Berkeley High Jacket staff reporter Maya Ng-Yu reached out to the Berkeley PTA Council Executive Board to interview us on our petition; below are her questions, along with our answers to them. -What is the Berkeley PTA? What is the Berkeley PTA’s goals for Berkeley High School? "The mission of the California State PTA is to positively impact the lives of all children and families by representing our members, and empowering and supporting them with skills in advocacy, leadership and communications." The Berkeley PTA Council is the umbrella group which supports all of the different PTA units at our schools. Every K-12 school in BUSD has a PTA, and at Berkeley High and at Berkeley Technology Academy, there is a PTSA, which means that students are encouraged to take leadership roles in it. I am the President of the Berkeley PTA Council; among our six board members, two are also board members of the BHS PTSA, four of us are current Berkeley High parents, one is the parent of a recent BHS graduate, two are the parents of rising 9th graders, and three of us serve on the BHS Redesign Committee. We are all very much a part of the Berkeley High community. -Does the PTA usually get involved with BUSD? The PTA Council is the part of the PTA that represents families and school communities at the District level. Because our mission is to advocate for and empower every student and every family in Berkeley, we have a long and proud history of involvement with BUSD. This involvement included helping parents at all of our schools organize to get out the vote for the latest BSEP education parcel tax measure; parents were instrumental in helping achieve an approval rating of 89% in the last election. In addition, among other matters, we have spoken before the School Board in support the efforts of BHS Stop Harassing in advocating for the hiring of a Title IX Coordinator, in accordance with Federal law, and that BUSD provide more training and better advocacy for victims of sexual harassment, among other matters. (The District eventually hired a Title IX Coordinator, but she is no longer employed by BUSD.) -What part did you, as President of the PTA, have in creating the petition? As I wrote earlier, I am the President of the PTA Council, rather than the BHS PTSA. Our executive board met and discussed what action we wanted to take in response to Principal Pasarow having been so abruptly placed on leave. We unanimously agreed that we would start a petition in order to help parents, students, and members of the community stand up for what is best for our school community. -What is the goal of the petition? We would like to see Principal Pasarow reinstated at Berkeley High School, and we would like BUSD Administration to put our students first; nothing should be more important than our students’ well-being. We would also like the District to do a much better job of communicating with the school community. Why did the PTA make the petition? We feel that Principal Pasarow has been doing the hard work for which he was hired: improving school climate, bringing in restorative justice practices, supporting students to be leaders and activists. (For example, he fully supported students when they decided to hold Black Lives Matter and post-election rallies, marches and walkouts.) We also feel that BUSD has not been doing a good job of communicating with the community, and that has fostered rumors and been damaging to our community and personally to Principal Pasarow. -How did the PTA make the decision to create the petition? Was there a split in who supported the petition among the PTA? It was a unanimous decision made by our Executive Board, and we reached consensus very rapidly. -What do you find unfair about Pasarow’s paid leave? What do you find fair? A school district is a public institution, and the public has a right to know how it makes its governing decisions. If Principal Pasarow has been accused of committing a crime, the public deserves to know. If he's been put on paid leave because he's been accused of doing something less than a crime, the public deserves to know what sorts of things can put a principal in the position that Mr. Pasarow is currently in. BUSD cites a personnel policy as being the basis for its actions, but they don’t give the public access to that policy. Instead, what we presently have in BUSD is a black hole of information, which creates a dynamic of guilty until proven innocent. There's nothing fair about this situation. -When will you deliver the petition to The BUSD Board of Education, Dr. Donald Evans, Pasquale Scuderi, and Javetta Cleveland? How many people will have to sign it in order for it to be delivered? We currently have 375 signatures from parents, students, colleagues, and former students of Mr. Pasarow; we will be delivering the signatures and comments to the BUSD Board of Education, Dr. Donald Evans, Pasquale Scuderi, and Javetta Cleveland prior to the upcoming School Board meeting on Wednesday, January 11th. Until Principal Pasarow is reinstated or BUSD provides an explanation for terminating his employment, (in the event that they take this action), the petition will stay up so that more people can sign it. -If you deliver the petition and nothing happens, what is the PTA’s next steps? We will have to decide that together. -Are you asking the Berkeley Board and District to break the law because the Berkeley Board and District are respecting the privacy right created by the law? We are not asking BUSD to break the law. Unfortunately, our School District has a long history of poor communication with the community. This includes not disclosing what procedures they are following, what the timeline will be, and what opportunities the community will have to voice any concerns (both pro and con) on issues. While none of our board are lawyers, research shows that employee privacy rights were created to protect employees, not employers. We find it puzzling that the district seems to have placed Mr. Pasarow under a gag order, which we believe to be unlawful under Labor Code section 232.5, and harmful to him and our community.