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Berkeley High School (California)
Encyclopedia
Berkeley High School is the only public high school in Berkeley, California
. It is located one long block west of Shattuck Avenue and three short blocks south of University Avenue in Downtown Berkeley
, and is recognized as a Berkeley landmark. Berkeley High School had a student enrollment of 3,417 in 2010-2011 school year from California school data website, drawn from a city of about 112,000 residents from Berkeley and is second largest and most populous high school in Northern California second only to James Logan High School
in Union City
. The school mascot is the Yellowjacket
.
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The first public high school classes in Berkeley were held at the Kellogg Primary School located at Oxford and Center Streets adjacent to the campus of the University of California
. It opened in 1880 and the first high school graduation occurred in 1884. In 1895, the first high school annual was published entitled the Crimson and Gold (changed to Olla Podrida by 1899.)
In 1900, the citizens of Berkeley voted in favor of a bond measure to establish the first dedicated public high school campus in the city. In 1901, construction began on the northwest portion of the present site of the high school. The main school building stood on the corner of Grove (now Martin Luther King Way) and Allston Way, where the "H" building is located today. At that time, Kittredge Street ran through what is today's campus site instead of ending at Milvia. The local office of the Bay Cities Telephone Company sat on the site of today's administration building at the corner of Allston Way and Milvia by 1911.
On Arbor Day
of 1902, noted naturalist John Muir
joined Berkeley's mayor William H. Marston
in planting a giant sequoia in a yard south of the new high school buildings. http://www.calarchives4u.com/history/alameda/1914-ch19.htm The tree is apparently no longer there.
The main building of the high school suffered moderate damage in the form of toppled chimneys, broken windows and some weakened walls as a result of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake
. Professor Andrew Lawson
of the University of California included one of his own photographs (shown at upper right) of the damage in his famous report issued in 1908. http://books.google.com/books?id=yrkQAAAAIAAJ&printsec=titlepage&dq=1908+lawson+quake+report#PPA300-IA3,M1
In 1955, Berkeley High School band director Bob Lutt (who eventually was made executive director of the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra), founded Cazadero Performing Arts Camp
.
In 1964, the West Campus of Berkeley High School was opened in the buildings of the former Burbank Junior High School at Bonar Street and University Avenue. It served all ninth graders while the main campus served grades 10-12, except for an interval from the mid - 1970s to the early 1980s when it was 7-9 to accommodate construction at Willard Junior High School. It was turned over to the Berkeley Adult School in 1986 which used it until 2004. West Campus is currently closed.
A number of famous performers have played at the Berkeley Community Theater which is located on the Berkeley High campus. In 1957, Stan Getz
was one of the featured performers of the Berkeley Jazz Festival.
In the late Sixties, several bands and singers made the Community Theater their venue, including Jimi Hendrix
.
A significant portion of students and faculty alike were also involved with the various forms of political activism which characterized the Sixties in Berkeley, including protests against the Vietnam War
, advocacy for civil rights and third world studies, and supporting People's Park
. The campus included a Black Students Union and a Chicano Student Union. In 1971, Berkeley High students elected a heterosexual male student as Homecoming Queen.
Berkeley High School has been innovative in its high school curriculum. In the Fall of 1970, a school within a school opened at Berkeley High called Community High School. It was "alternative", in keeping with the sixties culture which permeated life in Berkeley at the time. Berkeley High School was also the first public high school in the United States with an African American Studies
department, established in 1969.
The Berkeley High campus was designated a historic district by the National Register of Historic Places on January 7, 2008.
. In 2005, the school officially established four small schools and a comprehensive program, Academic Choice. The four small schools that began the 2005-06 school year were:
In addition to the smaller schools, there are two Comprehensive Learning Communities which comprise nearly two-thirds of the student body. Academic Choice (AC) and Berkeley International High School (BIHS)--part of the International Baccalaureate (IB) program as of 2007—make up this Comprehensive Learning Community.
In the late 1930s, Berkeley High was remodeled and old buildings were replaced with newer ones. The Florence Schwimley Little Theater, The Berkeley Community Theatre
, and the science buildings are prime examples of the Streamline Moderne
style designed by architects Henry H. Gutterson and William G. Corlett. The rebuilding was financed largely in part of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal program the WPA
.
