School, school board, and community updates
Extension of SFUSD’s superintendent search
Thanks to your parent advocacy🙌, outgoing President Gabriela López and Vice President Jenny Lam directed the Superintendent search firm to extend the deadline to apply through the end of March. SF Parent Coalition called for this extension given the uncertainty around the recall and how it would negatively affect the applicant pool. With this extension, candidates will have a clearer picture of what kind of Board they’ll be working with and if their priorities align together.
New student assignment policy
On Feb. 23, there was a town hall on the new school assignment policy for elementary schools. The new system will create various ‘zones’ within the city. Parents will be given a choice of the schools within each zone they live in versus the current system, where you can choose any school citywide. The hope for this new policy is that it will help desegregate our schools while also giving families more choice of schools in closer proximity to where they live. Some key feedback SFUSD received from families: preference for zones to be representative of city demographics overall, for larger zones with more schools, for choice over proximity (both both important), for diverse staffing and intentional inclusion and integration.
School board recall election results certified
The San Francisco Department of Elections officially certified the school board recall election results on Feb. 23, 2022. The next step in the process is that the Board of Supervisors must vote on a resolution to ratify the election results at their board meeting on March 1, and then it goes to the Mayor for her signature to formally remove the commissioners from the Board of Education. With this school board change, SF Parent Coalition hopes to see a reset and a board that is committed to effective governance, unifying of the broad SFUSD community, collaborative with and supportive of staff, and responsive to students and families.
Mayor Breed’s Children & Family Recovery Plan
Months ago, Mayor Breed organized a Children and Family Recovery Plan Task Force to strategize and respond to the many pandemic-related challenges facing San Francisco children and families. The result is a plan addressing major areas of concern including basic survival needs, mental health needs, learning needs, and access to services. You can find the entire plan here. SF Parent Coalition cofounder and board member Yvette Edwards, who also serves on the Mayor’s task Force, said about the plan:
“As a parent, almost everyone I know is exhausted. What we have gone through with our kids, and what we continue to go through as this situation continues to evolve, affected us all differently and for many families this time of uncertainty has strained their financial and emotional resources to the breaking point, and beyond. Being a part of this plan development, hearing directly from families, children and educators, gave me a lot of hope and a space to raise ideas surrounding what is really needed to put families’ voices first in our community.”
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Hot topic: COVID mitigation measures and evolving policies
Children are not required to wear masks outside (recess, etc.) per Superintendent Matthews’s recent email. Here is a link to the policy. As far as we understand, schools cannot set their own policies that conflict with district policy.
Even with evolving guidance, we understand that each family makes its own personal risk evaluation, and should be supported in doing so. There are also major disparities by race and ethnicity to keep in mind. We’ve noticed a lot of heated discussions online, in our social forums, around the topics of masking. While our state and local public health departments recently lifted some Covid mitigation measures, updated guidance for schools has yet to be released. We’re following this and will keep you updated.
As measures are lifted over time, we hope to see respect for each other’s personal decisions. We all may come to different conclusions, and that’s ok. Let’s do everything we can to both respect one another’s personal risk decisions, and, to continue to urge SFUSD to foster the most joyful learning environment for our kids. While we await updated guidance, schools should be resuming social activities that were paused during January, or maybe even paused the entire school year, doing more to foster in-person connections for our students and families– such as– Reading Buddies, interclass recess, mentoring programs, parent volunteering on site, parent connections, etc.
Talk to your kids about the evolving rules as well as your family’s wishes. Have an issue or related concern? Email us.
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Parent Leader Appreciation
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As we close out Black History Month, we are appreciating one of our earliest parent advisors, Mrs. Varlander Gastinell. Mrs. Gastinell has been an early child care provider in the Bayview for 23 years. She reopened her site in June 2020, and gave us valuable insight into the ways she could provide care to her children during a time when so much was unknown about Covid: “The shutdown hurt us a lot, and many Bayview providers closed down. But my families had to go back to work, and the children needed us, so we did what needed to be done to meet their needs.” Mrs. Gastinell purchased her own purifiers, sanitizers, and fans to get ready for the return, and says she was strict in those early days to keep everyone in her care safe. Thank you Mrs. Gastinell for what you did for your community and for your advocacy and support. If you would like to donate any materials or resources to her in-home childcare please let us know at [email protected]
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Action corner! Add to this week’s To-Do List:
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- Public comment at tonight’s special BOE meeting on the LCAP. L-what? The Local Control and Accountability Plan. There’s a special meeting tonight to hear an update on this year’s planning process, but it’s a bit confusing and was *supposed to* incorporate parent input… Please call in! Agenda and call-in details can be found here, and sample public comment below:
- “I’m a parent of a ____ grader at ____ school. I’ve been told the LCAP is important and I should give parent input. But this presentation is confusing and I wasn’t invited to give input. It’s not in language that community members can understand. Where is the information about student priorities, programs, and budget alignment? How and when do I get to give input?
- Attend your school’s next School Site Council (SSC) meeting! These are open to all from the school community. Don’t see a schedule posted? Email your principal! The SSC’s are currently planning for the upcoming School Planning Summit on March 5th, and many are actively meeting, assessing site budgets, and surveying families right now. Learn more by emailing us.
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- Friday, 2/25: Fridays for Future Ride on the Great Highway. Meet at the Lincoln side of the great walkway at 4:45. Bike, scoot, skate, ride, walk, run, gallop, trot!!! Hop? Your choice. Organized by Kid Safe SF
- Monday, 2/28: 5:30 AAPAC meeting on Zoom. The topic of this meeting is Black Health and Wellness. RSVP here.
- Thursday 3/10: TogetherSF and SF Ed Fund hold a webinar on Why You Should Care About the Board of Education (Even if you’re not a parent or student). via Zoom. RSVP here.
- On the horizon: Some great SFParents informational events being planned for March/April, stay tuned and keep your eyes peeled!
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