San Francisco School Board Notes

District's Plan to Boost Lunch Money for Schools

By Nicole Achs Freeling
GreatSchools.net Correspondent

School officials appealed to the city for a $1 million electronic meal payment system that they said would save SFUSD $1 million a year, money that could go into providing healthier student meals. Following the meeting Thursday of the Select Committee of the Board of Education and Board of Supervisors, Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi (District 5) said he believed funding such a system would have broad support on the Board of Supervisors.

"It's incumbent upon us to figure out a way to come up with this money," said Supervisor Sophie Maxwell, (District 10), who was responsible for bringing up the discussion. "This is important for us, it's important for our children and it's a way for us to say that this city cares about its families."

Also in attendance at the meeting were Supervisors Bevan Dufty (District 8) and Commissioners Hydra Mendoza and Jill Wynns.

Representatives from the Mayor's Department of Children, Youth and Families, and from the district's Student Nutrition program, discussed efforts that have been made to improve student nutrition, beginning with outlawing the sale of junk food and soda in 2003. They highlighted some pilot programs that have shown promising results. One is developing "Grab and Go" breakfasts that students eat at their desks during the first 15 minutes of school. The idea came about because many students rush to class just in time for the bell without having a meal first. In the schools where the Grab and Go breakfasts have been implemented, the numbers of kids eating school breakfasts has shot up 225 percent, according to district representatives.

Another initiative has been putting salad bars in cafeterias at schools such as Balboa High; this has increased the number of kids eating school lunches by 26 percent.

However, the district's Student Nutrition Services continues to face a gap between the "lunch money" it gets from the state and federal government and the costs of operating the program. The gap has shrinking over the last several years from $1.2 million to about $560,000, but that deficit has to be made up from the district's much-strained general fund.

A point-of-sale system, in which students pay for meals using prepaid electronic swipe cards, would bring tremendous value, supporters said. They estimated after the one-time cost of installation, it would save the district a million dollars a year by eliminating the need to collect and count cash, providing better inventory control and enabling faster reimbursement from the government. The program would make meal lines move much faster and, because of this streamlining, make it possible to expand the successful Grab and Go breakfast program to every school, supporters said. Also important, the system would eliminate the stigma of receiving free meals by making it impossible to know which students qualified and which were full-paying. The reduced stigma could mean more kids would apply for free and reduced lunches, which are reimbursed through federal funds. The district policy is not to turn away any child who doesn't have lunch money; in the cases of children who haven't applied for free lunches, the district simply absorbs the cost.

The money the district saved each year would mean nutrition services would not encroach on the general fund budget, district representatives said. The district would also have about $350,000 a year to put back into school meals for improvements, such as expanding salad bars and bringing more seasonal produce to the menu.

"None of this is in the mayor's budget that has come to us," Mirkarimi said. "We need to figure out where to come up with it." But he said he thought there would be support for finding the funds. "I definitely think it will be well-received by the other supervisors. I can't see why it wouldn't be." He noted, however, that "we seem to be discovering this almost by accident. I'm wondering why it wasn't put to us more formally by the mayor's office or the school district."

For her part, Wynns said she hadn't known district representatives intended to ask the city to fund the program, although she supported the idea. Wynns said the district has applied for a grant to fund the system but could put those funds to other student-nutrition-related uses.

Board Discusses NCLB's Impact on the District

By Nicole Achs Freeling
Greatschools.net Correspondent

With George W. Bush's education reform initiative No Child Left Behind soon to come up for reauthorization in Congress, school board members discussed the impact of NCLB on the district at a Committee of the Whole Meeting Monday night.

The board, along with the district and teachers, has been highly critical of NCLB and its members have lobbied heavily against it.

What is NCLB?

The discussion Monday began with an outline of the requirements of NCLB. The act requires states to set targets for students and categories of students to achieve proficiency in key subjects, as measured by state standardized tests. These targets determine whether a school makes "Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP)." The goal is for 100 percent of students to reach proficiency by 2014. Schools and districts that do not meet growth targets two years in a row are deemed to be in "program improvement." SFUSD has 26 program improvement schools and this year it was deemed a program improvement district.

Critics of NCLB say the 100 percent proficiency target is unattainable. Rather than being measured by one national standard, proficiency is measured differently state by state. Commissioner Jill Wynns said California standards are especially high. "Proficiency" according to state standardized tests was designed to be higher than grade-level, and, in fact, to the level that would be on target to qualify for admission to the state university system. There are estimates, Wynns said, that every district in the state will be a program improvement district within the next three years.

