Berkeley PS June Planning Week; Plans For August

Press release from Berkeley Public Schools:

May 22, 2020

Dear BUSD Community,

As we head into the Memorial Day weekend, I wanted to share with you the latest news about our evolving plans for next year, including making a change to the teaching schedule for the last week of this school year, and my current thoughts about what the Fall of 2020 is likely to look like in BUSD.

Student Make Up and Staff Planning Week, June 8-12

At next week’s School Board meeting, I will ask for the approval to change the last week of the year into a “Student Make Up and Staff Planning Week.” During this week, teachers will not be expected to assign new work to students, or conduct Office Hours. Students can use this time to make up and submit missing assignments. It has become increasingly evident to me that we urgently need more time for staff to work together so that we can implement a stronger educational program in the Fall. I recognize this is a change to everyone’s plans, and ask for your understanding as we prioritize planning time so that our students and families are supported by a redesigned and strengthened school experience.

Planning for Next Year

There is still great uncertainty about whether and how school campuses will be permitted to open in the Fall. In order to permit our schools to plan as effectively as possible, I have provided our school principals with the following guidance, which is founded on the high likelihood that COVID-19 will continue to be present in Berkeley in the Fall.

1. Focus planning efforts on strengthening our Distance Learning plan, with the assumption that it may have to form the core of our educational program. Even if we are able to make partial use of our school facilities, campus learning is likely to be interrupted by periods of school closure if and when the pandemic surges again.
2. If local health officials permit the use of school facilities in the fall, the number of students who can be on campus will have to be greatly limited by social distancing requirements, which means plans for facilities use will have to be supplemental to a core program of Distance Learning.

Because it appears right now that we will not be able to bring all of our students back to their school at the same time, we are also beginning to actively explore additional school-day supervision for elementary age students, and for the young children of our staff. As plans and options are developed, I will continue to share the options that can be provided.

Budget for 2020-21

California school districts learned last week from the Governor that we should begin to prepare for a 10% reduction in the funding we had expected for next year. For BUSD, this means a cut of $7 Million, which is an extremely large amount and will lead to a reduction of services and programs.

We are still trying to absorb this news, and have begun to develop a set of options for how we could cut this large amount from our services. We are committed to making these decisions as transparently as possible, and will offer frequent updates to the community about this painful process. While it is our hope that Congress will pass funding to mitigate the situation, we know that difficult decisions will have to be made.

In the midst of all of this upheaval, I wish you and your family a peaceful holiday weekend. We will be in touch next week with further information, as well with a survey of families and staff about the fall. In the meantime, as always, the Berkeley community has my gratitude for your generosity, patience, and perseverance.

Brent Stephens
Superintendent

This press release was produced by Berkeley Public Schools. The views expressed here are the author’s own.