My Responses to TAPInto Questions

Oct 29, 2023

-Natasha Joly

Introduction

My name is Natasha Joly. My husband and our kids have lived in town for 10 years. Both kids are now attending Governor Livingston High School – 9th and 11th grades.

What skills do you bring to the office?

I emigrated from Ukraine when I was seven years old. My family came with nothing. My parents instilled in my brother and I the importance of education and how it creates opportunities for a better life. I attended elementary and junior high school in Queens and was fortunate to attend Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan, a school focused on Math and Science. Subsequently, I attended the University of Pennsylvania majoring in Economics and minoring in Math. My first career was in actuarial science. Seven years in, I made the switch to finance after receiving my MBA from NYU Stern School of Business. I am currently employed at a major international bank as Program and Project manager in Global Markets.

I am passionate about education as it has created opportunities for me in my career and helped me become a critical thinker. I am not afraid of change as I have changed careers, lived abroad, and currently work as a Program manager delivering change initiatives for the bank. An important part of my job is collaboration with many stakeholders to successfully deliver a program. My education and work experience are directly relevant to bringing about the change our community has been seeking. I work in an environment where different ideas are shared, and feedback is solicited. I also work in a very regulated industry where you can’t cut corners and decisions are based on analyses taking all risks into consideration. This is the mindset that I will bring to the BOE.

Why are you running?

As my slogan states, my main priority is quality education of our children. I’ve attended almost every meeting for the last year and a half and found that focus on Education is lacking. Instead, I’ve observed avenues of feedback from the community being restricted, important decisions made without proper due diligence, an opaque budget process, and scolding of BOE members who ask important questions during public session. I’m running because I want to impact positive change to improve our students’ proficiencies with thoughtful data-based decisions and measurable goals. I want to ensure that resources are being allocated to items directly impacting students’ education. Finally, I’m running to make the BOE more transparent and ensure that it holds the Administration accountable.

What are your thoughts on the current education system and what changes would you propose?

I think the education system has pockets that work well. However, our state proficiency scores are not satisfactory. Our district has also been losing quality teachers in part due to the culture of this Administration. To remedy this, I would want to pursue the following ideas:

- Revising the schedule so that core classes – Math, Science, English, History – are taught 5 days per week.
- I would look to review the curriculum and student data to see what’s working and what needs to change. I’m in favor of removing Building Thinking Classrooms (BTC) style of teaching. At a minimum, standardizing how it’s used with majority of time spent on teacher-led instruction.
- We also need a holistic review of the Foreign Languages program. It feels like the program is constantly under attack with classes being eliminated or combined stressing both teachers and students. Foreign language education should be encouraged and nurtured.
- In the spirit of giving kids more time for homework and studying, I support giving student athletes and exemption (allowed by law) for physical education if requested.
- Open dialogue with our teachers to understand what’s working and where they need the extra support. For example, is it a positive change to have a Director of STEAM rather than a Supervisor of Math and a Supervisor of Science?

In your opinion, what are the top three challenges the Board of Education faces?

Transparency – The majority of the board has supported policies and recommendations of the Superintendent that have divided the community. The Board has essentially limited community feedback to the three minutes at the BOE meetings. Emails go unanswered. Participation via Zoom has been in the process of being reviewed for the last two years even though money was spent on equipment. There is no transparency into any of the committee work unless minutes are OPRA’ed. In fact, almost every bit of information, including the detailed budget, needs to be OPRA’ed.
Accountability – The BOE needs to hold the Superintendent Accountable. Here are some examples where the BOE failed to do so:
- Shortcuts taken during redistricting resulted in violations on bidding and education adequacy laws
- Substantiated ethics complaint regarding nepotism
- Approving a budget for presentation that included cutting 10 teacher positions but no cuts in her office nor the business administrator’s office even under the threat of a “fiscal cliff”
- Botched Building Thinking Classroom (BTC) rollout – the Superintendent is ultimately responsible.
- Highest cost per student and lowest rank vs. 6 comparable districts
Legal issues – The BOE made the decision last year to file an ethics complaint against one of its members using Board attorneys. The decision itself didn’t make sense as the Board can’t file an ethics complaint though an individual can. Ultimately, one Board member was named as filing the complaint. To be clear, you don’t need a lawyer to file an ethics complaint. It’s been over a year, and this is still not resolved though most of the “charges” against the former board member have been disqualified. Prior to this, legal fees were incurred related to OPMA violations as well as violation of fair bidding and education adequacy laws. More recently, the Superintendent and BOE were sued by a community member related to their response to an event that occurred at CMS and their subsequent actions. It all comes down to the BOE majority doing a poor job of due diligence and holding the Administration accountable. There is also a perception that the current legal team is generating legal fees by offering advice that results in increased legal activity. The BOE needs to hire a different firm.

Should parents have a say in decisions made by the Board of Education?