NCLB has a number of other key requirements, including:

• That, by the end of this year, all teachers be "highly qualified." This means they must have a bachelors degree, have proper certification, and be actually teaching in the subject areas in which they are trained. District representative Ky Vu said 95 percent of SFUSD teachers will meet that requirement by the fall.
• That junior and senior students' contact information be made available to military recruiters, unless those students "opt out" of receiving information from both the military and college scholarship/financial aid organizations. The district, Vu said, has adopted a rigorous opt-out program, which informs students of the program and gives them the opportunity to opt out starting in the 9th grade.
• That the district allow students to transfer out of a program improvement schools to another school, and that the district provide transportation to the new school. This has not affected SFUSD much because of its choice-based enrollment system, Vu said. Only two students requested transfers this year under NCLB.
• That the district fund after-school tutoring for students who are testing below proficient and at program improvement schools. Under this provision, the district must use some of its federal funding to pay for tutoring services through private firms like Kaplan and Sylvan Learning Centers.

Impact On Curriculum

During the discussion, district representatives laid out several key areas in which they feel NCLB has negatively affected San Francisco schools. The biggest impact is in curriculum itself, district representatives said. "We're testing rigorously every three to six weeks," fifth-grade teacher Dawn Murmur said. "The curriculum is mediocre, dumbed down. It's an insult to the students and it's an insult to me."

One of the biggest impacts, board members agreed, has been the narrowing of curriculum at under-performing schools. Board members say this hurts the very students it's meant to help, by not offering them a rich curriculum that will excite them and keep them in school.

"One of the reasons test scores have gone up is people have learned what's going to be on the test, and they teach toward that, and the kids are being cheated," said Board President Mark Sanchez, who is an eighth-grade teacher. "[Meanwhile] the numbers go up and it makes it look like we're doing our job."

NCLB mandates that kids below proficiency take additional remedial classes in core curriculum rather than electives. Because of this requirement, electives have been virtually eliminated at some under-performing, mostly East Side, schools, according to Vu. "In some middle schools, kids are getting two to three hours of math and English a day," Sanchez said.

NCLB has also been controversial in the way it treats special-education students and English language learners. Critics say the tests are stacked against these students, and schools with high numbers of these students end up penalized for lower test scores.

Where the Act Stands in Congress

Some members of Congress including Democrats are pushing to have a bill reauthorizing NCLB out of the House of Representatives before the summer recess, and a Senate version could be taken up as early as the fall, according to UESF leaders. National Educators Association representative Cecil Cahoon said the fast timeline would pre-empt the kinds of rewrites needed to improve the program. And, if there were to be major revision, Bush might veto it, leaving NCLB standing as is, he said. He urged people to write to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi voicing their opposition to NCLB in his current form. For more information on the letter writing campaign, Cahoon can be reached at ccahoon@nea.org.

Community Budget Workshop 5.23.07

By Nicole Achs Freeling
GreatSchools.net Correspondent

• District Offers Primer on Next Year's Budget
• Interim Superintendent Chan to Retire

District Offers Primer on Next Year's Budget

At a Community Budget Workshop Thursday night at Balboa High School, district representatives offered a primer on the district's budget: where the money comes from, how expenditures break down and what changes might be coming at the state level.

Increases in federal, state and local revenue have helped to offset the loss of funds due to declining enrollment, according to district budget documents. Commissioner Jill Wynns said the district has not had to make the major cuts it did last year — such as closing schools — to balance its budget. But the district faces continued budget pressure due to declining enrollment, which amounts to about 800 students a year, equal to about $7 million of funding.

Myong Leigh, chief of policy and planning, explained that the district's two main funds are its facilities fund, comprising bond money, developer fees and state building funds, and its general fund, made up largely of revenue from the state. The general fund is broken down into unrestricted funds, which can be spent at the discretion of the district, and restricted funds, which are earmarked for categorical programs such as special education.

The district is looking at a $640 million budget for 2006-07. It is expecting unrestricted general fund revenues of $356 million, up from $332 million last year. Its budgeted expenditures are $334 million.

Most of the budget pressure has fallen in the area of unrestricted fund. The reason is that the district gets money per pupil from the state, based on average daily attendance. As enrollment has declined, this money has declined. "A well-funded district can weather some declining enrollment," Leigh said. "But a chronically inadequately funded system that shows continual declines can't do it."

Some good news came from Sacramento earlier this month in the form of the governor's May revision of the state budget, which allocated a cost-of-living (COLA) increase of 4.58 percent to the district, higher than S.F. school officials were expecting. The COLA increase is meant to keep state funding in line with increasing costs of operating schools.

The 4.58 percent COLA represents about $13 million in additional money for the district, according to district Budget Director Reta Madhavan. Expected declines in attendance will represent a loss of about $7 million, leaving a net of about $6 million in additional money. That, however, will be wiped out by salary increases for teachers reaching higher seniority levels, increases in health benefit costs and pay raises negotiated in last year's union contracts with employees, district representatives said.

The district is looking at two main strategies for addressing the budget crunch caused by declining enrollment, representatives said. One is the development of a long-term plan to increase enrollment, a first for the district, Leigh said. The other is the launch of a parcel tax, which is currently slated for the February 2008 ballot, to coincide with presidential primaries. The tax would seek to raise funds largely to increase compensation for teachers and add additional classroom and administrative staff, as well as develop other initiatives aimed at building enrollment.

