Bike to School Day: Volunteers Needed

From the SF Bike Coalition newsletter:

Next Thursday, May 28th, is Bike to School Day! For the first time ever, Schools throughout San Francisco will be encouraging students and staff to ride their bikes to school for Bike to School Day! If you are a parent or staff member (or you know someone who is), we are in need of volunteers to make sure this day is a smashing success! We'll need parents to lead Commuter Convoys, park bikes at schools, hand out goodie bags and help with Bike Rode-eo's and more! If you can help on May 28, email bike2schoolday@gmail.com and for more information see:
www.biketoschoolday.org!

JROTC Reader

For those who just can't get enough of the JROTC issue, here are some links to related articles.

• SF Weekly: JROTC Is Saved. Its Instructors Are Not.
• Chron City Insider: JROTC program saved; instructors still get pink slips
• Tim Redmond at the Bay Guardian writes: JROTC: Now, the lawyers
• Mission Loc@l: JROTC Wins Battle with the District

One thing is clear, this issue is not resolved. Will the instructors be laid off? Will PE credits be restored? Will JROTC enrollment rebound? Will there be an alternate service program offered? Stay tuned because this will continue to roil the district.

Mark Sanchez gets a pass in the revolving door

This is interesting: S.F. school board hires Sanchez as principal

We have occassionally been critical of Mark during his tenure on the BOE. But I'm happy to see him return to the district as an educator. Lets not forget that he had to give up his teaching job to take on the thankless task of serving on the BOE. I see little or no ethical problems with letting him return to the district without delay.

There can be no doubt that he has been devoted throughout his carreer to the cause of social justice and the need to address the achievement gap in this district. This should be a good opportunity for Mark to make a difference at Horace Mann and to help Superintendent Garcia advance his strategic plan.

Rachel: Board votes 4-3 to reinstate JROTC

No better place to get the scoop on last night's BOE vote than from Rachel Norton: Board votes 4-3 to reinstate JROTC:

Shorthand: Resolution passed 4-3 with the following amendments:
give schools with enrollment of 50 students or fewer the option of dropping the program;
ask JROTC students and instructors to work to oppose Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.

Votes in favor: Mendoza, Norton, Wynns, Yee. Votes opposed: Kim, Fewer, Maufas.

Still to come: a battle over P.E. credit.

The issue that will never go away. The cast of characters on the BOE changes, but this issue outlasts just about all of them.