001Good evening and welcome to the Wall Township public board uh business meeting of the Wall Township Board of Education for Tuesday, July 15th. Uh let's have the uh uh stand for the uh flag salute, please. 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, uh, Sunshine announcement and roll call, please. >> Yes. Good evening. This is the wall township board of education meeting for which adequate notice under the open public meeting act was provided by a notice to the co-star Asbury Park Press township clerk's office all Wall Township public schools and the board administration office on January 9th 2025. Take a roll call. Miss Adams >> here. >> Mr. Adneio,
002Miss Barbier >> here. >> Mr. Berton >> here. >> Mr. Buffa >> here. >> Mr. Dioani >> here. >> Mr. Smith >> here. >> Mr. Wandra >> here. >> Mr. out >> here. At this time, I'd like to ask for a motion to go into executive session for those items indicated on the agenda. >> Mavani, uh, Mr. Berton, all in favor? >> I, uh, we are at this time we're going to go into executive session. For those items, we anticipate being back at 7:30. Okay. >> Okay. >> Thank you. Welcome to the uh regular board of education meeting for July 15th, 2025. Please stand for the flag salute. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the stands nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> Mr. Smith,
003roll call, please. A roll call. Miss Adams >> here. >> Mr. Anio, >> here. >> Miss Barier >> here. >> Mr. Burton >> here. >> Mr. Buffa >> here. >> Miss Diovani >> here. >> Mr. Smith >> here. >> Mr. Wandra >> here. >> Mr. Mal >> here. At this time, I'd like to turn it over to Dr. Handerhan for the student showcase. >> Thank you very very much, Mr. Maliff. Um, it's my pleasure to introduce our assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction. She is going to um begin by sharing some really special news that we received recently about one of our students. and um we're incredibly proud. So, Miss McCann, >> sure. >> Good evening. America's 250th anniversary will be celebrated in 2026, and the Mammoth County Board of Commissioners has organized a series
004of events and activities for schools and communities to take part in this historic milestone. One such event was a countywide poetry contest held this past spring called What America Means to Me. We are proud to share that students in um Wall in grades three through eight participated in this contest and we are especially excited to announce that one of our fifth grade students earned first place for the fifth grade category. Congratulations to all who participated and a special shout out to our winning poet Isla Fom for this outstanding achievement. At this time, I'm going to speak a little bit about Isla and then ask her to come up and read her poem for us. So, Isa is a talented and well-rounded fifth grader from Allenwood Elementary School who has already made a mark through her
005achievements and rich cultural heritage. As we mentioned, she won the fifth grade um category for the Mammoth County Poetry Contest. Her family story is a powerful part of her identity. Her father fled Vietnam at just three years old alongside his mother. And that spirit of courage and resilience lives lives on in Isla. Isa loves dancing, bringing energy and emotion to every performance. She's reached a significant milestone by playing piano at none other than the Carnegie Hall in New York City, an extraordinary feat for anyone, especially a fifth grader. And beyond the arts, Isla is active and enthusiastic in sports, and she particularly enjoys playing tennis, demonstrating a competitive spirit. At this time, I'd like to welcome Isa Fam. [Applause] What America means to me. The people in our country are allowed to speak their mind.
006But in some countries, that law is behind. My dad was a person who fled with his mom from a country whose freedom is measured in just one palm. When my dad came to America, he heard freedom ring. In his land, one is jailed for saying the wrong thing. They went on a boat across the sea, running away from the enemy. Both of these countries are different in many ways, from freedom to food to nights and days. And to this day, I am very glad that my dad came to America as a young lad. Thank you, America, for the freedom and rights we have here. In my heart, I will always hold you dear. [Applause] Um, Dr. Handerhan and Mr. Malik, our board of ed president, is going to present you with a certificate. Isa, I
007just want to tell you that we are so incredibly proud of you and your poem really was incredibly moving and um I'm clearly um I'm very biased because you know I always think our students are the best but you really put you put so much heart and soul into that poem that I just wanted to thank you and I'm so grateful that you came out this evening. So, um, our board of education, this is our board president, Mr. Maliff, and we have a small token just to represent how proud we are of you. So, here we go. [Applause] Thank you. [Applause] There is no uh >> Mr. President. >> Yes, Mr. >> Her poem was incredible. I mean, that encompasses I mean there's so much divide in this country, but I mean her poem speaks
008to the heart of what America is. I mean, and and I mean, everybody here has relatives that have come some from someplace else, but you know, her being a first generation, I mean, it really means something. Um, as as a district, would it be appropriate for us maybe to forward this to our congressman Chris Smith and maybe he could pass it along to uh the higherups in the federal government to be part of the celebration next year? >> Well, uh, we'll have to, um, speak with Isa's family and that's something we can absolutely look into because, uh, I do know that the the county the county themselves are going to be, um, celebrating it as well, too. But that's something that we can absolutely speak with Isa's family about and we can um I I
