The 2026-27 school year kicked off with a stuffy start, as many Berkeley High School students and teachers were faced with 40-person sixth period classes. These overcrowded classrooms lasted for the first few weeks of school, but as of Tuesday, Sept. 8, 158 randomly selected students’ schedules were changed, switching them into newly created or less crowded classes.
Keldon Clegg, vice principal of counseling and scheduling at BHS, explained that the calculated projections for students returning in fall were less than actual enrollment.
This is what made some classes so large, especially ones in Academic Choice (AC), as it’s the only small school that doesn’t have a maximum number of students.
“We were lucky enough to have so many community members stay with our school that we exceeded those projection estimates, and when the budget is so tight, there wasn’t the ability for BUSD to issue FTE (Full-Time Equivalent),” Clegg said.
FTE is a standardized unit of measurement used to convert part-time student enrollment or staff workloads into an equivalent number of full-time units.
“We were in this kind of tight budget crisis,” Spencer Pritchard, a history teacher in AC said, “The reality is we still need to make additional budget cuts this year ... At the same time, our site-level admin and our teachers have been pushing for additional sections to reduce class sizes since even before school started. But we never truly know our enrollment numbers until a few weeks into the school year.”
Kelly Boylan, an AC history teacher, had a sixth-period Advanced Placement US History (APUSH) class that was impacted by scheduling issues. The class initially had 40 students, which proved a challenge for both Boylan and her students.
“I had to bring in more desks. A student was sitting on a chair in the back of the room,” Boylan said. “There was not even enough space in the phone holder for everybody’s phones. There weren’t enough computers if we all had to use computers, so it was a little chaotic.”
BHS AC junior, Arlo Foley-Maddox, was in Boylan’s previous sixth period and was one of 14 students moved from Boylan’s APUSH into a new sixth-period APUSH class.
“They moved me to a teacher who’s never taught APUSH before, past the date where they’re supposed to be changing my classes, and it seriously disrupted my learning,” Foley-Maddox said.
Pritchard, who is teaching the new history class, is hopeful about the opportunities that the scheduling changes bring.
“I wouldn’t have taken on this section if I wasn’t confident in my abilities and in the supports I have from the other APUSH teachers to ensure students will be successful this school year,” Pritchard said. Although he is confident in teaching this class, Pritchard felt that the schedule changes were a nuisance for students and teachers.
“Large class sizes are the worst part about public schooling,” he said. “It turns students into products and dehumanizes the learning experience. ... Lower class sizes are the most impactful thing we can do to transform our education system,” Pritchard said.
AC classes were not the only ones affected; many Berkeley International High School (BIHS) classes faced the same challenges. Charlotte Grant, a junior in BIHS, recently had her 37-person sixth-period history switched with her first-period math class.
“We were all at different places, which is pretty inconvenient because my class was ahead, and so now we’re just relearning all of the things that we already learned,” Grant said.
Giulia Ferracin-Pena, a junior in BIHS, was affected similarly to Grant; in her case, her sixth period English was switched with a fourth period math class.
“I feel like they should have figured that out before the school year started, or even maybe the first week of school because it’s been a month of school and it’s kind of late to make such drastic changes for so many students,” Ferracin-Pena said.
It’s clear that schedule changes have been a disturbance for a wide range of teachers and students.
“We are so aware that it’s disruptive to change a schedule (but) we would rather change classes and add frustration four weeks in than 10 weeks in,” Clegg said.
Pritchard echoed the sentiment, saying, “In a month, this won’t be a big deal. I think the initial adjustment is not ideal, but we have a strong team of teachers and students.”
As the school year continues, students will readjust to a new schedule, teachers will settle into new rhythms and classes, and the year will go on with more comfortable class sizes and community spaces.