Muddy Waters: School Board's admission and renaming decisions
by P Segal
Ms. P Segal
We're living through times when change is necessary, as we face crises in public health, environmental catastrophe, political mayhem, economic and racial inequality, and the failure of capitalism to manage those issues. Massive social problems breed hysteria and an urgent need to root out the causes of those problems.
Changing Heroes
Changing school names is a step towards recognizing what has served us and what hasn't, but it's complicated, because historical figures were flawed human beings like the rest of us. People who actually know history, like the graduates of Lowell High, or professional historians—and not appointed officials with attitudes—should decide who did something that deserves a school name.
Eliminating merit-based enrollment is wrong on every level. The city has a high school for the arts, and another for students interested in the trades. There is a bi-lingual Chinese-American high school. Why shouldn't there be a school for those interested in academics? We need serious pursuit of knowledge to train intellects capable of solving all the massive problems we face.”
The committee recommending name changes put Lowell on the list, because they said James Russell Lowell was a racist. At the time when war raged over the right to own slaves, Lowell was an ardent abolitionist who supported giving freed slaves the vote. If the committee read his poems, they would find this:
"No! true freedom is to share
All the chains our brothers wear
And, with heart and hand, to be
Earnest to make others free!"
He may have formed other opinions, later in life, as people often do, but he was an activist who was passionately on the side of the equality.
Dumbing Down Academic Achievement
Eliminating merit-based enrollment is wrong on every level. The city has a high school for the arts, and another for students interested in the trades. There is a bi-lingual Chinese-American high school. Why shouldn't there be a school for those interested in academics? We need serious pursuit of knowledge to train intellects capable of solving all the massive problems we face.
Stripping the school of its legacy, to accommodate one concept of equality, is the lowest point in the dumbing down of America. The only way to solve problems is to give the absolute best education we can offer. The worst thing we could do is downgrade excellence in any aspect of public education. For over 100 years, the name of the school has meant high academic achievement, and we should keep it that way.
Real Problems Need Real Answers
Perhaps the answer is not to put kids who are inadequately prepared for Lowell's academic challenges into a difficult situation, just to make the numbers meet some standard of equality. It might be better to have advanced placement classes in every middle school, for students who'd like to go to Lowell and want to do the work. We have been trying measures like Affirmative Action for decades, and it clearly hasn't fixed racism or sexism.
Lowell High has been accused of racism, because students have to show academic merit to get in. Charges like this imply that Black students can't get the good grades needed for admission, which seems like a far more racist point of view. In fact, any bright kid can love learning and do well, when teachers use imaginative and compelling ways to engage and inform. The need for imaginative engagement in the classroom is even greater in communities where financial burdens are most dire, and hope is hard to find.
While it's a problem that there are not enough minority students at Lowell, other than highly represented Asian students, it may just be the result of the agency's policies. Teachers are limited by standard methodologies and supervision that discourages anything else. The kind of teaching needed to engage students in unsupportive situations is different from that the Department's status quo. Administrators need to let teachers use storytelling, educational play, and creativity to captivate and inspire, where motivation is limited: that's the art of teaching.
Changing Tactics
The controversies surrounding Lowell High School signify the need to change tactics, but not in the ways proposed by the SFUSD and Board of Education. In fact, the actions of those city agencies demonstrate exactly why we need to retain Lowell's standards of academic excellence.
We're in a period of great change, as we survive the pandemic, a perfect time to rethink how we prepare all students for a better future. We have to begin with the understanding that there are many kinds of intelligence, and only one is academic. We must consider all the issues that affect academic performance and create better ways to overcome them. Until then, we should leave Lowell as is, name and all.
P Segal is a Lowell aluma, and she was editor of The Lowell, the school newspaper, under a former name.
Video Recording of January 26, 2021 hearing at 6:38:10-6:38:36.
Don't Change Lowell High School’s Merit-based Admission Policy
Photo: Marsh Gardiner
Policy Debate Highlights Undercurrent of Racist Bias
by A Parent (Name witheld due to anonymous, threatening online messages)
The School Board’s most recent October 13 meeting was the first one I ever attended. I was struck by the Board’s arrogant and dismissive demeanor towards parents who had come out to learn about and discuss the drastic departure from Lowell High School’s long-standing merit-based admission policies. As a parent in the SFUSD, I felt disrespected, brushed off, and not heard. I had been under the impression that we could talk constructively, and hopefully find creative and workable solutions to problems? Not so.
Commissioner Allison Collins
At one point, Commissioner Allison Collins’ had a hot mic moment inadvertently admitting that she was “listening to a bunch of racists.” That appropriately sums up the Board’s attitude. Yet there were many parents there who seriously felt the policy change is hasty and ill-conceived. We were surprised at some board members’ enthusiasm for lottery-based admissions at Lowell and that they want to continue it beyond this year — making them permanent.
I understand the pinch we’re in. COVID-19 has turned everything, including the district’s finances, upside down. We need a workable plan for managing Lowell’s admissions - that doesn’t break the bank and doesn’t require a level of manpower the district doesn’t have right now.
Applying the existing high school admission lottery system to Lowell this year only would probably be simpler and cheaper than trying to use the limited data we have for trying to maintain some form of merit-based admission at Lowell. However, the rhetoric from the Board and their supporters stirs many parents’ worst fears that this is not, as it is being presented, a sincere attempt to temporarily cope with challenging circumstances. There is an obvious power grab designed to attack Lowell’s long-term academic status, that provides a unique service to a unique student population, just as School of the Arts does. The calls for permanently dismantling any and all merit (whatever that may mean) - based admission at Lowell, both by the Board and the (rather few) parents who support the proposal, made it clear that this is about more than just the 2020/21 admission.
There is an obvious power grab designed to attack Lowell’s long-term academic status, that provides a unique service to a unique student population, just as School of the Arts does.”
Equal Opportunity Enrollment
SFUSD’s 2019 fact sheet shows a total of 7% of African American kids enrolled in SFUSD. Only 2% of Lowell’s students are African American. Even considering the same fact-sheet’s proficiency data (and, yes, I do know that those numbers are based on standardized testing and that such testing has problems with cultural bias), we find severe lack of proficiency in both literacy (80%) and basic math (88%) among our districts African American students. This doesn’t mean they are less smart than other kids in the district, but challenges may be due to income differentials — differences in opportunity and support, starting in early childhood. Still, even if Lowell would admit only the highest scoring 20% of African American 8th grade students, we would end up with roughly 6.4% African American kids in each Freshman year, far closer to the overall number in the district. We are nowhere near close to that.