009want everybody to read it. So >> Oh, absolutely. Thank you. >> So I think we're on the same page. Mr. Adeneio, >> thank you, Mr. Adenezio. Excellent suggestion. >> Okay. All right. At this time, we as there is no uh student representative uh report tonight. So we're now going to go to our first public uh comment session. And uh I'd just like to make the following uh announcement. The board requests that those individuals speaking will be courteous and mindful of the rights of other individuals when making comments. Specifically, comments regarding the individual students and school personnel are discouraged and will not be responded to by the board. Students and employees have specific legal rights afforded by the laws of New Jersey. The Wall Township Board of Education bears no responsibility, nor will it be liable
010for any comments made by members of the public. Speakers should consider their comments in the light of the legal rights of those affected or identified in their comments and recognize that they are legally responsible and liable for their comments. And I ask you to please observe our policy of uh three minutes per speaker. Uh public comment is open. The microphone is right here. Please, anyone for public comment. >> Betsy Cross, I live in Wall Township. Congratulations. That was wonderful. And what a great story. Uh, thank you for coming to America. All right, wanted to go over a couple things. Um, I noticed on the agenda tonight, we have something uh that is a recision for employee 11732 effective tomorrow. Um, I did do a search on the agenda tab and nothing comes up for employee
0111132. So, I you know, I hope this isn't some type of backdoor deal that you were doing. um and you don't have it on an agenda and now you're rescending it. Um but if you could uh advise how that happened, how are we resending something that you don't have on any agenda um on your own website? So I'd like an update for that. Another thing is on your agenda under the business office item number 17 under the consent agenda, Mr. Smi does not have anything attached for transfer funds. So we don't know what he's transferring. board secretary certification June 2025 where he has to certify he has all the funds he needs and the treasurer's report and board secretar's report as of June 2025. Now to me this is kind of a big deal like
012I don't know how you could put have this on the consent agenda just take off A and C because you don't even have it here. So when you're voting tonight I think you have to kind of figure out please don't be voting on something that you don't even have. Um, so I wanted to mention that and I I might have sent that to the controllers's office tonight. I can't remember. Um, I do notice your May what you had online for May 31st health benefits. You had $243,000 left for health benefits, but you did post you have health benefits totaling 1,450690. So, you're in the negative well over a million dollars. So, maybe that's why it's not not attached tonight so that people can't see it. But something something is not adding up. Um, what else?
013Looks like we got nine resignations, four retirees. Um, and what else? Looks like we got two new lawsuits for the football. Uh, so I think we're up to four or five lawsuits. Um, so this is something that was just never handled properly to begin with, just a cover up from the start, and it's costing it's costing millions and millions of dollars. Um, so the board members involved are Kathleen D. Giovanni, Ralph Adenezio, Cody Smith, Samantha Adams, James Maliff, Thomas Buffa, Ken Wanderak, Maron Barbari, James Bredton. So those are our current board members. So I look forward to your response on uh why employee one 732 was never on an agenda. Brian, >> thank you, Mrs. Cross. >> Do we have anyone else for public comment? Hi, good evening. Good evening. My name is Leah Bby.
014I live in Wall Township. >> My kids go to Central and um I spoke at the last board meeting and I just wanted to speak again um nothing has come of the last 30 days since the board meeting prior to this. Um with regards to the issue at hand um for the elementary uh schedule changes specifically regarding the uh meeting the state mandate of 150 minutes for fizzed health and wellness. Um there are uh cases uh open uh for those who are watching at home. There are open cases against the board and the district regarding um you guys not following the law with regards to having that time instructed by a licensed physical health and wellness instructor. Um I have spoken to the New Jersey Aphford Association which is the uh state chapter for the
015association for health wellness physical education. Um and they are aware of our situation. They are also in communications with other districts a few other in the state who are dealing with the same thing and they are going to help us. They are going to help us with whatever they can do to make right right. This is wrong. I'm not saying they kids need to be 150 minutes of running around every day. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying if you want to bring in a health and wellness program that's 75 minutes, 15 minutes a day that needs to be instructed by a licensed physical education teacher. someone who has a bachelor's degree in and a teaching certificate, an active teaching certificate. That means that they take continuing education classes to maintain their lensure and they
016are trained and um they are this is what they do. Okay? Your your elementary school home room teacher who teaches English and math, that's what they do. They don't do this. Okay? Um I also wanted to um sorry I'm nervous. Um we are also in discovery right now with those cases and so we will be reaching out to the board um for um licenses for the people who are going to be teaching this 15inute morning session who which you are going to be counting towards the 150 minute mandate. Um, I'm also planning on reaching out to the National Aford Association, which is now called SHAPE. Um, and I'll be enlisting their help as well. >> Thank you. >> Good. Thank you very much. Do we have anyone else for public comment? >> Mrs. Moore. Good
