Berkeley Heights Residents should pay close attention to this Thursday’s BOE Re-Org Meeting

Yesterday, Laura wrote about the BOE Agenda and pointed out some concerning facts surrounding the differences between this year’s and last year’s reorganization meeting.  

The most notable changes, in my opinion, were the removal of appointments and new business.  

The Board Attorney has been a significant sticking point for three years. Now that representatives who have communicated concerns with our current firm have an equal presence at the table, the ability to vote on this critical appointment has disappeared.

Then there is the issue of new business, which is the product of a not-so-subtle ballet during the latter half of last year whose intent should have been apparent to everyone: set up the new Board of Education to fail by capping off a three-year culmination of a roadblock with two changes.

The first was the 48-Hour rule proposed by the Policy Committee and voted through by the BOE Majority over the objections of Ms. Khanna and Dr. Foregger. The second was giving the BOE President full authority to appoint BOE Members to committees without the advice and consent of the rest of the Board of Education.

On the heels of these changes, the then BOE Majority attempted to pretend that it was perfectly fine to make critical appointments in committee  away from the public eye until members of the public held them accountable.  

This approach can and will likely lead to several negative consequences- all deliberate and by design.

The first is that giving so much power to the President makes the election of that position a winner-take-all proposition.  In the event of a split vote, the decision will go to the County Superintendent, who will decide for Berkeley Heights.  This would be convenient for Dr. Varley and members of the old majority as he has a long track record of giving Dr. Varley whatever she wants. This will likely mean another year of Angela Penna being President of the BOE despite a low turnout election producing over 2,000 votes for change on BOE.

From there, key appointments are made to committees with more control and power now than the year before, as that 48-hour rule and removal of new business mean any difference of opinion or issue can get stonewalled and muted.

Last year, there was a Board discussion during the reorg meeting on Committee appointments under new business – this year, it is nowhere on the agenda.  For whatever reason, the District pulled prior agendas from the website- luckily, we still have a copy of last year’s.

It is my hope that the new business section not being present on the agenda is an error; however, if it is not, it is a clear sign that the hold-overs from the prior year’s majority have no interest in compromising or working with the new reality in front of them. It is a sign they will make everything an uphill battle for the BOE members elected on a platform of change and will raise the stakes for next year’s election.

I hope that someone from the Varley-Penna bloc comes to their senses and puts the good of the District and its students above political gameplay – but I won’t hold my breath.

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