Welcome to the uh special meeting of the Berkeley City Council of Tuesday, December third, 2024.

Okay.

Councilmember Kessarwani is absent.

Councilmember Taplan present.

Bartlett.

Here.

Tregob.

On.

Here.

Luna Para.

Here.

Humber present and acting Mayor Wengraff.

Present.

Okay.

Okay, first order of business.

We have two ceremonial items this evening.

And Councilmember Humbert, would you like to start off?

Yes, I would love to.

And this is a proclamation by the City of Berkeley honoring and celebrating John Muir Elementary.

And I'm gonna absolutely.

Whereas the National Blue Ribbon Schools program recognizes outstanding elementary, middle, and high schools based on their overall high academic achievement or success in closing the achievement gap among diverse groups of students, and whereas being declared a national blue ribbon school is the highest level of recognition that a school can receive from the federal government.

And whereas John Muir Elementary has been declared for the second time in its history, and I'm that's parenthetical, a 2024 National Blue Ribbon School.

And whereas this distinction was earned through the hard work and dedication of Principal Jeremy Paco Furlon, John Muir faculty and staff, John Muir parents and PTA members, and whereas Berkeley Unified School District BUSD Superintendent Anikia Ford Mortal, BUSD school board members, and BSBUSD staff are instrumental to the success of John Muir Elementary in all Berkeley schools, and whereas the faculty, staff, parents, and students of John Muir Elementary, as well as the BOSD superintendent, school board members, and BOSD staff deserve recognition for their outstanding achievement.

Therefore, be it resolved that I, Susan Wingraff, Mayor of the City of Berkeley, do hereby declare December 3rd, 2024 to be John Muir Elementary Day.

And I have the proclamation to present to Principal Furlon.

Welcome.

Can I stand with you all?

Yes, wait.

It really, really means a lot to us.

And this is not all of our staff, this is just a small number of classroom teachers, special educators, and um uh literacy coaches and specialists that we have out at John Muir working to support our kids here in Berkeley, and we could not be more proud to be members of the Berkeley Unified School District, the first school district to voluntarily desegregate and to be able to deliver excellent education to our kids here in Berkeley.

And I want to talk to you just a little bit about what led us to this award.

Um, last year, around February, we were nominated based on our outstanding academic achievement, and this team wrote uh a nearly 40 page um uh application after we were invited to apply, and they really looked at the whole school and how um we really educate the whole child.

They looked at our PE program, they looked at our outdoor education program, they looked at our intervention programs, our deaf and hard of hearing programs, our special education programs, they looked at our music programs, everything that makes Berkeley special and unique, and they really said, Wow, you are amazing what you're able to offer at your school in Berkeley and the kind of achievement that you're able to get for your students.

Uh John Muir is one of 33 schools in all of California that was awarded this award, and one out of 356 schools in the whole United States.

So it's a pretty amazing, a pretty amazing honor.

And just to talk a little bit about where we came from the pandemic to now, because that was such a dark time for all of us, particularly in education.

Um, but our student achievement rose nearly 20 percentage points from the pandemic to now in reading and nearly eight percentage points in math.

And right now, John Muir is outscoring the state average by about 30 percentage points in reading and by about 30 percentage points in math.

So there's some very significant achievement happening at John Muir and throughout all of the schools in Berkeley, and you all should be really proud to be our city council, and we really appreciate you.

Really appreciate your support, appreciate the support of all of the Berkeley voters that pass our BCEP measure, even though the majority of those voters don't have children in school.

It really means a lot to us.

Thank you so much.

Thank you for this recognition.

We're gonna frame it in our front office and uh have a wonderful evening.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Congratulations.

Okay, we have one more proclamation, and uh this proclamation is probably the best kept secret in district six.

In the 32 years that I have been involved in representing District 6, I have not received a single complaint about Newbridge Foundation.

And you may not know what Newbridge Foundation is, but the gentleman coming to the microphone is Costa Markis, and I have a proclamation for him and Sylvia Ritchie and New Bridge Foundation, which I will read now.

Whereas Costamarkakis was born in Thessaloniki, Greece in 1937, and after surviving World War II at the age of 12, emigrated to New York, where he later attended college and then worked with the UN as a liaison officer in Cyprus.

And whereas when Costa returned to New York, he became addicted to heroin and ultimately landed across the country in Berkeley, where he entered a rehabilitation program at the New Bridge Foundation, successfully graduating from the program.

And whereas in 1984, Customer Carcass became the CEO of Newbridge Foundation and started his collaboration with Sylvia Ritchie, COO, a licensed social worker who begun working at Newbridge Foundation as a volunteer in 1979.

Sylvia has developed groundbreaking programs for women in recovery.

Together, their collective vision has made New Bridge Foundation what it is today.

And whereas New Bridge Foundation is in District 6 and has 93 residential beds and 88 transitional beds, and has provided treatment to tens of thousands of individuals with drug and alcohol addiction and those battling co-occurring disorders, including specialized programs for active duty personnel and veterans and members of the LGBTQ plus community.

And whereas Newbridge Foundation contracts with many school districts, including Berkeley, Oakland, and Emeryville, as well as the Alameda County Behavioral Health Department and federal agencies.

And whereas Newbridge Foundation is celebrated as one of America's best addiction treatment centers.

And whereas Costa and Sylvia have worked tirelessly for decades to develop and strengthen Newbridge Foundation's rehabilitation and recovery programs.

Now therefore, be it resolved that I, Susan Wingraff, acting mayor of the City of Berkeley, do hereby celebrate Newbridge Foundation and thank Costa Machakis and Sylvia Ritchie for their vision, leadership, and lifelong dedication to helping those who were struggling with addiction.