My Responses to TapInto- Part 1

Sai Bhargavi Akiri who is running for Berkeley Heights Board of Education, who has lived in Berkeley Heights for 11 years.

-Sai Bhargavi Akiri

Introduction
Name: Sai Bhargavi Akiri
# of years lived in town: 11 years

What skills do you bring to the office?

Work Experience

As a Program Manager with 20 plus years of project management experience in strategy and planning, my role as a program manager is to manage multi-million dollar program budgets and enlist approvals from diverse groups of stakeholders. I have worked with global teams on strategic planning, and execution of transformation initiatives for over a decade and have also volunteered with global not for profit organizations. I will bring that skill set to build consensus amongst parents, teachers, and administrators. The skills accumulated in my 20 years as a certified project manager will be of great service to the Board of Education. I will be dedicated to ensuring that our schools run efficiently, and effectively and that our children get a world-class education that equips them for their futures.

Community Involvement

I have been closely following the budget, capital projects, and strategic initiatives of Berkeley Heights schools since 2014. 

We as residents rarely get an opportunity to provide feedback on our school budget as we get ONE opportunity after the preliminary budget has already been approved by our county superintendent. School budgets are the final word on the district’s priorities and families deserve far more access and input than they currently have.  

I intend to bring my experience of reviewing our district’s budgets for over nine years while giving working families easy to understand information and more opportunities for influence so they can become more equal partners in their children’s education. 

Locally I have volunteered for the Berkeley Heights Rescue Squad and have participated in many local events.  I have been a consistent presence at Board of Education meetings and have been vocal at these meetings and in local media about a variety of issues over the years. I am proud of the fact that my support and friendships represent a wide diversity of opinions, as different ideas always come together to forge strong positions.

Why are you running? 

I have lived and worked on three continents, and we have made America our home for the past 19 years. I understand the importance of quality education which enabled me to compete for global jobs early on successfully. I believe that we need to prepare our children to be able to compete globally.

I consider myself blessed to have received a quality education. It’s considered a privilege to be educated in English medium schools for many like me born in middle class families in rural India.

I lived with my grandparents from my early years and did not attend any formal school until I was seven. My grandma taught me to climb coconut trees safely, raise chickens, ducks, and swim in the ocean. It was a shock when my parents came to get me and enrolled me at a catholic school in a city. It was the first time I had to adapt to significant change, a huge change from my perspective as attending a catholic school meant wearing footwear and a uniform! Also, I couldn’t climb trees, as the nuns had a strict code of punishment for anyone caught in a mango or guava tree😊

Later on, I attended Kendriya Vidyalaya, a nationwide government-run school, where in addition to the core subjects we had a well-rounded curriculum of Music, Art, Yoga, and Sports. Extracurricular activities like debates and elocution competitions were the norm. At Kendriya Vidyalaya even though we lacked state-of-the-art facilities, my teachers challenged me to be fluent in English, Hindi, and Sanskrit. I received an art scholarship from Hungary and Russia in middle school and competed at the state level in Field Hockey. 

I graduated as a Bachelor of Dental surgeon and worked under an oral surgeon for two years conducting many rural camps to serve communities that had no access to a healthcare facility. Growing up I never envisioned my career would bring me to America!

Our cost per pupil has been steadily increasing over the years to over $25,000 per student with a $62.9 million budget while our enrollment numbers, rankings, and proficiency scores have been dropping. We are nowhere near the appropriate academic achievement level, given our spending $62.9 Million dollars, and we have become very top-heavy.

I am running to rebuild trust in the Board of Education. 

We must bring back the focus to the quality of education and academic rigor in our schools.I will continue to have open channels of communication and support our staff in the proper performance of their duties. We are a great district, but we can aspire to do even better. We need to bring the focus back to academic rigor, the overall development of our children, and collaboration with teachers, parents, and the community.

I believe we can provide a world-class education to all children and be a model district for children with special needs by being more fiscally responsible with the $62.9Million Dollar budget our District is entrusted with.

You can follow my page to learn more.

Original Article

Visit Our 2023 Berkeley Heights Candidates Page to Read More From the Candidates