Laura: do you know what workplace union (if any) covers the school safety officers? I believe there are at least two unions of BUSD employees. Is one for teachers and one non-teachers? I’m curious about how performance evaluation issues get addressed, and if they are ever handled in a public setting at personnel hearings open to the public.

Deidre,

Classified union, and yes the safety officers have pulled every trick in the book alleging union rules, for instance, they used to claim that could not patrol civic center park or the sidewalk outside of campus because it violated their contract, I brought the ed code to the 2×2 meetings repeatedly and read the “duty to protect” statute covering 1000ft from campus. The safety officers used to claim they were prohibited from wearing identifiable clothing with a logo showing their status as campus safety officers because their union contract prohibited it.

Folks need to just get used to the fact that many of the excuses we have been given for years and years are coming from rogue employees that are not fired but rewarded year after year. Victor Diaz is one such case, as principal of B-Tech he refused enrollment of some expelled or suspended BHS students even though his capacity was low enough to take these students. Yet Diaz is rewarded with a charter school.

Years ago, I got a call one night from a staff member who has since left BUSD human resources dept. They asked me to get some info out publicly, at that time we did not have the Berkeleyside blog or I would have been able to publish it then, so now I will. The staff member told me that another staffer removed materials pertaining to safety officers performance from their file.

It is true that safety staff are doing a better job in many respects than back in 2000-2006. But remember we only have a BPD school resource officer on campus 4 days, assuming they are not elsewhere on training, so BHS calls BPD.

State law requires safety officers receive 20 hours of training per year, BHS claims they do this in house, there lies another problem of competency. For instance, misinterpreting the law, during recent safety committee meetings the dean and lead safety officer claimed they were prohibited from sharing the identities of perpetrators with school crime victims families. This is simply not true and violates the most basic victim rights. When a student stands up and identifies his attackers from a campus robbery, the family has every right to know the identities and offender status of those responsible for the robbery.

At the same time that BUSD and the city embraces the concept of restorative justice, the district is adhering to some misplaced belief that student confidentially rules apply in a school crime incident. Somebody needs to sue these people.

RE comment from Laura Menard:
“Years ago, I got a call one night from a staff member who has since left BUSD human resources dept. They asked me to get some info out publicly, at that time we did not have the Berkeleyside blog or I would have been able to publish it then, so now I will. The staff member told me that another staffer removed materials pertaining to safety officers performance from their file.”

Funny that you should mention this: I heard about the very same stunt having been pulled a couple years back with regard to a recalcitrant career food service employee (rumored to be involved with gang activity) who was on the verge of being fired. Suddenly the file went missing.

Things that make you go, “hmmmmmm……”

I am all for expelling a student that brings a gun to school. But what else happens? That student has raised a huge red flag and our community has a responsibility not to just throw these students out on the street, but rather to get them into programs that will council them and point them in a better direction. Throwing them out on the street only guarantees that they will continue to contribute to the violence and crime that already plagues our streets. I hope these sort of social service programs exist here in Berkeley.

It seems to me that the school needs to start hiring bouncers to enforce safety, instead of the wimpy mall cops they use now.

The point about gang members hanging out in front of the school is not to suggest than being in a gang makes a student eligible for expulsion, I mentioned this to point out
1. no Safety staff posted at a time of day when so many people were coming and going through the A building gate.
2. known gang members are not discouraged from wearing colors at school, a school aged group was hanging out in the park while their partner was contacted by police, all this occurred during class time, perhaps truant from B-tech

The idea that BHS is so “big” unable to institute practices used by larger schools (Logan High Union City, real gangs by the way) is an tired excuse. The problem with BUSD is lack of values, principles and low expectations.

Example: classroom and hallway theft – likely the single biggest violation of a students right to a safe school and an experience most kids will have. After the theft students are usually told how it was their fault for carrying personal electronics and the silver lining is training in managing the big world. At BHS more effort is spent blaming victims than changing the culture of “whatever you can get away with”. Politically powerful teachers control what administrative practices are encouraged and they since do not want to humilate the thieve most classroom theft is ignored or treated as part of the educational experience. Since the district has adopted the notion of restorative justice than these contradictions will need to addressed.

Here is a link to case law on campus searches and detentions.
http://le.alcoda.org/publications/files/SCHOOLSEARCHES.pdf

Berkeley has long needed quality alternative programs, I have advocated for community day programs for over 15 years. When the west Berkeley committee resisted a community day program be included in the BUSD West Campus plan, Darryl Moore backed them rather than educate his constituents about why providing a community day program is the right thing to do.

What Constitution are you referring to, Bruce? I always thought a public education was considered a privilege, much like the “right” to drive. I don’t remember there being a “Right to Public Education” in the Federal or State Constitutions, but I haven’t reviewed either in a hell of a long time.

@ Bruce ––– States can (and should) deny licenses to habitual DUI offenders. I see no reason something similar couldn’t be done in regards to gang activity & public schools.

@Laura: Do you know if BSD is proactively checking students’ home addresses–i.e., whether they actually live in Berkeley?

Why does the City of Berkeley not have a gang task force if an known and ‘operating’ gang is on the prowl. The kids say they ‘well-known’ at school and are very much in the habit of robbery during the school day. No one is turning them in to school administration. Is anyone surprised? Perhaps the School Safety Committee can address the need to deal with gang violence, and this gang in particular. Look, the dealing is a well-known and very much tolerated ‘crime’ by the Berkeley Po-Po that happen to be parked just across the street. In light of the recent ‘activity’, perhaps it is time to have a metal detector at school. WHy not? Then the kids bringing weapons in order to ‘protect’ themselves might feel secure enough and leave them at home.

AGAIN SOCIETY HAS LOOKED AT THIS AS A CRIME. ALL I SEE IS A GROUP OF PEOPLE THAT FEEL THAT THE SCHOOL STAFF IS UNABLE TO PROTECT THEM AND HAVE TAKEN MATTER IN THERE OWN HANDS. LATINOS ARE NOT INTO RANDOM SCHOOL SHOOTINGS THATS WHITE PEOPLES THING. IF THERE BRINGING GUNS TO SCHOOL ITS BECAUSE THE SCHOOL IS NOT DOING THERE JOBS TO PROTECT THEM FROM OUTSIDERS. WEST BERKELEY LIVIN.

STAY BUSTIN SH1T BRRRRRRRAAAAAAATTTTT