Wall Township school board candidates clash on superintendent search, curriculum changes and transparency

Five candidates for three full three-year seats on the Wall Township Board of Education appeared at a League of Women Voters forum hosted in Wall Township and sponsored by the Wall Township Education Association to describe priorities ahead of the Nov. 4 election.

The forum focused on several recurring topics: the district’s superintendent search after a public announcement the current superintendent will retire, recent elementary schedule and curriculum changes aimed at raising math and reading time, budget pressures from state and federal funding trends, special-education services, and local policies on cell phones, artificial intelligence and school libraries.

The contest draws a mix of incumbents and challengers; James Malouf, the current board president and a Wall resident since childhood, defended district decisions and said the board must ensure a smooth leadership transition when the superintendent retires July 1. “Our most important function is… hiring of a new superintendent,” Malouf said, adding the board sought a search firm to begin collecting and screening candidates so a hire is ready when the current superintendent leaves.

Challenger Jonathan Rainho told voters his ticket with Angelique (Angie) Pinto and Leah Bibby is running to restore trust. “Wall Township Public Schools deserve a better leadership grounded in honesty, transparency and collaboration,” Rainho said. Pinto and Bibby repeated the themes of increased community input and clearer communication about district decisions. Pinto said the district dismissed “more than two dozen paraprofessionals” last spring and called the schedule and curriculum changes “piecemeal” and poorly explained to parents and staff.

Candidates disagreed on the curriculum rollout’s merits and implementation. Incumbent Kathleen DiGiovanni and Malouf said the elementary schedule changes were made to increase instructional time for reading and math after committee and principal input and that the district will evaluate results at the end of the school year. Rainho, Bibby and Pinto expressed concern that longer, more concentrated classroom periods are not developmentally appropriate for younger students and said reduced physical-education time at middle school undermines students’ need for movement and social breaks.

On budget questions, candidates who are not on the board said they lacked line-item access but emphasized fiscal scrutiny and identifying inefficiencies. Malouf and DiGiovanni said the board’s finance and facilities committee (F&F) manages a tight budget and that, to date, Wall has not sustained the same state-aid cuts affecting some neighboring districts.

Special education was repeatedly described as a district strength. Malouf, DiGiovanni and other candidates said teachers and the child-study team follow IEPs and 504 plans and that the district offers continuing training and out‑of‑district placements when needed. Rainho and Pinto, who each said they have children with IEPs or 504 plans, urged more social-integration practices in gym and recess to support peer leadership and inclusion.

Policy questions drew broad agreement. All five candidates said they would oppose a blanket ban on books and instead evaluate parental requests case by case; they favored age-appropriate review. On cell phones, most favored reduced access during class time and noted existing school disciplinary codes and grade-level policies. On artificial intelligence, Malouf and DiGiovanni said the district already has an emerging AI policy that sets parameters for classroom use and that policy committee members expect to revisit rules periodically as AI tools evolve; challengers said they would emphasize teaching ethical, safe AI use to students.

Candidates also discussed expanding full-day prekindergarten. All said they support the idea in principle but identified space and funding as primary obstacles; Malouf and DiGiovanni said the district must explore facilities and state funding options before adding a full-day program.

The moderator, Sharon Steinhorn of the League of Women Voters of Monmouth County, reminded attendees that the forum was recorded and that voting options include vote-by-mail, early in-person voting and election day on Nov. 4. She said the recording and a nonpartisan voter guide would be posted on LWVMonmouth.org and VoteFor1.org.

The forum offered voters side-by-side statements of priorities from candidates who said the district shares strong educators and facilities work completed under the recent referendum while disagreeing about how the board should communicate decisions and how much change to implement in curriculum and schedules going forward.