the intermediate school, and the high school will continue with morning and afterchool support programs. These actions are designed to strengthen both teaching and learning across all
049grade levels. The dynamic learning map assessment is an alternate assessment designed for students with the most significant intellectual disabilities. It is designed to mirror the NJSLA with an ELA, math, and science component. It measures progress through four levels from emerging to advanced and allows us to better understand and celebrate the growth of all learners. We remain committed to ensuring that every student, regardless of ability, is supported and challenged to reach their fullest potential. The DLM results are presented as a whole district due to the small number of students who take it. First, we have ELA with 22% of the students at target. Next we have math where 22% of the students are at target. Lastly we have science with all students performing at emerging. In summary, our 2024 2025 state assessment results reflect both achievement
050and opportunity. We are proud of our students accomplishments and deeply appreciative of our teachers commitment to excellence. At the same time, we recognize the importance of continuous improvement, datadriven decisions, and equity and learning. Together, we'll continue to strengthen instruction and ensure that every Wall Township student thrives academically and personally. Thank you for your continued support of our schools and our students. [Music] I'd like to thank Miss McCann and her team for working together to really give us um some perspective of u really a district data dive and just a little sample of what is looked at across all of our schools. So, thank you for that. Um this summer we have if you've driven and visited any of our schools you might have noticed that we've had a tremendous amount of construction that has been
051going on. Uh it's been going on the last couple of summer last couple of summers actually but this summer I think really the pedal was to the metal. Um it's my pleasure to introduce our business administrator Mr. Brian Smi to provide us u with really an update of the projects uh primarily from the uh referendum 2022 of where we are. some of the for those of you that may not be in the schools to uh have the opportunity to see some of the photos of some of the finished work and some timeline about what is about to that we're going to get started on. So without any further ado, I'd like to introduce Mr. Smi. >> Thank you, Dr. Handeran. and uh thank you for the opportunity to share some of the things from a
052facility standpoint, what has been uh happening in our schools uh since the referendum passed on December 13, 20 uh 222. That's why we referred to it as referendum 2022. Uh it has been very busy in our schools and after all the activity this past summer, now is a a good time to to share some of the the accomplishments and be able to show our stakeholders uh you know that approved the referendum funds, how how those funds are are being utilized within the district. Uh I will ask you to bear with me. It's a lot of slides. Um but it's a $66 million referendum. We have seven school buildings. Uh we've been doing this for uh three summers and there was so much activity this past summer in order to do each of the projects justice.
053Um it's it's a lot of slides. Now, we're not going to look to and I I'll do my best not to speak to each one of the slides. Uh however, um it's to be able to provide information, give you a little a showcase of what has been accomplished, uh and where to find additional information. And this uh slideshow will be provided on the district website tomorrow so that you can take your time and go go through e each of the uh slides. And uh to the point with regard to the amount of activity activity this summer, I know it's been uh mentioned by the uh superintendent as well as the board president. Uh you know the shout out to our custodial staff and our maintenance staff for getting the schools back together uh for the
054far uh for the start of this school year. Uh you know just the effort was tremendous. uh and the amount of work they accomplished in a short period of time in order to open up schools is is just a a credit to their hard work. So we have had the referendum. We've been working on it for three years. Uh we report on a on a monthly basis on our district website and and where this starts from and everything that we do ties back to to our district goals. So one of our district goals for finance and facilities committee is district goal number four and it's that we'll practice fiscal responsibility in uh providing maintaining facilities uh for student learning in the 21st century and then also to provide clear and accurate reporting to the stakeholders
055uh that's the board of education that's the community at large. Uh we do that um and one of the tasks of that goal is supervision of the refere referendum 2022. So h how do we accomplish uh this this goal? How do we meet meet that goal? So it starts with our finance and facility committee. Uh we meet monthly and these are our committee. It's chaired by Mr. Thomas Buffa, James Maliff, uh board president is on committee and board members Kathleen Diovani and James Burson. Uh I was going to give a shout out to Scotty as well. Uh he attends our uh committee meetings. And then uh Scott Cassand is our facilities manager. myself, superintendent of schools and Justin Kak is our project architect for the species architectural group who also attends. We discuss each of
056the projects during these committees and uh you know we do have um uh the privilege of being the longest committee with regard to our durations each uh each month. uh our average meeting is at a minimum of two typically three hours uh on a monthly basis. So we go through each of the projects and as part of the uh committee we have progress updates and those progress updates are provided um to to the board and then as well to the public by posting on the uh district's website. uh we uh we meet monthly. We provide uh the progress updates on the district website. We also post the financial summaries on the district website. And when you get to the website, and there's going to be a number of places in viewing this that you'll be
057able to scroll through, there's information that goes back to June of 2022. Uh that lists archived website resources for pre-referendum information. We also have the bond sale and again the financial summaries and the progress updates. And again, if you're viewing this tomorrow, you'll be able to click on the information available uh from there and it'll bring you right to the to the district website. This is a sample of the financial summary that is provided on a regular basis. Again, on the district website, we break down the uh contracts or the scope of work based on the trades. We have uh roofing and what I'll do is this. This is pretty indepth. It provides the original budget, any budget adjustments for the different categories, um what what the current budget is, and then it goes along
