Peeling the Spin: A Condensed Look at OPRA Requests
There are currently 118 individual screenshots of OPRA (Open Public Records Act) requests, from June 2022 to the present, on the district website. In an effort to parse this out and make it easier to get to the meat of the issue surrounding the appointment of a School Records Custodian, here is a breakdown. Of the 118 posted screenshots, five...
Our First Episode of BHCW Night Watch
We discuss:-The District’s Security Mess/Theatre-Newly obtained settlement agreement @ Dr. Varley’s Nepotism Case-The first two Berkeley Heights BOE Meetings of the Year
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...
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...
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,...
“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...
BTC – The Struggle is Real
It’s been just over a month since the November 1st information session on Building Thinking Classroom. It was at this session that I became aware of this approach to teaching math and that there were parents who were very upset over the implementation of this approach. Since then: 1. The administration took less than one day to re-evaluate and moved to a more...
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