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<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT color=#0000ff size=2><FONT size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><SPAN><FONT
color=#000000><SPAN class=260583420-04102011><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Dear
BHS Families:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Some
of you have had questions about why we decided to close the South Gym Building
(The Old Gym) late last week. The communication from Superintendent William
Huyett below provides some detail on that decision. We fully acknowledge the
challenges that this facilities issue has caused for some of our athletic
programs, and we are working to minimize those challenges with temporary storage
space. Physical Education classes had been reassigned to the newer locker rooms
in the pool building at the beginning of the school year and are unaffected by
this change.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">While
the inconvenience created for our athletic program by this decision is clear, we
agree with our district partners that the closure is the most sensible course of
action at this time given the paramount importance of student safety and
considering the fact that the closure simply moves up an action that had already
been slated for this winter.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Respectfully,<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Pasquale
Scuderi<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Principal
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><STRONG>FROM
SUPERINTENDENT WILLIAM HUYETT:<o:p></o:p></STRONG></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><STRONG> </STRONG></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Last
week I asked Principal Scuderi<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>if
he could move the Sports Medicine course out of the South Gym Building.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>He told me given a few days he could
arrange another meeting space for the class.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>In addition I asked if there were any
other student programs in the South Gym and he stated that all other programs
had been moved out in anticipation of the demolition of the facility in
January.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">He
did mention that there was space used for storage by athletic teams and that we
would need to accommodate their needs with additional metal storage units in the
future. We have completed the classroom move and are working on bringing in some
temporary storage for athletics.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>All of these issues have been made more complicated due to the delay in
construction of the Phase I project of the "Bleacher Building".<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">I
was recently made aware of past controversies about the safety of the building
that arose after a campaign in 2000 to pass a small bond to modernize the
building.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>At that time an
engineering firm named ABS Consulting raised concerns about the building in a
preliminary seismic evaluation. Their findings also showed that the cost to
retrofit the building were more than what was raised in the bond election.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>As a result the bond monies were
expended and the district pursued replacing the building. Their structural
concerns were not confirmed by further investigation by the District but their
conclusion was cited in the Berkeley High School South of Bancroft Master Plan
Draft EIR, dated September 26, 2006. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Upon
learning of this history, being a prudent and cautious administrator, I asked
the principal if we could move the students and storage now instead of waiting
three months since we were going to have to move out soon anyhow. We have had
several questions from the public on this issue. In reality we just thought it
would be better to act now rather that three months from now if we could,
especially since we had to do so soon in any
case.</SPAN><EM> </EM></SPAN></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal></SPAN></P>
<P><FONT size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: navy; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">________________<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<DIV class=MsoNormal><FONT size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: navy; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Pat Anderson, Diane
Douglas, Marguerite Fa-Kaji and Lisa Sibony are the parent-volunteer
facilitators of the etree; please direct any questions to them at <A
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</SPAN></FONT><SPAN style="COLOR: navy"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
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