Laura’s Notes on the 04/10/2024 Berkeley Heights BOE Meeting Agenda
The April 10 Board meeting will begin at 6:45PM. The purpose of this meeting is solely to interview 3 Superintendent search firms (in addition to NJSBA which was interviewed earlier this year). The search firms are: McPherson & Jacobson, Kathleen Helewa Educational Consultants and 4M Consulting. The interviews are slated to be conducted from 7-8:30PM allowing for 30 minutes for...
Laura’s Notes on the 03/18/2024 Berkeley Heights BOE Meeting Agenda
Monday’s Board Agenda, what’s important: First up are Board Goals. The agenda setup does not convey that there will be a discussion or vote on these as the roll call for the meeting occurs below the listed Goals. The tentative Budget will be introduced on Monday night. Presentations have yet to be posted for public review. However, there is a “highlight” sheet embedded...
John’s Notes on the 02/26/2024 BOE Agenda: Transportation Presentation
The presentation document is a disappointment in two ways- the lack of detail in connection to recommendations and the lack of explanation in connection to questions the public has had for nearly a year surrounding the management of this program. I won’t spend much time on the first area as I’ll have more to say after the presentation. I will...
Laura’s Notes on the 02/26/2024 BOE Meeting: Board Appointments
Saying this meeting is stacked is an understatement of epic proportions. The Report of the Superintendent will include the Audit Presentation, a Transportation Consultant presentation (regarding bussing), the PowerPoint is available here AND Board Member Training from the NJ State Board Association. Following a third attempt at electing a Vice President, the Business Administrators report will include a presentation (the...
Legal Spending and Searchable Attachments for 02/26/2024 Berkeley Heights BOE Meeting
The Current Board Set to Vote On Huge Legal Tab from Prior Board Our community continues to pay for the consequences of the prior Board’s decisions. This month’s legal bills total $28,320, of which the “legal firm” (lol) of Cleary, Giacobbe, Alfieri, and Jacobs will receive $23,727. We have spent about $2,000 more compared to Feb and Jan of 2023,...
NightWatch Episode 26: Laura Waters of NJ Education Report
Laura Waters of NJ Education Report joins us for an incredibly informative episode of NightWatch. We talk about the impact of COVID on education, changes to NJ Standardized Testing, Transparency, the state of American Education, and more. See All Night Watch Episodes
Three Clear Examples of Why Change is Needed – 01/18/2024 Berkeley Heights BOE Meeting
There are three points in time Berkeley Heights and Mountainside families can look at during the last meeting to understand why many in our community have very strong concerns about Ms. Penna becoming BOE President – aside from an apparent conflict of interest involving largely defunct ethics claims against another BOE Member (Ms. Akiri) and several SEC validated claims against...
Legal Spending and Searchable Attachments for 01/18/2024 Berkeley Heights BOE Meeting
Tomorrow, the BOE will vote on whether to approve another ~$7,000 to the law firm of Cleary Giacobbe Alfieri Jacobs, LLC; total legal spending between four firms comes to ~$11,000 – based on our review. The agenda includes other legal costs as mentioned in yesterday’s article . There is a $1500 settlement on an OPRA case and a $44,000 settlement for some other matter that isn’t clear...
The Real Story on How the January Berkeley Heights BOE Meeting Fell Apart
Nothing occurs in a vacuum. The chaos that happened at the most recent Berkeley Heights BOE Meeting was set in place well before any BOE member stepped through the Governor Livingston cafeteria door and, as mentioned in the intro I wrote about Melissa Varley’s letter to staff, it started in the District’s Central Office. There is no longer any question...
Shauna’s Notes on the 12/14/2023 Berkeley Heights BOE Meeting
Gaslighting On the RFP, More Power to the President, Still No Answers on Legal Spending and Board Correspondence Now Requires Gate Keeping The Superintendent’s Report led immediately to the Resolution and Congratulations to the GL Girls Volleyball Team on their second sectional state championship! Recognition was also given to Joy Young and Robert Cianciulli for their service as board members,...
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