It’s Time For A Vote Of No Confidence

May 4, 20231 Comment

The Berkeley Heights School District Needs to make a Decision

I’ve concluded that no answers are provided at Board meetings because no one knows the answers. I run my household, and I run it pretty damn well. I care about the people in my home, and I care deeply for the decisions I make and the effect they will have on my entire family and community – THIS is the distinct difference between how I run my home and how Kot and Varley run this District. They do not care; therefore, they do not know because what they do means absolutely nothing to them in the here and now and in the future. I know this because I have watched them make decisions rooted in nothing but a desire to ramp up their resumes.

The 4/27/23 Board meeting was emotional and sad. Our Math Supervisor, who LOST HIS JOB, spoke and advocated for himself and had the support of teachers and students. The failings of BTC were a systems issue. While the response to parents needed significant improvement, the District failed to support the kind of change BTC represented with resources and training. If the Math Supervisor lost his job because of BTC, then the ax should have been applied to the top, including Ms. Penna, who made fixing BTC an 11th-hour campaign promise we never heard about again after she had won.

We saw students, teachers, administrators, and parents, once again, make pleas for our Supervisor of Math and Supervisor of Science not to be terminated. Our Math Supervisor shared that when he questioned Varley about why she was doing this that she, to no surprise, was not able to provide him or anyone with a legitimate or reasonable explanation other than “a few other Districts do this.” (3 out of 15). Again “research” coming out of the mouth of our Superintendent often means exactly the opposite.

That meeting, where the closest administration to the ground were sacrificed to add more layers to an already behemoth high-level administration furthest from our students, occurred in a context where we discovered that our rankings had plummeted while our cost per pupil increased, leaving it the highest of any local District.

During this meeting, we saw our Business Administrator fluster when asked about bussing costs while she remained silent about the details of our legal spending. It’s hard to imagine she has no idea and that no one is tracking the costs of bussing enough to be able to provide even a ballpark figure. In addition, we employ not one but TWO transportation associates. But this was just a tiny detail in a sea of inaccuracies and found money, as we discovered in the weeks leading up to this meeting.

We saw parents ask the Board to cast a vote of no confidence in Varley, who has truly made remarkable strides in destroying our schools.

We saw our GL Principal remind the Board of the District’s Strategic Plan and its number one focus – our students! He reminded Board members that we need to always focus on what is best for our students, and cutting positions that negatively impact our students should be avoided at all costs. Mr. Nixon also revealed that he discovered an additional 500k that the District could unlock based on cuts the BHAA had identified.

We saw a parent ask how we can employ a Director of Study and a dual role of Records Custodian and use the excuse of human error when publishing student information while the District keeps how much it spends on defending the wrong actions of the Superintendent and BOE under lock and key.

We saw a Board member question Varley on the budget cuts that will affect our students.

Three times.

Varley had difficulty responding to this, repeating, “students will not feel an impact.” right before a student came to the podium and explained the impact.

Varley, can we hold you to that when our students in Math and Science are struggling because their teachers don’t have the supervisory support they are used to?

We saw another parent ask the Board about their inept ability to recognize the needs of our students by never bothering to engage with our local police department and ask a simple question: what do you need from us to keep our kids and schools safe?

We saw Frances ($165/hour) type feverishly during the entire meeting only to open her mouth to school a parent on rescinding her first amendment rights. While the Board cannot discuss personnel, any parent may discuss and say anything they would like to during a citizen’s hearing. #payattentionfrances

We saw our vindictive Superintendent Varley weaponize teacher positions again.

“If my resolution abolishing two supervisor positions doesn’t pass, then I will have to eliminate two teacher positions.”

This is a good attitude for the person running our schools.

We saw another parent ask about a recent “Word Study” survey. This study asks parents if they think areas of study in phonics, spelling, and vocabulary are essential for their students to learn. Really?

We saw that we only have 2 Board members who care, ask reasonable and insightful questions, and wholly and entirely put the needs of our students first.

We saw that no one could answer citizen questions, and we have repeatedly heard that they also do not possess the ability to answer emails. The 04/27/2023 BOE Meeting was another example that the Board (with the exception of Dipti and Tom) listens to only a few people.

The position and its power have entirely gone to their heads.