Wall Elementary School Principal Placed On Paid Leave

The principal of Central School has been placed on paid administrative leave with no end date in sight, district officials said Thursday.

The Wall School District Board of Education in an unusual move convened a special Tuesday morning meeting during which it placed Greg Storts on indefinite paid leave, fired another employee and hired seven lobby guards, according to audio of the meeting.

The meeting was called at 8 a.m. in the Superintendent’s Conference Room and lasted just more than four minutes, with the exception of a period of time the board called for a closed, executive session.

There was no public discussion among board members about Storts, or the hiring or firing of employees. There was only a unanimous vote to accept the human resources report in which each action was contained.

All members of the board were present for the vote. Board member Eric Brophy was not present for the 8 a.m. roll call, but joined the group later.

The board did not name the fired employee, nor the employee who was placed on paid leave. The two are only identified in the Human Resources report only by their employee numbers.

But Michael Gross, the board’s attorney, on Thursday confirmed that Storts was the employee placed on leave. He would not say what employee was fired.

Storts has been absent from Central School since early in the school year. Assistant Intermediate School Principal Tiffany Madhavan has been filling in for Storts. It was unclear Thursday whether that arrangement would continue or for how long.

Storts collected a $139,367 salary from the district last year. He has 13 years with the Wall School District and 35 years of experience overall, according to state records.

Gross did not discuss the reason for the paid leave. School Board President Eva Applegate did not immediately return a request for comment. No other information was immediately available.

The board also hired seven people -- one for each district school -- were hired to be lobby monitors, part of the district’s new security measures taken in part in reaction to an incident earlier this year involving a former students’ threat. Only their names and their approved pay was given in the report. No other information was available.

Each was hired at $17 an hour for 35 hours a week, according to the report.

Hired were:

• Glen Murphy, Allenwood School
• Michael Dugan, Central School
• John Brady, Old Mill School
• Vincent O’Rourke, West Belmar School
• Fredrick Megill, Primary School
• Michael Cassidy, Intermediate School
• Charles Smentkowski, High School