Bills, Bills, bills; Not the song from Destiny’s child
In late August, I received legal bills from the district for May 2021-June 2022. I found the statements overly redacted and nearly impossible to decipher or begin to understand the mounting legal bills the district incurred. My original request was to find evidence to support Dr. Varley’s statements, under oath, that she consulted with a lawyer before hiring her daughter...
THE DISTRICT PUBLISHES OPRA REQUESTS ON WEBSITE
After shutting down comments on social media, stopping the practice of reading parent emails, changing the budget review process to a shorter time frame (and not providing the full budget for public review), attempting to silence BOE members on social media and trying to set a precedent that BOE Members providing an opinion on meeting minutes is unethical, the District...
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...
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...
OPRA: The Final Line OF Defense
During the 06/10/2021 meeting, Mr. Reinstein made it a point to highlight that over 20 OPRA requests came from one parent (https://bit.ly/3vJ3p9v). This event occurring nearly one year after the BOE (under his leadership) implemented the practice of listing OPRA requests received by the District on Board Meeting Agendas. Additionally, District staff who receive OPRA requests from parents cc Mr....
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