The Penna Magic Show Continues

Slight of Hand on Serious Issues Has A Real Consequence

We are navigating a process that continues to fail and the public officials who aren’t keeping promises are driving the car.  In the absence of accountability, we have seen the majority of the Board and Administration pivot into true politicians.  Except, they are really bad in that role as well.

We witnessed the Board President (Penna) run her campaign on promises of fixing all the issues surrounding Building Thinking Classrooms (BTC).  She even wrote a candidate statement about how SHE initiated an emergency meeting to address the problems.  What came out of that meeting? 

Nothing.

But, it was a fantastic pre-campaign show. 

The reality: Not a single change or community-wide discussion has happened. 

The program is still failing for those students who were struggling last year unless parents subsidized the Districts failures and paid for tutoring.  The fundamental issues are the need for more training and support for our educators so they can thrive in this new model.  I would be remiss not to acknowledge that there are some students who have found success in BTC – and that’s great.  Still, education should be the primary focus of our Board and Administration, ensuring every student has the support they need to thrive.  Even if one student has fallen to the way-side, we are failing.  And we (the Board and Administration) are failing more than just one child with BTC. 

Recently, the Board President announced that, due to the community feedback surrounding the (shady) budget process last year, the Board would be going back to a public finance meeting before the tentative budget adoption for community input.  I thanked her for acknowledging the process needed to change.  But that excitement was short-lived.

In a recent email exchange with Ms. Penna, she used the state aid numbers release date as the primary factor in the Board “not being able” to schedule this meeting as promised.  Unfortunately for Ms. Penna, and all those who believe this to be true, the state aid numbers are ALWAYS expected to be released on the 4th Tuesday of each February.  This year was no different.  So, the excuse that the public meeting “couldn’t” happen was, to be frank, total bullshit. 

Westfield has held public budget meetings since January, months before the tentative budget adoption.  New Providence has a detailed outline of the budget process and will be hosting a public meeting before the budget adoption.  Millburn also hosted a public meeting on the budget at the end of February.  Are the state aid numbers essential?  

Honestly – no.

The budgets are tentative before they are sent to the County Superintendents’ office.  So, hosting a public meeting for transparency and including stakeholders in the process would have been perfectly permissible.  A method of inclusion that stopped around the time Dr. Varley became Superintendent.  I wrote about the Budget process last year (XX).  And, if you recall, Dr. Varley has several back-and-forth requests to the editor of TAP to remove my article due to inaccuracies – of which there were none.  The only inaccuracies and misunderstandings were by Dr. Varley and Ms. Penna. 

Promises keep getting thrown out, and we hear time and time again that the Board is committed to transparency, communication, and, dare I say…INCLUSION.  But I wonder when anyone will see these catch phrases put into action  . Unfortunately, the community has little leverage in making changes.  

We can vote; it is the only outcome we can control, and we need to see change this fall.

My Email Exchange with the Board of Education:

New Providence Timeline:

Millburn Budget Presentation (already available):

Related Content:

BERKELEY HEIGHTS PUBLIC SCHOOL BUDGET: ALL (MAYBE MOST OF) THE ARTICLES