SFC Advocacy Team

UPCOMING IMPORTANT DATES AND ACTIONS:

Scroll down to see all the ways you can help be involved!

10/15 Tuesday 5 - 7p - Coleman advocates is hosting a planning session for small schools against school closures before meeting with BOE Commissioners at the end of the month. Dinner, childcare, and translation available - Team up with Coleman Advocates

10/16 Wednesday 7 - 8:30p - SFC FAMILIES: our 2nd planning session to prepare for our meeting with SFUSD. zoom link: bit.ly/plansfc

10/17 Thursday 9:30 - 11a - SFC FAMILIES: our 3rd planning session to prepare for our meeting with SFUSD. In person SFC Cafeteria.

10/21 Monday 5 - 8p - EVERYONE IS INVITED to a rally at SFC (125 Excelsior Ave.) with guest speakers and children singing as SFUSD Superintendent Dr. Matt Wayne walks on to campus for our 6 - 8p meeting to discuss the suggested merger with Paul Revere TK-8. We will have dinner and childcare and all are invited to stay for the meeting where we explain SFUSD’s findings are incorrect and we (like all schools) have something special and worth maintaining - if they will fund us appropriately.

WE ARE ADVOCATING TO KEEP ALL SCHOOLS OPEN

Why We Are Opposed to School Closures 

Here are the reasons why the school district’s “Resource Alignment Initiative” (RAI) needs to be SHUT DOWN by the SF Board Of Education (BOE) if it includes school closures when they vote in December:

  • School closures harm students and communities.

    • Research on school closures across the U.S. show closures do not lead to positive learning outcomes for students (one of the main arguments for closing schools due to limited resources). (1)

    • Students and families suffer from stress and anxiety from losing their school community and sense of belonging and often cause students to distrust their school district. 

    • If the BOE votes to close schools they will be in direct opposition to both AB-1912’s guidelines; the crux of which is SCHOOL CLOSURES HURT STUDENTS AND MUST BE AVOIDED AT ALL COST, and This Resolution (Number: 2023-10-Save Public Schools) passed by the SF Democratic County Central Committee in October of 2023 that states: 

      • “ …That the San Francisco Democratic Party supports the preservation of SFUSD schools and calls upon the District to explore alternative strategies which do not involve school closures or consolidations and to conduct transparent assessments, engaging community stakeholders for at least 5 years, before closing or consolidating schools…”

  • Closing schools will not immediately help the school district’s current budget problems. 

    • Closing schools costs money! Any potential savings will only be seen many years from now, not helping with the current financial issues (2). Even the State of California Auditors embedded with SFUSD are not interested in school closures as a way to fix the current budgetary problems.

    • United Educators of SF (UESF) Published TWO incredible studies:

      • “Payday Loans and Pumpkin Patches” to identify money-saving practices that wouldn’t negatively impact our students.

      • “Restructure It Right” showing how much money we spend on SFUSD Employees in Administration - we pay over $390 PER STUDENT for each Administrative Employee.

      • Both studies highlight that there are other places to save money that will have quick returns unlike school closures.

  • The process is opaque and moving faster that families can keep up. 

    • There has not been meaningful community engagement or time for thoughtful planning on how to reduce the harm caused by transitions for students and communities. 

    • We are asking the BOE Commissioners to vote NO on the proposed RAI if it includes closures and mergers without a transparent plan reflecting community feedback.

    • Closures and mergers MAY need to happen, but we cannot allow SFUSD to rush this process.

    • This plan is UNAPPROVED by the BOE and could change drastically before the December vote. SFUSD has caused undue harm by announcing their “proposed list” for closure/merger without clear planning and outcomes presented first. SFUSD’s messaging has been describing closures as a forgone conclusion, which is simply untrue.

    • The composite scores used to determine which schools qualify for potential closure are based on incomplete data, are incoherent, and frankly made up. Despite weighting equity for 50% of a school’s score if you sort schools by size the composite score matches their size completely.

