Weekly News Archive

March 6 (’05) – March 12 (’05)

Voicing Out

In response to our recent post about BUSD teachers’ “work to rule” protest, a parent writes:

As stated in the article, the students who are in most need of the teachers’ time have parents that do not know who to contact to get change or how to contact them. Can somebody please place the info here so that we CAN complain and get the ball rolling?

Wholly reasonable, really; the only problem is that there’s not really any single, central authority figure to which parents should direct their input. Like all union/employer conflicts, there are two sides, and probably more if you care to look at the politics closely enough.

At the very least, you’ll want to make yourself heard to the district, which probably means the superintendent; you can find the relevant contact information here. On the other side of things is the Berkeley Federation of Teachers, who can be contacted here. The real point is that if you simply believe the work-to-rule must end, and a strike or more extreme measures unwise, it doesn’t much matter who you talk to – you just want it over, and should express that. Don’t be unnecessarily partisan unless you truly have a political stand on the matter.

College-bound seniors are by and large doing the wait-and-see dance right now; March (mostly the end of March) and April are when the bulk of admissions decisions are sent out to applicants, so the classic “fat envelope? thin envelope?” drama is underway.

If you already know what your future looks like, good; if you’re waiting, good luck; if you’re a parent, calm down.

I don’t know anything about this other than the announcement in the bulletin, and I didn’t know the man, so I won’t comment.

With great sadness we report the death of senior Gregory Johnson in an auto accident on Sunday, March 6. By all accounts, he was a sweet young man and will be missed by his friends and teachers.

I know even less about the death of Carlos Acosta, except rumor, which is that he is a recent graduate who was also killed in a car accident. I wish that I knew more, but I don’t. I just don’t.

— Brandon