The Presiding Officer will call the meeting to order at 5:45 p.m. before the Board Recesses to Closed Session.  The Regular Meeting will convene by 7:30 p.m. 

Persons wishing to address the Board should fill out a green speaker card.  Cards turned in by 5:15 p.m. will be given priority. Speakers will be randomly selected based on topic and position, with BUSD students generally given priority. Public Testimony is limited to 15 minutes with a 3-minute limit per speaker per topic although the time allotted per speaker may be reduced to 2 minutes at the discretion of the President. 

The Board may recess into Closed Session before or after the public meeting under the authority of the Brown Act (including but not limited to Government Code section 54954.5, 54956.8, 54956.9, 54957, 54957.6, as well as Education Code section 35146).  Under Government Code section 54954.3, members of the public may address the board on an item on the Closed Session agenda, before Closed Session.

BERKELEY UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT 

TO: BUSD Board of Education

FROM: Brent Stephens, Superintendent

DATE: January 8, 2020

SUBJECT: Annual Board of Education Organizational Meeting

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

California Education section 35143 requires that the governing board of each school district hold an annual organizational meeting. At the annual meeting the governing board of each district shall organize by approving committee and school assignments. 

BERKELEY UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT

TO: Board of Education
FROM: Brent Stephens, Ed. D., Superintendent
DATE: January 8, 2020
SUBJECT: Committee and School Assignments for 2020

BACKGROUND INFORMATION: 
Board participation on the various committees, workgroups and schools serves to create and maintain a collaborative relationship between the District and the community while supporting Board policies and mutual objectives. 

Proposed school and committee assignments for 2020 are attached. 

POLICY CODE: 
BB 9100 / Ed Code 35143

FISCAL IMPACT:
None

STAFF RECOMMENDATION:
Approve the proposed committee and school assignments for 2020.

Persons wishing to address the Board should fill out a green speaker card.  Cards turned in by 7:15 p.m. will be given priority.        

Speakers will be randomly selected based on topic and position, with BUSD students generally given priority.  Public Testimony is limited to 30 minutes with a 3-minute limit per speaker per topic although the time allotted per speaker may be reduced to 2 minutes at the discretion of the President. 

Board members and the Superintendent are given the opportunity to address any issue.  

BERKELEY UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT 

TO: BUSD Board of Education

FROM: Brent Stephens, Superintendent

DATE: January 8, 2020

SUBJECT: Approval of a Resolution in Support of a New Border Vision

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Like many other cities in the United States, this resolution affirms the position of the Board of Education in defense of the rights of immigrant youth and their families. The resolution recognizes that the City of Berkeley is a border city, which falls into the zone of border enforcement, as defined in 8 C.F.R. 287.1, and as such have a particular stake in the border policies that affect our residents as well as our country.

Further, the resolution supports a “New Border Vision” that expands public safety, protects human rights, and welcomes people with dignity at the border. Our government should lead with our values, address our needs and adhere to good governance principles to create humane and well-functioning borders for the 21st century. 

BERKELEY UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT 

TO:       Brent Stephens, Ed.D., Superintendent
FROM:     Samantha Tobias-Espinosa, Assistant Superintendent, Human Resources
DATE:       January 8, 2020
SUBJECT:    Approval of Human Resources Reports

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
On a regular basis, staff presents Human Resources Reports listing employment actions for the Board to approve officially. Please refer to attached reports for details.

Berkeley Unified School District

TO:              Brent Stephens, Ed.D, Superintendent
FROM:        Bajé Thiara, Associate Superintendent, Educational Services
DATE:         January 8, 2020
SUBJECT:  Approval of Out of State Travel Request

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
The following out of state travel request is being requested:

October Coaching of Reading 2020-Teachers College, New York, NY, January 25-29, 2020

Rose James, District Literacy Coach, to attend this 4-day, 4-night training.  The TCRWP Coaching Institute will provide site and district certificated staff with the expertise to support rigorous Tier 1 Literacy instruction through instructional coaching.  This will impact all K-5 students.  The purpose of the Coaching Institute is to increase the impact of the Reading Workshop model for students in the Tier 1 Classroom setting.  Travel and conference is approximately $2560 and will be paid with Title II funds.

POLICY CODE:
Education Code 35330
Board Policy 6153

FISCAL IMPACT:
As indicated above.

STAFF RECOMMENDATION:
Approve the out of state travel consistent with District policies and instructional programs.