017evening. Uh, Gail Maher, president of the Wall Township Education Association. If Mr. Scoro was here this week. I might not have the questions I have this evening. So, excuse me for that. Um, there is a position on tonight's agenda. Um, and we love the teacher. Um, we just are not clear about the position. It says teacher on the agenda, but when speaking with Mr. Scorano, that teacher is going to be a special education interventionist traveling amongst four schools. Um, we requested information from him at the end of the week about that position not being posted and he said that it did not have to be posted because of the certification needed being the same. Uh what we understand is any new position should be posted. Um we do understand it's not a new position. It's
018a position that's that spot is being used from another position that is not needed. Um but if we have a teacher traveling for to all four elementaryaries, there's a lot of questions um about who is observing um how will it work uh five days, four schools, how will that all rotate? Um and there is no specific job description for a special education interventionist. So, we would hope that you could pause that approval of that position until there is a job description. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Is there anyone else for public comment? >> Seeing no one else at this time, I'm going to close uh uh public comment and uh go to Dr. Handerhand. We have a special presentation. >> Dr. If if I may, just to clarify, I just want to clarify
019with regard to the public comment on the business office. Uh we don't remove placeholders on the agenda if they're not on there. However, on the agenda with regard to the treasur and uh secretar's report, it notes under the public comment that the June secretary and treasures report will be provided at the August board of education meeting for approval. Just want to clarify that it is. >> Thank you, Mr. Smith. You're welcome. Dr. Thank you very much. Um, this evening we have a couple presentations this and I just feel like I'm going to be calling up our assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction because we are um we are obligated to share information and u we're proud to do so. And we're going to start this evening with with the uh presentation for the NJ GPA
020with this is with respect to test scores and uh Miss McCann will be joined by for the second presentation uh regarding chronic absenteeism with Mr. Laughlin and Mr. Davis our principles from our secondary schools. So without any further ado, I welcome Miss McCann to our first of our first of two presentations this evening. >> Thank you. Um good evening. As Dr. Handerhan had mentioned um as part of our requirements whenever there is a um state assessment that is administered within the district once the district receives the results we have a certain amount of time in order to share the results to the board and to the community. So um our first presentation is on the NJ GPA which is the New Jersey graduation proficiency assessment. Um the this assessment is administered to all grade 11
021students um in March. Um the NJ GPA is designed to measure the extent to which students are graduation ready for English language arts as well as mathematics. Um the graduation readiness is reported separately for each content component. The ELA component is aligned to grade 10 standards and the mathematics component of the assessment is aligned to algebra 1 and our geometry standards that are outlined by the NJ DOEA for the past four years. Um this is our results of our data in terms of English language arts literacy. Um you can see uh we had a little bit of a dip from 2024 to 2025 with 89% of our students um showing and demonstrating that they are graduation ready as seen rising um juniors and going to be seniors. Any students who were not successful in um
022passing the English language arts literacy section of the testing will have the opportunity to retake that assessment in October after receiving some intervention and remediation classes um through the high school um in September. We are also required to share out um by subgroup. So you'll notice um at the state level graduation rate is at 80.70% and we are at that 88.6% proficiency. Um in looking at the trends over the past several years um similar to the last slide, many of the subgroup data is very similar to what you see now. Um there's variations of about a percent or two over time. um but nothing drastic within each of our subgroups. But the way in which we use the subgroup data is in order for us to hone in and decide are there certain um certain
023groups that we could be working a little bit more diligently with um in terms of our curriculum and our courses. Um and you'll see also at the end in a couple of slides as to what our next steps are. In terms of mathematics, we're pretty steady over the past four years, hanging around that 72% mark. Again, any students who were not proficient in meeting the standards in the mathematics component will have the same opportunity to retake that portion of the assessment um come October. Here is our breakdown by demographic group. Um, if there is a group that you would anticipate seeing up there, um, or you see the dash lines in either this slide or the previous slide, it's because the reporting group is less than 20 students and they're identifiable. So, they're not allowed
024to be reported out. Our intervention strategies moving forward is to continue to review the standards that were assessed on each of the assessments. Um once we the district receives the data, we receive a report called the evidence statements which are the standards that were assessed on each of the assessments both in ELA and math. We then use that data to see how we compare to the state. Um and we also use that data to look at where those standards fall within our curricula to see if we need to make adjustments in terms of our scope and sequence. We also look to see if there's something within our instructional practices that may need to be tweaked in order to meet the needs of our students. Um, we continue to provide professional development to all of our
