I believe Culper was referring to the Assistant District Attorney, not the Americans with Disabilities Act.

I can’t get thru by clicking on this link. Perhaps something is wrong?

I grew up in Berkeley. The public schools in Berkeley have abandoned us.

They BUSD has refused to listen to the community’s concerns about safety for decades.

They need to be held accountable. They’re spending our tax dollars, and they’re educating our children.

Only in Berkeley would drug dealers and other assorted thugs exploiting high school students spark a debate about civil liberties, of all things. Idiocy. I’ve been in Berkeley for decades and it’s the same damned hot-air every time. I’m sick of it.

Cover up, deny, dissemble. That’s been the BUSD’s modus operandi for decades.

So bravo for the assistant DA.

It shows a profound RESPECT for the people of Berkeley that he chose to share the relevant facts with us.

Why shouldn’t a public official disclose information that should be public at a public meeting?

Now it’s time to act on the information, like adults, and do the responsible thing: close the campus.

It’s a best practice at high schools around the country. Berkeley High School should be no different.

I fail to see the relevance of your remark.

You’ve discredited yourself with your fixation on developing your fatuous pot=violence equivalence. Come up with another pseudonym and start again. Sorry.

“Only in Berkeley would drug dealers and other assorted thugs exploiting high school students spark a debate about civil liberties, of all things”

This is a demonstrably false statement. If you think only people in Berkeley question the drug war and hysterical calls for intensification of government surveillance and restrictions on freedom, you’re completely wrong.

Unfortunately, anyone who mentions that school violence and the achievement gap are artifacts of the purposefully invalid registration system is attacked for not being true to Berkeley leftism.

That’s almost laughable. As a parent, we had problems getting other adults to supervise student’s drug use (alcohol and marijuana) on high school field trips. They thought it was wrong…

Really? Thinking student’s should be safe at school is not in the realm of what we should be able to expect for them at Berkeley High School. Contra Costa or the South Bay doesn’t put up with this…and they are all liberal and multicultural. Only Berkeley’s view of “liberal” includes guns on campus AOK huh?

But there’s a great jazz band at the school. Right?

Oh man, thank God I am springing for a private HS education for my kid. These are the crux years and no way would I trust BHS, bless them all, to be the best for us at this point in the history of Berkeley schooling.

In the early 2000′s there was an ID policy — in fact my son was checked on numerous occasions for not wearing his ID around his neck. Somewhere, I still have his last ID. They did do this — they didn’t enforce it. I think it’s a very good idea, and thought so back then when I son bitched about it. I think this policy needs to be implemented again and ENFORCED.

Video of the meeting posted here:

BHS Parent Forum on Weapons Part One on Vimeo.com: http://vimeo.com/21666708
BHS Parent Forum on Weapons Part Two on Vimeo.com: http://vimeo.com/21678294
BHS Parent Forum on Weapons Part Three on Vimeo.com: http://vimeo.com/21674692
BHS Parent Forum on Weapons Part Four on Vimeo.com: http://vimeo.com/21675692

I just read 40 or more comments and all I can say is that the level of hysteria is incredible. The gun issue is real and should and will be dealt with, but take a step back a moment before you condemn BHS. Call the College Center and check out where BHS grads get into every year before you start throwing your money at bland and lower (yes, lower) performing private schools. Stop by and watch a play, or the orchestra, or the jazz band (they’ll blow your mind). Oh yeah, in case you missed the girls BBall team almost won state. Look at the statistics on how many students not only take IB and AP tests, but pass (with high scores no less). I could of course go on and on, but I’d hate to be accused of trying to divert attention away from the real issue, which is (as I gather from all these comments) the gangster drug-dealing thug students that run the school and scare the teachers. Now, of course, not all students are part of all these accolades. Yes, it’s true, not all 3400 students are applying to Yale, rowing crew, and playing jazz at Yoshi’s while wrapping up their IB diploma. Some are just middle of the road kids. Some are struggling daily to survive. And yes, some make really terrible decisions like bringing guns to school. No matter what we do, this will still be a reality. Changes at schools (especially things like IDs and metal detectors) are, at best, window dressings for society’s problems. Think for a second how safe you’d feel if this was your first day as a freshman at BHS: You walk through a metal detector, get your card scanned, and wait to get your bag searched. Your are asked to remove your hat (shades of blue) and you are subsequently late for first period. Sound fun? Sound inviting? Sound academic? Sound like even remotely close to a solution?

