Pamela Stanley, Anthony Juskiewicz and Board Attorneys: Lessons Learned, or Rather, Not Learned
Following up on the recent article, which shows emails obtained via OPRA from the Berkeley Heights Board of Education that are related to the incident involving Pamela Stanley and resident Tom Maciejewski, it is concerning that Mrs. Stanley doesn’t grasp the concept of what is ethical and what is not. While taking the picture isn’t an ethical issue, posting...
Clarification and Request for Action Regarding Pamela Stanley’s Misstatements
The following is an email from Edmund Tom Maciejewski to the Berkeley Heights Board of Education. Mr. Maciejewski is a resident of Berkeley Heights NJ. To date, Mr. Maciejewski reports he has not received confirmation that Ms. Stanley WAS acting in her official board capacity during the Starbucks Incident. The attachments linked afterwards are a response to emails Mr. Maciejewski...
Pamela Stanley’s Ethical Failings: A Costly Lesson for Berkeley Heights Schools
Edmund Tom Maciejewski is a resident of Berkeley Heights NJ On Tuesday, June 11, at roughly 1:50 PM, my routine visit to Starbucks took a disconcerting turn. While enjoying my daily tea and a game of online chess, I found myself unwittingly thrust into a situation that underscored the ethical quandaries plaguing the Berkeley Heights Board of Education. In a...
The $34,000 OPRA Request
On 08/2022 a resident made an OPRA request for legal bills between 5/20/21 and 5/20/22 on 08/2022 and the District provided overly-redacted bills that blocked out key information. A lawsuit with the Superior Court to obtain this information was filed on 10/22/22. Instead of providing this information, the District made the decision to engage in a lawsuit that spanned 18 months. The same attorneys who prepared and...
Did the Former Berkeley Heights BOE Majority Get Acquitted of an Ethics Violation by Admitting They Broke the Law?
Let me explain. On March 22, 2022, current BOE Member and former BOE President Angela Penna co-published what we now know to be an inaccurate letter to the editor in response to Sai Akiri’s condemnation of the budget process. This letter was not only quickly debunked but it resulted in an ethics complaint against the publishers of the letter by a resident and parent...
Obstruction By Design: Three Policies the Old Berkeley Heights BOE Changed to Create Chaos For the New BOE
Written by a Berkeley Heights Community Member and BHPSNJ Parent Volunteer If you paid close attention to policy changes and revisions in the last 6th months, you may have wondered why so much was being done regarding policy changes in a short period. Speculation aside, two uncontested community members ran for two open Board seats. This shift in Board members...
Update to the Controversy Surrounding Dr. Varley’s Salary Increase
Answers Lead to More Questions I am still waiting for a response from the Board on what should be simple questions about the Superintendent’s Salary Increase. The Board did approve the 2% raise with a vote on June 5th 2023- so let me set the record straight on that issue. So to answer the question I asked in a prior article: Did...
BOE Member Gale Bradford Questioned On Letter of Support Involving Volunteer Organizations, Elected Officials and Others
Community Member Shares their Email to the Berkeley Heights Board of Education We received several emails and other communication from officers and members of volunteer organizations that support our schools who expressed upset with BOE Member Gale Bradford’s insertion of their organization in a letter of support for Ms. Penna’s Bid for President. We also received similar communication from educators...
Did Dr. Varley Get a Raise Without a Board Vote?
And why weren’t Berkeley Heights Residents Aware of it? Update on 01/14/2023: The BOE DID Vote on this Increase but there is more to the Story. It appears Dr. Varley got a 2% raise without a vote by the Board of Education. To walk through this, we need to first walk through her contract. If you recall, Dr. Varley...
90 Thousand Reasons the Berkeley Heights Public School District Needs to Hire a New Law Firm Next Year
And Why Other NJ Districts Should Reconsider Hiring “Mega-Firms” Our favorite law firm, Cleary, Giacobbe, Alfieri, and Jacobs, hit the 90K mark this month, taking in 50% of the District’s spending, which totaled ~180.000 according to Bill Lists from 1/2023 Through 12/2023. The firm surpassed the entirety of the District’s legal expenditure for the fiscal year before Dr. Varley’s tenure...
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