It's been over a year since SFUSD adopted Everyday Math. Is everybody happy with it?
I'm struggling with the whole EPC process and I'm hoping to get a reality check from your readers. Will they be as outraged as I am over my situation...or will they tell me to suck it up and wait in line like everyone else?
5 sibling families were denied assignment to their siblings' immersion program for kindergarten at my school this year. According to EPC, the district is strictly enforcing the language ratio across all immersion programs (more of a priority than siblings): 13 target language speakers to 9 English speakers. At my particular school, there were 14 siblings (all designated English Speakers), vying for 9 English spots, so 5 siblings were assigned to the school's general program instead of immersion.
I asked the language department and EPC to reconsider the ratio (down to 11 target to 11 English speakers) if it meant more hardship appeals or siblings could get in for Round 2. They denied my request. They were adamant that 13 - 9 was consistent for all immersion programs, and no exceptions will be made, "to ensure equity". So I can only get a spot if another English speaker drops out (fat chance because they are all taken by other siblings). Although my child does speak the target language a little, apparently, it was not good enough to "pass" the target language test (it's all or nothing).
So I asked around some of the parents at my school and it turns out that there were at least 2 native target language speaking siblings that I know of (and they indicated that on the enrollment form). However, they were only called in for English testing, not target language testing. So presumably, they must have been designated native English speakers (even though they are not).
The EPC process has just been killing me. My native speaking mother lives with us. I LOVE how my daughter has grown so much closer to my mother since she's started her immersion program. I can't imagine giving one child the opportunity to learn about her heritage, culture, and language (and develop a more meaningful relationship to her grandmother living in the same household)…and not give that same opportunity to my other child. It has also been horrible for our school's sense of community. The district has put all the denied sibling families in a position where we are competing directly with each other for any possible future openings, creating a very divisive environment of distrust.
There are two separate issues. First, I need a reality check. For all the parents out there looking for an immersion school, and have tested as a "native speaker" of a language other than English, do you think it's unfair to ask for special dispensation of the language ratio to accommodate for family hardship grants and/or siblings?
Second, there seems to be inconsistency of language testing and designation. For all the parents who put a language other than English as a home language, were you tested for both English and your home language? Although certain students identified themselves as native speakers of another language, because EPC didn't test them (for whatever reason), they were arbitrarily designated English. I've asked EPC to review this prior to Round 2 assignments and I'm awaiting their response.
As Round 2 notices go out and private school tuition payments are coming due, is anyone reconsidering their private school placement if they get their wait pool school this week? or deciding the tuition is just too much and considering other options?
A top education official in the Obama administration sat in San Francisco's Marshall Elementary School cafeteria taking notes Monday as parents, teachers and administrators recited a recipe for what it takes to turn around a struggling school.
The main ingredients included quality teachers, involved parents and a supportive principal mixed perhaps with a new dual-immersion language program. Time must be allowed to let it all take hold.
It is the kind of formula federal officials would love to see in place at schools across the country. Too many schools are failing year after year with no end in sight, said U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education Tony Miller.
Some high schools have a dropout rate of up to 40 percent, and that's no longer acceptable, he said. Meanwhile, too many students graduate from high school unprepared for college and they end up needing remedial classes at their university or college, Miller said.
"We're lying to kids," said Miller during the second stop on a two-day tour around San Francisco to meet school officials and staff, politicians and business leaders.
At Marshall, Miller was especially interested in the school's dual-immersion Spanish program.
The program combines English learners and native speakers with the goal that all students will obtain grade-level literacy and proficiency in both English and Spanish by the time they move on to middle school. The idea was embraced by the school community - a necessary component of any reform, several parents told Miller.
The school's test scores have been improving as has the school's popularity since the program started six years ago.
With pen poised, Miller asked parents, teachers and administrators in the Marshall cafeteria how they created the school's culture - one that includes open communication among all parties while raising money, giving computer workshops for parents and posting one of the highest attendance rates in the district.
