School Board Notes - 10.27.05

School Board Notes
10.27.05
By Nicole Achs Freeling
GreatSchools.net Correspondent

At a quiet, calm and somewhat sparsely attended board meeting Thursday night, there was little evidence of the mayhem that had shut the meeting down just two nights before. In spite of threats that union protestors would continue to disrupt meetings, demonstrators were absent even from the sidewalk in front of the district office, where they have gathered before almost every meeting since the start of the year.

• District to close more low-enrollment schools
• Union rails against reported plans to replace striking workers
• Some K-2 classrooms not meeting fire codes
• Board votes not to axe two aide positions

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District to close more low-enrollment schools

With enrollment in the school district down 1,000 students from last year, the district will be forced to make further school closures, following on five schools that were closed last year. Unlike last year, however, when decisions about which schools to close weren't made until April, a new timeline calls for decisions to be made by January, in time for affected families to participate in the first round of school enrollment applications. Myong Leigh, chief of policy and planning for the district, credited the district's loss of students in part to increasing enrollment at charter schools. A list of 14 K-12 schools that are candidates for closure will be presented at a meeting of the School Closure Committee November 7. Schools will be identified for possible closure based on declining enrollment and enrollment significantly lower than what the facility is able to hold. Once an initial list is drafted, a host of other factors will be considered in narrowing down the list. These criteria include academic performance, availability of similar programs at other schools in the area and the amount that could be saved by closing the school.

Union rails against reported plans to replace striking workers

UESF President Dennis Kelly addressed rumors that the district plans to hire 1,000 to 1,200 replacement workers in the event of a strike. He pressed the board to refuse to authorize use of such workers, as moving to hire replacements would "destroy any remaining bond that exists between teachers and the district." Tammy Bryant, a parent who sat in at one of the board seat at Tuesday's protest, also urged against replacement workers. "I don't believe these people can be adequately screened in such a short time," she said. Kelly also raised a grievance that has come up in the last few days as educators and administrators work to defeat Propositions 74 and Proposition 76, which many education-related groups say would be disastrous for schools. The BOE recently issued resolutions condemning both measures. However, according to Kelly, the human resources department recently told educators who had been taking time off to campaign against the measure until the November 8 election that they must return to the classroom at the start of next week. According to the now expired contract with the teachers union, members are allowed "short-term union release," which allows them to take up to five weeks away from the classroom, paid for by the union, to campaign on school-related issues. "We have been informed by human resources that they are redefining short-term release so that it ends tomorrow," Kelly said. "We need people out through the election. I ask the board to direct the human resources department to comply with our contract regarding short-term release." UESF Executive Vice President Linda Plack discussed the current labor unrest. "Trust us -- the unions won't blink. Our families are at stake, our lives are stake, and we can't wait until 2008 and a parcel tax." She said the bus drivers union, building trades union and the teachers union have all declared solidarity with SEIU.

Some K-2 classrooms not meeting fire codes

Mark Sanchez provided an update from the Buildings and Grounds Committee on work done to address the fact that dozens of kindergarten, first and second grade classrooms in the district were in violation of fire codes. According to codes, K-2 classrooms must be on the ground floor so that, in the event of a fire, the youngest children can exist quickly without risk of being trampled by older kids. The district discovered at the end of the last school year that some 31 schools in the district had younger children placed on upper floors and were in direct violation of the codes. By the beginning of this year that number had been reduced to 18. There are currently still 10 schools with K-2 classrooms on upper floors. The district is working with fire marshals to fix the problem.

Board votes not to axe two aide positions

The board rejected a plan to cut two paraprofessional positions that was suggested by school site councils as a way to balance their schools' budgets. Eliminating the positions was estimated to save the district $75,000, largely in the cost of paying benefits. Several board members, however, agreed with comments made by Dennis Kelly that the board shouldn't be cutting staff positions while approving hundreds of thousands of dollars of spending in the consent calendar. "We can find a third of a million dollars to fix (a computer security problem), but we can't find money for two of the lowest salaries in the district?" Kelly said.

Time to get serious about the election

Make no mistake about it. The special election is upon us. The initiatives are important. And they are still in play. Check out the latest polling figures from the Public Policy Institute of California.

Prop 75 - the anti-union, anti-Democrat power play -- is up for grabs. Prop 74 - the blame the teachers initiative -- is even. Prop 76 looks like it will go down in flames, but this is not a normal election. This one will be very prone to last minute maneuvering and targeted spending by both sides. The polling numbers are reported in the SacBee, Five ballot measures in danger of losing which includes these words of caution:

PPIC Pollster Mark Baldassare cautioned that the poll numbers, which surveyed people likely to vote, don't indicate the election is over.

