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Chapter VI WHOM DO WE MEAN BY ALL OF THE CHILDREN?
Immediately after Dr. Sullivan's resignation,
a committee was appointed by the Board to conduct a nationwide survey for the best possible leader of Berkeley's now wholly desegregated school system. All board members served on the committee as well as repre— sentatives from the Berkeley Federation of Teachers, the Berkeley Educators Association, the Negotiating Council, and the elementary and secondary principals. ‘The Board recognized that the choice it made would "'“determine to a large extent the educational success of the program upon which they had recently embarked. They deve10ped a set of criteria for their selection:
The new superintendent will need to be knowledge—
able in deVelopment of curriculum to meet the
needs of a wide diversity of students. . . He
will want to continue to encourage the creativity
shown by our staff in recent years in developing
programs designed to meet the special needs of
ind_ividua1 students. . . He must be a person who
works well with people and can stimulate staff
and lay citizens to cooperative effort on behalf
of the schools. He must be committed to the
success of Berkeley's integration and to the
goal of providing the best possible educational
opportunities for all Berkeley young people. Neil Sullivan was going to be a tough man to follow. They set their sights high.
But Dr. Sullivan was not to leave until the
following March. Things kept happening thick and fast. Back in 1965 the Board had adopted a Statement of Edu
cational Philosophy for the District that declared:
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Education is a total process. Its commitment to democracy involves a variety of individuals, various in their needs and talents. A balanced program is therefore essential to provide for all areas of need.
a] We must StriVe to nurture an atmosphere in which there will be chase liaison and co— operation with home, school and community groups . . .
b) We must use many varieties of programs, curriculum, teaching methods, materials, and school facilities which will be flexible enough to allow students successfully to pursue desirable goals.
c) We must consider as a prime objective, the motivation of students to deVelop inquiring minds.
d] We must conceive of education as a lifelong process.
e) We must establish an environment in which
indiviéuals may explore ideas, areas of
knowledge {and qnderstanding; Where learning
is personal and meaningful; where students
their goals, learn
their own capacities and Howvtg use'them
as fully as possible.
The Berkeley Board of Education, deeply committed to its responsibility to provide appropriate excellent education for all of the children in Berkeley, had given serious attention to this obligation. We have seen how the years 1964-68 had been concentrated on integrating the schools in order to make QM quality education available to all races and socio-economic groups. We saw the District reaching down to begin the educational process at the basic important learning level of early childhood. We have noted real advance in meeting the
needs of the high-potential, the retarded, and the
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educationally and emotionally handicapped children as well as such special needs as those of aphasia and blind children.
But even these varied efforts did not meet the needs or offer the variety of options suggested in the educational philosophy. More and more students, partic— ularly at the high school level were becoming actual or psychological drop-outs. The large, impersonal high school, despite its rich and varied curricular offerings [in many ways recognized as the best in the entire state) and deSpite a faculty recognized for its excellence, was obviously unable to reach and held many of its 3,300 registered students.
Back in 1962 a Pre—Technical Program, funded by the Ford Foundation, was set up for about 25 eleventhgraders - all boys — probably the first actual alternative or subschool, according to Emery Curtice, the high' school principal at that time. It was designed to motivate average and somewhat above-average students (in terms of intelligence), who were considered non— achievers because of lack of motivation. English, math and science were taught in relationship to a projectoriented, technical program. A team of teachers in English, math, physics, and a class called Ere—tech lab combined to attempt to meet the needs of these students whose primary interests were logical, practical, and
technology oriented. The program drew upon the teachers'
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theoretical and academic backgrounds. In English, students were taught how to write technical reports and descriptions of projects going forward in the lab; in math they worked on the practical math needed to work out physical concepts; in physics they studied electronics, forces, stress mechanics, hydraulics, etc. They used the knowledge thus acquired in conducting the "practical" projects they chose to deVelop in the Lab. In their second year, chemistry was the science resource. Some students went on to Cal Poly Tech (a state technical college in San Luis Obispo] and did well. Their grades did not qualify them for either the university
or state college, but this educational program, many stated, was their first exPerience of being "turned on to school". Unfortunately because funds ran out and some of the original enthusiasts for this Option left the district, the Pre—Tech Program graduated its last students in June 1965.
In the summer of 1967, an experiment called the Berkeley Summer Project was presented as a response to the need of many bright students "to explore basic questions of self~worth, relationships with other people and ways to control one's own destiny". Jay Manley, a
drama teacher, and Peter Kleinbard, an art teacher, both at Berkeley High, were interested in setting up a small school based on the arts, dedicated to an attempt to re—
structure education and to build an affectiVe curriculum.
