Tom Foregger Saves The Day Again
One of our concerns has been remedied for now as Tom guides the Board away from violating its own policies. Comments from residents on this clip of the District hiring yet ANOTHER person to help our Business Administrator do her job: “Not only is it a violation of policy, the district has not done it’s due diligence in investigating whether...
01/19/2023 BOE Meeting- What Parents Should Be Aware of Going In To This Meeting
There is a 15-page agenda with a 106-page attachment. BHCW reached out to the District last night as the policy revisions were STILL not publicly available until today. Buried in this mountain of paper parents should pay attention to the following: Resolution A: Approve the Annual Appointment of Stephen Hopkins as Records Custodian. This is a new appointment and a role...
Policy 0167 – Don’t Allow Them To Silence Your Voice
Sai Akiri Everyone attending a Berkeley Heights Board of Education meeting has fundamental rights, mainly the freedom of speech. Every resident or parent wanting to express their opinions, concerns, or questions is entitled to do so under the OPMA – Open public meetings act. There are two segments during the board meeting for residents to speak. The first is during...
Berkeley Heights School District Saddled with Current Attorney for Another Year
While it was clear at the end of 2022 that the Berkeley Heights Board of Education was not going to address calls to look into hiring a different law firm, it was still disappointing to see the firm of Cleary, Giacobbe, Alfieri, Jacobs, LLC renewed for another year with no hesitation or opposition. This law firm has given our district...
Parents Aren’t creating THE “Decorum Issues” at BOE Meetings…
In this six-minute clip, parents and residents can notice: (1) Ms. Penna consistently interrupting and talking over parents while taking up their 3-minute space while advocating for decorum. While she refuses to answer questions because “BOE Meetings are not a back and forth” she has no problem interrupting parents and taking up their time to speak. (2) The Attorney attempting...
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,...
Ladies and Gentlemen – The Real Jeanne Kingsley
Politics is ugly. We have endured manipulative, back-door dealings by our elected representatives over the last few years on the Board of Education (BOE) and Town Council. Ironically, these puppeteers, if you will, are starting to spiral out-of-control and we are seeing just how ugly and cruel people can be. For those of you who are somewhat ‘new’ to the...
“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...
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