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Chapter VI I I
REPORT. CARD 1972 - AN APPRAISAL AND A HOPE
This brief history of a school district during
1'7 years full of both turbulence and accomplishment, of tremendous community involvement and of questioned suc— cess, of complete new structure for desegregation, and of innovative attempts to educate all of the children in vital, pluralistic Berkeley must conclude with both an appraisal and an exPression of hope for the future.
We must ask ourselves first: What changes have taken place in the city and in the school community? What changes in racial proportions of both students and staff have-occurred? How do they relate to the prophe— cies of "everybody moving over the hill" and Berkeley becoming a black city? Have the teachers left "in
droves" as the Gazette prophesied? Has the District's
commitment to the hiring of qualified minority personnel to reflect the percentages of the various races in the student body been just "lip service" or has there been substantial, progress? Have we built a top-flight, inter— racial administrative staff?
The city population between the 1940 and the 1970 census has changed considerably. In 1940 Berkeley claimed 85,541 residents: 93.8% Caucasian, 4% Negro, 2.20% "other". By 1960 the total population of the city was 111,268 with 73.9% Caucasian, 19.6% Negro, 6.5%
"other" - reflecting the influx of many Negro families
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during the war years. By 1970 these numbers had changed to 67.7% Caucasian, 23.5% Black, 8.8% "other", in a city whose size had not greatly altered. The total popula— tion by 1970 was 116,716.*
The school population has, of course, grown with the city. But, while the differential in percentages has increased, it has not done so in an alarming fashion.
In 1965, the year following complete secondary desegregation, there were 49.6% white children, 40.5% black children, 8.5% Asian children, and .7% "other". Chicanos were then counted with the white children. This shows a decrease of 4.6% white children and an in» crease of 3.2% black children from the 1963 figures.
But in 1968, the year of total desegregation, the percentage of whites was 46.1% + 3.4% Chicano or a total of 49.5% of the student body. Blacks made up 44.5% and Asians had dropped from 8% in 1963 to 6.3% in 1971. So in the years 1965—1971, the change has been 2.5% less white and Chicano children and 4% increase in black children, with Asian children remaining at approximately the same leVel. This would hardly indicate an "alarming exodus of whi-te families" from Berkeley. Many hundreds have moved for many reasons [for Berkeley's population
is very mobile), but evidently when white families have
moved, other White families have moved in to replace
*Population statistics are from the City Clerk's Office and school statistics from the BUSD Research Office.
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them, perhaps drawn by the opportunity for a racially integrated school experience. Many black children also attend the city's parochial schools, and quite a few, both black and white children, have opted for private education, but the ratios show little change.
In the attempt to keep a percentage of minority teachers comparable to that of minority students, there has been real advancement, though still far from parity. If we lookmback to 1946, there were only three black teachers iwffthe district, though 9.9% of the
students were black. By 1950 several Oriental teachers were hired; by 1953 there were twelve black teachers and two Japanese—Americans. In 1955 the District hired its fisst Chinese—American teacher. In 1958, 28.7% of the students were black with only 5.7% minority teachers.
By 1962, pressed on by the impetus given by the Staats Report, there were 75 minority teachers listed on the
District's rolls.
So, when we look at statistics for 1972, it is encouraging‘ito find' that the policy of the Board and the constant recruiting efforts of the Certificated Personnel Office have produced these results:
Certificated Staff
White ' 712 62.8% 42% White Black 360 26.5% 46% Black Asian 65 5.7% 8% Asian Chicano 50 4.4% 4% Chicano Other 6 .5% .1% Other
Totals-@1133 99.9% 100.1%
Students
Report Card 19 P2
Taken with the classified employee tabulation showing: 36.2% White, 52% Black, 6% Asian, 5.3% Chicano and .5% "other", we cannot but realize that commendable progress in reaching the Board’s goal of proportional staffing has been achieved.
There were some problems encountered along the way in arriving at the policy of hiring minority per— sonnel. Burnell Johnson, when director of Certificated Personnel, tells of an encounter with a black activist group whose spokesman did his best to try to get the Berkeley District to hire uncertificated teachers with only three years of college, citing Richmond as an example. (Richmond denied this tumor.) Mr. Johnson asked if the spokesman realized that by this suggestion he was perpetuating the stereotype already existing in the minds of many Caucasians that when dealing with black children less qualified teachers Were considered adequate- The group's more thoughtful, considered response was "no", and the suggestion was dropped.
