Dial in for this important conversation via Zoom with
SFUSD School Board Commissioner and Budget Chair Jenny Lam, and former OUSD School Board President David Kakishiba.
We’ll be discussing the seriousness of this week’s budget balancing decision by the School Board and the importance of preventing state takeover of our school district.
Register & join the conversation >HERE< at 1:30-2 PM TODAY
Tomorrow’s Call-to-Action: Call in to the 12/14 school board meeting and beg the BOE to vote responsibly to STOP state takeover
Get ready to press that “Raise Hand” button on Zoom (yes again!): Consider us confused that the Alexander/Sanchez rogue plan is still on the table, even after our state fiscal advisor warned that it falls far short of the state’s requirements and *will push us into* semi-takeover by the state if the board approves this half-baked plan. And even after Superintendent Matthews offered to bring in outside auditors to locate additional cuts to Central Office and upper management, but in the meantime urged the board to pass the state-recommended balancing plan so we at least avoid takeover. Folks, this is no time to play chicken with the state. As Commissioner Lam put it last week: the clock has run out. We must take this seriously now and pass the only plan that will balance our budget. State takeover could take a decade or more for our district and community to recover. Districts that have gone through it warn us to do everything we can to avoid.
Call in tomorrow (Tuesday) at 5 pm & tell the School Board:
Another item of interest at tomorrow’s meeting: Regardless of where you stand on the upcoming school board recall election, consider us surprised to learn that UESF election materials and messaging were being distributed at school sites (in kid’s backpacks, in staff mailboxes) after UESF Leadership held a meeting at a middle school and distributed anti-recall flyers. Not only is this unethical it is also a violation of election-related district policy (4019.25: Political Activities). We spoke with the SF Ethics Commission about this and they explained that due to jurisdiction issues, SFUSD School Board is the appropriate enforcer of this election policy violation. Do you think they’ll enforce? We emailed all seven commissioners and asked them to put this item on the next regular school board agenda over a week ago. (They have not). We encourage parents to call in about this during General Comment at Tuesday 12/14 board meeting and hold the board accountable to enforcing their own policies on political activities in schools.
Have you RSVP’d yet? Last chance!
Let’s have some fun and celebrate our amazing year of impact! Parents, caregivers, community, and supporters, please join us! We’ll have some special guests, too!
Pork Store Cafe (*Mission* location) at 3122 16th St.
And, looking ahead to 2022, please save the date and mark your calendar for:
SF Parent Coalition will be co-hosting anAD 17 Candidate Forum on Public Education on Monday January 10th, 2022 at 7 pm. Come learn from candidates David Campos, Matt Haney, Bilal Mahmood, and Thea Selby about their education priorities!
Moderated by KQED’s Marisa Lagos & Guy Marzorati.
Co-hosted with Second District PTA and TogetherSF.
The event will take place via a hybrid virtual/in-person format over Zoom and
