Suspect RFP’s and Lame Duck Sessions

Resident Comments During the 12/07/2023 Berkeley Heights BOE Meeting

Last night’s meeting ended with the BOE not taking any action in a meeting that could have created more legal issues for the District. 

Yesterday, we published an email from a parent citing concerns about the District’s RFP for an Architect that, if acted on with a decision, would have potentially led the District to one or more violations. While the BOE Majority took no action last night, there is still an RFP for an Attorney – a more concerning area given the past three years.  

Leading up to the meeting, the District published contradictory information on whether action would be taken, the start time for public comment, and many parents who attempted to listen in on Zoom were not able to get in. Whether these were all separate mistakes/issues or a deliberate effort to confuse families is unclear.

Notably missing from the Meeting were Dr. Foregger, Ms. Khanna and Mr. Hyman – it is reasonable to wonder whether they were concerned about the potential illegality connected to action and simply did not want to be a part of the meeting.

In this clip, a parent and BOE Member-Elect Sai Akiri advise the BOE Majority that no action can be taken on contracts given that the apparent process that led to the issuance of this RFP did not appear to comply with regulations or case law. Another barrier seemed to be that BOEs are not permitted to issue contracts 60 Days before a new BOE takes over – this likely connects to what we have been concerned about policy changes- that is, tying the next BOE’s hands-on decisions the current majority wants control over.

Thankfully, the BOE made the right decision last night, which was to do nothing.

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