, North Sea
, and Tokyo
Jazz Festivals, as well as numerous private venues throughout the Bay Area, Japan and Europe. BHS is also known to be a factory of sorts for world-famous jazz musicians, being the alma mater of Benny Green, Ambrose Akinmusire, Peter Apfelbaum, and Joshua Redman. The BHS Jazz Program is divided into 3 tiers of Big Bands - Ensemble, Lab Band II, and Lab Band I. The program is now under the direction of alumnus Sarah Cline, a Bay Area trombonist and Berkeley High alumnus.
It is mentioned in the Danzy Senna
novel Caucasia, when the character Cole Lee reveals on pages 411-12 that she attended Berkeley High in the early 1980s.
Ariel Schrag documented her years at Berkeley High during the late 1990s in her graphic novels Awkward, Definition, Potential and Likewise.
The non-fiction text Class Dismissed by Meredith Maran followed three Berkeley High seniors for the 1999-2000 school year.
Nancy Rubin - taught the class "Social Living" at Berkeley High from 1977 through 1996. She published a book titled Ask Me If I Care: Voices from an American High School by addresses teen social issues and is compiled entirely of journal entries by anonymous Berkeley High School students written during their Social Living classes (a mandatory course at the school).
Yellow Jackets - Berkeley High School is the subject, and setting, for the 2008 play entitled Yellow Jackets. Written by Itamar Moses, Yellow Jackets premiered in August 2008, and ran for two months at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre
, in a production directed by Tony Taccone. The play focused mainly on the themes of race, multiculturalism in education, and the different facets and flipsides for political correctness.
Additionally, Berkeley High School compiled and published a dictionary of youth slang
, available to the greater public.
It was also the subject of an episode of PBS's Frontline about racial politics at Berkeley High School entitled "School Colors". The documentary was filmed throughout the 1993-1994 school year and aired on October 18, 1994. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/teach/schoolcolorsguide.html
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
. It is located one long block west of Shattuck Avenue and three short blocks south of University Avenue in Downtown Berkeley
Downtown Berkeley, California
Downtown Berkeley is the central business district of the city of Berkeley, California, United States, around the intersection of Shattuck Avenue and Center Street, and extending north to Hearst Avenue, south to Dwight Way, west to Martin Luther King Jr. Way, and east to Oxford Street...
, and is recognized as a Berkeley landmark. Berkeley High School had a student enrollment of 3,417 in 2010-2011 school year from California school data website, drawn from a city of about 112,000 residents from Berkeley and is second largest and most populous high school in Northern California second only to James Logan High School
James Logan High School
James Logan High School is a public secondary school in Union City, California, United States. The school is administrated by the New Haven Unified School District and has an enrollment of more than 4000 students.-Demographics:...
in Union City
Union City, California
Union City is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. It was incorporated in 1959, combining the communities of Alvarado and Decoto. Alvarado was the original county seat of Alameda County, and the site of the first county courthouse is a California Historical Landmark . The city...
. The school mascot is the Yellowjacket
Yellowjacket
Yellowjacket is the common name in North America for predatory wasps of the genera Vespula and Dolichovespula. Members of these genera are known simply as "wasps" in other English-speaking countries...
.
History
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
. It opened in 1880 and the first high school graduation occurred in 1884. In 1895, the first high school annual was published entitled the Crimson and Gold (changed to Olla Podrida by 1899.)
In 1900, the citizens of Berkeley voted in favor of a bond measure to establish the first dedicated public high school campus in the city. In 1901, construction began on the northwest portion of the present site of the high school. The main school building stood on the corner of Grove (now Martin Luther King Way) and Allston Way, where the "H" building is located today. At that time, Kittredge Street ran through what is today's campus site instead of ending at Milvia. The local office of the Bay Cities Telephone Company sat on the site of today's administration building at the corner of Allston Way and Milvia by 1911.