BERKELEY UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT

TO:               Brent Stephens, Ed.D., Superintendent
FROM:         Pauline Follansbee, Assistant Superintendent
DATE:        January 8, 2020
SUBJECT:  Approval of Budget Development Calendar for 2020-21 Budget   Adoption

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
It is customary to approve a budget development calendar, which calls out the significant milestones during the development of the budget. Staff has prepared the attached budget development calendar and is submitting it for Board approval. Staff will update the Budget Calendar for the Board if there are significant changes made to the proposed timelines.

The dates included in the budget calendar can always be moved earlier if the various committees are ready for staff to present their recommendations. The dates cannot be moved back due to the statutory deadlines for LCAP and approval of the adopted budget. The only committee meeting dates listed are critical dates for actions required to ascertain key information and data for the adopted budget.

POLICY/CODE:
FCMAT Financial Management Standard 6.2

FISCAL IMPACT:
None

STAFF RECOMMENDATION:
Approve 2020-21 Budget Development Calendar  

BERKELEY UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT

To:               Brent Stephens, Ed.D., Superintendent

From:          Bajé Thiara, Associate Superintendent, Educational Services 

Date:           January 8, 2020

Subject:     Approval of Contract Amendment for Nonpublic Agency Services for the 2019-20 School Year

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The District contracts with nonpublic agencies, when necessary, to provide related services to students with Individualized Education Programs (IEP). The following nonpublic agencies provide related services as defined in Section 1401 of Title 20 of the U.S. Code and section 300.34 of Title 34 of the Code of Federal Regulations, and California Ed. Code 56363 to enable students with IEPs to benefit from their special education. An individual service agreement (ISA) is developed for each student to whom the service provider is to provide special education or related services.

Board approved $128,064 for SLP (sign language) service on 8/21/19 meeting, we are adding $73,134.00 to current contract for one Sp. Ed. M/M teacher service, which will bring the contract total to $201,198.00.

POLICY/CODE

Education Code 56363

FISCAL IMPACT

Not to exceed $73,134.00 funded from the Special Education Budget which may require an additional contribution from the General Fund.

STAFF RECOMMENDATION

Approve the Master Contract for the Nonpublic Agency listed above.

BERKELEY UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT

TO:  Brent Stephens, Ed. D., Superintendent

FROM:  Pauline Follansbee, Asst. Superintendent of Business Services

DATE:   January 8, 2020

SUBJECT: Approval of Contracts/Purchase Orders for Services Contracts

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The District contracts with consultants or independent contractors who can provide valuable and necessary specialized services not normally required on a continuing basis. The following contract services are requested. Expenditures are within budget.

1. Radha Richmond to provide Psychoeducational Assessment services for the Special Ed Department for the period from 11/21/19 – 6/30/20. The cost will not exceed $25,000.  To be paid from Special Ed Fund. Requested by Bajé Thiara.
2. SyTech Solutions, to provide digital imaging services for District Office for the period from 7/1/19 – 6/30/20. The cost will not exceed $30,472.63. To be paid from Hillside Sales Proceeds Funds. Requested by Pauline Follansbee.
   
3. Increase to PO 200918 for Reynard Anderson, to provide independent behavioral specialist services to Berkeley Technology Academy.  The Board originally approved $55,000 on 8/21/19. The additional amount needed is $10,000, for a total amount of $65,000. To be paid from General Fund.  Requested by Bajé Thiara. 
4. Increase to PO 200776 for Classroom Matters, to provide afterschool enrichment classes at Cragmont Elementary. The Board originally approved $12,512 on 9/4/19. The additional amount needed is $22,000 for a total amount of $34,512. To be paid from PTA Donations. Requested by Aaron Jorgensen.

POLICY/CODE

Public Contract Code: 20111

Board Policy 3310

STAFF RECOMMENDATION Approve the contracts with Consultants or Independent Contractors as submitted.

BERKELEY UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT

TO:           Dr. Brent Stephens, Superintendent

FROM:    Baje Thiara, Associate SuperintendentJuan Raygoza, Vice-Principal BHS

DATE:        December 2, 2019

SUBJECT: New Course: Documentary Filmmaking

BACKGROUND INFORMATION 

Berkeley High School is requesting Board approval for a year-long, advanced-level course entitled Documentary Filmmaking. This course has already been approved by UCOP as a Visual Arts “F” course offering as of August, 2019.

