Jill Tucker

A pro-Palestinian middle school walkout by dozens of Berkeley students that included an altercation and prompted accusations of antisemitism has left the community reeling this week while district officials once again face pressure to balance free speech with student safety. The walkout happened as Berkeley Unified faces local and national attention related to recent pro-Palestinian demonstrations and allegations of unchecked antisemitism at Berkeley schools. District Superintendent Enikia Ford…

California voters can expect to decide in November whether high school students will have to take a personal finance course in order to graduate, a ballot initiative already drawing vocal support and opposition. The secretary of state announced Wednesday that the measure is eligible for the ballot, with a sufficient number of signatures to qualify, with official qualification in late June unless withdrawn by the proponents. While teaching students about personal finance is widely supported, the…

Mecca Pruitt found success quickly in business, earning a profit weeks after launching his company and reaping gains in the stock market, a hobby that has him checking trends throughout the day and researching potential trades at night and on weekends. “Finance is my love language,” he said. But he’s not your typical Bay Area businessperson. Sometimes, he gets in trouble because he’s checking his investment portfolio instead of focusing on the math worksheet sitting on his desk or the writing as…

In the black-and-white world of standardized tests, Hoover Elementary, located a few blocks from a freeway entrance in West Oakland, is failing its 300 students. Just 15% of them read at grade level, according to the most recent scores, including just 9% of those in the third grade. The principal and teachers are under immense pressure to bring those numbers up as students sit for the annual round of testing this month. In real life, Hoover isn’t black and white. There is laughter, bright studen…

A few years ago, officials at Palo Alto Unified noticed that one district high school was giving out far fewer D’s and F’s than previously, instead giving students a “no mark,” which allowed additional time to complete assignments or take exams. But teachers there weren’t giving all students that second chance for a better grade. They were disproportionately giving it to white and Asian American students. Black and brown students were still getting D’s and F’s. “It was glaring,” said Superintend…

The seniors at San Francisco’s Mission High School don’t pay attention to the odds that say children of immigrants, teens exposed to violence, Black and brown kids, unhoused students, or those living in poverty are far less likely to go to college than their wealthier, white and Asian American peers. Instead, the vast majority of 12th graders at the school send out multiple applications to universities across California and the country every fall and then wait a few months for the hundreds of ac…

Oakland parent Stephisha Ycoy-Walton is outraged by what she sees in the city’s public schools: Most kids can’t read or write at grade level. Math? Fewer still. On Thursday, she and an army of other parents are declaring war on that status quo. Currently, a third of the 45,000 traditional and charter students in the district read at grade level. A quarter are proficient in math. The vast majority who are meeting standards are white and Asian American. For Black and brown students, it’s far wors…

Ten San Francisco middle schools will see Algebra I courses back on the schedule this fall for the first time in a decade, the first group in a three-year phase-in to fully integrate the course back into eighth-grade students’ schedules. District officials announced Friday which of the 13 middle schools and six K-8 schools would offer Algebra I in the upcoming school year and how it would be piloted at each site. The plan is to test out three versions of school-day Algebra I if the proposal is p…

School closures in San Francisco and Oakland look even more likely after district officials on both sides of the Bay concluded this past week that their dire fiscal outlook is now worse. Both the San Francisco Unified School District and Oakland Unified School District have been overspending for years. Both face ongoing declining enrollment and too many empty seats. Both are scrambling to make budget cuts to overcome massive deficits. And top officials in both districts say they can’t see a pat…

San Francisco voters sent a clear and decisive message to the city’s school board Tuesday, demanding through Proposition G that the district bring Algebra 1 back into middle schools. The result was evident from the first election returns, with 82% backing the measure as of Friday afternoon. Live Maps: California Primary Election Results 2024 Local Data: San Francisco Election Results 2024 It was a resounding victory for parents, students and community groups that have been fighting for years to…

After two years and $34 million trying to make a disastrous payroll system work, San Francisco school officials are giving up and are ready to pay another $5.6 million to start over with another company. The EMPower payroll system has caused chaos since it was launched in January 2022, resulting in error-filled paychecks — if teachers and other staff were paid at all. The problems filtered into health and retirement benefits, leaving some employees temporarily without medical coverage and others…