What It’s Like to Ask For Basic Documents from the Berkeley Heights School District

Dec 6, 2023

A recent example Illustrating why OPRA Laws Cannot be Weakened

I am posting this conversation to illustrate how the District responds to basic requests for information. My email starts with a request I have made regularly after every BOE Meeting over the past few months.

Here is my original email:

Ms. Bradford forwarded the email to Mr. Cianculli (I forgot to cc him), whose response can be interpreted as the belief of an inherent contradiction in our asking for transparency by not having included my name when making the request.

As I indicate in my reply below, that was an oversight – but it’s not clear why names would be important- why would a Board Member want to know the names of people asking for basic documents? How curious that the same BOE Members who demand names on simple requests from parents couldn’t bring themselves to compel the Superintendent to answer questions on the declines.

Maybe it comes from the same philosophy they use to pass very questionable policies on what BOE Members are allowed to say and elections.

In any case, I responded to him, provided my name (even though I did not have to), and then asked him for answers to questions we’ve been asking for over a year, given his newfound interest in transparency.

He responds using my social media handle (they always try to tie the two for reasons you can guess) and then appears to imply that I am not well – without answering any of the questions I asked.

Aside from the remark questioning my well-being one will also notice that instead of answering my questions he suggests that I submit more OPRA requests.

There are other emails from other BOE Members and high-level District staff that go in the same direction that I haven’t published – I’m guessing these displays of wit are in the hopes that somewhere out there, someone OPRA’s these exchanges- receives a partial record and then posts it. I decided to save them the trouble in this instance.

In the name of transparency, I requested that the Business Administrator include the entire discussion as part of next month’s Board Correspondence.

Last month, residents got a taste of how a parent was responded to by the Superintendent of Schools when asking about class sizes. This email exchange is just another small example illustrating that the unprofessionalism starts at the very top of the chain.

When it comes to OPRA requests (by the way)- the District is now taking close to two months to provide responsive documents. The law requires the District provide responsive documents within seven business days. One could safely assume they would rather find themselves in another lawsuit (there are quite a few already) than hand over basic documents the public can use to make informed decisions when advocating on behalf of their kids.

The BOE and high-level district staff have still not answered my question (I think it’s been asked multiple times close to a year by now) as to whether they have been advised or have advised other to deliberately violate OPRA. Wouldn’t that be a simple question to answer?

I hope that this type of petty game-play ends in 2024 with the new Board and that providing the public with important information like Committee Meeting Minutes, Executive Session Minutes, and Board Correspondence isn’t viewed as a sign of individual illness but rather a sign of a healthy District that wants to inform the public of its decision-making and the feedback it receives.

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