Another altercation occurred at the Board level, when Rev. Williams pressed for a policy statement that the District would set a goal of four years from that date, by which time the racial percentage of teachers to students would be equal. The other members of the Board, aware that there was keen competition with other
districts for qualified black teachers felt this was a
totally unrealistic and misleading goal and urged that
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the policy read "as rapidly as possible", which was the wording finally agreed upon.
Movement toward staff integration has been not only in the numbers of minority staff employed, but in advancement in position. The‘top administrative staff of the district has been enriched to the point in May 1972 of having these minority members:
Assistant Superintendent for Instruction Harriett Wood (Black)
Director of Classified Personnel Cole Gilliam (Black)
Assistant Director of Certificated Personnel Dr. Ramona Maples (Black)
Directbi‘ of Human Relations Br. Kathryne Favors (Black)
Director of Business Services William Thomas (Black)
Director of Pupil Personnel Services Dr. Harold Dent (Black)
Director of Alternative Schools Program Lawz-ence Wells (Black)
Diractor of ESEA - George Perry (Black)
Director of Follow Through Geraldine Gilliam (Black)
Director of Bilingual Programs Dr. Rene Cardenas (Chicano)
In addition, there are now three out of four primary school principals who are black with one Asian vice principal; one black elementary principal, two Chinese— American elementary principals, two Caucasian women
principals and one black woman principal on leave. The
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two junior high school principals are black with a
black vice principal at King- West Campus has a black principal and the principal of Berkeley High School is a Chinese~American. The directors of the alternative schools include: 8 Black, 2 Chicano, ll Caucasian and 1 Asian. These appointments , all of top quality, give Berkeley one of the best integrated staffs in all of America. The supervisor of the custodial department and the supervisor of pupil transportation are also black.
So much for "the numbers game", which demonstrates a positive improvement in staff integration and only a small and by no means threatening "tipping" of the various proportions of students enrolled in the Berkeley public schools. For a real opportunity to "integrate" well, the present percentages of students represent an optimum of proportions.
And teachers are far from leaving in droves. The Certificated Personnel Office reports 5,000 appli— cations for teaching positions received each year!
Besides the satisfying accomplishment of total desegregation of our schools made possible by busing [as the kids say, "It's no big thing!"), efforts toward real integration go on. We have seen the excellent reading accomplishment at the third—grade level after three years of integration, where six of our twelve K-3
elementary schools were amongst the 3G leaders in the
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Report Card 1.9 72
state in reading achievement. This compares with five
schools in Los Angeles, and no other school in the Bay
Area is included in the tap group. We hear from school
principals that there is less "hassling" and more acceptance of each other as youngsters move into junior
high school. But it is too early to predict how well
all of our efforts - both in the regular schools and in
the alternative schools - will pay off. Knowing
Berkeley and its schools, aware always of their possible "dynamic, diverse, volatile and eVen sanguine possibilities", Dr. Harold Maves predicts:
The schools will continue to try the untried, yet retain much of the familiar - will work together in this desegregated setting for better under
:fnnrT-Fnn- "~13 " 7 o Vi-_..b av‘ uuuucl. uuuer" standing and enhanced learning. There is a spirit for change and a spirit to make integration in the schools work — and it will work, because there is love left in Berkeley.
By 1972, other changes of significance have oc— curred. The use of ESEA Title I funds, which has brought close to $600,000 into Berkeley yearly since 1966, has undergone a complete change of emphasis. The first years provided an essential "compensatory base" in the four west Berkeley target area schools and made pOSSible the successful pilot program which bused 238 children from the crowded all—black schools into several of the less crowded hill schools. Money in those years was spent
primarily on salaries for instructional aides, putting money in the pockets of people who really needed it and
bringing many black parents into the school picture.
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But there have been no target _area schools since
total desegregation in September 1968, and it has been -
.LJLLU their new desegregated schools. Guidelines have changed 301-1.. 4,.
“we euaugea both in Washington and Sacramento. No longer may Title I funds be used for busing. Parent involvement both in curriculum deVelopment and performance objectives are decreed to be essential. A year’s growth in a year's schooling is the mandated performance objective — the same Dr. Foster had set for Berkeley back in September
1969.
The total emphasis of Title I is now on the classroom teacher. No longer may children be "pulled out" of the classroom for special attention. “Macs must be made within the classroom "where the action is". '- mubiull .Lb". Accountability is stressed. Each Title I school (all of them located in Zones A and D) must, by current guide— lines, develop a classroom management system, which can be transferred to any classroom in the district. At the MM” .. m, If. heart of the matter are six components : staff development, reading, math, relaxed human relationships , parent involvement, and auxiliary services including counseling, health services , library services and psychological services.
