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Tame Election This Year for Berkeley High Site Council By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Tuesday September 13, 2005

With concerns over Berkeley High School’s Academic Choice program not quite the hot-button issue it was a year ago, elections to this year’s School Site Council (SSC) last week were decidedly less volatile than they were last September. 

SSC parent members Marilyn Boucher and Regina Simpkins were re-elected to seats on the council, while Federal District Judge Claudia Wilken and parent Janet Wise won this year after being defeated in last year’s elections. 

Two members of last year’s council, Janet Wise and Da’Rand Shariah, did not run this year. 

Berkeley High’s 16-member site council plays a large role in setting the academic direction for the school and in deciding how some school funds are allocated. Four of the council’s members consist of parents elected at the first PTSA meeting of the school year, with runners-up serving as alternate members. 

Academic Choice began in 2001 as a program that allowed Berkeley High School students to attend accelerated academic programs while still participating in the school’s popular elective classes. It soon fell into controversy amidst charges that it was becoming a segregated, mostly-white conclave within Berkeley High, leading Berkeley Unified School District Board Vice President Terry Doran to once ask if the program “leads to a better Berkeley High School or a better Berkeley High School for some students.” 

Marilyn Boucher, an Academic Choice supporter and an SSC member, later argued in support of the program in a Daily Planet op-ed article, writing that “A better Berkeley High ... is a Berkeley High that offers many excellent choices so that every student can find a program or school that meets their personal needs.... We don’t claim that Academic Choice is the best option for every student... But we do believe that it is an excellent option for any student who plans to go to college.” 

A year ago before the SSC elections, members of a Berkeley group identifying itself only as “Parents and Families in Support of Marilyn Boucher, Regina Simpkins, Juliann Sum, and Janet Wise” circulated leaflets announcing that “Academic Excellence at BHS Is Threatened!” and called on the election of the slate of four candidates to save the program. Boucher, Sum, and Simpkins all won seats on the council, along with parent Da’Rand Shariah who declared himself an Academic Choice supporter. 

Federal District Judge Claudia Wilken was defeated for a seat on the council in that election, although she often served during the year as an alternate. Wilken had served as SSC president for the past five years and had expressed concerns that Academic Choice was leading to segregation at Berkeley High. 

While excitement over the Academic Choice issue made last year’s election a standing-room only affair, this year’s election had only roughly one-fourth the participants. 

“There really wasn’t any issue over Academic Choice this year,” said Berkeley PTA Council president Wanda Stewart. The PTA Council is separate from the Berkeley High PTSA. “What I heard was a number of people saying that what was needed was equal representation on the council by all sides.” Stewart said she believed there was a lessening of concerns because “we’re not hearing the kinds of complaints about class assignments that we heard last year. My impression is that 90 percent of the students got one of their top three class choices, and that relieved a lot of the angst.” 

In addition, in part to answer the concerns about segregation, the Berkeley High Board of Directors approved a reorganization of the BHS Academic Choice program last year. In one of the provisions approved, incoming Academic Choice students will be brought into the program with the same diversity mix as the high school as a whole.›