More info on the "Flynnerado" SNAFU

PPS-SF continues to do an excellent job providing updates on the Flynn/Alvarado enrollment problems.  Visit their issues page for the latest news.  (Kudos to them for their site redesign too!)

One of the many stakeholders who have been ignored by EPC and the district is the group San Francisco Advocates for Multilingual Education (SFAME).  They have issued a very informative and provocative letter to Superintendent Garcia and the BOE that we are able to publish here.

Some of the more eye opening passages include this one that places this error in the context of a history of comparable enrollment mistakes:

The Educational Placement Center has repeatedly made mistakes over the years, contributing to this problem. When their mistake was first discovered in March, instead of involving all stakeholders directly, the district first appeared to pressure the immersion program schools to simply swallow the situation, as they have done for years and years in the past. This year, however, things unfolded differently. For the first time, Spanish-speaking families who had applied for immersion, united and said “we’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore,” forcing the district to change their placement after assignment letters had gone out. 

They also make an excellent point about the potential for creating a new Spanish Immersion program at Webster -- and option that I have covered favorably here and on the list:

By unexpectedly shifting Webster’s incoming Kindergartners from bilingual to immersion, EPC and the district demonstrate a shocking obliviousness to the wants and needs of those Spanish-speaking families. With no time to educate and counsel those families, the district is bound to run into some resistance and anger.

Anyone following this issue really should read the entire letter.  There is a bit too much finger pointing and second guessing of the districts responses to the unfolding problem for my tastes.  The first priority right now must be to bring all parties together to find a solution that is as fair as possible to everyone.  But once the incoming Kindergartners are placed, there needs to be a review of this event to try and improve the enrollment processes and strengthen the bilingual programs in the district.  When that time comes, its clear that SFAME needs to be at the table along with PPS and others.