025teachers. And we also, like I mentioned, in September, we'll start to offer our nights for success program, which is our intervention program for the students who need some a little additional academic support in order to meet those standards come October. And that is our NJTPA results. Thank you. Our next presentation is on chronic absenteeism. Um, I'm going to go over a little bit about what chronic absenteeism is. according to the New Jersey Department of Education um as well as um some steps we took this past school year which is why Mr. Laughlin and Mr. Davis will join me and then we'll talk about next steps as to what we are planning on doing for 2025 2026 school year. So what is chronic absenteeism? According to the New Jersey Department of Education, a student who is
026considered chronically absent um is considered chronically absent if the student misses 10% or more of the school days in session for which the school was enrolled. In addition to that, the student absentee rate is determined by the number of days absent divided by the number of days present plus the number of days absent. They calculate our school chronic absenteeism rate by the number of chronically absent students divided by the number of students enrolled. Every year the every district in New Jersey is required to submit our absenteeism data um through a system called currently NJSmart but is changing um to the NJDOE. If you've ever looked at our performance reports that come out in the spring, um chronic absenteeism is one of the criteria that we are rated on within those reports and that is how
027they receive our data and calculate whether a district or a school within the district is chronically absent. Every district who is or school who meets that 10% or greater mark is required to create a creative uh corrective action plan and the NJ DOE specifies what needs to be included in that plan. So we were required to um look at our problems and barriers in terms of school attendance, make recommendations to address those problems and barriers, communication strategies to educate and inform parents on the importance of school attendance. Protocols on informing and engaging parents when a child begins to show a pattern of absences, as well as review school policies to ensure that they support improved school attendance. In addition to that, any school which Mr. Davis um at the high school and Mr. Laughlin at
028the intermediate school this past year did was they we are required to solicit input from parents attending the school via a survey that include questions related to parents beliefs regarding the reasons why students are chronically absent and recommendations on the ways to improve. The school needs to engage the school's parent organization in identifying the cause of the school's high absenteeism rate and possible solutions as well as the school shall present the corrective action plan to the board of education and annually and revise the plan and present the revisions to the board until the percent of students who are chronically absent is less than 10%. in order to create those plans. When doing that, there is a team that is put together um and we take it from a very strategic approach of looking at our
029data um to inform our decision- making. We assess the different causes and barriers. Like I mentioned, we build and reflect on different strategies as well as implement those strategies and monitor their successes. And then there's always the parent and carrier giver survey. And then we have to create a plan for sustainability to ensure that if we are starting to make the success that we need in getting to less than 10% um that we can sustain whatever incentives and strategies we have put into place. So you may be asking why are we going all of all of this? because we did, as I mentioned, have two schools that were chronically absent this past school year. Um, and that is Wall Intermediate School and Wall High School. So, at this time, I'm going to invite Mr. Laughlin
030and Mr. Davis up to talk about some of the things that they put into place this past school year. So to just give context um to where we are uh the absentee rate shown there for the intermediate school and for the high school is uh actually the data that's collected from the 2324 school year. So as of the end of June of 2024 uh we had an absentee rate of 12.2%. Uh for the intermediate school and we tried to look at uh the absent chronic absenteeism in a bunch of different ways. uh looking at it as a grade level to see if any grade level in particular stands out uh for us at the intermediate school. Seventh grade I think was significantly uh higher in uh and absent absenteeism than the other two grades. Uh
031we also look at uh our students that are special education students and then some of our other subgroup populations. Um but for us the one thing that did stand out is the uh sizable um difference between uh seventh grade when compared to sixth and eighth. >> And for the high school, you can see that the rate for the high school at the end of the 24 school year was 13.8%. Uh similar to the middle school, we looked at different subgroups. Uh the most obvious one being the grade levels. Uh you can see that between 9th, 10th, and 11th, it's it's fairly close. Uh and you see an increase with the 12th graders. when we looked at the year before, there's even a higher number of 12th graders who were chronically absent. So, that was an
032area for us where we noticed seniors um who are also driving to school um and in the spring sometimes like to take days off. So, that's something that we know that we need to deal with. Uh the seniors do have a slightly higher rate than the other grade levels. Um something too that I just want to add before we move to the next slide, Miss McCann said there's 10% students have to be absent 10% of the school days. That might sound like a lot, but um it's only two days per month. So, if a student misses two days per month, that's 20 days and they are chronically absent. Um, if they miss 18 or more uh they're chronically absent from school. So, just to put that in context, um it it does not take a
