The District Continues to Tear Away at Family Engagement

At the 8/10 Board meeting Bradford, Cianciulli, Hyman, Stanley, Young, and Penna voted to abolish POLICY 9100.

Per the agenda, the policy to be abolished was listed as “9100 Public Relations.”

Per the BHPS Policy Manual, policy 9100 is “School-Community Relations Goals.”

Policy 9120 is “Public Relations Program.”

If they don’t sound similar, it’s because they are not. 

One is regarding communication with the public, and the latter is guidance on publishing communications for the public.

Thank you to Ms. Khanna; she brought to the attention of the Board that the policy for the vote was not, indeed, the Public Relations Policy but rather School-Community Relations Goals (Timestamp 1:18).

Ms. Khanna goes on to further pursue if the abolishment of the Board above policy was the best choice in improving Board communication as the Board self-scored with low marks in their lackluster efforts in community-engagement

Dr. Varley made the following remarks in response to Ms. Khanna:

This [policy 9100] is “a very old policy” (timestamp 1:21:19). This policy was updated in 2009, coincidentally the same year the Public Relations policy 9120 was updated.

Varley states that “policy 9100 is absolved in 9120” (1:21:23), although she could not say any language from policy 9120 that supported her statement.

 Dr. Foregger made comments regarding the proposed abolishment of policy 9100 as well. As he is doing so, Dr. Varley gets up and walks out (1:22:15) of the room. He does bring up the two most essential components of policy 9100, which, after review, are absent in policy 9120. They are;

2. To invite the advice and counsel of the people of the school district at all times and especially at regular meetings of the Board.

 

3. To solicit the sound thinking and studied counsel of the people through advisory committees selected from the community and appointed by this Board to consider those problems which vitally affect the future of our children.

In reviewing Policy 9120, Public Relations Program, the main takeaways are how and when the Board and Administration communicate with the community and general population (newsletters, presentations, meetings with parents, etc). There is no guidance on how and when the Board should communicate with residents or how special interest groups or concerns are managed based on the community’s needs. Perhaps this is all at the discretion of the Superintendent (for example, the District Diversity Committee)?

This policy does go on to state: “In order to function properly and fully, the Board affirms a need for a willing, open and two-way communication with the public. In order to implement this need, the Superintendent’s Office is charged with the responsibility of initiation of programs to achieve these objectives.”

Policy 9100 (which the Board abolished) certainly supported policy 9120 but, most importantly, provided a framework in which Board communications could be successful.

I do not work for Strauss Esmay (the policy company we pay thousands of dollars to review and update our policies), nor am I a professional policy interpreter.

I can say for certain; we abolished a policy that REQUIRED the Board and Superintendent to solicit stakeholder feedback from the community appointed by the Board.

We have given Dr. Varley free reign to pick people and projects she likes.

Is this fair? No, but it’s what’s happening.

As far as equity, it doesn’t exist — it’s a pipe dream in Berkeley Heights and not a reality.

In 2021, I proposed a parent advisory committee to Dr. Varley, complete with a slate of possible candidates to represent each school and our community at large — unaffiliated with the PTO, so conversations and feedback could be candid. I received that response quickly; it was a hard “no” – how could an emotionally detached leader possibly have time for another group? (email below)

Here we are again, scaling back the inclusivity BHPS administration prides itself on and excluding the people most affected by tone-deaf, fake equity-seeking, abysmal leadership we have been stuck with for too long.