However, if we confound, confuse, and entangle these two very different issues, (a) desperate attempts at a temporary, money and resource-saving COVID-19 emergency admission process and (b) greater equity for African American students at both Lowell and in San Francisco overall, we risk prettying up our statistics right now, but may in the long run, cause more harm than good. There are several issues at play: 1) common misconceptions about the nature of Lowell’s exceptional academics as supposedly teacher and policy-driven; 2) more promising, but slower and more tedious means for achieving equity, which those who are obsessed with “finally sticking it to those elitist Lowellites,” may overlook; and 3) we risk forgetting about other inequities (that overlap with, but are not identical to racial injustice) when misguided by a sense of hurry and hampered by a lack of self-awareness about racial biases.
The push for more African American students’ admission into Lowell, will also require extra academic support for them, because most of our failing elementary schools don’t have the resources to prepare even the brightest students for Lowell’s rigorous academic expectations. Current students of Lowell will be happy to tell you that many of their teachers fail to present material in an inspired, engaging manner. Lowell teachers are used to students who pay attention and work hard, regardless of how dry and lecture-based any teaching may be. The exceptional learning environment at Lowell is not due to superior teachers, superior teaching methods, or superior resources, it’s the result of a critical mass of motivated, well-prepared students. Putting students who have not previously had the support they deserve into the hands of teachers who are not accustomed to lower performing students, means throwing these students to the sharks. No one wants to see students become discouraged or overwhelmed at Lowell’s expectations.
Ethnic equity in San Francisco cannot be solved quickly and haphazardly. Truly making a difference will require…
• targeted literacy and basic math support in elementary and middle schools
• avid instruction to teach administrative functioning and work methodology
• support for under-served families’ specific needs (rather than one-size-fits all solutions)
• a special ed system that serves all kids through proactively and accurately identified behavioral issues and learning disabilities, such as dyslexia, depression, and childhood PTSD—as opposed to dismissing such issues as quirks
• solutions for current transportation issues, and
• extra counseling and intense academic support for kids who come from failing elementary and middle schools, regardless of how bright and motivated those kids may be.
Anti-Asian Bias
Many parents have reported (both online and during the Board meeting) a toxic undercurrent of ‘Anti-Asian’ sentiment. People who accuse all Asian families in our district of being “privileged,” “entitled,” and “elitist,” forget that 36% of students at Lowell (of all ethnic backgrounds, many of them Asian) come from low-income families (identified through qualifying for reduced-cost or free lunch). Not all Asian families are middle class and thus privileged. Yes, some of them are, but many struggle with the same social and economic obstacles as other students.
When we look at recent immigrant kids whose parents barely speak English, and whose academic family support consists in their being pushed to work extremely hard, we know parents want newcomers to have better opportunities than their parents did. Asians are aware that many consider them some kind of “menace taking over high-quality schools.” Those kids have to, indeed, work extremely hard, with very little support, and they do. Blaming them for our city’s structural racism and using that blame to justify making their access to educational resources even harder than it already is, simply trades one injustice for another. Blaming these kids is blaming the victim.
I have also witnessed instances of Asian immigrant families’ parents being arrogantly excluded from public discussions about this and other issues concerning our school district. I have seen those, whose English is less than perfect, being ridiculed and quickly shut down by people who proudly think of themselves as anti-racist. Many, for whom English is their second or even third language, don’t know how to skillfully juggle the subtle, linguistic codes and politically correct terminology that our Board of Education members seem to consider the price of admission for being taken seriously and heard. Parents who fail to use these “correct” and expected verbal “secret handshakes,” in order to identify themselves as worthy of having a voice in this process, are labeled racist haters and undeserving of being listened to. These parents come to a Board meeting trusting that they can simply speak their minds. If they misunderstand the complexity of the situation, members may kindly educate them. But include their experience into Board decisions. Don’t shut them out and punish their kids.
Those Asians who attended the meeting were offended when speakers called Chinese parents “White supremacists.” Or when others merely implied that they are hostile or racist without explicitly saying so. We are humans, and nobody is perfect. We can all listen and learn from each other.
Please view this as the sincere plea of a person concerned - not just for the well-being of my own kids — but for all the kids in our district. This is not a disguised pitch for an “all lives matter” attitude. Fighting for one’s own family at the cost of other families never works in the long run and, as Dr. King wrote in 1963, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
A concerned, frustrated San Francisco parent.
October 2020
PREVIOUS SFUSD ARTICLES
On the Frontline
SFUSD Teachers Affirm COVID-19 Plan
3rd grade students are subscribed to Jamboard online app (Google) through the district, and these lessons meet State and SFUSD teaching standards, plus students learn exciting new online skills such as getting around on a keyboard and online platforms — new ways to learn that they really enjoy
By K. Rolph Morales
There is urgent need for planning and implementing crisis learning, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) teachers had until Monday evening, August 10 to vote on an agreement between the school district and the United Educators of San Francisco (UESF) union. Their affirmative vote means school will begin on August 17th. The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was agreed to by the SFUSD leadership and UESF negotiators at 1 a.m. Friday morning. The agreement will remain in effect until June 30, 2021 or until the return to normal classroom teaching, whichever comes first.
Teachers have agreed to these and additional detailed conditions — school begins August 17th”
The negotiating parties affirmed that all provisions of AB77 and SB98 and the Educational Employment Relations Act (EERA) California Government Codes 3540 et seq. apply and remain in effect. Licensed teachers will begin distance teaching using computer or communications technology. Video and audio instruction will be the primary manner of communicating.
Online student raises hand
Communication between the pupil and teachers will include online interaction, instructional television, video, telecourses, or other instruction that relies on computer or communications technology. Teachers may also use written and oral materials. Teachers are required by law, to work at least 7 hours per day, which includes lesson design and preparation, meetings with colleagues, online teaching (synchronous) and ensuring that students do classwork assignments. Teachers who themselves are parents with children at home, can develop teaching that takes into account their own students’ studies and schoolwork.
There are several ambiguous elements in the MOU, but here is the general summary:
Crisis Distance Learning
District provides priority for students with disabilities. A task force is convened to ensure learning and access standards are met.
Teaching content will be aligned with state and district grade level standards and delivered with intellectual content that closely approximates in-person teaching and learning.
The district will continue to ensure that all students have internet connectivity and devices for learning.
Every student will receive synchronous (learning and studying together with teacher – live access) and asynchronous (independent studying and classwork) learning each school day. Teachers must provide at least 120 minutes per day of live access for students. This can include one-on-one and small group studies. Teachers can increase instruction beyond 120 minutes at their discretion.
According to Education Code 43501 as amended by SB98, the minimum daily instructional minutes for grades TK-K (180 daily minutes), grades 1-3 (230 daily minutes), grades 4-12 (240 daily minutes), and Continuation High School (180 daily minutes) are in effect for the 2020-2021 school year.
Equipment & Materials
Teachers are promised access to school sites to pick up equipment, materials, and supplies.
SFUSD will continue to survey teachers about access to materials and needs for successful crisis teaching.
Teachers will be provided all necessary equipment and supplies necessary to support distance learning.
Teachers have agreed to these and additional detailed conditions — school begins August 17th.