'All these measures are close. There's a considerable amount of time...and there will be new messages and counter-messages. I don't feel like this election is necessarily settled.'

Since this election is flying below the radar, the battle will be won or lost on the ground. Who shows up and votes is always what counts. But in this election, where the turnout will be low, the ground battle will be the real difference maker. As the SacBee puts it in Fight for voter turnout may swing results:

Several political strategists predicted just 35 percent to 45 percent of the state's 15.8 million registered voters will cast ballots. That's about one-quarter to one-third of all eligible adults.

The campaigns, therefore, are now shifting their focus and funds to the 'ground war,' the door-knocking, phone-calling and mail-dropping battle to get their supporters to vote.

There is still time to make a difference, but the time to act is now. Donate your time, donate your money, talk to your friends, get an absentee ballot... whatever you do, vote. Send Arnold a message. Stop blaming the teachers. Stop targeting the unions. Fund our schools. Now.

School Board Notes, 10.25.2005

Union sit-in shuts down meeting

By Nicole Achs Freeling
GreatSchools.net Correspondent

• Board reschedules meeting for Thursday
• Protesters vow to disrupt next meeting, too

Several hundred noisy protesters occupied the school district board room Tuesday, taking over board members' seats and refusing to let scheduled business proceed. The action was organized by SEIU Local 790, the union representing custodians, secretaries and cafeteria workers, which has been at an impasse with the district for several weeks over contract negotiations and now says it is close to calling a strike. Joining in the protest were several hundred members of the teachers union, which is involved in its own contract struggle with the district.

Board reschedules meeting for Thursday After about 45 minutes in which speakers with bullhorns addressed the crowd and led chants and cheers, Board President Eric Mar announced the board would postpone its meeting rather than arrest the demonstrators. "We cannot in good conscience have our brothers and sisters in the district dragged out by police, so we're going to continue to meet in closed session," Mar told the group, before being drowned out by a chorus of "No secret meetings!" and "Shame on you." The regular board meeting has been rescheduled for Thursday at 7:30.

The demonstrators entered the board room shortly before 7 p.m., occupied seats usually reserved for board members and district officials, and packed the room to well over its seating capacity of 140. Demonstrators also jammed the entrance hall and the sidewalk in front of the district. Some 35 police officers were summoned to the scene to remove the protesters if necessary, according to Northern Precinct Police Captain Kevin Dillon. The protesters could have been cited for disrupting a public meeting, but the board declined to press charges.

“We didn’t want to escalate matters by having people arrested,” Mar said. However, he said, he did not think it was in the unions’ interest to continue to disrupt the functioning of the board.

Protesters vow to disrupt next meeting, too Demonstrators have threatened to continue to sit in at future meetings, including that on Thursday.

Speakers spoke of the need for a cost of living raise, which neither service employees nor teachers have had for five years. They questioned the district’s claimed lack of funds and raised the issue of salary increases of more than 10 percent for district executives, and of Superintendent Arlene Ackerman's controversial $375,000 severance package.

"The district wants us to vote on their proposals," SEIU union representative Josey Mooney said. If Ackerman would agree to return her severance package, "we will put their crummy proposals to a vote," Mooney said.

On Monday, SEIU was granted strike sanction from the labor council, according to Mooney, meaning it can legally hold a strike. A fact-finding panel has been convened for Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, and will then have 30 days to issue its report. However, Mooney said she could not promise the union would wait until then. "We will be strategic and we will give public notice." Pressed for how much time she meant by notice, Mooney said: "We'll be responsible. We have children, too."

According to Mooney, other unions that bargain with the district have said they will not cross picket lines. "There will not be school buses, there will not be teachers and there will not be building trades" if the service employees strike, she said.

According to Mar, the district has been meeting with members of Mayor Gavin Newsom’s office, including the mayor himself, his key educational advisor, his chief of staff and City Controller Ed Harrington to solicit their suggestions for avoiding a strike.

Email comments to sfschoolnotes@greatschools.net

SF School Photoblogging: Mission High

Mission High is featured for the second time in our photoblogging series. This images was used to create the image that adorns the top of our page, so why not make it this week's featured shot? Enjoy.

Impossible expectations

I just got Jonathan Kozol's new book, The Shame of the Nation, enticed by The Daily Howler's description of one chapter, titled "False Promises." After reading just that chapter, I already have to cite one of its points.