On Arbor Day
Arbor Day
Arbor Day is a holiday in which individuals and groups are encouraged to plant and care for trees. It originated in Nebraska City, Nebraska, United States during 1872 by J. Sterling Morton. The first Arbor Day was held on April 10, 1872, and an estimated 1 million trees were planted that day.Many...
of 1902, noted naturalist John Muir
John Muir
John Muir was a Scottish-born American naturalist, author, and early advocate of preservation of wilderness in the United States. His letters, essays, and books telling of his adventures in nature, especially in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, have been read by millions...
joined Berkeley's mayor William H. Marston
William H. Marston
Captain William Harrington Marston was an early resident of Berkeley, California. He served as President of the Town Board of Trustees from 1899 to 1903....
in planting a giant sequoia in a yard south of the new high school buildings. http://www.calarchives4u.com/history/alameda/1914-ch19.htm The tree is apparently no longer there.
The main building of the high school suffered moderate damage in the form of toppled chimneys, broken windows and some weakened walls as a result of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake
1906 San Francisco earthquake
The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 was a major earthquake that struck San Francisco, California, and the coast of Northern California at 5:12 a.m. on Wednesday, April 18, 1906. The most widely accepted estimate for the magnitude of the earthquake is a moment magnitude of 7.9; however, other...
. Professor Andrew Lawson
Andrew Lawson
Andrew Cowper Lawson July 25,1861- June 16,1952 was a professor of geology at the University of California, Berkeley. He was the editor and co-author of the 1908 report on the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake which became known as the "Lawson Report"...
of the University of California included one of his own photographs (shown at upper right) of the damage in his famous report issued in 1908. http://books.google.com/books?id=yrkQAAAAIAAJ&printsec=titlepage&dq=1908+lawson+quake+report#PPA300-IA3,M1
In 1955, Berkeley High School band director Bob Lutt (who eventually was made executive director of the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra), founded Cazadero Performing Arts Camp
Cazadero Performing Arts Camp
Cazadero Performing Arts Camp is a performing arts camp located in the Sonoma redwoods in Northern California, United States...
.
In 1964, the West Campus of Berkeley High School was opened in the buildings of the former Burbank Junior High School at Bonar Street and University Avenue. It served all ninth graders while the main campus served grades 10-12, except for an interval from the mid - 1970s to the early 1980s when it was 7-9 to accommodate construction at Willard Junior High School. It was turned over to the Berkeley Adult School in 1986 which used it until 2004. West Campus is currently closed.
A number of famous performers have played at the Berkeley Community Theater which is located on the Berkeley High campus. In 1957, Stan Getz
Stan Getz
Stanley Getz was an American jazz saxophone player. Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, his prime influence being the wispy, mellow timbre of his idol, Lester Young. Coming to prominence in the late 1940s with Woody Herman's big band, Getz is described by critic Scott...
was one of the featured performers of the Berkeley Jazz Festival.
In the late Sixties, several bands and singers made the Community Theater their venue, including Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
.
A significant portion of students and faculty alike were also involved with the various forms of political activism which characterized the Sixties in Berkeley, including protests against the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, advocacy for civil rights and third world studies, and supporting People's Park
People's Park (Berkeley)
People's Park in Berkeley, California, USA, is a park off Telegraph Avenue, bounded by Haste and Bowditch streets and Dwight Way, near the University of California, Berkeley. The park was created during the radical political activism of the late 1960s....
. The campus included a Black Students Union and a Chicano Student Union. In 1971, Berkeley High students elected a heterosexual male student as Homecoming Queen.
Berkeley High School has been innovative in its high school curriculum. In the Fall of 1970, a school within a school opened at Berkeley High called Community High School. It was "alternative", in keeping with the sixties culture which permeated life in Berkeley at the time. Berkeley High School was also the first public high school in the United States with an African American Studies
African American studies
African American studies is a subset of Black studies or Africana studies. It is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to the study of the history, culture, and politics of African Americans...
department, established in 1969.
The Berkeley High campus was designated a historic district by the National Register of Historic Places on January 7, 2008.
