Berkeley Public Schools: April 29 Online Town Hall

Press release from Berkeley Public Schools:

April 29, 2020

Dear Berkeley Community,

As I mentioned in my email last Friday, we are holding another virtual Town Hall this week, on Wednesday, April 29th at 6:30 pm. Here is the link to join the Town Hall.

We are trying something new for this Town Hall. We will begin with a brief update on a number of topics, and then we are going to use a format called “Thought Exchange” to solicit your input on the challenges we’re currently facing, as well as options to consider as we plan for the summer and fall. We are hopeful that this format, which allows people to provide and respond to a variety of suggestions, is a useful way for more people to provide input, rather than selecting just a few hands during Q&A.

The Thought Exchange format has been used successfully in other districts to “crowd-source” ideas, and is being offered to us to try for free during the COVID-19 crisis. Thought Exchange works well from any device, including smartphone, laptop, etc, and has the capacity to allow participants to provide input in their language of choice. This will be explained during the Town Hall and in our follow-up message.

You do not have to join us during the Town Hall to contribute. We are capped by our Zoom license at 500 participants during the Town Hall, but you will be able to watch the video on the BUSD YouTube channel afterwards at your convenience. We will also keep open the “Thought Exchange” question for feedback, and post it on our website at berkeleyschools.net until May 3 to give more people an opportunity to provide input.

I will also be writing to you soon with more details about Distance Learning, including the use of Zoom, and our next steps in our planning process, but wanted to be sure that you know about the Town Hall.

Thank you,

Brent Stephens
Superintendent

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