San Francisco Unified School District

San Francisco Unified School District
Location
San Francisco, California
United States
District information
Type Public
Established 1851
Superintendent Richard A. Carranza
Students and staff
Students 56,310 (2011-2012)[1]
Other information
Website www.sfusd.edu
San Francisco Unified School District Administrative Building at 555 Franklin Street.

San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD), established in 1851, is the only public school district within the City and County of San Francisco, and the first in the state of California.[2] Under the management of the San Francisco Board of Education, the district serves more than 55,500 students in more than 160 institutions.[3]

SFUSD utilizes an intra-district school choice system and requires students and parents to submit a selection application. Every year in the fall, the SFUSD hosts a Public School Enrollment Fair to provide families access to information about all the schools in the district.

SFUSD has the second highest Academic Performance Index among the seven largest California school districts in California.[4] Newsweek’s national ranking of "Best High Schools in America" named seven SFUSD high schools among the top five percent in the country in 2007. In 2005, two SFUSD schools were recognized by the federal government as No Child Left Behind Blue-Ribbon Schools.

Student admissions

Another San Francisco Unified School District building, from Fell st. & Franklin st. crossing.
Windows of that San Francisco Unified School District building covered with photos of jazz legends.

SFUSD previously practiced a race-based admissions system. In 1983 the NAACP sued the school district and won a consent decree that mandated that no more than 45% of any racial group may make up the percentage of students at a single school. At the time, white and black students were the largest demographic groups in the school district. The decree was intended to benefit black children. When it was discovered that Hispanic children also had low test scores, they were added to the decree's intended beneficiaries.[5]

In a five-year period ending in 1999, Asian and Latino students were the largest demographic groups in the SFUSD. In 1994, after several ethnic Chinese students were denied admission to programs because too many ethnic Chinese students were present, ethnic Chinese parents sued SFUSD arguing that the system promoted racial discrimination.[5] On April 15, 1998, the Chinese-American group asked a federal appeals court to end the admissions practice.[6] The system required ethnic Chinese students to receive higher scores than other ethnic groups in order to be admitted to Lowell High School, the city's most prestigious public high school.[6][7] Waldemar Rojas, the superintendent, wanted to keep the decree because the district had received $37 million in desegregation funds. The NAACP had defended the decree. White parents who were against the racial quotas had a tendency to leave San Francisco.[5]

In 1998 a federal appeals court ruled that the race-based criteria should not be ended, but that SFUSD is required to justify why it required higher test scores from ethnic Chinese applicants to gain admission to the school district's most prestigious high school and that the school district is required to prove, during a trial held in the 1999-2000 school year, that segregation is remaining in the school system and that the limitation of the ethnic groups at each school is the only possible remedy.[8] On February 16, 1999, lawyers representing the Chinese parents revealed that the school district had agreed to a settlement that removed the previous race-based admission system; William Orrick, the U.S. district judge, had planned to officially announce the news of the settlement the following day.[5] The district planned to implement a "diversity index" in which race was one factor, but in December 1999 Orrick rejected the plan as unconstitutional. Orrick ordered the district to resubmit the plan without race as a factor or to resubmit the plan under the settlement that had been reached with the Chinese parents.[9] In January 2000 the district agreed to remove race as a factor of consideration for admission.[10] In 2007 the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled that race may not be an admission factor for a K-12 school.[11]

As of 2007 SFUSD admission factors include race-neutral aspects, such as the socioeconomic status of a student's family. Lyanne Melendez of KGO-TV wrote in 2007 "but the local courts and the district have found that race-neutral factors haven't worked in San Francisco's case."[11]

Schools

Secondary schools

High schools

Balboa High School
Galileo Academy of Science and Technology
Lowell High School
Mission High School
Ida B. Wells High School
Comprehensive schools
Alternative schools

