January 9, 2006

Board of Education
San Francisco Unified School District
555 Franklin Street
San Francisco, California 94102

Dear Commissioner,

I have hand carried this letter to your office to once again underscore my strong support for current parents of Daniel Webster Elementary School and for the motivated members of the Potrero Hill Parents Association (PHPA) Daniel Webster Prospective Parents Committee. The PHPA, a First 5 ParentACTION grant recipient, is a group of more than 200 middle class families, most of whom have preschool age children.

I am very grateful for the opportunity to speak with you personally. I appreciate your willingness to hear the concerns of my friends and neighbors - the young mothers and fathers in and around Potrero Hill who have recently moved to this rapidly growing area and want to put their children in public schools.

Your colleague, Commissioner Lipson, came to Potrero Hill this past Friday morning and met with 60+ mostly prospective Daniel Webster parents as well as the leadership of the current parents group. She was receptive to their concerns and most interested in the negative impact the proposed merger will have on both current and future students at both Starr King and Daniel Webster. Your office has received documents detailing current demographics and projected growth for this part of the city, as well as information about the current status and population of Daniel Webster.

At this school, we have the best opportunity in all of San Francisco to integrate it to combat the trend toward resegregation. Currently there are 2 white children in a school population of 279. Yet it is located in a neighborhood that is overwhelmingly white middle class. Commissioner Lipson left the meeting holding over 600 signatures from merchants, residents, and current and prospective Daniel Webster parents opposed to the merger.

I know that that your honorable Board’s first concern is the education of our city’s children. With that in mind, it’s important to point out the many children who will be negatively impacted by this proposed merger.

• Because of the influx of Daniel Webster students, Starr King will not be able to accommodate its current special needs students.

• The Friends of Potrero Preschool, which currently leases space from Starr King, will be displaced. This is the only preschool in Potrero Hill.

• Daniel Webster’s Cantonese Immersion program will be phased out, displacing students.

• Daniel Webster’s Child Development Program will be shut down, displacing 130+ students and their families who rely on the program year round.

• If Starr King’s new Mandarin Immersion (MI) program performs to expectation, slots will fill immediately, leaving only 40 kindergarten spaces for non-MI students, and rapidly bring the school to near capacity. In addition, the Mandarin program will not be able to enroll new students in succeeding years.

• Historically, there is an average 10% drop off through students leaving SFUSD when schools are merged. This translates into less revenue, perpetuating the never-ending budget crisis.

• Potrero Hill/Showplace Square/Dogpatch, the highest growth neighborhood in San Francisco, will be woefully underserved with only one elementary school in the southwest corner of the hill.

I realize you are faced with the daunting task of balancing the district’s budget so severely impacted by the declining enrollment across the City. As Commissioner Lipson explained, it doesn’t make sense to keep the same number of facilities operational when the district loses 800-1000 students per year.

I urge you, though, to consider the unique situation in Potrero Hill and its environs: The population of families with children has grown and continues to grow at a dramatic pace. I am helping a parents group of dedicated, mostly Caucasian, progressive middle class families who want public education for their children. They are asking you for just one year. One year to show you what they can do. To that end, the PHPA’s Daniel Webster Prospective Parents Committee is prepared to immediately explore several action items aimed at raising revenue at Daniel Webster:

• Open a preschool on the Daniel Webster campus. There is space available and a clear need for more conveniently located preschools to accommodate the increasing number of children in the area. Ideally, this would be a for-profit school leasing space from Daniel Webster and giving a portion of proceeds to Daniel Webster. The preschool currently at Starr King has turned into a highly effective PR vehicle for the school – parents all over the Hill are getting an inside look and are able to feel comfortable in the environment. It becomes a natural feeder for the elementary school – it’s happening at Starr King. It can happen at Daniel Webster.

• Daniel Webster already has corporate support from Gap Foundation and Wells Fargo. These future parents are motivated to build on existing corporate sponsorships and bring in additional partners to underwrite programs and improvements at the school. These people are professionals from every business sector. They are prepared to put their experience, skills and contacts to work for their neighborhood school.

• We are enormously encouraged by the number of merchants and non-parent residents who are voicing their support for Daniel Webster. We are prepared to capitalize on this momentum to involve the community at large in other revenue generating, fundraising and/or underwriting activities to supplement Daniel Webster.

Give this community a chance to show what they can do. The population growth can support two elementary schools. There are parents motivated RIGHT NOW to help both schools become the best they can be – that means upward trending enrollment and two desirable schools in an underserved neighborhood.

I have heard from all of your colleagues that the issue is not enough money. I say that your Board and the School District are not alone. As an integral part of the fabric of San Francisco, you do not have to face this alone. Prop H demonstrated that San Francisco is ready to spend city money for our children’s education. Before making a decision that may require an expensive reversal, the Board of Education should ask the mayor and the Board of Supervisors to find the $4 to 5 million needed to avoid these closures from our City’s five billion dollar budget. I believe the parents of the affected schools will be joined by even more concerned San Franciscans to help advocate for this financial assistance.

At the very least, I would respectfully ask that the Board determine how much of the Governor’s newly announced one billion dollar increase for K-12 funding will come to San Francisco. The money you need may well be there. I know from our personal discussion that you do not want to hurt our city’s children and nor add to the family flight crises outlined in numerous mayoral reports.

Once again thank you for the courtesy and attention that you have extended to me over the past several weeks.

Sincerely,

Art Agnos