School Board Notes 5.9.06
School Board Notes 5.9.06
By Nicole Achs Freeling
Greatschools.net Correspondent
Although not on the agenda, the issues dominating the meeting centered around several controversial facility decisions the district has made behind closed doors involving moving and co-locating certain schools. Just as at the last meeting, chambers were standing room only with overflow crowds gathered outside, many waving signs stating their objection to proposed moves. Those moves are: *Newcomer High School into extra space at Mission High School *Leadership charter school into space at Balboa High *Merging three county community programs – RAP, Phoenix and Community Scholars for Success – together at what is currently John Swett Elementary. (That school, in another controversial decision, is to be merged with John Muir this fall.)
Yesterday afternoon, the board announced it would hold a special session Wednesday at 6:30 to address the issue directly.
Families and teachers at both Newcomer and Mission High schools objected to a plan to move Newcomer into Mission. According to the current proposal, the schools would operate separately, with a wall between the two. Critics said the move would leave teachers at Mission without classrooms, threaten school programs for lack of space and alter the balance at a school that enjoyed improved success in recent years. Mission, along with Lowell and George Washington, was just named to Newsweek's Top 1,000 High Schools list, representing the top 5 percent of high schools in the nation.
Newcomer families expressed frustration at being moved around and "treated like footballs" according to one speaker. The school was supposed to move to the site of Edison Charter Academy, but the board changed tack after Edison threatened to sue.
Leadership High School has long been seeking a more adequate facility within the district than its current building, an aging, former elementary school. The district has been trying without success to find it a home, and recently offered it the opportunity to be co-located at the same building occupied by Balboa.
The Balboa community has strenuously objected to this move and Tuesday night, its representatives were out in force, staging a protest in front of the district, waving flags and passing out leaflets. Balboa members who stood to speak, mostly students and teachers, said bringing in Leadership would deprive Balboa of needed space and facilities and reverse the trend that has helped the school become increasingly desirable in the last couple of years.
"The district is working very hard to have Leadership not be at Balboa," Board President Norman Yee said and added that the issue would be discussed more thoroughly Wednesday.
There were also a number of community members – many of them county community students – who expressed serious concern over the plan to merge three county programs at Swett. Bring the schools together would put members of warring such as the Nortenos and Surenos, and Hunters Point and Fillmore gangs, together at one school. Some students said they wouldn't attend such a school for fear of their lives. At the last meeting, some county and alternative school administrators had expressed support for the move, saying it would offer the students better facilities and enriched programs.
SOMA To Get K-8 School
The Board voted to expand Bessie Carmichael in South of Market to a K-8 school, completing a process it began last year in making the school a K-6. The resolution will add a seventh grade class for 06/07 and an eighth grade class the following year.
The community has been pushing heavily for the expansion, as there is currently no middle school in the South of Market neighborhood. Last year, the board voted to add a sixth grade as part of a transition to a K-8. Although some board members had concerns about the plan (Jill Wynns cast the sole no vote), most felt the board had an obligation to continue with the expansion. Not adding another grade would put the current sixth graders at a disadvantage in selecting a middle school as many are already at capacity by 7th grade.
The expansion could put into jeopardy two preschool classes and a special education preschool class currently in place at the school. One pre-K class is in a classroom needed for the new grade; another, the special ed class, is in a building that would also house middle-schoolers, raising licensing issues.
Wynns expressed concern about the cost of the project. The expansion will incur an estimated $600,000 in one-time expenses to build, which could be recouped through school impact fees the City is working to collect from the more than 10,000 new housing units being built in the neighborhood. The Carmichael expansion will also incur $270,000 in yearly operating costs, which could not be funded through impact fees.
District to Cut 64 Classroom Positions
Struggling with budget cuts, declining enrollment and school closures, the district will not renew positions for 64 teachers and paraprofessionals next year, comprising a total of 54 full-time equivalent positions. The cuts include numerous art, English, social studies, science, and language teachers, as well as coaches and peer resources counselors.
Rooftop Bungalows Approved
More than a dozen Rooftop parents stayed until after midnight to urge the board to replace aging, seismically unsafe bungalows at Rooftop K-8 school in Twin Peaks. A $670,000 project to replace the bungalows failed to pass at the last meeting by a tie vote (one commissioner was absent), so it was back on the agenda this week.
After hearing testimony from parents expressing frustration and concern that their children had been housed for years in unsafe buildings, the board voted six to two to approve the bungalows, with Commissioners Sarah Lipson and Mark Sanchez casting the dissenting votes. Commissioner Eric Mar reversed his no vote from last week, saying that the inadequacy of the buildings overruled his desire in this instance for the district to move away from the use of bungalows.
Critics objected to an expensive plan to replace bungalows when the district has an expressed plan to move away from using bungalows. They say the bungalows perpetuate a system in which over-subscribed schools pack in students to the disadvantage of under-enrolled schools.
However, supporters said there was little alternative but to replace the bungalows, as there are no other ways to re-house those students in a timely manner. "There are times we have to modify our decision not to have portable classrooms," Wynns said.
