[BHS Etree] ADMIN: Increased Security Last Week

[BHS etree]

Please do not reply to the Etree, contact school administration with
questions or comments.

Dear BHS Families:

A very small number of families have contacted me regarding speculation and
rumor pertaining to connections between BHS students and the tragic death of
an Oakland High School student this past Tuesday. In brief let me
share what I know and what our responses were to prevent conjecture in the
wake of this brutal and sobering event.

[ http://www.ktvu.com/news/25117457/detail.html ] An Oakland High School
student was killed on Tuesday evening. 

The following morning Oakland High's principal, despite managing a tragedy
of epic proportions at her school site, had the fortitude and professional
courtesy to contact me and inform me that BHS students were possibly with
the young man shortly before he was attacked. I immediately called a meeting
with members of my  administrative team and safety staff to assess the
situation and we quickly set about gathering all the information we could. 

While there was never, and I must stress this, never an indication or
insinuation that BHS students were responsible for the young man's passing,
nor that there was any threat of retaliation directed towards
anyone in the BHS community, we nonetheless tightened our security and made
administrators more visible in the halls and on the perimeter of our campus
while we collected more information. In addition, our school
resource officer and I worked with BPD to gain additional support for our
campus and that is why students may have seen additional bike patrols around
campus that morning. We have also been partnering with BPD, BUSD
Student Services, and City Parks and Rec in the past few weeks to address
truancy issues in Civic Center Park and that is another reason why you and
your students may have seen additional police officers on Wednesday and
throughout the week.

Within an hour we had confirmed via both police agencies involved that there
was in fact no indication that BHS students were responsible nor that there
was anything remotely resembling a credible threat of danger
against our school community. I also confirmed this information with the
Oakland High School Principal whom I maintained cell phone contact with
throughout the day. Our BPD School Resource Officer also maintained
contact with the OPD officer assigned to Oakland High. 

Ultimately we did discover a group of 5-7 students who knew the young man
who was killed and our counseling staff set up a safe space for them to
grieve and be supported. 

Again, I write to prevent unnecessary worry and concern and to hopefully
give you a glimpse into the processes we will initiate when concerns over
student safety arise. Obviously if we felt there was any sort of immediate
threat we have protocols, sheltering in place, locking down the campus, etc.
that can be utilized to protect our students from harm in the face of such
threats. 

Please know that were a credible or heightened threat to arise we would
share information with the community immediately and work together to ensure
student safety.

I am committed to not only keeping you informed, but also using good
judgment around when to sound the alarm in an age where information,
including rumor and speculation, can be disseminated as fast as it can be
generated. 

Have a great weekend.


Pasquale Scuderi
Principal
Berkeley High School
(510) 644-6120