-Sai Akiri, 2023 Candidate for Berkeley Heights BOE
What is the decision making process leading the rush to filling critical positions in Berkeley Heights Schools?
Many parents need help and clarification on how the Superintendent recommends appointments to key administrative positions. The Board approves recent appointments while vacancies get filled at the speed of light in a highly secretive interview process.
Dr. Varley recommended the appointment of James Finley (assistant principal at Gov. Livingston since Tara Olivera left in 2022) as the principal of Mary K McMillin Early Childhood Center on August 10, 2023. Many parents are not at all heartened after reviewing the resumes of two critical appointments made that day:
Assistant Superintendent and Principal of Mary K McMillin Early Childhood Center.
Many are questioning the rationale behind the appointment of Mr. Finley, the former assistant principal at Governor Livingston High School, to a new role as building principal at MKM. Does he have the relevant building-level experience required in early childhood education? “The world is upside down,” one parent said after hearing about this appointment.
Now, there is news that the recently appointed Director of STEAM/STEM Mr. Dennis Dagounis, will be the assistant principal for Governor Livingston High School.
Here’s a chronology of events for the position of Assistant Principal of Governor Livingston High School:
*See Table Documentation Packet
Some critical questions need to be answered by our Superintendent and elected board members:
1. How are these essential decisions on administrative appointments being made?
2. Who hand-picked the parents who are supposedly on these interview panels?
3. Why is there no open call for those parents interested in participating in the interview selection process?
4. Why is the interview process shrouded in secrecy?
5. How many resumes were received for the assistant principal of Gov. Livingston High School?
6. How was Mr. Dagounis even considered for the Assistant Principal position, especially given the entire Board voted at the most recent board meeting on August 10, 2023, to get him a mathematics mentor?
7. Most importantly, how many months was Mr. Dagounis in his new role as STEAM supervisor? (July 1st – ???)
Now, flash forward to August end as schools reopen on August 30th and close for the Labor Day holiday.
Personnel committee members include Angela Penna, Joy Young, and Robert Cianciulli. The committee structure of working meant that these board members were closest to these Personnel decisions. At the same time, the rest of the Board and the public only get to see the end result – board members are asked to approve without much recourse, and the public gets to view as spectators and ask questions if lucky.
As we have witnessed, board members asking for more information in the public meeting are admonished or shamed but at the same time expected to vote on these appointments – preferably a yes to give the appearance of a unanimous decision! And in the famous words of the last Business Administrator – “You can always vote NO.”
The responsibility for the exodus from the district should fall at the feet of the Superintendent and the Personnel committee. They are supposed to be part of the checks and balances that would have asked for a re-consideration of the recommendations and the decision-making of the Superintendent.
All these appointments and reappointments only show the swirl in the district in the leadership positions with zero regard for long-term impact on students and teachers.
Couple that with the way our Superintendent operates e.g. calling special board meetings in summer and awarding a five-year agreement with BHPD.
Should parents have confidence that we are moving in the right direction?
The million-dollar question on the minds of parents and many in the community is, “Who is benefiting from this job hopping?“
There is the typical attrition in school districts, and then there is the Berkeley Heights-type attrition. At this point, our schools are drowning in the chaos of secretive, impulsive decision-making at the highest level. It impacts essential areas such as math, transportation, staff retention, and budgeting – the list is almost endless.
It is getting harder and harder to attribute the cause of this to anything other than one of two factors: incompetence or political motivation.
Maybe both.