Sorry Bruce Love, go check Mill Valley, Albany, Piedmont, Accolonies or any other district that adds local funds to state ADA money. They all require that the student actually reside with the guardian and the guardian have legal responsability for the student. Berkeley is unique in allowing anyone to register any number of non-dependants.

I’m not sure how the identification badges would help as some Berkeley High students carry the weapons. Metal detectors are also limited if access to the school is so easy that a gun could be snuck in (even I can think of multiple spots on the campus perimeter where I could toss a gun to someone). If anything, the metal detector would create a distraction. The current ‘ubiquitous’ security cameras have apparently been a limited deterrent too. I do support, however, locking down entrances that aren’t personally monitored by a security officer. The perimeter of the school also needs to be patrolled since Berkeley high students also attend classes in portables by Washington Elementary school. I have a child at Washington and don’t even want to imagine there exposure to these problems.

Just as important – we have to address the underlying fear and reasons students are bringing weapons to school. I have heard almost nothing about the background and social circles of the students who have been arrested or how they have managed to get guns in the first place. The students themselves are the best source for understanding any problems and issues in the school environment. Regularly consulting with students alone can give an indication of unlawful gang or drug activity.

Punishments also need to be much more severe. Besides increasing suspensions/expulsions, police and school officials need to meet with the entire family of problem students caught bringing weapons to school. Police also need to make regular lectures about what happens to students who bring any sort of weapon to school. Let’s find out which social circles are responsible for creating this mess and root them out of our schools.

I like the idea of parents volunteering to keep an eye on the daily school activities. Regular communication between parents, students, security, and administration will be very key! The latest problems are definitely too important to let fade away until the next big offense…

Sharkey, you made the absurd thing:

However I have to say that it’s a bit shocking that a hypothetical drug-dealing baby rapist teenager with a garage full of pipe bombs who stabbed a neighbor in the eye with a rusty fork couldn’t be expelled from their school unless they comitted one of those crimes [in the course of school attendance or activity]

Such a kid would likely be incarcerated so your hypothetical is moot and misleading.

Pot does not equal violence. You are taking my comments out of context. I’m saying pot when combined with money and trade often results in violence in the hands of youth.

my son and a friend were mugged and robbed in the park across from BHS a couple of years ago. They were brave enough to go to the police and offer a description of the muggers, who were apparently well-known and had gotten away with many other robberies because other students were afraid to ‘snitch.’ The perpetrators were caught and I assume were expelled. But after witnessing the way my son and his friend were treated by the Berkeley PD, having to sit and wait for almost two hours to be interviewed/interrogated, I understand why some youth don’t want to deal with going to the police. One officer was helpful and retrieved my son’s stolen cell phone, but the person at the desk basically shut her window and closed up shop when her shift was over after spending time joking around with a coworker and ignoring instead of helping two young victims of a violent attack. We live in a violent society that teaches youth that war and violence are somehow means of self-defense and problem solving. That guns are now involved in robberies at BHS is disturbing and calls for strong measures; but why should all the students be punished and subjected to a prison-like atmosphere with metal detectors and guards because of the actions of a few thugs?

Looking at the law that Bruce Love cites, I see that principals are REQUIRED to immediately suspend and recommend for expulsion any students who bring a firearm onto campus, and that the governing board is REQUIRED to expel them upon finding that they have brought a firearm onto campus.

Quite correct. And it is exactly what happens. There is a great deal of confusion in the public over these matters. Please don’t make it worse.

The DA’s office is in the prosecution business. The police are in the enforcement and apprehension business.

Unless the BPD apprehends someone they think has committed a crime, the DA never hears about it. Doubting Mr. Golde’s assessment requires asking “Does the the BPD habitually make false arrests which in turn are given to the DA to charge?” I don’t think so.

