We are a grassroots organization formed in opposition to the 2021 South Hunterdon Regional School District referendum.
We believe in improving educational quality in the district, solving facilities issues with reasonable right-sized solutions that fit our small town nature, a fiscally responsible school budget, and holding the Board of Education accountable for their actions. We also believe strongly in injecting greatly increased transparency into all areas of the Board.
Documenting an egregious lapse of judgement of the SHRSD Board of Ed.
One of the purposes of this site is to communicate the facts surrounding the actions taken by the South Hunterdon Regional School District Board of Education and certain members of the district staff in their “marketing” of the recent 2021 school referendum.
Simply put – the Board of Education is prevented by law from advocating on either side of a referendum question it is originating. But they did it anyway.
The South board did not just “cut a few corners” or “bend” the law – they blatantly withheld information, mislead us, misrepresented facts that did not support their position, and most unforgivably they have all but turned a blind eye to the substandard performance of our students. They entered a year long multi-media campaign to fool and mislead district voters while ignoring educational outcomes for our kids.
Not to mention all this for the low low annual price of $25,000.00 per student.
Referendum History and Background:
The true story of how the school district sold this referendum to the public came to light when a West Amwell resident filed an Open Public Records Act request to the school district. He requested all internal emails involving BOE members and the Superintendent regarding facilities discussions, the referendum, and the contentious Class III officer debates.
The following documents were prepared based on the data dump response from the district. In all the district disclosed over 3,000 emails and dozens of documents. They told a rather shocking story of manipulation by the BOE and Superintendent of the voting public.
- Historical Narrative of Referendum Process Violations
- Power Point Presentation – Election and Ethics Violations explained
- Original E-mail Dump of critical OPRA emails regarding referendum
Legal Action:
As a result of the BOE’s actions, an 18 count ethics charge has been filed against all 9 of the 2021 South Hunterdon Regional Board of Education members. More information about this can be had in the following documents. A petition to recount was also filed in 2021 and granted. That recount did not change the outcome. Finally, a petition to contest the election was filed in late December.