Demo of City of Berkeley Council

Consider this as our last chance to build another high school in the south district. Please voice your support before the November 8, Berkeley Planning Commission meeting by signing this petition and forwarding it to your friends and neighbors in the Evergreen community.

Land owners and developers are currently negotiating with the City of Berkeley to develop 542 acres of land in the south district area of the city. To ensure that the needs of developers and the existing community receive balanced consideration, the East Hills Vision Strategy (EHVS) Task Force was created by the City Council. The charter of the Task Force includes the investigation of development options and the formulation of recommendations for the use of land and project funds. These recommendations will be made by the Task Force to the Berkeley City Planning Commission and, in turn, to the Berkeley City Council. It is important to emphasize that the City Council will have the final decision on the use of land and project funds.

On September 25, 2007, the Task Force passed a motion to recommend that land be dedicated to the building of three elementary and middle grade schools (one K-6 school and two K-8 schools) to support the residential growth stemming from the 542 acre build-out (approximately 4,000 new homes.) In a separately passed motion, the Task Force agreed to recommend that land be reserved for the building of a high school within the 542 acres of land to be developed.

So far, so good, right? Read on…

On November 8, 2007, the Task Force will present these and other recommendations to the City Planning Commission. While many developers have agreed to dedicate land for the K-6/8 schools, they are unanimously opposed to reserving land for a new high school. This opposition is expected to continue throughout the remainder of the City Council decision process.

Silver Creek High School and Mountain Valley High School are already well over their designed capacities. Add the three new K-6/8 campuses as feeder schools to the existing overcrowding and it is likely that our children will be forced to attend a high school that is outside of our community.

Many developers hide behind the high school district administration’s inability to quickly sort out the discrepancies in localized growth and district-wide capacity. While boundary changes, new schools or school closures may eventually lead to a solution, the current East Side Union High School District Board has yet to demonstrate a sense of urgency to provide answers to the community. While elected high school board members come and go, we will never have another chance to reserve this land for a new school.

Please support this petition to show your support for a new high school in the south district.