The parcel tax could be a huge boon to the district, on the order of Proposition H, Leigh said.

But, Wynns said, tax increases are always a hard sell, and they must pass by a two-thirds majority. "It's very unlikely we can pass a parcel tax if we have a big fight with the unions this year." To that end, she said, the district is working hard to reach an agreement with the teachers union on its upcoming contract by the end of this school year, a move that would be unprecedented in the district.

Wynns encouraged community members to get involved in helping the parcel tax succeed. "This is one of the few things we can do — not just in the district but in the whole community — to make a big impact on the (funding) dilemma."

Interim Superintendent Chan to Retire

After a 40 year career with the school district, in addition to 13 years as student here, Acting Superintendent Gwen Chan announced she would be retiring from the district July 1, 2007. She said she would be happy to help with the transition to the new superintendent, which the board is expecting to name by the end of the month, according to BOE President Mark Sanchez.

Chan's move disappointed those who had hoped she would seek the post of permanent superintendent.

Chan made her announcement Wednesday at Francisco Middle School, which she had attended as a youngster, giving the graduation speech in 1960. She spoke to a crowd of supporters that included Mayor Gavin Newsom, current and former board members, the police chief and other civic leaders. Commissioner Norman Yee gave Chan a big letter "F" for service that had he attained at Francisco as a youngster.

School Board Notes 5.3.07

By Nicole Achs Freeling
GreatSchools.net Correspondent

District Graduates Get Mixed Reviews From City College

At a meeting with the BOE Thursday night, officials from City College of San Francisco reported on how well incoming SFUSD students are doing compared to other students at the college. The meeting had good news and bad news for the district.

SFUSD students have been entering the college at lower levels of English proficiency than other new high school graduates, and their ability has been trending lower over the last several years. In math, SFUSD grads placed higher than graduates of SF private schools, but lower than from schools outside the city. Math abilities of incoming students have been improving over the last few years.

SFUSD students have been steadily improving the percentage of units passed, reaching 63 percent this year. They have a higher rate than other students of continuing at the college from semester to semester, with a re-enrollment rate of 85 percent. "There is something about SFUSD students that they stick with it here," said CCSF representative Steven Spurling. "Persistence has a lot to do with success."

The complete report can be viewed here.

It was presented May 3 at a joint meeting of the Curriculum and Program Committee of the Board of Education and the Education Committee of the San Francisco Community College District Board of Trustees.

The report found that 59 percent of SFUSD grads were placing into English at the most basic level, compared to 36 percent of those from private SF high schools and 45 percent of those from outside the city. Only 7 percent were placing in at college level, compared to 17 percent of kids from private schools in the city and 12 percent of kids from out-of-area schools.

Kids who come in at the most basic level have to take five courses just to get up to the level of freshman English, Spurling said. "The questions is, 'Why the dickens would someone be able to place in that low?' Without finger-pointing, that's been an issue we've had for years."

Board members said one cause was lack of communication between SFUSD faculty and CCSF faculty about curriculum. Commissioner Jill Wynns asked whether CCSF's test was in line with standards, NCLB requirements and other material upon which the district itself is assessed. "Are you testing kids on what we're teaching them?" she asked.

"That's a good question," Spurling responded. There is no standard placement test being used by the colleges," he said. In fact, there are more than 100 different placement tests used by various institutions. "It's absurd and bizarre, but that's how it is."

The committee discussed trying to formalize communication between SFUSD teachers and CCSF faculty so teachers could be sure they were equipping their seniors to place into higher courses. Commissioner Kim Shree-Maufus cautioned, however, against another form of teaching to the test. "We don't want more kids are placing into these (higher) courses and then failing the course."

In a related address, commissioners heard from an organization called CalPASS (California Partnership for Achieving Student Success), a state-funded program designed to improve student success as they move from high school to college. CalPASS helps gather data about how students from each school and district fare after graduation. It also facilitates conversations between school districts and higher learning institutions, and works to help them align curricula so incoming freshman will be equipped for success.

"There's a misalignment across the state and across the nation," said Michele Kalina, senior director of operations for CalPASS. "Students come out of high school who have done well, and then they enter higher education and — whether it's CSU, UC or City College, find themselves ill-prepared to do the work that's expected of them."

Board members discussed moving immediately to join CalPASS. Assistant Superintendent Margaret Chu said the district had considered paying a private firm to help gather just the information CalPASS was offering to provide.