033whole lot uh to reach that point. Um so, just wanted to share that as well. >> So, some of the things that we did um you'll see will mirror each other between the intermediate school and the high school. Uh one thing that we did uh do is we sent out uh a survey which Miss McCann referenced earlier and she'll um talk about it a little bit later in the slide uh presentation. Uh and in that survey it was pretty interesting um information to to see that the parents did not have a clear understanding of uh of absenteeism in the district and how it applies to their students. So, um we'll talk about that a little bit later, but for our purposes, uh some of the things that we did, uh this year is we put
034out a parent information letter. Um we did identify any highlevel uh absenteeism students. Uh we uh moving down to the fourth bullet based on the uh identification of those students. Uh we worked with counselors uh to uh try to reach out to parents and speak to the parents that we needed to talk to about um the issue that we are seeing. um whether there's a pattern that we're seeing with their child from one year to the next and try to get them to uh put some things into place to get their uh child into school more regularly. Uh additionally um uh from an administrative standpoint um myself and Mrs. Scott and Mr. Lintner um made quite a few uh more phone calls uh that uh this year than we have in the past to actually
035address the parents um if the intervention with the guidance counselor meeting or face-to-face meeting with the guidance counselor um did not produce the results and then um for the intermediate school we did um uh uh pursue truency procedures as needed. So, similar to um to the intermediate school, we also completed a survey as required. Um I guess some of those results will be shared later on. But uh similar to the immediate school, we also learned uh that parents don't necessarily have a full understanding of what it means to be chronically absent. And I think we could do a better job of educating folks in terms of what it means um how many absences it takes before a student is chronically absent. Uh parents did respond. Uh it seemed like families indicated that they they do
036value student attendance at school. Um the the top two reasons that students miss school according to those who responded to the survey the the largest was student illness over 90% of respondents said the most common reason for their student to miss was illness. The second highest was vacation about 40%. Um so something for us to to consider in terms of of trying to communicate with with parents about the importance of trying to take those voca vacations at times outside of school. Um, another thing that came out in the high school survey was people indicating that um, they weren't necessarily aware of what kind of resources or support were available at the high school if their student was struggling and coming to school. So, again, we recognize that uh, that's some an area of improvement for
037us to to share out more information with folks about the resources and supports that are available at the high school if you're struggling to get your student to school. Um, so we also sent a parent information letter. Um, we also um, we have some teachers that are assisting with us. uh a position that we call dean of attendance. Um these are teachers with an administrative certification who are working with our administrative team and counseling team uh to meet one-on-one with students who have been who either are chronically absent or have been. Um so going into this school year, we'll be uh meeting with students who were chronically absent last school year. um to set goals with them, talk about that um and try to attack that uh and give them supports that they might need
038so that this coming school year they're also they're not chronically absent again. Uh and they will monitor that. We will monitor that throughout the school year, checking in at various points um throughout the year uh to meet with those students, to have one-on-one contact with them as well as personal contact with the parent via phone call, letters home uh to remind them of the importance and let them know where their student is and if they're in danger of becoming chronically absent. Um and uh if if it gets to the point where the student is in the action plan, we have to identify tier one, tier two, tier three. The student is getting very close to becoming chronically absent, then it's a a meeting in the school with the parent uh with one of the deans
039of attendance, counselor, assistant principal, uh myself for for those chronic students. >> Thank you, gentlemen. Um so with our end of year where we landed this year knowing that we had intermediate school and high school um we started to analyze our current year data for the upcoming school year. Um and this is our data in terms of our calculations for next school year. You'll notice Allenwood would not be considered chronically absent. They're at 4.7%. Central is at 11.4% Old Mill 9.8% West Belmar 10.5% while Intermediate 11.2%. So you are starting to come down. Thank you. As well as the high school has had a um saw small uh reduction in terms of their percentage and moving to 11.3%. So some of those strategies that they have put in place in each of those buildings I
040believe are working well and I look forward to seeing some of the additions that we put into place in the upcoming school year. So what does that mean for the district? So we did a data dive last week during our admin retreat um and we started to see just similar to um what Mr. Laughlin and Mr. Davis were talking about in terms of what grade levels should we be highlighting or looking at and focusing on in the upcoming school year. At Central, we seemed to think and look at um grades four and five tended to have a higher absenteeism rate. in West Belmar. Seeing West Belmar is a smaller building, it was pretty close in terms of when you grouped the grade levels together whether it would be considered K to2 or 3, four, five,
