After the 90 day plan: Q&A with BUSD Superintendent Enikia Ford Morthel

BY JOSEPHINE MORASKY staff writer

Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity

WHAT WAS THE GOAL OF YOUR 90 DAY PLAN?

The goal of the plan was for me to come in and just listen to different folks in Berkeley — students, families, and staff members — and to visit different programs, community members, and city officials, and just kind of get myself submersed in understanding Berkeley culture, who Berkeley is, how Berkeley is, how Berkeley moves. A key part of my role as a superintendent is to help make the vision and the mission statement relevant to Berkeley, and to help the district move towards its goals or to go to the next level of its goals. That’s an honor and that’s humbling. So to come into any place and assume you can do that without engaging the people who are actually impacted by the work or doing the work, I think it’s disrespectful. So I always come in and I just want to learn. So that was the purpose, was just to hear from folks and get a diverse perspective, of who and what Berkeley Unified (School District) is.

AFTER VISITING SCHOOLS AND CLASSROOMS AROUND BUSD,

WHAT DID YOU LEARN AND DISCOVER ABOUT THE BERKELEY COMMUNITY?

We have a really committed group of folks here. Berkeley is really rich in traditions and advocacy, and voice. I learned that there are some ways that we can do, and be, better. Because we are smaller and have so much tradition, we’re not as consistent with our processes and our protocols, and our ways of doing stuff. So working on really honoring the ways in which we’re traditional and small, but also making sure that there’s some level of consistency because that’s what helps us with the equity work.

There are very different experiences in Berkeley. So even though there’s a lot of Berkeley pride, when you talk to different folks, particularly as you break it down in terms of race or language, there are drastically different experiences and perceptions of how good or how inclusive or how welcoming (BUSD) is.

We need to focus on what I’m calling organizational clarity. We need to get better at our infrastructure, so our processes and procedures. Every school (in BUSD) has its own culture, which is great, but there are great things happening in one place that are not happening in another place because there are not as many opportunities to share greatness and to learn from each other. We want people to feel like they’re a part of something bigger than themselves.

AFTER YOUR RESEARCH, HOW WELL WOULD YOU SAY BUSD IS MEETING ITS COMMITMENT TO EXCELLENCE, EQUITY, ENGAGEMENT, AND ENRICHMENT? WHAT IS YOUR PLAN TO MAKE SURE IT’S KIND OF A REALITY FOR EACH STUDENT?

What the data will say is that there are some groups for whom we are doing a really good job of offering excellent, engaging, enriching educational experiences and equity. The data will also say that we have some patterns of student groups who we may not be doing as well by. So the data will say that our Spanish-speaking English learners, for example, are a group where we’re not necessarily meeting their needs the way that we want to. That is both what the achievement data says and the attendance data, but also speaking to those families and those students. Our African American students are another group where we could do better. There are also our students who have IEPs (Individualized Education Programs).

So I would say that for us being a district of about 9,000 students and when you look at our data compared to other districts, we are making some strong strides towards making those four E’s real. But we have these persistent and very stubborn pockets where we need to be super intentional and strategic to do better.

And for questions in terms of how do you make sure that happens? We have to be honest about it. We gotta just name it like this is. We are great and amazing and fantastic and that can be true while also it being true that we can do better and differently by certain students or student populations. I think we can also do a better job of really engaging the community and getting feedback from the folks who are being impacted or having to implement these things.

A LARGE PART OF YOUR MISSION IS EQUITY. HOW DO YOU PLAN ON MOVING FORWARD TO EITHER ADJUST OR INTRODUCE COMPLETELY NEW SYSTEMS?

Now that I’ve taken the time to kind of learn the systems that exist, I think we’re trying to improve those systems first.

I wouldn’t say there’s any system in

Berkeley that’s inherently racist, or really bad for kids. It’s more about whether the systems are implemented all the way.

It’s really first trying to figure out what we already have in place and what the intent of that thing was, and then how do we build on it and improve it before we start adding a whole bunch of new things.

IN THE PROCESS OF EXECUTING THIS THROUGHOUT THE SCHOOL DISTRICT, WHAT CHALLENGES DO YOU FORESEE?

The challenge is, Berkeley has a lot of pride, in that it was the first district to desegregate without a court order, or that it’s at the forefront of anti-hate and all this. And so sometimes it’s hard for you to also accept that you are also in many ways replicating those very things that you’re fighting against. So sometimes in those types of places, folks feel that we are so woke and we are so whatever, that they struggle when challenged with data that says differently.

It’s almost harder to be in a community like that than it is to be in a community that feels like they know nothing and they want to learn.

The intentions are there. Everybody’s excited. And sometimes folks ask,

“Why are we gonna change it? It’s working.” No, it’s not working. And it’s not working in very predictable patterns.

It’s not unique to Berkeley though, that it’s not working. It’s also not unique to Berkeley which groups it’s not working for. We’re just in a place that has committed itself for decades, centuries, to being at the forefront of change and the forefront of equity and the forefront of social justice.

So sometimes that same community has a really hard time accepting that you are still perpetuating the very thing that you claim to be fighting.

As prospective college students, many of us worry about college costs. While acceptance rates for many colleges decrease, college costs seem to be on a steady incline for the past few decades. The price for higher education inflated 180 percent over the past four decades (Forbes). Average cost to attend a public university in many states is ~$30,000 per year as of 2022 (The Daily). And when everyone surges to find scholarships, loans, grants, and other financial aids to afford these prices, it begs the question: why are college costs so high?

It comes down to each college and how much tuition they choose to charge. These college costs are broken down into categories like faculty, services, and amenities. Prospective college students often prefer colleges with smaller student to teacher ratios in favor of a better learning experience. Professors at colleges are also well qualified and highly educated individuals who get an above average salary. This counts into the faculty costs. For example, over time, as the importance of better mental health facilities in education centers has increased, colleges have had to hire more staff to operate such facilities. Colleges spend sizable amounts on amenities such as dorms, campus attractions, dining hall food, educational facilities, and more. That’s because all these things can determine how many applicants the college attracts. Furthermore, after the 2008 recession, many states cut back on subsidies for public universities causing tuition rates to rise. California spends 12 percent of its general funds in education accounting to about 12.1 billion distributed amongst the UCs, CSUs, and community colleges (PPIC).

It is notable that while the funding for UCs and CSUs has been on a decline for the past few decades, community colleges have been receiving more and more funding from the government.

With increased costs, average debt per student across the U.S. is at $30,000. So, how worried should we, as rising college freshmen, be about paying off these costs?

You have many options available that will help you minimize these costs as much as possible. Community colleges can be a source of higher education at lower costs. Colleges nationwide also offer financial aid through endowment grants, allocations from tax money, etc. Surprisingly, while the tuition prices seem to have increased over time, cost after financial aid has been stagnant. So, if you receive financial aid, you, as a rising freshman, might be paying a relatively similar amount as a graduating senior who received financial aid at that college several years before.

Admittedly, Gen Z remains disproportionately impacted by higher costs. More Gen Z between the ages of 20 to 25 have student debt than millennials did at the same age. Tuition for Gen Z is comparatively more expensive, and expected to continue rising. Living expenses for students have also risen. Inflation, higher housing prices, and overall higher costs of living seem rather concerning for our generation. Inevitably, concerns about living expenses lead to the recent political debates on topics such as UC strikes, higher minimum wage, inflation, and more.