Select Committee Notes 4.12.07

By Kate Steinheimer
GreatSchools.net Staff

•    Committee Commends Student Nutrition Services Director
•    Committee Makes “In-Kind” Services Recommendations

Committee Commends Student Nutrition Services Director

The joint Board of Supervisors and Board of Education committee opened its meeting by recognizing Ed Wilkins, SFUSD student nutrition services director, for his service to the district. Commissioner Jill Wynns read a proclamation of commendation that listed Wilkins’ many accomplishments.  It stated that Wilkins is responsible for serving hot meals to thousands of SFUSD students each day, in addition to working to develop and implement the district’s healthy food and wellness policies. His other achievements include maintaining the district’s “No Child Left Hungry” policy, in which children eat lunch regardless of whether they can pay for it, and helping nutrition services become more fiscally sound, all while maintaining “a wicked sense of humor.”

Committee Makes “In-Kind” Services Recommendations

The main business of the meeting was a discussion of the planning process for the Public Education Enrichment Fund (Proposition H).  The Board of Education's Budget and Business Services Committee had previously considered a resolution to accept $2.5 million of Prop. H funds in in-kind services from the city instead of cash for 2007-08, the third year of Prop. H funding.  The resolution was controversial because it did not specify that the in-kind services would be new services.  Under the resolution, services the city has long provided to the district could be counted as fulfilling Prop. H requirements. The Budget and Business Services Committee sent the resolution to the joint Select Committee for consideration.

Supervisor Tom Ammiano, who helped author Prop. H, addressed the committee first and stated that the authors of the proposition meant new, not existing, services when they wrote that in-kind services could count toward the city’s Prop. H obligations.

Myong Leigh gave an update on the district's implementation of programs funded by Prop. H and the district’s plans for spending next year’s Prop. H funds. A representative from the city controller’s office reported that the spending plans for next year meet all Prop. H requirements and that the controller’s office recommended that the Board of Supervisors approve the plan.  She also stated that one third of the total Prop. H funds each year could be supplied in in-kind services instead of cash, which would mean the entire “third third” that is allocated for general education support could be provided in in-kind services.  (One- third of the Prop. H funds go to support sports, libraries, arts and music in the schools; one-third goes to the First 5 Preschool for All program; and one-third is designated for general education support.) Finally, the controller’s representative recommended that the district come up with more frequent and more outcome-based performance evaluation measures for evaluating Prop. H funded programs, and said an audit of Prop. H expenditures would begin in the fall.

Commissioner Jill Wynns responded to the controller’s report, stating that she was “stunned” to learn that the entire third third could be provided in in-kind services. She noted that the money had been used so far almost exclusively to put new staff in schools and that the district did not want to lose positions it had added for general education support.

Gloria Corral, deputy director of First 5, gave an update on the implementation of the Preschool for All program, and then the floor was opened to public comment.  Many speakers emphasized what a difference Prop. H funds had made to their schools or programs and almost all emphasized that they believed any in-kind services should be new, not existing, services.

Christina Wong from Chinese for Affirmative Action and parent activist Cindy Choy both urged that any in-kind services be both new and directly connected to education and academic achievement.  Lorraine Woodruff-Long, Parents for Public Schools executive director, asked the committee to be sure all contributions were new, not existing, and reminded committee members that while in-kind contributions were important, schools are very cash-strapped.

Several parents commented that their schools were already seeing big improvements from Prop. H funds, and students Adrienne Long and Devin Vyas from Miraloma Elementary School and Anna Rubenstein from Aptos Middle School provided reminders that the purpose of Prop H is to benefit children.

Dana Woldow gave several recommendations of how in-kind services could directly support district priorities, including IT staff to help man a new point of sale system Student Nutrition Services hopes to implement in school cafeterias. Margaret Brodkin, director of the San Francisco Department of Children, Youth and their Families, spoke on behalf of Mayor Newsom. She stated that the mayor supported interpreting Prop. H in-kind services as “new services starting today.”

After public comment, Commissioners Jane Kim and Hydra Mendoza both emphasized that in-kind services provided under Prop. H should benefit kids at schools and support the priorities of the school district. Commissioner Kim suggested that the controversial resolution could perhaps be put on hold and noted that there had been some fear that the Prop. H spending plan for next year would not be approved if the resolution were not accepted.

Commissioner Wynns said she was pleased that everyone was on board with in-kind services being new services, noting that concerned parents had flooded the Board of Education with emails and phone calls on the issue.

Supervisor Sophie Maxwell proposed that a small group should get together to come up with a list of in-kind services the city could provide that would support district priorities.  Supervisor Bevan Dufty agreed that Margaret Brodkin’s office, the Prop. H Community Advisory Committee, and district staff should work on the list of services with input from the Controller’s office. 

The committee voted to send a letter to the Board of Supervisors, the Board of Education and other involved parties recommending that any in-kind services provided under Prop. H be new, additional services and that the small group develop a list of appropriate services.  The committee also agreed to recommend putting the proposed resolution on hold as the list of services was developed.

