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 third and most recent question to the candidates.

We did not receive responses from Angela Penna, Ayana Joseph or Jodi Cear.

Erika Pedraza, Herb Waddell, Sarah Achenbach and Todd Najarian are no longer in the race, we thank them for considering a run and respect the reasons they have for not pursuing office further. We appreciate their prior participation in responding to our questions and wish them the best.

We thank all the candidates for taking time out of their busy schedule in providing this very important service to the community. We hope that candidates who have not responded will choose to do so in the future.

For our third installment, candidates were asked the following question submitted to us by a parent with children in BHPS:

“Given that the District has shut down almost every avenue for public discussion except for three-minute, one-directional BOE-controlled snippets, residents are allowed in BOE Meetings, many parents feel that major decisions are being rushed through, rubber-stamped with no opportunity for input.  Here is the question:

“I would like to hear from BOE candidates as to whether they would be willing to adopt any of the following or if they can share any of their suggestions and ideas if they agree that this is far too much information and this is an issue that needs to be addressed:

(1) Schedule more frequent meetings so that there is not so much to go over at one time potentially keeping meetings from being 5 hours long, making it more likely that all BOE members will be familiar with what they are voting on, and making it easier for parents to attend meetings.

(2) Share with residents a sort of ‘Cliff Notes’ version of what is on the agenda.

(3) Make the agenda and any attachments available the week prior to BOE meetings.””

Responses are below and listed in the order they were received.

Natasha Joly

I completely agree that publishing the volumes of policy changes cannot possibly result in substantive discussion during the BOE meeting. Neither the BOE members nor the public have enough time to read and digest the changes in order to make informed decisions. With respect to the length of meetings and the volumes of policy pages I would propose the following:

– Policy updates need to be published at least 2 weeks in advance of any meeting where these are discussed. Questions from the public should be solicited and answers prepared. This would provide for a better discussion and hopefully shorten duration of the meeting. 

– With respect to policy updates, I’d like to see the delineation of updates that are needed as a result of legislation vs those that are based on the judgement of the Administration. 

– Non-policy agenda items and related materials should be published at least a week in advance of the meeting.

– While agendas can be updated prior to the meeting after initial publication of the agenda, I propose that any agenda topics that are added within the week of the meeting are not voted on in that session. Again, this is to allow for review of the particular item. 

– I’m in favor of additional meetings if it means the suggestions above can be executed.

While a “Cliff Notes” version of the policy changes might be nice, the devil is in the detail. What’s really needed is enough time to read and process the information.

Neil Hemann

Hello, and once again thank you for the opportunity not only to answer your questions, but more importantly be allowed the chance for my attitudes, and general philosophies towards leadership and “committee” seep out between the lines of these responses. The overarching theme of this week’s question is that of information – when, where, how much, and who controls it. I’d like to answer in reverse order from which it was posed. 

Transparency, and forthrightness, is in my opinion the single most important quality that the BOE – or any public entity’s activity – should possess and it goes without saying that when it comes to public meetings, the agenda’s, attachments and any information that the BOE would wish the public to consider should be known and made available with sufficient time for it to be reviewed. Deadlines for items to be added to the agenda should be set and adhered to. However, there is a complication – say the deadline for publication to the public is one week prior to a BOE meeting, the deadline for an item’s addition to the agenda would likely be five days prior to that deadline to ensure all the associated information is in hand and ready for publication/upload. This would leave, in essence, only a two week “active” period between monthly meetings. It may not be enough to keep pace with the work that needs to be done. I don’t say this as an excuse to stifle information flow, in fact I am a strident proponent of it, but merely to point out that creating rigid meeting structures can slow an organization’s pace. 

With respect to part two of the question, I would again support the addition of an agenda synopsis or executive summary. A short paragraph akin to the explanations that accompany ballot issues seems sufficient. The vital portion being an impartial description of issue and brief description of the for/against position if necessary.

And finally for point one, no one unless being paid, should have to attend a five-hour meeting. Meetings, in addition to pre-determined agendas, should have set amounts of time to consider each before moving on and not packed so tightly as to prevent a proper discussion. The work of the external committee is an important aspect of this – every issue should not be a fresh discussion at the committee of the whole, and I would hold it as the responsibility of the various committee chairs to bring issues to the board with much of the legwork done. From the public’s viewpoint I would strongly encourage the creation of caucuses around issues as needed. A single speaker representing the voices of the many would likely allow for a more structured and productive meeting.

