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African American and Latino Students Left Behind in SF School District
The superintendent of the San Francisco Unified School District, Arlene Ackerman, has single-handedly dismantled the public school system, leaving the children who live in the southeast corner of San Francisco (Bayview/Hunters Point districts) behind with no hope for academic success.
I am a resident of San Francisco and tax payer. I have come across some disturbing information about the San Francisco Unified School District. The superintendent, Arlene Ackerman, has single-handedly dismantled the public school system, leaving the children who live in the southeast corner of San Francisco (Bayview/Hunters Point districts) behind with no hope for academic success. Frankly, I am appalled with what Superintendent Arlene Ackerman has done to the district. I've done some of my own research that you might find interesting.
To address the issue of equity in education, the Consent Decree mandated SFUSD to provide quality education to all students in the district. Thurgood Marshall Academic High School was built in Bayview/Hunter's Point district to address this issue and to offer quality education to the children living in the south-east corner of the city. What sets TMAHS aside from other high schools in the district is that they require 280 credits for graduation (the district only requires 230). Within the 280 credits, students must take 4 yrs of math, science, english, 3 yrs of social science, 10 credits of visual and performing arts, and 10 units of technology. The school is currenly in its eigth year of operation. Since its first graduating class four years ago, TMAHS has sent over 95% of its graduates to college. This year alone, 40% of the kids who applied to UC Berkeley were accepted, which is higher than Lowell's acceptance rate.
So what's the big deal? Well, if you look at the demographics of TMAHS you'll see that 30% is African American, 30% is Latino, 30% is Asian American, and 10% other. You don't see these types of numbers at any other school. The reason why this is occuring is due to the leadership of their principal, Samuel O. Butscher, Ph.D. His vision has motivated both the teachers and students to achieve higher standards so they can succeed.
Unfortunately, the academic environment that Dr. Butscher has created is being dismantled by the superintendent. Arlene Ackerman has made a *unilateral* decision to decrease the 280 unit graduation requirement to 230 units. These 230 units do not even qualify students to apply to the UC system! Not only is the quality of education plummeting, she has fired their principal. Arlene Ackerman has been known to do deceitful things. She has lied to and disrespected the teachers, students, and parents of TMAHS. As a strategy to remove Dr. Butscher from his leadership role, Arlene Ackerman and the school board demoted him to a classroom teacher position, which is a direct slap-in-the-face move to oust him out of Thurgood Marshall. Unfortunately, he was forced to acquire another principal position at Oceana High School in Pacifica. To replace him is the former principal of Balboa High School during the time Balboa HS underwent a reconstitution-of-school for underperformance. As you can see, she has replaced a highly competant, well-liked (by teachers, parents, and especially students)principal with a less competant one who is unable to run and lead a high school.
In an article written by a member of the SF Chronicle last month, she was quoted saying, "...they are trying to be a Lowell." This was in response to why students wanted to keep their 280 units. To me, it sounds like a slap in the face. What's wrong with trying to emulate one of the higher performing schools in California? I find it very disturbing that she is trying to deny students, who mainly come from disadvantaged neighborhoods, a quality education.
There is no quality in the 230 unit system. If you speak to Ana-Maria Zelaya (zelaya9902 [at] yahoo.com), the college & career counselor at TMAHS, she can show you how the 230 units do not align with the UC requirements for admissions. I have spoken to other educators at TMAHS and their basic response to this whole situation is that it's disheartening. They've gone to the school board, written letters to senators, Governor Gray Davis, and other officials associated with the California school system to no avail.
The children of the SF unified school district deserve better. They deserve to have the opportunity to receive a quality education, to have a reputable principal, and have the opportunity to go to college. They do not need a superintendent who disrespects them.
To address the issue of equity in education, the Consent Decree mandated SFUSD to provide quality education to all students in the district. Thurgood Marshall Academic High School was built in Bayview/Hunter's Point district to address this issue and to offer quality education to the children living in the south-east corner of the city. What sets TMAHS aside from other high schools in the district is that they require 280 credits for graduation (the district only requires 230). Within the 280 credits, students must take 4 yrs of math, science, english, 3 yrs of social science, 10 credits of visual and performing arts, and 10 units of technology. The school is currenly in its eigth year of operation. Since its first graduating class four years ago, TMAHS has sent over 95% of its graduates to college. This year alone, 40% of the kids who applied to UC Berkeley were accepted, which is higher than Lowell's acceptance rate.
