On Wednesday, January 11th, the Executive Board of the Berkeley PTA Council delivered a copy of the 381 signatures and comments to date on our petition to the BUSD School Board, Superintendent Donald Evans, Deputy Superintendent Javetta Cleveland, and Assistant Superintendent Pasquale Scuderi. Many concerned parents and colleagues also addressed the board during the public comments section, including Robin C.B., Jennifer V., Liz T., Monica G., Mimi P., Cindy B.P., Paula A., and Danielle F., all of whom spoke compellingly and movingly in support of Principal Pasarow, and of improved communication to our school community. Additional parents were in attendance but did not have the chance to speak. Janet Levenson, President of the union which represents BUSD administrators also spoke; You can watch the entire meeting on Youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AY9E15FhUU In addition, the PTA Council Executive Board used their allotted five minutes to address the Board. Below is a transcript of that address. Our petition will remain up, and we will continue to post updates to it, until such time as we have appropriate closure to the situation. Thank you all for your support. My name is Christine Staples, and I am the President of the Berkeley PTA Council. I am standing before you with most of my Executive Board colleagues; between us, we have decades upon decades of experience working for the benefit of the Berkeley public schools, including work on the PTA, LCAP, BSEP, SGC, Berkeley Public Schools Fund, Berkeley High Development Group, Berkeley High Design Team, you name it. And we don’t do it for the glamor, but in accordance with the California PTA mission: “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." We are here tonight to present you with a copy of our petition, with 381 signatures and comments from students, parents, and community members. We are also here to hold you, our representatives who take on the important job of overseeing our schools, accountable for the actions around the suspension of BHS Principal Sam Pasarow, and for the almost total silence in the process surrounding it. Angela Davis once said: “I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change, I am changing the things I cannot accept.” We here in Berkeley are very proud of our work for positive change. We talk about it all the time. But do we really mean it, or do we just like the sound of it? Because change is hard. Change means taking a hard look and acknowledging when things aren’t working. Change means holding people - including ourselves - accountable. We have to hold our students accountable; they need teachers who are warm demanders who will push them to do their very best; we can’t lower expectations of students because of our assumptions about them, and we can’t let students lower their expectations of themselves. When students screw up, engage in bullying, sexual harassment, or unsafe behavior, we need to hold them accountable for it, even if their parents “lawyer up”. We need to hold our teachers accountable. When a parent of color, from a third generation of elite university professors and graduates meets with her son’s teacher, and says “how can we work together to ensure that my twice-exceptional son is ready to join our fourth generation of family scholars?” that teacher’s response should never be “not everybody has to go to college, you know.” True story. Recent story. Our administrators need to be able to hold all of their staff accountable. Guidance counselors, teachers, classified staff - everybody. Most of our staff in Berkeley are exceptional, but those few who aren’t are here because somebody doesn’t have the guts to hold them accountable, and the longer it goes on, the harder it is to do. We have to empower administrators to be able to hold staff accountable. In all matters, what is best for our students must come first. Not job security for staff, not hurt feelings or embarrassment, not what is easiest or most convenient, not protecting the status quo - students must come first, full stop. Otherwise, we’re just full of hot air. A year and a half ago, Sam Pasarow left a very successful career in Oakland Unified to become Berkeley High’s new Principal. We told him we wanted him to take on the daunting challenges of improving school climate, building community, breaking down barriers to student achievement, improving the quality of teaching, promoting equity and student empowerment. And he said, more or less, “sign me up.” When we said we wanted him to do it, did we really mean it? Let’s be frank: being the Principal of Berkeley High is the hardest, most challenging job in our district. But Sam took it on, and dove into that hard work, and began building positive school culture, introducing restorative justice, digging into the school redesign, building community. Our cynical teens and parents even began looking forward to his goofy tag line “and Go Jackets” at the end of every announcement and robocall. He was doing such powerful, positive work. And then, abruptly, with barely any communication, he was removed from the job and his email was shut off, and he seems to have been placed under a gag order, and we’ve barely had any further communication. And I cannot overemphasize how disheartening and unnerving that is, and how it takes the heart and spirit out of our school. The District and Board members keep telling us what a strong leadership team we have in place, and how smoothly and seamlessly things are running at Berkeley High, but fail to mention that much of that strong leadership team was recruited, promoted, and supported by Principal Sam Pasarow. Damage has been done, and we need to stop pretending it hasn’t. It’s time to start repairing it. We want our Principal back, and we want better communication. And we want you to be accountable, too. Thank you.