Berkeley Heights Superintendent and BOE Remain Silent on Nepotism and Busing

Oct 12, 2023

Berkeley Heights BOE School Transportation

Questions that have been asked multiple times over the course of Months Remain Unanswered

Below are two email chains from BOE Candidate Sai Akiri to the Berkeley Heights BOE on questions connected to the costs of the Superintendent’s Nepotism case and the Busing Controversy that represented hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost revenue.

The email chain on the Nepotism costs dates back to January (and was brought up multiple times during BOE Meetings); the chain connected to bussing started in June but dates back to the budget meeting in January of this year.

The last email in the chain on Nepotism costs is dated 09/26/2023:

Dear Board Members and Dr.Varley,

I would like to follow up as I have not received responses to the following questions from February 2, 2023:

How much did Berkeley Heights Public School spend on Dr. Varley’s legal defense of her nepotism ethics case C36-21, OAL Docket No: 03574-2022?

Now that Dr. Varley has admitted to violating the board policy and state law in her settlement offer (see attached), will the District seek reimbursement of these costs from her?

How can Dr.Varley certify something that’s totally different from what she stated at a board meeting publicly on June 24, 2021 (see attached clip)

Why did the Board attorney choose to defend Dr. Varley if she was going to accept to violating the district policy 0142.1 Nepotism?

Whose interest is the Board attorney serving – the District or the Superintendent?

How will the Board of Education proceed in investigating this attorney on what appears to be a clear conflict of interest?

The last email in the chain on the busing controversy is dated 09/22/2023:

To the Board, Dr.Varley and Mr.Smith,

I am awaiting a response to my questions from the email dated June 22, 2023 and July 31, 2023 (see below). Can you please tell me when I can expect an answer, especially on the discrepancy between courtesy busing numbers submitted to the state Department of Education (337)and those quoted during the budget planning process (200) in March and April 2023?

Can you also provide the latest numbers on busing for the school year 2023-24 by each school and category of busing (Subscription, Courtesy, and mandated)?

The data submitted by the Berkeley Heights school district to the NJ State Department of Education is attached, which shows 337 courtesy busing students. These numbers were certified by Kelly Sheehan to the NJ State Department of Education in November 2022.