05/11/2023 BOE Meeting-Johns Notes
BOE Majority Refuses to Have Dr. Varley Explain our Rankings and Ratings Slide Dr. Foregger motioned to have Dr. Varley explain the decline in ratings and rankings, and Ms. Khanna seconded the motion. This has been discussed and parsed out for weeks by this site leading up to this meeting. The rest of the Board either abstained or voted no,...
BHPSNJ Creating More Road blocks to Public Information?
More evidence that the OPRA Custodian Position is more of a barrier than a help… Update @ 5:47: Someone asked this question and now I cant see it…”what is a false binary?” A false binary is when a person defines the argument according to a limited reality – as if only two things are possible…he was responding to my initial...
05/11/2023 BOE Agenda- Laura’s Notes
What to look out for during this month’s BOE Meeting.. In the recent months it has been increasingly suspect about how our top Administration goes about handling the business of this district. It wouldn’t surprise me if Dr. Varley has a large spin-wheel in her office and, when she’s feeling so inclined, takes a spin to decide which person, department,...
BHPSNJ World Languages: Another Casualty
In what has been weeks of difficult news for parents, students and teachers, cuts in World Languages are sliding in under the radar… -Ekin Najarian Last week we learned of cuts to world languages at CMS and GL, and of course, low enrollment is being targeted as the culprit. Despite not having the numbers (because they weren’t provided), we’ll suspend...
The OPRA Custodian Position Isn’t Working Out
And That Shouldn’t Surprise Anyone Everyone familiar with OPRA thought naming Steve Hopkins as the new Records Custodian was a bad idea. Well, almost everyone. It was nothing about him personally; it was because of the lack of supporting reasoning behind the hire. And, for those paying close attention, Dr. Varley has made it abundantly clear that those in her...
BHCW 05/07/2023 Newsletter
What’s Important to know about Berkeley Heights, NJ this week… Online Version of Newsletter PDF Version of Newsletter: There are three ways to get BHCW content delivered to your doorstep: (1) Sign-Up for our weekly/bi weekly newsletter. This is the most popular option so far. Subscribers will get email with articles published for the time period in between. (2) Subscribe to our...
Berkeley Heights Public School Rating & Ranking Drop- Closer Looks
It’s Not Just GL- The Youngest Learners in the Data Set Are Far Behind Surrounding Schools This week, the community member who has been looking through the rankings and ratings that we tied into the budget data took a closer look at ratings and rankings. We posted on one part of that analysis this week – demonstrating that Governor Livingston...
The Berkeley Height Public School Survey Problem
And what we can do to fix it. Surveys are an essential tool that systems can use to gather vital information to know more about the people they are serving to better meet needs and determine whether what they are doing now is effective. Asking for information about age, ethnicity, culture, sexuality, religion, religiosity, and habits are common practices and...
It’s Time For A Vote Of No Confidence
The Berkeley Heights School District Needs to make a Decision I’ve concluded that no answers are provided at Board meetings because no one knows the answers. I run my household, and I run it pretty damn well. I care about the people in my home, and I care deeply for the decisions I make and the effect they will have...
The Collaborative Model – Part Three
The Final Article in the Series on the BHPSNJ Implementation of the Collaborative Model As mentioned in Part Two, more recent educational papers have begun to focus on the real-life issues that have arisen as “consultation and collaboration” have become commonplace in schools. Much of the information below is from a paper by Stephen Hernandez at Hofstra University. (Link at...
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