    • Several schools suffered from class size caps, and reduction in kinder classes that left them below the arbitrary “260 is too small” metric introduced with the list.

    • Why are they pushing back the new (approved 2018) enrollment/lottery plan another year in favor of closures? Will the new zones of enrollment (that we still haven’t seen) be taken into consideration for mergers and closures?

    • Teachers will not be guaranteed placement at merged schools. Community values will not be given a chance to be meaningfully co-mingled.

  • California and SF have been ramping up a program to make schools into Community Schools:

    • Schools that provide wrap-around services based on the needs of the students and families, collaborative leadership and practice,  and active family and community engagement.

    • Some 75 schools in SFUSD have implemented this program, as we believe this approach to educating our students is a step in the right direction to meet the needs of our families. 

    • SF Community School has been a community school in name and in practice since its inception, despite not having "community school support" until this year.

    • Now, we have a Community Schools Coordinator and structure from the district. Now, we can take what we have been informally building and practicing successfully for 50 years and build on it. And now, they are threatening to shut us down. We have been on the cutting edge of community schools work for decades. Now it is thought to be the right way to do things and now they are cutting us?? 

 What to Expect & The Process So Far:

  • August 2023 - The “Resource Alignment Initiative” to repair the SFUSD budget began just one year ago.

    • Closing schools was mentioned as a possibility (See this news article about the first mention 8/30/23).

    • BOE Commissioners were unsupportive of the idea that closing schools would be necessary.

    • Superintendent Wayne told the District Advisory Committee (DAC) at their first meetings that school closures would be the last option, after looking into admin budget cuts and monetizing existing vacant properties first.

    • On SFUSD’s website outlining the RAI plan, school closures are hidden under “Focus Area 5 - Create a New Portfolio of Schools”

  • October 2023 - SF DCCC passes Resolution 2013-10-Save Public Schools

    • “ …That the San Francisco Democratic Party supports the preservation of SFUSD schools and calls upon the District to explore alternative strategies which do not involve school closures or consolidations and to conduct transparent assessments, engaging community stakeholders for at least 5 years, before closing or consolidating schools”

  • November 2023 - May 2024 DAC meetings, SFUSD families surveyed, town halls held

    • SFUSD is applauding itself for all this “engagement” when the two surveys we were sent did not evaluate how families felt about closures, or if we agreed with their methods, only what we wanted school closure criteria to be built on. This article critiques the surveys

    • DAC was never presented with a list of unused properties, their values, or proposed uses for them. DAC was never asked for meaningful feedback, only prepared slide-decks and straw-poll responses.

    • California Department of Education (CDE) and BOE still have not seen a fiscal plan of benefits and outcomes for the proposed closures (to date 9/25)!.

  • September 2024 - the list of PROPOSED schools to close, merge or co-locate WAS POSTPONED!

    • We pushed back hard on this announcement and it is working! This election cycle is too precious to have angry parents so let’s keep the pressure on!

    • Dr. Matt Wayne is the BOE’s one employee - BOE members were not convinced at the BOE meeting on 8/27 that this plan can support an announcement as soon as 9/18. On 9/15 Dr. Wayne announced SFUSD has slowed down the process - new announcement date set for ~ October.

    • At Mayoral Forum on Education hosted by SF Parents Coalition Mayor Breed, Asha Safai, Aaron Peskin, Daniel Lurie, and Mark Farrell were given 15 minutes each to answer questions about the current crises at SFUSD. Aaron Peskin outlined a plan he said he would have launched back in June 2023 when SFUSD was downgraded by the state from “qualified” to “negative” wherein the Mayor’s office would pay for a team of specialists to help SFUSD balance the budget without harming students.

    • Due to call-outs from former President Lainie Motamedi in 9/20 Chronicle Article among other failures (SPED Funding missing, teachers moving to SF for contracts that were then rescinded). The BOE called an emergency meeting Sunday 9/22 at 9am to review Dr. Wayne’s performance. Many people gave public comment before the closed session.

