The Berkeley Unified School District said Wednesday that it will not be providing H1N1 vaccines at its schools, despite recently considering an option to establish in-house flu shot clinics.

The push for H1N1 immunization clinics surfaced in late August after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released recommendations for ways school districts could address growing swine flu concerns, according to district spokesperson Mark Coplan.

The center suggested schools emphasize the use of hand sanitizers in classrooms and possibly set up immunization clinics to provide the vaccine. However, the district opted for what they call a more practical approach after consulting with the city’s Department of Health Services, which did not see the need for in-school shot clinics.

Instead, the department urges students to go to their own health care providers for the vaccine, especially given the fact that district schools do not have school nurses, Coplan said.

“The H1N1 vaccine won’t even really be available until about late October,” he said. “It’s not really about budget cuts,” he said. “We just don’t see the need for them. If students really want the vaccine they should go to their own medical practitioners, because if they were to have a reaction to the vaccine their doctors could help.”

The district and the health department said they plan to take necessary action if a swine flu emergency were to arise, though neither anticipate it.

Though the department is suggesting students seek out private medical practitioners, Coplan said it was not the responsibility of the district to provide this service.

“There’s no place where the administration of this vaccine falls on the school district,” he said. “If students do not have health care or cannot afford it, they should contact their local city health department. The department will help them and determine how to deliver the vaccines to them.”

For now, the district has taken preventative measures by stressing “good-ole” hand-washing education to their younger students, Coplan said. Talks of the potential implementation of hand sanitizers are also underway if sufficient funding is provided.

“It’s gotten out of control. People need to slow down and treat [swine flu] as any other seasonal flu,” Coplan said. “We are looking at it practically and not at a bureaucratic level. We want people to take the standard precautions as they would for a seasonal flu and not be overwhelmed because the word ‘pandemic’ was used.”

Berkeley residents will soon see a new mural at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School.

The mural, which depicts Martin Luther King Jr. and President Barack Obama, was approved earlier this month by the Berkeley Unified School District Board of Education.

The school’s Principal Jason Lustig said the school has been thinking about painting the mural in the barren sixth grade plaza for about a year.

“We’re excited about it,” Lustig said. “It’s something that we wanted to do.”

Some members of the community have raised concerns that depicting President Obama in a mural before he’s even finished his first year in office is premature.

However, Lustig said the mural honors the election of the first African American president in the United States and that President Obama’s politics are not related to the painting.

“(The mural) is not a statement about whether or not you agree with (Obama) politically,” he said. “He’s our first African American president and that deserves honoring in and of itself.”

District Spokesperson Mark Coplan said the only real issues down the road are what the district will do with murals a decade after they’ve been painted and whether the district will restore or paint over them.

Coplan said the Parent Teacher Association at the school has given the district permission to paint over or cover the mural if deemed necessary in the future.

The mural is the newest addition to a vast collection of murals that decorate district property.

Coplan said mural painting is a way to make buildings and structures better reflect the communities they serve.

“In our schools, it very clearly is a desire on part of the school population to personalize institutionalized space,” he said.

The Berkeley High School football team, under the leadership of coach Alonzo Carter are getting ready for their first round of regional playoffs against Deer Valley High School on Friday.

The Yellowjackets are eighth in Division I of the North Coast Section, with Deer Valley following as ninth. Berkeley’s record stands at nine wins and one loss, the same record as number one De La Salle High School, who will play the winner of this playoff game next Friday.

The playoff game will at Berkeley High at 7 p.m. on Friday.

With computer glitches plaguing Berkeley City College’s financial aid system, students are wondering where their financial aid checks are, which are more than seven weeks overdue. Even though the college’s district administrators promise the checks will be coming soon, students have voiced their financial concerns through YouTube, as they struggle with coping to make ends meet despite lacking much-needed financial aid.

Check out one of those videos below:

Protests took a creative edge Wednesday evening when more than 150 Berkeley parents, teachers, students and administrators gathered in front of the Old City Hall to oppose the impending budget cuts to California schools.

The tentative cuts are part of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s plan to close the $14.5 billion state budget deficit by cutting 10 percent of funding to all state programs, which would involve up to a $4.4 billion cut from K-12 education.

The demonstration featured speeches, songs and skits by members of the school community. One group of teachers put on a skit, complete with costumes and masks, depicting the governor and his “yacht-owning” cronies as villains and the school teachers as superheroes. (Click here to read more…)