Goals of this class:

•       Equip students with the skills required to work for social justice using electronic media
•       Prepare students for careers in tv and film
•       Improve students’ technical skills in all phases of video production
•       Help students become active participants in our democracy
•       Sharpen students’ critical thinking and self expression
•       Heighten students’ media literacy through viewing, reading about and writing about non-fiction film
•       Sharpen students’ writing skills

Prerequisite: Completion of Art of Video Production, Advanced Studio/Editing, or by permission of the instructor

Grades Served: 10-12

Learning Communities: All five BHS learning communities plus Independent Studies

Students in this class will complete a series of five non-fiction video projects over the course of the year ranging in duration from three to ten minutes. After each one, students will present their project and write a Producers Statement. Prior to each project, the class will view a relevant, professionally-produced documentary and then write a movie review about each film. Students will complete two Community Service Projects (CSPs) each semester; by doing so, they will gain real-world experience communicating with clients, meeting deadlines, shooting to spec, etc.  Late in the second semester, students will submit one or more of their projects to the BHS Film Festival as well as to another festival in the US or abroad. Field trips and guest speakers will further enrich the experience for students by helping them learn about careers in documentary film production.

The five projects students will complete are:

•       The Personal Story
•       Capturing an Event: The Multi-Perspective Film
•       The Hero’s Journey: The Participatory Film
•       Exploring Controversy
•       Student Choice

In addition to screening professionally-produced short format and feature length documentaries, students will be reading from the following texts:

•       Rona Edwards and Monika Skerbelis’s, The Complete Filmmaker’s Guide to Film Festivals
•       Roberta Monroe’s, How Not to Make a Short Film
•       Kevin Lindenmuth’s, The Documentary Moviemaking Course

POLICY/CODE:

Ed Code 51054

Board Policy 6141

FISCAL IMPACT

None

STAFF RECOMMENDATION

Approve Documentary Filmmaking to be offered as a course for the 2020-2021 school year. It will be offered in the course catalog as pending for the 2020-21 school year.

BERKELEY UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT

To:                  Brent Stephens, Ed. D., Superintendent

From:             Bajé Thiara, Associate Superintendent, Educational Services  

Date:               January 8, 2020

Subject:          Approval of Master Contracts Amendment for Residential Nonpublic Schools for 2019-20 School Year

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The District contracts with residential nonpublic schools, when necessary to provide an appropriate placement, special education, residential treatment and/or related services if no appropriate public education program is available.  For students requiring residential treatment, the cost is for tuition for the educational program and services, room and board, mental health treatment.  An individual service agreement (ISA) is developed for each student to whom the service provider is to provide special education or related services. 

A Residential Treatment Center (RTC) provides students with a high-quality of care to support students’ mental health needs that require a full continuum of care. A student may require residential treatment when available school and community-based resources have been exhausted and have not successfully addressed the student's needs.

Services are provided pursuant to Ed. Code Section 56034 and 56366. Students enrolled in residential nonpublic schools are deemed enrolled in public schools.

$54,109.00 was approved on 11/6/2019 Board meeting for Residential NPS services until 12/31/2019, item 11.12. The services need to be extended to 6/30/2020 based on IEP requirement. We are increasing $89,654.00, which will bring the new total to $ 143,763.00.

POLICY/CODE

Education Code 56034, 56366

FISCAL IMPACT

Not to exceed $89,654.00 from the Special Education Budget which may require an additional contribution from the General Fund.

STAFF RECOMMENDATION

Approve the Master Contract Amendment for the Residential Nonpublic Schools listed above.

BERKELEY UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT

TO:             Brent Stephens, Ed.D., Superintendent

FROM:         Bajé Thiara, Associate Superintendent, Educational Services 

DATE:  January 8, 2020

SUBJECT:  Approval of Contract for Nonpublic Agency Services for the 2019-2020 School Year

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The District contracts with nonpublic agencies, when necessary, to provide related services to students with Individualized Education Programs (IEP). The following nonpublic agencies provide related services as defined in Section 1401 of Title 20 of the U.S. Code and section 300.34 of Title 34 of the Code of Federal Regulations, and California Ed. Code 56363 to enable students with IEPs to benefit from their special education. An individual service agreement (ISA) is developed for each student to whom the service provider is to provide special education or related services.

POLICY/CODE

Education Code 56363

FISCAL IMPACT

Not to exceed $38,396.00 funded from the Special Education Budget which may require an additional contribution from the General Fund.

