BERKELEY HEIGHTS 2022 BOE ELECTION- CANDIDATE RESPONSES TO QUESTION 2

BOE Candidates were asked to respond to the following question, the second in a series of questions BOE Candidates will be asked from BHCW:

“We have heard many teachers speak publicly and to BHCW privately about the continued low morale in our schools stemming from our Superintendent. Last year the head of the BHEA expressed the position that the Superintendent was responsible for breaking our district (https://youtu.be/tLudvHbPmt0).  

This appeared prompted by the discovery that Dr. Varley had no research (none) in support of her plan to change the reconfiguration of our schools, the lack of family input into the process by families and teachers, the lack of partnership with the municipal government (https://bit.ly/3oV1gW4), violation of laws on the part of the Board (which she defended) [https://bit.ly/3akGqw5], along with an 11th hour mass reassignment of teachers to grades they were not familiar with (https://bit.ly/3yfd7mm).  

This year, the teaching staff contradicted Dr. Varley’s inaccurate understanding of the language program in the middle school and incorrect enrollment numbers that were used as a basis to end the French program. An entire language program was going to be eliminated based on wrong numbers. It took teaching staff to inform the public as Dr. Varley ignored repeated calls by the public and two BOE members for the actual raw data (https://bit.ly/38Hx25h).

If elected, what would be your plan to ensure every single employee of the BHPS system is supported, valued and partnered with in approaching significant decisions that impact the District?”

Responses are being listed in the order they were received. Five responses were received (below).

BHCW did not receive responses from Sarah Achenbach,  Angela Penna, Douglas Grober, Ayana Joseph, Erika Pedraza, Herb Waddell, Todd Najarian or Jodi Cear.

Natasha Joly

The common sense approach to making thoughtful decisions is to solicit stakeholder feedback especially from those directly impacted. Where possible, I would create working groups with individuals representing teachers, parents, administrators, students (if appropriate), and BOE members. I would make transparent any concerns, recommendations, requests for additional information, etc. and funnel this feedback into BOE discussions and decision making routines. I would not support any proposal where there was not enough time for proper due diligence inclusive of feedback from the working groups. My goal is to provide a framework where BHPS employees can provide input into the decisions being made. By participating in the process, I hope they would feel supported and valued.

Dipti Khanna

Thank you for highlighting a critical element of what makes a high performing school district – trust of the teachers and support staff. The success of our school district and students is not possible without the efforts and commitment of our teachers, support staff and custodians.

My memories of school and college are shaped in large part by the experiences and interactions with my teachers. I hear the same when I talk to my children about their experiences in school.

Our school district does a great job of recognizing our teachers and support staff through partnership with the parents and students.

However there has been a lot of churn in the district over the past couple of years between the pandemic and new administration.

If I were to be elected to the BOE position, I would work with the district administration to create trust based relationships with our teachers; which means being transparent and honest in our interactions, negotiating with shared interests in mind instead of positions and acknowledging issues and addressing them together.

As an example, I think our teachers and support staff could have received more support and help when several had to move schools as a part of the reconfiguration and redistricting process. Packing a classroom that has been built up many years is an emotional and arduous process and perhaps our district administration could have offered more support through that move across schools.

Several of our teachers and support staff are teaching a new class for the first time coming out of the pandemic that need more time to adapt and support from our district administration.

Being transparent means we might not always agree on everything, but I would be honest and open in my interactions balancing the interests of teachers and support staff, students and parents when making important decisions.

As always, thank you for the opportunity to share my thoughts.

Gale Bradford

Teaching is the essence of our school district. Our Berkeley Heights’ schools are highly rated because of the professional individuals, teachers and staff, that instruct and support our children. 

Teachers and staff need to feel supported by generous yearly salary increases and commensurate salary guides and steps to ensure recruitment and retention of highly qualified professionals.

Teachers and staff need to feel valued by providing adequate daily lesson preparation time, by providing explanatory in-person workshops with continuing monthly mentorship for new curricula and for new staff, and by providing adequate weekly collaboration time within the grade level at the building and district level.

Teachers and staff need to partner with administration in decision making for schedules, curricula, lesson scope and sequence, programs, workshops, classes, and placement. 