K. Rolph Morales, Ph.D. is a certificated bilingual teacher in the San Francisco Unified School District, specializing in indigenous languages and cultures of the Americas. Please support local newspapers and radio stations
August 2020
On the Frontline:
Teachers Wait for Direction from the Superintendent
Preperations for the return of students at SFUSD
Face-to-face classrooms or online training — teachers must prepare for both options
by K. Rolph Morales
San Francisco parents and students have been waiting for information about the coming school year. Not much has been heard from central district leaders, who coordinate their plans with the Health Department, as well as state leadership in education and public health, and the governor. On July 17, the Governor provided directives about school reopening.
Everyone wants in-person classrooms but everyone must also be aware of the data on COVID-19. Distance education remains as the plan for now, based on information we have about the virus. San Francisco County, as does each county, makes its own a decisions about local conditions using guidelines provided by the Governor. In every instance, school districts will depend on county level departments of public health and follow the facts that are provided to them. The public can track COVID-19 public health data on the state’s COVID tracking website. Statistics are tracked county-by-county.
Teachers, who are already using their own money to buy school supplies are now also purchasing masks and materials in order to be prepared for contingencies, but too much is out of our control when it comes to classroom safety and productivity”
Schools reorganize interiors contemplating plans yet to be announced.
As difficult as it is, intensive individual instruction is required when there is no in-person teaching, a task that conscientious teachers must learn through working with students online. Educators quickly attended SFUSD online training in the spring, but rapidly realized the limits to the online model. School Superintendent Vincent Matthews has indicated he is working to “ensure community safety and compliance with state guidelines.” Plans for ensuring robust participation and learning for the coming school year will be determined by infection rates. Plans for when and how schools reopen for in-person instruction are yet to be revealed. Based on current understanding of the virus, students in 3rd grade and above will be required to wear masks throughout the in-person school day.
Case numbers are used to determine whether schools open — new infections per 100,000 residents of each county. Whether test positivity rates (the percentage of positive tests per total people tested) have gone up, remain similar, or have fallen are the important criteria. Hospitalization rates also affect the opening of schools. Counties are being monitored to ensure state benchmarks are observed, and met.
Local departments of public health can grant waivers to allow elementary schools to reopen - but this is an exception to infection rates and must be in consultation with the district superintendent, educators, parents and community organizations. Families can follow the California County monitoring data as it updates daily on the State’s website. For everyone’s safety decisions must be driven by scientific evidence.
As of late June, 79 school and central district employees had died of the coronavirus in New York City, which was hard hit with the virus. Another concerning vector for the coronavirus is daycare centers, where educators and children have tested positive for the virus. The Centers for Disease Control issues guidelines on daycare centers’ health and safety. A special area of uncertainty is the risk of exposure to pregnant women and newborns. In Nature Journal French researchers just published the most up-to-date information we have on the possible effects of COVID-19 infections on the mother’s fetus.
Teachers, who are already using their own money to buy school supplies are now also purchasing masks and materials in order to be prepared for contingencies, but too much is out of our control when it comes to classroom safety and productivity. I know many educators who are currently taking online teaching training in anticipation of continued distance teaching.
The Westside Observer will continue to provide updates on local education and the SFUSD plans for the school year.
K. Rolph Morales, Ph.D. is a certificated bilingual teacher in the San Francisco Unified School District, specializing in indigenous languages and cultures of the Americas. Please support local newspapers and radio stations.
July 22, 2020
Open Schools in the Fall
by 8th Grade Student Charles C. (Name witheld)
On Tuesday, July 14th, 2020, the district announced that students will begin the fall semester with distance learning.
SFUSD schools must open in the fall without restrictions for the sake of student’s mental health and sanity, and parent’s schedules and time management. In response to the coronavirus pandemic, SFUSD, as well as many other school districts transitioned to online schooling. There are issues with these new systems, including how some aspects are unjust to students. Students are expected to complete assignments and attend online classes, however all of the social aspects of attending school are stripped from them. Students do not get help from peers in class, do not get to socialize at lunch or converse with their friends, and overall do not get the social interaction they need as humans. Students have already missed out on many activities, trips, and year-end ceremonies, and they will miss out on much more unless the district opens schools without restrictions. Here are some of the notes from one of the district’s PTA meetings with superintendent Vincent Matthews: The district is considering many options for fall instruction format including:
Distance learning
Combo of virtual and brick and mortar
Staggered start half days (i.e. some kids go to school 8-11:30 and some go 12:30-4:00)
Some kids go Mon/Wed and others go Tue/Thu
Students take turns every other week going in person
Grouping students in a bubble that would travel together around the school to different classes
We have been under quarantine since March of 2020, and are growing impatient with the COVID-19 restrictions. If schools do not open this fall, it is likely to induce students to interact with one another outside of school. At school, students are in a somewhat controlled environment, and it is easier to enforce facemask and social distancing restrictions and procedures”
These plans are unjust. And they can be detrimental to students. From my experience, during online classes students usually have their microphones muted, and do not speak unless they are sharing answers. We do not get a chance to speak with each other, and all classes are recorded by the district, limiting our right to privacy.
If the district continues to use the unhealthy system of distance learning — students expected to participate in online classes and complete assignments without learning any social skills will proceed. Students need to socialize and converse with friends in order to maintain good mental health and happiness. Some argue that students do get social interaction through online classes, I have not found that to be true.
Having a staggered schedule will cause major scheduling complications and cause parents a lot of trouble. Many students rely on their parents to take them to and from school, and a staggered schedule will cause a lot of conflict and force parents to adapt quickly. Many parents have to work, and do not have time to pick up/drop off their children in the middle of the day. Some parents may have multiple children in SFUSD, all attending school on different days. The staggered schedules will leave parents struggling to find childcare and manage their time in order to incorporate taking their children to and from school. Students also will not get to socialize with their friends, as they will likely have separate schedules and separate lunch times.
The concept of traveling in “bubbles” would also be unjust and ineffective. Students may not get along well with those in their group, providing a feeling of separation and isolation from others. Students have the right to choose who they socialize with. Even if this restriction is put in place, it would only be effective for those in grades 5 and under. Middle and High School students are not likely to obey these restrictions, and it would be very difficult for staff to enforce. Many students are choosing socialization over attending classes as it is, there is no way to expect that students will stick with their group every day.
It would be unreasonable to implement these new restrictions on students, especially after everything that has already been taken from them. As students we did not get a graduation, did not get year-end dances, did not get field trips, and did not get to enjoy the celebratory feeling and environment that comes with the end of the school year. We did not get a spring break, and effectively will not get a summer break. With everything that has been taken from us, it is completely unreasonable to expect us to comply with these harsh restrictions when returning to school. I believe continuing distance learning may even pose a greater public health risk than returning to classrooms. We have been under quarantine since March of 2020, and are growing impatient with the COVID-19 restrictions. If schools do not open this fall, it is likely to induce students to interact with one another outside of school. At school, students are in a somewhat controlled environment, and it is easier to enforce facemask and social distancing restrictions and procedures. Outside of school, students are to follow less likely for these restrictions, with the risk of an increase in cases. Continuing online school may do more harm than good.
