The Opinion Pages

At a birthday party for a 4-year-old recently, a youngish mother of my acquaintance, in between bouts of chasing her very active baby who was just learning to walk, wondered why no one had ever tried to figure out some good way for parents to work part-time at interesting and responsible jobs with future promise. Of course, I told her, we did try. But it didn’t work as easily as we might have hoped. Why? she asked. -more-

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Daily Planet has invited all the mayoral candidates to write a regular commentaries. Previous editions included contributions from Zelda Bronstein and Zachary RunningWolf. Of the officially declared candidates, only Richard Berkeley has yet to respond. -more-

The fact that the Berkeley Unified School District’s maintenance department is in disarray and lacks accountability is not new. BUSD’s maintenance department has been functioning poorly state for over two decades. And more money isn’t the cure. And a new department organizational structure isn’t the cure. The problem is the continuing lack of a qualified, skilled head of maintenance, a continuing lack of a competent plan of action, and the continuing lack of a system of accountability to evaluate whether BUSD is getting the job done. -more-