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Most of the staff had been University of California interns in education who kept going back to UC to share their ideas with .new students in the UC Intern Program.
There was in the Berkeley Summer Project "an extremely diVerse student body, and an attempt was made to use this diversity as part of the educational process. There was a morning program of drama, communication, art, and dance; an afternoon program when the students were free to set up their own projects; an informal atmos-phere; a flexible schedule and cooperative planning among the teachers." The principal of the high school was very supportive, because summer school seemed the natural place to try out new ideas 'with the least interference from the obligatory regulations that exist during the regular school year. The students and teachers were contagiously enthusiastic about their experiences. Student comments were revealing:
"It has changed my attitude toward people and made impossible relationships possible."
"Who am I? I'm a person, a. separate entity trying to retain separateness and yet to find union with another — I'm like everyone else, for this is their struggle too!"
"I have a different feeling inside that is hard to say. Everything is changea. I even talk differently. I make more sense. I really
pun,“ l... - - -- -
- have learned to clarify and I have strongly felt the feeling of group responsibility."
"Right now I feel daring, unafraid to do what I can toward being the person I'm capable of being, less afraid to fail to be that person."
That fall no continuationof the summer project
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was made, but from September 1967 until spring 1969, Open meetings were held with the staff at Berkeley High to try to woo and win them to this new educational approach. Dr. Joseph Rodeheaver, Director of Secondary Education, Principal Emery Curtice, Dr. Sullivan, and the Board of Education were very supportiVe, but most teachers were resistant. The planners had no money except a small planning grant from the National Defense Education Act, which was used for consultation. But the school Board allocated money to Operate what became known as Community High School, starting with tenth— graders in the spring semester of 1969 and continued in 1969‘- 70, funded by District money and a Ford Foundation grant.
Herb Kohl, author of a critically acclaimed book called 36 Children (a book emphasizing the failure of the educational system to teach and inspire kids) had come to Berkeley and was Operating a "store-front" (an after-school educational option, with Carnegie funding). He became interested in the Community High idea. and taught one drama-class there during the spring semester.
The leadership of the school encouraged teachers to teach outside their particular areas of expertise, to stretch themselves. The kids did some teaching too! Parents were involved. With teachers and students they
participated in workshops and published a newsletter.
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Clusters of youth and their instructors were scattered throughout the Community Theater area, in the exhibition areas, the lobby and even the basement, adults and students deciding together what would be taught and how. The basic Operating tenet was respect for kids and recognition of the talents, skills and insights they had to give each other.
Community High School was small. Because of its size and relative autonomy it could look at problems and re5pond to them quickly. And, there were problems. Some of the youngsters who opted for this school were attracted to it because they disliked regular school. They neVer fully entered into the feeling of the school. The choice of faculty was restricted to teachers already teaching at Berkeley High. The staff in the "regular school year" school, did not have the same vision the pilot summer project had been based on. There was a split between the members of the staff fascinated by the Summerhill model (i.e., "The way to learn selfdirection is to 'turn kids loose'") and the more structured but still flexible ideas of the "founders". The first regular school year the students were pioneers
and optimistic. The second school year, the emphasis shifted to a greater interest in social issues. They were living in the days of "the occupation of Berkeley by outside troops", called in because of unmanageable
rioting. It was natural to discuss civil rights,
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student rights, civil disobedience and what happened to people when outsiders were called in to use force to control them. Students with walkie-talkies interviewed citizens in every portion of Berkeley during this period and came back to class to talk over all their diverse findings.
The make-up ef the Community High student bed}r was required to reflect the racial make—up of the larger school. There were huge waiting lists of kids wanting to enroll, with their parents consent, who needed to be interviewed. It was difficult to maintain the proper percentages raciallyl There were only 220 students who could be accepted, which caused many disappointments and instigated an effort to start a second similar school. Meanwhile the student body elected Susan Bement, a history teacher especially interested in current happenings, to be director of the school by a vote of 61—58 out of 119 votes cast. She replaced Jay Manley.
According to Community High's founder, Jay Manley, it was difficult to prove a hypothesis of education in the midst of constant change. He was attempting to build a subschool eVen as the District was working out its
definition of real integration with broad human goalsi
Berkeley schools could not operate in a vacuum. The city was far from a "comfortable" place- Black militancy was gaining momentum and political activism was part of life.
