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To the Editor: 

The energetic and articulate African-American students of Berkeley High are to be congratulated for their presentations at the school board meeting on Sept. 25. I wish I could say the same for the superintendent and board President Issel. As an Afro-American parent, I am very disturbed that the superintendent and school board President Issel were unable to answer the basic questions of “who and why” did this attempted elimination of the Afro-American studies department occur? How is it possible that the two top officials for educational policy in Berkeley United School District did not know of a decision this important? If they didn't know, they should have. 

Something is seriously wrong with our school district. When I read Mayor Dean's article in the Daily Planet about performance audits, I had to agree that performance audits is the way to go. The buck passing and finger pointing that took place at the board meeting on Sept. 25 is a good example of why someone needs to start asking the hard question and getting some straight answers. Collectively, the five members of the school board have been on the board for 24 years, and the system still doesn't work. And yet these five board members, with 24 years of experience, want us to re-elect them to continue mismanaging BUSD. So I say get a performance audit and get it quickly. 

Lee Berry 

Berkeley