Kozol decries "the high set of expectations that attach themselves to changes in the topmost personnel" in school leadership — what I call, less elegantly, the media gushfest. This all seemed so traumatic in San Francisco, but it's actually the usual routine. The new hire soars into town in a shining chariot borne aloft by glowing press coverage, sets to work on a set of intractable societal problems, turns into an sweating, beaten-down, flawed human, and is run out of town in disgust or rage.

Arlene Ackerman has fared quite well compared to the standard pattern, as a large portion of the community continues to think highly of her. Barring a significant shift in public opinion or some shocking revelation, the hindsight view will be that one faction drove a successful, committed leader out of town in a power grab. The fact that much of the community will regret her departure deviates from the usual storyline.

Kozol describes Joseph Fernandez, New York City schools chancellor from about 1990-'93, who arrived "greeted with ... extravagance of praise." The New York Times, in a story headlined "New Chancellor, New Hope for Schools," enthused: "It's a thrill to hear Joseph Fernandez talk about his plans..."

Kozol continues:

A month later, Newsday noted that some critics were complaining that Fernandez was "beginning to behave less like a city schools chancellor and more like a city schools czar."

At the time, Newsday defended Fernandez.

But, Kozol continues:

Three years after he arrived, Dr. Fernandez was dismissed, his manner of leadership now retroactively described as "arrogant, abrasive or aloof," according to the Times. "He made too many enemies," said Newsday. "His greatest strength — a sometimes imperious distaste for compromise — became his fatal flaw."

Kozol (who can write, by the way) tells the sadder story of Fernandez' predecessor, Richard Greene, who "was received with high praise from the New York media and from the city's private-sector leaders. Soon enough, he started to incur the criticism that he was too cautious, too methodical, and not sufficiently aggressive. He began to have the stricken look of someone who could barely breathe; and this, it turned out, was literally so." Greene, still in the job, died suddenly of an asthma attack in 1989.

A Fernandez successor, Rudy Crew, talked to Kozol about being "greeted with a chorus of applause" on arriving, and later fired after a "bludgeoning" that gave him a "sense of visceral insult" and that he views as "tinged with racial condescension." Crew, who is African-American, was in the running when Ackerman was hired here and is now in Miami, the nation's highest-paid superintendent. And surprise — now he's falling out of favor in Miami. (Presumably he won't be applying again for the SFUSD job given the humiliating pay cut he'd have to swallow, probably accompanied by local protest demanding that he take even less.)

Kozol does not fear "playing the race card," as any mention of this issue in SFUSD is immediately, scathingly labeled. (Richard Greene was also African-American, as is Arlene Ackerman, and Joseph Fernandez is Latino.)

James Baldwin had written of black leaders who were given a limited degree of power to control and, if they could, relieve some of the miseries of Harlem 50 years ago. Speaking of "the nicely refined torture a man can experience from having been created and defeated by the same circumstances," Baldwin wrote, "the best that one can say is that they are in an impossible position" and that those "who are motivated by genuine concern maintain this position with heartbreaking dignity." That precarious sense of dignity, often protected by reliance upon hyperbolic claims and a progressively more glazed and fragile smile, may be noted among good black and Hispanic school officials to the present day. Too much is expected of them when they come; too little is accorded to them when they leave. The structures of apartheid and inequity that have defeated them remain unchanged."

That's Jonathan Kozol's "race card," not mine.

&mdash Caroline

Visualize new pot club rules

I updated the San Francisco School information Map page to help people visualize one of the new pot club regulations that is under consideration by the Board of Supervisors. The map now includes the ability to display 500' and 1000' circles around each school. The differences are pretty dramatic. Check out the potential impact on your neighborhood and your kids' schools.

To see the exclusion zones you will need to check all school types and then check the "Show cirlces" box. Beware, the map may take a while to load—there is a lot of data for it to display!

Note also that this map currently only shows SFUSD public schools. I presume that the proposed rules will prohibit pot clubs near private schools too. I hope to eventually update the map to include private schools, but for now the map does not support them. Still, the map makes clear the dramatic difference between 500' and 1000' exclusion zones.

Update: Fixed a bug that prevented many IE users from seeing the pot club exclusion zones. Still some reports of problems with the AOL browser, but I think IE users should be OK now.

SFUSD Parent Letter from 10/05/05

The following is the full text of a letter from the district distributed to parents. It can be found on their web site here

Arlene Ackerman
Superintendent of Schools

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San Francisco Unified School District
555 Franklin Street, Room 301
San Francisco, CA 94102

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October 5, 2005

Dear SFUSD Parent or Guardian,

As you may already know, mediation sessions have stalled between the school district and SEIU Local 790, whose members include custodians, cafeteria workers and school secretaries and clerks.