So what's the big deal? Well, if you look at the demographics of TMAHS you'll see that 30% is African American, 30% is Latino, 30% is Asian American, and 10% other. You don't see these types of numbers at any other school. The reason why this is occuring is due to the leadership of their principal, Samuel O. Butscher, Ph.D. His vision has motivated both the teachers and students to achieve higher standards so they can succeed.
Unfortunately, the academic environment that Dr. Butscher has created is being dismantled by the superintendent. Arlene Ackerman has made a *unilateral* decision to decrease the 280 unit graduation requirement to 230 units. These 230 units do not even qualify students to apply to the UC system! Not only is the quality of education plummeting, she has fired their principal. Arlene Ackerman has been known to do deceitful things. She has lied to and disrespected the teachers, students, and parents of TMAHS. As a strategy to remove Dr. Butscher from his leadership role, Arlene Ackerman and the school board demoted him to a classroom teacher position, which is a direct slap-in-the-face move to oust him out of Thurgood Marshall. Unfortunately, he was forced to acquire another principal position at Oceana High School in Pacifica. To replace him is the former principal of Balboa High School during the time Balboa HS underwent a reconstitution-of-school for underperformance. As you can see, she has replaced a highly competant, well-liked (by teachers, parents, and especially students)principal with a less competant one who is unable to run and lead a high school.
In an article written by a member of the SF Chronicle last month, she was quoted saying, "...they are trying to be a Lowell." This was in response to why students wanted to keep their 280 units. To me, it sounds like a slap in the face. What's wrong with trying to emulate one of the higher performing schools in California? I find it very disturbing that she is trying to deny students, who mainly come from disadvantaged neighborhoods, a quality education.
There is no quality in the 230 unit system. If you speak to Ana-Maria Zelaya (zelaya9902 [at] yahoo.com), the college & career counselor at TMAHS, she can show you how the 230 units do not align with the UC requirements for admissions. I have spoken to other educators at TMAHS and their basic response to this whole situation is that it's disheartening. They've gone to the school board, written letters to senators, Governor Gray Davis, and other officials associated with the California school system to no avail.
The children of the SF unified school district deserve better. They deserve to have the opportunity to receive a quality education, to have a reputable principal, and have the opportunity to go to college. They do not need a superintendent who disrespects them.
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I am deeply concerned about the LAUSD school disrtict as well. We are all californians. And I feel there was instituitionalized rascism going on at my school when I was growing up. I am White and I saw it and I feel it . I graduated ten years ago and I wanted to start a community project geared toward North Hollywood students. When I went to talk to the Head guy in control who use to be the dean he told me that the domographics have changed at the school at their were more blacks going to the school and more hispanics and if I wanted to start a leadership project for the kids I would have to Use the Peer-counceling kids who are mostly white upper middle classs privledged kids who are in the exclusive IHP Highly gifted program. I was thinking of a multicultural, an inclusive group which would bring students together no matter what there academics were or color. On campus when I was growing up because of the music I listened to I never hung in all white crowds. I was lucky so the segregation is definitly coming from the school. North Hollywood is an integrated area. And I am concerned about the students who are not in these gifted programs. I was not in these gifted programs. I never even new they existed. And I got absolutly no college guidance. I had no idea what classes I had to take to go to college. Half of my teachers were so bad I couldnt understand half of what they were saying becasue they couldnt speak that well.
The progressive community of San Francisco supports you and suggests that instead of running to the capitalist politicians, whether they are Democrat or Republican, you either run for school board yourself, as an independent, or have others do the same.
Arlene Ackerman is a good Democrat. The school board consists of Democrats and Greens. Gray Davis is a good Democrat. The Democrats and Republicans are the twin parties of capitalism and have no interest in promoting public education. That is a labor issue, and that is why you must run as a pro-labor independent candidate. The progressive community will support you if you are not registered Democrat or Republican. It is irrelevant that the school board position is non-partisan; your registration does matter.
