Some City of Berkeley summer recreation programs offer tutoring in literacy skills. Space is still available but filling quickly! There are income-based scholarships and there may be free spots for some students.

A special A+ News was released on Wednesday, May 22 announcing the School Board's appointment of Dr. Donald Evans as Berkeley's next superintendent. 

The press release included Board President Karen Hemphill's statement about Dr. Evans: "We are confident that we've found the best person for Berkeley.  During the interview and hiring process we've learned a lot about the positive impact he has made as an educational leader in Hayward, Compton, and Oakland, and as an innovative teacher in the classroom in San Diego. Dr. Evans has a proven track record of meeting the needs of all students, including under-achieving and high-achieving students, and comes to our District with a depth and breadth of experience which will serve us well." 
You can read the announcement in full here.

The Classified Employee Recognition on Tuesday, May 21, 2013 honored 75 employees for their 5 to 30 years of valued service to Berkeley's students. The event was a great opportunity to recognize our employees' dedication to their work.

When asked about her 26 years of service, Librarian Ilene Sheng said, "My two daughters went to Oxford and I've been here ever since.  It brings me great joy to put books in the hands of my students and to watch them grow academically and emotionally from Kindergarten through 5th grade."
Read more about the event and see photos here.

With school days filled with reading, writing, math, music, art, dance, PE and all the learning and fun in between, finding time to develop keyboarding skills can be a challenge.  To carve out dedicated computer instruction, Berkeley LEARNS After-School Program is piloting a keyboarding class at two schools, and a similar pilot is happening for 3rd graders in two elementary school libraries. The after-school class, currently offered at LeConte and Emerson, meets twice a week for 45 minutes. The class gets laptops in students hands with the goal for students to learn to be fast and accurate typists using all 10 fingers, and eventually being able to type without even looking at the keys. As the Common Core curriculum involves digital skills in both instruction and assessment, expect to see more CyberSafety and digital skills instruction in both the regular and after school day.
Registration for 2013-14 LEARNS program is open online now.