There are two candidates seeking two seats on the Berkeley Heights Board of Education: Natasha Joly and Sai Akiri.
This is the Third in a Series of Questions to the 2023 Berkeley Heights, NJ BOE Candidates ( a response from Ms. Akiri was not recieved):
Honest Data and peer reviewed Research are something parents have felt has been lacking in the District’s decision making. The perception is that relationships and not research tend to drive initiatives in the Districts and the fads versus facts drive decisions on educational initiatives.In your opinion, how can the District change this perception?
Lack of data and analysis is the main reason why I started paying close attention to the Superintendent and the BOE. The decision, about a year and half back, to eliminate the French program was not based on any analysis. We were told there was a thorough review and due to declining enrollment, kids in grades 7 and below would not be able to continue with French. When I asked to see this analysis, the Superintendent could not produce it. When finally some data was provided, it was only current year enrollment (and even that was incorrect), and it showed enrollment on par with Italian. It turned out that the high school French teacher was retiring and for whatever reason, that warranted an elimination of a core foreign language offered in all surrounding districts. A group of parents organized, wrote a letter including relevant data regarding enrollment and the importance of the language. I’m happy to say the decision was reversed.
French is just one example. A more recent example is Building Thinking Classrooms. This teaching (or some might argue, non-teaching) style was developed by Peter Liljedahl purely based on his own research and his own observations. It wasn’t peer reviewed. His observations are based on sample sizes of his own choosing without documentation as to how these samples are determined. And as many of us know by now, it is a dramatically different approach to teaching. When it was rolled out, many juniors and seniors paid the price with falling grades impacting their college transcripts.
The rollout of BTC was based on a pilot though it’s not clear which grade and how many classrooms and if the pilot was successful. There was not enough data to support introducing this approach to middle school and high school classes. Even though today the administration would like us to believe that BTC wasn’t rolled out last year, the kids are still feeling the impact. To the best of my knowledge, five kids have moved out of BTC math analysis honors classrooms.
Finally, at the last BOE meeting, it seems that DEI initiatives are being rolled out based on a climate survey of our kids for which we have yet to see the results. But how much can we trust the results when the survey was administered and the data is owned by the Superintendent and Mr. Hopkins? It’s a Google sheet where the data can be easily manipulated to support the planned initiatives.
Based on what I’ve experienced with this administration, I do not trust that they do the necessary due diligence when making important decisions. I believe the Superintendent cuts corners or simply is not interested in the details. At one budget meeting, someone asked how many directors/supervisors reported to her. She couldn’t come up with a number right away and was counting on her fingers.
How can this perception be improved?? It’s very simple – just do the necessary work and make it transparent. Show the analysis and explain how you came up with your conclusion. Be open to feedback – parents in the community have a breadth of knowledge in many areas and they know their kids best. Be honest – parents can handle it. Constant cheerleading feels fake. And hold yourselves accountable. It’s ok to admit a mistake and reverse course.
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