Mr. Golde rose from the audience and gave the only unmotivated substantive account of the problem. Without his comments the entire evening would have been a complete waste of time.

Just another tearful performance of “Sometimes I Feel Like an Under Served Child a Long Way from My School District” by professional enablers.

“All the priority is given to achievement gap rather than developing every students to his/her best”

*Chuckle* – I know what you’re trying to say, BUT…again with the superlatives. “All priority.” So you’re saying every decision is prefaced with “will this close the achievement gap?” Every teacher seeks not develop every student to his/her best, but to close the achievement gap? Oh, where to begin? I wasn’t even talking about this and it somehow comes out in your reply. Everyone is just itching to say something. I agree overcrowding is an issue. I agree that there should be more accountability for non-BHS students (especially given the property taxes paid by Berkeley residents). I also know a red herring when I see one. Back to the gun and perceived violence issue, there were just as many non-Berkeley residents the day a gun wasn’t found as there was the day a gun was. I hate to break it to all the keep BHS for Berkeley crowd: a large chunk, if not a majority, are Richmond and Oakland students that are very high performing and are smart and savvy enough to find a way to not send their kids to Castlemont or Kennedy and not pay for Head Royce or Marin Academy, but get them into BHS instead. This very fact should elicit a real conversation about how local control of schools has detrimental effects (i.e. zip code determining future), but it won’t. It could even trigger a conversation about working together with neighboring districts to tackle similar problems, but it won’t. Instead, we resort to some other form of logic: too many out of district kids + too much focus on the achievement gap = guns on campus = metal detectors/id cards/death of BHS. Then we’ll ask ourselves in 10 years what happened? I remember when BHS was this awesome place (see my first post), now it’s like a prison. On the bright side, they gave up on that achievement gap nonsense.

I would like to address everyone here.
This subject, is not about any educational ideologies, stereotyping, profiling, or “keeping the kids in line”
This subject is about how to run a school, and who to do when it becomes broken.

I attended BHS in the 80′s, EVEN THOUGH I WAS NOT A REGISTERED STUDENT. and have maintained hundreds of friendships with people from the school and the city.
I think there is a much larger problem than “those bad kids” or “those mean right wingers”

The problem is YOU.

Your inability to think about the safety and education of kids first. your insistence at either making them out to be evil perpetrators, or innocent angels, or even worse “misunderstood”
I would have easily fallen into the the category described at the meeting,. I brought weapons to school.
I fought a lot. I dealt a little weed at the park to eat, (my mom was absent and my father dead, so I raised myself)
No one stopped us. no one questioned us. everyone defended our right to freedom.

Now, 95 percent of my male friends, are dead or in prison, and they were completely encouraged by lax discipline, a lack of strong male figures, and a desire on the part of many adults to want to engage in “activism” on our behalf, when we despised, and ridiculed them gleefully as we went on our regular rampages.

People defending violence among children, and denying that it exists. (I am a 100& product of the streets here and I can tell you that it is completely out of control at BHS) and then thinking themselves “leftists” or “liberals” are nothing short of a disgrace to this city, the memory of all the kids that have died because of them, and the future of children who are lower income and of color. but most of all they are a disgrace to the real ideologies of socially progressive movements, the BPP, the peace and freedom party, The Raza movement, alternative education, and to all the blood, tears, pain, and deaths sacrifice we went through here, from being spied on by Edgar J, Hoover, to getting tears gassed, shot with rubber bullets, and attacked by our of control police in the 60′s and 70′s.
I experienced this all first hand, Lost several family members as a result. I still maintain a functional belief in social justice and activism, and based on my experiences, and the current situaton I have some much overdue news for anyone here trying to make child safety a political issues.

You are not leftist in the slightest. so don’t front. You’re not even liberal.

These namny pamby, pseudo liberal. wannabe leftists, frantically humping the rotted carcass of a dead and failed political theater, are going to be responsible for the next kid who gets hurt or dies at BHS.
Responsible. period.

