[BHS Etree] ADMIN: Perspectives and Expectations for Tomorrow

[BHS etree]

Dear BHS Families and Staff:

 

This week has seen a jump in energy in response to our cancellation of
Spirit Week/Rally Day. We stand by that decision as an absolute necessity in
the wake of last year's numerous safety issues.

 

We have had some ad hoc costume/theme days emerge this week, events that we
assume were organized or encouraged by students through social media, etc,
and while those things have thus far been peaceful and good spirited, we
have to reiterate that there are no official or school-sanctioned events
scheduled this week. 

 

This is an important distinction since any events planned on or off campus
for tomorrow through social media or other channels have obviously not been
shared with the administrative team and therefore have not been subject to
staff review. As a result they have not been subject to the sort of safety
considerations, resource allocations, and general vetting that we would
provide for official school-sponsored events. 

 

Our expectations around tomorrow are that all students attend class,
participate, and demonstrate appropriate behavior throughout the day. 

 

Any students who appear to be under the influence, or who are found to be in
possession of alcohol or drugs will, like on any other day, be subject to a
full five day suspension. 

 

Moving forward, we are again interested in new, student-driven ideas on how
to create school spirit and build community in a re-imagined way.

 

There is still some consideration of conducting a senior class photo/senior
spell out next semester, but those and other possibilities will require
further discussion with student leadership representatives and student
groups moving forward. 

 

For those families who may not have received or caught our previous
explanation for why the spirit events were cancelled this year, we have
copied the section from our August 27th email that deals with the subject
below.

 

Respectfully,

 

Pasquale Scuderi

Principal

Berkeley High School

 

 

Dear BHS Families:

 

Many have characterized the indefinite cancellation of Rally Day as a
controversial decision of sorts. For myself, and the team of administrators
and teacher leaders who made the decision, characterizing the decision as
"controversial" is, to us, confirmation of a perspective uninformed of just
how negative, divisive, inappropriate, and in many respects dangerous last
year's event became. 

 

It's certainly not my preference to dot this opening letter with a litany of
graphic details regarding the event, but some are, I believe, necessary, so
that students, staff, and parents can discuss this decision with some honest
perspectives and simple facts.

 

An event that has historically been justified as a "unifying" school-spirit
experience has over the past several years looked far more mean-spirited and
divisive. Last year saw the usual groups of students shouting at each other
representing their classes (juniors v. seniors, sophomores v. juniors, all
v. frosh) actually result in multiple physical altercations and suspensions.
Elsewhere groups of older kids chanted and shouted insults and obscenities
at groups of younger students. I'll spare you some of the chants and their
uncreative and demeaning specifics.

 

Physical safety was another massive concern last year and the number of
students we sent home and/or suspended for intoxication on that day reached
double digits. Some groups of students were so brazen that we confiscated
open containers on campus. Groups of zealous kids created massive and
volatile congestion throughout the building and in hallways often blocking
doorways and creating unsafe situations without outlets for those students
who simply wanted to move on. Police were called by neighbors and local
businesses to deal with students who were walking on cars, some occupied and
some parked, while traffic backed up after school at Milvia and Kittredge
and the possibility that staff and police officers might need to physically
and forcefully remove kids from the street nearly became a reality.

 

Administrators and security staff spent hours monitoring bathrooms (a
deployment of instructional leadership resources that is in my view
ridiculous) and yet, having to respond to constant radio calls in all areas
of the campus all day, custodial staff still had to deal with the unpleasant
biological aftermath of a number of students who made bad decisions, drank
too much, and got sick. Again, if this all sounds over the top we agree, and
I'm not simply being graphic just to be graphic, but rather in an effort to
be very honest and open about the facts so that the merits of this decision
and the actual culture of this event can be understood and evaluated in the
context of school climate and student safety.

 

To debunk rumors, the event is not being cancelled simply or exclusively
because significant members of last year's sophomore class disrupted
performances and caused huge delays by running on the field during the
rally. That incident was actually one of many individual and collective
behaviors that required staff to evaluate and ultimately decide to cancel
the event indefinitely.

 

During my time here we have seen helpful efforts and attempts by student
leadership to reframe the event. I personally went to several classes the
year I got here as principal to discuss concerns with students that I had
been hearing since I first came to BHS as a Vice Principal in 2006. Yet
despite these types of efforts, and despite significant expenditures on
added security, administrative time, and on logistics and planning, things
have simply gotten worse and in our estimation have become increasingly
inappropriate for a school setting and unsafe in general. 

 

Each year we have attempted to increase positive messaging, and coupled that
with tighter enforcement and guidelines, and yet each year we have been
proven to have underestimated how deeply embedded the "party at school all
day" culture of the event is and so, by continuing to support it, we would
be offering our tacit and indirect approval of several behaviors that we in
fact do not feel are even remotely appropriate at school.

 

It is not a decision we make lightly, and while it may be unpopular, it is
one that we are very, very happy to be making before rather than after even
a single student gets hurt.  

 

Pasquale Scuderi

Principal

Berkeley High School

 

__________________________________

Marguerite Fa-Kaji and Catherine Ference are the parent-volunteer
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