Attendance is another major issue in distance learning. From my experience, attendance is around 50-60% for P.E. and Elective classes, and around 75-85% for A-G courses. These numbers are unacceptable. If it continues, student attendance will be very low, and apathy will be rampant.
Attendance disproportionately affects minority students. For example, in LA, 50,000 Black and Latinx students did not regularly attend online classes last spring. From my experience, these disparities are even more common here in San Francisco where there are huge economic inequalities There are many houses worth millions of dollars, while other neighborhoods have median rent prices below the national average ($949). These economic inequalities highly impact distance learning.
Grading systems are another major issue when it comes to online school. Pass/fail seems to be the fairest grading method, as a letter grade system would not accurately measure a student's effort and improvement. Pass/Fail may also cause apathy and reduce student attendance, which is already low. Additionally, it will be very difficult for high schools and colleges to decide who they accept. It is uncertain what the district will do about grading, however it is clear that returning to classroom learning will make things easier for everybody.
SFUSD needs to return to classroom learning this fall for the sake of students, their families, and the public. Prolonging these restrictions on students will cause mental health issues, frustration, public health issues, and other complications. These restrictions further prolong the isolation that comes from not having proper social interactions. Parents will have to deal with scheduling conflicts and extra driving. They are harmful to students and parents alike.
Is long-term distance learning causing additional stress to students?
8th Grader's Petition Protests Distance Learning
by Charles C. (Name witheld)
I
am an 8th grade student in SFUSD and I attend a public middle school. At my school, we have online meetings on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, plus additional meetings if teachers organize them. We have many assignments every week (I have experienced 43 google classroom notifications within 48 hours). I have to get up early to attend online classes just as if it’s actually school. School has become more demanding due to the pressure of hands-on learning. We do not truly have a place where we can check what we need to do, therefore it’s very hard to keep track of the work. I spend an average of 2 hours per day on schoolwork.
Some parents lost employment due to the coronavirus and simply don't have the money to pay bills and pay for necessities. It is no wonder some are falling behind due to stressful factors and distractions in their home life.”
Mental health hotlines have seen up to 897% increases in calls, and I can only assume many are from students feeling isolated. I worry about my friends who, due to severe economic inequality, are unable to keep up with the pace of online classes. This inequality is amplified by distance learning. Some do not have easy access to electronic devices, some are not familiar with computers, or have no wi-fi access. A lot of the students at my school are not privileged to have a two-parent household, or a consistent schedule with their parents. Some parents lost employment due to the coronavirus and simply don't have the money to pay bills and pay for necessities. It is no wonder some are falling behind due to stressful factors and distractions in their home life.
How can SFUSD expect everyone to focus on schoolwork? This is not a few students — 55% of SFUSD students are socioeconomically disadvantaged. While I am not subject to child abuse myself, it is happening and it shouldn’t be swept under the rug. While long-term social distancing is enforced, the school district should not be causing additional stress to students. I do not think it is reasonable to expect students to continue completing work and attending all online classes.
At home, the quarantine makes me feel that I’m always getting in the way, and that I don’t have my own space. I have been taking walks and learning how to cook (a life skill that isn’t taught in schools, even online) to deal with it.
With study-at-home, SFUSD students lack social interaction with peers, do not get free time with friends, miss out on the entire social aspect of school, and most likely will not be able to participate in school dances and after-class activities or year-end activities such as graduation. While students have been stripped of many of their rights and privileges, yet the school district expects them to maintain all their responsibilities.
These are some of the reasons I have started a petition to allow for exemption from online classes and schoolwork, and I ask that the district stop mandatory online classes and assignments and make them optional.
The school district needs to take student's mental health seriously. It should discourage teachers from assigning excessive work and scheduling extra meetings.
For additional information about my petition, please visit its website. change.org/sfusdonline
Whether for better or worse, teachers are often on the front line. Now, teachers are — again — called upon to rise to the calling and ensure that San Francisco’s students are receiving the best possible education as Covid-19 leads us to implement distance learning at SFUSD.
I teach at a struggling Title 1 school in San Francisco. (Title 1 is a federally funded program that assists schools with the highest concentrations of poverty). At the elementary school where I teach, connecting with parents is a challenge because parents are struggling to make ends meet and provide for their children.
When a student’s parents are English speakers, it is somewhat easier ... But often our parents speak a heritage language with no standardized spelling. Dialects are common ... when parents speak Tzeltal (Mexico) or Mam (Guatamala) ... teachers must innovate ...”
District and school administrators in the SFUSD have done extraordinarily well at working to roll out teacher training and information sessions to provide continuous learning, so students don’t fall behind.
Most educators are adept in online navigating and using mobile apps for education purposes. As teachers, we report attendance and other issues through online data entry. But reaching parents is a challenge. Teachers must now teach parents how to access the internet from home, how to open email accounts, how to navigate browsers and search engines from a computer or borrowed Chromebook. We must also teach them what it will mean for students to work from home. It is fortunate that many teachers are certificated to teach Adult Education by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, because this, in fact, is what we’ve been doing since schools closed and we attempt to bring continuity to our students’ daily lives and routines.
When a student’s parents are English speakers, it is somewhat easier; general education and special education or dayschool educators can reach out and speak directly with families and guardians. But often our parents speak a heritage language with no standardized spelling. Dialects are common. When parents speak, read, and write languages such as Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, or Vietnamese, teachers work with translators to ensure we communicate. But when parents speak Tzeltal (Mexico) or Mam (Northern and Southern Mam of Guatemala are as different as Spanish and Portuguese), teachers must innovate and independently find ways to reach out and establish a sense of connection with families who may lack resources.
For better or worse, teachers are often the topic of support or derision. Attitudes towards teachers are often based on personal experience, anecdotal observations, and involvement with teachers, as parents.
Cultural responses to the pandemic and socializing vary
Educators may not recognize the hidden suffering of stigmatized ethnic and language communities. Challenges emerge, as teachers reach out by phone, to develop rapport and a sense of familiarity with families and their needs, often finding disconnected phones or family members reticent to discuss their problems. During the pandemic, community members think and act in ways that are consistent with their cultural customs.
In spite of challenges to educators in the SFSUD, based on language, and cultural customs and beliefs, there are many hopeful signs. Some parents now see this as an exciting opportunity to learn how to keyboard and use the Internet. Others are putting their trust and confidence in the teacher’s mission. Parents are often creative, seeking work-arounds to bridge language and cultural gaps with their children’s teachers. This confidence families give us, gifted to us from stressed, yet pragmatic parents, helps inspire our sense of dedication to society.
As we navigate the variables in our student populations, I am proud of the way our teachers are adapting to the technical demands, straddling the myriad cultural pitfalls and bringing their best to the worst possible circumstances our classrooms face.