These heroic liberals Will they attend the funeral themselves? probably not. will they go to the parents in person to offer condolences? Probably not. are they willing to confront a kid with a gun, or a knife, or the intercede in a fight between kids? probably not. will they go to the hospital when a kid is hurt. again, probably not.
what they cannot come to terms with, is that THESE KIDS IN VIOLENT SITUATIONS ARE NOT FODDER OR PLAYTHINGS FOR YOUR POLITICAL THEATER OR ASPIRATIONS.
They are flesh and blood. someone’s baby. someone brother. someone’s sister. and yes, someone’s mother or father.
So do not try to pretend liberal activism when in reality you are showing cowardice while children’s lives are at stake. Violence cannot be tolerated in any form, penalty must result, kids HAVE to get stung early by authority to appreciate it, and kids bringing guns to school should never be allowed to go to that school ever again period.
There ends my diatribe about the people crying foul at the idea of a totally disciplined school.
Am I finished?
Hardly.

The More affluent people people living in the hills of this town, many who might consider themselves “conservative” or “moderate” possess more than enough money, to implement a vast array of plans and solutions, (which would only work when combined with the skill and drive of people who deal with street violence on a daily basis) that could make this school. not only safe for non violent kids who just want to be left alone to study, but also remedy some of the violent kids who act out here as well. It’s all there. the money. the drive. the desire. There is no :”Berkeley council on violence” which could no doubt raise millions to help all these kids.
‘No, people are far more concerned with Freight and Salvage’s multimillion design. or Berkeley rep’s multimillion dollar annual budget, or regular dinners at Chez Pannise, Downtown and all manner of luxuries, while the school their very own kids attend, gets less and less attention.

That’s not conservative, that’s Just selfish. send your kid to a public school when you have money to make that school better, but no. let the city take the hit. expect for the state or nonprofits to cover it.
The right in this town, is equally implicit in this crime against children.
Yes I am calling it a social crime. what else can it be called? People die.
And you too, will be remembered by history as having been affluent and in a position to help while children died in your on front yard.

and just for the record, I know ALL the dirty, horrific, underhanded, sexually illegal, graft and embezzlement-ridden, booze and drug soaked history of the many administrations that have run BHS since the late 70′s.
Despicable. shameful and deserving of note by name, which I will do later on.
The kinds of the people this city has often allowed to govern their children in the most impressionable time in their lives is a complete and utter travesty.

This is not meant to disparage the many fine and upstanding heroes of my youth like Ms. Bennett, and several of the coaches, and English teachers, and dozens and dozens of others that decided to sacrifice better careers for their love of teaching and who whose deepest desires were our safety and our education.
I was one of the lucky ones. not without a troubled life. but still very lucky.

So I ask this of you:
I ask for the children, and for the future of this city, and for the future of this school a school I have loved with all my heart, from the steps, to the wall, to the gym, to the track, to theaters, to the park, to all the teachers who ever taught there and to all the students that ever studied.

Get off of it.

Liberals can get off their soapboxes, and Conservatives can get off their wallets.
and if you happen to be a poor conservative, or a rich liberal then do the reverse.
Just get off it.
Confront violence DIRECTLY
Its ugly. Its painstaking. Its messy. It feels thankless.

But it is the only thing that will work.
Hiding behind politics, or not committing financially when you have the ability to do so, both amount to the same thing. which is to say, Nothing.

My votes?

BAS: BAD idea unless it is tightly monitored and controlled. Period.

It would be a better idea to separate these kids into smaller groups and send them all to different schools or programs. That is, if you know anything all about criminal science from either an academic or personal viewpoint. I do from both. massing a bunch of kids who are all in trouble into one program in one location, without the strongest of controls, will turn the school into a facility like Tracy or Chino, a crime academy, where kids only get into more trouble.

I thank you for reading this message, and it’s many typos, and I’d like to say that I am no better than anyone I have mentioned here. I am just another confused man wanting to make change and frustrated that I sometimes cannot.
But this, this is solvable if we can get over the tired Berkeley Liberal–Vs-Conservative bullshit.

Piero Amadeo Infante,
Lifelong Berkeley and Oakland Resident
Attended BHS (sporadically, and without registering)
1978-1981