Preliminary Results on 2023 Proficiency for the Berkeley Heights Public School District- Math, Science, ELA and Algebra I
Results on the NJSLA have become recently available. Here is the text of the email I sent to the Board of Education on this data. I looked at the raw data on the NJSLA results for Spring this year and completed a year-to-year comparison. A few notes: This is a preliminary report of the data – I am not aware...
90 Thousand Reasons the Berkeley Heights Public School District Needs to Hire a New Law Firm Next Year
And Why Other NJ Districts Should Reconsider Hiring “Mega-Firms” Our favorite law firm, Cleary, Giacobbe, Alfieri, and Jacobs, hit the 90K mark this month, taking in 50% of the District’s spending, which totaled ~180.000 according to Bill Lists from 1/2023 Through 12/2023. The firm surpassed the entirety of the District’s legal expenditure for the fiscal year before Dr. Varley’s tenure...
What It’s Like to Ask For Basic Documents from the Berkeley Heights School District
A recent example Illustrating why OPRA Laws Cannot be Weakened I am posting this conversation to illustrate how the District responds to basic requests for information. My email starts with a request I have made regularly after every BOE Meeting over the past few months. Here is my original email: Ms. Bradford forwarded the email to Mr. Cianculli (I...
NJ State Legislative Round-Up 12/02/2023
Elimination of Basic Skills Test For Teachers, Parental Permission for Social Media, Restrictions on Merchant Fees for Credit Card Transactions, Change to Liquor License Laws on the Horizon and Pause on Renewable Energy Since June of this year, BHCW has focused much of its attention on potential OPRA “reform” at the state level, but many other bills and laws that...
Update On Efforts to Change the Open Public Records and Open Public Meetings Act During Lame Duck Session
So we got an update from someone who has a bit more information than us on concerns connected to potential changes to OPRA – this is what they wrote us on Wednesday afternoon: Danielson filed four opra bills but none of them are going to advance. Sarlo is working on an opra bill and opma bill but nothing’s been filed...
Happy Thanksgiving, Berkeley Heights
We want to express our thanks and gratitude to the families and public employees who are part of the BHCW community and who have read, participated in, and contributed to its mission. We are extraordinarily privileged to live in a country where we can speak and vote as freely as we breathe and where our children do not have to...
Susan Poage Emerges as The Strongest Voice of Reason on the Berkeley Heights Town Council this Year
Last night, the Council approved a controversial 11th-hour measure to fund a redevelopment study involving multiple properties. Much like the surprise hike to the cost of the Municipal Building under the Woodruff Administration, this information occurred immediately after an election was decided. Why would such important matters be kept from the public and candidates? Wouldn’t bringing this up during the...
Responses to Constructive Feedback and Questions on BHCW’s Reporting on the Declines
During the 10/12/2023 BOE Meeting, I invited all BOE Members present and members of the Administration to a public debate on the declines. I am still waiting to hear from someone on my offer. Over the past month BOE Members and several community members on different forums provided BHCW feedback on our articles and I want to provide these concerns...
Cleary, Giacobbe, Alfieri, and Jacobs Has Over 86,000 Reasons to Be Thankful for Berkeley Heights
I should start out by acknowledging that our District has taken a small step in the right direction by publishing the Bill List and Transfer Report with this month’s Board Meeting Packet. However, considering all the claw-backs over the past three years, we are far from where we need to be. So yes – it is a good step- but...
What The New Berkeley Heights BOE Must Do In The First Three Months of 2024 To Rebuild Our District
A historically low turnout election still produced 2000+ votes, affirming change…..now what? While the BOE election was uncontested, the message was clear- the community wants things to change. While thousands were likely spent on the Town Council Election (something we will write about), it would be a surprise if the BOE candidates who garnered an overwhelming vote count given the...
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