The Berkeley Unified School District meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025 was called to order at 7:06 p.m. by president Mike Chang. The meeting started with Superintendent Enikia Ford Morthel’s opening remarks. Ford Morthel began by acknowledging that it is now Latinx/Hispanic Heritage Month, Filipino Heritage Month, and LGBTQIA+ History Month. She then stated how proud she is of Berkeley and how proud she knows they are as well. Ford Morthel went on to address the large number of staff who attended the meeting.
“On behalf of my board and my staff at central office and myself, I do want to let you know that indeed we are proud and we know there’s a number of ways to show that we are proud of you and that we appreciate you,” Ford Morthel said.
One of the ways that she and the board plan to show this appreciation is by ensuring a contract that makes staff feel “seen, heard, valued, and respected.”
The meeting moved on to public comment, where BUSD teachers and staff voiced concerns and demands about their union contracts. To begin public comment, representatives from Berkeley High School’s Sunrise Club asked the board for full transparency about BUSD’s carbon emissions and footprint. They also asked for the board to create a climate disaster plan that includes BHS as a center for climate disaster relief.
Following the Sunrise Club representatives, many BUSD teachers spoke on the union contract negotiations. The teachers demanded fair compensation.
Susan Killebrew, a fourth grade teacher at Cragmont Elementary School, spoke about her concern that BUSD is failing to stay competitive with other districts in terms of teacher compensation, “The fact that other Bay Area districts such as Oakland pay 100 percent of healthcare insurance means that although Berkeley’s salary scale might be a little higher, our teachers take home less money,” she said.
Cory Potts, an education specialist at Berkeley Arts Magnet at Whittier school, asked the school board for proper compensation for all the work that is done outside contract hours. Potts detailed all the work that is done specifically for Individualized Education Program (IEP) meetings, 504 plans, and Student Study Team meetings.
Justin Valencia, a history teacher at BHS, also talked about competitive compensation in comparison to other districts. “When I arrived in this district with seven years of experience and enough units to be fully maxed out on the salary scale, I was only making ten thousand dollars above what is legally considered low income in Berkeley … My income would be higher at any neighboring school district, and I may be forced to change districts because retaining teachers does not seem to be a priority of BUSD,” Valencia said.
After public comment, the meeting moved on to union comments.
Representatives from Berkeley Council of Classified Employees (BCCE) spoke about the illogical payment of private contractors instead of BUSD employees. One of the representatives stated, “We must reiterate our question: Why is the district overpaying transient contractors when our permanent, readily available, highly skilled employees are eager to perform this work?” The BCCE representatives claimed that BUSD is paying much more for private contracts than it would if current BUSD employees did the same work. They also claimed that giving this work to current BUSD employees would aid recruitment and help with long-term retention.
Matt Meyer, the president of the Berkeley Federation of Teachers, spoke next. He opened by discussing the current negotiation process for the teachers’ contracts. “It is demoralizing to be working so hard knowing that the district has not even responded to our contractual issues through the negotiations process,” Meyer said. He continued by saying that, in Alameda County, BUSD ranks below average to last in terms of teacher compensation. He also claimed that BUSD is paying five times the amount for private contractors that San Diego Unified School District pays.
“The district often resorts to saying, ‘Nothing can be done about this and this is how it is. This is the budget.’ We disagree,” Meyer said. BUSD chose not to comment in response to public and union comments. After the union remarks, the board approved the consent calendar, then ended the meeting.