Can the BOE Goals be Achieved?- Shauna’s Notes on the 05/11/2023 Meeting

May 13, 2023

Berkeley Heights BOE BOE Agendas and Meeting Summaries

The Goals Discussed During the 05/11/2023 Meeting Seem More Like Lip Service

After watching the presentation given by NJSBA representative Patty Rees, and the ensuing discussion on BOE goals, it looks like this is going to be an uphill battle, in the best case, and has the potential to be an abysmal failure. Let’s recap.

In Ms. Rees’ presentation, she said that the following areas were ones our BOE indicated they thought needed work: communication, accountability and becoming a cohesive team. (12:38) She told our BOE members that there should be updates provided to the community on progress. She said District goals can drive Board goals, and showed our four District goals. (A subject for a completely separate article.) (14:30) Of great interest and great importance was her slide showing that our BOE could “explore committee of the whole OR separate committees OR a different committee structure”. (17:38) She provided a helpful Action Plan Chart our BOE can use to help them in pursuing their goals. (19:15) Lastly, she recommended a minimum of quarterly progress reports at a BOE meeting so the public can see what progress has been made. (20:00)

Our BOE feels it needs to improve communication internally and externally: between the BOE and the SI, between BOE members, and BOE to the community. Well, kudos for not being so myopic that this is going unnoticed by them, I suppose. Ms. Khanna noted that individual board members rated themselves better than they did the Board as a whole, which was not surprising. Unfortunately, we did not get to see the actual charts and data that were being discussed. It was noted that the issues the Board felt were most important to the District are not the areas where the Board feels they are doing well. Sounds like a lot of lip service going on here in that case.

Mrs. Stanley noted that the three lowest-ranked areas were planning, Board operations, and Board and the community. She went on “on the mic so people know” that “we are a Board of committees. That’s where the work gets done – in committee” and that “when we come here, we’re voting on an agenda that most of the committees have already worked on”. That’s great, except for the fact that the BOE listed Board communication as one of their biggest problems. And it shows at the meetings.

Mrs. Stanley then took it upon herself to tell the representative that “we struggle, I think, because some people don’t want to do the work in committees, they want to do it here, at the Board meeting”, and asking “How do we get on board on that? How do we get people to understand that the work has to be done in committee?”

The NJSBA representative suggested sharing the committee agendas with the full Board before meetings, to allow for questions, then to have the minutes sent out to the full Board afterward. She made sure to note the following: “That doesn’t preclude them [those not on the committee] from saying I think my question is an important question for the community to know”, but also that the Board should try to avoid a “gotcha”.

Perhaps most disappointing (not for the night in general, but on this topic) was Mrs. Stanley’s complete lack of self-awareness as – not deterred by having just been told to avoid the “gotcha” – she then proceeded to offer up a second “gotcha” of her own. She pseudo-innocently asks, “Have you ever had a Board remove someone from a committee because they weren’t coming to meetings or trying to do gotcha questions…” A facepalm moment for sure.

Toward the end of this discussion, Ms. Rees reminds everyone that setting Board goals is a public discussion. Somehow, one gets the feeling this is falling on deaf ears. If there is one thing this Board has made more clear than ANYTHING else, it’s that they will hide and obfuscate as much as they humanly can when it comes to being open about Board business.

If it weren’t for a couple Board members asking questions publicly, we would be completely in the dark as to what happens in committees. As usual, Mrs. Joly hit the nail on the head when she said, to Pamela’s comment about doing work in committees and not in public, that the public benefits from open questions and dialogue, since we don’t always get accurate information, as evidenced by OPRA requests. She points out what should be totally obvious… Having committees questioned in public will help with one of the new BOE goals (at least we hope it will be a goal), which is improved communication between the BOE and the community.

We’ve watched as some BOE members repeatedly scold others for bringing up questions in public rather than keeping them private and “in committee”. If this BOE is serious about their goals, their very first step ought to be to dissolve separate committees in favor of ‘committee as a whole’. Show us that you can really work together, not just tell yourselves that you are doing a stellar job, while thinking others are the problem and while hiding behind the committee as a way of keeping the public out.