The Good, the Bad, and the Less-Than-Attractive: 9 Recent Events
Let’s start with the bad, ‘cause I’m that kind of person. (My husband has at times referred to me as the angel of doom.) 1. Public name-calling. It’s okay to have differences of opinion; healthy, even. What’s not healthy is taking to a public forum and quite literally name-calling. Even worse when that name-calling is coming from one of the...
Shauna’s Notes on the 03/18/2024 BOE Agenda- The Lack of Clarity on Courtesy Busing Continues
Why is getting straight answers on Busing so difficult? Following the presentation of the transportation consultant at the last Berkeley Heights Board of Education meeting, Berkeley Heights Community Watch requested information from the district. The request was for 1) all reports and analysis provided by the transportation company, 2) the rubric (mentioned multiple times during the meeting), and 3) the...
Pam Stanley, Incompetent Attorneys and Improper Motions
Sometimes watching the discussion portions of BOE meetings is like watching C-SPAN. Like, what is going on, and why am I wasting my time with this? Is this really what governance looks like? Why can’t they just pass this stuff in an efficient manner? Lucky you, I’m here to tell you why. Remember when the Business Administrator, AJ, told everyone...
New President Takes Same Old Tactics To A Whole New Level – Notes on the 02/26/2024 BOE Meeting
Welcome to the Dysfunction of the 2024 Berkeley Heights BOE I initially set out to write a re-cap of the February 26, 2024 Berkeley Heights Board of Education meeting, but assuming no one wants to read an article similar in length to War and Peace, instead I want to focus on the overarching problems and take-aways from this meeting. There...
Shauna’s Notes on the 2/13 BHPS BOE (postponed) Meeting Agenda
Audit, Superintendent Search & “XX” This will be a special meeting of the Berkeley Heights Board of Education, so there is very little on the agenda. What IS there is worth a look. William Swisher of Suplee Clooney & Co. will present the audit to the board. This is the audit that the State of New Jersey says should be...
Truth v. Tribalism – Lessons Learned
In the three years since the Berkeley Heights Public School District threw a significant part of my child’s IEP out the window, I’ve learned a lot. In hindsight, maybe we should have quietly sued the district. Instead, I became vocal about observations, responses (or lack thereof) from administration, program and curriculum changes, and the doors to real communication being shut....
Game Play is the New Normal
The Berkeley Heights Public School District’s Issues with Releasing Public Records Continues… A while back I wrote a rather difficult-to-follow article that attempted to outline the games being played with OPRA requests (and agendas, and determining which policies need to be followed, and creatively applying how board meetings are run) by our new Business Administrator, Anthony Juskiewicz. I (and others)...
Nothing Occurs in a Vacuum: A Short History Explaining Why The Berkeley Heights BOE Needs So Much Repair
The current Berkeley Heights Board of Education didn’t magically arrive where they are now. There have been a series of events and actions that have led to the situation that exists today, and while one could argue for going back decades, to this author a majority of influences began with the early extension of Dr. Varley’s contract and the reconfiguration...
Minutia Matters- Especially Audits
Why is the BHPSNJ Audit Still Not Available? A recent article on how the Berkeley Heights Superintendent got a raise, in a procedurally incorrect manner and which obscured the action, violating District and State policy along the way, created some much-needed conversation around how the Board of Education operates. I had started looking into audits, based on a different comment...
The Real Story on How the January Berkeley Heights BOE Meeting Fell Apart
Nothing occurs in a vacuum. The chaos that happened at the most recent Berkeley Heights BOE Meeting was set in place well before any BOE member stepped through the Governor Livingston cafeteria door and, as mentioned in the intro I wrote about Melissa Varley’s letter to staff, it started in the District’s Central Office. There is no longer any question...
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