The District Continues to Tear Away at Family Engagement
At the 8/10 Board meeting Bradford, Cianciulli, Hyman, Stanley, Young, and Penna voted to abolish POLICY 9100. Per the agenda, the policy to be abolished was listed as “9100 Public Relations.” Per the BHPS Policy Manual, policy 9100 is “School-Community Relations Goals.” Policy 9120 is “Public Relations Program.” If they don’t sound similar, it’s because they are not. One is regarding communication...
The BOE Write-up That’s Almost as Long as the Meeting
A re-cap of the August 10th, 2023 Board of Education Meeting, with Bonus Material that you won’t want to miss. The Superintendent’s Report consisted mainly of a presentation by Mr. Nixon on the results of the NJGPA test. Governor Livingston students did well, with 95% receiving a passing score in ELA and 82% passing the math portion. Results from last...
Add Music to the List of Casualties Under Dr. Varley’s Reign of Error
Dr. Varley Continues to Build on Her Incredible Record of Harmful Decisions -Ekin Najarian Instead of using the opportunity of two open Assistant Superintendent Positions to prevent further cuts and teacher transfers, the District has decided to compromise our Music Program. Ms. Lim teaches Music at Woodruff and Mary Kay and is highly regarded by families in both schools, The...
Community Correspondence to the Board January through March 2023
Last year the BOE stopped reading Board Correspondence at BOE Meetings, robbing the community of important perspectives from parents, students, and teachers. This year the BOE stopped including this correspondence as part of the minutes, only orally reporting on the correspondence and often with a spin on the subject matter. This is an example of how the Business Administrator is...
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...
The Berkeley HeightS Public School District’s 12-month Path to Less Input and Engagement
This article was originally published on TapInto. Over the past 12 months, residents, especially parents, have witnessed the removal of avenues available to them to communicate with District leadership and influence policy decisions. This article is intended to serve as a timeline of events surrounding the removal of these avenues. After a reconfiguration process (April 2021) that led to an...
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