BUSD district leaders discussed details of their plan to desegregate Berkeley’s middle schools Wednesday night while reckoning with pushback from parents who don’t want their kids to attend Longfellow.
Longfellow Middle School
Posted inCrime & Safety
Teen brothers killed in shooting laid to rest in deeply moving Berkeley funeral
Family, Berkeley High friends and soccer teammates said a final goodbye to Jazy and Angel Sotelo Garcia on Thursday, marking a “new chapter” of their grief.
Posted inCrime & Safety
‘This is a wakeup call’: Berkeley remembers brothers Jazy and Angel Sotelo Garcia
The teens’ mother and younger siblings, dozens of extended family and hundreds of neighbors, classmates and friends came together Monday evening for a vigil at Longfellow Middle School.
Posted inSchools
Meet the 4 new principals chosen to lead Berkeley schools this year
Longfellow Middle School and John Muir, Sylvia Mendez and Rosa Parks elementary schools all have new leaders at the helm for the 2022-23 school year.
Posted inSchools
Berkeley school board votes to desegregate middle schools with new enrollment policy
Starting in fall 2023, students will be enrolled at Longfellow Middle School based on where they live. A map showing how students will be assigned their school has yet to be finalized.
Posted inSchools
Black and Latino students in Berkeley Unified are overrepresented in special ed
Twenty-eight percent of Black students are in special ed, compared to 7% of white students. Berkeleyside digs into BUSD’s plan to address the disparity.
Posted inSchools
Berkeley middle-schoolers protest in support of Roe v. Wade
Led by seventh-grader Jayce Cooper, students at Longfellow Middle School chanted pro-choice slogans in a small demonstration on Thursday.
Posted inSchools
After years of delay, middle school enrollment recommendation expected in June
The Berkeley school board is set in five weeks to make a preliminary call on whether to overhaul how students are assigned a middle school — though further delay is possible.
Posted inSchools
New club at Longfellow builds solidarity among Black girls
Led by Tanisha Walton and UC Berkeley student Skylynn Hayes, Black Girls United is in its first year. The duo hope to expand to more schools.
Posted inSchools
Ka’Dijah Brown, 30, is the Berkeley school board’s youngest president ever
Ka’Dijah Brown, the board’s leader since December, shared her views on racism in Berkeley schools and decisions the board could have made differently.
Posted inSchools
Longfellow school culture is looking up as visits to the principal’s office decline
Teachers, students, and administrators say the atmosphere at the middle school feels positive and upbeat. But some fights and substance abuse issues, exacerbated by the pandemic, persist.
Posted inSchools
Parents, staff lean toward 3-zone option for middle school enrollment, survey shows
The school board will consider the data next November when voting on whether to leave in place the current two-zone enrollment policy or replace it with a new policy.