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Parents, students and high school musicians turned out at a Board of Education meeting Wednesday to criticize the district for financial mismanagement and call for the protection of various programs identified by Superintendent Michele Lawrence in a $3 million package of budget cuts. 

“I am absolutely disgusted with what is going on with the school board and the programs they want to cut from Berkeley High,” said Nancy Bissell, a Berkeley resident. 

Board members, who are scheduled to vote on the $3 million package Feb. 27, and must cut $6 million total to balance next year’s budget, expressed general support for the superintendent’s proposal.  

But members raised questions about a few items and worried aloud that, because they are working on a tight timeline, they will be making cuts next week without complete information about the ramifications. 

Lawrence stood by her plan, but suggested that she might alter a controversial proposal to fold administration of the Berkeley Schools Excellence Project, a special local tax, into the district’s business office. An independent body currently administers the BSEP tax, which yielded about $10 million this year for class size reduction and other initiatives. 

Several BSEP advocates spoke during the meeting, arguing that the current structure works and that BSEP administration is a time-intensive task that could overwhelm Associate Superintendent of Business Jerry Kurr. 

“I do worry that this is a lot of responsibility for Jerry,” said Lawrence, suggesting that she might reconsider her proposal. 

The community speaks 

Marissa Saunders, parent of a fifth-grader at City of Franklin Microsociety Magnet School, attacked Lawrence and members of the board for the proposed closure of the school, which would save the district an estimated $326,000.  

“You’re turning your backs on us,” she said. “My daughter is not for sale. She’s not a budget cut.” 

Three Franklin students also took the podium over the course of the night, and asked the board to keep their school open. 

“I do not want the City of Franklin school to close,” said first-grader MacKinzie Castillo. 

Board members said it would be difficult to close the school, but ultimately signaled their approval of the move. 

Lawrence said if the closure goes through, the district might move an overcrowded Jefferson School into the larger City of Franklin building next year, and convert Jefferson into a new district headquarters.  

The district’s central office is currently located at 2134 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way in property rented from the city. The lease will expire in several years, and city officials have indicated that they would like to reoccupy the building.  

But the Franklin closure was not the only proposal that stirred controversy. Pam Drew, a math teacher in the district’s Independent Study program, spoke against a plan to eliminate the program’s department head. 

Michael Kelly, co-chair of the Music Curriculum Committee, which advises the board, asked the district to protect the music program. 

Kelly got help from a group of high school musicians who played in the hall outside the board’s hearing room until the meeting began. 

“We just wanted to remind people what (the music program) has done for us, and we’d really prefer that it not get cut at all,” said Gene Fielden, a Berkeley High School senior and viola player. 

Lawrence has called for the elimination of the district’s music and visual arts coordinator position and asked the board to notify all the district’s music teachers that they may be laid off next year.  

By law, the district must notify certain types of teachers and administrators by March 15 if they might be let go next year. Lawrence and school board members said they hope to take back some of those notices, if they can find savings elsewhere, by the end of the year. The superintendent suggested that the district will try to spare music teachers.  

But Selawsky said he was skeptical about Lawrence’s plan to eliminate the coordinator position and relinquish administration of the music program to elementary school principals. 

“We’ve worked that model in the past and it’s been, to my mind, less than ideal,” Selawsky said. 

“This is an area that needs more exploration,” replied Chris Lim, associate superintendent of instruction. 

Barry Fike, president of the Berkeley Federation of Teachers, criticized the administration for failing to seek teachers’ input in making suggestions for programmatic cuts. 

“When educational decisions are made without hearing from those at the forefront of instructional delivery and support, they can't help but be decisions made without critical information,” he said. “A number of the decisions you make will therefore inevitably be misguided.”  

Lawrence has argued that, because the district did not know the extent of its financial woes until January, and faces the statuatory deadline of March 15 for layoffs, it has been forced to act quickly, without as much community input as it would like. 

Board members acknowledged that a hastily-prepared budget, with minimal community input, has left them in the difficult position of making decisions without time for full analysis. But, they suggested that the situation may be unavoidable. 

“I’m very uncomfortable with this whole process, but I realize it comes with the territory,” said board member Terry Doran.