Berkeley High’s top-ranked girls basketball team took another step toward a NorCal championship last night, winning its quarterfinal against McClatchy-Sacramento 69-56. The Yellowjackets clinched the North Coast Section championship last Saturday by crushing Deer Valley 62-42. In the semifinals BHS will play fourth-ranked Kennedy-Sacramento who beat Lowell last night, 54-39. Update The Oakland Tribune has […]
Berkeley High School
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Breaking: Berkeley High principal Slemp to retire
Jim Slemp, principal of Berkeley High School, said today he plans to retire at the end of this school year. The announcement was made at this morning’s public announcements at the school. Slemp has been at the center of this year’s controversy over the future of extra time for science labs at BHS. He proposed […]
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Fundraiser honors famous alumni of Berkeley High
The list of people who attended Berkeley High and later went on to great acclaim is long.
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BHS soccer in semifinal tussle
If you want to haul over to Concord this evening, you’ll be able to cheer on the Berkeley High boys varsity soccer team in an NCS semifinal match against number one ranked De La Salle. The Jackets entered the tournament as league champions and ranked fourth. They won their first round match against College Park […]
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BHS science compromise slipping away?
Superintendent Huyett and Principal Slemp Parents attending the open house at Berkeley High School last night were handed a leaflet from “concerned parents and staff” about the science/equity controversy at the school. According to the leaflet, BHS principal Jim Slemp is opposed to the compromise plan suggested by Berkeley Unified School District Superintendent Bill Huyett: […]
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BHS science labs not just for the ‘privileged’
Amy Hansen is a long time science teacher at Berkeley High School. When she read Rick Ayer’s opinion piece on the science lab controversy, she felt compelled to send a letter to the school board rebutting Ayers’ charges. This is a copy of the letter. Contrary to Mr. Ayers assertion, it is not a privilege […]
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Are Berkeley parents like white Southern racists? Rick Ayers thinks so
Rick Ayers Rick Ayers was a well-regarded teacher at Berkeley High for 11 years, instrumental in starting the Community Arts and Sciences (CAS) small school and helping with the school newspaper. But since his departure, Ayers has taken to criticizing what he considers a dangerous force at Berkeley High: the Parents of Power or the […]
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BHS suspends doped cookie student
Berkeley High parents received an email late last night that suggests that the school’s administration is putting its laissez-faire reputation behind it: Recently two students walking across the BHS upper courtyard saw another student with a container of cookies and asked for one. After eating the cookie both students became ill enough to require medical […]
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BHS science lab debate: What Shirley said
In the concluding moments of Wednesday night’s school board meeting, director Shirley Issel made a passionate statement urging an end to the divisive rhetoric used by some sides in the argument over equity grants and science labs at Berkeley High School. Here’s some of what Issel said: Many people in this community have stood up […]
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BHS science lab controversy: A parent’s viewpoint
Susan Helmrich has been a parent at Berkeley High for the last six years. As co-chair of the Development Group and a former member of the school site council, Helmrich is very familiar with the workings of the high school. Yet last night’s school board meeting left her – and many others – confused about […]
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Lots of talk, but no action on BHS science classes
More than a dozen people spoke out Wednesday night against cutting science labs at Berkeley High School, but the school board took no action on the controversial proposal. Parents and students, though, did get to hear the thoughts of BHS principal Jim Slemp, who has been publicly silent in the last few months — after […]
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Superintendent puts proposal in context
In the BUSD monthly newsletter, Superintendent Bill Huyett makes clear that his compromise proposal will be considered at tonight’s meeting, even though it didn’t make the board packet. The new proposal is: To continue to provide extra time as currently exists for AP and IB Biology, Chemistry and Physics. At this time, AP Environmental Science […]