By Raymond Barglow,www.berkeleytutors.net
Tuesday July 20, 2010 - 06:25:00 PM
Like most high schools, Berkeley High shuts down during the summer months. When I walked into the school last week, I found the place eerily quiet. Apart from a small summer school program, the classrooms and corridors are empty. But then I stepped into the principal’s office, discovering a beehive of intense activity there. The brand new principal, Pasquale Scuderi, is already at his post, preparing for the coming year, which will mark a major transition in the history of the school.
Especially in an era of economic crisis, the high school faces enormous challenges. Can resources be found to meet the needs of all the students, numbering about 3400, widely diverse in their family backgrounds, their motivations to learn, and their capacities to do high-school level work? Is there any way to assure educational coherence and quality, given that the high school is divided into six “small learning communities,” each with its own curriculum, employing its own pedagogy, and hungry for scarce resources?
These are among the questions that will face the school administration and the newly constituted School Site Council in the fall. I stepped into the new principal’s office and we spoke for an hour. Here is our interview, somewhat abridged for the sake of clarity.
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