In closing, if the BOE wants the trust of the public to make choices regarding their school system, they need to earn and maintain that trust via transparent actions and earnest presentations of the issues. Not everyone will be satisfied, I recognize this, but neither can meetings devolve into a chorus of a thousand voices and hope to accomplish anything but frustration. Meetings need to be structured to maximize both public participation and effective governance. As a prospective Board member, I promise to always be on the side of information and a friend of inquiry in the form of citizen journalists acting in the public interest. I am very fond of the Washington Post’s slogan “Democracy Dies in Darkness.” I’m sure that eventually, some of you reading will disagree with me on an issue – and that is ok. But, in the end, it would be my sincere hope that despite disagreeing, you felt that I had worked to the school’s best interest as I see them. Ultimately, I have chosen to run for a Board position not in opposition to any issue or person, but entirely “for” the district and our children.

Gale Bradford

(1) Schedule more frequent meetings so that there is not so much to go over at one time potentially keeping meetings from being 5 hours long, making it more likely that all BOE members will be familiar with what they are voting on, and making it easier for parents to attend meetings.

Board of Education members should be available to listen to the concerns and to the suggestions from the public and the district employees. The BOE members are elected volunteers and are not paid for their time and work on behalf of the district. There is a scheduled monthly public meeting and regularly scheduled committee meetings. I do not see a need for additional monthly meetings. 

(2) Share with residents a sort of ‘Cliff Notes’ version of what is on the agenda.

I do not support separate additional notes on the agenda. 

(3) Make the agenda and any attachments available the week prior to BOE meetings.”

I support a reasonable amount of time for board members and the public to review the monthly agenda and attachments. The BOE agenda is standardized with required sections that allow a flow of information to the public. In the past, the BOE has moved around agenda items in consideration of students and the fact that board meetings are on school nights. 

As I am currently not on the BOE, I do not know exactly when or how board members receive the agenda and attachments for upcoming board meetings. I am only aware of the conversations among BOE members at the public meetings that they have not had enough time to review items. There is a monthly public BOE meeting, but there are also regular committee meetings among the board members. As a potential board member, I would encourage all board members to ask questions of committee members and provide feedback at the committee level. 

Dipti Khanna

Thank you for the question. This topic is important to me as a parent and everyone trying to keep up with the happenings and updates from the school district. The BOE leadership together with the district administration leaders made the decision to reduce the number of meetings in a month which has directly resulted in meetings that run late into the night because of a packed agenda. Even those parents that try to make it to a BOE meeting on a weekday are not incentivized to stay for the entire duration of the long meeting. Our district administration routinely dumps hundreds of documents a day or two before a BOE meeting. If they are really looking for a robust dialogue and participation, they need to give their stakeholders sufficient time to review and digest the materials in advance of the meeting.

I would recommend that our district go back to a cadence of meeting twice a month, as was the practice till 2021. The increased frequency will help with managing the agenda and retaining the parent and resident engagement during the meetings. The school administration also needs to utilize the equipment that was procured and provide the Zoom meeting access to increase and encourage more participation into the meetings. Just as our students use technology in their classrooms, our school district needs to leverage the technology and tools available to increase public participation and engagement.

Another area of improvement is to provide an insight into the agenda for the BOE meetings in advance, ideally a week before the meeting. Any materials that would be referenced or used for the meeting need to be circulated at least 4 days before the meeting in order for the BOE and residents to come prepared to discuss and express a point of view during the public comments part of the meeting. The BOE and district would benefit from having an informed parent and resident community.

Parents are increasingly using OPRA requests to get information from the district. The district could publish the information requested under OPRA in the minutes of the meetings or on the district website in an effort to make the information accessible to parents and residents. 

I would extend this idea to everything – in a true spirit of transparency and partnership, our district administration needs to make it easier for parents, students and residents to access relevant information, provide feedback and input. 

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

Sai Akiri

Thank you for giving me an opportunity @Berkeleyheightscommunitywatch. 

(1) Schedule more frequent meetings so that there is not so much to go over at one time potentially keeping meetings from being 5 hours long, making it more likely that all BOE members will be familiar with what they are voting on, and making it easier for parents to attend meetings.

Even before I was sworn in on January 6 th this year when I saw a reduced number of board meetings, I reached out to our superintendent Dr.Varley and stated I do not agree with reducing meetings to once a month as this further reduces the opportunity for the BOE to hear from the public. And it also reduces the ability of the BOE to meet its obligations as a governing body. 
 