    • After the meeting a message was released from BOE President Matt Alexander and Dr. Wayne outlining his priorities going forward as well as Mayor Breed’s new task force to help close the budget (almost mirroring Aaron Peskin’s proposal). The team of experts she has appointed includes several private school parents, the funding for this task force will come from the Student Success Fund, (Breed opposed the creation of this) a city-run grant system for under-funded schools. For 24/25 SFC received a 3-year, million dollar grant from this fund to pay for a Community Schools Liaison position for 3 years.

    • 9/25 Superintendent Wayne released this: Revised Timeline for School Closures Announcement.

  • October 2024 - PROPOSED list of schools to close came out Tuesday 10/8/24:

    • El Dorado - Merge with Visitacion Valley and students move to the Visitacion Valley campus 

    • Harvey Milk - Merge with Sanchez Elementary and the campus is potentially repurposed as an Early Education Center

    • Jean Parker - Students attend Gordon J. Lau (Cantonese Biliteracy) or John Yehall Chin (General Education)

    • Malcolm X - Merge with Carver Elementary and students move to the Carver campus 

    • SF Community Alternative TK-8 - Merge with Paul Revere TK-8 School 

    • SF Public Montessori - Merge with Rosa Parks 

    • Spring Valley - Merge with John Muir  

    • Sutro - Students attend Lafayette or Alamo (General Education) and CIS @ DeAvila (Cantonese Biliteracy) and the campus is potentially repurposed as an Early Education Center 

    • Yick Wo - Students attend Redding Elementary (General and Special Day Class Program) and Sherman Elementary (General Education)

    • June Jordan School for Equity - Merge with John O’Connell High School and move to the O’Connell campus 

    • The Academy - Merge with Raoul Wallenberg High School and move to the Wallenberg campus

    • Here is a map of affected schools

    • Here is a graph showing how small schools are being targeted by this made up metric

    • We are have been giving school tours and are planning to attend the 10/19 enrollment fair

    • SFUSD released a guide for affected families - it is bleak.

    • RSVP - 10/15 planning meeting at Coleman Advocates before meeting with BOE members 10/29 & 10/30

  • November 12th, 2024 - Staff presentation of the proposed new school portfolio and recommendations for school closures, mergers, and co-locations

  • December 12th, 2024 - The Board of Education is slated to vote on SFUSD’s RAI proposal! 

    • We need at least 4 of the 7 board commissioners to vote No to school closures to save SF schools.

  • Spring 2025 - (If closures are approved) Sorting out where students from closed schools will go 

  • August 2025 - (If closures are approved) Implementation of school closure, merge, or co-location.

How to Get Involved - There are many ways you can help and get your voice heard: 

  • Join the growing coalition of families to fight this RAI process

  • Attend a Board of Education meeting! 

    • If you attend we encourage you to make a brief public comment!

      • Public comment always starts about 10 minutes after the start of the public meeting - often the length of comments will be limited to one minute each due to time restraints. 

      • If you are in person you have to fill out a slip and hand it in before the meeting starts, public comment happens BEFORE any agenda items.

    • You can also attend & comment at all board meetings virtually via Zoom, you can also make a comment.

  • Mark your calendars! Upcoming board meetings are planned for:

    • October 22nd, public comment starts at 6:30pm 555 Franklin Street. Childcare is available onsite.

    • View the full board meeting calendar

  • Write an email to the Board of Education!

    • If you cannot make a meeting, you can still write to the board commissioners and share your concerns. Feel free to include any of the points above, or just share any concerns you have for your student(s) and family. 

    • You can email individual board members (email addresses) or the entire board at boardoffice@sfusd.edu.

  • Engage with the District

    • The district wants to hear from you! Show up at town halls and board meetings. Do their surveys and use the "comments" section to share your thoughts. - basically, participate in anything they host. 