Please be assured that the district does not seek a strike, and the Board of Education will continue to work diligently toward a mutually agreeable solution. Just this week, the Board of Education advanced two proposals for a two-year contract.

The first offer would increase wages by 4%, and the second would increase wages by 2% and provide free health care for one dependent and 75% coverage for two or more dependents. Both offers also continue to include 3 additional days off, no furloughs, and other terms favorable to workers. The latest contract options can be seen on the SFUSD website at www.sfusd.edu.

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The latest offers would improve SEIU members’ existing compensation, which already includes:

• Wages that rank either 1st or 2nd among counterparts in Bay Area school districts
• Free health care for employees, 80% coverage for employee plus one dependent, and 60% coverage for employee plus two or more dependents and lifetime health care coverage for retired employees plus dependents
• Retirement contributions of more than 14% of salary, including SFUSD paying the entire employee’s portion of 7.5%
• 15 paid holidays plus up to 4 weeks of paid vacation

To avoid the fate of other Bay Area school districts that have gone bankrupt and that have been taken over by the State, the Board of Education must balance SEIU’s demands for more compensation increases against the district’s fiscal solvency. The Board must also keep in mind the salary increases that need to be provided to our schools’ teachers and principals.

At a time when health care costs are rising rapidly and the State continues to under-fund its Prop 98 payments to schools, the Board is offering SEIU employees increases in wages and health care benefits that will further stretch already thin resources. SFUSD has already closed schools and reduced hundreds of positions to cut spending.

SFUSD will continue to bargain in good faith and follow the collective bargaining processes under California law. We hope that SEIU members will be allowed to vote on the district’s new proposals and that we will reach an agreement soon. In the meantime, we will continue to inform parents and community members of our progress.

Respectfully,
Arlene Ackerman
Superintendent

Handy guide to school "reforms"

For education wonks: The Education Writers' Association has produced a handy 20-odd-page PDF guide to school "reforms" such as charters, vouchers, privatization and such.

With luck, this will help professionalize some of the mindless, unquestioningly gushing coverage of some of these reforms that we see too often. While I think the coverage in our local press has been pretty good &mdash the "it's a miracle!" Chronicle gushfest over now-fizzled Edison Schools was a lapse that probably taught them to apply skepticism a little more intelligently &mdash it's still disconcerting to Google a charter operator, such as Envision Schools, and watch the breathless hype roll onto your screen.

By the way, I've been meaning to praise some of the Chron's charter-school coverage for leading to important legislation to curtail abuses. I keep procrastinating because of the effort of checking the numbers of the bills and digging up the links.

&mdash Caroline

Local 790 "Why We’ll Strike"

I found this letter posted on the SEIU Local 790 web page. Since it is addressed to the public, I have to assume it's OK for me to quote most of it here. I have lots of opinions, but for now I'll just pass this along without further comentary.

The SEUI Local 790
Why We’ll Strike
An Open Letter to Parents & the Public from SEIU 790

Did you know that classified workers at the School District currently have to choose between taking a child to a doctor or putting food on the dinner table? They lack the family health benefit enjoyed by other employees of the District and the city, and have to pay the entirety of each year’s skyrocketing increase out of their own pockets. We hope you’ll agree that our children’s health coverage is more critical than lavishing perks, including a $375,000 severance package, on a School Superintendent who has already quit. [...]

The workers of San Francisco’s Unified School District have been bargaining in good faith with the District for almost a year. Like every other union in the District, we have been continuing to work without a contract. It was the district, not this union, who declared "impasse" and walked away from the negotiating table during a week in which we made five separate concessions. When Mayor Newsom offered to help facilitate an agreement, we accepted his offer and the district rejected it. When former Mayor Brown offered to do the same, we accepted his offer and the district rejected it. The district rejected every one of the mediators we suggested, at which point we accepted one chosen by them. We’ve done all we can to resolve this at the bargaining table instead of on the picket lines. [...]

To help avert a strike, please call the Board of Education (all numbers 415):
Jill Wynns: 828-7204
Norman Yee: 225-2458
Dr. Dan Kelly: 565-6810
Sarah Lipson: 793-1110
Eddie Chin: 356-2840
Mark Sanchez: 828-0029
Eric Mar: 378-5864

Remind them that working families deserve health coverage, and that those who’ve served the District for over a decade should not be classified as "temporary employees" in order to be cheated out of their health care.

--TD / SEIU 790

SFUSD School Fair on October 29th

The district has updated information on the annual school fair here: Educational Placement School Fair

Looking For The Right School For Your Child?

