A mental health needs assessment, the first in six years, recommends BUSD hire more diverse counselors and increase preventative mental health services.
Ally Markovich
Ally Markovich, who covers the school beat for Berkeleyside, is a former high school English teacher. Her work has appeared in The Oaklandside, The New York Times, Huffington Post and Washington Post, among other publications. You can spot her running on the trails in Tilden Park.
Posted inSchools
3 candidates vie to be Berkeley City College’s next president
The community college’s new president will be tasked with increasing enrollment and dealing with budget cuts from the state.
Posted inSchools
New Berkeley High girls flag football team debuts with blow-out victory
The new team is breaking gender barriers in California’s fastest growing sport. The Yellow Jackets won their first game 19-0.
Posted inSchools
The data’s in: Integration effort is bringing racial parity to Berkeley middle schools
Under a new policy, the district’s 6th grade class is more racially balanced across the three middle schools while enrollment has stayed relatively stable.
Posted inCrime & Safety
New school district policy aims to restrict when police can question Berkeley students
The school district now “strongly encourages” law enforcement not to question or arrest students on campus when investigating a crime that occurred elsewhere.
Posted inCommunity
Berkeley teen braves sharks and hyperthermia in world record swims. What keeps her going?
Tenacious Berkeley High junior Maya Merhige is the youngest person to swim Hawaii’s 28-mile Moloka’i Channel.
Posted inSchools
Achievement gap in Berkeley schools has long been among the nation’s very worst
BUSD has spent decades striving to close the gap between Black and Latino students and their white and Asian peers but has yielded only limited success.
Posted inCommunity
Where to go for last-minute camping near Berkeley this holiday weekend
Didn’t plan ahead? We’ve got tips for finding a scenic spot to sleep under the stars — even when traditional campsites are already reserved.
Posted inSchools
What’s next for Berkeley’s old Oxford Elementary School?
Sell it? Turn it into housing? Knock it down? The fate of the North Berkeley school building, vacated in 2020 after a report showed vulnerability to earthquake damage, is still undecided.
Posted inCommunity
These 5 Berkeley teens took trips to visit their homelands this summer
After graduating from Willard Middle School, a group of Berkeley friends connected with their heritage by taking family vacations to their home countries. It was the “summer of ancestral return,” a parent said.
Posted inSchools
BUSD sues parents accused of hitting security guard during Berkeley High fight
The lawsuit claims the parents should pay the workers comp fees for the security guard’s injuries to the brain, ear, jaw and teeth.
Posted inSchools
Wednesday marked an end to ‘de facto segregation’ at Berkeley’s middle schools
BUSD 6th graders went to new schools this week, ending an enrollment policy that’s been called “a broken, segregated system.”
