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Last Thursday, the Berkeley High School Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA) met at the school’s Florence Schwimley Theater. This assembly at the beginning of each school year gathers the BHS parents/guardian community, and on this evening, the grassroots energy and enthusiasm were abundant. 

Strong financial support for education in Berkeley, in the form of local measures passed by taxpayers, is matched by the passion and commitment with which Berkeley parents/guardians participate in their schools. At this PTSA meeting parents and guardians were introduced to the many ways in which they can become involved, ranging from “Writer Coach Connection” ( working with students one-on-one during class time to strengthen writing and other academic skills) to school governance. 

The meeting approved a new PTSA leadership for the current school year, including President Natasha Beery and Vice-President Mark van Krieken. 

This year the school is inaugurating a revamped “School Site Council” (SSC), which will give parents/guardians more of a voice in school governance. At this first PTSA meeting, candidates for the SSC made brief presentations. Their statements are posted at www.bhs.berkeleypta.org/candidates2010ssc.htm. 

.Another school governance body is the Berkeley Schools Excellence Project (BSEP) Committee, and candidates also gave presentations. Their statements are posted at www.bhs.berkeleypta.org/index.htm. 

The final event of the evening was a talk given by incoming Principal Scuderi. He emphasized that he and his administrative team intend to be very visible: “We really have to be, as an administrative team, present not only in the hallways for safety reasons, not only on the perimeter but also in classrooms, not just to meet our obligations in doing formal evaluations, but really trying to create a teaching and learning culture here … to have a professional community that consistently talks about teaching and learning in a way that best benefits the people that we get paid to educate.”  

With regard to school safety, Scuderi said that there has been an attitude among some people “that it’s OK to belittle people and haze people and bully them, and then somehow we would be complacent about that, be OK with that. But the other side of that coin is getting the emails from parents whose kids are scared to come to school, which is a completely unacceptable thing for me.”  

Scuderi said that he is working with the Berkeley Police and other organizations to improve safety in and near the school. One of those groups, Scuderi noted, is the Berkeley “Ambassador Program,” inaugurated by the City Council in 2007 to address issues of homelessness and street behavior in the community. The high school is inviting the “ambassadors” to work closely with its own safety personnel, said Scuderi. “ We will have them come onto campus too so kids see them, establishing relations with our safety staff and our administrators. They can in that way become a part of our community. ”  

One safety concern at the high school has been hazing, occurring for example on “Freshman Fridays” when freshmen are the targets of eggs thrown by upper classmen. Attention to this practice has been heightened after an Albany High student was seriously injured during an egging incident on September 3. Hazing is dangerous – students seeking to escape an egg thrower may run into traffic, trip and fall, or get hurt in other ways. In an email message to BHS families, followed up by a robocall on the day before the PTSA meeting, Scuderi affirmed that hazing at BHS will not be tolerated: “[C] arrying eggs onto our campus, throwing them at students on or near the campus, or in any way bullying or hazing another student will result in a lengthy suspension.” 

Scuderi summarized the accreditation review that will take place at the high school in the coming school year. Resources are being allocated by the district to facilitate this Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) evaluation. Some parents have expressed to the Planet their hope that the school will abide by state regulations more diligently than it has in the past. 

(State law mandates, for example, an annual review of the WASC School Plan. But over the past six years, former Principal Slemp signed off on that review repeatedly, although it had not been done, or had not been done to completion. One of the tasks of the newly constituted Site Council will be to bring governance of the high school into compliance with state education code requirements.) 

Scuderi talked finally about how the education being delivered to students at the high school can best be evaluated. “Some parents,” said Scuderi, “have spoken about becoming more outcomes-based, more data driven. I’m certainly interested in that…. We’re working with Rebecca Chung’s office to talk about ways in which data can not only drive our decision-making but also evaluate programs and where they’re going.” Scuderi noted, however, that accountability is not measured only by standardized tests: “That’s valuable information, but that’s not where evaluation ends for me, in terms of a program or child being successful, it’s far more complicated than that.” 

Berkeley High faces obstacles and contradictions that are as formidable this year as at any time in the past. Budget cuts endanger the quality of education at the school. The four “small learning communities” into which the high school is divided compete for scarce resources. Hence the school district is once again appealing to the taxpaying community to increase its support for education. Measures H and I on the Berkeley ballot this fall would renew and amplify support for Berkeley schools. 

Learn more about the PTSA and also about the diverse activities and affairs of the high school itself at www.bhs.berkeleypta.org.