School Board Notes 5.23.06
School Board Notes 5.23.06
By Nicole Achs Freeling
GreatSchools.net Correspondent
Toting young children and holding aloft banners in English and Chinese, anxious parents of youngsters enrolled in the Filipino Education Center (F.E.C.) at Bessie Carmichael in SOMA expressed outrage that the district's recent vote to turn Carmichael into a K-8 could deprive them of preschool and after school care. F.E.C. serves a largely low-income community, the children of metal workers, factory workers, hotel maids and others.
"I was here at the board meeting when the decision to turn (Carmichael) into a K-8 was made," said Betty Robinson Harris, head of the Child Development Committee for United Educators of San Francisco, who works at F.E.C. "The next day, architects and district personnel appeared with tape measures telling staff we were going to be displaced. There had been no official communication from the district. The 100 families and 16 staff people who are affected by this are justifiably outraged."
The board voted earlier this month to continue a process it began last year of converting Bessie Carmichael to a K-8 school. To do that, however, would require using at least some of the classrooms currently being used by the Child Development Center. Speaking after the meeting, Commissioner Dan Kelly said F.E.C. would need to be relocated but stressed that it would not be closed. Superintendent Gwen Chan said no F.E.C. classes would be cut when the program is moved.
Parents at Kate Kennedy Child Development Center also appealed to the district to retain their program. According to District Advisory Council member Melissa Juedeman, who spoke on behalf of a number of Spanish-speaking residents, 15 families who had been told they would be enrolled in the summer program were later told there was no longer room for them due to cuts in the program. The families, among the neediest in the district, had less than a month's notice about this turn of events, Juedeman said.
Board Takes Up Plan to Replace Junior ROTC
Although months from being scheduled for an up or down vote, the introduction of a plan to replace Junior ROTC packed the house, with students staging a boisterous demonstration outside the district to protest the plan and a somewhat smaller but equally impassioned crowd gathering to cheer it.
The resolution, introduced for first reading Tuesday, calls for phasing out the JROTC program to be replaced with "alternative, creative, career-driven programs…." The resolution would terminate all district JROTC programs by the end of `06/07. The initiative seeks to end the relationship to JROTC because of its relation to the military (JROTC is run by the Department of Defense), whose policy of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" goes against the district's commitment to equal opportunity. The resolution describes "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" as "an unjust, indefensible, unintelligent, state-sanctioned act of homophobia."
The resolution will go to a series of committees before appearing on the Board agenda for a vote, probably in August or September, according to Kelly. The Curriculum Committee will likely take up the issue at its meeting Thursday.
Those in favor of the plan offered a range of reasons for supporting the initiative, including objection to the military's policies regarding homophobia, as well as objection to the war in general and concern over what they saw as a tool for recruiting young people to the military. "There are hundreds of different programs that offer the same positive influence for these kids without a likelihood that they'll end up going to war in Iraq or Afghanistan," said Lacey McCallie, a member of Students Against War.
Opponents, however, said that JROTC had nothing to do with the anti-gay policies of the military, and did not discriminate against youngsters based on sexual orientation. Opponents also discussed the value of JROTC, its influence in bringing discipline and stability that some youngsters couldn't get at home, enabling athletic and physical development, and developing confidence and self esteem.
"All the research I've done says `Don't ask, don't tell' doesn't apply to us, to anything in our program or to who is hired for the program," said JROTC cadet David Zeman. Another cadet, Talen Lee, said he is openly gay and has been treated with the same respect as anyone else in the program. JROTC is administered by the Department of Defense but, according to its literature, does not impose any obligation on participants to enlist in the military and is not explicitly a military organization.
District Allocates Funds to Televise Meetings
The Board voted to allocate $26,334 for the express purpose of televising board meetings through SF Government Television, Channel 26. The cost represents the annual cost of televising the meetings, but the initial capital outlay that will be required to enable the broadcasts is not yet known, a factor which concerned some board members.
Several board members said televising the meetings would offer an important option for parents, many of whom have small children and cannot attend evening meetings. They noted, however, that the meetings are also broadcast live on radio station KALW, 91.7. The broadcast would have some drawbacks. It would not be live, but would be aired some time after the meeting. It would also only be available to families who had cable TV.
In a separate matter included on the same resolution, the Board agreed to allow the City to provide some of its Prop H funds to the District as in-kind services (free services instead of cash). The resolution recommended the Prop H Community Advisory Committee include not less than $250,000 of its `07/08 budget as in-kind services. The board also voted to begin the development of a working group between Prop H Committee members, district staff and the City Controller's Office to look at a "menu of options" for the types of services the City could provide.
Prop A Bond Projects Reviewed
District facilities officer David Golden gave the board a presentation on where the district is in relation to the Proposition A bond passed in 2003 allocating upwards of $340 million for facilities projects over a five-year period. "We are really moving into this program full-bore," he said.
The Prop A bonds are slated to go to 32 individual school sites. Architectural and engineering design has been approved for 18 projects, and construction is currently in progress at 13. Fourteen more projects are in the design phase or awaiting design approval. Additionally, 16 elementary schools are in the design phase for a $2 million green schoolyard program.
Current projects include:
Email comments to sfschoolnotes@greatschools.net
By Nicole Achs Freeling
GreatSchools.net Correspondent
- Parents Fear Loss of After-School Care
- Board Takes Up Plan to Replace Junior ROTC
- District Allocates Funds to Televise Meetings
- Prop A Bond Projects Reviewed
Toting young children and holding aloft banners in English and Chinese, anxious parents of youngsters enrolled in the Filipino Education Center (F.E.C.) at Bessie Carmichael in SOMA expressed outrage that the district's recent vote to turn Carmichael into a K-8 could deprive them of preschool and after school care. F.E.C. serves a largely low-income community, the children of metal workers, factory workers, hotel maids and others.