041it was off by a percentage, but I went with the greater for the presentation of it being K to2. Um at intermediate school um I would say it would continue being probably around those uh grade seven students maybe a portion of those grade eight students and high school our incoming grade 12 students. So what does that mean moving forward? So, similar to all of those um questions and components that we're required to have in the plan um in looking at some of that attendance and knowing um the history of those attendants, our problems and barriers continue to be illness, travel, um some students who have some mental health concerns and who are out for long periods of time. Um some students at the high school who are taking care of younger siblings in some of
042their in some cases. um as well as some students who are working in the evenings and are just too tired to wake up in the morning possibly um and get to school um on time. So, what are some of the steps that we talked about in terms of strategies that we could do a little bit better? We're talking about creating a district campaign. One of the campaign slogans that was thrown out there was attendance heroes in terms of having those students who are um attending at a greater rate um being considered our attendance heroes um and being um being celebrated at each month or periodically throughout the course of the school year. Increasing our parent communication via letters, phone calls, home visits if needed. um educating our parents, as we talked about, on our district
043policy and the importance of being in school, as well as coordination for any families who may need assistance from community resource and trying to reduce the spread of illnesses um within each of our buildings or within certain grade levels. Um, in terms of assessing our current parent communication strategies, one thing that we're looking to implement this summer are students who are considered chronically absent at the end of this past school year will be identified and parents will see receive a letter letting you know that your student and child um what is considered chronically absent and what does that mean? As we mentioned, we are required to do the parent survey. So come September, any of those four schools who have been considered chronically absent, the parents will receive a survey similar or if not identical
044to the one that WHIS and the high school shared out last school year in order for us to solicit some information from the parents. Um, we're going to implement a back- toschool night video um for all of the parents to be educated um on the importance of back to um of the importance of coming to school. Um as well as what our policy states. Um and then as I mentioned different um time periods throughout the number of times that you your student may be absent. um benchmark calls or letters from district um and building administration. Ways in which we'd like to imp engage the parents and the students is as I mentioned the introduction of our campaign of attendance heroes um providing the students who are have a good attendance record with student certificates um
045and celebrating them. creating some community food partnerships for those students who do demonstrate good attendance. Maybe getting a um a free ice cream somewhere or a free dessert at or reduction in cost um with some of the partnerships um and restaurants within wall um and also creating different class and team incentives within the buildings. So the last component that is required by the NJDOE is for us to evaluate our current policy which we did last week at our admin retreat. Our administrators reviewed our attendance policy. We were looking at different verbiage um and things that are included in our policy. We compared and contrasted it to different districts across New Jersey um to look at things that they may have in their policy that we don't. Um, we're going to make some possibly some recommendations
046on adjustments to our attendance policy um throughout the course of the upcoming school year. Um, and share those recommendations with staff leadership positions across the district as well as our PTO executive boards um when appropriate for their feedback and input before anything um moves forward. And thank you. We look forward to continuing to re reduce our absenteeism rate. So, thank you. >> Thank you, gentlemen. Okay, before you go is I just wanted to again because it's time for the president's report. I just wanted to I was going to again congratul congratulate you again for your tremendous uh uh poem and the recognition that you got and it's it's great to see your wonderful family here tonight supporting you continued good luck to all of you. Thank you very much for coming. [Applause] Okay. Uh just
047a couple is my time. Couple other things in my uh president's report. Uh, a few things I just want to uh I know we'll we'll do further recognition uh later this year, but we did get news just uh recently that uh longtime uh intermediate school teacher and uh WTEA president Gail Maher will be retiring. And uh I was sad to see that news because you've been such a wonderful uh teacher and a great uh resource for your people uh and for the district. So, uh, we hope, you know, we wish for the best for you in your retirement. We will miss you and we will certainly further recognize you at another meeting. Uh, last night at the FNF meeting, I don't I'm going to steal a little bit of Mr. Buff's thunder here, but I
048don't care. But, and he mentioned, uh, a little bit about our gra our dual graduations that we had. Uh, fortunately, the weather cooperated. It was a little warm, but I mean, it's been warmer. Uh and uh as someone who has who has done graduations in the past, I recognize the amount of work uh that goes into that. Certainly to Scott Croanda, our uh facilities manager, Chrisworth, our technology uh supervisor, for all of the things that they have to do that you don't even notice. All right? You expect it to go well. Uh and it did. And I I think that was a a tremendous thing. I also want to congratulate Mr. Lachland and Mr. Davis for conducting the graduations in a very professional manner uh and and also for your staff being there uh supporting