As an elected Board of Education member, an important aspect of the job is to understand what is happening in our schools and to listen to our staff. Members should become active observers and listeners in our schools to facilitate improved understanding and communication among the BOE, the administration, the staff, and the students and parents. 

Neil Hemann

I’ll admit to having some trouble with this answer as I didn’t want it to sound generic or laced with corporate lingo, but it is one rooted in the soft skills of leadership and team management.

In the end, the board does not “run the school” in a direct sense but has the role of oversight and advisement. I cannot, by diktat say the administrator “will” do this, or that, were I elected to the board -nor would I want the board to operate in such a manner. Successful organizations arise when all members are engaged and feel comfortable (and confident) that their experience is valued, their opinions considered, and their efforts appreciated. I feel very strongly that the best path to this is through active partnerships with the stakeholders, i.e. the faculty, administration, and board – which represents, by extension (but not exclusion) the parents and community at large. Ideally, this partnership should operate as a triad, with all three supporting each other. In some of the examples your question described, that has proven challenging. In such events, I envision the board acting as a facilitator to discussion and a conduit of information between parties in order to make decisions that are based on a clear understanding of the common facts. It doesn’t guarantee that tough decisions won’t be made – and they should never be made in the dark – but there should never be an argument on the factual matters of the issue. Information is vital and ensuring the open, impartial, exchange of it is central to my desire to join the board.

We as leaders cannot expect good teams to simply arise, it takes work to develop them. The board should actively pursue open dialogs within the triad, and I would encourage all efforts to increase team engagement using departmental (or similar) focus groups and regular, faculty-wide townhall meetings to address developing issues. Up to and including additional mentorship relationships, seminars or training to help as needed. As the communal employer of the superintendent, it is the board’s task to shape the landscape and define the goals of the district – and then allow the people we have entrusted with that task to perform it. When course corrections need to be made, they should be done collaboratively.

In my current company, our management makes use of independently run surveys to gauge overall employee satisfaction and help identify areas for improvement. I would like to see something similar implemented – but the greatest thing that we as the board should do is foster the development of engaged leadership at the administration and board level, be humble, and responsive enough to change course if the feedback we receive is not as we expected.

Sai Akiri

Thank you for giving me an opportunity @Berkeleyheightscommunitywatch.

Trust in district leadership is key to running a successful school district. And Trust is earned not given. #Transparency #Accountability and #Communication are key to building trust. Unfortunately what we have been seeing for the last 3 years is a lack of clear communication, shutting down avenues where parents, teachers, and residents in the community can get answers to their questions. This has caused major trust issues, especially when: 

1. Questions to the district administration are not answered at the public board meetings
2. Emails are not responded to in a timely manner 
3. Picking and choosing selective emails to respond
4. Inaccurate response to resident’s questions
5. Presentations are made without releasing the supporting data
6. Emails and public communication announcements are retracted 

Teachers and support staff along with the district administration help educate our children and make our children’s experiences at school memorable. I firmly believe that teachers, paraprofessionals, counselors and support staff play a vital role in the success of a student. Students spend most of their active time at school, we must support our teachers and support staff in all they need. In this regard, I am a big proponent of having an open line of communication with all. 

Major changes that impact our district need to be presented with supporting data at open town halls where feedback is not restricted to 3 minutes. For example: 

1. Planned Referendum that was postponed in 2020
2. Redistricting and reconfiguration in 2021 
3. The decision to eliminate French.

My track record in working for transparency and accountability in local government is well documented since 2016. My actions on the board seeking changes towards transparency and accountability since January are there for all to see.

My campaign is built on the principles of transparency and partnering with parents and residents to rebuild that trust. As you have noticed in the 2021 election season, I am one of the few candidates who interact directly with everyone on social media and I will continue the same this year. 

I will continue to have open channels of communication and support our staff in the proper performance of their duties. We are a great district but we can aspire to do even better. We need to bring the focus back to academic rigor, the overall development of our children, and collaboration with teachers, parents, and the community.

As always these are my thoughts and opinions as an individual and do not represent the opinion of the Berkeley Heights Board of Education.

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Candidate Responses to Question One