"I was here at the board meeting when the decision to turn (Carmichael) into a K-8 was made," said Betty Robinson Harris, head of the Child Development Committee for United Educators of San Francisco, who works at F.E.C. "The next day, architects and district personnel appeared with tape measures telling staff we were going to be displaced. There had been no official communication from the district. The 100 families and 16 staff people who are affected by this are justifiably outraged."
The board voted earlier this month to continue a process it began last year of converting Bessie Carmichael to a K-8 school. To do that, however, would require using at least some of the classrooms currently being used by the Child Development Center. Speaking after the meeting, Commissioner Dan Kelly said F.E.C. would need to be relocated but stressed that it would not be closed. Superintendent Gwen Chan said no F.E.C. classes would be cut when the program is moved.
Parents at Kate Kennedy Child Development Center also appealed to the district to retain their program. According to District Advisory Council member Melissa Juedeman, who spoke on behalf of a number of Spanish-speaking residents, 15 families who had been told they would be enrolled in the summer program were later told there was no longer room for them due to cuts in the program. The families, among the neediest in the district, had less than a month's notice about this turn of events, Juedeman said.
Board Takes Up Plan to Replace Junior ROTC
Although months from being scheduled for an up or down vote, the introduction of a plan to replace Junior ROTC packed the house, with students staging a boisterous demonstration outside the district to protest the plan and a somewhat smaller but equally impassioned crowd gathering to cheer it.
The resolution, introduced for first reading Tuesday, calls for phasing out the JROTC program to be replaced with "alternative, creative, career-driven programs…." The resolution would terminate all district JROTC programs by the end of `06/07. The initiative seeks to end the relationship to JROTC because of its relation to the military (JROTC is run by the Department of Defense), whose policy of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" goes against the district's commitment to equal opportunity. The resolution describes "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" as "an unjust, indefensible, unintelligent, state-sanctioned act of homophobia."
The resolution will go to a series of committees before appearing on the Board agenda for a vote, probably in August or September, according to Kelly. The Curriculum Committee will likely take up the issue at its meeting Thursday.
Those in favor of the plan offered a range of reasons for supporting the initiative, including objection to the military's policies regarding homophobia, as well as objection to the war in general and concern over what they saw as a tool for recruiting young people to the military. "There are hundreds of different programs that offer the same positive influence for these kids without a likelihood that they'll end up going to war in Iraq or Afghanistan," said Lacey McCallie, a member of Students Against War.
Opponents, however, said that JROTC had nothing to do with the anti-gay policies of the military, and did not discriminate against youngsters based on sexual orientation. Opponents also discussed the value of JROTC, its influence in bringing discipline and stability that some youngsters couldn't get at home, enabling athletic and physical development, and developing confidence and self esteem.
"All the research I've done says `Don't ask, don't tell' doesn't apply to us, to anything in our program or to who is hired for the program," said JROTC cadet David Zeman. Another cadet, Talen Lee, said he is openly gay and has been treated with the same respect as anyone else in the program. JROTC is administered by the Department of Defense but, according to its literature, does not impose any obligation on participants to enlist in the military and is not explicitly a military organization.
District Allocates Funds to Televise Meetings
The Board voted to allocate $26,334 for the express purpose of televising board meetings through SF Government Television, Channel 26. The cost represents the annual cost of televising the meetings, but the initial capital outlay that will be required to enable the broadcasts is not yet known, a factor which concerned some board members.
Several board members said televising the meetings would offer an important option for parents, many of whom have small children and cannot attend evening meetings. They noted, however, that the meetings are also broadcast live on radio station KALW, 91.7. The broadcast would have some drawbacks. It would not be live, but would be aired some time after the meeting. It would also only be available to families who had cable TV.
In a separate matter included on the same resolution, the Board agreed to allow the City to provide some of its Prop H funds to the District as in-kind services (free services instead of cash). The resolution recommended the Prop H Community Advisory Committee include not less than $250,000 of its `07/08 budget as in-kind services. The board also voted to begin the development of a working group between Prop H Committee members, district staff and the City Controller's Office to look at a "menu of options" for the types of services the City could provide.
Prop A Bond Projects Reviewed
District facilities officer David Golden gave the board a presentation on where the district is in relation to the Proposition A bond passed in 2003 allocating upwards of $340 million for facilities projects over a five-year period. "We are really moving into this program full-bore," he said.
The Prop A bonds are slated to go to 32 individual school sites. Architectural and engineering design has been approved for 18 projects, and construction is currently in progress at 13. Fourteen more projects are in the design phase or awaiting design approval. Additionally, 16 elementary schools are in the design phase for a $2 million green schoolyard program.
Current projects include:
- $11 million for new classroom corridors and other improvements at Thurgood Marshall High School.
- $3.2 million at Alvarado for construction both inside and out.
- $2.3 million at Bret Harte Elementary School for accessibility fire prevention and other upgrades.
- $1.4 million for new restrooms at Bryant Elementary. (This project was completed in March.)
- $3.8 million for upgrades at Clarendon Elementary including fire sprinklers, new bathrooms and accessibility upgrades.
- $2.3 million at Commodore Sloat Elementary
- 2.5 million at Charles Drew Elementary
- 8 million at Horace Mann Middle School for major interior reconstruction.
- 2.8 million at Rosa Parks Elementary
- $2.3 million at Sherman Elementary School
- $3 million at E.R. Taylor Elementary
- $1 million at Gloria Davis Middle School
Email comments to sfschoolnotes@greatschools.net
Labels: GreatSchools.net, School Board Notes, SFUSD Politics
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