Enrolling New High School Students

New: Monday, February 27, 2012 is the last day for non-BUSD students to enroll in the Berkeley Unified School District in order to enter the first learning community lottery for Berkeley High School.  This day was added to the schedule posted below to accommodate families who were unable to complete enrollment at the BUSD Admissions Office the week of February 21.  For more information scroll to the section below that explains the enrollment process for incoming high school students not currently enrolled in our district.  After February 27, the next opportunity to enroll new high school students not currently enrolled in BUSD is March 19th.

 

BHS Winter Information Night was held February 1, 2012 at 7:00 pm in the Community Theater (located on the northside of BHS Campus).  At this event representatives from the six learning communities at BHS as well as a number of departments made presentations and answered questions.

General Information on Enrolling at Berkeley High School

BHS Choices Brochure gives you an overview of the range of possibilities for students in the six learning communities that make up Berkeley High School.  This BHS School Profile 2011-12 also gives a snapshot of our comprehensive high school and student success.  Visit the BHS webpage for more information about the high school.

For Current BUSD Students:

8th Grade Students, already enrolled in BUSD, will be automatically enrolled at Berkeley High. There is no need for students from King, Longfellow, or Willard to contact either the Admissions Office or Berkeley High School. A BHS Administrator and counselor will go to the Middle School sites to meet with parents and gather student course and learning community requests. These meetings are for parents from BUSD middle schools only. During the school days following the parent meeting, BHS counselors will go to the Middle Schools to gather course and learning community requests.

In addition to the February 1st Berkeley High School Orientation at BHS, 8th grade parent orientation meetings designed to help families with choice of BHS learning community and course selection take place at each of the three middle schools for continuing BUSD students (Spanish translation is provided):

Longfellow: February 21, 2012  6-7 p.m.

King: February 28, 2012  6-7 p.m.

Willard: March 6, 2012  6-7 p.m.

For non-BUSD Students:

Families coming from non-BUSD schools must enroll in the District before they can make learning community or course requests. Enrollment is a two-part process: enrollment and school registration. Following enrollment with this district, students may register for classes and learning communities.

Step 1. Winter Information Night (Wednesday, February 1, 2012). All Incoming Families should plan on attending: Currently enrolled in the BUSD and new to the BUSD.

Step 2. Enrollment (coming from non BUSD schools only):

New students enrolling in high school are required to complete two steps before registering at Berkeley High School: pre-enrollment and enrollment. No high school registration for 2012-2013 will take place before February 21st and those who register after Feb. 24th will: a) Not be in the first lottery run; and b) Not be allowed to register until mid-March.

Pre-enrollment is available here online. If you do not have web access or have questions, you may use a computer on the BHS campus at the Parent Resource Center.

Enrollment: Parents/Guardians of non-BUSD students who wish to attend Berkeley High School (BHS) must come to the Berkeley Unified School District Admissions Office between Feb. 21 and 24 to be admitted to the District before officially registering at Berkeley High School.  Please bring the following documentation/information on the day assigned by last name below:

1. Student’s original birth certificate (we will make a copy)

2. Three original proofs of Berkeley residency

3. Proof of immunization from health care provider

4. Transcript from current school or latest report card

5.  BHS Registration Packet

  • The registration packet is currently available to be picked up at the Berkeley High School front desk.  You may also pick up a copy at the Admissions Office when you come to enroll your student.  Please plan to spend 30 to 45 minutes completing the BHS Registration Packet.  (You will also need to bring contact information for doctors, dentist and emergency contact information.)

In order to minimize wait times, we advise new families to adhere to the following schedule:

Last Names: Please come to Admissions on…
A-F:     Feb 21    8:00-12                  12:45-3:00
G-L:     Feb 22   8:00-12                  12:45-3:00
M-S:    Feb 23   8:00-12                  12:45-3:00
T-Z:     Feb 24   8:00-12                  12:45-3:00

If you are unable to make your assigned day we will accommodate you during that week; however, adherence to the schedule will help us manage the volume of students we must process and allow us to serve all families in a more efficient manner.

February 24th is the enrollment deadline for Berkeley High School to participate in the first learning community assignment lottery.  Students who have not been admitted to BUSD by the February deadline can apply to the District and Berkeley High School for enrollment again after March 19th.  Another lottery run will take place for these students and they will be placed in a learning community based on space available.

Whether you are already enrolled in a BUSD middle school or are a non-BUSD student enrolling in the district in February, you will enter the BHS lottery at the same time. As long as new families are enrolled in the District by February 24, 2012, you will be given the same priority in the BHS lottery.

Enrollment is complete when you receive an enrollment receipt and have submitted a completed BHS registration packet.

Step 3: Learning Community Requests and Course Selections:

Students who have been admitted to BUSD, and have completed the enrollment process as described above by February 24, 2012, will indicate learning community preferences and input course requests in the BHS Library starting at 6:00 p.m. on three different dates:

March 5  (Last Name A-L)
March 12  (Last Name M-Z)
March 19 – One makeup session for anyone who missed their assigned date.

Please bring your confirmation of enrollment and a copy of your transcript. If you cannot make your assigned night, we will accommodate you in one of the three sessions, but please try to attend during your allotted time. We will mail home a computer print-out of the choices made by the student during the registration session.  Any corrections must be returned within one week.   Actual student schedules with teacher and room assignments will be picked up during registration/orientation the week before school starts.  All freshmen should plan to attend orientation on Monday, August 20, 2012. (To be confirmed)

Information about world language and math course placement is available on the BHS website at the bottom of the webpage here.

High School Tours:

The “touring season” for prospective students runs from October to March. The small group tours leave the Front Desk at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday through Friday and 10:45 on Mondays. The tours are by reservation only and last a little over an hour. The tours walk by classrooms–many of which have open doors –but they do not go into rooms for observation. The tours are not “orientation tours.” There are student-led tours for our incoming students in August during registration/orientation (August 20, 2012 date to be confirmed).  Prospective students are welcome on the school day tours but ONLY if accompanied by their parent or guardian.

Tours are by reservation only.  To sign up, please email bhsoutreach@berkeley.net  Please indicate several days that work for you and the number of people in your party.

Many people have asked if they could visit Berkeley High on their own or if their student could “shadow” a current student. This is not possible. The school is focused on the education and security of our currently enrolled students. We are simply too large a school to accommodate unsupervised visitors.

BHS etree – Berkeley High has a listserve which posts the Student Daily Bulletin, College Advisors Bulletin, news and volunteer opportunities. The parent-run effort works closely with the administration in order to insure accuracy. To subscribe to the BHS etree please send an email to bhs-request@lmi.net with one word only in the subject line: subscribe.

If you have any questions about this process, please contact Janet Huseby, BHS Volunteer Coordinator, at janethuseby@berkeley.net.