Small School Community Action Brief

This report from the SFOP "accountability session" was posted to the sfschools list.

"Small Schools Save Lives" Community Action: A Briefing

Over 300 families, students and allies of San Francisco Small Schools by Design came together with the San Francisco Organizing Project last week to ask Superintendent Gwen Chan, School Board President Norman Yee and Gavin Newsom's education advisor and newly elected School Board member, Hydra Mendoza, for their support in passing a Small Schools Policy for San Francisco.

Under the banner of "Small Schools Save Lives," June Jordan student James Alderson declared that, "Business as usual isn't working in SF public schools." Indeed it seems clear that it is not, especially for African American and Latino youth. Savannah Shange, a teacher at June Jordan, pointed out, "almost 50% of African American and Latino students who start 9th grade will not complete 12th grade." She also shared that a recent California state report stated that "The achievement gap, in San Francisco, between African- American and Latino students, and the rest of the students, is far and away the widest achievement gap of urban districts in California." Although Small Schools by Design may not be a silver bullet for SFUSD's achievement gap woes, they do offer a vibrant, research- based alternative for students looking to build a pathway to college where there formerly has been none. What these schools lack in class options, they make up for in personalized learning environments, in which they are supported to meet rigorous standards. The Small Schools Policy is designed to protect the particular features that make Small Schools by Design unique and successful, including personalization, smaller class size, project- based learning, alternative forms of assessments, democratic governance structures and an emphasis on college readiness.

Parents from Small Middle School for Equity, June Jordan School for Equity, and San Francisco Community asked President Yee and Superintendent Chan for a commitment to quickly pass a strong policy, to create a District Assistant Superintendent to implement the policy, to form an open-door relationship with all school communities, and to honor the spirit of the policy by respecting existing small school autonomies now. In general, the officials answered with a resounding "yes," assuming a few details are ironed out and SFUSD and community partners work together to secure foundation funding. The foundation community has already shown the need for strong district leadership on this issue when the Bill Gates Foundation withdrew $15 million during the last school year. A strong policy, coupled with visionary leadership to implement a Small Schools program will attract foundations, such as Gates, back to SFUSD.

Kristen Bijur, a member of the Task Force and San Francisco Community's Head Teacher, confirmed that the Task Force will be ready to submit the document in January. Superintendent Chan spoke of her commitment for excellence for all and closing the persistent achievement gap. She said she shares the community's vision of aggressively searching for solutions, and that this complicated issue requires thoughtful solutions. She closed her statements by saying she will remain committed to Small Schools by Design if their programs produce results. Ultimately, the parents' question remains, will Superintendent Chan and SFUSD leadership support a policy with the strong autonomies needed to produce those results for the students that Small Schools are designed to serve?

With issues as critical as SFUSD's widening divisions between East side and West side and our gaping achievement gap, Superintendent Chan needs to act quickly to make a change. Change, she says, takes time. Five years after the original push for small schools by design, it is time, we see, that is one of our youth's most finite resources.

Allison Allbee Small Schools for Equity

Some of our contributors have been very skeptical of the small schools advocates claims. But I'm happy to provide a platform for this issue to be debated.