Supervisor Maxwell also expressed concern that art instruction funded by Prop. H include culturally sensitive arts so that children “know and value everyone’s art.”  She requested a hearing to evaluate whether this was being accomplished under the district’s Arts Master Plan. That hearing was tentatively set for May 3.

School Board Notes 3.20.07

By Nicole Achs Freeling
GreatSchools.net Correspondent

• What The Community Wants From Public Schools
• Committee Discusses Use of In-Kind Services

What Community Wants From Public Schools

The results of a series of "community conversations" conducted over the last six months yielded some surprising and, board members said, illuminating answers to the question of what the public wants in its public schools.

Speaking before the Committee of the Whole Tuesday night, leaders of the conversations involving close to 1,000 members of the public laid out their findings in a sweeping report, complete with data showing how the responses varied by ethnic group. The study showed some significant differences among groups. Location was higher priority for African- American families than others, for example, while language programs topped the list for Latino families, academic performance for whites and Asians.

But facilitators found deep consensus on many issues. Among these were lack of trust in the current assignment process, a consistent negative perception surrounding S.F. public schools, a uniform desire for schools that felt safe and were in safe neighborhoods, and the desire for more solid, well-rounded schools in every community over specialty programs at specific schools.

The effort — led by the district's Parent Advisory Committee, Parents for Public Schools and the San Francisco Education Fund — involved convening close to 1,000 parents, youth and members of the public at large in some 87 small, "community conversations" throughout the district. The meetings were held in virtually every neighborhood and represented a wide range of ethnic, racial and socioeconomic groups.

The complete report will be available after March 23 in English, Spanish and Cantonese. Some of its key findings:

• Well-rounded schools over specific programs. For elementary school, the report concluded, parents are seeking a solid academic foundation, but also enrichment with art, sports and music. Parents valued daily language instruction offered from an early age over more specialized immersion programs. When it came to high school, specialized programs were more important. Parents and students were willing to sacrifice location for programs that could keep teens interested and energized, and offered electives and after-school programs that would give kids a sense of belonging. "Parents want the option to go across town for specific programs but they also need to know they can get a solid education at a convenient school, a minimum of solid academics, engaging instruction and quality teachers," said PAC member Stephanie Choy.

• Diversity a double-edged sword. "Many people want diversity, but they also want to be at schools with students like them," said one facilitator. "They want to feel comfortable that they are with other families that share their experiences and backgrounds." People only made choices based on diversity when all the other important factors were equal. "Diversity is trumped by location, academics and the students' own sense of belonging," said PAC member Ruth Grabowski.

• Parents like their school, hate enrollment process. "Many parents who got the school they wanted felt they had 'gotten lucky,'" said Grabowski. "Even when people get schools they like they don't understand or trust the process." Parents want a system that's clear and predictable. One member of the public, a recently married SF resident, expressed it this way. "A lot of my friends have one foot out the door (of San Francisco) because they feel they have to tour dozens of schools to find the good ones, and have to pick up a booklet that's a half-inch thick at the lobby to find out all the information, and it's just too overwhelming."

• Need to address under-performing teachers. Members of the public felt it needs to be easier to get rid of bad teachers and called for an honest discussion with the union around this. Several members of the board also discussed the need for some difficult talks with the teacher's union but said the big problems were getting more experienced teachers into lower performing schools and finding ways to better support teachers perceived as poor so they can improve.

Several board members sought to reassure the public that their input would be put to use. "I guarantee you, this is not going to sit on the shelf," said Commissioner Norman Yee, leader of the Committee of the Whole. Board members said the report would be incorporated into the long-term plan the district is developing and would continue to inform board policy.

Committee Discusses Use of In Kind Services

Budget and Business Services Committee discussed a controversial resolution to accept in $2.5 million worth of in-kind services from the city in lieu of cash next year under Proposition H, a voter-approved initiative to direct more money to the schools for enrichment programs. The resolution has generated controversy because it does not stipulate that the services the city provide be new programs. Under the current proposal, services that the city has long provided the district could  be counted as fulfilling Prop. H requirements.

"The people of San Francisco were very clear when they passed Proposition H that this was to be increased funding for the schools," said Novella Smith, a longtime member of the Community Advisory Committee that plans how Prop. H funds will be spent.

At the meeting Tuesday, Commissioners Jane Kim and Norman Yee (fellow committee member Kim-Shree Maufus was absent) discussed the resolution, and whether a stipulation should added to require new, rather than existing in-kind, services. After much wrangling and discussion, the commissioners decided not to vote on the matter and to table further discussion until a meeting with the Board of Supervisors. A Select Committee representing both members of the Board of Education and Board of Supervisors will meet Thursday, April 12 from the 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. in Board Chambers at City Hall.

"We want to make sure the Board of Supervisors is hearing the same concerns and from the same community as we do," said Commissioner Jane Kim. "We (all) need to understand the community concerns not only in terms of the funding but also how we define in-kind services."

