Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Board of Education authorizes purchase of new truck using some money from the sale of Habel's old ride
The sale of the former superintendent’s SUV is helping to offset the cost of the new truck the Board of Education approved at Tuesday’s meeting. The board on Tuesday approved spending $42,787 for a utility truck, with a snowplow package. The new truck will replace a 22-year-old truck that the board currently uses, board member John Tavis said. In October, the board sold the SUV given to former Superintendent James F. Habel. The 2005 fully loaded GMC Yukon Denali fetched $7,600 in a public auction. The board solicited bids on the a white Ford F-350 or equivalent twice before voting to award the contract to Winner Ford of Cherry Hill. The board elected to buy the truck outright rather than finance for five years in an effort to save money on…
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Students, staff and other members of the school community were given certificates of appreciation for volunteering and helping others in Hurricane Sandy relief.
The Wall Board of Education meeting began with Superintendent Daniel Simon’s recognition of certain students, staff members and other members of the school district who made “outstanding contributions” to the community in the past month. “It’s times like this in this past month in what we experienced and what we went through that that you really see the embodiment of community and what your community really values and what’s important to them,” Simon said before handing out certificates of appreciation. First up were ten Wall High School students— Brendan Brady, Ryan Sullivan, Russell Lorusso, Michael Cusack, Conor Nichols, Stephen Graves, Scott Van Glahn, Christopher Quinlan, Philip Shields and Bryan Cusack— who had spent time assisting …
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Robin Zawodniak will fill empty seat until January
The Board of Education at its regular meeting Tuesday voted unanimously to appoint a new member to temporarily fill a vacant seat on the panel. Robin Zawodniak was nominated by outgoing board member Deidre Kukucka. There were no other nominations, audience members said. The nominations came after interviews with three prospective members were conducted by the board. Betsy Cross, Zawodniak and board candidate Jeffrey Kniffen each applied to fill the seat vacated by former board Vice President Laurie Cannon. Cannon, whose term expires in 2013, abruptly resigned from the board in August. The board could not legally leave the seat open until January, when a new member, chosen by voters in November's election, will be seated for the remainder …
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Board of Education approves measure limiting public comment time to 10 minutes a speaker
The Board of Education on Tuesday unanimously approved a measure to limit public comment to 10 minutes for each speaker. The vote on the board's new bylaw — #0167 — was 6-0. Board President John Tavis and member Deidre Kukucka were absent. Former board Vice President Laurie Cannon unexpectedly quit last week. Her position has not been filled. No member of the board, nor of the public, spoke about the measure prior to the vote. Board member Anne Moonan has said the new bylaw was borne from the marathon June 12 meeting, which brought out scads of residents and district parents in protest of planned changes to the Intermediate School schedule. “This was a tough decision and I really thought very hard about it because I did not want to limit …
Monday, September 10, 2012
Unexpected resignation prompts a slew of candidates for shortened term
Seven people filed by Friday’s deadline to run in November’s election for the unexpired term of longtime Board of Education member Laurie Cannon, election records show. Kristen Casais, 1401 Madison Ave.; Timothy J. Farrell, 1601 Walton Way; Jeffrey L. Kniffin, 1700 M St.; Mary Catherine McCarthy Spellman, 1993 Campbell Rd.; Joseph V. Stillo, 2313 Orchard Crest Blvd; Jacqueline Szenzenstein, 1402 Crabapple Dr. and William S. Wood Jr., 3205 Brighton Ave., all filed to run for the remaining year of Cannon’s term, according to the Monmouth County Board of Elections. Cannon abruptly resigned last week with a year left on her term. While the pack will vie for the single-year term in the November election, three others are uncontested for a trio …
Thursday, February 23, 2012
High school's NJROTC cadets will be eligible to join Navy National Defense Cadets Corps next year
Wall High School's Navy Junior ROTC cadets will still be able to participate in a military training this fall, albeit one slightly reconfigued from the one they have come to know. As long as money is available in the final Wall Township Board of Education budget, the Navy National Defense Cadets Corps (NNDCC) will supplant the current ROTC at the grade nine to 12 building come September. Modeled on the traditional ROTC program, the NNDCC courses are taught in schools with less than 100 Navy cadets according to Mary Jane Garibay, the district's curriculum director. Having heard emotional pleas from several of the high school's 63 active cadets -- and their parents -- the board chose to adopt the NNDCC program at Tuesday's meeting. The …
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Proposed $58.3 tax levy for 2012-13 school year
District voters could be asked to shoulder a nearly $58.3 million general fund tax levy for the township's public schools if the tentative budget accepted by the Wall Township Board of Education moves forward. With county and state deadlines for submission of the spending plan rapidly approaching, the board unanimously approved the proposed $62.7 million budget for the 2012-2013 school year during Tuesday's regular meeting. As approved, the budget is based on state aid figures for the current 2011-2012 academic year according to a copy of the adopted resolution. Board Secretary Brian J. Smyth noted that the state Department of Education will not release the state aid funding amounts going to individual school districts in 2012-2013 until …
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Melissa Peters says she took the top spot only because no one else would
Board of Education President Melissa Peters on Tuesday said she only took the panel's top spot because no one else would and that it's not a job she ever wanted. Ending a long debate at the panel's regular meeting Tuesday over her choice to switch the committee assignments of board members after taking the presidency last month, Peters told the standing-room-only crowd that she never wanted to be the board's president. “I just want everyone to be aware that I did not want this position, to be president of the Board of Ed,’’ Peters said. “No one else on this committee would step up and do it, so I did it." Peters' impromptu speech was met with gasps and howls from the packed Intermediate School library. It followed a long and testy debate …
Spat over committee assignments exposes rift
Rancor among factions of the Board of Education was evident Tuesday as a battle over committee assignments spilled into the public session during the board’s regular meeting. Melissa Peters, board president, apparently switched members’ assignments to the panel’s various subcommittees when she took the helm of the board after member Eva Applegate resigned the presidency two months ago. The committee assignment shuffle rankled newly elected board members Anne Moonan and Robin Cervantes, both of whom vociferously opposed the new assignments on grounds that it violated the board’s own bylaws. Cervantes brought up the objections at the top of the meeting. Cervantes argued that the committee assignments are to last one year, according to the …
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
In separate votes, new members chose not to participate
The Board of Education on Tuesday in separate votes chose Melissa Peters as its president and Laurie Cannon second in command on votes where the board’s newest members declined to participate. Peters coasted to the panel’s top spot on an unanimous, 8-0, vote at the board’s regular meeting, held at the Intermediate School. Laurie Cannon made the nomination. There were no others. Board member Eva Applegate was absent. Cannon, however, did not receive support from board newcomers John Tavis, Anne Moonan or Robin Cervantes. Each abstained from the vote. None of the trio cited a conflict or explained why they chose not to participate in the vote. Cervantes, Moonan and Tavis, running mates in the April school elections, have previously declined …
Ralph
8:25 am on Wednesday, January 16, 2013
That is something we should not be proud off. Kinda like selling a Ford Pinto to offset the cost of a Porsche. Please only post when he goes to jail other than that very few of us care. more ›