Questions the Berkeley Heights Board of Education Can Answer in Connection to Dr. Varley’s 2023 Salary Increase

Jan 30, 2024

Background: On June 5th, 2023, Dr. Varley received the maximum salary increase allowed in a process divorced from past practice and policy. The increase was not announced to the public, and her salary change slipped into a cluster of positions it had never historically been a part of during the 06/05/2023 BOE Meeting. This was the same year the public was told the District was facing a “fiscal cliff” by the Business Administrator. It was also the same year Dr. Varley proposed staffing cuts.

Lastly, and more importantly (to me at least), the increase occurred before her evaluation was completed.

District policies and state law aside, her very own contract (extended early over the protestations of the community) required that any increase during this contract period be performance-based.

Here are questions that the Berkeley Heights Board of Education Can Answer in Connection to Dr. Varley’s 2023 Salary Increase:

1) When did the Berkeley Heights Board of Education first receive an agenda with the proposed raise?

2) What was the date and time of the transmission of that information?

3) When did the Board receive any updates to that agenda after the initial transmission?

4) Did anyone call attention to the fact of the raise being on the agenda?

5) Was there anything different about the 2023 agenda and how Dr. Varley was classified as a member of the administration vs. an ordinary member of the central office compared to prior years?

6) Who was involved in preparing the agenda for that meeting, and especially who made the entry?

7) Did the person who did it already know they were leaving the district shortly?

8) Did the Board president believe that a raise was automatic based on a belief that the non-approved Varley contract was in effect instead of the final amended contract of September 2021?

9) How many Board members knew they were approving a discretionary raise on June 5th at the board meeting?

10) What do the executive session minutes say about the timing of the CSA evaluation vs. granting the discretionary raise?

11) Did the Board ever discuss a discretionary raise in 2023, and when? If not, why not?

12) How is Melissa Varley classified in terms of the 2023-2024 budget categories? The same question applies to the 2022-2023 budget.

13) Is it a good practice to grant a raise before the completion and delivery of the CSA evaluation?

14) Did the personnel committee have any meetings in May or June of 2023 to discuss Central Office Staff salaries? Can the public obtain copies of these minutes with attachments?