Features

For the Berkeley Unified School District, 2006 was a very good year.  

Measure A, the school parcel tax which renews two existing school measures—Berkeley School Excellence Project (BSEP) and Measure B—won by a large margin in the Nov. 7 election, ensuring that the current level of school funding in Berkeley will be extended by 10 more years. 

Both BSEP and Measure B, which expire in June, provide the Berkeley Unified School District with $19.6 million annually, which primarily pays for 30 percent of Berkeley’s classroom teachers and all elementary and middle school libraries and music programs as well as school site funds. 

Class size reduction, music and art, and site enrichment programs which have been authorized and reaffirmed by Berkeley voters since 1986 will be funded by 90 percent of Measure A. 

Had it failed, the schools would have lost 25 percent of their budget, which would have meant the elimination of 30 percent of the teachers, libraries, and the music program among others. 

Although a majority of Berkeley voters came forward to show their support for Measure A, there were those, such as the Council of Neighborhood Associations, the Berkeley Alliance of Neighborhood Associations and Berkeleyans Against Soaring Taxes, which fought to defeat it. 

“Measure A’s victory will help us to focus on narrowing the achievement gap instead of having to focus on budget issues,” School Superintendent Michele Lawrence told the Planet last week. 

School board member Nancy Riddle, CFO of Monster Cable Products, and a strong supporter of Measure A, captured the most votes in the school board elections in November and is currently serving her second term.  

Karen Hemphill came in second place in the school board elections, making her Berkeley’s first African-American school board director in eight years. Previously a member of Berkeley’s Civic Arts Commission and the Commission on the Status of Women, Hemphill is an assistant to the city manager in Emeryville. 

Incumbent Shirley Issel, a clinical social worker by profession, also won one of the three seats that were up for grabs in the November elections. This will be Issel’s ninth year on the board.  

November also saw the farewell of Berkeley school board president Terry Doran. A teacher and administrator, Doran served in the Berkeley Unified School District since 1966. 

While serving as school board president, Doran was involved with the school district’s Construction Advisory Oversight Committee and worked with the mayor and City Council on the warm water pool and South Campus. 

At his farewell ceremony on Nov. 15, Doran said that his retirement did not spell the end of his public service. 

“I am really not ready to run away,” he said. “Some people go to retirement homes, others go on long vacations. But I am not there just yet. Land use is one of the most exciting and contentious areas of concern in the city and it’s the direction I would like to go in.” 

Doran was named as the permanent replacement for former ZAB commissioner Raudel Wilson earlier this month. 

December also saw the swearing in of school board members Joaquin Rivera as president and John Selawsky as vice president of the board. 

Out-of-district students 

The question of how to deal with out-of-district students in the Berkeley public schools—which became a major issue this school board election season—still lingers on in the new year. 

While the school district has ensured Berkeley parents that new positions will support a more careful registration process and that routine checks on students— including home visits when necessary to contact parents or verify residence—will be carried out vigorously, skeptics continue to argue that this is not enough.  

Re-registration—the process of re-enrolling students when they enter Berkeley High School—is a method some school board members think could help enforce the residency requirement for registration in Berkeley public schools. 

Speaking to the Planet in October, school superintendent Michele Lawrence said that if the school board voted for re-registration, the process could be introduced as early as spring. 

School food upgrade 

Berkeley also attracted quite a bit of attention in the national media last year because of BUSD’s revamped nutritional services, courtesy of Berkeley’s “Renegade Lunch Lady” Chef Ann Cooper. 

Cooper, who did away with the pre-packaged heat-and-serve frozen lunches that Berkeley public school kids got little more than a year ago, started a revolution by introducing “made from scratch” nutrient-based lunches, such as rotini with fresh tomato sauce, roast herb chicken or tofu, fresh fruit and low-fat milk. 

Funded by a three-year financial grant from the Chez Panisse Foundation last October to rebuild the nutrition services in the schools, Cooper met a lot of obstacles in Berkeley—from fussy fourth-grade kids to a limited budget—but continued in her mission to feed healthy food to 4,000 hungry children on a staff of 53 and a budget of $3.50 for two meals every day. 

B-Tech 

B-Tech, or Berkeley Alternative High School, as it was formerly known, has also been the subject of much attention this past year. 

With a revamped system, a new principal and new staff who care about the students, attendance has increased in this school once known as the “dumping grounds,” “pre-prison,” and “a place for bad kids.” 

Suspensions have also gone down and for the first time in its history, a group of 16 seniors and juniors from the school got the opportunity to fly to Atlanta, Ga., to participate in the four-day 18th Annual Fall Black College Tour. 

Racial discrimination suit 

In October, there was a bit of bad news for the BUSD. The Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) sued the Berkeley Unified School District for the second time, charging it with violating California’s Proposition 209 by racially discriminating among students during placements at elementary schools and at programs at Berkeley High. 

School district officials, however, said they would not change their policies. 

“The judge has currently given an extension on the case and the school district’s lawyer is currently preparing the paperwork. We are confident that we will prevail,” said Lawrence. 

To reaffirm its commitment to integration, the school board passed a resolution in November supporting Brown v. Board of Education and the Seattle, Wash., and Louisville, Ky., public school integration plans, both of which have been challenged by Sacramento-based non-profit PLF. 

Student slain 

Berkeley High School students ended 2006 mourning the loss of fellow-student Yonas Mehari. Yonas, 17, his mother Regbe Baharengasi, 50 and sister Winta Mehari, 28, were killed by gunfire in their Keller Plaza Apartment complex in North Oakland on Thanksgiving Day.  

Yonas, a member of the BHS varsity soccer team and an excellent student, had started the Ethiopian Eritrean Students Union at Berkeley High, something his friends have pledged to carry on even after his death.