Come to the Public School Enrollment Fair on Saturday, October 29, 2005, 9:00am to 3:00pm, at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium located at 99 Grove Street, San Francisco (Civic Center, near City Hall).

Find out what each school can offer your child:

• Learn about the enrollment process and key dates for the 2006-2007 school year
• Hear about SFUSD’s pre-kindergarten through 12th grade programs
• Meet teachers, principals, and parents
• Participate in information workshops

SF School Photoblogging: Aptos Middle School

This week's photoblogging finally breaks out of the sterile rut of plain architectural shots. We return to the site of our very first school photoblogging shot, Aptos Middle School. Enjoy.

GreatSchools.net: School Board Notes 10/11/05

School Board Notes 10/11/05
By Nicole Freeling
GreatSchools.net Correspondent

• Teachers' union calls for contract, voices solidarity with SEIU
• Board joins union in asking mayor for help
• Policy adopted to thwart military recruitment

As the district faces the looming possibility of a strike by its so-called classified employees, labor woes took center stage Tuesday, with fed-up district employees filling the sidewalk before the meeting to voice their grievances.

Teachers' union calls for contract, voices solidarity with SEIU

Demonstrators packed the sidewalk out in front of the district for an hour before the meeting, chanting, waving placards and handing out fliers arguing their case for action against the district. Joining representatives of Service Employees International Union Local 790, which is in the throes of a contract impasse with the district, were members of United Educators of San Francisco, which held its own demonstration to call for action on signing a contract. Speaking to the board at the meeting, UESF President Dennis Kelly told members, "You understand a potential strike is not just about SEIU but about UESF and (other unions) as well. ... We have not received any kind of a raise since 2002, and that makes people desperate. Desperate people do desperate things."

UESF has written a resolution indicating support for SEIU should it strike but, according to Kelly, the union is "staying away from an absolute commitment (advising teachers) to cross or not to cross a picket line." Kelly declined to comment on whether the union was considering calling for its own strike. Executive Director of Labor Relations Tom Ruiz said the district is prepared to "do whatever it takes to keep the schools open," in the event of a strike, including hiring substitutes to fill in for teachers.

Board Joins Union in Asking Mayor For Help

Meanwhile, in an attempt to avoid a strike, the board agreed it would seek the help of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and his staff in trying to help resolve the dispute. Board members agree a strike would be disastrous for the district. Members of Parents for Public Schools appeared at the meeting to entreat the district to do everything in its power to avoid such a scenario.

"We are asking Newsom and his staff to become involved in the conflict," Board President Eric Mar said. "It is not being defined as mediation. It is not a formal process, but we are welcoming the Mayor's input to help us avert a strike."

Representatives of Local 790 had called a week ago on Newsom to intervene, but the district said the mayor's involvement was unnecessary as proposals were still on the table. Talks fell apart, however, after union negotiators rejected two offers proposed by the district, one which would offer a four percent raise over two years, and one which would provide a two percent raise and greater dependent healthcare coverage. The union has called for both a four percent raise and increased dependent coverage.

Policy adopted to thwart military recruitment

Infuriated by No Child Left Behind provisions regarding the release of student contact information to military recruiters, the board unanimously approved a resolution to make it easier for students to request that such information not be shared.

Students are allowed to keep their information private if they sign an "opt-out" form. If a student opts out, however, his or her name cannot be released to organizations seeking to publicize jobs or scholarships either.

Parents have appeared frequently before the board to complain they have not received information either of their child's ability to opt or of the fact that their child's name will automatically be given to military recruiters if they do not do so. Between 30 to 40 percent of students in the district have no opt in/opt out card on file. Of those who have returned a card, 90 percent have chosen to opt out.

The new policy aims to ensure that all students file an opt in/opt out card. It establishes that the cards will be distributed in homeroom or equivalent classes at all high schools in the first weeks of the fall semester and be filled out and returned on the same day. If either the parent or student signs the opt out choice, or if their are conflicting cards on file (a child opts in but a parent opts out, for example), the opt out will prevail. "We all agree we want kids to opt out and we'll do what it takes to do that," board member Mark Sanchez said.

The resolution also states that students will not need to resubmit the documents for subsequent school years unless their wishes have changed. Board member Jill Wynns said she would like to see some training for principals and other staff to make sure they do "only exactly what they law requires." Military recruiters are entitled to participate in career and recruitment fairs. "That's not hanging out in the lunchrooms, its not following students around." While she said she believed such instances were rare in San Francisco, such aggressive recruitment has happened at schools elsewhere.