STAFF RECOMMENDATION

Approve the Master Contract for the Nonpublic Agency listed above.

BERKELEY UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT

TO:                BUSD Board of Education

FROM:          Brent Stephens, Superintendent

DATE:           January 8, 2020

SUBJECT:    Agreement with Berkeley Council of Classified Employees, AFT Local 6192

PURPOSE:

The District and Berkeley Council of Classified Employees, AFT Local 6192 are parties to a collective bargaining agreement that includes provisions for a “me too” connection to the compensation increases described in agreements between the district and Berkeley Federation of Teachers.

At the Board of Education meeting on November 20, 2019 the Board voted to approve an agreement with the Berkeley Federation of Teachers that would increase base compensation for all unit members by 2.5% in the 2019-2020 school year, and by 2.5% in 2021-2022. Additionally, the agreement provides for an additional increase of 7% for 2020-21 pending passage of a new parcel tax for employee recruitment and retention.

In accordance with AB1200 (Chapter 1213/1991) and Government Code Section 3547.5, a public disclosure document summarizing the fiscal impact of each of the collective bargaining agreements has been provided to the Board and is available for review by the public. The public disclosure documents include the fiscal impact of collective bargaining agreements on the Unrestricted General Fund 01. Neither the cost nor the expenditures associated with the 7% increase in salaries pending the passage of a new parcel tax have been included in the calculations, and will be reflected in a separate fund or resource as needed.

The Public Disclosure Documents for tentative agreement will be submitted to the Alameda County Office of Education for their review. These documents indicate that the District will maintain a positive certification at Budget Adoption without reliance on parcel tax dollars. The Superintendent and Deputy Superintendent have certified that the budget revisions necessary to meet the costs of the agreement have been made, and no further budget revisions are necessary.

Recommended Action:

Approve the “Me Too” agreement with Berkeley Council of Classified Employees, AFT Local 6192

BERKELEY UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT

TO: Brent Stephens, Ed.D., Superintendent

FROM: Natasha Beery, Director of BSEP and Community Relations

     Danielle Perez, BSEP Program Specialist

DATE: January 8, 2020

SUBJECT: Election, Diversity and Activity Report for School Site Councils, and Berkeley High BSEP Committee for the 2019-20 School Year

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Each year the Board receives a report on the elections and membership of the School Site Councils (SSCs) for all BUSD schools, including the Pre-K Program, the TK-8 schools, Berkeley Technology Academy (BTA), the Independent Study (BIS) Program; and the two Berkeley High School committees: the BHS BSEP Site Funds Committee and the BHS School Site Council (SSC). This report was reviewed by the BSEP Planning and Oversight Committee on December 17, 2019.

Principals and committee members were surveyed online to obtain a picture of the conduct of elections for each site, including candidate outreach, nominations, election mechanisms, and community notification. 

Candidate outreach and recruitment: Schools solicited parent candidates using a variety of methods:

• Paper and digital flyers with committee information;
• Newsletter messages with an attached nomination form;
• Email and e-tree messages encouraging participation, in most cases with an online nomination option;
• Direct one-on-one recruitment and outreach to specific individuals and groups;
• Recruitment of individuals by current and former committee members and/or by the site’s Family Engagement Specialist; and
• Announcements and information tables at Back-to-School Night, Welcome Fairs, and other gatherings.

Teacher and staff candidates were solicited by Principals using the following methods:

• Providing a description of the committee and requests for nominations at staff meetings and staff retreats;
• Sending requests for nominations through email messages to staff lists; and
• Through one-on-one conversations in person and over the phone with potential candidates.

Parent/Guardian, Student, Teacher, and Staff committee candidates were encouraged to participate using many different messages, including:

• Details about the importance of the SSC and its role in the school;
• Members will help identify school goals;
• Join to help direct funding decisions;
• This group will review school data;
• The school needs new and diverse voices on this important committee; and
• More than any other response, most Principals reported telling parents, students, and staff that the school simply needs their help.

While most principals used a combination of methods, targeted and personal recruitment continue to be the most effective. However, one-third of BUSD Principals are in only their first or second year at their respective schools, so it should be recognized that the most effective, personal outreach method is much less viable for this group, who are still working to build connections within the school community. A potential aid for these new Principals is to recommend leveraging current and former committee members (both staff/teacher and parent/community) to help with one-on-one recruitment.

