In the email below, sent to BHPS Staff, Dr. Varley ignores the machinations of her own office in setting up last night’s meeting for failure. She ignores the fact that if ANY member of the Penna bloc (a phrase that I don’t like, but is all too fitting) were honestly interested in working toward solutions, a consensus could have been reached last night. Instead, she sows further division. This is something she has done from the beginning of her time in Berkely Heights, and this type of underhanded and unnecessary rhetoric has been at the root of what we saw played out last night. The language in the letter below shows the exact type of personal bias and myopic vision that needs to be defeated, not encouraged.

This is the calendar I will place on the January 18th agenda. However, after last night’s meeting, I’m not sure it will be passed. At one point, four Board members voted no to their code of ethics as well as voted no to employees being paid on January 15th. All employees. One Board member did revise her vote on agenda item I to allow us to be paid. Agenda Item I allows for bills to be paid, employee payroll and other items to happen between Board meetings. Being that we usually only have one meeting per month, if agenda item I did not pass, we would only be paid monthly, which is not what happens in our district.

I urge you to watch the 3+ hours of that Board meeting last night. And if you feel strongly about what happened, reach out to your Board members who voted no to paying you (and me) and who voted down a myriad of other things that make this district run smoothly.

None of what happened last night is in the best interests of this district. I urge you to pay attention. Buckle up. Version 1 is attached. Have a great weekend!

Sincerely, Melissa Varley