Elect Mike Chang
for Berkeley School Board
Why I’m Running:
I’m a BUSD parent and education lawyer, who believes in Berkeley’s Progressive Future
Thank you for visiting my page. My wife Liz and I are the parents of three BUSD kids—one at King, one at Berkeley High, and one who just graduated. (Go Class of 2020!) I have been an active BUSD school volunteer for more than ten years, including time serving on the Berkeley Arts Magnet PTA.
If elected, I will bring sixteen years of experience in education law and civil rights work. Currently, I am an attorney with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, where I help address three common challenges in our education system: race disparities in suspensions and expulsions, accessibility issues for students with disabilities, and sexual and race based harassment. I am also a lecturer in Ethnic Studies at UC Berkeley and a Commissioner with the City of Berkeley's Police Review Commission, focusing on designing policy to mitigate race based disparities in policing.
When I landed in Berkeley in 1995 and entered Cal's Ph.D. program in Ethnic Studies, I knew immediately that this was home. I soaked up the history of the social justice movements all around me, from Free Speech, to LGBTQ rights, to the Third World Liberation Front. Liz and I chose to raise our family here because we love Berkeley's values, and we clearly made a good choice; we've met our closest friends through the PTAs at our children’s schools.
Now I would like to bring my public service commitment to the next level by serving on the BUSD School Board and working toward a more equitable community.
Jonathan Miller Photography, Berkeley. https://www.jonathandmiller.com/contact
It takes a village to raise an equitable education….
I am running because I believe that Berkeley can establish a national model for an equitable, fully-funded, world class education. My three areas of focus are::
- Berkeley Residency and Professional Berkeley Wages for Berkeley Teachers and Classified Staff: For the recruitment and retention of a diverse professional workforce, BUSD needs to align salaries and benefits to make housing accessible.
- Re-Fund Equity in Education: For decades, public schools have struggled with disparate outcomes based on race. Let’s set an early Berkeley example by redirecting savings from the 50% reduction of Berkeley Police Department funding to educational support services, such as counseling, to ensure that our classrooms create the most equitable learning opportunities.
- Equity and Allyship through a Restorative Justice lens: Quality education depends on access for all, without achievement and opportunity gaps. So, how do we begin the process of halting the reproduction of inequality and providing quality education for all students? We need a critical Ethnic Studies curriculum and a robust, District-wide Restorative Justice program centered on de-escalation, positive behavioral interventions, and mitigation of race-based disparities in school discipline. An Ethnic Studies education means that our children understand the principles of both free speech and anti-discrimination. A Restorative Justice approach emphasizes accountability and provides our kids with the tools to become actors of allyship and equity.
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