Principal Peter Avila cited several factors, including having a social worker, nurse, full-time instructional support staff member and paid parent liaison on campus - mostly funded by federal stimulus dollars or the city's Proposition H school enrichment money.
Has anyone attempted to ask the district (or the schools directly) to do a pairwise substitution of students? If two families would like to switch assignments, is there a chance to make this happen? Considering how non-optimal the lottery result is for many families, it's hard to imagine that there are no such permutations that would be a win-win. We live next to a school and didn't get it but got assigned to another with a similar level of "desirability" (yeah, I know, there is no absolute index of "desirability"). I can't help thinking that there is another family who lives next to that school and may have been assigned to "ours". Rather than having the two families deal with years of commuting, it would be nice to switch if both agree.
If anyone has any experience with this and there is a chance of it happening, I might try to work on some way (e.g. a simple web site) for any family to find such potential win-win substitutions.
My kid has made great strides in reading and mathematics this year. For the been-there-done-that crowd, I would love to hear suggestions about how to support her, her teachers, and her school in the years to come. I've done a little research online (like Junior Great Books Program - does anyone have any experience with it?), but I would love to hear about what systems/programs/resources that have been put in place in your school or your home.
While we wait for our wait pool letters, I was wondering if you could start a topic about problems encountered during kindergarten. For example, my son (July birthday) is currently in a private kindergarten. He's having behavior problems and could possibly be ADHD. Its been suggested if he were to stay at this school, he would have to repeat kindergarten. We've applied for SFUSD schools, we're currently 0 for 7 and hope for a good school. But now I'm worried, what school would be appropriate for him? How do you find out about services or classroom set ups that can accommodate us? If the private school suggests repeating kindergarten, can I enroll him in 1st grade at public? What if I need to enroll him in K, how would that affect our assigned school?
I would love to hear of personal experiences with this issue, though I realize most of your readers are new to the system. Also suggestions of resources would be very helpful.
Specifically, what are local SF Catholic schools, grammar and high, doing to ensure that abuse doesn't occur on the scale it has in the past? I'd like to hear concrete plans and policies that are being implemented.
My husband and I both come from Catholic families and were practicing until recently, so we are not trying to Catholic bash. We just want concrete assurances our child will be safe a Catholic grammar school in SF.
If there are principals, teachers, parents, diocese employees that can explain the SF policies here, please speak up. Because the Vatican comparing the NY & LA Times to anti-Semites for reporting on the abuse, well, that's just not cutting it for us.
Thank you for any insight you can provide.
I'm interested in a topic that starts a discussion about the new student assignment system in SFUSD. How will it yield different results than the old system?
I was hoping for some clarification on the changes adopted for next year’s enrollment process. Is it true that the school board will more heavily weigh a child’s home address when deciding where to place him/her? I’m especially interested because we live two blocks from a very good elementary school.
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100% of auction purchases directly benefit every child at Grattan by enabling us to reduce class size at every grade level to 24 students, keep our state-of-the-art computer lab open, retain key counseling staff, support our thriving gardening program, and so much more! Thanks in advance for your support.
I would like to ask if there are people who changed there wait pool school school based on the waitpool cohorts released April 5? If they did what was there original waitpool pick and what school did they change it to?
I’m an Alvarado parent and getting ready to take on a school yearbook and I have a question I’d like to propose to you or your readers.
We’re going to use a service called www.treering.com that allows you had add an additional fee to the cost of the yearbook to apply to fundraising. The cost of the yearbooks are about $15 bucks, or so, and each kid’s yearbook is customized.
What do you think is an appropriate additional charge on top of the yearbook cost? I’m wavering from anywhere from not using it as a fundraising tool up to $10 bucks on top of each book.
Any thoughts, or any way to survey your followers? I’d love some other opinions on this.
I have seen several parents say that one school or another doesn't have much or has a lot of parent involvement. How do you evaulate that? Is is just based on how much the PTO raises? How much is enough? Does a well established school with a senior teaching staff need as much parent involvement? Can you offset money raised with
sweat equiity? To experienced parents, what percentage of your parents are actively involved in the following categories: give full amount to direct appeal, attend parent meetings, volunteer time in classsroom, work at fundraiser?
