Public, Attorney Spar During Presentation On Wall School Trailers

WALL, NJ – A special meeting of the Wall Township Board Of Education was held on Tuesday night to hold a public presentation and Q&A session of the investigation into the trailers which were used at Central Elementary School, which was published on the district’s website on Friday and absolved the Board of Education of any wrongdoing.

The close to three-hour presentation, which was given by Board of Education counsel Anthony Sciarillo and his law firm, who did the investigation, got heated at times as people in the audience had to shout their questions as they were not given a microphone to use, making there questions hard to hear for those in attendance and watching on the YouTube live stream.

Sciarello went over each section of the final reports and the process of the investigation, with him and his team looking over 8,000 documents and conducting 42 interviews, over 900 hours, at the cost of $104,000.

“We went back to the authorization of the classroom units, we looked at the financing, we looked at the installation, we looked at the maintenance, and ultimately, we looked at the demolition,” Sciarello said.

Sciarello mentioned that weekly progress reports on the investigation were posted on the district’s website with contact info, which they did receive some information from, including people willing to be interviewed. Sciarello also disputed the rumor that people contacted the firm wanting to be interviewed but didn’t get a response back.

“The urban myth that people contacted us and we did not respond is just that, an urban myth,” Sciarello said.

Sciarello also shot down another rumor that the Board of Education hid their plans for having temporary facilities when it has been in the district’s long-range facilities plan since June of 2007.

“Any argument or urban myth that the Board of Education hid the fact that they were using temporary classroom units is inaccurate,” Sciarello said.

Sciarello then went over the bidding process, which saw six companies place bids for both new and used trailers, of which the Board chose to go with two like-new units from 1998 from Mobilease for $339,391 despite the recommendation of the Board’s architect to go with the bid of two new units from $397,997.

Sciarello said that the Princeton Public Schools previously used the trailers, and the warranties on the trailers were given to Wall from Princeton, and the trailers did have an education seal of approval on them.

Further in the presentation, Sciarello noted that there were water seepage issues regarding the trailers from the time they were installed.

“Almost immediately, the classroom units began to have a water seepage problem,” Sciarello said.

More damage developed over the years, including the lights, the doors along with mold and rotting wood due to water and termite damage along with an infestation of ants, according to Sciarello, who added that there were plans in 2011 and 2014 to re-side the trailers which ultimately didn’t happen.

The Board approved the re-siding of the trailers in 2019, but after discovering rotted wood, joists, the project was stopped. A second attempt to re-side the trailers later in 2019 was attempted but ultimately led to the demolition of the trailers.

Tests were also done for air quality and traces of lead paint and the possibility of human waste leaking into the ground under the trailer along with underground storage tanks, all of which came back negative.

The trailers were ultimately torn down last June by the Monmouth County Department of Public Works for a cost of $32,240.95. Sciarello’s report disputes the public's claim that there was no notice given about the demolition when a Notice of Demolition was sent to the 16 adjoining property owners on May 4, 2020.

Sciarello’s report also disputes the claim made by members of the public that there was no notice given about the demolition of the trailers when in fact, a Notice of Demolition was sent to the 16 adjoining property owners on May 4, 2020, before being ultimately torn down last June by the Monmouth County Department of Public Works for a cost of $32,240.95.