Dad Banned From Son's Point Pleasant Graduation Over Conflict With Administrators

POINT PLEASANT, NJ — A Point Pleasant father says he has been banned from his son's high school graduation because of an argument he had with the high school's principal and athletic director.

The school superintendent, Adam Angelozzi, alleges in a police report that the father, Michael Ollendorf, threatened administrators. He declined to answer questions from Patch regarding details of the incidents, which have been obtained through police reports and interviews with Ollendorf. A full copy of Angelozzi's statement is at the bottom of this article.

He reiterated to Ollendorf in a letter in late April that he would not be permitted to attend graduation, which is set for June 18, based on the issues.

"It's my only child's graduation," Ollendorf said. "Why would I do anything to embarrass my son and ruin his day?"

Ollendorf says the issue began in September 2023 and was focused on the football team, where his son was the backup quarterback. Ollendorf's son was a junior at the time.

The Point Pleasant football team was easily winning its games — the Panthers defeated Colts Neck 42-20 in the season opener, Manasquan 35-7 and Red Bank Regional 51-13 — and Ollendorf admits he was frustrated that his son was seeing almost no playing time when the team had large leads.

A review of game information for the 2023-24 season on NJ.com shows the son received a smattering of time, with a total of 10 rushing carries over four games. The game information is submitted directly by the coaching staff.

That frustration boiled over during the fourth game of the season, a home game vs. Long Branch that the Panthers won 42-14. Ollendorf admits he lost his temper toward the end of the game when his son again was seeing limited playing time. He left the stands, yelling and cursing at football coach Brian Staub, athletic director William Fall, Superintendent Adam Angelozzi, Point Pleasant High School Vice Principal David Kirk and others.

The police report on the incident says Ollendorf was irate and would not calm down in spite of attempts by people who knew him and police officers to convince him to calm down.

Ollendorf said he was waiting for his wife, his mother and his mother-in-law to come out from the game when police officers interceded, and he said a young officer slammed him against a police car when he would not stop yelling. Officer accounts say Ollendorf was pointing his finger in the officers' faces and screaming profanity at them. Ollendorf was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct. He later pleaded guilty to disturbing the peace and the school district administration banned him from attending any other Point Boro football games that season.

As the 2024 football season approached, Ollendorf said he reached out to the school district administration seeking permission to return to the games to watch his son in his senior season. His son, Michael, appeared to be poised to take over as the starting quarterback.

Asbury Park Press reports from August 2024 indicated he was likely to be the starter. On Aug. 8, an article mentioning the team said, "Although the Panthers must replace last year's athletic quarterback Matt Oliphant, senior Michael Ollendorf appears up to the task." An Aug. 14 article on the Panthers described Ollendorf as "a capable athlete that is a really polished thrower and it showed with his consistently tight passes that had plenty of pop."

A week before the 2024 season started, Ollendorf sat down with the district administration and apologized for his actions in the fall of 2023.

"I was in tears because I embarrassed my son," Ollendorf said. At the end of the meeting the administration agreed to allow him to return to the games, he said.

As that meeting ended and Ollendorf was leaving, he said high school principal Kurt Karcich pulled him aside and apologized for a report published on a local sports website that stated Jake Clayton, a sophomore, would be the starter.

"He's a great athlete, an unbelievable athlete," Ollendorf said, but the announcement that Clayton would be the starter was premature, he said Karcich told him. Ollendorf said Karcich told him he ordered Staub, the football coach, to get the article taken down.

That also is documented in a letter Ollendorf's wife, Heather, sent to the administration spelling out issues their son had with Staub, who Heather Ollendorf said lied to their son repeatedly.

While the father had not seen the article — and said he was initially confused by what Karcich said — the son and Heather Ollendorf had seen the article and was very upset.

It had a significant impact, Heather Ollendorf said.

"Michael has been impacted in several ways by Coach Staub’s decision. He was invited in September 2024 by the Wagner University head football coach to attend a game, visit the campus, and meet with the coaches to discuss his potential future at Wagner," she wrote. "Michael was immediately excited and proud that he received this opportunity; however, that quickly changed. Michael stated that he was 'humiliated' and 'embarrassed' at the thought of going to meet with the football coaches and have nothing to show. How was he going to meet with them and tell them about his season? He was the backup QB. The only reason that Wagner University knew of Michael’s abilities was because they observed him at several football combines; it was not because of his season at the Boro."

Heather Ollendorf, who was an NCAA Division I athlete in college, noted in the letter that their son had played quarterback since age 9 in youth football and had been the starting quarterback for the freshman team that was undefeated in the 2021-22 school year.

In October 2024, the situation escalated. This time, however, it was out of the public eye.

At the Panthers' senior game on Oct. 5, a 40-7 victory over Colts Neck, Michael Ollendorf wasn't offered the opportunity to start and saw limited action. Statistics for Ollendorf maintained by NJ.com showed he carried the ball three times for 55 yards in the game.