058the line. What I'll do is provide a second one, which kind of summarizes the description of the work. We had shingle roofing at the high school. We had site improvements, uh site work that was performed at Allenwood School in West Belmar. We had toilet room renovations and interior renovations at uh each of the uh each of the schools. So it was either toilet room elevations at at the schools as well as significant interior renovations at the intermediate school and the high school. We have the athletic improvements at the high school. HVAC work uh which is being done. It was awarded over two contracts to two different contractors and it covers each one of the schools and you'll see uh the extent of the HVAC work that was done in uh subsequent slides and then additionally
059we had our builtup roofing at all at all schools that that work is for the most part complete but this is available on the district website. What I do want to point out, uh, it was a 66 million referendum. We've awarded over $65 million in contracts since the start. We have paid out $49 million. So, we have about a little more than $16 million that we've awarded that is work that has yet to be completed and therefore yet to be paid. So, our available balance to finish out referendum work is a million dollars. We have one outstanding project. It is a uh roof replacement or roof coating and that was not done when the original builtup roof replacement or renovation work was done because there was still mechanical work that needed to be done. That
060work will be put out the bid this winter within the work anticipated to be completed this summer, summer of 2026. Um but we have a million dollars that uh the outstanding roofing work will be less than we anticipate anticipate being less than half a million dollars. Uh but we have the second half of that million dollars held as contingency because we are still uh in the throws of a lot of work being done in the district. Okay. At this rate it's going to be like an FNF meeting. We're going to be about two to three hours. So uh I I'll categor categorize it uh by the schools. So, uh, this is the primary school. We, uh, and you'll be able to take your time and go through the pictures, but we renovated toilet rooms. We
061did new physical therapy, uh, room that was created, and we have, uh, done window and door replacement in the school. These are photographs that show the before and it's only the top left that was before, and then the remaining three was all work that was done at after. Uh for the most part, these are uh toilet facilities for the students, but as well as staff had a a renovated toilet room as well. Second work at the primary school. This is photos of the new physical therapy. Previous to the referendum, there was a partitioned area of a classroom that was used with just room divider that were about about the height about six feet high. And that has now been uh constructed into its own independent room. As mentioned on the first slide, the window replacements
062interior view and an exterior view for uh energy efficient from single pane windows which is viewed up top to double pane double hung windows on the lower picture. That's the work that was done in the primary school and the majority of that work was done in the summer of 2024. not part of the referendum but it was a capital projects because in addition to the referendum our annual school budget is including capital projects and this is one of them. It was asphalt was repaving the uh parking lot at the primary school. This was done as a shared service with the county of Mammoth uh Department of Public Works that did the actual paving at that location. Again, not part of the referend referendum, but it is uh it was a capital project. This is our
063special services building if you'd ever passed it on Bailey's Corner Road. These were the the work that was done on the facility and again it was just uh capital project that was used to maintain our facilities. So Allenwood school again this was done over uh multiple years. We had asphalt paving the asphalt paving was done actually that was the first project that was done. with site improvements at Alenwood School. Uh that was done in the summer of 2023, included new sidewalk, sight lighting, uh the front entrance, and some green space. Uh we did renovated toilet rooms in the summer of uh this past summer of 2025, as well as uh new HVAC. Uh and roof restoration was done in the prior summer of 2024. This is the site work. This is an additional parking lot
064that was added at Allenwood School. Uh the bottom picture shows the entrance and parking being repaved, but we added additional parking at the school by creating this additional parking lot and that includes sight lighting as well. These are two more pictures that provide uh the additional parking. This is the entrance where there was new concrete. Just to back up, this used to be asphalt paving. This entire area was asphalt paving. One of the goals uh in doing the site improvements both here and in West Belmar was to um move away from having blacktop up against the building on all sides. So what we did look to do was pull back the black top, create some green space and concrete walkways to make it uh more usable and not just for parking. So again, I think
065this looks tremendous. These are the toilet rooms at the Allenwood Elementary School. We'll fire through these pretty quick. Uh but gone are the days of uh just painted concrete or sheetrock. Uh all the bathrooms are full floor to ceiling tile. Uh Terzo floor, all new fixtures, plumbing. Uh and it wasn't just the u you know the fixtures or you know what was in the room. The infrastructure was also upgraded as part of the referendum. Again, HVAC throughout the school. This is the uh air conditioning of the gyms. All the schools now have air conditioned gyms. That was not the case. Uh and air conditioning of the cafeteria was also completed. And at that time, we took advantage of the work that was being done when they removed the ceiling. Uh it it the work included
066all new ceiling as well as replacement of the lights with new LED lighting. Central elementary school similar work. Uh toilet rooms were were uh renovated this past summer in 2025. Heating, ventilation, air conditioning uh was this past summer of 2025. The new bo bo bo bo bo bo bo bo bo bo bo bo bo bo bo bo bo bo bo bo bo bo bo bo bo bo bo boilers as well. And that work is still ongoing. We did roof restoration in 2024. Uh and then also this past summer, we did a capital project uh with the KPTO. It was a donation that was approved at a prior board meeting here. Uh the toilet rooms, and just so you're aware, both four toilet rooms were completed at Central School. There was two on the first floor
067as well as two on the second floor. With regard to the uh HVAC work, this is a floor plan. Uh this is the first floor plan of Central Elementary School. Everything is red is receiving new uh heating, ventilation, and air conditioning. The building that's off to the side is the boiler room, and that's where new boilers are being installed. Uh there's also the corridor of the second floor. Didn't require a slide. I didn't want to have too many slides tonight. Uh but the uh corridor was also included in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning. And as part of this work, all older Federal Pacific electrical panels uh are also being replaced as in all the schools as part of the referendum work. Here's a photograph of a rooftop unit. And these are the three boilers that
