[Bhs] SCHOOL BOARD: Letter to re college acceptances

[bhs at idiom.com]

From: Nancy Riddle nancy_riddle at berkeley.k12.ca.us 
Vice President, Berkeley School Board and ’04 Parent,

Dear Class of ’04
Yesterday’s headlines confirmed what many Berkeley High School
seniors already know, the State of California has broken a forty year
promise to accept all eligible applicants to the UC system.  Over 8,700
were turned away. There was also a marked decline in the acceptance of
underrepresented minority students. I have heard that BHS students
applying to UC Santa Cruz have been particularly hard hit.  UCSC is
historically one of your most popular choices.  UCSC is the only UC that
had a significant increase in applications this year, and, therefore, had a much higher percentage of rejections of eligible students.  They
rejected over 7,000 freshman and about half of those were eligible. 
Yesterday’s headlines focused on the UC system but admissions to our state colleges have suffered a similar fate and our community college system is struggling under massive budget cuts.

Last week I received a notice from Senator Don Perata's office about
a series of "town hall meetings" on this issue throughout the state. 
Unfortunately, the closest one is in San Jose and it’s in the middle of a school day.  I spoke at length yesterday with Amy Pierce-Costa, District Director for Senator Perata.  They would very much like to receive written testimonials (emails are fine) from students who have been caught up in this mess. 

Email: Amy.Costa at SEN.CA.GOV
Mailing Address:
	Amy Pierce-Costa, District Director for Senator Don Perata
	1515 Clay Street #2202
	Oakland, CA  94612

Class of ’04, your individual stories are powerful.  I encourage you to
bear witness. The Board would appreciate receiving your stories as well.  

Email:  nancy_riddle at berkeley.k12.ca.us 
Mailing Address:
	Nancy Riddle, Vice President, Berkeley School Board
Berkeley Unified School District
2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way
Berkeley, CA  94704-1180

I have already heard informally from several students and I
appreciate that some of your stories are very personal and I will, of
course, respect your requests for anonymity if you prefer.  

With warm regards,
Nancy Riddle
Vice President, Berkeley School Board and ’04 Parent
==========================================

Mark A. Coplan
Public Information Officer, BUSD
510-644-6320
Mark_Coplan at berkeley.k12.ca.us
Berkeley Unified School District
2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way
Berkeley, Ca 94704-1180



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