Join UESF & March Tomorrow & BOE Agenda (edit this)
UESF is having a rally and march at 6:45 p.m. tomorrow (2/28). Marchers are meeting at the playground at John Swett Elementary School (727 Golden Gate/Franklin is the cross street) and then marching together to the BOE meeting. As everyone knows, impasse has been called on the negotiations with the contract-and UESF and the District meet all day on Friday, Feb. 24.
UESF will make a statement Tuesday about the results from the first mediation session with the district at district headquarters. The meeting took place all-day on Friday, February 24.
With no raise in nearly four years, the major sticking point with the new contract for UESF is the issue of fair pay. But issues of school safety, and the contractual rights of paraprofessionals (teachers’ aides) are also points of contention.
At the BOE meeting at 7 p.m. at SFUSD HQ at 555 Franklin, the following items will be discussed:
1. Approval of layoff notices to be sent to 50 certified staff by March 15 (mainly senior managers, including the Supertendent whose tenure ends on June 30 anyway) as well as certified staff/teachers and paras-in the event that the District needs to lay off personnel due to budget cuts for the next School Year (06-07). Again, this does not mean that they will be laid off-it means that they may be laid by the end of the budget year (June 30, 2006).
2. Public Hearing on the 2005-06 Intial Proposal from SFUSD to United Administrators of SF (principals and other classified senior management) on their contract
3. Discussion on SFUSD’s Arts Education Master Plan
4. Authorization to Grant or Deny Sputnik Charter School’s Petition for a Charter School-This is the Russian language charter school that is being proposed by some parents.
5. Authorization of Budget Transfers of both Restricted and Unrestricted Funds. The agenda does not include any details of the amounts or where the funds would be transferred.
6. Authorization to accept SFUSD’s District Audit Report for the Year Ended June 30, 2005.
7. Authorization to Enter into a $7.9 million contract for repairs at Horace Mann Middle School
8. Resolutions to spend $17,500 of unrestricted funds for consultants ranging from labor relations bargaining consulting to staff development at Drew College Preparatory Academy, from Artist in Residence Program at McKinley (and not under their School Site Budget) to Crisis Intervention and Counseling at George Washington H.S.
9. Interim Superintendent is requesting that Burton High School’s track be renamed to “Koret Track.”
February 28th, 2006 at 3:18 pm e
I’m posting an open message urging all BOE members to reject the Sputnik Charter School. Nothing against this particular group of parents proposing the charter, but here are just a few concerns about approving ANY charter:
— While union-busting may not be a primary purpose of THIS particular charter school, busting the teachers’ unions is the primary purpose of the charter school movement overall. Approving a charter school during the heat of negotiations between SFUSD and UESF would be a provocative gesture aimed at teachers.
— Charter schools are entirely unaccountable. School districts have no control over what they do. No responsible BOE member would vote to run a school that can do whatever it wants and answers to no one.
— A school aimed at attracting one particular nationality will clearly be a segregated school. Our district is already under fire for the resegregation of many schools. Approving a school that’s openly destined to be segregated would undermine efforts at diversifying schools.
— Charter schools are a weapon in the Bush administration’s arsenal aimed at weakening and destroying public education. They are part of an effort to harm our schools. A responsible board member cannot support that.
— I follow daily school news from around the nation. Charter schools bring with them a disproportionate amount of unrest and controversy in school districts, something that SFUSD does not need more of. Here are two examples, just from today’s news:
** A proposed charter school has been rejected by the Alum Rock district in San Jose and has turned to the state for a charter, which would force it into the school district against the school district’s will. Even charter advocates squirm when asked whether that’s a healthy thing for a school district. Now Netflix mogul Reid Hastings has announced a huge donation to the outfit proposing the charter school.
** 24 charter schools in San Diego are engaging in legal action against the school district to demand the district sites they claim they’re legally entitled to.
SFUSD does not need more controversy, unrest, potential legal action and trouble from unaccountable schools. The BOE members MUST vote to reject this proposed charter, and all proposed charters.
February 28th, 2006 at 11:52 pm e
The item on the Sputnik charter was postponed at the concurrence of the petitioners until more information is provided.
March 1st, 2006 at 8:26 am e
Someone who read my blog post pointed out that I should have mentioned the most obvious point — opening a charter school increases the likelihood that existing schools will be closed. I’ve said this so much that I neglected to say it again; my lapse.
March 2nd, 2006 at 4:55 pm e
I have some photos up on my blog, “Civic Center,” from the protest. Just click on my name and it should get you there.