068are installed in the central school boiler room. A lot different than what was originally there. The boilers that were at Central Elementary School were about 50 years old. So we we we hope to get some uh significant efficiency with these newer boilers. This is the project that was uh done in conjunction with with Cape the PTO at Central Elementary School. Uh they were looking to put an acrylic service on the basketball court. Um you know the black top was not in the best condition. So the black top was replaced uh by the district and the funding donated by by CAPE was utilized for the acrylic surfacing as well as the basketball equipment at each end. Additionally, there's a second basketball court that was also lined as part of this project and there was some ancillary
069black top that was uh installed as well. Old Mill Elementary School again common theme all the toilet rooms in the majority of the schools were were renovated uh again on the first and second floor. Also, we renovated classrooms as part of the uh work in addition to just heating, ventilation, and air conditioning. Uh there's a new electric service at Oldmill. So if you were uh impacted by no electric in the building for about a month, uh that would be the reason why. And again, we did roof restoration. Here are the toilet rooms for Old Mill Elementary School. Again, uh they were completed on both the first and the second floor. Tile floor to ceiling, Terzo, new fixtures, partitions, and the infrastructure, plumbing as well. Again, the HVAC work on the first floor. Um, all the
070unit vents and condensers are being replaced. We also took this as an opportunity to remove the ceilings and replace the lights with new LED lighting. And the flooring in each of these classrooms on the first floor were asbestous uh vinyl floor asbestous floor tile. And as part of the scope of this work, all of the aspest floor tile was removed and new vinyl tile was installed on the first floor. and the renovation to the rooms with regard to the ceiling and the lighting was done throughout the school on the first and second floor. Additionally, uh kindergarten classrooms were renovated. They received new flooring and uh as well as HVAC uh HVAC work and ceiling and LED lighting as well. Again, HVAC. This is the floor plan. This shows the the entire first floor. Um the
071areas on the first floor that are not red are actually not on the first floor. That's uh beneath the gymnasium and and some bathrooms. So the only work not done on the first floor was the cafeteria. Uh but all the classrooms received new unit ventilators for heating, ventilation, and air condition. On the second floor, the gymnasium is air conditioned. The uh two spaces that are are dashed differently was the bathroom renovations. So again, this is a significant amount of HVAC work that was done. Here's the air conditioning, the new dock socks socks that are in the gymnasium and the transformer for the new electrical service. West Belmar Elementary School. Again, this had site work that was done uh in the summer of 2024. Uh and the toilet rooms were also done in 24. And then
072the uh the new electric the heating and ventilation in 2025 and the roof restoration was in 2024. Uh here's some of the site work. This is a new parking lot or there was an existing parking lot. It was doubled in size again to provide additional off- streetet parking at the school. There was drainage that was incorporated into this project. The play areas were repaved. Uh we looked to uh create some green space. So this was uh asphalt previously. Uh the asphalt was removed, concrete sidewalks and green space was uh created. Again, bath toilet room renovations at West Belmar as well. There was a boys and girls toilet room that was renovated. Additionally, at West Belmar Elementary School, we're kindergarten renovations. So, uh in the back corner is a toilet room. um that was new, newly
073renovated for the kindergarten as well as the uh ca uh cabinets and casework that are installed there, new ceilings, new floorings, etc. And this was for two classrooms that were at West Belmar. Again, HVAC. Uh all the areas in red received new heating, ventilation, and air conditioning. On the top left is the cafeteria. Then you have the library, classroom. Bottom left is the gymnasium. And again, there was a new electric service that was provided for the school. This is the uh again taking advantage of the work that was done with regard to the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning. The ceilings were replaced and the lighting was replaced uh with new LED lighting. Wall intermediate school, boys and girls locker rooms. Uh there was a lot of discussion prior to the referendum with regard to the
074the need to renovate those locker rooms and you'll you'll see in a minute why. Um renovate art and technology rooms and then heating and ventilation air conditioning in designated areas and as well as roof restoration. Roof restoration was done at each one of our buildings. So these are the locker rooms. Uh the top are both the uh before and then the uh bottom shows the after. take more time. And that's a coach or the fizzed office that is in the background on the bottom right photograph as well as showers not really utilized at the intermediate school level any longer. But here are two showers that were converted to locker room space, uh, storage space as well as new bathrooms which are shown with the By the way, the pattern that is behind the mirrors there
075is referred to as digital confetti. Uh, and it was painful when I first heard it as it is saying it right now, but that's what it is. And it was the theme of all of our toilet rooms in the district. So, this is the art room at the intermediate school. Uh it is since been furnished. Uh but this has all has the open ceiling concept, new LED lighting, new uh heating, ventilation, and air conditioning, all new cabinets, ceramic flooring, and uh and received all new furniture as part of the referendum work. There is a tech tech room or technology room uh that is adjacent to that. There's an additional room off to the side of the technology room, but again, open ceilings, new flooring. This is not ceramic. It's a resilient floor, cabinetry, sinks, and
076all new furniture that was uh purchased as part of the referendum. Again, HVAC at the intermediate school. Uh we may not need to move our board meetings out of the auditorium for summer of 2026 because the bottom uh left red is the auditorium that received air conditioning this summer as well as the gymnasium and then that's referred to as the back 300 wing. Uh the locker rooms also new heating ventilation and air conditioning and the art and tech room. Here's a good photo of the roof restoration that was performed. Again, this is the intermediate school, but it was performed at all of our schools. And then this is the gymnasium where the new heating, ventilation, and air conditioning. And those are the duck uh socks that are in at the ceiling providing uh the HVAC.
