Notes on the 02/06/2024 Town Council Agenda
All-Inclusive Playground- Update: This item was removed from the Agenda on 2/6/2024 As we’ve reported, the Township appears to be moving forward with an “all-inclusive” playground at CMS; however, this did not appear to be an agenda item for either of the BOE Meetings in January, and the Town Council Liasion for the BOE (Gale Bradford) has not mentioned this...
Why Does the State of NJ Have Our Audit Report Before The Presentation to Our Community & BOE ?
The disregard BHPSNJ Administration has for our Community Continues…. On January 18th, Shauna informed the community that the District was late on its Audit. She also cited N.J.A.C. 18A:23-5 which states: Within 30 days following the receipt of the report of the annual Audit the board of education of the district shall, at a regularly scheduled public meeting, cause the recommendations of the auditor...
Letter supporting Dipti Khanna for BOE President
The following is an email received from Helen Gabara, Berkeley Heights Resident and Parent, to the County Superintendent Daryl Palmieri in Support of Ms. Khanna for BOE President. Mr. Palmieri’s email address is daryl.palmieri@doe.nj.gov The majority of Berkeley Heights citizens who voted for BOE members in November have chosen new board members who vote mostly opposite of how Ms Penna ...
BHCW 02/04/2024 Newsletter
What’s Important to Know About Berkeley Heights This Week…. This week’s newsletter starts with a primer on the 2024 Budget that provides a few snap-shots of the 2022-2023 ACFR. Residents and parents are strongly encouraged to read the attachments to this first in a series leading up to the 2024 BHPSNJ Budget process. We then move to the strange tandem...
BHPSNJ 2024 Budget Prep Part 1:Enrollment, Cost PP, Administration, Instruction and Legal Spending
ACFR Analysis on the Seven District Dashboard There are some pleasant surprises in connection to the District’s Annual Comprehensive Financial Report for 2022-2023 and some areas of concern. It is important to take this summary with a grain of salt as the taxpayers guide has not yet reported on actuals for 2023 and they are another definitive source. This article is...
11/23 Executive Session Minutes: Columbia Field, OPRA Custodian Training
Notes and Thoughts from the Team on Executive Session Minutes for November 2023 Along with an Update on a few Budget Items Related to Administration On the CMS Field So the township has gone silent on the Columbia field discussions and instead has launched the initiative to create an all inclusive playground at Columbia. Given the contention on land boundaries...
Game Play is the New Normal
The Berkeley Heights Public School District’s Issues with Releasing Public Records Continues… A while back I wrote a rather difficult-to-follow article that attempted to outline the games being played with OPRA requests (and agendas, and determining which policies need to be followed, and creatively applying how board meetings are run) by our new Business Administrator, Anthony Juskiewicz. I (and others)...
Dipti Khanna for Berkeley Heights BOE President
The following is an email received from Steve Mondragon, Berkeley Heights Resident and Parent, to the County Superintendent Daryl Palmieri in Support of Ms. Khanna for BOE President. Mr. Palmieri’s email address is daryl.palmieri@doe.nj.gov “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.”-SocratesIf there has ever been a...
BOE Document Drop for November 2023 & Notes from a Teacher on the October 2023 Drop
Teacher Feedback on October 2023 Drop: We received a response to our October Document drop from an educator in the community pertaining to our questions on whether the BOE interviewed candidates for the Director Position: Hi John, You state in this article that Dr. Varley did the interviewing for the Director of STEAM position (Kelly Curtiss). In one of my graduate-level classes, I...
Questions the Berkeley Heights Board of Education Can Answer in Connection to Dr. Varley’s 2023 Salary Increase
Background: On June 5th, 2023, Dr. Varley received the maximum salary increase allowed in a process divorced from past practice and policy. The increase was not announced to the public, and her salary change slipped into a cluster of positions it had never historically been a part of during the 06/05/2023 BOE Meeting. This was the same year the public...
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