Preventing Crime begins with Preschool
Erika Kemp
I am writing you in regards to your vote last night to cut one of Berkeley's four 9.5 hr Pre-K classes for low income families.
You may be familiar with me through my emails to you regarding the prospective Community School at the Berkeley Adult School. If not, I am a mother of three (ages 14, 5, and 4 months), a homeowner, wife, and entrepreneur residing steps from our Adult School. I love Berkeley, love my neighborhood and love everything the Adult School stands for. I have spoke out in opposition to the proposed Community School in letters and via the Berkeley Adult School Neighbors blog not because I do not believe in the students the school will serve but because I believe we need to commit more fully to their futures. In that vein, I believe the County's proposal for a Community classroom in the BAS is an offensive token gesture that will not provide Berkeley's at-risk students with a high caliber site, curriculum and roster of services to serve their needs. (For an example of a model that I believe is worthy of our Berkeley at-risk youth see the Oakland Community Day School: http://ousdhs.ousd.k12.ca.us/communityday/site/default.asp)
I believe some of you agree that the County's proposal is lacking in research, planning, and thoughtfulness and I find this heartening. However, I was shocked to read about the cavalier way in which you have cut essential services to low-income Berkeley families knowing full well that preventing crime - and decreasing the achievement gap - begins with preschool.
If you have forgotten the importance of preschool in both of these issues, you need only Google "head start" or "pre-school preventing crime" for a wealth of data about this issue. For an immediate reference, click this link for an article on the issue in California: https://www.californiaprogressreport.com/site/node/6883
Head Start - a federal Pre-K program - developed under President Johnson as part of his "War on Poverty" to work towards eliminating the achievement gap in this country - an achievement gap that the BUSD has committed to eliminating in Berkeley via its 2020 Vision. Your vote yesterday directly conflicts with your stated goals for the BUSD 2020 Vision - and it's only 2011!
As a stakeholder in this issue, I would like to volunteer myself to work with any of you who are interested in finding alternative ways to fund these Pre-K programs rather than cut them. As a mother of 3 - and a former single mother of 1 for 8 years - I am very aware of the challenges to working families and firmly believe that we must come together as a community to support one another - not make excuses for why we cannot support each other. Our future depends in part on the 24 children you have now left out in the cold. They need us and their families need us.
I personally would be willing to contribute time and money to make a more robust Pre-K program in Berkeley a reality. I hope that you will summon the energy, creativity and courage to work with me to do the right thing for Berkeley's children and families.
Best regards,
Erika Kemp
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Erika Kemp
1641 Kains Avenue, Berkeley CA 94702
510-295-9308
erikasmi...@gmail.com
Heather Wood
Erika, Awesome letter. I applaud you.
> Dear School Board Directors,
>
> I am writing you in regards to your vote last night to cut one of Berkeley's
> four 9.5 hr Pre-K classes for low income families.
>
> You may be familiar with me through my emails to you regarding the
> prospective Community School at the Berkeley Adult School. If not, I am a
> mother of three (ages 14, 5, and 4 months), a homeowner, wife, and
> entrepreneur residing steps from our Adult School. I love Berkeley, love my
> neighborhood and love everything the Adult School stands for. I have spoke
> out in opposition to the proposed Community School in letters and via
> the Berkeley
erikasmi...@gmail.com
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
Charis Kaskiris
Hello Erika,
This was a very thoughtful and well-written letter to BUSD. I am in agreement with you. I think it is crucial to provide help to low-income family kids early on. Help low income families early on in the lives of the kids because that is when it matters the most. It really bothers me that when the economy goes south the first thing politicians hit is education. BUSD took the second worst step to hit programs for low-income families. I have not watched their deliberations but my fear is that again everything done without any analysis.
Thank you for all your hard work.
Charis
Charis Kaskiris
Dear School Board Directors,
I am resident and landlord in the Berkeley Adult School (BAS) neighborhood. I have been informed by Burr Guthrie, principal of the Berkeley Adult School, that in the coming months a middle-school summer program will be run at BAS. I was informed by Mr. Guthrie that the request by BUSD came in May 2011 in response to on-going roofing projects at Middle School sites. On June 13 Mr Guthrie posted on the BAS Blog that this 5 week program will be located at BAS. Going through your minutes of your meetings these projects are expected to be completed in September 2011. This set of events begs the question how far ahead of time did you know about this and why you have not involved the community.
· Was this summer program at BAS planned all along in the original roofing proposals?
· Why wasn’t the community informed especially given how poorly the CDS proposal was handled with respect to the community impacted?
The specifics we have so far are as follows:
· 125 middle school students on remedial coursework
o 125 screaming kids every break
· Only one entrance open on Curtis St (a fairly narrow residential street)
o You will be effectively creating two traffic jams a day on a small residential street!!!
· A summer school principal (Who is s/he?)
· No information on whether the cafeteria will be operational or whether the cafeteria can really support 125 kids.
Don’t you think that restricting entry point access to the school on a small street like this will require safety officers as it increased the risk of accidents? Have you made a provision for such an officer? Is the campus going to be a closed campus? What are your provisions for respecting the integrity of the Community Garden that is on the premises? As we asked many times before where is the plan/proposal for this program? Can you provide me with the written plan for this summer program? Since these kids will be roaming in my front yard all summer long I think it is highly appropriate to share it.
Furthermore, during the May 11, 2011 BUSD board meeting John Selawsky kept asking to locate at-risk middle-schoolers on the CDS. Sheila Jordan advised Selawsky that these kids are too young to be located in a CDS. Effectively John Selawasky presented evidence that there is a pressing problem with middle school at-risk youth. Are any of these kids in this summer program part of the group that John Selawsky was referring to?
· Are you knowingly locating at-risk youth at BAS for the summer?
I would appreciate a timely response given the narrow timeframe you have provided.
Sincerely,
Charis Kaskiris