"To be fair, I understand (the city's) concern. They don't want to be viewed as an ATM," she continued.  At the same time, she echoed concerns that the in-kind contribution would replace existing programs, rather than bringing new funds and programs to the district as was the intent of initiative. Among the in-kind services the city has proposed is providing utilities to the district. According to Kim, this would be a net benefit to the district because it would free up the money the district currently spends on utilities. But other in-kind services, such as free admission and tours of the Asian Art museum to SFUSD students, are programs the city already offers. To count them as in-kind services under Prop. H without expanding them wouldn't serve the intent of the proposition, Kim said.

Numerous members of the community Proposition H Committee appeared to urge the Budget Committee to give the resolution the thumbs down. "The amount of money is too high, it should be new services, and it needs to be services the schools need," said Smith after the meeting. This year's Prop. H spending plans calls for $250,000 in in-kind services, one-tenth of that in the resolution for next year. Smith was outraged the Budget Committee did not take action on the resolution, either to amend it or strike it down. "There are no two sides to this. You're going to fight for this or you're going to take the money from the kids."

However, supporters of the resolution, including its author,Commissioner Mark Sanchez, point to the need to work cooperatively with the city. Sandra Fewer of Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth, spoke of the need to resolve the issue quickly and get Prop. H funds flowing to the district. The Board of Supervisors has held off approving the district's current Proposition H spending plan — which it must approve before the city releases funds to the district — because of concerns that it doesn't include a large enough portion of in-kind services.

Citizens Committee Gives its Views on Superintendent Search

Community Advisory Council 3.14.07

The Community Advisory Council in charge of superintendent selection met in a focus group with search committee representative Wednesday to give input on what the district should be looking for in the new superintendent. Among the critical skills members cited: vision, open-mindedness, ability to engage with the community, political savvy, bargaining skills and ability to make partnerships and draw in funding.

While school board members Mark Sanchez and others have expressed a willingness to consider candidates who come from outside education, the committee expressed broad consensus that the candidate needed to be an experienced educator and/or administrator.

Committee members also said a superintendent needs to be open to community input and willing to work with bargaining units, such as the teachers, administrators and service employees. These were qualities that many found lacking in former Superintendent Arlene Ackerman.

Participants cited the widening achievement gap as perhaps the biggest problem facing the district. White and Asian students are performing well and helping drive test scores that are among the highest in the nation for a large urban district, but African-American, Latino and students with special needs have among the lowest test scores in the country. The dropout rate among African Americans is 58 percent, up from 48 percent two years ago, according to committee member Jeremiah Jeffries, a teacher at Sherman Elementary.

The group also discussed the issue of segregation within the school district. The new superintendent will need to work with the board to address this and to revise the controversial student-assignment process. Part of the challenge for a new superintendent, committee members said, will be to find a balance between those pushing for a return to neighborhood schools and those who support the existing assignment process and the system of choice in the district.

At the end of the meeting, facilitator and former SFUSD administrator Carol Choy asked committee members for suggestions for possible candidates. Among the names put forth:

• Current Interim Superintendent Gwen Chan, who has served as leader of the district since Ackerman left the post last year
• George McKenna, assistant superintendent in the Pasadena, Fla., school district, whose work transforming a gang-plagued South Los Angeles high school in the 1980s was the subject of an HBO movie, the George McKenna Story
• Tony Smith, superintendent of the Emeryville school district
• Cornel West, a Princeton University professor, author of the book Race Matters, and one of the nation's leading authorities on race, class and politics.

The focus group was one of several that will be held among key stakeholders over the next few days. Recruiters are also holding open public meetings this Saturday, March 17, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School in Bayview and from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at School of the Arts in Twin Peaks. The input will then be synthesized into a report that will be used in recruiting and hiring a new superintendent. The CAC on Superintendent Search will meet March 26 from 6 to 8 p.m. to review the report.

Prop H Committee Decides How to Spend Discretionary Funds

By Nicole Achs Freeling
GreatSchools.net Correspondent

A community advisory committee decided Thursday evening, January 4, 2007, how to allocate $10 million worth of discretionary funding through Proposition H, a voter-approved initiative that provides millions for programs to enrich public education.

Proposition H allocations will total $30 million in 07/08. One-third goes to the First Five Commission for preschool for all, one-third goes specifically for sports, libraries, arts and music programs (SLAM), and one-third can be used at the committee's discretion for a wide range of purposes. The Proposition H Community Advisory Committee voted Thursday on the portion known as the "third third," the portion allowed for general uses.

The committee sorted through numerous competing requests for the funds, including a spending plan proposed by the Superintendent's office and about $1.8 million worth of programs proposed by the Student Advisory Council. Since the committee plans to continue funding all of the programs it has initiated in previous years, the amount left for new programs in the "third third" is about $3.3 million.