I think we should continue with the historical precedent of two board meetings a month for this year. The advantages I see are: 

1) Adequate opportunity to receive public input on issues. 
2) Board meetings that do not end at a very late hour.  
3) Opportunity to adequately have board discussion on issues and avoiding the appearance that issues are decided before the meeting.  
 
Response I received stated that after a discussion with the BOE Attorney our, Board meetings are for Board Business. That they are not a community forum. That one meeting a month “gives the board the opportunity to meet their obligations, discuss school related issues, and move items on the agenda so that we can continue our educational processes. While being efficient and appreciating board members time and energy.”

To which my response was ‘The BOE as a body does have a right to speak to this issue as do I as a BOE member.  For years we have run two meetings a month and I will be sure to discuss and propose my ideas during our next meeting and publicly.  Meetings are in part, a community forum and community feedback is vital – it is important for the public to have the opportunity to speak to the BOE as a body.” I also wrote that the community did not elect our Attorney to the Board. That “I stand opposed to this revised meeting schedule.” I proposed adding additional meetings at the
January 6 th reorganization meeting to which the board president responded we can as we deem fit but it has been impossible to even get an agenda item added to one meeting.

My stance then and now is the reduction in BOE meeting schedule should be discussed at a public meeting instead of being decided by the Superintendent and an Attorney. 

I felt before a decision was made to reduce the number of board meetings the district should have reached out to parents and residents in our community seeking their input. Especially before proposing a big change to the number of meeting schedules.

I believe the community needed to be made aware of the revised plan that the
superintendent was effectively reducing the number of meetings where they can interact with the entire board!  I believe we should give the community an opportunity to provide feedback, especially during a global pandemic where we need to collaborate with our key stakeholders (parents and residents).

Lastly, two meetings may not seem like much, but it was more than enough time for the BOE and the Superintendent to decide to redistrict/reconfigure our schools while implementing Full day kindergarten during a global pandemic with NO state approval.

Given the track record, we should be adding more meetings, not taking them away. Historically over a decade, we have effectively reduced the number of board meetings conducted. And this year we had to scramble to conduct special meetings as we had the least number of scheduled regular meetings.

(2) Share with residents a sort of ‘Cliff Notes’ version of what is on the agenda.

Yes, this would be a great addition, especially for busy working parents and residents in general with no school-aged children. Having a Cliff notes version of agenda will help with clear communication on what’s being proposed and will be voted on.

In addition to “Cliff Notes” version of the agenda, I also feel a section for questions and answers from each board meeting should be published. I have seen over the years many parents’ and residents’ questions are unanswered because they might need further research. But there is no tracking of these questions and answers. I propose that we have a special section added to meeting minutes for “Questions and Answers’ to document and track response time.

One of our neighboring districts that spend a lot less than our per cost per pupil of $24,000 has a dedicated link on their website.

(3) Make the agenda and any attachments available the week prior to BOE meetings.

All public meetings are guided by OPMA Open Public meetings Act which requires posting an agenda 48 hours in advance. Until late last year our previous Business Administrator Donna Felezolla did a great job of uploading a tentative agenda 48 hours in advance to regularly scheduled board meetings and a final agenda prior to the meeting. But that’s no longer the current situation and agenda with hundreds of pages of attachments being dumped 24 hours in advance of a meeting.

This year hundreds of pages of budget documents were provided a day in advance to board members! And they were uploaded during the day for the public to review. How is it humanly possible to read through hundreds of pages in 24 hours?

Prior to 2022 attachments would be individually categorized as Policies, presentations etc but that’s no longer the case. This is the level of service provided to parents, and residents after the board voted for an assistant to the business admin this year.

I believe we can do better as a district by opening channels of engagement with our community, the immediate first step would be to simplify sharing of information regarding board meetings.

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

Doug Grober

Completely agree this process has to be changed! 

I like (2) & (3). And a supplement to 3: If its not posted a week in advance for public to review, it is not submitted for that meeting. (Deliver a push notifiication to residents policy changes are being introduced)

Instead of  #1: 

First evaluate why so many policy changes are being made to begin with.

Cap the amount of policies that can be changed at one time.

I’m not sure how long the process is, 2 meetings? If it is, extend the cycle to 3 meetings.

Cycles do not overlap.

Alternate meetings with 1 focused on policy changes.

Above all, allow BOE members and public to have fair exchange about policy concerns.

Related Articles:

BERKELEY HEIGHTS 2022 BOE ELECTION- CANDIDATE RESPONSES TO QUESTION 2

BERKELEY HEIGHTS 2022 BOE ELECTION- CANDIDATE RESPONSES TO QUESTION 1