Middle schools

K-8 schools

K-5 schools

Former schools

Secondary schools

High schools

Middle schools

K-8 schools

Elementary schools

See also

References

  1. ↑ Educational Demographics Unit (2012). "California Public Schools - District Report: 2011-12 District Enrollment by Grade San Francisco Unified". California Department of Education. Retrieved 2012-09-05.
  2. ↑ San Francisco History Center (2008). "San Francisco Unified School District Records" (.PDF). 1854-2005 (Bulk 1874-1978). San Francisco Public Library: vii. Retrieved 2010-02-11. (Archive)
  3. ↑ Educational Demographics Unit (2011). "California Public Schools - District Report: 2010-11 District Enrollment by Grade San Francisco Unified". California Department of Education. Retrieved 2011-11-04.
  4. ↑ "About SFUSD: Did you know". San Francisco Unified School District. 2007. Retrieved 2010-02-09.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Walsh, Joan. "A new racial era for San Francisco schools." (Archive) Salon. Thursday February 18, 1999. Retrieved on August 25, 2013.
  6. 1 2 "SCHOOL'S RACE QUOTAS UNDER FIRE." Contra Costa Times. April 16, 1998. News p. A10. Retrieved on August 24, 2013. "SAN FRANCISCO - A Chinese-American group asked a federal appeals court Wednesday to end a 15-year-old, judge-approved racial admissions system in San Francisco schools that requires Chinese students to score higher than others to get into the top high school. The students are entitled to "the right to attend the public schools of San Francisco without being subject to a system of race and ethnic quotas," Daniel Girard, lawyer for Chinese-American students and parents challenging the... "
  7. ↑ "CHALLENGING RACE-BASED ADMISSIONS." Los Angeles Daily News. July 19, 1994. Retrieved on August 24, 2013. "To this country's great shame, there was a time when an American child who studied hard and earned good grades nonetheless was held back from the best public school classes because of the color of his skin. That young child was punished because he was black. Oddly, school districts across America have determined that the best way to atone for such racial injustice is more skin-color and ethnic discrimination. In the San Francisco Unified School District, children wishing to attend Lowell[...]"
  8. ↑ "COURT ALLOWS RACE-BASED ADMISSIONS S.F. SCHOOLS: THE DISTRICT MUST RETURN IN SEPTEMBER TO PROVE ITS CASE." San Jose Mercury News. June 5, 1998. California News p. 3B. Retrieved on August 25, 2013. "With misgivings, a federal appeals court refused Thursday to end a 15-year-old system of racial admissions to San Francisco public schools, but said SFUSD must justify its requirement of higher test scores for Chinese-Americans to get into the top high school. The San Francisco Unified School District must prove, at a trial in time for the 1999-2000 school year, that segregation persists in the schools and can be remedied only by limiting the representation of each ethnic group at[...]"
  9. ↑ "JUDGE TELLS S.F. SCHOOLS TO REDO ADMISSIONS PLAN." San Jose Mercury News. December 18, 1999. Local Section p. 3B. Retrieved on August 25, 2013. "A federal judge Friday rejected as unconstitutional a plan by San Francisco schools to implement a diversity index that would consider race and ethnicity in the admissions process. U.S. District Judge William Orrick ordered San Francisco Unified School District officials by Jan. 7 to either resubmit the plan without race and ethnicity as factors or resubmit the plan being implemented this year under a settlement between the district and Chinese-American students. The settlement,[...]"
  10. ↑ "SCHOOL ASSIGNMENTS NOT BASED ON RACE." San Jose Mercury News. January 9, 2000. California News p. 3B. Retrieved on August 24, 2013. "In compliance with a judge's order, the San Francisco Unified School District has decided to abandon its effort to use race as a factor inassigning students to schools. The school district informed U.S. District Judge William Orrick on Friday of its plan to continue using its current race-neutral plan, which was implemented last spring. Orrick had ruled the district could not use a proposed diversity index that would have used race as one of the factors for assigning students to[...]"
  11. 1 2 Melendez, Lyanne. "S.F. Schools Reviewing Diversity Policy." (Archive) KGO-TV (ABC). Thursday June 28, 2007. Retrieved on August 25, 2013.
  12. ↑ "Chinese Education Center: Home Page". School Loop. Retrieved 2013-08-08.
  13. ↑ Wagner, Venise (1997-04-21). "Poly High alums seek spirit of '68". The San Francisco Chronicle.
  14. ↑ http://portal.sfusd.edu/template/default.cfm?page=ms.davis

Further reading

External links

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