We, the undersigned, tax-paying residents and parents of Berkeley Heights do not support the proposed contract extension and pay increase for Superintendent Melissa Varley as proposed by the Berkeley Heights Board of Education to be voted upon at the September 23, 2021 meeting.

Our reasons for opposing the proposed extension are:

1.Lack of communication and transparency.

2. Lack of involving stakeholders and parents in making changes to our schools.

3. Lack of accountability for her human errors.

4. 35+ staff have resigned or retired; including, but not limited to several long-term employees in top administrative positions: CMS Principal, Woodruff Principal, Business Administrator and Assistant to the Superintendent.

5. Per the 7/26 executive session meeting minutes, considering not sharing with the community the environmental testing and results at Mountain Park and Mary Kay McMillin schools.

6. Taking selfies, posing for photo-shoots to post on social media and participating in softball TV appearances while failing to present an actual plan on how our schools will operate this fall: no lunch plan, no safety protocols, no update on quarantine guidelines, no information on what remote-learning will look like…

7. Putting $500,000 into bathrooms she stated we didn’t really need to implement full-day kindergarten while spending $0 to upgrade the ventilation at our schools.

8. Defending the immediate need to redistrict and re-configure our schools, during a time parents pleaded for a pause or a phased-approach. Only to learn our schools are still inequitable and the hope is we will see balance in “a few years.”

9. Having violated the Open Public Meetings Act by arranging meetings with half of the Board Of Ed members at a time (which constitutes a quorum) and therefore requires advanced public notice.

10. Creating a summer library internship and hiring her daughter for the position.

11. Evidence in connection to potential violation of bidding laws and educational adequacy

12. Lack of paper trail, “hypothetical discussions and verbal approval” thereby increasing ones ability to manufacture evidence after the fact.

13. She has not taken on additional responsibility or earned the right to warrant a near 23% pay increase when our teachers fought for nearly 3 years for a mere 1-3% pay increase.

We ask that the Berkeley Heights BOE vote "No" to any salary increase or contract extension during the September 23rd meeting.