Features

The Berkeley Board of Education will meet Wednesday to approve the Berkeley Unified School District’s (BUSD) 2007 Summer School Program. 

“We have been trying to define summer school for the last few years,” said BUSD spokesperson Mark Coplan. “We don’t get any separate funds for summer school. Currently it is only available to those kids who require it to advance to the next grade level. In high school, if a student didn’t pass a class required for graduation, then the student would have to go to summer school.” 

BUSD is considering using the summer school model during the school year, after or before school. 

“The kids who have trouble at school, go to summer school. But, by the time they go back to school, they forget most of what they learned during the summer,” Coplan said. “So we are trying to implement the same learning process before or after school hours.” 

Other matters 

The board will also look at a plan to improve student achievement in mathematics as a way to narrow the achievement gap in mathematics at middle school. 

The board will review the positive certification of the second Interim Report, which certifies that the district will be able to meet its financial obligations for the current and subsequent two years. 

The board will also discuss and consider the elimination of grade six at Berkeley Arts Magnet, the only elementary school which has a sixth-grade level.