PARENTS CONCERNED ABOUT BOE CANDIDATE ELECTIONEERING ON SCHOOL GROUNDS
A parent emailed the BOE requesting clarification on District Policy concerning electioneering on school grounds and forwarded the email to BHCW for publishing. The email concerns Ms. Angela Penna and asks 4 questions about the BOE Vice President (who is running for re-election): “1. What was Angela Penna, who is running for re-election, doing inside and outside of William Woodruff...
Board approved instagram for Family engagement
Anyone else miss the exclusive invitation to be part of the ever-engaging Instagram account of Dr. Varley? This spectacular piece of social media was Board approved to keep you feeling like you are part of the community. What has been made all too clear to me, and other like minded, intelligent folks, is that the person running the show in...
HIDING BEHIND SMILING STUDENTS AND POSITIVE NEWS WON’T SOLVE OUR PROBLEMS
Since the District shut down comments on most of their social media platforms, one will notice that there has been a steady stream of pictures with smiling children and positive news. Nothing about the multiple ethics complaints. Agendas and attachments for BOE meetings remain voluminous (taking a page from our Business Administrator), and families are restricted to three-minute one-directional statements...
Berkeley Heights BOE Candidate Natasha Joly Questions the Berkeley Heights BOE on Zoom Meetings
Last week Laura Kap published a timeline of facts that contradicted Mr. D’Aquila’s incredible claim that the equipment purchased by the District and the move to Governor Livingston were never intended to facilitate the ability of the public to speak at BOE meetings through zoom. Mr. D’Aquila’s claim was in response to Ms. Akiri’s question surrounding hybrid meetings in a...
Concerns Over Growing Legal Bills Need to be Addressed
By Shauna Williams The legal bills accrued by the Berkeley Heights School District Board of Education have skyrocketed in the last year, leading the Board to vote for increases in the cap on legal fees from $85,000 to $125,000 then again to $160,000. At the September 1st Board meeting, business administrator Julie Kot confirmed that our legal bills for the...
DR. VARLEY’S LEGAL TEAM TRIES TO PREVENT RESIDENT FROM ATTENDING HEARING ON NEPOTISM ALLEGATION
BHCW received an email from a resident who filed an ethics complaint against Dr. Varley that alleges the Superintendent and Attorneys from the District are attempting to prevent the resident from attending a hearing in connection to a probable cause finding from the SEC that the Berkeley Heights Superintendent violated the District’s nepotism policy. From the email, the following appears...
OPRA, ATTORNEYs and AWARDS CEREMONIES
The District is playing a very costly and cynical game regarding requests made under the Open Public Records Act. OPRA is a law that allows everyday people to get information from public entities. It is a tool that holds tax funded public entities accountable to the people who pay their bills and use their services. Let’s start this post with...
BERKELEY HEIGHTS 2022 BOE ELECTION- CANDIDATE RESPONSES TO QUESTION 2
BOE Candidates were asked to respond to the following question, the second in a series of questions BOE Candidates will be asked from BHCW: “We have heard many teachers speak publicly and to BHCW privately about the continued low morale in our schools stemming from our Superintendent. Last year the head of the BHEA expressed the position that the Superintendent...
THE DISTRICTS WAR ON COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT CONTINUES: THE 2022 LWV BOE DEBATE
The League of Women Voters was born out of the American women’s suffrage movement. For over a century they have maintained an important role in the national discourse of American government by sponsoring debates, working to reform elections to benefit every American (HAVA), launching VOTE411 all while remaining non-partisan. The LWV has been critical in helping our small community learn...
BOARD ZOOM MEETINGS
The Spindoctors, I mean 6-member “we will never agree with or listen to Ms. Akiri or Dr. Foregger, even when they make sense or have done their homework” bloc (D’Aquila, Penna, Cianciulli, Stanley, Young and Hyman) of Board members, are at it again. This is simple, like elementary-level undersanding required, so let me spell out the facts for you; The...
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