Michael Ollendorf says he reached out to Fall, the athletic director, who was a personal friend, about the situation with his son, and Oct. 7 via Fall's cell phone. What he did not know initially was that Karcich, the principal, was listening in by speaker phone.

When he learned Karcich was on the call, the conversation escalated to yelling, Ollendorf said, and insults and accusations about the way Staub had treated Ollendorf's son, particularly with respect to the Senior Night game.

A few days later, Angelozzi filed a police report accusing Ollendorf of threatening himself and Karcich.

Patch obtained a copy of the police report via an Open Public Records Act request, but parts of the narrative — including some of the language Ollendorf allegedly used — were redacted.

Ollendorf provided an unredacted copy of the police report, dated Oct. 13, 2024, to Patch. In it, Angelozzi — who was not in the room when Ollendorf spoke with Fall and Karcich — alleges Ollendorf threatened Karcich by saying something to the effect of "you better watch your back." The narrative says the officer spoke with both Fall and Karcich and confirmed Ollendorf made that statement. Ollendorf also made a comment about Karcich's wife, the report said.

Angelozzi said he called Ollendorf two days after Ollendorf spoke with Fall and Karcich, and alleges Ollendorf challenged him to a fight, saying "Do you wanna go?"

The police report says Ollendorf had told Angelozzi's assistant he would be coming to the board office to speak with Angelozzi because Angelozzi was not returning phone calls. The officer noted he spoke with Ollendorf and Ollendorf said he had no intention of going to the school because he was at work.

The police report notes that Ollendorf's phone call with Fall and Karcich was not recorded because it was conducted on Fall's personal cell phone instead of the district's phone.

No charges were filed against Ollendorf, who later filed a police report countering Angelozzi's statements. He denied threatening Karcich, though what Ollendorf told officers he said is redacted in the copy of the report obtained by an OPRA request.

Ollendorf, who said Angelozzi called him while he was at work, told police he never challenged Angelozzi to a fight, and said Angelozzi started yelling at him within moments of Ollendorf answering the call.

The phone call was witnessed by Ollendorf's supervisor, who submitted a letter detailing what she witnessed. She said Ollendorf asked permission to take the call because employees are not permitted to take personal calls at work except for emergencies but saw it was the school's number on his caller ID.

"I allowed him to answer his cell phone, which he did on speaker phone to show it was really a call from the school," the supervisor wrote. "I heard a man on the other line and within a fleeting period, this man was yelling and screaming at Mr. Ollendorf. Mr. Ollendorf was embarrassed and walked away with his phone and came back a brief time later apologizing for taking the call from the Superintendent of his son's school."

"I would have to say no matter what the reason was for the Superintendent to call Mr. Ollendorf, it was extremely unprofessional," the supervisor wrote. "Mr. Ollendorf immediately told the Superintendent he was at work. There was no time to say anything else. The fact that the Superintendent of Point Pleasant Boro High School called my employee and even after Mr. Ollendorf told the Superintendent he was at work, I could not believe how unprofessional the Superintendent was. I must tell you that the man spoke in a very hostile and aggressive manner. If he worked for me and spoke to a customer or fellow employee in that manner, he would have been disciplined and possibly fired."

In a letter dated Oct. 9, Angelozzi banned Ollendorf from school district property. He wrote that he viewed Ollendorf's alleged fight challenge as a threat. He also banned Ollendorf on the basis of the alleged threats and "verbal character assault toward district personnel."

Since December, the Ollendorfs have repeatedly requested sought a private meeting with the Board of Education, but emails from the school district shared with Patch show repeated denials, saying they had to talk to Angelozzi first and detail, in their request, the exact topics and why they feel the issues have not been addressed with Karcich and Fall.

Ollendorf, in the emails with Angelozzi's assistant and in phone conversations with Patch, said he did not trust Angelozzi because of the police report alleging threats. He also alleged Angelozzi made rude comments about Heather Ollendorf, which Angelozzi took offense to in a reply that Ollendorf shared with Patch.

Angelozzi then sent a formal reply in late April saying Ollendorf would not be permitted to attend graduation.

"I just want to see my son graduate," Ollendorf said.

The following is the statement from Angelozzi, following a request for comment:

"Ms. Wall,

Thank you for contacting me and the Point Pleasant School District Board of Education regarding your inquiry.

Typically, the District does not comment or respond to inquiries from the media concerning matters involving our students' families. From the statements in your email regarding your understanding of what transpired, it appears that you do not have the full explanation of what occurred. Without going into specifics, the District’s decision in this instance was based on multiple instances of inappropriate conduct over a period of time that were directed towards and against multiple staff members.

The District remains committed to following all applicable laws, policies, and regulations in its decisions and actions, as we have done in this matter. The safety and well-being of our students and staff remain our top priorities.

I appreciate your understanding.

Sincerely,

Adam L. Angelozzi, Ed.D."