The “Work Together” Group’s Approach to Committee Appointments and the Berkeley Heights BOE
With elections over, and a new Board of Education to be sworn in at the beginning of the year, we should take a look at what happened last year at this time. It would be nice to think we could avoid some of the same mistakes, but based on the November 14th meeting it appears we’re in for another rough...
Office of Administrative Law Finds Former BOE Majority Acted Unethically
OAL writes scathing finding against Robert Cianciulli, Pamela Stanley, Michael D’Aquila, Angela Penna, Joy Young and Jordan Hyman After a timeframe spanning over two years, the BOE ethics violations that occurred in May, June and September of 2022 have reached the first round of findings; a decision against the Berkeley Heights Board of Education Members in place at that time....
Potato, Potahto: The “New” Math Program
Will the “New”, New Approach to Math Improve Proficiency or Increase Frustration? The Berkeley Heights School District held a parent information session on our new math program last Thursday, August 29th, in the Columbia Middle School cafeteria. As with the presentation that was held at Governor Livingston High School a few years back, the room held a surprising number of...
Is it Time to Revisit Our Approach to Educational Inclusion?
For the Berkeley Heights School District, much fanfare has accompanied our efforts at inclusion for special education students, with administrators touting how other districts are looking to us as a shining example of what inclusion should be. I’m going to say something that will, for some (and maybe many), be an unpopular idea: we need to rethink whether inclusion is...
Examining the Actions of the “Community” and “Inclusion” Ticket
What comes to mind when you hear the phrase ‘work together’? The thesaurus lists cooperate, collaborate, tend, contribute, join, aid, assist, participate and unite as possible synonyms. Over the past two years, the Berkeley Heights Board of Education has become embroiled in a series of attacks against select members starting with the ill-advised and very public motion to file ethics...
Pamela Stanley, Anthony Juskiewicz and Board Attorneys: Lessons Learned, or Rather, Not Learned
Following up on the recent article, which shows emails obtained via OPRA from the Berkeley Heights Board of Education that are related to the incident involving Pamela Stanley and resident Tom Maciejewski, it is concerning that Mrs. Stanley doesn’t grasp the concept of what is ethical and what is not. While taking the picture isn’t an ethical issue, posting...
Shauna’s Notes on the 06/20/2024 BHPSNJ BOE Meeting
There were, perhaps, fewer fireworks during the latest BOE meeting, but plenty of anger and disappointment to go around. The good news is that despite the lengthy agenda, Board members moved through fairly quickly and on most items there seemed to be less that needed to be discussed and clarified before a vote. It does appear that things are moving...
Inclusion in Academics – Update on the Collaborative Consultative Model
In the past few years, Berkeley Heights Public Schools has been making an effort to be more inclusive of special education students. Perhaps the largest decision in the efforts that have been made was the move to the Collaborative Consultative Model. In fall of 2020, graduates of Columbia Middle School who attended Governor Livingston were all moved into this model....
Academic Goals: Shauna’s Notes on the 05/30/2024 BOE Meeting
Academic Goals -this is what is at the heart of every district, and there has been a lot of recent discussion about the Berkeley Heights Public School rankings. Data given at the May 30th Board of Education meeting shows that we have made modest-to-significant improvements during the last period for which we have reports. The tools and exams used to...
A Response to Town Council Member Poage’s Letter to the Editor
Unity Means More Listening and Less Labeling Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) is important when it comes to our schools. There’s no arguing that. And yet… argument is exactly what we’re seeing. I’m troubled that Ms. Susan Poage seems to be purposely misrepresenting new BOE member Kelly Hufnagel’s views on DEI to further the narrative of ‘certain group bad’. Ms....
nj21st.com (with the exception of featured images and logo) is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