George Perry, Title I director since 1968, tells
.Lvuu, Lell of one method being used to facilitate these goals. It
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Report Card 2972 Report Card 19%
has involved taking teachers to observe schools where program has brought into the diStI‘iCt and is asisessing
excellent classroom management exists. In the spring ltS Bffectlveness.
of 1972, six teacher visited carefully selected class— Anomer Pmgram that has gTOWH and Changed since
rooms in Santa Monica and eighteen teachers visited its inception in 1967 is the Follow Through Program under
Stockton to help them learn the most effective ways to the supervision of Geraldine Gilliam
break classes into flexible ability groups, how to use Base‘l on the realization that a Head Start was
extra personnel to fullest advantage, and how to diag- mat enough to compensate for a PaUCitY of learning ex—
nose and evaluate what goes on in their classrooms. periences for Children Of deprived bECkgrmmdS, Follow
i These visiting teachers will be paid in the summer of Through (federally funded) was devised as a means for
their observations, so that they may continuing the SChOOIS' Efforts to make up for those be sharedyith many teachers throughrmt the district. learning defiCienCies many Children brought With them One specially hopeful element in the new ESEA to the 56110015- Five kindergarten classes were started program ificiudes a multi—district approach to seeking in 1967 ' one at Columbus, four at cragmont ' "Sing the better means of pupil evaluation_ As they work with open classroom method, with parent involvement not
the Califotnia Testing Bureau, the goal is to develop requh‘ed’ but With Parents requested to participate at criterion reference tests {short quizzes) which can give IeaSt Once a week- Now there are 33 Classes in five immediate feedback on how and what learning is taking “110015, and former target area Children as well as more v . “Harare” a: WULJ. as more place The hope is eventually to be able and ready to economically PTiVileged Children Share these classrooms, abandon the present standardized tests, because these with COHStant efforts made by both White and minority ethods will be able to give accurate measurement : parents to kpow eaCh Other and Work creatively together. Ziwejch child’s achievement without relying on "grades". I: ESEA Title I funds Pay £01" ten teaChel' aides. Parents Inideveloping curriculum, the objectives provide: ' are encouraged to think 0f themSQlVBS as teachers. I) an outline (sometimes referred to as ..sequence,.) of Parent workshops are held to teach them academic skills the order in which a child should learn facts and, 2) A series Of wOTkShOI-"S Where Parents Can be taught "lean; ways to sharpen his intellect through inquiry. ing games" to use at home have been wall attended.
Mr. Perry is also carefully scrutinizing the use Each Follow Through class has a Parent Policy
. Advisory Council. Vouchers are available to low—income of thousands of dollars worth of eqU1pment that hls j
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parents who request them. They may be used for bus tokens, lunch money, or for two or three hours of baby— sitting services at $1.00 an hour. These vouchers make parent participation possible, where it was impossible before. Now, as they finish primary school , Follow
Through children will move up into the fourth grade at the intermediate schools. Teacher observation and conferences are being held, so that the transition will be less difficult as the children move from these classes where they-.have been the beneficiaries of this very special adult attention to the more usual classrooms they will enter.
The Experimental Schools Program has grown and changed since Berkeley applied for and was awarded the HEW grant in late Spring of 1971. By September 1972 there will be 24 schools participating in these grant funds. Community: High I, the first alternative school at high school, has already gone through many changes, both in leadership and course offerings. It has only
recently changed its name to Genesis, and its emphasis
is no longer-on the performing arts, as in its first year, or on the social sciences, its next development, but upon multi-ethnic studies. Changes in the original concept of-‘Community High I have not only been in con— tent but also in the direction of less peTmisSiVeness,
increased teacher accountability, higher expectations of
Report Card 19 7‘2
students, and a stronger basic skills curriculum, in— cluding intensive workshops in reading skills- Jose Romero, an art teacher, is the current director. Some students, attracted to the original, more open concept of this school, feel they have been "sold down the river" by these changes in operation. But students and staff meet twice weekly to formulate recommendations on school policy, and a parent voting component for a governing Council is being created. More changes can probably be expected!
Other WaXs, having started out with a largely Caucasian student body now has a majority of black students, a change of leadership and has renamed itself Marcus Garvey Institute. Kilimanjaro, which began as a parent-teacher—student—governed, off—site school, mostly Caucasian, has a racially mixed student body but still predominantly Caucasian. It took the name Kilimanjaro because the building it occupies used to be the head~ quarters of a black cultural organization bearing that name. -
Schools that have already become functioning parts of the Alternative Schools Program, joining the original component of Community High 1, Model A, Agora, Black House, Casa de la Raza, East Campus, Other Ways, Odyssey, and Kilimanjaro include, at the high school level: The School of the Arts; On Target, which empha
sizes science, math, business, industrial arts, and home
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Report Card 1.9 73
economics and makes heavy use of the recently estab—
lished Career Center directed by Edward Hosack; and
College Preparator
, largely black, which is designed
to "motivate students to read and to prepare them for college through an Afro-American orientation".
