Business as Usual: Still No Budget and Waiting on the Promise of a Public Meeting
It’s business as usual, with the current school district budget for 2023-24 – A state secret that can’t be released to the public. -Sai Akiri Last year the business administrator Ms. Kot, superintendent Dr. Varley, along with Previous Board President Mr. D’Aquilla and then Vice President Penna, denied sharing the complete tentative budget with the entire Board until the budget vote....
How Much More Should We Be Expected to Tolerate?
The ongoing saga of our BOE, Dr. Varley and Julie Kot is Harming Our District -Sai Akiri It has been almost two years since parents became aware of the mass transfers of teachers in preparation for redistricting and reconfiguration in 2021. Parents, the key stakeholders, were not informed until the nth minute, they were not offered a seat at the...
Dr. Melissa Varley’s Tax Payer Funded Defense
Questions Remain Unanswered Sai Akiri The text below is my last reply to Dr. Melissa Varley as a response to her answers to my questions on the amount of money the District has spent on her defense against the Nepotism allegation that the proposed settlement agreement appears to demonstrate that she is now admitting to. Please read the email exchange...
BUDGET, NEPOTISM & TEXTBOOKS
In this clip, a parents asks questions surrounding three areas: (1) Budget Process: Last year, the Budget Process was the subject of much criticism as the total budget was not disclosed to the public (until BHCW obtained it through an OPRA request to the State) and because there was no public meeting before initial approval. Last year the BOE hinted...
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...
My Thoughts on the Thinking Classroom Information Session
I attended the Building Thinking Classroom session on Mathematics at GL last night and am sharing some insights from the session. The turnout was so large that the district changed the venue from the cafeteria to the Auditorium. The session was informative but primarily focused on the model’s positive aspects and did not mention issues with the program, lessons learned,...
BERKELEY HEIGHTS 2022 BOE ELECTION- CANDIDATE RESPONSES TO QUESTION 4
This is the last in a series of questions BHCW posed to BHCW Candidates. We received responses from Gale Bradford, Natasha Joly, Neil Hemman, Doug Grober, Sai Akiri and Dipti Khanna,. We would like to thank all the Candidates who responded to our questions throughout this series- taking the risk of putting their thoughts in writing for the public to...
Sliding Grades and Proficiencies
The historical trend of Governor Livingston High schools Math proficiency scores shows a disturbing pattern, and Science also appears to be in troubled waters. Many parents in the community are questioning how we got here. The short answer – one reason we are here is that measurement, for whatever reason and for the longest time, has been incorrectly viewed as...
MY STATEMENT ON THE SEPTEMBER 22, 2022 BOARD MEETING
Our board meeting became disorderly yesterday evening. Pamela Stanley gave a prepared speech unrelated to board agenda items that sought to mischaracterize parents’ concerns. I requested Board President Michael D’Aquila to control the meeting and bring it back in order. He asked for Ms. Stanley to stay on topic, but she refused, and he did not exercise his powers as...
BERKELEY HEIGHTS 2022 BOE ELECTION- CANDIDATE RESPONSES TO QUESTION 3
Since our last publication on responses to questions from BOE Candidates, several Candidates have dropped out of the race. Responses to our questions have gotten a good amount of traction and positive feedback from members of the community. Of the current field, we received responses from Natasha Joly, Dipti Khanna, Gale Bradford, Neil Herman, Sai Akiri and Doug Grober to our...
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