The timing of committee elections always presents a logistical challenge, as well. SSC elections must be completed by September 30 per the district’s SSC bylaws, allowing enough time for elected committee members to plan to attend the district-wide orientation and training in early October, and putting each SSC in a position to vote on school representatives to the BSEP P&O Committee before its first meeting of the year. However, outreach and elections compete for Principals’ time and attention with other start-of-year business such as filling staff vacancies, updating student rosters and class assignments, organizing Back to School Night and other welcome events, managing start-of-year budgeting and purchasing, initiating new contracts for outside programs to begin for their students, and more.

Given the above challenges, all BUSD principals should be applauded for completing their SSC elections. Every school had representatives in attendance at the district-led Committee Orientation event, and each SSC held its first meeting before the end of October. 15 out of 18 programs completed all elections before September 30, while 16 out of 18 committees are fully constituted with the required number of members.

Staff continue to be the most difficult group from which to recruit representatives. School staff members cannot be compensated for participating in an SSC, so principals rely on the willingness of teachers and staff to stay after their work day to serve in these groups. It is often difficult for committees to balance the needs of staff, who generally want to have meetings as soon after school as possible, with the needs of parents, who often have later working hours.

In an effort to give all Principals useful tools in recruitment and election processes, and in response to feedback from principals in 2018-19, the BSEP Office provided more standardized materials in 2019-20, including:

• English/Spanish flyers describing our most common committees;
• Template digital and printable nomination and voting forms; and
• Template vote tally and results record document.

Sites that have had success with “participatory” membership continued to utilize this method of encouraging increased participation in their committees. Overall 6 principals report having more than the minimum number of parents/guardians on their committees, and 8 principals report that they prefer to have their committees make decisions exclusively by consensus. Further, two sites opted to conduct voting as a slate, presenting their parent/guardian nominees to the community to approve as a group.

At the high school level, both the BSEP and SSC groups had enough parent/guardian nominees to fill all seats. Student selections were made the previous Spring through student government. Staff member nominations were solicited by the principal electronically and in staff meetings, and though the BSEP committee had enough staff nominees the SSC could only secure three, filling only half of the 6 total seats for that group.

Ballots and Voting:  All 18 programs presented parent/guardian candidates for election by their communities through printed or online ballots. Four sites distributed ballots both digitally and in paper form, compared to three last year; all other elections were held either exclusively on paper (7 sites) or electronically (7 sites), depending on the preference of the principal and school community. Digital ballots were shared via direct email messages and as links from e-tree communications, while paper ballots were sent home with students, handed out at events, and made available in central locations such as the school office. The BSEP Program Specialist was available to assist with counting and recording ballots at sites that requested extra help, this year manually counting at one school and preparing digital tallies for another. Most sites handled all aspects of vote counting independently and reported results back to the BSEP Office using the provided voting record form.

For the second year in a row, all sites were successful in soliciting voter participation for parent/guardian elections. Elementary sites had responses ranging from 18 returned ballots (at one of the smallest schools, which also has a new Principal) to a high of 90. The middle Schools ranged from a low of 14 to a high of 102, and Berkeley High received 236 returned ballots. The small programs also received responses proportionate to the size of their student population.

Staff: Over half of all SSCs chose staff committee members by consensus, while 3 held a formal staff vote and 5 groups had staff members nominated by the principal. The majority of principals solicited staff nominations during staff meetings in combination with direct emails to staff and distribution of paper nomination forms. More than half of the principals also engaged in one-on-one recruitment.

The most frequently reported problem with elections this year came from teacher and staff committee members, who were not made aware of results, or not given much if any notice about attending the Committee Orientation and Training event. This points to a need for more support for principals around conducting staff elections to the same standards as those for parent/guardian members. As was noted earlier, every year principals report that staff candidates are the most difficult to recruit; as principals struggle to solicit enough nominees to fill their committee seats, it is likely that the subsequent election and notification processes are delayed and poorly communicated back to the staff at large. For the 2020-21 election cycle, BSEP Office staff will create template nomination, election, and ballot counting forms for staff elections, in addition to those already prepared for parent/guardian elections, which can hopefully make both processes easier for principals to manage during an already-busy time of the school year.

Roster: Attached as Appendix A is a roster of the parents/guardians, students, teachers, principals, and other staff members who have made the commitment to serve on their SSC, BHS BSEP, or the P&O Committee this year.