Principal
The current principal is Pasquale Scuderi, who replaced Jim Slemp in July 2010. Slemp had served as principal for seven years. In the years preceding Slemp's arrival, Berkeley High was plagued by the lack of a consistent principal, as well as (unsolved) arson fires. During Slemp's tenure two buildings (A & C) were remodeled, and a new administrative center and food court (D) were constructed.Small schools
In 2000, in an attempt to better serve the large student body, BHS began experimenting with the idea of small schoolsAlternative school
Alternative school is the name used in some parts of the world to describe an institution which provides part of alternative education. It is an educational establishment with a curriculum and methods that are nontraditional...
. In 2005, the school officially established four small schools and a comprehensive program, Academic Choice. The four small schools that began the 2005-06 school year were:
- The Arts and Humanities Academy (AHA)
- Communication Arts and Sciences (CAS)
- Community Partnerships Academy (CPA)
- Green Academy formely SSJE
In addition to the smaller schools, there are two Comprehensive Learning Communities which comprise nearly two-thirds of the student body. Academic Choice (AC) and Berkeley International High School (BIHS)--part of the International Baccalaureate (IB) program as of 2007—make up this Comprehensive Learning Community.
- Academic Choice (AC)
- Berkeley International High School (BIHS)
Departments, parents, and student organizations
- Academic Choice
- African American Studies Department (Article in The Daily CalifornianThe Daily CalifornianThe Daily Californian is an independent, student-run newspaper that serves the University of California, Berkeley campus and its surrounding community. It is published Monday through Friday during the academic year, and twice a week during the summer...
) - Athletics (Basketball, Crew, Cross Country, Football, Women's Lacrosse, Men's Lacrosse, BHS Athletic Fund)
- BBQ Club
- Computer Technology
- ESL/ELL
- English and World Language
- History
- JSA
- Mathematics
- Newspaper (The Jacket)
- Physical Education
- PTSA
- Science
- Special Education
- Visual and Performing arts (Jazz Ensemble)
- Youth & Government
Campus and architecture
The Berkeley High School campus covers four city blocks between Milvia Street and Martin Luther King Jr Way. It contains several buildings, built between 1901 and 2004, which display a variety of architectural styles.In the late 1930s, Berkeley High was remodeled and old buildings were replaced with newer ones. The Florence Schwimley Little Theater, The Berkeley Community Theatre
Berkeley Community Theatre
The Berkeley Community Theatre is a theatre, located in Berkeley, California on the campus of Berkeley High School. The Art Deco-style theater has 3,491 seats, including a balcony section...
, and the science buildings are prime examples of the Streamline Moderne
Streamline Moderne
Streamline Moderne, sometimes referred to by either name alone or as Art Moderne, was a late type of the Art Deco design style which emerged during the 1930s...
style designed by architects Henry H. Gutterson and William G. Corlett. The rebuilding was financed largely in part of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal program the WPA
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration was the largest and most ambitious New Deal agency, employing millions of unskilled workers to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads, and operated large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects...
.
Notable people
The main article provides a list of individuals associated with Berkeley High School through attending as a student, or serving as a member of the faculty or staff.Neighborhoods zoned to Berkeley High School
Smyth-Fernwald, a housing complex of the University of California Berkeley that houses student families, is zoned to Berkeley High School.Berkeley High in Books, Music, Film, and Theater
The Berkeley High School Jazz Ensemble has gained a reputation for international excellence, with both the big band and numerous combos having won American Jazz festivals such as the Reno, Folsom, Delta, and Monterey international competitions multiple times. In 2011, Combo "A" won the Downbeat Magazine award for Best High School Jazz Combo. Additionally, the Ensemble has made appearances at the MontreuxMontreux
Montreux is a municipality in the district of Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.It is located on Lake Geneva at the foot of the Alps and has a population, , of and nearly 90,000 in the agglomeration.- History :...
, North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
, and Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
Jazz Festivals, as well as numerous private venues throughout the Bay Area, Japan and Europe. BHS is also known to be a factory of sorts for world-famous jazz musicians, being the alma mater of Benny Green, Ambrose Akinmusire, Peter Apfelbaum, and Joshua Redman. The BHS Jazz Program is divided into 3 tiers of Big Bands - Ensemble, Lab Band II, and Lab Band I. The program is now under the direction of alumnus Sarah Cline, a Bay Area trombonist and Berkeley High alumnus.
