BHCW 10/29/2023 Newsletter
What’s Important to Know About Berkeley Heights This Week….. This week’s newsletter presents even more concerning news about the District’s budget and the lack of due diligence on the part of the Administration and BOE Majority in connection to Shared Service Agreements with the Township. Republican Candidates appeared on NightWatch to answer questions on over-development, township committees, and the tone...
Did Anyone Even Look At The $63 Million Berkeley Heights Public School Budget Before It Was Passed?
In September, BHCW finally received a copy of the Detailed Adopted budgets for the 2023-24 school year for BHPSNJ and several other Districts. In that process, the state agreed to stop redacting account numbers on school budgets. Our publication of that budget was the first opportunity some of our BOE Members had to see it – even though the entire...
BOE Candidate Natasha Joly’s Remarks During Agenda Items Portion of 10/12/2023 BOE Meeting
In this clip, Natasha asks about how policies are approved (later in the meeting, Mr. Cianculli provides a response that assumes the public trusts that the BOE majority and Superintendent are following the written policies). Natasha brings up the $3800 price tag connected to an AASA conference/training Stephen Hopkins plans on attending. She also points out that members have repeatedly...
BOE Candidate Sai Akiri’s remarks during Agenda Items Portion of 10/12/2023 BOE Meeting
In this clip, Ms. Akiri asks for clarity on the increase in parent committees referenced by Dr. Varley and the process through which parents become involved. Ms. Akiri also speaks to policy 0164, which would require BOE Members to provide 48 hours’ notice to the Board on new business. She points out the current practice of the Board in revising...
Questions to The 2023 Berkeley Heights BOE Candidates – Question 3
There are two candidates seeking two seats on the Berkeley Heights Board of Education: Natasha Joly and Sai Akiri. This is the Third in a Series of Questions to the 2023 Berkeley Heights, NJ BOE Candidates ( a response from Ms. Akiri was not recieved): Honest Data and peer reviewed Research are something parents have felt has been lacking in...
10/12/2023 Bill List: More of Our School’s Dollars go to Cleary, Giacobbe, Alfieri, and Jacobs
The link below is the bill list approved during the 10/12/2023 BOE. As expected, this month’s legal bills are lower; we suspect how bills are approved is a matter of optics. The first bill list of 2023 (January) totaled a whopping $31,467 spent on legal services– recall this was month one of two new BOE Members joining the Board, one...
2024 Niche “Best School Districts in New Jersey” Released
Berkeley Heights Public Schools bottoms out in local seven-district data dashboard but ranks highly statewide. -Written by an Educator in the Community Niche has released their “2024 Best School Districts in New Jersey” rankings. A total of 390 school districts were ranked. The full list for New Jersey can be found here. Additionally, a Patch article can be found here....
Akiri and Joly: Please Vote For Both
It is so important to take some time and get to your local polling station and vote for the candidates you think will serve and represent you, your family, and the greater community. I am proud to continue my support of Sai Bhargavi Akiri and Natasha Joly for the Berkeley Heights Board of Education. Although both Akiri and Joly are...
Support for Natasha
-Michelle Bartiromo I have known Natasha for about 8 years. I am thrilled to support her for Board of Education (BOE) and have the utmost confidence she will work hard to represent me, my friends and my community. While I won’t pretend to know all of the ‘hot” issues associated with our schools and going on with the BOE, I...
The 48 Hour Rule
Is this new policy simply another mechanism designed to restrict BOE Members who want change from expressing an opinion? This change to BOE Policy 0164 requires that any new business be brought to the Board’s attention at least 48 hours before being brought up at a public meeting. According to Board President Angela Penna, it was advanced to help ensure...
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