Diversity: Attached as Appendix B is a chart showing the available ethnic/racial composition of the SSC members in Pre-K through 5 schools, middle schools and high schools, as well as a comparison with the district student body. The methodology of collecting these data included the following practices:

• Ethnic/racial categories match the federal and state categories which are used for the student CALPADS data.
• Race/ethnicity data was obtained through self-report, and responses from committee members who have participated for multiple years were retained.

Note that this year, only 52 out of 220 committee members responded to our survey, and of those respondents many declined to provide their ethnic/racial composition. In previous years, principals were asked to “fill in” demographic information for committee members who did not respond, but many principals expressed strong discomfort in making assumptions about others’ racial and/or ethnic identities. Further, many of those members who chose to respond still expressed frustration at being asked to identify themselves using limited and, many respondents argued, societally fabricated, demographic fields. So while the data available is presented below, the number of respondents from which it is pulled is a relatively small portion of the committee member population.

Rather than providing counts and percentages for each school and program, the results are summarized by grade levels: preK-5, middle school, and high school (including BTA and BIS).

Overall, 36.4% of committee members identify as white, and 19.1% of committee members identify as non-white. Of the latter group, 3.2% identify as Asian, 7.7% as Black or African-American, 4.5% as Hispanic/Latino, and 3.6% as more than one race/ethnicity.

The use of the five categories used to identify students in CALPADS continues to be problematic for many SSC members, who did not feel their ethnicities fit into the options provided. Some indicated, for example, that their Jewish, Middle Eastern, Afro-Puerto Rican and Filipino backgrounds did not fit comfortably within any of the available options. Several respondents indicated “non-American” as how they would most accurately describe themselves.

Not only does the five-category report not fully capture the diverse backgrounds of the members, it does not show the many perspectives brought to the table as parents of children with learning disabilities, or as single parents, for example, which can be important dynamics for both outreach and inclusion. Furthermore, many sites find it difficult to build a diverse SSC when parents of “unduplicated” students are pulled away to serve on the PAC and those of English learners to ELAC or DELAC groups. This makes the inclusion of PAC and DELAC/ELAC members at SSC meetings even more compelling as a way to link broader perspectives, but it imposes the burden of more meetings for representatives to attend.

Committee Member Education: The updated School Committee Handbook was distributed at the district’s Committee Orientation event on October 17, and extra handbooks were sent to each site to be given to members who could not attend the training. Additionally, concurrent with widening the scope of the training event to invite all interested community members, handbook materials were also made available to any interested community members. After the Orientation, handbooks were requested by DELAC and PTA members from various sites.

The handbook includes sections on "Best Practices" and suggested annual calendars, as well as Meeting Summary and Site Plan Addendum examples and a dictionary of key BUSD acronyms and terms. There is a section with bylaws and guides describing school committees and the various funds they oversee, including descriptions of BSEP site and district-wide, LCAP, and Title I resources. In response to committee member requests for more concrete information, the handbooks also included the following:

• The full text of the current-year site plan according to the member’s location, as well as student enrollment data and budget information specific to that site from the past five years;
• Examples from within BUSD of methods to share committee, site plan and budget information with the broader school community.

This handbook includes a suggested month-to-month agenda for SSC tasks, attached to this report as Appendix C. In response to requests from SSC members, more concrete information on staff salary decision-making deadlines is incorporated into this document as well.

Activities: On October 17, 2019 the annual School and District Committee Orientation was held at Longfellow Middle School. For the second year in a row, principals were asked to hold their October SSC meeting at the training event, with the exception of the two Berkeley High committees who were scheduled to meet at a later date. The BSEP Director, Senior Budget Analyst, and Program Specialist were able to briefly visit each of these on-site SSC meetings, providing support and answering questions when needed or simply observing the processes of the groups.

The evening was broken up into two parts, the first being a choice of presentations: Committees 101 for new members and a Budget Big Picture overview. The Committees 101 portion aimed to give an overview of the SSC and other committee processes to any new committee members. All returning members were asked to attend the Budget Big Picture session to gain a comprehensive understanding of the current challenges facing the district, and to understand some of the proposed new taxes to be presented to Berkeley voters in 2020. After the workshops, members regrouped for committee “mini-meetings,” which included SSC, the PAC and DELAC groups. Members of other committees (PTA, P&O, etc.) were encouraged to attend their sites’ SSC meetings as members of the public, and the D/ELAC adjourned halfway through the meeting time so that members could join their respective SSCs to make connections within those groups.