All independent candidates must make it clear that ALL of the schools, from pre-school through Grade 12, should be as good as Lowell as Lowell High School simply offers what all high schools should offer. Schools by definition are academic. It is an insult to the taxpayers and the children that there are any substandard schools.
As to money, please support all the tax the rich proposals that will be on this November's ballot. Please also support all efforts to raise the progressive income at the state and federal levels on the rich, those who make over $200,000 per year. Please all support all efforts to fund schools instead of prisons and schools instead of the war machine, for we cannot have guns and butter.
Above all, please stop voting for the Democrat-Republicans. If you have done so, tell everyone else to stop voting for them. They are not the "lesser" evil; they are evil. Arlene Ackerman is a friend of the worst mayor in San Francisco history, election fraud Willie Brown, a lifelong good Democrat and opponent of public schools. Willie Brown forced the school board, illegally, to allow Edison Schools, Inc. a private company, to take over one school, at the behest of his Republican friend, Donald Fischer of The Gap, who has a major investment in Edison Schools, Inc. When the school board moved to cancel the contract, Brown had his good friend, Democrat Gray Davis, appoint Republican Donald Fischer to the State Board of Education, which allowed Edison to stay. The Bay Guardian has been running stories on this over the years. See: http://www.sfbg.com
For more on the horrors of Willie Brown and the entire Democratic Party, see http://www.brasscheck.com/stadium
and
http://www.brasscheck.com/jonestown
Rest assured, the entire progressive communityl supports top quality, free public school education for all, from age 3 through and including college. To achieve that goal, we need a labor movement and serious, independent labor candidates.
Arlene Ackerman is a good Democrat. The school board consists of Democrats and Greens. Gray Davis is a good Democrat. The Democrats and Republicans are the twin parties of capitalism and have no interest in promoting public education. That is a labor issue, and that is why you must run as a pro-labor independent candidate. The progressive community will support you if you are not registered Democrat or Republican. It is irrelevant that the school board position is non-partisan; your registration does matter.
All independent candidates must make it clear that ALL of the schools, from pre-school through Grade 12, should be as good as Lowell as Lowell High School simply offers what all high schools should offer. Schools by definition are academic. It is an insult to the taxpayers and the children that there are any substandard schools.
As to money, please support all the tax the rich proposals that will be on this November's ballot. Please also support all efforts to raise the progressive income at the state and federal levels on the rich, those who make over $200,000 per year. Please all support all efforts to fund schools instead of prisons and schools instead of the war machine, for we cannot have guns and butter.
Above all, please stop voting for the Democrat-Republicans. If you have done so, tell everyone else to stop voting for them. They are not the "lesser" evil; they are evil. Arlene Ackerman is a friend of the worst mayor in San Francisco history, election fraud Willie Brown, a lifelong good Democrat and opponent of public schools. Willie Brown forced the school board, illegally, to allow Edison Schools, Inc. a private company, to take over one school, at the behest of his Republican friend, Donald Fischer of The Gap, who has a major investment in Edison Schools, Inc. When the school board moved to cancel the contract, Brown had his good friend, Democrat Gray Davis, appoint Republican Donald Fischer to the State Board of Education, which allowed Edison to stay. The Bay Guardian has been running stories on this over the years. See: http://www.sfbg.com
For more on the horrors of Willie Brown and the entire Democratic Party, see http://www.brasscheck.com/stadium
and
http://www.brasscheck.com/jonestown
Rest assured, the entire progressive communityl supports top quality, free public school education for all, from age 3 through and including college. To achieve that goal, we need a labor movement and serious, independent labor candidates.
For more information:
http://www.brasscheck.com/stadium
==> made a *unilateral* decision to decrease the 280 unit graduation requirement to 230 units.
Does this prevent the students who wish to obtain 280 units from doing so, or does it simply lower the required units in order to graduate to 230? If I'm reading this right, a student is not hindered from taking the required courses to obtain 280 units.
Does this prevent the students who wish to obtain 280 units from doing so, or does it simply lower the required units in order to graduate to 230? If I'm reading this right, a student is not hindered from taking the required courses to obtain 280 units.
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