How the Number of Berkeley Heights BOE Meetings Compare with Neighboring Districts

Berkeley Heights is in the middle of the pack with an average number of Board of Education meetings over three years.

-Written By An Educator In the Community

Earlier this week, Berkeley Heights Public Schools posted their Board of Education (BOE) agenda for the reorganization meeting on Thursday, January 4th. Including this reorganization meeting, there will be at least 15 meetings scheduled in 2024 (with the possibility of special meetings to occur). Note that in 2023, there were four special meetings (March 30th, June 29th, November 2nd, December 7th) on top of 13 regularly scheduled meetings.

Let’s compare the number of Berkeley Heights Board of Education meetings with the remaining six districts on the Berkeley Heights Community Watch data dashboard.

Above data includes reorganization and special meetings.

*Source for Meeting Information: Berkeley Heights, Chatham, Madison, Millburn, New Providence, Summit, Westfield 

**Board of Education meeting minutes are not available from Summit Public Schools prior to the 2022-23 school year (prior to July 18, 2022).

Important to note that many of the Berkeley Heights BOE meetings have been crammed with unnecessary policy changes and theatrics many residents feel were intentionally inserted to leave little room for any meaningful change.

In the 3-year average, Berkeley Heights scores better than Chatham, New Providence, and possibly Summit. However, Madison, Millburn, and Westfield have more BOE meetings per year than Berkeley Heights.

Additionally, the number of Berkeley Heights BOE meetings has been mostly consistent with prior years in Berkeley Heights: 13 meetings in 2017, 15 meetings in 2018, 19 meetings in 2019, and 14 meetings in 2020.

The thought process is if the Berkeley Heights BOE were to add one more meeting, would it be around budget season (spring), July 2024 when there is not a meeting scheduled (nor were there in July 2023), somewhere else, or do we have enough meetings already? This is something for the reorganized BOE to consider especially to avoid last-minute “special meetings.”

BHCW allows Anonymous Posts for employees of local government agencies or volunteers of non-profits that would take retaliatory action against their employees and officers for exercising their right to express an opinion about local government. We have verified the confidential source for this article and have met with him/her face to face.

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