K. Rolph Morales, Ph.D.
Ms. Morales is a certificated bilingual teacher in the San Francisco Unified School District, specializing in indigenous languages and cultures of the Americas. Please support local newspapers and radio stations.
April-May 2020
Local High School Seeks Connection with the Community
Program Facilitates Large-scale Restoration Project and a Series of Public Events
By Amy Belkora, San Francisco Waldorf School
The intersection of West Portal and Sloat Avenues is the site of a unique environmental educational program called The Outdoor Classroom Initiative, organized by faculty, staff, and parent leaders from the Waldorf School, brings students into the community to learn about natural history, ecology, and sustainability.
Once the home of the AT&T call center, Waldorf High School is a notable local example of sustainability in action. The school transformed the idle building in 2008 … visually integrated the surrounding eucalyptus grove, used recycled and repurposed building materials, replaced windows to provide for air flow and sunlight, and installed water saving features …”
One of the key projects is student restoration and beautification of an open space adjacent to our campus at Arden Wood. Students cleared approximately 200 yards of overgrown trails, removed invasive ivy and old pipes, hauled sand and silt from a spring-fed pond, and uncovered long-lost stonework — learning about natural history and ecology along the way.
The Outdoor Classroom Initiative also sponsored a series of outings last week for students in the school’s architecture class. Seniors set out by bus, bike, and foot to explore the City’s rooftop gardens, living alleys, and sustainable buildings, hearing from architects, city planners, and environmental experts along the way. The class is one of several required courses designed to help students understand their emerging place in the world.
Students restore neighborhood open space Photo: Amy Belkora
In addition to bringing students into the community, The Outdoor Classroom Initiative welcomes the community to the school for a series of public events focused on sustainability issues. The events included a public lecture by David Sobel, renowned author of Place-Based Education: Connecting Classrooms and Communities, and a San Francisco screening of Symphony of the Soil, a documentary that explores soil as the foundation of life on earth. Upcoming events will be announced over the summer as The Outdoor Classroom Initiative launches its second year.
Once the home of the AT&T call center, Waldorf High School is a notable local example of sustainability in action. The school transformed the idle building in 2008 under the direction of David Bushnell, a Waldorf School parent and principal at 450 Architects, and became the first school in San Francisco to be awarded the coveted LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. The school visually integrated the surrounding eucalyptus grove, used recycled and repurposed building materials, replaced windows to provide for air flow and sunlight, and installed water saving features such as low-flow toilets. The design of the school building itself is used in architecture, green building, and environmental studies classes.
Students bike to Heron’s Head Park to tour the Eco-Center. Photo: Miranda Hollingswood
The Outdoor Classroom Initiative is also active at Waldorf Grade School, located at Washington and Divisadero Streets. It facilitates outdoor education in such places as the Presidio and Point Reyes National Seashore. Info
EPA verified falsification of radioactivity data submitted by Tetra Tech, and Parcel G was the site of extensive soil fraud. Only 3% of Parcel G samples were not falsified
4,000 buildings in SF were built with no rebar to resist side-to-side shaking before 1990. These buildings were usually built as office spaces or multi-family houses.
The Board of Trustees, the City Attorney, and Director Harry Parker knew that without that approval, the lease would be null and void. Yet, they all stood by and said nothing
How Managers of SF’s Public Pension Left $5 Billion on the Table
by Lou Barberini
Cronyism, often cleansed by the term networking, involves hiring managers favoring friends for loyalty instead of for their potential value to the organization.
We want our Supervisors to stand for and defend our neighborhoods, not hide behind 'state-mandated' reshaping of our city for expedience or donor pressure.
What Killed Tom Waddell Clinic Urgent Care Clinic?
by Dr. Derek Kerr
Mismanagement impairs employee morale and patient care. Conscientious employees will try to remedy the dysfunction. If ignored or repressed, they will burn out and leave.
Remaining hurdle: 120 LHH semi-private rooms are still in jeopardy. 2016 regulations limits bathroom sharing to 2 patient beds. The building opened in 2010—and the rooms are spacious and safe.
For decades, Strybing served as a gathering place for one and all, hosting people from all walks of life and every economic strata. What could possibly go wrong?
The common belief is that homes are too close to woodlands, where fires catch on easily. However, one home in Pacific Palisades contradicts that notion..
People unable to afford rent come to San Francisco and wait until a city-funded outreach worker offers them an unlimited stay in a tourist hotel with a private bathroom. Plus two meals a day.
DPH’s Preparedness Plan Ingores climate change and sea-level rise
by Dr. Ahimsa Porter Sumchai
Its policy and directives need to be updated to incorporate climate change, sea level rise, extreme weather events, and chemical and radiological exposures
Under Breed’s direction, Redistricting removed progressive Inner Sunset from Preston’s D5. At the same time, the Tenderloin was grafted onto District 5.
Yearly, as much as 1.2 billion gallons of combined stormwater runoff and sewage containing feces, bacteria, viruses, chemicals, and trash are dumped into the Bay.
The City’s sunshine laws are in need of updating, but most mayoral and supervisorial candidates are mum on how to increase city government transparency.
The Navy’s Parcel F Radiological Impaction map was excluded from the Record of Decision of September 2024. Raw data was also excluded from environmental testing for radionuclides.
Over the next two months, each mayoral candidate will have an evening to greet attendees and answer questions in a laid-back “meet the candidate” event.
5 supervisors put Prop K on the Ballot, unannounced and at the last minute. No community input, no questions answered, no concerns addressed, no discussion by the Supervisors.
They originally consisted of fifteen residents and UCSF workers, located within six blocks of the western fence line of the NRDL campus and industrial landfill”
Ruling that “cruel and unusual punishment” does not apply to fining, ticketing, or even arresting homeless (even when there are no public shelters available),overturning the 9th Circuit Court.
On the last day the Supervisors could put an initiative on ballot, Engardio and Melgar pounced and forwarded the legislation to the Department of Elections.
Once just a border of California native plants around the garden’s perimeter, providing habitat and nourishment for local fauna it’s now a beautiful neighborhood gem.
City has long minimized the root cause of LHH’s dysfunction and decertification. Just look at the self-congratulatory Press Release announcing its re-opening.
SFMTA’s Plan for West Portal Station Pushes Buttons
by Maura Corkery
West Portal merchants, residents, and long-time frequenters have weighed in for months on the City’s plan to institute significant new traffic regulations and barriers primarily at the mouth of the MUNI station.
Newsom—Declare a Public Health Emergency at Hunters Point
by Dr. Ahimsa Porter Sumchai
The Precautionary Principle affirms SF’s leaders duty to prevent harm through anticipatory action. ‘There is a duty to take anticipatory action to prevent harm.”
Since the Mental Health Rehabilitation Facility closed, the City began relocating mentally troubled and drug addicted patients to LHH, mixing them with frail senior and disabled populations.