The event had approximately 145 attendees, mirroring the increased attendance we saw last year, despite the BHS committees not holding a meeting that evening. Participant feedback for the event was overwhelmingly positive, with many attendees expressing satisfaction with the amount of information provided during the presentations and also noting that the provided child care and dinner made it feasible to attend. Attendees also provided many suggestions to improve the event next year, from logistics such as more signs directing attendees and diversifying the childcare activities offered, to programmatic changes like incorporating small group work time into the dinner portion of the evening.

The BSEP Director and Program Specialist will continue to visit SSC meetings at each site in the 2019-20 school year. These visits provide a face-to-face opportunity for SSC members to ask questions about committee and district procedures and policies, and will help the BSEP Office continue to improve and expand the Best Practices materials to be provided to committees.

The BSEP Director and Program Specialist are also assisting with the BHS BSEP/SSC committee bylaw revision and pending re-combination of those committees. The process began at the end of the 2018-19 school year with discussions between the principal, committee chair, and district staff around logistical considerations. In lieu of asking both committees to attend the Orientation and Training event, BHS held a combined meeting of both committees at their school site in October, at which Natasha Beery and Danielle Perez presented about the history of the discrete committees, presented committee handbooks and general information. They also presented the proposed re-combination and both groups agreed to pilot a joint committee meeting calendar in the 2019-20 school year. The revised bylaws will be presented to the Board Policy Subcommittee at their next meeting, with the hope of subsequent approval by the full Board in time to conduct BHS student committee elections this Spring for a single committee in the 2020-21 school year.

POLICY/CODE:
California Education Code 52852-52855; BUSD School Site Council Bylaws, adopted by the Berkeley Board of Education September 12, 2018; BUSD Berkeley High School Site Council Bylaws, adopted by the Berkeley Board of Education August 4, 2010.

FISCAL IMPACT:
None

STAFF RECOMMENDATION:
Receive this School Site Council, Berkeley High BSEP Committee and BHS School Site Council Election, Diversity and Activity Report for 2019-20.

BERKELEY UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT

TO:             Brent Stephens, Superintendent

FROM:       Jay Nitschke, Director of Technology       

DATE:        January 8, 2020

SUBJECT: Fall 1 CALPADS Data Collection

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The CALPADS Fall 1 data collection is taken from the set of students enrolled in the district on the first Wednesday in October. This year the census date was October 2, 2019.

A synopsis of the data is presented in the spreadsheets below. These are the official percentages reported in CALPADS and used for programs throughout the district that depend on these types of statistics for funding. Overall enrollment is the basis for P1 ADA, the percentage of unduplicated students who qualify for Free or Reduced Lunch, are designated English Learners, or are Foster Youth determines the district’s LCFF Supplemental funding.

The ongoing gentrification of Berkeley has changed the population of Berkeley schools significantly this decade. Note that in 2010-11 the percentage of students receiving free lunch was over 40% at each BUSD elementary school. Now, just 10 years later, only Oxford and Thousand Oaks inch over the 3o% mark, and the overall average is slightly less than 26%. For the first time we have a school, Rosa Parks, with a Free lunch percentage under 20%.

In a similar fashion, the number of students used to calculate LCFF has dropped from 41.9% in 2013-14 down to 30.6% this year. Not only is the Free/Reduced Lunch component decreasing, but the percentage of English Learners has decreased from 10% to 8.25% in the same time range, and from 14.1% in 2010-11.

The enrollment numbers listed include students enrolled in Independent Study since that is a district program and not a separate school. Home/hospital students are not included in this document.

It should be noted that the range of Free & Reduced lunch differences among the elementary schools is very close to the Board goal of ±5% from the average; nine of the schools are in the range, and the remaining two are lower.

The Language Census data indicates the number of students speaking languages other than English. Notable is that while Spanish is by far the most spoken language by our students, the number of students speaking all other languages almost equals the Spanish count.

POLICY/CODE

Ed Code 49550

FISCAL IMPACT

None

STAFF RECOMMENDATION
Receive numbers and percentages of students reported as a part of CALPADS Fall 1 submission.

Persons wishing to address the Board should fill out a green speaker card.  Cards turned in for the earlier open session public testimony will be given priority.  Speakers will be randomly selected based on topic and position, with BUSD students generally given priority.  Public Testimony is limited to 15 minutes with a 3-minute limit per speaker per topic although the time allotted per speaker may be reduced to 2 minutes at the discretion of the President.