A major problem encountered was the difficulty
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of including minority teachers on the Community High staff because they were not available within the high school for recruitment. To create a diversified staff, ethnic consultants were brought in from the outside. One of these consultants was Buddy Jackson, a creative young black graduate of the high school who had been working in the Black Studies Program at the UniVersity of California. He soon found that the black kids in Community High felt they just couldn't make it with the super—bright Cauca51an majority, nor with the relatively less structured program than that to which they were accustomed.
Under Buddy Jackson's leadership, separatism raised its head and seemed to want to "sabotage" the required ethnic mixture within the school, for he later came to the School Board with a. proposal to establish an all—black Black House (off-site) from the high school but retaining ties to the central school. But more about this later.
Back in March of 1968, plagued by disorder and at times violence at the high school, the Berkeley Teachers Association had invited the California Teachers Association to send a representative from the outside to study the "verbal and physical abuse of teachers during hall duty". This outside interference did not please the administration, which quite naturally wanted to
handle its own problems. In reaction to this study,
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Superintendent Sullivan appointed a. staff/student com— mittee to study staff/student relationships at Berkeley High, with Jeff Tudisco, a popular history teacher and former president of the Berkeley Federation of Teachers, as its chairman.
This committee extended its coverage to all of
Berkeley's secondary schools and on May 15 presented its
recommendations to the Board of Education. It spoke to T;
the tensions existing in the schools. Its specific recommendations included:
— Adding an ombudsman at each site
- Changes in curriculum
- Flexibility in scheduling
— Increased student involvement
— Still more Changes in tracking and grading
— (Io-curricular rather than extra— curricular activities
- More emphasis on student welfare
- More involvement in the community
It pr0p05ed a model school, grades 9 - 12 on the West Campus site that would, through experimentation, dBVBlOP various programs of instruction and course offerings which could then be transferred to Berkeley High School main campus. Typical comments from students included: "Allow for student initiated courses." "GiVe us a voice in running the school." "Curriculum is 1:00 subject-matter oriented and class time too structured."
"Teaching methods are too rigid and dull at best and_mean_ing_less at worst...to segments of our
student body."
Dissatisfactions with current curriculum were voiced
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even more strongly when, on October 1, 1968, the Black Student Union at Berkeley High made a series of demands regarding black curriculum, black counsalors, a black
studies curriculum associate, "soul food" in the cafe~ teria, and the firing of all "racist teachers" . On October 3 the curriculum associate for English, James Pendleton, wrote a strong protest to the Board urging it not to grant these demands without further study and discussion.
The Board asked Dr. Sullivan and his staff to study the demands, "price them outl’, and to recommend which could be handled in the regular budget, which were legally possible, and which would entail increased ex— penditures. On October 15, the Superintendent made his recommendations, strongly supported by Rev. Hazaiah Williams, a powerful black board member who had been first appointed and then elected to fill the vacancy that existed due to John Miller's move to the State Assembly. Dr. Williams was a social studies teacher, a minister, and later director of urban studies at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley.
The only demand the Board refused to accept was the firing of "racist teachers", which it said would be a "witch hunt" in which it could not morally indulge. But, in answer to the criticism of racism, it finally did what had oft-times been recommended in the past. It
mandated an inservice training course to educate all
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school personnel in other than the majority culture and thus give them new insights into their own actions and reactions in their daily encounters with the various minority students in the district. Every person - from superintendent to secretaries, cafeteria workers, custodians, workmen, and teachers who had any contact with children — was required to take this course within two years after its introduction. It was conducted under the direction of Kathryne Favors, director of the new Office of Human Relations, but delegated to 0m, a black teacher and administrator. Rockefeller Foundation granted $600,000 toward this purpose. Inservice credit was given to certificated personnel and eventually some acceptable method of compensation for the classified staff was worked out.
