During the school year, all of our children are learning and growing, and summer is a fun time to keep those reading skills active and strong! Families can make a huge difference by encouraging children to read over the summer. Here's some quick advice from the district literacy folks:

You can also visit your school's virtual library and gain access to audiobooks and ebooks through the BUSD Library Services webpage.

Several other easy and fun learning ideas to keep young kids reading, writing, doing math, and interested in the sciences over the summer are found on this google document, as compiled by Thousand Oaks teacher Kathleen Marte.

The intense feeling of personal accomplishment and family pride that comes with graduation season was on full display at the annual Bridge program graduation that took place last week in the Berkeley High School Library. As this year’s cohort of Bridge students smiled, hugged and honored their hard work, all twenty-six seniors did so knowing they held a coveted college registration in hand! As they prepare to head off to places such as UC Riverside, UC Santa Cruz, several California State Universities, as well as Berkeley City College, receiving the ceremonial “Bridge” sashes formalized this rite of passage -- for just about all of them, these seniors will be the first in their family to go to college.

Eight years ago, Berkeley High Bridge was one of the first initiatives to be launched in the Berkeley public schools as part of the 2020 Vision For Berkeley’s Children and Youth . Under the leadership of BHS teacher Jessie Luxford and with funding from the district’s Local Control and Accountability Plan and a city grant, the program has evolved into an effective four-year academic skill building and college preparation program that currently serves 119 students in the 9th-12th grades.

One of the unique elements of the program is the personalized support provided to each student by a Berkeley High School “Bridge” teacher and college-aged mentors who are part of the Bridge team that meets most days after school over four years as students work to secure their college-going future.

Berkeley public school communities enjoy a rich linguistic diversity. Once a year we celebrate all of the English learners who have earned English fluency as defined by the California Department of Education during the current school year.

This week 98 English learner students in our K-12 schools who speak more than 20 different languages will be recognized for achieving English fluency. This is a meaningful milestone for each of these students, their families, and the teachers who have helped them along the way!

A milestone in the history of Berkeley school names was achieved May 23 when the School Board unanimously agreed to rename the former Le Conte Elementary School in honor of education advocate and civil rights icon Sylvia Mendez (seen in her visit to BUSD in this 2017 photo).

Read the full story on our webpage.

The life and legacy of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay politician in California and a leader of the American Civil Rights Movement was celebrated on May 22 at Jefferson Elementary School. Students learned more about the legacy of Harvey Milk through school wide lessons about family diversity and read alouds of PRIDE: The Story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag  by Rob Sanders.

At the School Board Meeting on May 23, Berkeley High School Principal Erin Schweng and U9 Lead Teacher Hasmig Minassian presented an update on the implementation of the new Universal 9th grade program approved by the board last year. Starting this coming fall, 9th grade students at Berkeley High will enter into 9th grade "hives" rather than a specific learning community, which will from now on begin in the 10th grade. The board presentation included a report on resource allocation, the LEAP class design and recruitment, and an update on the process of hiring teachers. The slide presentation is available on the board webpage and the video archive is on the district YouTube page starting at the running time of 2:02:30. The Universal 9th Grade program is described in more detail on this webpage.

Do you know someone who might be looking for a rewarding opportunity to join our school district? If so, please tell them Berkeley Unified School District is hiring!

We are hiring in a wide variety of areas - technology, transportation, teaching, facilities, food service, administration, office support, and more. We offer great benefits along with the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of our diverse students and families!

It takes a village to run our schools and serve our students and families!

Tues., June 5, 7:00pm

Berkeley Schools Excellence Program (BSEP) P&O Meetings are held at 2020 Bonar Street on the first floor of the district offices in Room 126.

This is a Brown Act Committee and meeting agendas and minutes are posted on this webpage.

The BSEP Planning and Oversight (P&O) Committee, comprised of representatives from each school, meets regularly to review the implementation of Measure E1 of 2016, and to ensure that the annual BSEP funds ($29 million) are spent in compliance with the Measure.

Wed., June 13, 7:30 pm

Board Meetings are held in the Board Room, 1231 Addison St, unless otherwise noted.

School board meeting agendas/materials are posted at least 72 hours before meetings on the School Board Meeting Information page of our website.