RAND: Edison schools' outcomes 'not certain'

Parents Advocating School Accountability, San Francisco

The respected RAND research organization, which was paid by Edison Schools to do a multi-year study of the controversial, for-profit school management company, today issued its long-delayed report, which pointedly refrains from recommending Edison as a solution for school districts.

Although Edison reportedly had input into how RAND presented the study results, some of the most telling comments in the report summary are less than glowing.

"…[W]e cannot make strong predictions for prospective clients about whether they will achieve better long-term results with Edison or with an alternate approach," the report acknowledges. And it adds: "Whether Edison’s average achievement effects ultimately exceed those of comparison schools is not certain."

RAND’s language in the report could be best described as lukewarm, especially given that Edison paid for the study. "[T}here is some weak evidence that Edison’s effectiveness as an organization might have improved over time," the report offered.

The 292-page report, originally due for release in 2003, decisively shows that the number of schools Edison manages has fallen significantly. Edison uses inflated, conflicting and murky figures on its website and in other materials that often mislead researchers. The RAND report states that Edison has managed a total of 140 schools at some point in its 12-year history and that it currently manages 103.

The report also relies on data from numerous schools that Edison no longer manages, in at least 11 school districts that have canceled contracts with Edison.

Parents Advocating School Accountability will provide further updates on the RAND report shortly.

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Pot clubs vs. kids & neighborhoods, part 2

The op-ed below was written by a neighbor of the embattled Green Cross pot club on 22nd Street. There's an update since she wrote it: the current proposal being considered by the supervisors would not allow pot clubs in areas zoned NC-1 for small neighborhood businesses. That's one piece of good news. But they would still be allowed close to schools, and customers could still buy a pound a day.

I'll add my own disclaimer &mdash I fully support patients' access to medicinal marijuana, and I'm OK with legal recreational use too. But the distribution system must not harm children, families and neighborhoods.

A neighbor's troubling experience
with the pot club down the street

By Anne Crawford

San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors is working on regulations for medical cannabis dispensaries (pot clubs) that legally distribute marijuana to patients with medical needs.

I support providing medical marijuana to patients, but as the neighbor of a problem pot club in Noe Valley, I’ve learned the hard way that the clubs must be regulated.

The pot club moved in around the corner about a year ago. Everything seemed fine at first. It was clean and unobtrusive, and the owner was eager to work with neighbors.

But soon the club became a magnet for patrons from a wide area. The owner began advertising on AM radio, and we became a "destination," since so few Bay Area cities allow pot clubs.

Customers arrived by car, circling the block, double parking, blowing stop signs and speeding through alleys. Many customers re-sell the pot.

One day last summer, my young daughters and I were trapped in my house for two hours while a pair of drug dealers parked outside. Every 15 minutes a car would roll up. One of the dealers would get out of the parked car, jump in the other car, and take a trip around the block. I called 911, but there was no response, because police have a non-enforcement policy for pot clubs.

My kids can no longer ride their bikes in the neighborhood because of the heavy traffic and dealers reselling marijuana. There is a K-8 school next door to me, and teachers say kids have been offered marijuana and girls have been propositioned.

This is not what supporters of medicinal marijuana had in mind.

Our neighborhood pot club has agreed to relocate, but our experience shows why tougher regulations are needed.

Pot clubs should be located at least 1,000 feet from schools so children do not have to walk by dealers and dodge the traffic they attract.

The proposed legislation allows customers to buy a pound a day from every pot club in the city. Regulations should limit the amount to discourage reselling.

Our neighborhood pot club is in a district zoned NC-1, for small businesses such as corner stores, which serve neighbors who come on foot. NC-1 districts rarely have parking, and the volume of customers overwhelmed our neighborhood.

The Planning Department and police did a count and tallied 200 per day people on weekdays and 300 on weekends.

Our neighbors are not NIMBYs. We welcomed the club initially. It’s not just our neighborhood we’re concerned about, either. Allowing pot clubs in NC-1 zones encourages them to locate in disadvantaged neighborhoods. We don’t want to see low-income residents subjected to these problems either.

If clubs are allowed only in higher-volume, established commercial districts with parking and public transit, they will be less of a nuisance. Streets like Valencia, 24th Street, Market Street and Van Ness can accommodate this type of business.

The supervisors must find a way to allow patients access to medical marijuana without damaging neighborhoods or endangering children.

&mdash Caroline

College admissions unmasked

I hope it's kosher to simply copy/paste another blog's intro to a relevant New Yorker article. This is from This Week in Education (way to my right in general):

In The New Yorker, the enviable Malcolm Gladwell dissects the American obsession whith attending elite colleges, reminds us that the link between attending an elite school and doing amazing things in life is not so clear, and chronicles how places like Harvard have over time evolved the selection criteria by usuing factors like athleticism and character to get the student body they want -- and maintain the "brand" they have created: Who gets into Harvard and why.