077And as you can see, the uh gym floor looks pretty good. Uh that's part of the district annual maintenance and therefore it was refinished this summer as well. Not part of the referendum but again part of our uh annual school budget. Our capital project was uh repaving the parking lot and the drives uh throughout the intermediate schools. So all the ashvalt was uh milled and replaced. Again this was through a shared service with Mammoth County uh public works. last school, Wall High School. So, uh there's significant amount of work being done at the Wall High School. We've uh renovated the art classrooms and hallway, renovated the technology rooms, the auditorium, which is still in progress. There's toilet rooms, eight toilet rooms were renovated at Wall High School. Uh significant amount of heating, ventilation, and air
078conditioning. uh new boilers and those boilers were over 60 years old. They were uh the original boilers for the high school that uh were just are still in the process of being replaced. Uh all the shingle roofing at the high school was uh replaced. That was a first summer uh project in 2024 and roof restoration done on any of the roofing that was done actually as part of the last referendum. uh all roofing that was EPDM that was installed in 2000 is what was part of the roof restoration work. Then we also have the athletic field upgrades um that were awarded this summer and the work is uh just getting ready to get started. Uh but looking at some of the rooms again digital confetti uh again eight toilet rooms were were renovated. Uh the
079other three rooms are solid white with just the uh the border up top. But again, all new partitions, fixtures, and uh yeah, these toilet rooms and all these and all these hallways, they're color coordinated with the corridors. Uh we have green corridors and yellow corridors, so there is some coordination with the outside uh area. And there's a a photo the bottom right that has like a coran finish that's in the hallway outside those doors. the art and technology c corridor. Um, you know, if you get the opportunity when you're in the school, if they have an open house, you really need to go see the uh art and technology corridor. These photos don't really do it justice. And just make you aware there's still ongoing work with regard to this project. Um, you know, and
080school hadn't even started yet. The staff were just trying to load. And you know what? I give a shout out to the uh custodians of maintenance for getting the schools open, but I really also have to thank the staff that were assigned to these rooms that were being renovated being asked to come in um you know at the end of the summer over Labor Day uh I'm sorry, Memorial Day uh uh weekend in order to perform the work. I I know the air conditioning was was not working at the time. Um, so they were in there for hours upon hours over the weekend prior to the start of school. Uh, and uh, we truly uh, appreciated their their efforts in in getting their their classrooms ready. There's additional photos of again the hallway and but
081they were still putting the glass up in some of these showcases and the staff were already displaying some of the work of the students uh while the contractors were still working in the summer. It was actually great. Again, this is a viewpoint from the other end. Uh it's a little odd what's to the right, but uh that's for the students that um come into school be either before school or after school because of athletics, because of practices, and they're able to put their drawing portfolio, something that's too large for the locker, in these uh they're actually diagonal slots so that the uh the teachers can pick them up or or uh put them into the slots so that students can pick them up uh after hours. So that was during the development that was a
082suggestion or request uh by the art staff uh by the teaching staff to replace what used to stick out in the hallway. Uh and and again it it works great within the classrooms. This is the art classroom. This is um A3. This individual happened to be Friday, Saturday or Saturday, Sunday, Monday o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o over over the weekend uh preparing her classroom and these are all four photos of the same classroom. We have A4. This is the ceramics again. This is a ceramics art classroom. Has ceramic floor, open uh open ceiling concept, new LED lighting. There's clouds that are hanging from the ceilings, all new cabinetry, uh and all new furniture that was installed. These pictures were
083just recently taken. So, you know, they weren't done for presentation purposes. They were, you know, this is this is the classroom uh in action. Also, we have uh A6 uh an additional art classroom is on the top and then the technology room A7 uh is on the bottom. Uh all new furniture for the top classroom. The technology room chose to uh uh keep the existing furniture they had and re repurposed it into their classroom space. The auditorium still in progress, but it's getting closer. uh I will say the uh current projection uh is it should be available for district use and when I say that it's to occupy but also to start learning the systems within the space uh you know at the start of November. So this these four photos were recently taken. They
084show the uh the new lighting, the ceiling clouds. Those are sound soundproofing wood on on each side and the uh and a new stage. Pretty much everything in in this space is new. New new sound booth, new HVAC, and the seats are scheduled to be coming in within the next uh within the next week. So, we'll have a follow-up meeting to show uh to show that off when it is finally completed. HVAC at the high school, it's been going on since uh you know, and both central school as well. These contractors started in January. They were working second shift. They were working in the crawl space trying to do as much preparation work during the school year last year so that they can just hit the ground running in the summer. Uh we had some
085delays due to uh lead times for electrical equipment that it was necessary to power. Um so some of the work was not able to be uh completed over this past summer and the work will continue to be performed uh throughout the school year. We're working with the high school administration to coordinate uh those efforts. You may have seen crane um in the student parking lot the last two Saturdays uh removing and replacing HVAC equipment on the roof. Uh but this shows the extent of the work that is being done uh at the school including the cafeteria again the art music room the auditorium the uh band room A1 the chorus room A2 that work uh is currently being performed. It's being done second shift. There was some prepar uh preparatory work that was done over
086the summer. Uh the office area, all of the science labs, the media center, uh that's all work that's still yet to be done. And those are all classrooms. U familiar with the school A-wing, B-wing, and D-wing. C-wing wasn't uh didn't need to be done because it had a HVAC renovation work uh done, you know, within in the last 10 years. Uh, a lot of the equipment being replaced, it's interestingly enough, is equipment that was installed with the last referendum that was approved in 1998 with the equipment being installed in 2000. Uh, at least for the UN events and condensers that it's 25 years old. Again, the boilers are original to the building. They're over 60 years old. Uh, and they have uh were replaced this past summer. And the bottom picture is the original boilers.
