[BHS Etree] ADMIN: Berkeley High Redesign Update

[BHS Etree]

PLEASE do not reply to this email, contact Sam Pasarow, sampasarow at berkeley.net<mailto:sampasarow at berkeley.net>

September 13, 2016

Dear Berkeley High Community:

Welcome back from what was hopefully a long and adventurous summer. I am writing on behalf of the Berkeley High Design Team to share a brief update as to the status of our redesign as well as our process moving forward.

Changes in Leadership:
With the addition of Vice Principal Tamara Friedman to the Berkeley High administration, we posted an opening for a co-facilitator to the Design Team. After careful consideration, the administrative team invited Matt Meyer to join Hasmig Minassian in co-leading the initiative. Ms. Friedman will stay on as the VP who oversees the design team and as the administrative liaison. The email address designteam at berkeley.net<mailto:designteam at berkeley.net> is still the best way to reach all three members of the team.

Summer Update:
Over the summer, the Design Team leadership had several meetings with district leadership, the Berkeley Federation of Teachers, and the Berkeley High School administrative team. While the district feels enthusiastic about many parts of the redesign plan, they are constrained by a budget timeline that prevents them from approving the redesign for school year 2017-2018. In other words, we will not be moving forward with the most robust version of the redesign<http://bhs.berkeleyschools.net/bhs-school-redesign-process/> for the academic year 17-18. We will, however, continue our work in obtaining district approval as well as funding for the full redesign to be implemented in the subsequent school year 2018-2019.

In the meantime, we are proposing some cost-neutral "pilots" that will allow us to continue moving toward our final objective, in terms of building the infrastructure necessary to sustain the many changes we've outlined. We know many families have been eager to see these changes implemented sooner rather than later, so please understand that these pilots will be designed to immediately improve the experience of incoming students in the 2017-2018 school year. The Design Team will reconvene tomorrow, on Wednesday September 14th, to discuss what some of these interim pilot proposals will be and we will bring them to the staff and the community once they are finalized. Please look for an opportunity to participate in this conversation in the near future through community meetings. We will post dates, times, and locations to the Berkeley High and middle school etrees.

Implementation Teams:
As part of our evolution, the current Design Team structure will change to accommodate this year's work. In the coming weeks, we will announce the formation of Design Implementation Teams. These are smaller sub-committees we will form to carry out the work of implementing the ideas of the redesign. These include committees on advisory, performance-based assessments, arts integration, student placement/lottery, community outreach and several more.

We appreciate your continued engagement and interest in this process and look forward to the work ahead.

Thanks for your time and,

GO JACKETS

Sam Pasarow

_____________________________
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