Gladwell notes, by the way, that the practice of including letters of reference and outside activities to demonstrate the applicant's well-rounded character was created by Harvard as a ploy to keep the percentage of Jews down.

I'm afraid that if I tell my 9th-grader that, he'll refuse to include any of that stuff in his college applications when the time comes. (His grandfather, my late father-in-law, attended Stanford under the Jewish quota.)

&mdash Caroline

Kids and the flu

As we all start to fret in earnest about the potential for an avian flu outbreak, let's spend a moment thinking about kids and the flu. I'm not going to get into the scary stories surrounding avian bird flu, and the potential for a pandemic. I believe that everyone is getting ahead of themselves on that story. Mind you, this is a very good thing for public health pros and disaster planners to do. But for now I think that we're better off remaining calm and educating ourselves on how to deal with the annual onslaught of the normal, garden variety flu.

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I heard a segment on NPR the other day that talked about the merits of vaccinating more kids: Shots for Kids May Be Best Flu Defense. Researchers have found that preschool aged kids, three and four years olds in particular, are the first to become infected and are likely to play an important role in spreading the flu. Their research is reported here: Surveillance Data Suggest That Preschoolers Drive Flu Epidemics. They make a pretty persuasive case for immunizing more young kids. Even if this research does not cause a change in policy (current policy only recommends vaccinating for younger babies), it would appear to make sense for individual kids to be immunized.

While this research may not be well established yet, and may not be a sound basis for parental action, there are plenty of things parents can do to help limit the spread of the flu virus.

The most important thing you can do is to monitor your kids and keep them home if you think they might have flu. If they are carrying the flu virus when they go to school, they will spread that virus. Kids' hygiene is not perfect! No matter how many times you tell them to wash their hands, cover their mouths when coughing, or keep their fingers out off their face and out of their mouth and nose, they will not comply. They will spread germs. Eventually we hope to train them well and instill good habits. Meanwhile, in school, they share their germs liberally So if they show symptoms, err on the side of caution.

If you child is running a fever accompanied by chills, cough, sore throat, headache, or muscle aches, they should not go to school. Keep them home until 24 hours after the fever has subsided.

Labor roller coaster, continued...

The news from the SEIU / SFUSD negotiations is not good. Mediations sessions have more or less broken down, and the union is indicating that a strike is likely. They have also asked Mayor Newsom to intervene to help break the deadlock. The main sticking point appears to be family health benefits, as well as the timing and size of a modest raise. Yet, it is hard to know what is on the table. According to the Chron, both sides are still trading proposals.

The union is threatening a strike with only 24-hour notice. Dennis Kelly of the teachers union promises that teachers will not cross an SEIU picket line. Meanwhile the district continues to negotiate. They have rejected a prior proposal to use Newsom as a mediator, though circumstances may be different now.

continue reading...

The Examiner's most recent article is from 10/4, Service workers ask mayor to intervene:

Calling for Mayor Gavin Newsom to intervene, union representatives for 1,200 cafeteria, custodial and clerical workers in The City's public schools announced Monday that contract negotiations between the San Francisco Unified School District and the service employees union had failed.

The Chronicle's most recent article is from 10/5, Mayor offers to help schools labor talks:

Mayor Gavin Newsom said Tuesday he would help negotiate labor peace between the San Francisco Unified School District and its custodians, secretaries and cafeteria workers to avoid a strike -- but there was mixed reaction to the offer.

Leadership of Service Employees International Union 790 -- which represents 1,200 school workers -- has urged Newsom to take a formal role in negotiations, but the infamously divided Board of Education is again split over whether it wants him involved.

Leaders of SEIU 790 said this week a strike is "extremely likely" and that they would give a 24-hour notice before taking to the picket line.

More money for your school! We mean it

It's time to say it again:MORE MEAL APPLICATIONS SUBMITTED MEAN MORE MONEY FOR YOUR SCHOOL!

Here’s why.

The National School Lunch Program reimburses SFUSD for lunch for every low-income student who files a meal application. If a student does not file an application and does not have money, SFUSD provides the lunch. This cost comes directly out of our children’s and classroom needs. Of course, it’s essential that every low-income child get a nutritious lunch. A well-nourished child is a child who is ready to learn and focus in class.

• The only way to collect meal applications from every low-income student is to collect applications from all students, since school administrators cannot guess at which children might qualify and single them out to collect forms.
• Families who know they don’t qualify should write NOT INTERESTED across their meal application and return it to their school or to the SFUSD Student Nutrition Services Department.