Another development of great importance had occurred in relation to the Berkeley Continuation School, that school to which dropouts, discipline problems and other delinquent students had been sent from the high school. For years they had occupied parts of old McKinley School which housed a large number of adult school classes. James Preston was at that time principal of McKinley and felt that the influence of the adult students on the continuation students was a good one. But, for the most part, Continuation School was looked
upon as a kind of "Siberia" and going there was indeed,
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In September 1967, Tom Parker, formerly popular football coach at the high school and more recently vice principal at Garfield (now King Junior High School) was made principal of the Continuation School, now to be called East Campus of Berkeley High, ane Dr. Preston became head of the adult education program replacing Edward Pedersen who had retired. Mr. Parker brought youthful enthusiasm and creative ideas to East Campus. Realizing that without reading skills, school advance— ment is almost impossible, he developed an inedepth reading program. He was fortunate in having a creative teacher, Mrs. Mary Hill, who instituted a popular tutoring program in which East Campus students, dressed ap— propriately as teachers and provided with professional looking briefcases, had a special bus to take them to and fro, in order to tutor second-graders at several elementary schools. In an effort to keep ahead of their "tutees" they studied hard to perfect their own reading ability! An innovative homemaking course for the East
Campus girls was begun and desolate quarters were refur— nished. into an attraCtiVe simple home—like setting under the leadership of Vera Casey, another creative teacher in the Home Economics Department- East Campus was his-ginning to perk up. But the next year, an effort to re-integrate it into the main school proved almost disastrous, and it was then moved to the school~owned
Savo Island site where it started to function in one
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bungalow and several down—at—the-heel apartment units left over from the Navy housing which had previously occupied the area. Now, given "tender loving care", devoted counselors and a creative multi-racial teaching staff, East Campus began to bloom and to become a mecca for quite a few "turned off" white students from the main campus. Mr. Parker, working with his carefully chosen staff, persuaded his students that school people really cared about what happened to them. Courses were geared to their special needs and interests. Classes were scheduled from 8:30 to 12:39 only. The staff met Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 1:00 p.m. for two hours to discuss the individual student's progress and/01problems. "Cutting" diminished greatly. Teacher visits to student homes helped get the family into the educa— tion act. 80 many good things were going on at East Campus - relevant courses, counselors and teachers will— ing to go the second mile, a much smaller pupil-teacher ratio — that when the alternative schools grant was awarded to Berkeley District in 1971, East Campus [to which many bright but alienated students had been turning for seVeral years) was chosen as one of the experimental schools which would receive an extra $200 per student to help its innovative and very special kind of program.
By January of 1969, the School Board, having cQndUcted a nationwide search for the right man to lead
the schools to quality education following Dr. Sullivan's
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resignation, came up with a. unanimous choice right from their own area, Dr. Richard Foster, then superintendent of San Ramon District. He was known as a "teacher's
superintendent", a brilliant scholar, dedicated to inte~ grated education and willing to work in new and differ ent ways to accomplish desirable educational ends.
Dr. Foster came to Berkeley in March 1969. He was given two specific charges by the Board: {1] to work constantly for quality education and true integration at the intermediate and primary levels in the now fully 'integrated structure, and (2) to give special creatiVe attention to secondary schools, particularly Berkeley High which the Board — educated by the Tudisco report — felt must be decentralized to offer options for learning, to build. an atmosphere of trust and acceptance between students and teachers, and to respond to the students' growing demand for inclusion in the process of deter— mining what subjects were relevant to their needs.
An indication of Dr. Fester's dedication to innovative ideas was given in his first request to the Board for inclusion in the 1969—70 budget of a sum of $25,000 which he would be free to use at his discretion to encourage staff members who had creative plans or projects they wanted to try out. The result was a program of mini—grants ranging from $50 to $1,000. OVer a period of two years, 89 such grants were awarded.
Shortly after Dr. Foster's arrival Emery Curtice
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retired from the principalship of the high school — a job that Neil Sullivan had called "the hardest job in the systerfi" — and another search was begun, this time for the best high school principal available. Upon a strong recommendation from the high school faculty, Clifford Wong, who had been serving as the high school's administrative vice principal, was chosen as new head man. In the process of selection, the Board had inter— viewed John Newton, an Oakland school principal, a charismatic, dynamic black man. The Board had been so impressed with his qualifications and 'personality that several months later it invited him to serve as princi— pal at West Campus.
When Mr. Wong accepted his new position, immediate plans were set in motion to change the huge compre— hensive school into a more manageable and friendly place. The positions of dean of boys and dean of girls - whose very titles smacked of discipline and punishment - were eliminated and, instead, two vice principals were named: Laurence Silverman from the staff of East Campus to be
academic vice principal and Lynwood Teller, vice princi— pal at West Campus to be administrative vice principal. Each grade level was assigned a coordinator, a secretary and a care of four counselors, all of whom would stay with the grade to which they were originally assigned during their students entire high school career.
