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Instabilty is crippling Berkeley’s schools 

Editor: 

The departure of BUSD Superintendent Jack McLaughlin is no real surprise; he’d had one foot out the door for months. But it continues an unhealthy trend that has crippled Berkeley public schools. 

"Stability" is one word that cannot describe leadership within the district, and instability seems to blossom and thrive at Berkeley High. The principal post has been a revolving door, as one administrator after another has proved ineffective – sometimes because of their own faults, sometimes because of faults deeply imbedded in the school and the system. 

The latest soul to stroll through the door, Frank Lynch, seemed unaware of the school’s record of instability. In August, on his first day as principal, he told a Daily Planet reporter that he hadn’t heard about all of the school’s problems – a rather honest but surprising confession. Only time will tell if he can stop the revolving door to the principal’s office. 

More than 20 years ago, Berkeley High lost a good man who could have been an effective long-term leader. BHS Principal Tom Parker left his post to become principal of Turlock High School, my own alma mater over in the Central Valley. Parker held the THS job for 18 years, and when he retired, he was succeeded by his longtime assistant principal. 

Imagine what that kind of stability through the 1980s and 1990s might have done for Berkeley High. Perhaps the school could have avoided, or at least would have handled better, the myriad crises of the 1999-2000 school year. 

Instability at the top of the leadership ladder inevitably will affective lower rungs, and once again, you need only look at Berkeley High to find another example of instability: teachers. Every year, the district must hire dozens of new BHS teachers. They leave for a variety of reasons – higher pay in other districts, smaller schools in other districts, other career options – but the departures undermine the stability that a school needs in order to help all students. 

The loss of a superintendent, one could argue, is not as troubling as instability at the principal or teacher levels. Perhaps this is true in a city like Berkeley, which places such a high emphasis on parental and community involvement in the school district. 

Still, losing McLaughlin AND Assistant Superintendent Frank Brunetti within a span of six months only perpetuates the pattern of instability. It has been said that everything rises and falls with leadership, and the more turnover you have among your leaders, the more difficult it becomes for an organization to achieve significant goals. 

McLaughlin wanted to leave his mark on the BUSD by helping the district battle the achievement gap between Caucasian and Asian students and their Hispanic and African-American peers. He set some wheels in motion to help reach this goal, but if that gap ever is bridged, it will be intriguing to see if McLaughlin gets any credit. 

Rob Cunningham 

The writer was editor and schools reporter for the Berkeley Daily Planet from April 1999 to July 2000 and currently lives in Athens, Greece. He grew up, in part, in Turlock, Calif. 

Native language testing should be discouraged 

Editor: 

A recent article, “Berkeley schools rank well in state,” had some comments about the API scores for Thousand Oaks Elementary School. The scores were not high enough. The “probable” reason is students whose primary language is not English. A good cure for this is testing the students in their native language.  

I find this be totally unacceptable. As far as I know, I am living in the United States of America. The Berkeley Daily Planet is in English. Most media and print is in English. The Constitution is in English. Congress conducts sessions in English and the laws passed are written and printed in English. In short, speaking, reading and writing in English allows one to participate in American life.  

I guess it is easy to forget that the United States is a land of immigrants. The previous immigrants did not have any special programs for them. Yet, they and their children gradually assimilated into American life. My family came to the US as displaced persons, after World War II. When my parents and I came, in April 1953, to the US, I spoke only Latvian and Swedish. Latvian was my native language. None of my fellow immigrants of this period received any special treatment, because English was not our native language. Yet, we went to schools and work and became part of the American experience. Latvian was the language we spoke at home. We spoke English outside the home. 

There is nothing wrong with English not being your native language as long as one can use English in the appropriate settings. Testing in “native” languages needs to be strongly discouraged. 

John G. Cakars  

Berkeley 

Cell phone antennae  

battle has many sides 

Editor: 

I have read the Forum comment from Mr. Schwartzburd in today’s newspaper. As one of the "hired guns" for Nextel he vilifies, I believe I should briefly reply. I have lived here since 1955 when I came up to go to law school and fell in love with Berkeley. I have been a civil rights attorney here for many years and take no back seat to Mr. Schwartzburd in that world. I participated in the School Board recall election and the fair housing fights in Berkeley in the 60s. I represented CORE, the NAACP and the Ad Hoc Committee to End Discrimination, to name just a few. In short, I have long learned to recognize racism when I see it.  

So when some Thousand Oaks neighbors fear the effects of radio waves from cell phone antennae and thus object to having such antennae in their neighborhood but are perfectly willing to site those antennae in south and west Berkeley, the conclusion is obvious. That some members of the CityCouncil also see the connection is not surprising. Of course the city is actually forbidden by federal law from acting on the basis of health and safety fears as Congress has determined that the FCC must set the nationwide safe levels, and the proposed antennas on the Oaks Theater will be no more than 1/43rd of the allowable level (at full power) set by the FCC. But undeterred by either the facts or the law, these neighbors are looking for some subterfuge to save them from what they fear but don’t understand and have no evidence is harmful. However, there is no legitimate hiding place in the areas of aesthetics or property values, as the installation (to be completely concealed behind a fiberglass extension of the roof parapet) will be literally undetectable by any observer, no matter where she/he is located. In times of natural or man-made disaster, I would add, cell phones may be the only viable methods of communication, and thereby saving lives. 

And so when Nextel asked me to represent them in connection with this application, I agreed with no hesitation for the health and safety of the City I love and would not harm for any amount of money or client. 

Malcolm Burnstein 

Berkeley