087Uh just also let you know all that white around there is asbestous. So uh we had asbestous abatement that was performed at the beginning of the summer. Uh after the school lets out uh this area was secured and the three boilers in the top left are the new boilers that are replacing the three largeiz boilers. And the those three new boilers take about take about as much space as one of the uh original three boilers. So, and that work is just finishing up to be online right in time for the heating season. Again, not part of the referendum. This was a capital project over two years. The top was uh student parking lot, the main student parking lot that was repaved again shared service with the county. And then this is the student auxiliary lot
088uh that is next in front of operations next to the board office that was uh paved this past summer not through shared service but uh through a co-op athletic field upgrades. Uh also at the high school this work was awarded this past summer in in August. Uh some of it, majority of it, the bulk of the site work, all the uh general construction work was publicly uh put out to bid and award at the board meeting. The turf, the track surfacing uh was awarded as cooperative purchasing as well as the site lightings. But this is the uh and just in the design of this, the entire site was master planned. uh you know we in in meeting with various uh committees over time uh the consensus has always been to bring the varsity level sports
089back to the main campus. Uh we have baseball that's on 18th Avenue. We use the uh municipal complex uh which is great but the the coaches, the the students, the players have all expressed their interest to play their uh at least the varsity level back on the high school campus. The site has been master planned to allow that. It's not part of this referendum, but there was a lot of work that needed to be put in place in order to allow that work to be done in the future without interfering or interrupting any of the work that we're doing as part of this referendum. So, the entire site was uh for the most part master plan. the drainage was considered and that drainage that's necessary for not only this but for future projects um is
090incorporated into this project and is going to improve uh the the overall drainage on the site which has historically been been an issue uh with the athletic stadium and the fields. Uh but this is the the work phase one uh and this is fa it's referred to as phase one phase two they're both going to be performed this winter. Uh the upper field is the existing varsity field. Uh and the track is in approximately the same location as the new track that is uh shown here but is currently being used as the practice football field. Uh this is the uh full scope of the work. What's not shown are sidewalks and lighting that lead to the stadiums from uh the faculty parking lot as well as the student parking lot. Um, but we do have
091sidewalk that we'll be extending so that there's access to to these two venues. To to drill down, you know what? So, thing to point out with the uh the lower field, which is referred to as the uh the track stadium field, uh, is it's going to be a brand new track. It's offc center. There'll be new home and visitor bleachers. There'll be new sports lighting. The what's unique with this track is there'll be two straightaways um that will allow for bigger meets. This is an eight lane track which again allows for larger meets, state meets and uh it also be uh great for field day. Uh with the elementary schools are able to run sprints on both sides of the track uh have having the two straightaways. So, additionally, the upper field is the uh
092existing varsity field that'll be the athletic complex. It'll be a multi-purpose field. We The existing home bleachers will remain. The visitor bleachers are being removed to allow for a wider field to accommodate uh boys and girls soccer. Uh which will primarily be played on we would anticipate on this field. Uh it'll also be lined for boys and and girls lacrosse. This will be their primary field uh and can also be utilized for field hockey. The uh the lower field is going to be lined for both football and field hockey, both fall sports, and it'll be lined. This stage is still in discussion, universal lacrosse, and and soccer as well. The uh and I didn't want to go to this slide yet because this doesn't show the the two straits. Uh but this is renderings we're
093working on with Shaw, the manufacturer of the athletic turf that is being used that'll show a concept being considered for the uh coloring of the end zones, the W in the middle. Again, eight lane running track with two straits. Uh athletic turf field, football field, hockey, soccer, and lacrosse. Uh there's new home and away bleachers, a new press box, and there'll be new Musco sports lighting. For the second field, again, the multi-purpose. This is the existing wall stadium. U it's going to be athletic turf. It's going to be lined for soccer, lacrosse, and field hockey. Uh and and again, that's still uh up for discussion with the athletic department and the high school administration. We uh the existing home bleachers will remain with the press box. Visitor bleachers are being removed. You know, I'm repeating
094myself, but I think it's important because this is going to be a pretty showcase venue for these sports, uh, which is common that spectators are on one side and both teams are on the, uh, on the opposite side. This work is per the per the contract is scheduled to start December 2nd. We've met with the athletic department, the high school administration. We're actually going to be starting in uh, November with regard to some drainage. uh to be the middle of November, start uh performing some of the drainage work. We are then uh at the end of uh later in November, we're going to be starting work on the uh the track field, start doing some site work because the goal is to have this uh this work completed for graduation in 2026. And barring any
095weather issues between now and then, uh that should be a goal that we're able to uh reach. Again, this will be on the website uh tomorrow so that you can take the opportunity to scroll through the SL uh scroll through the slides and uh and view the work that's been completed. Thank you, Dr. Handerhan. [Applause] Many thanks to um as we're your reassembling of the day. Many thanks to um Mr. Smith for his presentation and for all of his work for um from his departments, his team. It has been um a very aggressive uh past couple of years certainly in the summer and um I'm certainly grateful for all their hard work. I'd also like to uh recognize the work of uh the finance and facilities committee. He's not kidding Mr. Smith when he we
096talk about these late night meetings. I think he went a little on the short side saying that they were two or three hours because I recall some went quite later than that and I didn't even buy anybody a pizza which is pretty lousy for me. Shame, shame, shame. So, I'm not proud of that. So, I apologize to the FNF committee. Um, I'd also like to thank the board of education for their um continued support of the entire board continued support and interest um and involvement. Um, those that aren't on the FNF committee, uh, the committees shuffle um, every year they're reappointed. Um, but FNF is, uh, continues to be a very popular one. Um but um and there's an investment there's an investment um where um you know you you see a project starting um
