“Even though the process is not the friendliest, there is a benefit to reporting,” said Jasmina Viteskic, the Title IX Coordinator for Berkeley Unified School District.
In the last week of October, Berkeley High School students watched three videos on consent education in the video bulletin at BHS. Behind these videos is the Consent Education Club.
“Title IX is effectively supposed to be a set of protections, it’s supposed to be protections set in place for you and me, and every other student at the school to be able to demand equity based on gender and sex,” said Genevieve Mage, the current yearbook teacher at Berkeley High School, who has been
On September 21, the Berkeley Unified School District School Board assembled for the third time this school year. Topics included Title IX, safety, healthcare and financial compensation for teachers, and upcoming events. Berkeley High School teacher and math department chair Monique Duncan-Harris spoke on behalf of the Berkeley Federation of Teachers’ proposal regarding pay for
Berkeley High School’s Title IX office has been host to a myriad of controversies spanning the past few years. Largely due to near constant staff turnover, a complex reporting process, and general lack of support for students that need its assistance, Berkeley Unified School District has faced student concerns, and is making a conscious effort
On November 29, Jasmina Viteskic officially started working as the new Title IX coordinator for Berkeley Unified School District. In her new role, Viteskic will process sexual assualt cases at schools and work with victims of sexual or gender-based harm across the district, as well as work to prevent sexual harm. Viteskic said that
The Berkeley Unified School District School Board discussed the newly-implemented Coaching Boys into Men program, the Title IX office, and the Climate Literacy Resolution during their November 3 meeting. The meeting’s public comment section was filled with students, parents, teachers, and Berkeley community members voicing their support for the Climate Literacy Resolution, which passed
The Berkeley Unified School District School Board discussed topics ranging from Title IX policies to environmental literacy at its October 20 meeting. During public comment, multiple teachers voiced their concerns to the board about the challenges that they have been facing with the transition back to in-person school.
The Berkeley Unified School District discussed many topics at the October 6 meeting, including Title IX issues and recent sexual assault cases at Berkeley High School.
Students at several Bay Area high schools have organized walkouts and movements against sexual harm in recent weeks. Both Oakland School for the Arts and Bishop O’Dowd High School students, in particular, have organized these events.
The Berkeley High School Women’s Student Union held a Title IX “Know Your Rights” Workshop on September 27 at the Aurora theater. Title IX protects people from discrimination on the basis of sex in educational programs such as BHS which receive funding from the federal government.
In February 2020, hundreds of Berkeley High School students walked out in protest of rape culture and sexual assault at BHS. Several demands were made, including implementing consent education for all Berkeley Unified School District students beginning in the sixth grade, and instating staff training for management of sexual harm. Now, BHS’s administration
Students at Berkeley High School began noticing suspicious activity on social media at the beginning of the 2020-21 school year. Many class of 2021 seniors, including Charlotte, were receiving Instagram Direct Messages containing explicit photographs and asking for personal information and images.
On September 8, the Berkeley Unified School District School Board approved the 2021-22 budget, which includes a $2.3 million transfer from Fund 20 — a fund used for post-employment benefits for employees — to the Unrestricted General Fund, as well as the use of eight hundred thousand dollars of remaining COVID-19 funds. According to
Sexual harassment has long had deep, twisted roots in Berkeley High School student culture. The constant pattern of harm is revealed about every four years in a breaking point incident of sexual assault at the school.
The cycle is familiar; every few months, everyone on social media will have a sudden passion for one issue or another and then forget about it soon after.
“I don’t know how to describe how angry I was when we got the call that [Matthew Bissell] was no longer hired here and the story had not gone public,” said Berkeley High School yearbook teacher Genevieve Mage.
On March 8, 2021, the Berkeley High School Women’s Student Union filed a lawsuit against the US Department of Education. The lawsuit states that regulations instated in 2020 under former Secretary of Education Betsy Devos reduce federal protections offered to public school students from sexual harassment, including sexual abuse, under Title IX.
