Varley: Building a Legacy of Division and Decline

May 19, 2023

The Last Four Years Have Been Tragic for Berkeley Heights

No matter what source of data you review, they all have the same theme; Berkeley Heights Public Schools are declining. The reason is simple…

We are declining because Melissa Varley has our children and teachers as the District’s lowest priorities.

When we get toward the end of the year, it’s common to see a FEW transfers of teachers to new schools or grades.

We saw the most significant upheaval after the botched reconfiguration in the name of equity. If you just rolled your eyes because this might be another article about the god-awful reconfiguration, let me ask you this…

Where is the equity?

But first, perhaps, what is equity?

For the last 3 years, we have seen teachers move to accommodate class size differences and enrollment fluctuation in grades. Is it normal? I can’t answer that.

I do know that there is was one elementary transfer on the last Board agenda.

What I also know is that there are many, many more teachers leaving their current classrooms that have already been re-assigned to new grade levels and schools.

Why the transfers and, while we are at it, the secrecy?

Melissa Varley and Julie Kot are very conscious about how they present these staff transfers. They have been and will continue to trickle onto the agenda for Board meetings over the next few months. One explanation for this trickle is likely to curtail the justified criticism from parents that Melissa messed up our schools as we are still seeing the repercussions of a poorly planned and executed reconfiguration.

In a recent article for Ocean County Daily News, no doubt pushed out by the Varley team surrounding rumors she is job hunting (praise Jesus), it started out with; “Dr. Melissa Varley is a Superintendent of Schools, known for her inclusivity, realignment of schools for equity, and her work with Special Education students.”

When has Melissa ever worked with Special Education Students? If this were true, surely there would be pictures blasted on social media with Melissa hand on hip. The success of the Special Education program is solely credited to the Director of Special Education and her amazingly talented and dedicated staff. No mention of how she fails to support educators and Administrators so programs like Building Thinking Classroom perform so miserably.

Unfortunately, the scapegoat was the Math Supervisor which involved a circus act in what should have been a Budget Meeting.

Newsflash, firing the Math Supervisor resolved 0.000001% of the problems parents and students have surrounding the math program.

Oh wait, we forgot that her ‘realignment for equity’ would take six years to see progress, but she failed to provide any projected data especially given the massive housing developments looming for the township. She also forgot to mention that we would experience massive declines before any of this imagined progress.

And what about her constant weaponization of teachers and threats of job insecurity displayed in full-on toddler tantrum mode when she doesn’t get what she wants? All of this, an embarrassing public spectacle.

Not once in her three years has Melissa bothered to understand the needs of our educators. She can rarely speak to specific details pertaining to our schools, specifically our elementary schools. As a result of Melissa’s total and utter lack of creating a meaningful relationship with her staff, they are now becoming a constant reminder at Board meetings that Melissa has caused immeasurable damage in how she handles this district’s business.

Make no mistake; the problems aren’t our educators, the students, the staff, and especially not the “angry parents!” The problem has become clear as day; it is Melissa Varley running this district into the gutter.

A leader who fails to recognize how to be part of positive change is no leader but a dictator who thrives on power. The people surrounding her feed her egotistical delusions and protect her from reasonable questions.

Failure and hand-on-hip photos spamming our District’s Social Media are looking to be legacy of Melissa Varley.

While research supports that a Superintendent has very little to do with whether a District succeeds, over the next week BHCW will demonstrate the research connected to specific actions by this Superintendent and BOE majority that are evidenced in leading to declines in Berkeley Heights Schools.

Dr. Varley’s Article