The appropriations the committee approved included:

• $600,000 for translation services to help teachers, administrators and the district communicate with parents, both orally and through written materials. It is intended to include interpretation and translation in languages such as Samoan and Russian, for which there are currently no translation services, as well as expanding services in Spanish and Chinese.
• $600,000 to support Peer Resource Programs at middle and high schools. The funds continue programs initiated in prior years through Prop H, and add two new middle school and two new high school programs, for a total of six middle school and eight high school Peer Resource Programs.
• $770,000 to add wellness centers at four high schools. Wellness Centers provide health and mental health services including nursing services, substance abuse counseling and conflict resolution. With the addition of these centers, every one of the district's high schools will now have a wellness center.
• Close to $3 million to have a part-time nurse, counselor or other learning support professional at each elementary school. This allocation would simply continue to fund a program already initiated through Prop H; it does not allocate any additional funding or positions.
• $585,000 in new funding to provide middle schools with mental health services. The funds would add one part-time mental health professional at each middle school.
• $250,000 in in-kind services (rather than funds) from the city's department of  public health, possibly to be allocated for a pilot mental health program in secondary schools.
• $300,000 to develop a program at O'Connell High School and a  as-yet-to-be-determined middle school providing targeted support to students who reenter the school system after being chronically truant. The program would help these students catch up with their peers and reintegrate into the school system, as well as provide emotional support.
• $741,017 for custodial services. The district facililities office had proposed the money be allocated at 16 elementary schools and several CDCs. Committee members, however, took issue with the funds not going to any middle or high schools, especially after hearing testimony from many high school students about the condition of their bathrooms. It asked the district to  allocate the funds equally between CDCs, elementary schools, middle schools and high schools, identifying the schools of greatest need within each category.
• A pool  of money, amount to be determined, to be given to each high school to bring in nonprofit organizations to provide violence prevention and/or youth-driven programming. The funds would bring community-based organizations such as YouthSpeaks (a youth media project, United Playaz (a performing arts program) and similar program into the schools. It will be dispersed through each of the schools' wellness centers in conjunction with peer resources.
• $73,110  to add a full-time teacher for career and technical education.
• $250,000 to establish a system for evaluating the success of Prop H programs and to hire a staff person to serve as the Prop H coordinator.

The Committee voted down a proposal by the district for $255,161 for emergency supplies, which would ensure a baseline level of disaster preparedness at each school, including water, food and supplies in each classroom. Committee members said other funds should be available to cover those expenses, including federal funding provided through the Department of Homeland Security.

School Board Notes 12.5.06

By Nicole Achs Freeling
GreatSchools.net Correspondent

• Big Expansion of Language Programs Backed
• Move to Reconfigure Dream Schools

Big Expansion of Language Programs Backed

The Board of Education's Curriculum and Program Committee endorsed a resolution last night that would greatly expand the district’s language immersion programs and foreign language offerings. The resolution by Commissioners Dan Kelly, Eric Mar and Norman Yee would seek to provide every student the opportunity to graduate SFUSD with native-language fluency in English and another language. The resolution would “allow parents to decide what second language their children will acquire upon entering the district’s kindergarten.”

The proposal calls upon the superintendent to coordinate a one-year study and develop a plan, to be presented to the board by October 1, 2007, that could be phased in over a number of years. The study would be overseen by a 21-member Blue Ribbon Task Force comprising parents, teachers, school planners, language experts, business organizations and civic leaders in consultation with the district’s bilingual community council. The resolution will be voted on by the full board at the next regular meeting, December 12.

The resolution did not lay out specifics for achieving its goal. Mar said one likely component would be to expand the two-way immersion programs that have been highly popular at the district, and to expand opportunities for such programs beyond fifth grade, at which most of the current programs end.

Move to Reconfigure Dream Schools

With Gloria R. Davis, a "Dream School," unable to recruit students to fill its upper grades, the committee endorsed a proposal to reconfigure the Dream Schools in a way that would relocate or phase out the high school portion.

The Dream School program, established two years ago, is aimed at reforming lower-performing schools with a highly academic curriculum, required student uniforms, a longer school day and Saturday schools. The idea at the time was for Dream Schools to present a unified program running from pre-K through 12th grade. The current Dream Schools are Charles Drew, serving K–3; Willie Brown Jr. serving 4–6; and Gloria R. Davis, which, now serves 7–9. Davis was envisioned as a high school that would run through 12th grade. But it has been unable to recruit new students to upper grades, or retain Dream School students once they reach high school age. Its ninth-grade class currently has 26 students and four teachers.

The district has been looking at reconfiguring the grades at several of the Dream Schools to phase out upper grades. Hoover Liddell, a former district leader serving as a consultant to the superintendent, presented several proposals that community leaders in Bayview and at the affected schools had developed. These included:

• Keep Drew K–3; Have a “Drew” campus at Brown for 4–5 and another campus at Brown for 6-8; and close Davis.
• Close Drew at its current location; open a Drew campus at Brown for K–5; and maintain Davis as a 6–8.
• Keep Drew K–3; Have Brown be 4–5 and Davis serve 6–8. In this model, the focus at Brown would be getting kids to grade level by fifth grade; at Davis, the focus would be on helping students qualify for admission to Lowell, a high school with a merit-based admissions process.