It’s not only how schools are funded but how important topics are taught. At stake is what our children learn about democracy as well as about their rights and responsibilities as citizens.
West Portal accounts for 6% of the City’s accidents; after the implementation of Project Zero in 2014, accidents of every kind in the West Portal area have dropped from 20% - 48%.
Right now, there’s no timeline or budget for this project. The SFMTA admitted it had not conducted a preliminary cost/benefit analysis despite the multi-million-dollar deficit they’re facing this year.
The men the American people admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men they detest most violently are those who try to tell them the truth.” Thus spoke H. L. Mencken
There is a dire shortage of nursing home beds in SF—especially for those on Medi-Cal—which pays for chronic long-term care when a resident cannot afford $15,000 a month.
Mayor Breed has proposed an unprecedented rollback of San Francisco’s height and density limitations that would allow six story buildings in areas previously zoned for one and two-story construction
The format made it difficult for candidates to evade tough questions—all four seasoned politicians are skilled in. Even non-politician Lurie was not exempt.
A confluence of major legal actions has moved forward to pretrial deposition testimony in BVHP Residents v Tetra Tech brought by SFPD and whistleblowers under the False Claims Act.
Removal of the weedy species is necessary. All plants have natural predators in their native ranges, but landscape plants imported from, say, across the ocean, left their predators there.
While gasoline tax-paying automobile owners finance the streets of San Francisco San Francisco’s Budget finances the SF Bicycle Coalition, a private entity?
SFMTA still has no quantifiable road safety data other than right turns are bad, left turns are bad, fast-moving cars are dangerous, slow-moving cars are dangerous, cars are bad, and bikes are good.
Local school board elections used to be sleepy affairs. No more. Political activists now pay close attention to these local contests — for good reasons.
Despite a surplus of water in our reservoirs sufficient to withstand a drought for four years, the SFPUC has imposed a drought surcharge on San Francisco ratepayers.
The previous City Administrator was a protégé of Willie Brown—resigned due to corruption. The current City administrator is a protégé of a protégé of Willie Brown.
With housing and commercial vacancies like Park Merced and businesses still closing downtown, on Market Street, and in most neighborhoods, it’s dogging the Mayor’s election.
The devastating effect of drug addiction is evident from the human wreckage ...Yes, it’s a nationwide plague. But SF overdose rates are twice the national average.
“It is a significant reconfiguration of the street. A two-way bikeway would replace existing parking. Bus stops would relocate from the curb to new transit boarding islands in traffic lanes.
If you do get into a shelter — they’ll take away your belongings, you can’t have a pet, you can’t have visitors and after a few days or a week, you’ll likely be turned out on the street again with nothing.
Two surprises. Republican Steve Garvey, and Democrat Adam Schiff were the top two finishers. Schiff concentrated on making Garvey his opponent rather than Barbara Lee and Katie Porter.
Unfortunately,it also has many disadvantages. The gas is explosive. It needs to be compressed or converted into other chemicals, such as liquid ammonia...
Every five years, the EPA determines the success of superfund cleanups
New Shipyard Report Confirms: Unsafe for Habitation
by Dr. Ahimsa Porter Sumchai
Take-home message: Cleanup efforts in 15 parcels and sites do not protect residents from hazardous substances, pollutants, and contaminants emanating from the dirty base
Unlike Flint, we don’t use salt to deice roads. However, if we over-tax our ground aquifers, we could draw salt from the Pacific into our drinking water.
Just when Laguna Honda seemed to be turning the corner on its struggle toward reform, three law firms have teamed up to expand their Class Action lawsuit.
“Tamales are such a delicate process... things like the balance of masa to filling, or how long you steam them for, or how tightly they’re wrapped in their husks And time... timing is crucial to ensure they do not become dry and tough.
New proposed location for Ocean View Library is ideal
by Glenn Rogers
Few were surprised when Supervisor Safai learned the library was not to be built in the Greenbelt — he feared the worst. No library at all.Since 2023, the Library Commission has been considering 466 Randolph Street, where the I.T. Bookman Community Center and the Pilgrim Community Church are located.
When the runways for the Alameda Naval Air Station were extended out into the bay—using dredged bay fill, the same way Treasure Island was created — they crossed over the city line. The federal government apparently didn't know or care.
The March 5 election is fast approaching. The San Francisco Department of Elections will start mailing all registered voters automatic vote-by-mail ballots in early February.
Your local self-appointed sage hopes Trump is barred from his presidential candidacy by high courts such as the Supremes. (And I don't mean the singing group!).
UCSF proposes settlement for Joseph Miranda and his radioactive truck
ONE BIG MAN — ONE HOT TRUCK!
by Dr. Ahimsa Porter Sumchai
Two UCSF workers with respiratory disease, cancer and lung disease were not evacuated during shipyard landfill fire that erupted in “green, yellow, and orange” flames.
Assessing Judge Bergert’s use of mental health diversions
by Lou Barberini
Fortunately for Mendez, he appeared in ultra-liberal Judge Michael Begert’s court. Despite Mendez’s failure to comply with diversion, Begert nevertheless granted Mendez “mental health diversion’ (again).
Newsom, Breed, and SF’s Supervisors may all have taken a hands-off waiting game approach I knew Nancy and her good government advocacy for years, sometimes crossing her path when we both attended meetings at City Hall.
The unreliability of American and San Francisco media today is not new to our country. Neither is the people's right to discard biased, unsound judges.
To families parked along Winston Drive the dreaded December 19 date is less than a month away. Four-hour parking restrictions approved by SFMTA will certainly upend their lives and dampen their holiday spirits.
Neighbors apprehend a thief in the act, but will he be back on the street?
A Man Walks Into a Walgreens ...
by Michael Antonini
Aware that his escape was implausible, or perhaps it was the ear-splitting sound of approaching police cars, the thief turned and ran back into the Walgreens
The Judge denied a motion to detain an alleged drug dealer despite the defendant had over half a kilo of drugs, including 170.8 grams of fentanyl, enough to kill 85,400 people.
Delayed Inspections Mean Dumping More Seniors Out-of-County
Laguna Honda Hospital’s Endless Waiting Game
by Patrick Monette-Shaw
Newsom, Breed, and SF’s Supervisors may all have taken a hands-off waiting game approach to LHH’s Medicare recertification inspection process that will take four months to complete.
Falling advertisements, digital transitions and major lay-offs plague journalists
by Dr. Derek Kerr
Emilio Garcia-Ruiz worried about the New York Times becoming a “huge competitor” in the Bay Area by “undercutting the market on subscription costs to $1/week.
At last! SFUSD has identified why students aren’t learning. Ready? The real cause is White Supremacy. That’s right. White Supremacy Culture is preventing our students from learning.
The unreliability of American and San Francisco media today is not new to our country. Neither is the people's right to discard biased, unsound judges.
