I am writing a lot this week but have more to say than usual.
If all you’ve been paying attention to is the noise on the forums and theatre in Council meetings, you would have missed a few significant developments.
With a new majority in place within the BOE, some significant changes that will benefit families have arisen:
(1) Budget : For the first time that I can recall, families were sent a survey on budget priorities. Additionally, an additional meeting on the budget took place, and the detailed budget was made publicly available days before the budget meeting. This is a complete reversal of the process of the past three or four years. It was the first budget process in recent history that was not wrapped in secrecy. This came about specifically because Dipti Khanna was the finance chair and Robert Nixon was the Acting Superintendent.
Access to the budget informs the public discussion on issues, like transportation. It allows residents to make better arguments in advancing their interests.
(2) Transparency: For the first time, the BOE voted to have BOE Committee minutes made publicly available. Those bothered by the decision surrounding transportation may now understand why having these publicly available is important and the problematic nature of a “decision by committee” system on the BOE- we have been fighting for publicly available minutes for a very long time. I have advocated for getting rid of the committee system and having a system where the Board deliberates issues as a whole for a very long time.
I would ask those who feel that the decision on transportation was not transparent to join me on the latter change. The former change made by this new Board is a significant improvement but more can be done.
(3) Transportation—This is going to be a controversial one. I don’t love the decision made by the new majority, but the old system had some families paying 1,000 a year for transportation while others paid nothing. Ms.Stanley owns what happened here. In a public meeting, we finally got the District to admit that the BOE did not have access to a ranked list. Hazardous Roads are not the only reason a child should receive free transportation. Whether a route is dangerous depends on the road’s condition and the age of the child walking it. And so, while this new system is imperfect, it is far better than what was there.
Transportation is now priced so that MOST working families can afford it. Families now have more power to decide whether a route is too hazardous for their child.
Why not a single member of the Democratic machine in town publicly supported our varying positions on universal busing or means-tested payment is beyond my understanding.
Given our bloated budget, why would the center of the discussion be around pushing incorrect information about lists that did not exist or very creative interpretations of the law?
Seriously, how can anyone argue that a town is not responsible for streets, sidewalks, and crosswalks with the “we’re only responsible for potholes argument” is beyond my comprehension.
Where were these advocates the last two years when working families had to pay $1000 to have their kids sent to school? Where were they when our youngest learners were told they would have to walk to further schools and not to worry because “no roads were hazardous.”
I certainly expected this from the local Republican players; however, this most recent experience has been rather enlightening for me.
So here is the fundamental fact- school transportation for every Berkeley Heights family will cost $500 for each child and no more than $750 for those with more children in need of transportation.
Ms. Bradford should understand that no defense is needed—the new majority fixed a long-standing issue the old majority perpetuated.
That is a win.
We can make it better.
I ask those who, for whatever reason, want to spin us as evil to join us in advocating for universal busing or at least means-tested busing to make transportation even more accessible to working families and to make our overall approach as to who gets transportation more comprehensive.
We have the money to do this.
4. Proficiency– Even before the new majority was in place, the new members of the BOE were raising concerns about Math, Science and ELA proficiency. For two years, those who brought this up heard the same old story about how parents with concerns “wanted to tear down our schools.” Dr. Foregger and Ms. Khanna faced the typical ridicule and condescension in a meeting during which they asked the former Superintendent to explain it. Ms. Joly, not a BOE Member at the time, was called out by Ms. Stanley when it turned out Ms. Stanley completely misrepresented the existence of a proficiency analysis report the District had completed.
The public soon discovered the concerns were very, very real, as BHCW made data on the NJ performance reports available, and our rankings on US News & World Report, Niche, and other publications dropped significantly across the Board.
Proficiency finally came to the fore, and the District was forced to communicate an action plan with goals established last year. The most recent data shows a modest turnaround, and this does not yet reflect the changes the District made last year.
The only conclusion I can come to as to why all these new changes is being spun as bad or ignored is that, with election time approaching, the four new members of the BOE are proving both machines wrong and showing the public that government can be better.
The machines have the money and the network; the four BOE members have the facts and the record.
Let’s see what happens from here.
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