[BHS Etree] ADMIN: Inauguration Day at BHS

[BHS Etree]

Dear Parents and Families,

Many of you have heard about protests planned for Friday, January 20, 
Inauguration Day. There are various groups across the Bay Area planning 
actions that day, and over the weekend. You may have heard on the news 
about a flyer from a local group that has stated that Berkeley High 
students should walk out of class on Friday and that schools should be 
shut down that day.

We are not closing school on Friday, and our expectation is that 
students will be present on campus that day, discussing and learning. We 
believe that students should be involved in school activities this 
Friday - both for on-campus civic engagement and for important review 
and instruction for finals next week. Students who leave campus during 
school time will receive an unexcused absence, as per California Ed 
Code, as we cannot excuse absences for non-school sponsored off-campus 
activities.

We do, however, support our students in taking an active interest in 
civic engagement. There are plans for on-campus activities that enable 
students to understand and address civic issues within the educational 
environment. Many teachers are planning relevant lessons on Friday, and 
student leaders and staff are planning noon-time activities that day to 
provide opportunities for students to talk about the inauguration and 
the role of citizens in our democracy. These activities will include a 
letter-writing campaign to state and federal leaders, as well as 
creation of a list of goals that are important to our students for the 
new President to consider.

A coalition of Berkeley High student leadership groups also plans to 
hold a voluntary, student-led assembly on campus in early February 
entitled ‘Moving Forward,’ focused on positive activism and engagement 
in the political process. We also understand that many students, family 
and staff members will be attending the Women’s March on Saturday, 
January 21st, or have other plans for civic and community action.

The 2016 presidential election has stirred up strong feelings among 
students, staff members and families. We want our students to know they 
are supported by their families, schools and community through this 
challenging time in our nation’s history, and one of the ways we support 
them is through providing opportunities for learning about history, our 
government, and the many forms of civic engagement that have moved our 
country forward.

Our primary commitment on Friday, and every day, is to keep students 
safe. As we said on November 9, we feel it is our responsibility to 
notify parents that our control over proceedings out in the community, 
and our ability to supervise students off campus diminishes as the day 
goes on, as the size of events like these grow, and as other groups join 
in. We will have student safety foremost in our priorities, and will 
also communicate with families and community about any activities of 
note. In the meantime, we hope you will talk to your students about your 
priorities for the day and ensure they are in communication with you 
about their activities.

Thank you for your time and attention to this message,

Erin Schweng, on behalf of the BHS Administrative Team



-- 

Vice Principal, Berkeley High School

Berkeley Unified School District
(510) 644-4566

D-159


_____________________________

Marguerite Fa-Kaji, Catherine Ference and Dylan Kaufman are the 
parent-volunteer facilitators of the Etree; please direct any questions 
about the Etree to them at bhs-owner at lmi.net <mailto:bhs-owner at lmi.net>.

BHS etree archives: http://lists.lmi.net/pipermail/bhs/

BHS website: http://bhs.berkeleyschools.net/

BUSD Non-Discrimination Statement /la Política de No 
Discriminación:http://bit.ly/BUSDNDPolicy

To post a message, send to: bhs at lmi.net <mailto:bhs at lmi.net>.

To _unsubscribe_from the etree, send an email to bhs-leave at lmi.net 
<mailto:bhs-leave at lmi.net> with one word only in the subject line: 
*unsubscribe *(The request must be sent from the email address that is 
subscribed to the list.)If that does not work, you can use the following 
URL, either included at the very bottom of each individual message, or 
by typing it in the address bar 
yourself:http://lists.lmi.net/mailman/options/bhs/put-your-email@address.here

To _subscribe_ to the etree, send an email to bhs-join at lmi.net 
<mailto:bhs-join at lmi.net> with one word only in the subject line: 
*subscribe*

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.lmi.net/pipermail/bhs/attachments/20170118/8e707d3d/attachment-0001.html>