Email comments to sfschoolnotes@greatschools.net
By Nicole Achs Freeling
Greatschools.net Correspondent
- Controversy Roils Around Proposed Moves
- SOMA to get K-8 School
- District to Cut 64 Classroom Positions
- Rooftop Bungalows Approved
Although not on the agenda, the issues dominating the meeting centered around several controversial facility decisions the district has made behind closed doors involving moving and co-locating certain schools. Just as at the last meeting, chambers were standing room only with overflow crowds gathered outside, many waving signs stating their objection to proposed moves. Those moves are: *Newcomer High School into extra space at Mission High School *Leadership charter school into space at Balboa High *Merging three county community programs – RAP, Phoenix and Community Scholars for Success – together at what is currently John Swett Elementary. (That school, in another controversial decision, is to be merged with John Muir this fall.)
Yesterday afternoon, the board announced it would hold a special session Wednesday at 6:30 to address the issue directly.
Families and teachers at both Newcomer and Mission High schools objected to a plan to move Newcomer into Mission. According to the current proposal, the schools would operate separately, with a wall between the two. Critics said the move would leave teachers at Mission without classrooms, threaten school programs for lack of space and alter the balance at a school that enjoyed improved success in recent years. Mission, along with Lowell and George Washington, was just named to Newsweek's Top 1,000 High Schools list, representing the top 5 percent of high schools in the nation.
Newcomer families expressed frustration at being moved around and "treated like footballs" according to one speaker. The school was supposed to move to the site of Edison Charter Academy, but the board changed tack after Edison threatened to sue.
Leadership High School has long been seeking a more adequate facility within the district than its current building, an aging, former elementary school. The district has been trying without success to find it a home, and recently offered it the opportunity to be co-located at the same building occupied by Balboa.
The Balboa community has strenuously objected to this move and Tuesday night, its representatives were out in force, staging a protest in front of the district, waving flags and passing out leaflets. Balboa members who stood to speak, mostly students and teachers, said bringing in Leadership would deprive Balboa of needed space and facilities and reverse the trend that has helped the school become increasingly desirable in the last couple of years.
"The district is working very hard to have Leadership not be at Balboa," Board President Norman Yee said and added that the issue would be discussed more thoroughly Wednesday.
There were also a number of community members – many of them county community students – who expressed serious concern over the plan to merge three county programs at Swett. Bring the schools together would put members of warring such as the Nortenos and Surenos, and Hunters Point and Fillmore gangs, together at one school. Some students said they wouldn't attend such a school for fear of their lives. At the last meeting, some county and alternative school administrators had expressed support for the move, saying it would offer the students better facilities and enriched programs.
SOMA To Get K-8 School
The Board voted to expand Bessie Carmichael in South of Market to a K-8 school, completing a process it began last year in making the school a K-6. The resolution will add a seventh grade class for 06/07 and an eighth grade class the following year.
The community has been pushing heavily for the expansion, as there is currently no middle school in the South of Market neighborhood. Last year, the board voted to add a sixth grade as part of a transition to a K-8. Although some board members had concerns about the plan (Jill Wynns cast the sole no vote), most felt the board had an obligation to continue with the expansion. Not adding another grade would put the current sixth graders at a disadvantage in selecting a middle school as many are already at capacity by 7th grade.
The expansion could put into jeopardy two preschool classes and a special education preschool class currently in place at the school. One pre-K class is in a classroom needed for the new grade; another, the special ed class, is in a building that would also house middle-schoolers, raising licensing issues.
Wynns expressed concern about the cost of the project. The expansion will incur an estimated $600,000 in one-time expenses to build, which could be recouped through school impact fees the City is working to collect from the more than 10,000 new housing units being built in the neighborhood. The Carmichael expansion will also incur $270,000 in yearly operating costs, which could not be funded through impact fees.
District to Cut 64 Classroom Positions
Struggling with budget cuts, declining enrollment and school closures, the district will not renew positions for 64 teachers and paraprofessionals next year, comprising a total of 54 full-time equivalent positions. The cuts include numerous art, English, social studies, science, and language teachers, as well as coaches and peer resources counselors.
Rooftop Bungalows Approved
More than a dozen Rooftop parents stayed until after midnight to urge the board to replace aging, seismically unsafe bungalows at Rooftop K-8 school in Twin Peaks. A $670,000 project to replace the bungalows failed to pass at the last meeting by a tie vote (one commissioner was absent), so it was back on the agenda this week.
After hearing testimony from parents expressing frustration and concern that their children had been housed for years in unsafe buildings, the board voted six to two to approve the bungalows, with Commissioners Sarah Lipson and Mark Sanchez casting the dissenting votes. Commissioner Eric Mar reversed his no vote from last week, saying that the inadequacy of the buildings overruled his desire in this instance for the district to move away from the use of bungalows.
Critics objected to an expensive plan to replace bungalows when the district has an expressed plan to move away from using bungalows. They say the bungalows perpetuate a system in which over-subscribed schools pack in students to the disadvantage of under-enrolled schools.
However, supporters said there was little alternative but to replace the bungalows, as there are no other ways to re-house those students in a timely manner. "There are times we have to modify our decision not to have portable classrooms," Wynns said.
Email comments to sfschoolnotes@greatschools.net
Labels: Charters, GreatSchools.net, School Board Notes, SFUSD Politics
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