It effectively punishes hundreds, if not thousands, who want to participate in our local government. Even worse, it will force those who have disabilities to disclose their special needs. Or face the burden of traveling to City Hall.
District Elections, London Breed & the Housing Exageration
by Quentin Kopp
Construction of new housing? I’ve concluded from present vacancies and dispirited new home construction the matter is extravagantly exaggerated by City Hall politicians and local media.
Owner Diana Zogaric has little time to bemoan setbacks. She notes that the original owner, Douglas Shaw, opened the business during the Great Depression in 1931.
SF has lost 1,381 Skilled Nursing Facility beds. If LHH loses 120 more beds it will leave only 2,161 meanwhile 4,186 patients were discharged to other counties in 2022.
Laguna Honda’s battle to keep 120 skilled nursing beds is unnecessary.
Patrick Monette-Shaw
LHH’s bedrooms exceed the minimum square-foot restrictions. They have sliding doors between each bedroom — essentially making them all private, single-person rooms.
It’s time to assess Prop 47’s havoc on the safety of San Franciscans
by Lou Barberini
Before Prop 47 eliminated California Penal Code section 666, a police officer could charge a thief with a criminal history with “felony theft with-priors” and take him to county jail.
Pretend you're an alien (E.T.) come to earth in human form to live and learn and even to rationally guide humans who have lost their way. You land in San Francisco.
Some say a little bit of corruption greases the wheels. Just don't kid yourself ... each of these words, Social Impact Partnering, are buzzwords. There's a reason for that.
The neighborhood was much different then. Yellow and white margaritas were everywhere in wild areas on the south and north side of Alemany Blvd. There was no Highway 280.
City Family’s coziness with contractors sustains a “Homeless-Industrial-Complex." Politically-connected entrepreneurs are awarded City contracts and return the favor.
Giving a complaint to the “Ethics” Commission is like giving a complaint to a black hole. Your complaint goes in and the chance that anything comes out is slim.
Laguna Honda Finally Hires a Nursing Home Administrator
Patrick Monette-Shaw
After 20 years without a licensed Nursing Home Administrator at the helm, that will change. At last someone knowledgeable about Federal nursing home regulations will be in charge.
The Health Department burned down a village of Chinese fishermen dependent on the lucrative shrimping industry when the Navy purchased the 934-acre property using eminent domain for the Naval Shipyard.
It Could lead to more arrests of protestors, minorities, or anyone the State considers a threat if artificial intelligence is designed and executed improperly.
It took courage for the Public Guardian to file suit. Hopefully, the public will learn the full extent of the scandal. The timing couldn’t be worse for LHHs struggle to survive.
April 14th is the anniversary of Laguna Honda's decertification
Just Released—Laguna Honda Hospital's Revised Closure Plan
Patrick Monette-Shaw
LHH mostly serves low-income, medically indigent patients, likely to face discharges, exile, and displacement to out-of-county facilities, away from their families, and support networks.
Fentanyl overdoses have killed more San Franciscans than COVID. Yet, SF fails to prosecute dealers; no convictions for fentanyl sales in 2021. Most dealers are granted diversion.
The history of liberty is the history of the limitations on the power of government. And the provenance of government usually expands on federal, state and local levels
Xylazine is infiltrating North American fentanyl and heroin supplies. It is causing more fatal overdoses, zombie-like intoxication— addictions that are harder to treat than simple fentanyl dependency.
Controller's estimated $290 million deficit — $90.1 million more than projected in January. For the next two fiscal years, the shortfall is projected at $779.8 million.
Billions and Billions Later, California's High-speed Rail Future Is Still Illusive
by Quentin Kopp
The project cost for the non-high speed rail portion in the Central Valley increased last month to $35.3 billion from $25.2 billion. It obtains money from a cap-and-trade program which adds 23 cents to every gasoline gallon besides the state’s 53.9 cents tax per gallon
For decades, the City has allowed weaker standards for buildings shorter than 240 feet — no signs of seriously considering these structural deficiencies.
This mural is currently on loan from City College to the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) —
The agreement includes the return of the mural to City College which has been its owner and guardian since 1940.
In third grade...nearly 60% of students are not yet proficient in reading — students can't “read to learn” until they have successfully learned to read.
Is it true that none of Mayor Breed’s four nominees for the Homelessness and Supportive Housing Oversight Board seem to have any experience or credentials in dealing with the problems of homeless citizens?
Did 20 years of mismanagement prompt the Feds to intervene?
The Bungled Management of Laguna Honda
Patrick Monette-Shaw
Kanaley had no experience running a skilled nursing facility whatsoever and certainly no experience or training to run a 1,200-bed nursing home with approximately 1,500 employees
Newsom violated ethics laws by signing into law Shipyard redevelopment measures he sponsored before the Board of Supervisors and accepted the transfer of Parcel A at the cost of one dollar
Poor people seldom end up on the street. But, addicted and mentally ill people become “disaffiliated” from supporters – a key determinant of street homelessness
30% of Parkmerced's 3,221 units are vacant. If the Prop M Vacant Unit Tax does not encourage lower rents, the City might purchase them at a bargain, making thousands of new units available...
Madam Mayor parties down as City is deluged in “atmospheric river”
Mayor's Clueless New Years Fumble Signels Trouble
by Dr. Ahimsa Sumchai
Adorned in a feather boa and accompanied by City Attorney David Chiu, Breed's City Officials were oblivious to the massive flooding NASA satellite images predicted December 16, 2022.
A huge number of students who enter high school are not proficient in English and math — almost 45 percent of SFUSD 8th graders are not proficient in English. More than half are not proficient in math
...the mission of a nursing home is to promote resident autonomy. This is not compatible with the treatment of persons with unstable behavioral issues, which requires structure and agreement to "house rules." If LHH continues admitting persons with active substance use or unstable mental illness, we will lose Laguna Honda.
Willie Brown predicted the Central Subway would reduce (can you imagine?) Muni’s operating costs by $23.9 million annually. Muni’s operating costs will now increase by more than $25 million per year.
Renne sought to take credit for the Tobacco Settlement Revenue lawsuit. It was used, in part, to pay for the LHH rebuild project. Renne had done no such thing.
Climate reparations dominated Egypt's UN Climate Change Summit this month — overburdened communities demand help cutting emissions, adapting to climate change…and compensation for damages!
Since its inception, the SOTF has been a thorn in City Hall’s backside. Why? ... Engaged citizens and journalists seek more information than officialdom likes to share.
Audit non-profit agencies and City contracts to ensure that services are provided ... especially those providing homeless services. ...revenue-generating departments need to ensure all revenue sources are addressed
You won't see from downtown what you can see from Mt. Tam. Out here at Ocean Beach the nighttime fog makes viewing an occasional event. Happy skywatching!
Despite these commitments to ensure safe and minimally-stressful transfers ... it did not fully grasp the number and complexity of LHH patients. So, LHH was “pigeon-holed into rules applying to standard nursing homes.
