A Loud Voice for Police in Schools
by John Leo & Laura Kapuscinski We support Police. Moreover, we support having an appropriately trained officer in each school with the primary responsibility of keeping our students and staff safe. The officers placed in schools are very specific and special for the school environment. A SRO (School Resource Officer) is a full-time police officer who is responsible for teaching...
BHCW 02/05/2023 Weekly Newsletter
In this week’s newsletter: View the Online VersionorDownload the PDF
Loud Voice Against Police In Schools
I will remain one of the “loud voices” against additional police in schools. One can support more police in schools, but to wonder out loud why anyone would be against it demonstrates a concerning lack of research on the topic. So here is going to be an unusual article coming from me. I support Dr. Varley’s decision not to make...
BHCW Night Watch – Episode 2 – 01/29/2023: Apocalyptic Waffle Math Bad Wifi Mashup Edition
In this episode we talk about The Apocalypse, Pancakes v Waffles, HIB, School Safety, Math, Building Thinking Classrooms, Wawa and Liza’s Reappointment. Related Content: OUR FIRST EPISODE OF BHCW NIGHT WATCH
The BOE Blame Game is the Greatest Security Threat
BOE and Administration are too confused and angry to bring the community together on a complex issue. John Leo Jr. Mid January, a student brought an airsoft gun to Columbia Middle school. Students reported it, and the school and PD responded in kind. But some parts of the responses reveal an uncomfortable truth that demands some scrutiny. Does our public...
Berkeley Heights Administrators Remain a Wall of Silence
Parent’s continue to face an Administration that is short on answers concerning the Districts Difficulties with Math In this clip from the 01/05/2023 meeting, a parent faces yet another wall of silence after expressing a coherent fact-based commentary connected to the District’s continued difficulties with teaching math. Dr. Varley, responsible for this disaster, did not offer a single explanation, rebuttal,...
“Teaching is an Art”
We’ve heard this from our Superintendent recently in conjunction with parent concerns over Building Thinking Classroom methods and the impact it is having on students. Our administration, across the district, has declined to intervene on behalf of students who are failing, whose families have to turn to tutors or outside math classes, or who have come to realize their best...
Thinking Classroom: Where Are We Now, What Happens Next
Building the Thinking Classroom (BTC), on paper and in theory, sounds like a wonderful way to teach. Who doesn’t want their child to be a critical thinker, able to come up with independent, creative solutions to problems? In reality, as parents either know now, or are coming to realize, there is nearly as wide a range of success with this...
The First BOE Meeting Offered Parents Little Hope For Change
Angela Penna and her bloc will continue the practice of the former BOE President in allowing the Attorney to act as an unelected BOE member. There were several instances during the meeting where she and the Attorney rudely interrupted Berkeley Heights parents. The purpose of this is to likely occupy time so that the parent has less opportunity to speak...
BTC – The Struggle is Real
It’s been just over a month since the November 1st information session on Building Thinking Classroom. It was at this session that I became aware of this approach to teaching math and that there were parents who were very upset over the implementation of this approach. Since then: 1. The administration took less than one day to re-evaluate and moved to a more...
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