Berkeley Heights BOE Committee Meeting Minutes for 07/2023: The Decisions Being Discussed Behind Closed Doors During the Summer….

Aug 29, 20232 Comments

When Pam Stanley Believes parents “aren’t paying attention”

The Turf Field at CMS was discussed but would need to include a land lease from the BOE to the Township. We don’t know why the Recreation Committee expects the School District to give away what is a valuable piece of land to the Town for free. With all the Affordable Housing units and Pilots agreed upon by the Town and a Budget that can be described as a mess, this is not the time for the District to give things away. We have many new students coming into our schools from developments that are not required to pay taxes to the school. Also, we wonder whether giving the Turf field to the town opens up its use to pretty much anyone and the implications this might have for the District’s athletics programs. These are questions the public would be able to ask if these important discussions occurred out in the open instead of behind closed doors.

Donation of SaferWatch App ensued about a 1 year pilot program versus a multi-year contract. There has yet to be a general BOE discussion or presentation on this application, yet the Committee is already in the process of Contract negotiations. Several years ago the BOE and public rejected an app that allowed students to report one another anonymously. There needs to be a thorough and serious discussion on this application and implications before the BOE approves any contract. Ms. Young made a good call in pointing out that the District should not sign a multi-year contract for a one year pilot.

During the discussion surrounding RFP (Request for Proposal) for attorneys, Ms. Kot offered a cautionary remark: “An RFP for attorneys could be done at any time, but be mindful of the high number of ethics complaints and litigations that are on-going and a new attorney would need to get up to speed (and charge for doing so), or the existing cases would stay with the current firm until final resolution.”

Ms. Kot fails to, once again, define a “high number” of complaints and litigations. She also fails to bring up that many of these complaints arise from what appears to be a willful disregard of OPRA laws and Ethical Standards by the District and BOE as well as an overuse of attorneys on matters the District has no business paying attorneys for. In fact many feel terrible advice from our current attorneys are a reason why we have such high cost in this area. This is what we meant when we said the minutes are pretty much the same kind of spin they try at BOE Meetings.

Referendum Reboot process and timeline was discussed – Little detail about what the referendum entails is available in these committee minutes. Again another reason why these matters ought to be pulled out of committee meetings where the public gets little to no information and into the general public meeting.

Bussing was discussed, and the committee was made aware that subscription bussing to MKM and MP would not be possible for the 2023-24 year. Additionally, the CMS subscription bus might need to be eliminated due to driver shortages.

As we witnessed at the last BOE Meeting, there is no rhyme or reason for the bussing routes: those who are eligible to receive and those who are ineligible. What makes Hughes and Woodruff students capable of utilizing bussing but not MP or MKM – doesn’t seem fair, equitable, or inclusive. But the district isn’t keen on discussing this matter with the townsfolk.

Personnel Committee (7/19)

Interim Business Administrators: Dr. Varley personally contacted over 40 BA’s for the interim position. The two top candidates are only available 2-3 days per week, so she proposed hiring two staff members to cover the one place. Again what Dr. Varley defines as the “top two candidates” and her motivations for hiring interim candidates for such a critical position likely has to do with creating more confusion to continue the poor decision-making in connection to the District’s 65 Million Dollar Budget.

A mentorship stipend for Dennis Dagounis to receive a math supervisor was discussed.

Interestingly, Dagounis’ name was blacked out (redacted) from these minutes. This seems to be a new process employed by Steve Hopkins. Why? Not sure, but, perhaps, he is trying to tempt the OPRA violation pursuers by redacting information he doesn’t need to spend time redacting. Or perhaps the business office has adopted a new set of OPRA regulations separate from the state? We believe it is really there to protect high level administrators and BOE members from having their names associated with terrible policy decisions. Knowing that redacting names is illegal, the District has now taken on the tact of referring to individuals by their first names.

Dr. Varley has been approached by employees requesting their children attend BHPS schools without tuition. This matter will be discussed with BHEA and the negotiations committee.

Policy Committee (7/31)

Like on the Board agenda for 8/10, these policy minutes state P9100 as Public Relations, and all members agree to abolish it.

However, as previously reported, P9100 is Community Relations Goals and P9120 is Public Relations. With as many staff members as we employ in the Business Office you’d think someone would have noticed or been able to get this right. Yes, mistakes happen, but this was made out to be such a monumental deal at the public meeting it makes me wonder who is running the show?

Consistency is everything when you’re charged with taking accurate minutes. Minor things like going from someone’s official title “Dr. Varley” to “Melissa” are key to maintaining a level of professionalism and transparency. Not once in the committee minutes for review was our Superintendent referred to as simply “Melissa.” However, throughout the Policy committee minutes, we see Board member, Dr. Foregger comment on just about all policies for review. The minutes start identifying him by his formal name. Later in the minutes, he’s referred to as “Tom.” I dont believe Dr. Foregger has any issue at all with his full name and title being used in connection to his feedback or decisions – why does the rest of the District have an issue? It is becoming clearer that the redactions have nothing to do with protecting staff and everything to do with protecting Dr. Varley aka Melissa? By the way, do you remember the outrage that occurred when people started referring to Dr. Varley as Melissa during the reconfiguration debates?

Copy of 07/2023 BOE Committee Meeting Minutes

Name Key for BOE Committee Minutes (use your context cues!):

Melissa most likely refers to Dr. Melissa Varley, Superintendent
Angela most likely refers to Angela Penna, BOE President
Joy most likely refers to Joy Young, BOE Vice-President
Robert most likely refers to Robert Cianculli, BOE Member
Gale most likely refers to Gale Bradford, BOE Member
Pam/Pamela most likely refers to Pamela Stanley, BOE Member
Tom most likely refers to Dr. Foregger, BOE Member
Dipti most likely refers to Dipti Khanna, BOE Member
Jordan most likely refers to Jordan Hyman, BOE Member – Mountainside Rep