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When the first day of school rolls around on Aug. 30, Theresa Saunders won’t be putting in a 20-hour workday on the Berkeley High School campus. 

And that’s just fine with her. 

“At some point, you have to look at your life, and even though you’re doing things that are meaningful and significant, you’re also a person, a human being with limits,” Saunders told the Daily Planet on Wednesday night. “I need to stop working like I’m working, and I want a change in my lifestyle.” 

During the school board meeting earlier in the evening, Superintendent Jack McLaughlin announced that Saunders was being reassigned from her post as BHS principal to a district position, where she will oversee Berkeley Unified’s music program and will work on strategies for combating the achievement gap between Anglo/Asian students and their Latino/African-American peers. 

The district will begin a search today for Saunders’ replacement, but a retired administrator has been named to oversee the campus transition: Darrel Taylor, a former superintendent and principal in several California school districts, who has been serving as the administrative coordinator for Berkeley High’s fire recovery team. He will not be “interim princi“Our goal is to run as fast as we can and have Berkeley High be the best it can be on the first day of school, if not before,” McLaughlin said during Wednesday’s board meeting. 

Considering the school’s recent track record, that goal is more easily said than done. In fact, it was the rocky start last fall that set the ball rolling on one of the most tumultuous years in Berkeley High’s history. 

Scheduling conflicts, full classes and software problems were the first blow. Then came the last-minute cancellation of a school dance because it fell on a religious holiday. The popular college adviser was transferred to another district position – and after another big mess, including problems with student transcripts, she was transferred back to her old job – and an overall administrative reorganization meant that many of the people calling the shots weren’t very familiar with Berkeley High’s procedures. 

In January, students protested the use of a police wagon to round up tardy teens, and several hundred students walked out of classes in February to protest to continuing deterioration of conditions. That same month, longtime teacher Marcia Singman died suddenly, and tensions continued to escalate between downtown merchants and the high school. 

And then the fires, which had been a regular occurrence the year before, resumed – minor ones at first, followed by the April arson that left the B Building with $2 million in damages, its long-term fate still unknown. 

Saunders, who began her tenure two years ago with the goal of improving student achievement and making Berkeley High a more effective school, was unable to tackle those issues because everyone’s primary focus simply became keeping BHS alive. 

“This year has been exacerbating,” she said. “The work was monumental, and it needed to be done, and it had to be done.” 

Moving to the district position will allow Saunders more time to finish her dissertation for her doctorate, and will let continue a recently rediscovered love: golf. 

“I know it may sound funny to a lot of people, but I started golfing after 10 years of not golfing, and it’s been healthy for me,” she said. 

Other administrative changes are in the works at Berkeley High. Vice Principal Doris Wallace-Tanner is currently on extended medical leave and Interim Vice Principal Guillermo Barcenas will return to his counseling duties. The district has hired one new vice principal, Mary Ann Valles. She will begin this month. Two other VP positions remain to be filled.