049you and supporting the students. I also want to really congratulate our uh graduates both the intermediate school and high school students. Uh their behavior was extraordinary. Uh they were respectful. Uh they enjoyed themselves. I know the families uh appreciated that. uh and it was just a you know a wonderful evening and I was uh very very proud of of all schools after seeing that. All right. Uh and I think that's all that I have uh for tonight. So I'm going to turn it back to Dr. Henryan for the uh superintendent report. >> Thank you so much Mr. Maliff. I hope this meeting finds the residents of Wall Township enjoying their summer months. Once again, I would like to congratulate Isa Fam for earning first place in the fifth grade category of the Mammoth County Poetry
050Contest. I am certain this will not be the last time we hear about Isa's academic accomplishments and contributions to our district. Best wishes to you as you transition from Allenwood to the Intermediate School. Also, thank you to Miss McCann, Mr. Laughlin, and Mr. Davis for presenting this evening. Just a few reminders. Sup supply lists and summer assignments for the 2025 2026 school year have been posted on the respective schools website sites websites. Also, please don't forget about our weekly lunch hour virtual parent academy. Our next session is scheduled for tomorrow, June 16th, uh July 16th, sorry. Please visit our website's homepage for details including dates and topics. These sessions are presented by a mental health clinician from Rucker's Behavioral Health who also supports WTPS students. So, um you know, the information that's shared is certainly
051um not only is it relevant to um to students in the through the K12 continuum, but it's relevant also uh because it's really um a microcosm um because this clinician works with our kids. I'm happy to share that once again, our summer programs have been very well attended and the students are having so much fun as they receive academic support, STEM enrichment, and character education. Thank you to all of our hardworking staff working in the extended school year and summer nights academy. Our total district enrollment numbers for June 2025 are as follows. PreK 80 students. Kindergarten 228. First grade 225. Second grade 233. Third grade 248. Fourth grade 236. Fifth grade 280. Sixth grade 237. 7th grade 253. 8th grade 260. 9th grade 219. 10th grade 215, 11th grade 249, 12th grade 235, and that
052yield a total enrollment of 3,198 students in the district. I would like to share that uh the Wall Township uh school district has submitted all required paperwork as of this time to the off office office of controversies and dispute regarding the physical education complaint that was filed against the district and uh we look forward to um any kind of followup from the state of New Jersey and pro and cooperating fully uh with them. U as Mr. Maliff mentioned there were retirees that are on this agenda and uh you know I just want to wish them the very very best. I'm very grateful to see some faces come fall so we can have a proper goodbye. Uh but one is here this evening. And again to echo um Mr. Maliff. Um, you know, as superintendent of
053schools, I've worked very closely with uh Miss Maher and our WTEA president and uh Miss Maher was wtea president as I entered the district and uh you know the it was the summer of 2020 and I think I spent more time with Miss Maher than I did certainly my family. We spent many many nights together, many mornings together. We had a lot of coffee and you know we've worked uh you know we worked really beautifully side by side by design we're not supposed to agree all the time but um I am you know so proud to say that we've had such a wonderful uh dialogue healthy discourse and you know sometimes when there's different points of view and you work together and you work cooperatively and collaboratively together what your product that you come up
054with together is much better than what has come come up singularly. So, um since the summer and really the 2020 2021 school year, u there have been so many opportunities that we have worked very closely on trying to, you know, find common ground to get the best solution for our students and for all of the employees here. So, I want to thank you for her service and I'm super grateful that she's going to be here in September so we can have a proper thank you and uh we'll be having a typically what we have done is a we recognize retirees in June, but we're having if we seem to have have you know quite a handful for retirees in um that are retiring in the fall. Uh so I you know I hope to maybe
055um instead of bringing everybody back in June, maybe uh splitting it up into a fall session and a spring session. So, uh, stay tuned for that and, um, you know, more mushy stuff later, Miss Moore. So, um, but congratulations and I'm super happy for you. But I think that's definitely But before I turn the meeting back over to our board president, I would like to congratulate our Wall High School class of 2022 alum, Andrew Fischer, for being drafted first round by the Milwaukee Brewers. This is super exciting news. So exciting that I think I have to run out and buy some Milwaukee Brewers merch. Who would have thought that I'd be buying Milwaukee Brewer merch, but I feel compelled to do so. So, um, Andrew, if you're listening, I'm doubting you are because you're probably
056out celebrating after the draft. Um, congratulations to you and, um, well done. and to all of the WTPS community, enjoy the rest of summer 2025. Um, and thank you, Mr. Maliff. >> Okay. Thank you. Andrew is probably on his way to the Milwaukee uh class A minor league team right now. I bet you he's going to be they're going to be putting him in uniform very soon. Uh, thank you, Dr. Hanigan. At this time, uh, it's the Board of Education update. Are there any board members who would like to make any comments? Okay, seeing none at this time, uh committee uh reports, the minutes are available on the agenda. Uh any committee chairman wish to make a comment on any of the uh committee reports? As I said, they are on the agenda. >> Mr.