At West Campus, two options are offered: a ; Multicultural High Potential Program designed to improve teacher to teacher relationships and generate a feeling
of community in its students, and a one—semester Work
m program in which students study basic academic subjects in the morning and earn money working in the afternoon for approximately ten hours a week. This program is built upon individual, consistent, personal contacts between staff, students and parents, and attempts to motivate students who have been lagging in accomplishment, to view themselves as important and achieving, and encourages them to higher aspirations. It is a small [57 students) warm school with a faculty determined that the kids won't fail.
At Willard and King Junior High Schools, pro~ grams for September 1972 are being thoughtfully planned by Robert Collier at Willard and Carol Ogilvie at King. They are taking a whole year for preparation to be sure their "schools within a school" will really meet the expressed needs of students and also to give ample time to prepare their teachers to participate in new ways.
Mrs. Ogilvie, who is planning KARE [King's Alternative
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for Relevant Education), used $10,000 of her grant money to get everything ready for success for its first year.
She has recruited seven teachers, four instructional aides, one counselor and some "student teachers" to "man" 1) basic
the school. Its three major objectives are:
academic skills in a. core curriculum, 2) improvement of human relations across the board, and 3] use of the Berkeley community as a laboratory for learning, for social studies, science and industrial arts. The school will be located in a cluster of rooms or in adjacent bungalows at King so as to have identity. It will enroll only 7th graders the first year and will not infringe on the rights of others. It aims for self—discipline and sophistication in participatimi. It will be a pill of King, not imposed on King; will have the same resources as the main school, but because of special staff training and dedication, expects to be able "to go the extra mile". It plans to have the benefit of flexible sched— uling but to do it "within the structure", with starting, ending and lunch periods corresponding to those of the total school. Parent involvement and follow—through are built into the whole program.
At the elementary level, the John Muir Child
son, the Franklin Alternative, and Welvin Stroud's M
Environmental Studies Program at Lincoln in September
1971. New projects anticipated for September 1972
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Report Card 29 72
include a Junior Community School for primary—age pupils which will eVentually haVe its own uniquely designed building on the Savu Island site (hopefully by September
1973), and the New Ark, which is still in the planning
stages.
Such sudden influx of new educational programs under the HEW grant, all hopefully autonomous and al— ready accounting for the education of well over 3,000 of Berkeley's 15,000 student population, cannot help but cause waves of concern, misunderstanding, and war— ranted or unwarranted jealousy, partly because of "all that money" ~ the $200 per child extra in every alter— native school. There is a supervisory staff for all of the experimental schools, directed by Larry Wells, formerly principal at Lincoln and assistant director of the Certificated Personnel Office. This supervisory staff consists of an ombudsman, a public information specialist, a media specialist, a teacher—training director and two guidance workers, plus a coterie called Level I Evaluators who are responsible to observe these schools and evaluate changes in curriculum, changes in administrative organization [such as, for instance, the role of parents) and changes occurring in the total
district because of the existence of these schools. It is hoped that empirical research will emanate from these experimental schools, which can be used to impprove edu—
cation everywhere. A LeVel II Evaluation Team working,
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on Documentation and Evaluation of Experimental Projects in Schools, separately funded by an HEW grant and com
posed of an interracial staff of t0p flight research“
oriented sociologists, psychologists and educators,
headed by Dr. Leonard Duhl and John Seeley, will attempt H to verify or reject the findings of Level I evaluators.
Hopefully, a viable strategy for change and new methods
for education of a wide spectrum of students will evolve.
Level II may also give new evaluating insight through
their research, beyond that noted by Level I.
Some of the frustrations felt with these new off-site and on-site alternatives at the high school include their relationship to the parent school which has enjoyed an enviable reputation for its breadth and depth of offerings over the years, having provided hard— to-surpass educational Opportunities for many of its large student body. Its quantity and quality of long— accepted, rich offerings in foreign language, English, history, science and the arts, devised for a school of 3,200 students, are being threatened because some of the best teachers are choosing to teach in the experimental schools and because there are only 1,813 students now enrolled in the common school.
Many of these common school classes (which are also available to students from the alternative schools) eXperience scheduling difficulties which tend to prevent
students from having as wide a variety of choices
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available as were previously possible. Fewer sections can be offered, and there is more competition for places
on the schedule. Devalopment of new courses in the
>common school is restricted because fewer students can
fit them into their schedules.