Laurence Silverman was sent to visit high schouls
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throughout the country where effective decentralization h) Part1¢1patlon and
had taken place, so that he could suggest models that 1) Mom easily identify the talents, creativity
might work in Berkeley. A Decentralization Committee and need“? 9f their members. and Off?“ more OPPOI‘tUHltlGS to meet then" potentlal
was appointed, made up of teachers, administrators, It was suggested that the school Start with 360
students and rent whos t k t f . . pa S e as was 0 plan or a students, 180 from the incomlng nlnth grade and 180 from
second "school within a school" at Berk 1e . — e y lgh the current tenth grade; that a student take as many
This Decentralization Committee re orted its . . . . p subjects as p0551ble W1th1n the subschool but be free to
Progress on MaTCh 31’ 1970' It recommended a model that take electives in the main schools; that it be located
could be replicated several times over. Its primary . . l m contlguous classrooms and have reasonable access to
purpose would be to personalize education by placing
other needed facilities; that it experience the same
students in sma ler w t 'l . . l H's here hey “Mild more 8851 Y i pup11~teacher ratlo as the parent school. The commlttee
better know the staff, who could thus serve them more I Parent_student staff meeting; use of parent resources, readily through easier communication. The stated objec—
i.e., SRV; plans for a variety of activities involving
iv II‘ t es for these SChOOIS Wlthln SChOOIS SUEEeSted that students, parents and staff; workshops to be held on
they wornd: l Saturdays to show the school in action. Teachers were a] Provide ways for students to move from
dependence to independence to be recruited by the school principal from the English,
b] Help students and teachers to develop the History, Social Living, Math, and Physical Education capaciiiy to solve problems in a variety
of different ways Departments.
U U Based on these' recommendations, Model A, as it staff and students within the school
- was to become known, was started in February 1971, a d) develop ways 055' relatlng more closely
with the parents and communiEy at lafgé
structured, skill—oriented subschool with emphasis on
e) Provide ways for the positive effects of
heterogeneity to be réalized " the,> humanltles- It 1ncluded reading labs, math labs, a
1?) Build in the means for continuous evalua— required tenth-grade course on the "Study of Man" and a
tion and modification of the school 7 “mam; HMMML “J I I
required eleventh-grade course in American culture
g) Provide for and encourage discriminating jzhinking, the acquisition of a substantial
7 studied "through the aspect of the family of man". It body of knowledge and skill mastery
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included the contributions made to American culture by the many minority groups who have so enriched and changed it.
Jeff Tudisco who had chaired the Committee on Student Discontent, was chosen to head this model sub— school. Its staff was made up of teachers willing to work as a cooperating team, across departmental lines.
A second high school staff committee was assigned the task of devising guidelines for further subschools at the high school. It submitted its guidelines to the Board in November 1970, just as a movement led by parents in support of a second "community high school" was brewing. So many students had applied for admission to Community High I, that Jay Manley had met with kids and parents all through the summer of 1970 to plan for a second Community High. Though there was great interest demonstrated, there were not enough student applications to meet the required number set by the new guidelines, so Mr. Wong had refused to allow the school to be started. Manley, the students and their parents, encouraged by
the Superintendent, brought their case to the Board for decision. After thorough discussion, influenced by the excellent evaluation of Community High I that had been made, the Board granted permission to Mr. Manley to proceed with his planning, but cautioned the planners to undertake all possible efforts to bring the registration
up to the recommended two hundred minimum.
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This second community—high type school was first knowrl as Community High II, but by fall semester 1971 it became known as Agora another educational alternative serving about 175 students. Because of the delayed ap" proval for the new school, all the final planning had' to be accomplished during the Christmas holiday, 1970.
Agora operated entirely on District funds for its first year, but Community High I gave $1200 from its Ford grant to help plan. During the first semester of Agora it was directed by Jay Manley, but its second goround was led by Ellane Hammond, a black teacher re— cruited from the regular high school History Department, where she taught Black History. Agora differed in many ways from the original Community high School. It became a multi-racial school with major emphasis on Third World problems and offered varying kinds of structures to different kinds of students. Most students were to take 3 or 4 classes in their subschool but, as in Model A, could take electives such as science and foreign language in the comprehensive school. Emphasis was placed on skill development and indlvidual study. Asian, Black and Chicano consultants were brought in. The school plan required that everyone enrolled must take a multicultural history C1885 which met in four sections (one section on Black History, one on Chicano History, one on Asian History, and one on Caucasian History) for sixteen
weeks and spend its final two weeks, one in segregated