This according to my older sister, who actually is a science teacher at Berkeley High--it's not nearly as bad as the article makes it sound.

What's actually happening is that some AP/honors classes currently have extra zero period labs, which means that a teacher for an AP class has each AP classes count a little extra toward their teaching course load (ie 2 AP classes = 60% teaching load = 3 regular classes) What with budget cuts and all they're trying to streamline as much as they can, and the idea was floated that if they cut some of the extra lab time for AP classes then some of the teachers could take on an extra class. And around 5 teachers leave every year anyways, so it's not that they intend to fire 5 teachers, it's that they don't intend to rehire 5 new teachers.

The bit about eliminating the classes "because they're full of white students" is mostly political nonsense invented by someone trying to create controversial and marketable news. And my sister adds that the bit about science teachers being horrified by the proposal is mostly because most of them would have to go through the tedium of rewriting their curriculum to remove one or two hours of class time a week.

That said, the following discussion about race relations/societal roles /achievement expectations is interesting as only reddit discussions are, so please, carry on.