097from paper and there's something very valuable in seeing it realized in its physical state. So um there's a tremendous amount of hard work and board members that are not on FNF um you know they make a lot of phone calls they um ask a lot of questions and um you know they're you know they're incredibly involved in the process as well. Um just Yep. And I'm going to send this back to you, Mr. Maliff. >> Okay. Thank you, Dr. Henryan. I'll give my president's report. Now, I also want to uh thank first of all uh Mrs. McCann for her presentation that she put together the uh presentation that was required for the student performances. uh again you can you can see how how much work goes into that and it's tough to to really grasp
098that in a meeting like this. So I do encourage you to to go to the website and look at that. Uh and then secondly, thank you Mr. Smith. I think I I hope that everyone uh who is seeing this either here or at home uh got an idea just from the from the the scope of the of the presentation uh how much work has really been done over the past uh the past three years since the uh uh the referendum vote of which we are very grateful to the uh the to the community uh for giving the the district the opportunity uh to do this. So much of the work is not necessarily visible. We talk all of the HV uh AC work, all of the the the toilet rooms, all the things that uh
099are the boilers that you don't necessarily see but that are so important and so very complicated. Uh we have taken the committee uh has gone through every building some buildings multiple times uh with Mr. Smith, with Dr. handhand with uh uh Justin our uh accountant with Scott Mr. Cassandra the facilities manager uh and the the work that has been done and and you know Mr. Smith is not exaggerating uh when he talked about the the efforts of not only the uh uh the maintenance and custodial staff but also of the our uh professional staff to get these buildings ready uh for the school year. And uh I also I you know really want to thank uh the uh finance and facilities commission you know our our chairman Mr. Buffa we also had a great uh
100chairman uh prior to him Adam Nasser who did a lot of work on it as well. Uh so he he should be commended for for the work he did. All right um Mrs. Diovani Mr. Brit are also on the committee and uh I want to thank them for the for the work that uh that they have done. Uh I think we're really you're really going to see a great uh final project when it's all done and it's coming it's all coming down now. Uh at this time I'd like to introduce the uh or mention the uh Wall High School students of the month and the nights of the week. Uh students of the month for grade nine we have Norah Farrell. For grade 10 we have Michael Bolard. Page 11, Paige grade 11, Paige Carol.
101And grade 12, Elizabeth Burns. Knights of the Week. For grade 11, Michael Dlesio. For grade 12, Patrick Freud, grade 10, Ella Dowed, and also grade 10, uh, Declan Denton. Uh, I know you also noticed on the uh, agenda tonight that uh, the board has uh, accepted with great appreciation uh, the following uh, donations. We had some backpack and school supplies uh, for the West Belar School that came from the Wells Construction Company and the Wells family. We thank them. We have four art murals to the Wall Intermediate School uh from Jason Alders, owner of the Alders Studio. And we had 400 pumpkins that were uh donated to the Allenwood School from an anonymous donor. And whoever he is or she is, we thank them very much. All right. Uh I I said previously I wanted
102to thank the NNDCC while they were here for always coming and doing the uh the color guard also. And just uh one comment I'd like to make the the uh the two gentlemen from the from the uh NNDCC who who who spoke at the end uh you know moved me a lot with what they what they had to say and I'm pretty sure I would be very certain to say that the views that they had are very uh very similar to the to the large majority of our students. you know, we have great students and I think that uh you know, what the way that thing came down kind of affected them a little bit and hurt them a little bit and I greatly appreciate uh what they had to say tonight. And at this
103time, I'm going to turn it back to Dr. Henry. >> Thank you very much, Mr. Maliff. Um I would like to extend um as usual a a great big heartfelt thank you to the Wall High School color guard and also uh thank you to Colonel Jax for coming out this evening. and it's my pleasure. I'm thrilled to welcome Hazel Garrote to um her position at the DEAS to join uh Sophia Sof. So um you know it's gonna we're poised to have a great year. I would also like to thank once again um Miss McCann and Mr. Smite for their presentations this evening. Like Mr. Maliff. Um, you know, I I just I would feel remiss if I did not mention um our students and their perception regarding um the media coverage for um a a
104dance that was uh cancelled for uh poor ticket sales. Um that please know that in no way the school district connected um cell phone use with um poor ticket sales. Um I believe that was something that was woven together by the media. Um it I don't know where else frankly it could have come from. Um it's unfortunate and it is um you know I encourage the students and students feeling that way to reach out uh to their you know talk about it with the high school administration. I do know Mr. Davis um has been talking with um you know his fellow administrators and colleagues to um really work on ideas that uh students are willing to embrace. Um I will reiterate what the students said. We have extremely robust dances. We have uh traditions uh
105you know our proms um you know our uh dames dance they're tremendous and the participation is out of sight and I've had the pleasure of chaperoning a couple of them and aside from taking a few photos I really don't see many cell phones in use. So our kids at Wall High School are tremendous um are tremendous students. they are engaged in an in many ways extracurricularly in the community and um you know to think that our students really are um you know you know live u you know through their cell phones I think is uh you know disingenuous and it's certainly false um because I see examples of that day in and day out and again students I encourage you to reach out to the high school um you know because if you I encou
106I encourage encourage students to have an an active voice and um you know just like Mr. from Malive said uh you know when the students speak from their heart they they're able to u move a great deal um you know whether it be a position or whether it be someone's perspective so I encourage them to um not stop the conversation I encourage them to take on the conversation and um I look forward certainly to the weeks ahead um to see what comes in no way shape or form does the school district think that our students um you know uh you know are choosing uh social their cell phones over an opportunity to um you know have meaningful engagement with their uh with their peers at the high school because there's too much evidence uh to
