Berkeley Unified School District

The BUSD is praised all over the place for being innovative, diverse, the home of Edible Schoolyards, and instituting Universal Breakfast and organic food hot lunch programs. Theoretically, these are all good things… tho’ as the parent of 3 sons who have spent a fair amount of time in the Berkeley schools, I cannot give such high praise, myself.
The way things work in Berkeley, you don’t get to go to your neighborhood school. You are sent a myriad of forms, told to choose your top 3 choices of schools, then (in our case) we were assigned ON THE DAY BEFORE SCHOOL BEGAN a choice we never opted for… letters, phone calls, and personal visits to the district office to speak with the much-​beleaguered Francisco were all to no avail. What’s the point of having organic lunch & going Green if kids can’t walk to their school? The level of anxiety and road rage near the schools as parents negotiate parking is palpable…
My sons are amazing readers and generally well behaved, thus, they remain «under the radar»…while this may be a swell way to avoid conflict, it doesn’t bode well in public schools. They are considered «A pleasure to have in class»…Well, yeah, when you have kids with such egregious behavioral problems raising havoc each & every day to the detriment of all, you bet my kids would be a pleasure to deal with. So, they «get by»…unchallenged to do their best, unmotivated to seek more difficult levels of learning because our experience has shown that the Berkeley schools believe «it’s alllllll good». Well, it isn’t.
If I have to assign star points, I will gladly disperse multitudes for the hard working music teachers who try valiantly in the face of budget cuts, to teach music. Often on old, borrowed instruments and at a «Zero» period, I might add. Who is at their best at 7:30 am? Well, they do a great job. Kudos to them! The same can be said for the art teachers, the gardening teachers, the new & young & enthusiastic teachers who are all facing Pink Slips. There’s not much left to cut budget-​wise.
In comparison to Oakland and Richmond schools, Berkeley looks pretty good, but I strongly urge parents to take closer looks and to insist on attending the school in your neighborhood, not to be bull-​dozed by a quota system dealt with at the main district office. For countless reasons we began to look elsewhere despite our strong belief in supporting public schools. Suffice to say schools in Portland compared with our experience of schools in Berkeley were an enormous factor in our choice of leaving the area. It’s unfair to say it’s the main reason, but it’s in the top 3… tread carefully when you enroll your kids in Berkeley schools, and get involved. It’s the only way to know what’s going on, tho’ for me, well, I just don’t need another full-​time job. Good luck…