Open letter to BOE members
Below is an email sent to BOE members today. It is, essentially, a correction of information provided last night. It also questions why some people within the district are honored by our Board Memebrs and others don’t receive as much as a mention. There are currenly 29 employees within the BHPS who are leaving. “Good morning! Respectfully, I would...
No Soup for you!
In April I was presented with a plan which proved to have many gaping holes. This plan is affecting all families with elementary students in the entire Berkeley Heights community. So many questions arose from the presentation and many still remain to be answered. Below is the second of two email replies I received from Superintendent Varley, both with the...
Equity.
Here’s some food for thought… I have reviewed the original presentation made by Melissa Varley to the Board of Education and public on April 8, 2021 and highlighted several areas in which the rationale behind the necessary realignment, redistrict and reconfiguration was addressed but have not actually been resolved or been given a long-term plan or projection. https://www.bhpsnj.org/cms/lib/NJ01001806/Centricity/Domain/4/Full%20Day%20Kindergarten%20Options%20FinalDraft%204-16-21.pdf Slide 3: Guiding Principles Provide...
Questions are still unanswered – Canned responses from Dr.Varley and Mr.Reinstein
The fact that our superintendent STILL doesn’t have answers to most of these questions and others that are now arising connected to what is turning into the ironic outcome of an obvious inequity at Hughes and Mountain Park is disturbing. If the plan is supported by education experts and research they shouldn’t have to “dig”, and should know the answers....
What HAPPENED to a “Phased Approach”?
In her 2018 Candidate Statement Ms. Angela Penna stated: “This topic has come up through the years, and in the latest presentation in March of this year, our professional team which included Mrs. Corley-Hand (MKM Principal) and Mrs. Gardner (Director of Special Services) laid out the educational case for full-day kindergarten. In their research, it was discovered that adding three...
All the Facebook: Social media announcements by the district CONNECTED TO BERKELEY HEIGHTS RECONFIGURATION CONTROVERSY (updated 06/25/2021)
Below are links to the Berkeley Heights Public Schools social media announcements in connection to reconfiguration. These links contain communication from the district on reconfiguration, parent and resident comments as well as meeting agendas. “AN UPDATE FROM THE BERKELEY HEIGHTS BOARD OF EDUCATION: BOE Responds to Baseless ‘Violations’Doug Reinstein, President – Board of Education, Michael D’Aquila, Vice President – Board...
All The Videos: Meetings connected to Berkeley Heights Reconfiguration Controversy (updated 06/11/2021)
This is a record of BOE meetings and Town Halls surrounding the BOE’s controversial decision to tie Reconfiguration and Redistricting with FDK after a secretive 9 week planning process. On March 18th, 2021 residents asked about the plans connected to FDK and were told they would need to wait until the April 8th meeting to find out more detail (timestamp...
All The Articles: Op-Eds on the Berkeley Heights School Reconfiguration Controversy (updated 06/28/2021)
I thought it would be helpful to create a one-stop shop of all the articles written by residents and school officials in connection to the reconfiguration and redistricting plan developed by Dr. Varely and voted on by Doug Reinstein, Michael D’Aquila, Christine Reilly and Angela Penna. This body of work represents one of the most thorough, collaborative, fact based, resident...
Involve Families in Law Enforcement Activities Within Our Schools
Originally Published In Another Local Media Outlet on March 7, 2020 A proposal for increasing family involvement and input into the law enforcement activities in Berkeley Heights Schools is an issue I have been raising for some time. I am going to avoid citing the substantial and growing amount of evidence that suggests these programs do more harm than good....
nj21st.com (with the exception of featured images and logo) is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