107our other student activities. Too much evidence to the contrary. Changing gears a little bit, October 2nd was National Custodian Appreciation Day. Unfortunately, school is not in session on October 2nd. I do hope you have the opportunity to show some appreciation for our very hardworking custodians. On behalf of the board of education, I wish to thank all of our custodians and operations team for everything they do for us. At times, it can be a 247 job. Facilities management never ever takes a vacation. So much of their hard work goes on behind the scenes. I just want them to know that their efforts do not go unnoticed and I want to give them a huge thank you. On this evening's agenda, you will notice a resolution to officially name the music hallway at Wall High School Hollander
108Hall after the very recently retired Mr. Les Hollander. This dedication is in honor of his 55 plus years as a music educator at Wall High School where he inspired so many students to pursue music professionally or for personal growth. Thank you, Mr. Hollander, and we all wish you a wonderful, wonderful retirement. The district received a notification from the New Jersey Department of Education's Office of Controversies and Disputes that apparent complaint regarding implementation of the Health and Physical Education curriculum was withdrawn. Please know that the district was in communication with DOE officials prior to the development of the revised elementary schedule. We reached out to the DOE to ensure our proper use of teaching credentials. We received a second communication from the New Jersey Department of Education Office of uh controvers controversies and disputes that another
109individual filed a similar complaint. Know that the district will be responding to this complaint as well, but a new complaint will start the process over from the beginning. This week I received an inquiry from the public regarding the use of substitute administrators and their role in staff observations. This is a fairly commonplace practice in New Jersey school districts. This is not the first time during my time in Wall where we have employed substitute administrators to complete some faculty observations. Some reasons for doing so include completing the number of observations when an administrator is on leave. Another reason is to provide support so principles can dedicate school day hours differently. As most of you are aware, our elementary schools have one principal. We do not have elementary assistant principles. Despite some assistance from central office, our
110elementary school principles have been required to do a great deal of NJ DOE required observations in addition to a multitude of daily responsibilities and the inevitable unplanned event or emergency. Over the summer, after I reviewed the volume of their observations, I wanted to lessen the number of total observations. This year, I wanted the principles to be able to visit classrooms as much as possible informally to support faculty as they implement a brand new elementary mathematics program and fully implement science of reading methods across the K5 continuum. So in essence, my objective is to support elementary principles in actualizing educational leadership by increasing visibility in the classrooms and engaging with students and staff with a focus a directed focus on curriculum and instruction. It was suggested that the administrative substitutes were hired so elementary principles can
111do cafeteria and recess duties. This is false. As many of you are aware, I was a building principal for 13 years. During those 13 years, I spent countless hours in my school's cafeteria. I am also proud to say that our WTPS principles and our assistant principles at the secondary level have also spent countless hours in the cafeteria. I wish to stress that our elementary principles prior to this year have routi routinely been in the cafeteria during lunches and have been present during recess unless a time-sensitive or urgent matter needed tending to. This is not a new occurrence. Principles spending time in cath in the cafeteria and at recess is fundamental to the job. It's principal 101. Great principles and educators use this time in the cafeteria and in the schoolyard to get to know their
112students in a less formal environment. Lunch and recess are excellent opportunities to observe peer relations. Principles can also use this time to speak with staff members. There are many reasons to do it and there are many, many benefits. On this evening's agenda, you will notice my retirement effective July 1st, 2026. This school year will mark my sixth and final year as superintendent of Wall Township Public Schools. I am so grateful for the opportunity to work with such amazing educators and support staff. I am also so grateful to have served the students and for my time spent with Wall families and community leaders. I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the commitment and hard work of this board of education and the previous boards I've had the pleasure of working with during my time
113in Wall Township. Being a board member is not an easy job. They sacrifice many hours each month so they can do their part to make Wall Township Public Schools District the best it can be. At times, it can be very difficult. You see, board of education members are privy to a great deal of information, often confidential information. Information that the general public does not and cannot have access to. Board members need this information so that they can make informed decisions. Yet, they are often bound by confidentiality. Unfortunately, some members of the public equate ethics and confidentiality with lack of transparency. Community members not on the board of education have the luxury of unbridled free speech. They can say, assert, and contend basically anything whether it is true or not. That luxury is not extended to
114board of education members. They are bound by the school ethics act and confidentiality. If they violate these tenants, they leave the board of education subject to legal reprimand and vulnerable to litigation. I ask that you please consider this fact before judging the transparency of this or any board of education. As I have previously stated, boards of education do not manage day-to-day operations of a school district. That is the superintendent's job. But it is the board's responsibility to hire and evaluate their superintendent, also known as the chief schools administrator. One of the reasons I submitted my retirement letter so early is to provide the board of education with ample time to search for a new superintendent. On this evening's agenda, you will also find a resolution for a superintendent search firm, Strategic Exemplary Alliance LLC. The
