Parents, Students Voice Frustrations At Wall Board Of Ed Meeting

WALL, NJ – Parents, students, and a Republican primary candidate for government spoke at Tuesday’s Wall Township Board of Education meeting, voicing concerns about the current mask mandate, the cancellation of end-of-year events, and the decision to not return to a full-day schedule.

Before the public comment portion of the meeting commenced, board president Ralph Addonizio spoke on the current situation regarding masks and social distancing. Addonizio said he isn’t a fan of the masks and understands that the information coming out isn’t exactly the clearest.

“The news that comes out, the guidance that comes out isn’t sometimes clear by any stretch,” Addonizio said, saying that the district has to follow guidelines set by the state’s Department of Health.

“Certainly, we all understand the frustration with the masks; I’m frustrated, but that's the rule of the land, and that’s what we have to follow while we’re in the schools,” Addonizio added.

Brian Messenlehner, who has five children in the district, asked the board why if people can go out to dinner and eat without masks on, why do students have to wear masks when in school.

“If we can go do this, why are we making our kids sit down all day long with their masks on,” Messenleher said to the board.

Fellow parent Pieper Weitzel voiced her frustration about the decision made last week by the district to not go back to full-day instruction for the rest of the year.

“The decision to stay half-day for the rest of the year is another bad decision,” Weitzel said.

“By going to full-time school for even one day this year, we show our children we don’t give up when faced with difficult decisions and that their education is more important than sports or than adults not being able to come up with a very difficult problem.”

Next to speak were Patty Nowalski and her daughter Faith, a sixth-grader at Wall Intermediate School, who spoke about the impact that wearing masks all day has on kids, including the fear of being mask-shamed.

“I’m absolutely terrified to walk down a hallway and be mask-shamed by a teacher at Wall Intermediate School,” Faith Nowalski said.

“I am suffocating, and half the students in my class are suffocating in their masks, and whenever I take off my mask to have a break, I will always get told by a teacher, not politely, to pull my mask up.”

After Faith finished speaking, her mother spoke on why her daughter chose to speak at the meeting, saying that her daughter said to her, “Mom, why doesn’t anyone ask us how we feel.”

Hirsh Singh, who is running in the Republican gubernatorial primary, spoke next, asking why the Board of Education doesn’t use a guideline citing mental health in the “Road Back to Recovery” plan as a way to stop the kids from wearing masks, they will feel the consequences from the community.

“If you wait for the Governor to give you the right to do what is right, every one of you will be remembered, and all of you are going to be removed from the board, one way or another,” Singh said.

Another topic of conversation was the cancellation of the Senior Walk, an annual tradition for seniors at Wall High School where they walk through the elementary schools at the end of the year.

Grace Killea and Anna Williams, who are representatives for the Class of 2021, voiced their frustration about the canceled walk.

“We’ve been totally cheated out of our end of junior year and our entire senior year,” Williams said.

“We’re not really sure why the middle school is giving tours to fifth-graders when we can’t walk through,” Killea added.

After the public comment period was closed, Dr. Tracey Handerhan responded to the multiple concerns raised.

“Our New Jersey Department of Health guidance is based on a sliding scale and situational, and I will tell you it's a great deal of frustration when New Jersey doesn’t align with the Center for Disease Control,” Dr. Handerhan said.

Dr. Handerhan went on to say that district officials are already working on a summer and fall plan that will help make up for any learning loss suffered by students during the pandemic.

Regarding the Senior Walk, Dr. Handerhan said that it couldn’t be done due to the current guidelines still in place regarding social distancing.