    • Email Superintendent Matt Wayne, this is the org-chart for SFUSD and has emails for all top officials.

    • Matt Alexander is the board president now, and you can write directly to him

  • Talk to other families, at SFC and other schools:

    • Get in touch with caregivers you know from other schools and make sure they are familiar with the process and timeline and understand that there is a chance school closures could be stopped with enough push back. Share this page as a resource for talking points! Have them email sfcskto8@gmail.com to learn more.

  • There are Mayoral candidates, District Supervisors, and Board of Education Commissioners running for office this November!

    • We want to make this as big of a conversation we can. D11 has the most school-age children in the district and D11 & D9 are electing new Supervisors! Use this TOOLKIT to reach all the candidates, and pass it on!

    • We are looking to expand our email toolkit to the Mayoral candidates! If you want to help us with that, please email sfcsKto8@gmail.com

  • Tune in to a nationwide session with The Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools (AROS)

    • Join AROS’s Stop Closing Public Schools Webinar on Thursday, October 17th at 6PM EST | 5PM CST | 4PM MST | 3PM PST! Register here. Spanish interpretation will be available.  

Attend SFC? Here’s some info just for you:

  • Attend a SFC Parent Action Committee (PAC) or Schoolwide Steering Committee (SSC) Meeting

    • PAC meetings are a great way to stay informed and build community with other families.

      • Meet in the Library (zoom hybrid available), child care and dinner is provided for all!

      • PAC meets every 2nd Thursday 5:45 - 7:30pm: 

        • Thursday, November 14th

        • Thursday, December 12th

    • SSC meetings are where budgetary matters for the school are discussed.

      • Usually on zoom, all are welcome!

      • SSC meets every 3rd Thursday 5:30 - 7pm:

        • Thursday, October 17th

        • Thursday, November 21st

        • Thursday, December 19th

  • Come to Friday morning Fantastic Fox assembly with board commissioners (stay tuned)

    • K-5 Fantastic Fox Assembly is every Friday Morning 9:30-10:15am and K-8 assembly is usually the last Friday of the month.

    • We plan to invite Board of Education Commissioners to SFC to see our community in action at a Fantastic Fox assembly. They are invited to attend the 9/27 Fantastic Fox Assemblies.

In Community, 

The PAC Advocacy Team

Sources from the Advancement Project’s “Action Kit: Stop Closing Public Schools”:

  1. Matt Barnum, 17 studies that tell us something about how school closures affect students, CHALKBEAT (Feb. 5, 2019),  https://www.chalkbeat.org/2019/2/5/21106771/17studies-that-tell-us-something-about-how-school-closures-affect-students/#:~:text=Three%20years%20after%20schools%20are,schools%20just%20avoid%20mandatory%20  (national study of closures in 26 states between 2006 and 2012 found that “closure of low-performing schools somewhat hampered academic progress for the average student.”).

  2. Stephanie Farmer & Rachel Weber, Education Reform And Financialization: Making the Fiscal Crisis of the Schools, 46 INTERNAT’L J. OF URB. & REGIONAL RESEARCH 907 (Nov. 2022), https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1468-2427.13137 (arguing that school districts’ austerity measures, far from creating financial stability, do little or nothing to resolve fiscal crises exacerbated by debt from investment in building new (often charter) schools); PEW CHARITABLE TRUSTS, CLOSING PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN PHILADELPHIA LESSONS FROM SIX URBAN DISTRICTS (Oct. 19, 2011), https://www.pewtrusts.org/-/media/legacy/uploadedfiles/wwwpewtrustsorg/reports/philadelphia_research_initiative/closingpublicschoolsphiladelphiapdf. pdf (in study of six urban school districts, concluding that “The money saved as the result of closing schools, at least in the short run, has been relatively small in the context of big-city school-district budgets, with the largest savings achieved when closings were combined with large-scale layoffs.”)

See the Advancement Project’s Action Kit: Stop Closing Public Schools.