Was wondering if we could revisit the topic of school lunches. I read with great interest the old post about SFUSD lunches. Was wondering if the budget deficit will affect the lunches offered. Would like to know what school kids are eating these days. Any other schools beside Miraloma that offers a salad bar? How are schools with edible garden programs incorporating that into meal times?
I would like an easy way to give money to the schools with the highest percentage of low SES schools. I don't know anything about how to go about making this happen but I'm interested to know if others would like to help. If we can get two or three families interested who would like to volunteer time to this, I would be happy to lead it. Could anyone with opinions on this topic (I'm sure it has been thought of before) let me know why this might be hard or impossible? This is from another thread from March, about what PTAs raise. I think there would be both public and private school families interested in giving to the neediest schools, in addition to the current donations they give. I have given before to low income schools but it has been haphazard and I just wanted to explore what would make it easier to do this electronically. Thank you for anyone expressing interest - if there are enough of us, I'll host a meeting to discuss!
"Who are the good private school consultants? What services do they provide? Are they worth it?"
I like to suggest a new topic about what the breakdown of # of students in middle schools that were assigned to Lowell High School. It appears that this data is not published by SFUSD.
Please start a thread for waitpool numbers. I think they are supposed to be posted online today according to this flyer. http://portal.sfusd.edu/data/epc/WP%20Key%20Dates.pdf
but I can't find the link on SFUSD. I'd like to hear what people think about the numbers, higher/lower than years past, chances of getting in, etc.
I wonder if this is worth a discussion?I have heard several friends at different preschools express frustration over the following: Preschool Directors who insist on parents applying to at least 5 schools, who then turn around and fight for the families who only applied to 3 schools and were not accepted at any of them, to the detriment of families who did follow the rules and got in to a second choice school. (We did not have this issue, but two close friends and several acquaintances have all shared their stories and I am disappointed/ upset for them.)Here's an example: Family A, at XYZ preschool applies to 5 schools at the direction of their ED, Plum School is their top choice and really the only school they care about. Family B at XYZ preschool ignors the repeated urging of the ED and applies to only their top two or three schools, Apple School is their top choice. When the letters come out, A gets into Banana School - a fine school, but low on their list, they immediately contact Plum to indicate that Plum is their first choice, and to please keep them in the Waitpool; A is told by the AD that they are at the top of the list. A calls the ED of the preschool to indicate that Plum is still their first choice and they would like help advancing their case at Plum. The ED hears that A got in to a school and mentally crosses A off her list of things to worry about.Family B gets in nowhere - they took their chances against the advice of the ED and it seriously backfired. Now they are scrambling. Apple is still their number one choice, but there is no movement on that WL. Family B calls the preschool ED very upset and demands help in getting into ANY school. The ED does not want an unplaced child - that reflects poorly on the school. So what does the ED do? Goes to bat for the kid who has no spot because their parents refused to follow the ED's rules.Ultimately B gets into Plum - their second choice, and A loses the spot because the ED went to bat for B instead of A (who had Plum as their first choice).Assuming they were both basically "qualified" is it fair for B to get the spot over A just because B didn't have any acceptances (by their own doing)?The EDs obviously need to help all families get in to schools - but I have heard repeatedly this year how unfair the system has been to those families who did everything they were told to do. I wonder what others think and what the solution might be. I heard that one preschool is requiring parents to sign a contract with the ED that commits the parents to applying to a minimum of 5 schools, and if they don't apply to 5, they explicitly agree that the ED will have no obligation to help them if they do not get in anywhere. This seems more ethical to me. I understand that the EDs want everyone to get in, but it does seem extremely unfair to families that did everything that the ED asked to be penalized for doing so, while families who (some arrogantly) believed that they did not need to follow the rules are then rewarded for their flouting of the rules.
I would be interested to learn more about the Stratford School in San Francisco. Can you please start a thread on this?