Parents’ feedback should be considered when the BOE makes decisions. No one is an expert in everything. Board members are part of the community just like the parents who send emails, show up to the Board meetings and ask tough questions. The manner in which the majority of the BOE and the Superintendent conducted themselves the last couple of years, has created a divide in the community. Parents who offered feedback that wasn’t consistent with the Superintendent’s view were labeled a “small angry group” that spread misinformation. The BOE should have stood up for the community but chose to remain silent. This is the reason why many parents don’t attend the meetings – they feel disenfranchised. It is my goal to change this environment and encourage feedback and collaboration with parents and others in the community.

Can you identify areas in the school budget that could be reduced without affecting student performance?

Legal costs need to be reduced as they have grown significantly under this Administration. Certain advice given the BOE and Administration seems to create additional opportunities for the lawyers to generate fees.
Administrative costs can also be pared. I don’t believe we need two Assistant Superintendents and three assistants to the Superintendent. That is too heavy for a district of this size. Also, we do not need an OPRA custodian.
Closer examination is needed of the transfers out of the medical benefits account. While these transfers are legally allowed (e.g. $606k Jul 2022 – Feb 2023), it’s not clear during the budget process the true cost of some line items which these transfers support.
The amount we spend on electronic learning platforms should also be reviewed vs. the benefit they provide.
We can also look to find additional revenue sources. For example, courtesy bussing recipients can be asked to pay the same as those who pay for subscription bussing. This would also remove a glaring inequity. The BOE approved the hiring of a transportation consultant to look across a number of bussing concerns. However, it’s not clear to me why the inequity continues.

Which infrastructure projects should be prioritized and addressed first?

In October 2021, referendum discussions were put on hold regarding capital improvement projects. As of February 2019, the cost of changing all the libraries into media centers in the district’s six schools was estimated to be $3,620,318. In November 2019, the new plan called for the following improvements for a total cost of 7mm: FDK facilities (650k), STEAM Labs and media centers (3.55mm) and building infrastructure improvements (2.755mm). The plan called for no tax increase due to a portion of debt service rolling off in 2021. In December 2019, a survey was done to understand the community priorities for improvements. Of the 300 responses received, STEAM labs and building infrastructure were the most important. The referendum process was put on hold in October to focus on the impacts of Covid.

I have not been able to find on the BHPS website the current prioritized list of projects. The presentation from 2020 is also no longer available on the BHPS website: https://www.bhpsnj.org/cms/lib/NJ01001806/Centricity/Domain/4/Referendum%20Survey%20Results%201.23.2020.pdf

The current budget includes the following infrastructure projects:

Mountain Park – 15 exhaust fans ($120k)
Woodruff – 5 exhaust fans ($40k)
Mountain Park Drainage Project – Trenching, Drainage Piping, Concrete Slab Restoration, Concrete, Retaining Wall, Asphalt and Concrete Ramp ($290k)
Soft costs – Architectural, Structural, Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing, Life Safety, DOE Agency Fees/Testing, Contingency Costs ($119k)

Total expenditures coming out of capital reserves: $569k

The 2023-2024 budget calls for the following infrastructure projects:

Woodruff – Roof replacements over the West Wing and the gymnasium ($1,130,500)
Columbia – Partial roof replacement over the band and music room ($309,750)
Gov. Livingston – 25 new electrical panels ($156,250)
Hughes – 10 new electrical panels ($93,750)
Mary Kay – Removal and replacement of retaining wall ($68,500)

Total expenditures coming out of capital reserves: $1,758,750

Building infrastructure maintenance must be prioritized first (building structure, plumbing, etc…). I would also prioritize air conditioning in the GL gyms as it impacts our students and would make any summer camps at the high school more palatable. However, I would need to see the list to be more specific.

The tracking of the completion of each project should be very transparent in terms of when it was completed and the actual cost. The list of completed, in-progress, and in-queue projects should be readily available on the BHPS website and be actively maintained.

How should the district go about securing funds for these projects?

As I stated last year, I would support a referendum with the state reimbursing the district 40%. For projects smaller in size, we can look at utilizing the capital reserve and submitting for grant money from the state. What is interesting to note, is that Berkeley Heights is not on the list of districts receiving 2023 ROD grants: https://www.nj.gov/education/facilities/docs/Chart_of_Districts.docx.

I would like to understand why. Were applications submitted and rejected or did we not submit? And if we did not submit, was it because we didn’t have qualifying projects or simply missed the deadline? To be clear, I’m not implying anything with these questions. I am not familiar with the process and would just like to understand why Berkeley Heights is not on the 2023 list of districts receiving grant money.

Other grants available include: School Security Grant, Water Infrastructure Improvement Grant, CVSD Career and Technical Education Grant. Infrastructure projects are costly and that’s why it’s so important to use our tax dollars efficiently. We need to have a transparent budget process, streamline unnecessary costs that have no direct impact on the students, and leverage all available funds from state and federal sources to help offset the cost of the infrastructure projects.

Original Article

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