The resolution forwarded to the BOE, which will likely be voted on Tuesday, does not contain any specific proposals, however. Committee members asked staff to continue to work with the Bayview community and gather more public input, presenting specific proposals to the board for consideration at its January 9 meeting. At that point, it could make a decision before Round 1 enrollment applications are due.

School Board Notes 11.27.06

District Considers Superintendent Search Firms

Three executive search firms pitched their services to a Board of Education committee on Monday to help the district search for a superintendent. The committee included board members Mark Sanchez, Eric Mar and Dan Kelly, and community members Jan Masaoka, Eunice Azzani and former Mayor Art Agnos. At its next regular meeting, December 12, the board will select one of the firms to lead the search for a new superintendent.

The three firms interviewed were the Executive Search Services of the California School Boards Association, an organization that lobbies for and provides services to school districts; Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates, a national search firm specializing in education; and Leadership Associates, a California-based firm that specializes in superintendent searches.

All three proposed structures that involved first, a period of public engagement and intensive discussion with the board, then recruiting through a variety of means 25 to 50 qualified candidates, and finally, presentation to the board of three to 10 finalists.

All firms agreed there should be significant public input in determining the qualities the district needs in a superintendent. But there were significant differences over how open the process should be. Making public the names of those under consideration would significantly shrink the pool of candidates, recruiters said. Some of the most qualified candidates might be happy to take the opportunity if it came, but wouldn't want to risk their current jobs to get it. Several recruiters cautioned against having Community Advisory Committees actually take part in the decision, as CACs were perceived as more prone than school boards to leak candidates' names.

California School Boards Association

CSBA conducted SFUSD's last search, in which the district hired Arlene Ackerman, who resigned from last fall amid controversy over her leadership. CSBA was also involved in recent searches in Los Angeles and Culver City, CA. The organization characterizes board involvement as "the heart" of its service.

CSBA's public engagement process includes Web-based surveys of community members, community meetings, site visits to schools to speak with staff and administrators, and meetings with other major city leaders. The organization then compiles a public report on its findings and, working with the board, begins a search.

Molly McGee Hewitt, director of the firm's executive search services, stated her commitment to providing candidates of diverse backgrounds. The organization prides itself on hiring of women and minorities. CSBA representatives cautioned the pool of candidates might be smaller if the interview process were open, or if a Community Advisory Committee — which could potentially leak candidates names — were involved. "It's more risky, but we can mitigate that somewhat by having them sign confidentiality agreements." Hewett said.

Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates

The firm, based in Glenview, IL, the only national firm to interview with the district, has done 500 school district searches throughout the U.S. It stressed its aggressiveness in seeking out the widest pool of candidates, a strategy based on calling 30 to 40 education leaders a day to ask for suggestions of who might be good candidates, and following up all recommendations.

The firm also underscored its commitment to long-term placements, saying most of its executives served 10 years or longer, compared with the average tenure for a superintendent in an urban school district of three years. "There's a correlation between the stability of leadership and the performance of students," partner Bill Attea said.

Attea said the firm would work with the board to structure a process that includes extensive public engagement. "We highly recommend that the board make the decision and does the interviews, with the community involvement on the front end of the process," he said. "You get a much, much stronger candidate pool." However, he said, the firm has worked on superintendent searches that ran the gamut, including those in which candidate interviews were not only conducted by CACs but were open to the public. Ultimately, Attea said, the decision would be up to the board.

Leadership Associates

Having placed 130 superintendents, Leadership is smaller than the other firms. But it stressed its local ties and its familiarity with California's unique budgeting and policy considerations as an asset. The members who would lead the search, Jim Brown and Larry Aceves, were formerly superintendents in the Bay Area, in Palo Alto and San Jose, respectively.

Leadership prides itself on the quality of its candidates — a quality it credits, in part, to a strict policy of confidentiality. The firm proposed a public engagement process of five days of public input, in which members would be at the district from dawn until dusk meeting with community members. However, the firm won't work on a search in which there is an open interviewing process. "If an open community interview is part of the process, we're not the right firm," Brown said. "People trust us when we go recruiting that this will be kept confidential."

The firm recently completed a search in Sacramento that it said was similar to that of that SFUSD, and is completing one in Pasadena, which had significant community interest and input. The firm also completed searches is Hayward, Monterey and Irvine that were unsuccessfully initiated by other recruitment firms. One of the most important factors in a successful search, Aceves said, is board members' agreement on what they are looking for. "If the board is not on the same page with one another, let alone the superintendent, it's not going to work," Aceves said.