It is mentioned in the Danzy Senna
Danzy Senna
-Biography:Danzy Senna was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the middle child of three children. Her mother is the Anglo-American poet and novelist Fanny Howe. Her father is the African-American writer and journalist, Carl Senna, author of The Black Press and the Struggle for Civil Rights and The...
novel Caucasia, when the character Cole Lee reveals on pages 411-12 that she attended Berkeley High in the early 1980s.
Ariel Schrag documented her years at Berkeley High during the late 1990s in her graphic novels Awkward, Definition, Potential and Likewise.
The non-fiction text Class Dismissed by Meredith Maran followed three Berkeley High seniors for the 1999-2000 school year.
Nancy Rubin - taught the class "Social Living" at Berkeley High from 1977 through 1996. She published a book titled Ask Me If I Care: Voices from an American High School by addresses teen social issues and is compiled entirely of journal entries by anonymous Berkeley High School students written during their Social Living classes (a mandatory course at the school).
Yellow Jackets - Berkeley High School is the subject, and setting, for the 2008 play entitled Yellow Jackets. Written by Itamar Moses, Yellow Jackets premiered in August 2008, and ran for two months at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre
Berkeley Repertory Theatre
Berkeley Repertory Theatre is a regional theater company located in Berkeley, California. It was founded in 1968, as the East Bay’s first resident professional theatre. Michael Leibert was the founding artistic director, who was then succeeded by Sharon Ott in 1984. The company runs seven...
, in a production directed by Tony Taccone. The play focused mainly on the themes of race, multiculturalism in education, and the different facets and flipsides for political correctness.
Additionally, Berkeley High School compiled and published a dictionary of youth slang
Slang
Slang is the use of informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's language or dialect but are considered more acceptable when used socially. Slang is often to be found in areas of the lexicon that refer to things considered taboo...
, available to the greater public.
It was also the subject of an episode of PBS's Frontline about racial politics at Berkeley High School entitled "School Colors". The documentary was filmed throughout the 1993-1994 school year and aired on October 18, 1994. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/teach/schoolcolorsguide.html
Weapon Incidents
Berkeley High has had several lockdowns due to safety concerns with students bringing weapons onto campus. On March 22, 2011 at approximately 8:45 a.m., two BHS students (both aged 15) brought a loaded firearm to school. The weapon accidentally discharged, shooting through a wall in one of the bathrooms near the portable classrooms area. Later, another student (aged 16) was found with an unloaded gun and marijuana in his backpack. This follows two other occurrences of guns on campus in recent months. There were no injuries, and the students' names have been withheld. They were all promptly arrested and face mandatory expulsion. Berkeley High will have increased security measures, at least until spring break. A hotline has been started to encourage anonymous tips related to suspected carrying of weapons.Demographics
The demographics of the school as of the 2009-2010 school year were 36.7% White, 29.1% Black, 12.6% Hispanic/Latino, 7.9% Asian, .6% Filipino, .3% Native American, .1% Native Hawaiian, and 12.5% multi-ethnic.See also
- Berkeley Unified School DistrictBerkeley Unified School DistrictBerkeley Unified School District is the public school district for the city of Berkeley, California. Its administrative offices are located in Berkeley's old city hall on Martin Luther King Jr. Way between Center Street and Allston Way...
- Berkeley Parents NetworkBerkeley Parents NetworkBerkeley Parents Network is an online forum for parents in the San Francisco Bay Area of the United States. Despite the name, the discussion board addresses issues in and around Berkeley, relevant to a far greater number of people than solely Berkeley parents...
Further reading
- Berkeley, California: the story of the evolution of a hamlet into a city of culture and commerce by William Warren Ferrier, Imprint Berkeley, Calif. (1933)
- Berkeley: The Town and the Gown of It, by George A. Pettitt, Howell-North Books, Berkeley (1973)
- Sanborn Insurance Map: Berkeley, California, Plate 83 (1911)
External links
- Official website
- Alumni Association with reunion information.
- jacket Website