Another full week at the 21st and Berkeley Heights remains the hot spot, but as always we’re going to start with the state…
Our briefing covered a packed state legislative agenda that features Battery Incentives, Medicaid Fertility Coverage, General Contractor Licensing, Ballot Rotation and a state budget at the tail end.
We move to more concerning data in connection to NJ’s student debt as a follow up to last years report.
We wrap up this week’s state coverage with an addition to our DOE Adaptive testing coverage and a response to our OPRA request that shows we’re asking the right questions but the answers remain elusive.
Regionally, resident Michael Lebond shares an extensive Data Collection that clarifies the power outage issue in New Providence and Berkeley Heights ahead of the 06/30/2026 Berkeley Heights Town Council Meeting.
Onto the locals….
The Berkeley Heights Town Council Agenda has an early-summer packed agenda filled with controversy that includes a developers agreement that sets the stage for yet another school tax exempt PILOT and a resolution that dissolves a volunteer Recreation Commission and creates a paid Department with more staff. Candidate Edmund Maciejewski argues that Susan Poage’s AI Deck pushed lazy propaganda instead of solid research.
On the school side we saw a BOE Agenda with concerning policy changes that would allow District staff to take pictures of students on private devices and a Strategic Plan presentation that did everything but increase confidence our District was working on improving proficiency.
Moving to New Providence we covered a Council Agenda that involved a grant and shared services agreement resident may be interested in and a BOE agenda that continues to lack the pre-meeting details on important decisions families need to provide relevant feedback.
In Garwood Bruce Patterson adds to the NJ PILOT story with a follow up on Wilf/Gardens and a familiar story of Consultants directing government representatives into bad water.
Randolph contributor Eliza Schleifstein shares an email exchange that leads her to a question ... “If asking questions becomes grounds for retaliation, how can any board member effectively perform their oversight responsibilities?”
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