Burckhalter Elementary School

Home of the Bobcats!

Oakland, CA

Welcome to Astronomy at Burckhalter:

Home of the National Center for Elementary Astronomy Studies

Our home is Room 15 of the Oakland Unified School District’s Burckhalter Elementary School in Oakland, California. The school was named after far-reaching astronomer Charles Burckhalter, the first Director of the Chabot Observatory in Oakland, and a cofounder and past president of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.

We, in a similar spirit and tradition as Mr. Burckhalter, are dedicated to passing on the beauty, joy, and wonder of astronomy to our next generation of students, not only here in Oakland and the San Francisco Bay Area, but to our National and International partners.

Learn More: NCEAS and Our Mission

Mr. John Panagos

Founder and Director,
National Center for Elementary Astronomy Studies at Burckhalter Elementary School

Personal Bio

3994 Burckhalter Ave.
Oakland, CA 94605

510-729-7700
john.panagos@ousd.org

OUSD prohibits unlawful discrimination (such as discriminatory harassment, intimidation, or bullying) against any student, employee, or other person participating in district programs and activities, including, but not limited to, those programs or activities funded directly by or that receive or benefit from any state financial assistance, based on the person's actual or perceived characteristics of race or ethnicity, color, ancestry, nationality, national origin, immigration status, ethnic group identification, age, religion, marital, pregnancy, or parental status, physical or mental disability, medical condition, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, or genetic information, or any other characteristic identified in Education Code 200 or 220, Government Code 11135, or Penal Code 422.55 or equity or compliance with Title IX, or based on his/her association with a person or group with one or more of these actual or perceived characteristics (5 CCR 4610). BOARD POLICY 0410. BOARD POLICY 1312.3. BOARD POLICY 4030. BOARD POLICY 5143.3. BOARD POLICY 5145.7. Complaint forms are available at school sites, on the district webpage at www.ousd.org/ombudsperson, at the Office of the Ombudsperson located at 1000 Broadway, 1st Floor, Suite 150, Oakland, CA 94607, via email at gabriel.valenzuela@ousd.org, or via telephone 510-879-4281.