Web Log
Apr 26, 03:43 AM | Author: jane kim | Category: schools
Swetting (and stressin') for change...
Photo of dumpster outside of John Swett Elementary School by Luke Thomas, San Francisco Sentinel
“Startled parents this morning retrieved new books and musical instruments discarded by school officials in a John Swett Elementary School dumpster. Many discarded items were in new unopened packaging.
Discarding school supplies this morning preceded a scheduled 7:00 p.m. School Board meeting tonight considering acceptance of $660,000 in City funds to keep John Swett open.” Pat Murphy
This photo is astonishing! How can anyone throw away new books and school supplies? Let’s not even mention how strapped our school disctrict is.
I attended, yet again, another disappointing Board of Education meeting.
The Board of Supervisors (led by Ross Mirkarimi) voted 9-1 to offer SFUSD a $660,000 grant to keep John Swett Elementary School open- a school that had NO REASON to be on the school closure list. With 81% student capacity, an activist and involved parent body, substantial arts program, and one of the more integrated, diverse schools that I have seen in SF, this school is a neighborhood center. It is a great, small school that also serves some of our poorest families of color. I wrote briefly about this in January.
Parents, children and community folks spoke and then listened, awestruck, as the BOE members created ridiculous reasons as to why they couldn’t accept the money.
Uh, what? That’s right. We were there, basically to beg a money-strapped School Board, to take money. And the majority of the board said no. (This process of saying no, took of course, 40 minutes).
Note: Eric Mar and Mark Sanchez, who voted in January to keep Swett open, supported the BOS proposal.
As I walked out with activists, including Mattie Smith, Nicole Derse, Esther Morales, Jeremiah Jeffries (1st grade teacher at Swett), Julian Davis, Ross Mirkarimi and my roommate, MJ, someone groaned, “When was the last time I walked out of a School Board meeting winning something on my side?” And I honestly couldn’t remember the last time I did. I couldn’t remember the last time I walked out of a BOE meeting, NOT feeling angry, disempowered or sad because of the lack of accountability the BOE feels towards the communities they are serving.
It is amazing. You can tell them that 9 Supervisors, the entire SF Labor Council, and community leaders from Bayview, Chinatown, Mission, TL and Western Addition support keeping this school open and members of the School Board won’t blink an eye. It really doesn’t matter who supports the issue. It doesn’t really matter if you organize and rally constituency. The school board is one of the least accountable elected bodies I have ever seen. A lot of them simply don’t care what constituents think. Because the majority of the 85,000 plus voters who voted them into office will never step into their board room, aren’t parents of SFUSD students, or can’t watch them on TV (because it’s not televised). Yeah, so 500 people might hate them, but that other 84,500 plus people have never watched them in action. All the average voter knows is whether they are an incumbent or not.
And excuses of fiscal responsibility did not hold weight in this discussion. The BOE was being OFFERED money to keep open a school they supposedly didn’t want to close/merge but “had to” due to financial restraints. (BTW, SFUSD saves approximately $330,000 by closing Swett. BOS offered them twice the amount- $660,000.)
How depressing this must be for the young children and parents that love and fought to keep their tight-knit school community together??!!
More Articles:
SF Examiner
Mirkarimi’s Opinion Piece in SF Bay Guardian Editor
SF Chronicle
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