115firm will be instrumental in assisting the board with the search. Community input is critical in building the profile of a suitable candidate. In the coming weeks, the community will be invited to complete a survey and participate in community forums. Details are to follow. This is an exciting time for Wall Township. I look forward to observing WTPS's next trajectory. Each year, New Jersey school districts must report to the student safety data system or SSDs. The system collects incidents of violence, vandalism, vandalism, weapons, substance use, restraint, andor seclusion, and harassment, intimidation, and bullying. It also includes HIP training or HIV training information and programs conducted to support anti-bullying efforts. The complete reporting for the 2024 2025 school year with breakdowns is included in tonight's agenda as attachment G under the superintendence report. The number of total confirmed
116incidents for the 2024 2025 school year is at the high school 4, intermediate school 13, Allenwood 0, Central School 3, Old Middle School 3, West Belmar 0, and primary school zero. Additionally, a requirement under the anti-bullying bill of rights act is for each school to conduct a school selfassessment for determining grades. Each school's school safety or school climate team is required to complete the self assessment and enter the school's ratings into New Jersey Department of Education's online system. I would like to add that this self assessment does not speak to the number of bullying incidences incidents but rather the compliance and establish administrative protocols related to harassment, intimidation and bullying. Each school's self- assessment for the 2024 2025 school year is provided as attachment H under the superintendence report with 78 as the highest possible
117rating. Wall High School 77, Wall Intermediate School 77, Allenwood 77, Central School 77, Old Mill School 78, West Belmar 77, and Primary School 77. Enrollment figures for September 2025 are as follows. PreK 71, kindergarten 247, first grade 227, 226, 3r grade 241, fourth grade 251, fifth grade 242, sixth grade 284, 7th grade 232, 8th grade 252, 9th grade 215, 10th grade 212, 11th grade 218, and 12th grade 250, giving us a grand total of 3,168 students enrolled. At this time, I would like to uh thank you for your attention this evening and um pass this back to our board president, Mr. Maliff. Mr. Maliff, >> thank you, Dr. Handhan. Uh, I just want to say, you know, that when this word went out to, you know, to the to the staff and is going to
118be going out to the community about your retirement, uh, there's going to be big shoes to fill. We were very fortunate, uh, to have you as our superintendent. We'll be, I'm sure, be having more comments about this later as we get closer to uh, to your retirement, but I know that you're going to continue to uh, to lead the district as the way you have up until the the time of your retirement. We've been very fortunate uh to have you as our superintendent and we certainly hope that uh uh we come up with someone just as good. And I know uh at this time I'd like to ask maybe Mr. Buffa. Mr. Buffer, our vice president is maybe going to speak a word or two about the the process of uh selecting a new superintendent.
119>> So So as she always does, um Dr. H was a couple steps ahead of me here. Um, my big contribution for the evening was to tell you that there would be a superintendent search survey coming out in the coming weeks, which she just told you a few moments ago. So, um, keep an eye on the website. Uh, there will also be direct communication sent to school community members to let everybody know, um, to please engage with the survey, give us the information, um, and just fill it out to the best of your ability. Um, and Dr. Handerhan to piggyback on Mr. Maliff. Um, I I've seen the changes in your short time here. Um, and I feel like as a father of five children that have uh have either graduated or still here, um,
120I mean, the impact that you've made in your short time has been tremendous, and I thank you, and I'm sure we'll talk a lot about more uh that in the future. So, that's it. Okay, before I ask any other board members, I just want to make a mention. We talked Dr. Hanahan talked about the the Hollanders retirement and uh next month at this meeting, we will be honoring retirements uh that came to light after we had the opportunity to recognize the retirees from last June. So uh we will be recognizing all recent retirees or retirees since last June at the next board meeting. Uh any other board member wish to comment? Okay. Uh and committee report committee reports are uh uh on the agenda and they list you can find them the results on the
121website. And at this time, we're going to open up the floor for our second public comment. This public comment is dedicated to items that are on tonight's agenda. So, if anybody would like to make comments on agenda items tonight, please come to the microphone. >> Don Herbert, I see on the agenda that you are hiring an acting assistant superintendent as effective tomorrow. What position is filling? you want to address it? >> That position is um a perdm for the assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction. >> Thank you. Any other public comments on agenda item actions? Okay. Hi, Leah Bby Wall Township. Um, I just want to thank uh Mr. Buffa and Mr. Smith for all their hard work with obviously a lot of renovations that have been going on for a few years. I do
122want to bring to your attention that um there are still leaks in the roof happening at Central Elementary, especially in the gym. Um, there are also leaks in other classrooms as well. So, I know we did mention or you guys did mention that uh the roof renovations were done uh throughout the buildings, but um I really uh urge you to look into the issues at Central with the leaking of the roof, especially in the gym as it is a multi-use facility space and a lot of kids are there. uh especially with all the rain that we just had a few days ago. Um and we have lot of rain here. Uh so it is a concern. Uh so I just ask that you uh just check in on that and um get that wrapped up
123and we can be on our way on that. The rest bathrooms look great. Thanks. >> Thank you. Any other comments? Okay, seeing none, I'm going to close public comment. All right. Anything else from any other board members? Okay. Uh at this time, I'm going to ask for a Oh, Mr. Smite, I should >> Sorry. And just to to clarify, although uh the the roofing work has been done, a lot of the leaks we are currently experiencing due to uh one nor easter that just passed this weekend uh is not necessarily related to the roof, but it's related to the ongoing mechanical equ uh mechanical work that is being done on the roof. So, it's not necessarily the roof, but it's it's uh related to the mechanical equipment on the roof, but uh it's still noted
124uh and we will follow up with it. >> Okay. Thank you. At this time, I'm going to ask for a motion to approve tonight's consent agenda. M Giovani. A second. I'll second it. Uh >> Mr. Adeneio, roll call. Mr. Smith. Oh, it was Mr. Smith. I'm sorry. Mr. Smith second. >> Miss Adams. >> Yes. >> Tesio. >> Yes. But I'm going to abstain from 15B 16A number two and 16F. >> Noted. Um, Miss Barbier. >> Yes. >> Mr. Burton. Yes, >> Mr. Buffa. >> Yes, >> Mr. Diovani. >> Yes, >> Mr. Smith. >> Yes, >> Mr. Wandra. >> Yes, >> Mr. M. >> Yes, I will abstain from 15B. >> Noted. Thank you. >> And at this time, can I have a motion for adjournment? Mr. Adenezio. Miss Adams. All in favor? Any opposed? We
125are adjourned.