
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...

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....

Candidate Remarks During Comment Portion of 09/14/2023 BOE Meeting
The clip below includes remarks from Natasha Joly and Sai Akiri during the comments portion of the 09/14/2023 BOE Meeting. Natasha discussed the following items: Initiatives connected to targets on proficiencies emailed to parents from the Superintendent Building Thinking Classroom Courtesy Busing Lack of Board Oversight on Budget Sai discussed the following items: Lack of comparisons on cohorts and strategies...

Setting Up For Failure
How Many Weird Experiments Need To Go Wrong Before the Berkeley Heights School District Corrects Its Approach to Teaching Our Kids? During the pandemic, when our schools were shut down forcing our children to learn and educators to teach remotely, I became hyper-aware of the implementation of a new literacy program, “The Teachers College Reading and Writing Project.” This program,...

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The Unredacted Detailed Budget That Some of Our BOE Members Have Not Seen
2023-2024 Unredacted Detailed Adopted Budget- Berkeley Heights Public Schools According to confirmed sources within the District neither the previous Business Administrator, Finance Chair Joy Young or Board President Angela Penna circulated the unredacted detailed adopted budget for school year 2023-2024 to the full BOE. In other words, this would be the first time some BOE members have access to this...

A Quick Dive into the Latest High School Rankings
Governor Livingston High School Falls First in Dollars Spent, Last in Rankings -Written by an Educator in the Community Earlier this week, U.S. News and World Reports released their “Best New Jersey High School rankings” for 2023. The ranking methodology includes college readiness (30%), state assessment proficiency (20%), state assessment performance (20%), underserved student performance (10%), college curriculum breadth (10%),...

Some Important Loose Ends to Think About As We Begin the 2023 School Year
School Calendar, FDK, Lunch and Infrastructure I have some things on my mind – not enough content for an earth-shattering article, but significant enough. Without further adieu; 1. BHPS Calendar I am skeptical that the overwhelming vote from parents and staff to start school was BEFORE Labor Day. Please find two staff members and two parents (not part of central...

The Tyranny of the Minority Part 1
-Steve Greguske This article is the first of several articles that will take you on a journey into an environment where kindness and critical thinking are discouraged. The journey begins by googling the following phrase: New Jersey Department of Education Transgender Guidance for Schools You will find a seven-page PDF document with the stated purpose to “…create an inclusive environment...

Administrative Turnover Hurts Berkeley Heights’ Teachers
Since April 2023, six administrators have resigned, retired, or were forced out of Berkeley Heights Public Schools. -Written by an Educator in the Community Here is the list of experienced administrators that have resigned, retired, or were forced out of Berkeley Heights Public Schools (BHPS) in the past four months: -Annie Corley-Hand, Mary Kay McMillin (MKM) Early Childhood Center Principal...