Preschools/Schools

In a report released Thursday, a San Francisco Civil Grand Jury has recommended that the San San Francisco Unified School District should dump its “confusing, time-consuming, alienating” system of assigning students to schools via lottery, and instead assign students to schools in their neighborhood.

It was tough to hear over the “Oh HELL yeah” emanating from local parents, but the grand jury insulted the lottery system on all fronts: it’s expensive, it’s confusing, it chases intimidated families out of the city, and worst of all, it doesn’t even work. One 2005 study found that more than 50 percent of the SFUSD’s schools were “severely segregated.”

The lottery was only a stopgap solution anyway. As a story in the San Francisco Examiner explains, a 1983 NAACP suit caused a federal court to order San Francisco to integrate its public schools. Another lawsuit in 1991 said that using race to assign students to schools was also unfair. Thus our bizarre lottery system, which assigns weight to such factors as the languages students speak, their socioeconomic background, and the performance of individual schools.

For parents the process is stressful and confusing; for taxpayers the lottery’s expensive: it costs $2 million a year just to maintain the 29-member staff necessary to help parents with the application process. And here’s the real kicker: The federal order to desegregate the schools expired in 2005, so there’s not even anyone making us run it anymore.

Does that sound racist? I’m not jumping up and down that schools are so segregated. I drive by the nice, expensive private schools in town and see only white faces, and then by the schoolyards in the neighborhoods I can afford to rent in and see only brown ones. It bums me out because weren’t we supposed to be over this by now? Actually melting together in our melting pot?

It’s not working, but the lottery isn’t the solution we need either. And it’s a stressful time-suck for the parents and students who have to research scores of schools, and who can’t be sure which (if any!) of their ultimate choices they’ll get. And maybe they get School X all the way over on the other side of town, and either Mom or Dad are hauling them, or they’re getting up at 5:30am to take two buses in order to get there on time.

School board president Mark Sanchez agrees that the lottery ain’t working, and this fall there’ll be discussions and probably changes.

Yippee.

If you have a kid in the city, you’d better be rich, or just get used to renting. According to a fascinating article in the San Francisco Chronicle entitled “Exodus of S.F.’s Middle Class,” the median price for all houses in the city is a sickening $790,000. A source estimates the yearly income needed to buy a house in San Francisco to be in the neighborhood of $200K.

Do you know who can make $200K and afford a $790,000 house? Two people making excellent full-time incomes. You know who can’t? Parents that cut their working hours to take care of the kid(s). The Chronicle story agrees:

The social consequences for a city where moderate- and low-income families can’t get by are manifold. Many believe it’s the primary reason San Francisco has the fewest children per capita of any major metropolitan area in the United States. In 2006, a group of Potrero Hill parents concerned about declining public school ranks surveyed families that had left San Francisco to find out why they had done so. Fifty-three percent cited the schools; 70 percent blamed housing costs.

For most of the decade, San Francisco Unified School District has lost an average of 800 students per year, which has meant losing an additional $4 million in state and federal funds each time.

“So we offer less for kids in terms of programs and classes,” said Mark Sanchez, president of the San Francisco Board of Education. “It definitely hits us hard.”

So you shell out an insane amount of money monthly to live here, and if you want your kid to get a great education, you have to shell out even more to pay for private schooling. No wonder people split for Redwood City and Pacifica.

Must be a busy time at the Oakland Unified School District–the word is that lots of Oakland parents aren’t sure what school their kids are assigned to for the fall, and that no one who answers the phones at the OUSD has a clue, either.

Put down the phone and try the brisk-and-accurate Oakland Unified School District’s School Finder tool, which allows you to type in an address and then click to find out what elementary, middle, and high school your area is pegged to. If you are within the boundaries for the school of your choice, you don’t have to go through the lottery system–unless the school is over-enrolled, which has been happening in some Oakland elementary schools.

Once you know what school your child is assigned to, calling the school directly to ask questions is generally much more efficient than bugging the overburdened OUSD. Getting in touch with the school’s parent association will net you even more good inside information.

Got other questions? The OUSD website isn’t bad. Visit webportal.ousd.k12.ca.us and click on the “Parents” tab to find out how to navigate the enrollment process. Most all the information is in PDF files (why do they do that?), but it’s still easier than calling. Trust me on that one.

Hi parents of kids aged 3-4! I know that you just yesterday got your kid into preschool, but it’s already time to start thinking about kindergarten. You may have heard your friends with older kids having anxious conversations about the San Francisco Unified School District’s lottery school-assignment system. It all starts with info-gluts like tonight’s Kindergarten Information night, a festive evening of chatting with administrators and teachers from more than 60 kindergartens around the city. Get ready for handouts, because Good Parent Regulation 602.31 requires your attendance.

When: Wed., 5/7, 6-8pm, Adults only; Free.

Where: Jewish Community Center, 3200 California St. (at Presidio), San Francisco, 415-292-1283, jccsf.org.