Mr. Clifford Wong, principal of Berkeley High School, in a thoughtful study of the effects of the sub— schools, voiced some of his concerns, stating:
'Many'rroncertificated staff and those student teacher and community Volunteers employed as con— sultants by using some of the extra funding from the Experimental Schools grant, help reduce the class size in these schools, but are not given sufficient support in the classroom or necessary supervision because:
a) The certificated teacher carries a full load himself and is not free to observe.
b) Noncertificated staff are given certificated roles to perform which leads to decreased qnrollments in various disciplines. Hence, fewer Sections in some subjects are taught and the need for certificated teachers de— creases - a factor in producing an 'overage' problem of some long—time, tenured teachers.
c) These 'other than certificated' employees or Volunteers are not subject to the same degree of expectations and requirements that are placed on regular staff, such as teacher evaluation, nonclassroom assignments and career involmement.
d) There are no criteria, such as the medical screening expected by the State and BUSD, for hiring of noncertificated personnel or for volunteers who offer their services and are put on the staff with unknown eXpecta— tions . These fagtors ,7 plus the 'outside money' that permits
alternative schools to be free to expérimentfhave caused some resentment among the common school staff.
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Mr. Wong finds it difficult to point to substantial innovations that have been introduced in teaching, due to the new money- "Changes havemostly taken the form of relaxing old requirements rather than introduc— ing new programs." He states: Some of the alternatives have implemented curric— ular changes that permit greater flexibility to students in developing programs! in fulfilling course requirements, and in taking independent study. These forms may facilitate future changes of a more substantial kind and may well offer relief from requirements that were too rigid and 1-. --- - _ _ - l is“. WW inflexible for legitimate student needs. But the changes are Very much the product of a period that has been critical of old traditions, yet largely devoid of new visions for educational reform which do not rely on additional finances by the public school system.
The existence of six alternative schools on the Berkeley High campus and Mr. Wong's efforts to allow them to operate in manners which reflect their ideology and philosolohy haVe created operational inconsistencies which are difficult for students, staff and parents of
the common school to understand. The "enriched" courses in the alternative schools are not open freely to common school students even though alternative school enrollees have wide choices of courses in the common school available to them. Some of the alternatives do not plan their full programs in advance of a new semester and may offer some of the same courses as the common school, a factor which creates scheduling difficulties and may cause enrollment in common school courses to drop below
the level expected and to a point where it would therefore
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Report Card 1972
be uneconomical to offer them. Counselors try to serve all students fairly, but lack of sufficient advance information regarding the offerings of alteInatiVes make them unable to counsel wisely, nor to assure students they will meet high school graduation requirements. Community High students do not attend formal classes the first week of school but are free to make input into their curriculum offerings - which again causes a feeling of unfairness to the "regular" student. Some alternative schools allow inconsistencies in behavioral expectations and in attendance keeping, upon which state funding iiepends.
It was Mr. Wong who accepted the responsibility when he became principal of the high school, to plan for
subschools —
...to counter the impersonality of the large school - to develop the sense of belonging in a more intimate setting - to reach many students who are turning off to traditional education‘
He is not against experiments which encourage low: for learning and holding kids in school. But he does feel that schools can be more humane, smaller, less formal, and still educate well, like Model A. He is against abdication of adult authority: Teachers must haVe no doubt about thei responsibility to teach. Teachers need to structure the student's environment in the best possible way, to help change it and let it grow in response to each student's evolving interests and needs. . .
Experience is still too scant to determine just what constitutes the best blend of formal and
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Report Card 1972 informal methods —'just how much power can or should be shared.
But that is really what the eXperimental schools are all about - experimentation and research into the best possible methods for educating children in a plu— ralistic society! It is far too soon for judgments to be made. Many questions will have to be answered every semester and many different ways tried out. As we have seen, the first schools have already undergone substantial change. How much is the quality of a school dependent upon the charisma and ability of its director? how much upon student and parent input? much upon smaller class size? how much upon freedom from "stifling conformity" and ability to introduce new courses and new methods? All are questions that in both the interim and final evaluations will have to be answared. The schools may‘have to take a careful new look at the requirement for the same percentages of races in each School as in the school community as a whole. Does this rule really limit options to students? Already, Black House, Casa de la Raza, Marcus Garvey, and the College Prep School are permitted exceptions, each for a valid reason, though disputed by "pure" integrationists of every hue and by civil rightists in Washington. How many more exceptions can be made to a rule before creating a whole set of new rules to govern? Is re—
segregation ever good? Does it serve a useful purpose