057Buffer, >> I just uh want to remind everybody to um keep an eye on the referendum tab on the website. Uh there's a lot of good information on there, a lot of updates. Um and that's pretty much it. Mr. Malik, >> thank you. As a member of the FNF committee, I just want to say we took a a tour and we've been doing this over the course of this referendum project, touring the schools as the projects are underway to see the progress and we toured well with last night and it is amazing to see what is going on to see the referendum work, you know, in real time and some of the stuff that's coming down the pike is absolutely fantastic. I'm super excited for the district and I can't wait to see the finished
058products. >> Absolutely. And and uh as a member of that committee as well, I've been uh on all those tours. I'd just like to compliment our business administrator, Mr. Smite, who pretty much is the the host of those uh uh tours and he really knows these buildings. He really knows the buildings. He knows what's going on there. Uh I feel very uh comfortable that he's on top of these things. So I appreciate that very much, Mr. Uh at this time we're going to open up for our second public comment session. Anybody who would like to come up for the uh comment on uh agenda items Betsy Cross. Um, wanted to bring that up again about that recision under item C, employee number 11732 effective July 16, 2025. So, if you could before you vote, because
059nobody has any idea what this is because it wasn't on a prior agenda, if you could give us some idea what it is. Um, what else? I see some being some changes to the music program. Um, I see that. Um, what else? I see cooperation with law enforcement agencies. There's a change with that wall's gotten written up. I can't tell you how many times for not cooperating with law enforcement. There was a whole report written on it. I can share it with you if you'd all like to see it. Um, but you know, it's it it's gone on with the football. um teachers having sex with students. Uh things just just are not handled right. Uh the attorney bills, I'd like to see them promptly put up online, not have to follow up and ask
060Mr. Smith why aren't the attorney bills online so he can count that as an Oprah. Um looks like lots of lawsuits, lots of attorneys, lots of lawsuits. um the issue um that was mentioned before. Um why don't you put up the documents regarding what your you know there's a judge that's now been named uh for that case but for the all the issues that you got with the gym um not hiring the right staff and letting teachers go. So they don't have to be Oprah. Just put all the documents online. I can't believe how many bills I see for Athena Cornell regarding this. It's ridiculous. So, put all put everything online and maybe put, you know, an item of what what she's doing because this is costing us a fortune. Um, and I know we
061we, you know, in the past and, you know, we just get bad bad legal advice from Athena Cornell's law firm, which is now Myth Vessel. Um, what else? I don't like to see that these three reports are not online. The m the the month of June has ended. Your books are closed and the document should be online. Um I did send in an email about money missing in Lakewood. We use the same bank. I said, "Was wall missing any money?" And I did not get a response and here we have these reports that are not online that should be online. um they should not be available at the end of August. If you don't have the money to pay these health claims, we need to know why and where you're getting the money from. So,
062those three reports I will follow up with the controllers's office and uh office of fiscal accountability and compliance and uh I think they they're going to have to find out why you're not posting them. Um August, I'm sorry, just is not good enough. >> Okay. Thank you, Mr. Cross. >> All right. You can >> do we have anybody else for public comment? If you can answer that question before you vote, I'd appreciate it. Thank you. >> Don Herbert, I see on the agenda you have uh buying two new buses. I'm glad to see they're they're gasoline and they're not electric. And the flat nose buses, how how much longer are we going to keep them before they're outdated? I know they're good for 20 years. Has it not 20 years yet? >> Thank you. Is
063there anyone else for public comment? Hey, seeing no one else for public comment, we're going to close public comment. At this time, I'd like to uh ask for a motion to approve the consent agenda. Mr. Wandra, a second, Mr. Diovani. All right. Uh, I also would like to make uh to hear a motion to table uh 16B numbers 7, 8, and nine. Can I have a motion to table that? Mr. uh Bitton and Okay. Uh Mr. uh Mary Marin second. Barier Mr. Barvier second one. Thank you. All right. So, we're going to vote on the tabled motion. Is that correct? >> Correct. >> Okay. Uh, let's have a roll call on the tabled motion. >> Okay. >> On the table motion. Roll call. Miss Adams. >> Yes. >> Mr. Anesia? >> Yes. >> Mr. Barbier?
064>> Yes. >> Mr. Bington? >> Yes. >> Mr. Buffa? >> Yes. >> Mr. Dioani? >> Yes. >> Mr. Smith? >> Yes. >> Mr. Wandre? >> Yes. >> Mr. Mal? >> Yes. >> All right. Now we can go back to the uh consent agenda. Uh and we need a it's already been uh uh we've got a motion and a second. Now we need to vote on the consent agenda. Roll call, please. >> Roll call. Mr. Anio, >> yes. >> Miss Barbier, >> yes. >> Mr. Bton, >> yes. >> Mr. Buffa, >> yes. >> Mr. Giovani, >> yes. >> Mr. Smith, >> yes. >> Mr. Wandra, >> yes. >> Adams, >> yes. >> Mr. Mal, >> yes. with the following uh abstensions. Uh 16A Roman numeral 7 letter A number 92 and 16 uh A Roman numeral
0657 letter D number 15. Yes on the rest >> noted. >> Uh at this time I think we need to take a uh a motion to go to executive session. Is that correct? So, can I have a a motion to go in back to uh executive session to conclude the things that we were not able to do during our executive session earlier this evening? Do I have a someone >> Mr. Buffa, Mr. Anesia, or a second? Uh, can we just all approve or do we need to roll call? >> You can do a voice vote, but note that we will no action >> that no action will be taken. We will not be returning to public session after this. All in favor? All right, we will go to executive session.