Op-Ed: Proposed Changes To SF's Public School Lottery An Encouraging Step

Well, first schools take into account geography. Each school has a district, and you get priority all other things being equal if you belong to the school area. (except if you live like I do in the "former Edison" area, which means that my area becomes that of the school I pick first).

Some schools are exempt of having a local area. Meaning you get no priority for where you live. And guess what? Those are the most popular! Let's recap: you have two types of school, basic neighborhood schools and some schools with no geographic preference attached to them, and people vote for the latter. Overwhelmingly. They want to go there.

The term of 're-segragation' is actually quite true. The current system is imperfect, but exists for one reason: schools *were* segregated and something had to be done. So yeah, it'd be nice if all Noe Valley kids could go to the Noe Valley school, but that also means that all the Visitacion Valley kids are stuck in Visitacion Valley.

First, the word "segregation" is inflammatory and unproductive. It is associated with the pervasive, institutionalized racism of the deep south. It has no place in the vocabulary of a school district discussion in 2010.

Second, the premise of your comment is that a child is "stuck" in Visitacion Valley. Your comment assumes that parents in Visitacion Valley also want to schelp kids all over town. The underlying premise is that people in a neighborhood that is racially concentrated are somehow doomed to underperforming schools. Instead of shuttling kids all around town, why can't we pour our resources into schools that need extra help?

Third, if the district has been moving kids around since the early 80s', with limited improvement in reducing "racial isolation" in certain schools (SFUSD buzz word), perhaps the current system isn't working. Just saying....

i think the lottery lasted so long since folks that live in fringe or bad neighborhoods don't want a local preference for the school down the street. i've often heard parents say this directly about potrero hill. they don't want to be forced to send their kids to a wonderful school down the street since it would be with most of the kids from the local projects. shameful!

Well, if the school as a rating in the 600, yes, 'stuck' is the right word. You could pool resource and improve the school, but that would take time and the problem with kids is that if you wait, they have grown up.

Segregation, webster: "the separation or isolation of a race, class, or ethnic group by enforced or voluntary residence in a restricted area, by barriers to social intercourse, by separate educational facilities, or by other discriminatory means." If your schools in Bayview are over 90% African-American, your school in the Sunset is over 90% Chinese-American and your school in Noe in over 90% white, then you have segregation. It's shifting the debate to pretend you cannot describe what was happening by its name. Also, an easy way to solve the problem. Schools can't be segregated, since calling it that way is inflammatory!

Adding that 'Improving the schools' is a worthy endeavor, but is doomed to fail if there is no diversity in the socio-economic background of the pool of student. If all the kids in the neighborhood from the school come from the local project, then you can toss all kind of moneys (as if anyone would throw money that way) and the school would not improve.

Also, regarding to "stuck," consider the point of view of someone who would like to go to that pretty nice school a block away from your house, but can't afford to live near it because it's too expensive.

Blooms, have you been on a school tour to schools in Potrero, Western Addition, or Visitacion Valley. Have you asked how much money the PTA raised? There is a very simple comparison: Rosa Parks has two tracks, one general, one Japanese cultural. In one track, it's the kids from the neighborhood; in the other track, it's people, many outside of the hood, who want to expose their kids to cultural diversity. Only one track has a functioning PTA, which one?

Now you will say: but you just have to improve the communities surrounding the schools, educate and involve the parents, etc, etc.

The current system is not perfect, but at least it offers equal opportunities to those willing to take them.

I think your penultimate paragraph made my points for me. The views expressed in my op-ed are shared by many parents, and the SFUSD has finally acknowledged those concerns. The fact is that SF's school assignment system is a joke, and has been for quite some time. It attempts to redress socio-economic issues while disregarding the legitimate interests of parents who want their children to attend school close to home and focus on education rather than diversity goals.

http://sfappeal.com/alley/2010/03/sf-schools-agree-to-change-in-school-assignment-policy.php