City Leaders Value Saving Money Over Saving Lives and Property
by Frank T. Blackburn and Nancy Wuerfel
Mayor Breed remains blissfully silent on the need to extend adequate fire protection to approximately half the City, even though she has knowledge of Fire Department needs having been a fire commissioner in 2010.
D5 gets $50,000 for tree planting. D8, $246,000 for sidewalk gardens and street trees. And that's it for the entire City. If there is a climate emergency you wouldn't know it from San Francisco.”
There is a need for a routine and consistent review of this facility. Programs that exist here are rarely audited, and when they are, the list of improvements required is long and important.
Time to Shine a Brighter Light on SFUSD Chronic Absences
by Carol Kocivar
Children living in poverty are two to three times more likely to be chronically absent—and face the most harm because their community lacks the resources to make up for the lost learning in school.
As of July 11, just 623 patients remain at LHH, compared to 681 in May. Most have been transferred to San Mateo nursing homes. Three went to homeless shelters.
Power plant emissions formed black soot on windows and doorways in their homes and triggered asthma attacks, headaches and nosebleeds in their children. Residents led the successful fight that ultimately closed the PG&E Hunters Point power plant in 2006
LHH was given 6 months to correct its deficiencies. A follow-up inspection found persistent - and seemingly worse - drug and contraband use, despite LHH’s Plan of Correction.
Will Laguna Honda Solve Its Problems By Abandoning 120 More Patient Beds?
Patrick Monette-Shaw
Both consultants provided “preliminary assessment reports” of their initial recommendations. Only HMA’s “preliminary assessment report” has been made public.
Everybody involved knew that adding “unstable” adults brought disarray and danger to Laguna Honda's seniors. Most folks just went along. Now they’re surprised?
The report concludes groundwater “may” become contaminated as sea level rises. In fact, Shipyard groundwater was documented as“contaminated” where thousands of homes are being constructed.
“It seems preposterous to put a library on a congested thoroughfare when there are better places that are safer for pedestrians to use,” one community member said.
People are frustrated and spurt out the word “segregated”
That's because SFUSD has failed to prepare all ethnicities for a rigorous academic high school.
41% of companies allow employees to relocate permanently to any state freely, while companies that do not allow the employees to relocate elsewhere represent only 5%.
The moderates only need to flip one district from the progressive side of the aisle to preclude the veto power of the Board of Supervisors, since the mayor appointed moderate Supervisor Matt Dorsey ... the Redistricting Task Force handed moderates a perfect set up to do just that.
If a mandatory reduction is ordered, there will be a “floor” or minimum allocation per person so that those who have conserved, and now conserve, will not be penalized.
...competence erodes as conscientious employees get marginalized and lackeys are promoted. This consolidation promotes impunity. Betraying the public trust is normalized.
Violent Thug Attacks, Robs Asian Visitor—Goes Free
Boudin's famed "puppy killer" strikes again
by Lou Barberini
Boudin and the judge circumvented diversion rules because violent criminals are “not eligible” for diversion programs. Why did Boudin send someone to drug diversion if they weren’t arrested for drugs?”
Despite the fact that discharge is not legally required (yet) at Laguna Honda, all patients and their families are being interviewed for discharge and this is causing a lot of stress.
Too bad no one saw this coming......oh, a group of doctors from Laguna Honda did.
They would have us believe he’s responsible for the statistical rise in crime that’s occurred since the pandemic. Research, however, suggests otherwise...
Over time, those special interests have proven adept at using the same “peoples protections” to further their own interests. Recalls are expensive, and a few of San Francisco’s bitterest billionaires buy low-turnout elections when they disagree with the voters...
41% of companies allow employees to relocate permanently to any state freely, while companies that do not allow the employees to relocate elsewhere represent only 5%.
...there are issues that can unite us.. We all want to support our educators who have been doing the hard work every day despite a pandemic and political feud.
Could the motivation behind all of this be to create such a god-awful divisive plan and create so much anger that the voters would just throw up their hands and get rid of it altogether?
Taylor minced no words … the results of her 1995 investigation displeased health officials and influenced her decision not to publish significant findings, “I was convinced there was something there
Chair Townsend's Solution to African-American Population Decline Will Likely Result in a Lawsuit Redistricting's latest map has everyone on edge, scrambling to find out who their new Supervisor will be.
Three new Board of Education commissioners were appointed last month by Mayor London Breed who promises implicitly that SFUSD will somehow conquer a budget deficit of over $125,000,000.
District 7 reclaims Forest Knolls, Twin Peaks, Midtown Terrace, the Woods and Miraloma Park from District 8 as well as all of Lakeshore and Merced Manor from District 4, but loses ground entirely in the Inner Sunset.
Lowell high school's merit-based admission policy is perfectly legal. We’ve looked at the language of the law, the history of the law and the intent of the law. We've done our homework.
As additional funding for supportive housing services through programs like Project Home Key become available, radical reform of board and care programming and funding will be necessary to maintain and expand this crucial resource.
Civil rights laws have been enacted to protect people who are being denied equal access and opportunity. The closure is a violation of the ADA and California disability rights laws.
Donald Trump, disregards 42,000,000 Ukrainians by lauding Putin’s “genius” in invading Ukraine. I urge readers to divest themselves of any reverence or respect for Trump, a draft-dodger, who could demolish the Republican Party.
Labor Union Sues City for Corruption and Retaliation
Union Lawsuit Reveals "City Family" Backroom Maneuvers
by Dr. Derek Kerr
Why does the FBI manage to unearth City Hall corruption, while our watchdog agencies; the Controller’s Whistleblower Program, Ethics Commission and City Attorney’s Office cry “What happened?
… instead of looking seriously into what could be done to solve the coupling problem … henceforth the trains operating in the subway would be only one and two cars long.
Limit plastic used in wrapping done by on-line shopping? Since the pandemic, online shopping has created 29% more waste in landfills which can end up in our oceans
SFPUC: Controllers Audit Reveals Compromised Bid Process
by Dr. Derek Kerr
Most contractors lagged in delivering community benefits and submitting required progress reports. And, once a contract ended, undelivered benefits were not recoverable. SFPUC had no policies to monitor compliance.
Ideally, police can stop “sideshows” before they happen with intel from undercover officers and by monitoring social media accounts that announce where sideshows will be. That was not evident in West Portal & 30th/Lawton incidents
Ginsburg, working with the SF Bicycle Coalition and Walk SF, have banned cars on JFK Drive and the Upper Great Highway during the pandemic. Plans are being made make the bans permanent ...
Drivers ... good news for you: the vast majority of streets are dominated by cars! You can drive on all the roads, which is why a radical change is necessary.
Moving physically - or mentally-challenged patients is clearly detrimental to their health...leaving fragile patients stranded, miles away from their families and friends
Does the City care what your rates are? The Commission recently passed a resolution to guide Herrera. It lacks anything about keeping rates as low as possible.
