The Screws Continue to Tighten

Feb 25, 2023

The District Takes Further Steps in Muting the Voices of Community Members

Earlier this year community members discovered that the BOE made a decision to make a practice of violating it’s own policies every meeting by preventing residents from coming up a second time and a potential freedom of speech infraction by the BOE attorney when he informed a resident that he was not allowed to criticize the Superintendent.

The District has taken yet another step in reducing the spread and impact of family feedback. This year, correspondence to the BOE is no longer being listed in writing on the agenda and is only being reported on orally. This is an important and problematic change as multiple issues are coming to a head which would naturally increase the desire on the part of parents to communicate to the BOE (budget, ethics violations, Building Thinking Classroom).

When I reached out to the District’s Business Administrator on this most recent change in practice, I got the typical gas-lighting response:

“As far as I can see the Board Correspondence section isn’t missing. Both the January Reorg and the February 2nd Board Training were not regular meetings, so that section would not have been included on those agendas. The January 19th meeting contained a Board Correspondence section, and while I wasn’t present, I understand that all items falling into that category were orally reported out on. Similarly, tonight, Board Correspondence will be reported out at that point in the agenda. “

My response back was simple:

“Yes but the written record was removed from the agenda. Why? Can you understand how this will increase the OPRA burden? In any case I submitted an Oprah [lol] request for those communications. I do appreciate your response.”

The clamp down on communication began with shutting down Zoom meetings in July 2021 as public participation increased. Then in May of 2022, after the French fiasco, Dr. Varley announced that the District would shut down the ability of community members to comment on the District’s social media page due to what she called “spam”.

By “spam,” I wonder if Dr. Varley meant the fact-based articles and comments countering her track record of reporting wrong information, poor research in rolling out big decisions, and the avalanche of ethics allegations she knew the District would be on the wrong end of.

This ongoing war on family engagement is meant, in my opinion, to accomplish two things:

(1) Reduce the spread of facts and information inconvenient to the Superintendent, Business Administrator and BOE Majority.

(2) Further reduce the incentive of families to get involved by not only making it more complicated but also making it appear meaningless.

BHCW Will now OPRA all Board communication reported out “orally” during meetings and report on any meaningful information connected to this correspondence without disclosing community members’ names- unless they are in or running for office.

So when our Business Administrator, her 40 thousand assistants, the Superintendent, her 40 thousand assistants, or the BOE Majority laments the increase in OPRA requests, we can understand that her actions and the actions of the Superintendent and BOE Majority have everything to do with that increase.

Email Exchange with Business Administrator:

Gmail-Board-Communication Download

May 2022 Announcement from Superintendent Locking Down Social Media and Stopping Practice of Reading Board Correspondence