And there are other crucial reasons to collect all meal applications!

The meal applications are the ONLY way that SFUSD identifies the number of low-income students. If some low-income students do not file a meal application, the school’s and the school district’s percentage of low-income students is undercounted. This costs our schools and our children money and resources! Here’s why.

• Schools receive Title I federal funds based on the percentage of low-income students. If the percentage is underreported, the schools get less money than they should.
• Many grants are based on the school’s and the school district’s percentage of low-income students. Underreporting the percentage of low-income students means schools get less grant funding than they should. Schools and individual teachers report that they have lost grants because the school’s reported percentage of low-income students was slightly too low. This was probably because of unreturned meal applications! Schools and classrooms would undoubtedly win more grants that directly benefit our children if all meal applications were returned.
• Part of California’s Academic Performance Index school ranking system involves Similar Schools scores, which rank schools compared to other schools with similar demographics. If a school’s percentage of low-income students is underreported, it receives a lower Similar Schools score than it deserves, harming the school’s reputation unfairly.

As of Friday, Oct. 7, last year's meal application qualifications expire. Students who don't have a new meal application on file no longer get reimbursements from the feds. Meal applications can be accepted any time throughout the year &mdash but the sooner the better.

Please spread the word.

&mdash Caroline

A parent's concern about pot clubs

A friend of a friend who's not an e-list user asked me to circulate this message about pot clubs near homes and schools.

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I have lived 1 block from a pot club for one year. We have observed rampant re-dealing of marijuana out on the street, reckless driving, and smoking of marijuana on the streets around the club. (I live within 2 blocks of 4 schools.) The club gets 60-80 customers an hour on a busy night. The recent article by Matier and Ross documented the armed robberies of these cash-rich clubs in the East Bay. (8/29/05) There has been an armed robbery of a client in our neighborhood. Now I see that the new legislation to "regulate" the clubs will:

• allow pot clubs 500 feet from schools (1 block)
• allow the purchase of 1 pound per day, every day (no cross-checking)
• not limit the clustering of clubs (children would could be walking past a string of them to school)
• allow smoking in the clubs 1,000 feet from a school (about 2 blocks)

If parents don't want this, I hope they will please contact their supervisor and Mayor Newsom immediately. This legislation is quietly and quickly moving through City Hall and may be ratified within two weeks. I have a child at SOTA and would believe a club at Tower Market would be disastrous

A Concerned Parent

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The issue has received scant coverage in the local press. The only two articles I can find about this are: SF Neighborhood Fighting Medical Pot Club from KRON, and Medical pot clubs under scrutiny from the Examiner. A cryptic summary of the most recent cannabis legislation before the SF BOS can be found here: 051250 - [Medical cannabis guidelines and medical cannabis dispensary zoning and permitting]

TPM Cafe: A true story about Bill Bennett

In case anyone thinks that the public school abolitionists that Caroline frequently warns about are some radical fringe that is harmlessly out of the mainstream, check out this story by Reed Hundt, former FCC Chair, from the TPM Cafe website.

Just another reason to be motivated to fight against Arnold's anti-school propositions.

A true story about Bill Bennett By Reed Hundt

When I was chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (1993-97), I asked Bill Bennett to visit my office so that I could ask him for help in seeking legislation that would pay for internet access in all classrooms and libraries in the country. Eventually Senators Olympia Snowe and Jay Rockefeller, with the White House leadership of President Clinton and Vice President Gore, put that provision in the Telecommunications Law of 1996, and today nearly 90% of all classrooms and libraries do have such access. The schools covered were public and private. So far the federal funding (actually collected from everyone as part of the phone bill) has been matched more or less equally with school district funding to total about $20 billion over the last seven years. More than 90% of all teachers praise the impact of such technology on their work. At any rate, since Mr. Bennett had been Secretary of Education I asked him to support the bill in the crucial stage when we needed Republican allies. He told me he would not help, because he did not want public schools to obtain new funding, new capability, new tools for success. He wanted them, he said, to fail so that they could be replaced with vouchers,charter schools, religious schools, and other forms of private education. Well, I thought, at least he's candid about his true views. The key Senate committee voted almost on party lines on the bill, all D's for and all R's against, except one -- Olympia Snowe. Her support provided the margin of victory. On the House side, Speaker Gingrich made sure the provision was not in the companion bill, but in conference again Senators Snowe and Rockefeller, with White House support, made the difference. The Internet has been the first technology made available to students in poorly funded schools at about the same time and in about the same way as to students in well funded schools.