By Andrew Kelly Special to the Herald With the recent crop of school meetings last month pertaining to the pending graduation requirement shakeup, Benicia Unified School District Superintendent Charles Young and Benicia High School Principal Brianna Kleinschmidt have left Benicia High students with more questions than answers and failed to address their fears about one […]
2017 year in review: BUSD in 2017 characterized by state honors, public participation in board meetings
(The city recap will be provided on New Year’s Eve.) (This post has been updated from the print edition.) Benicia Unified School District has seen its share of activity in the last 12 months. Schools were honored by the state, the public turned up at school board meetings to voice their concerns on issues […]
BUSD reopens graduation requirement discussion at community forum
Six months after Benicia Unified School District halted its proposed new high school graduation requirements, the discussion was reopened in a forum at Benicia High School on Tuesday night. The school board held a study session in January to discuss proposed new graduation requirements and went into further detail at its regular March 16 meeting.The […]
School board reinstates previous graduation requirements
After more than a month of hearing people’s concerns, the Governing Board of the Benicia Unified School District voted for Benicia High School to revert back to its previous graduation requirements at Thursday’s meeting. On Jan. 14, the board held a study session to discuss proposed new graduation requirements for Benicia High and went into […]
Letters: Graduation requirements and Memorial Day
Link between art and real-world skills I am a 2010 graduate of Benicia High School, a 2014 graduate from the University of California Davis, and a soon to be master’s graduate from UC Davis. While a student at BHS, I was part of the drama department, under Christine Mani, for four years. I started by […]
Letters: Graduation requirements and climate change
Rescind new HS graduation requirements Dear BUSD Board Members, I ask the Benicia Unified School District Board of Education to revoke your recent decision to mandate that all high school students beginning in the Class of 2022 meet the CSU/UC entrance requirements. My reasons are as follows: ** I was not aware of any opportunity […]
Community makes plea for support of arts, electives at Benicia High School during Thursday’s school board meeting
Supe: Board will revisit graduation requirements in September Hundreds of students, alumni, parents and teachers filled the Benicia Unified School District office to address concerns over Benicia High School’s new graduation requirements, scheduled to go into effect for the class of 2022, at Thursday’s school board meeting. In fact, the turnout was so large that […]
Benicia High School informational meeting draws concerns over new graduation requirements, funding for PAB
Parents, students and teachers packed the Benicia High School Performing Arts Building for an informational meeting Monday night about the new school board-approved graduation requirements where they voiced their concerns about their potential impact on art and elective courses. At the March 16 school board meeting, the board held a discussion and first reading of […]
Jasmine Weis: Arts, electives need to be supported at Benicia High School
There’s a running joke my dad used to make to describe Benicia schools to non-Benicians, and it went a little something like, “At Benicia Middle/High School, the band kids make fun of the football players!” My father, the master of hyperbolic comic relief, may have been stretching the truth (I have yet to witness a […]
School board approves pay increases, discusses new graduation requirements at Thursday’s meeting
The Governing Board of the Benicia Unified School District unanimously voted to approve a tentative agreement between the district and the Benicia Teachers’ Association at Thursday’s meeting. In November, the BTA declared it was at an impasse with the district over contract negotiations regarding pay raises. On March 3, a tentative agreement was reached that […]