Potrero Hill Schools on the chopping block
Schools with low enrollment may also be merged with other campuses, and a decision as to what schools will be affected is expected to be made prior to the school enrollment application deadline of Jan. 13, 2006.
Every single public school on Potrero Hill has been cited as a candidate for closure or merger: Enola Maxwell Middle School and Starr King are both on the chopping block and list of possible mergers, while Daniel Webster Elementary School and International Studies Academy are on the list of schools under consideration for possible mergers.
The Examiner reports that at Starr King Elementary School, Principal Christopher Rosenberg has heard from numerous sources - none of them official - that his 150-student school in Potrero Hill could be combined with Daniel Webster which has roughly 300 students.
More Info
• Board president: Mergers would ‘blunt the harm’ [The Examiner]
5 Comments:
Depressing news, but not surprising given we have the lowest rate of children living here. I'm sure this will only drive more folks away. :-(
There are many families in PH with school-age kids. The problem frankly is that middle class PH residents won't send their kids to the local schools if they are filled with high-needs kids from the projects. The possible exception would be the Mandarin immersion program at Star King which would presumably exclude (by their choice) the kids from the projects. I don't see this situation changing any time soon.
My understanding is that Daniel Webster is okay and Starr King is abysmal. So if I sent a child to Webster I would be concerned that it would go downhill if they were merged.
The SF examiner ran an article today about the school closure and mergers. The print version of the article had list of schools mergering. Daniel Webster is going to merge with Starr King in Starr King. Daniel Webster is going to be used for "county programs"?.
At the meeting on Tuesday December 6th, the BoE announced a plan to effectively close Daniel Webster and move our 260 kids to Starr King, which has only 150 students. Our site (which is designed for K-5) would be used by three County high school programs, converting Webster into a hub for County-funded last chance schools.
Our parents had no idea this was going down and are furious because they only ever received a letter from Ackerman about a possible merger of both schools at our site. So basically, we have had only 5 school days to inform the families of 250 students that December 13th is their one and only chance to try to stop this plan. Then they go on Winter Recess for two weeks and the board votes on January 10th.
Expect our families to protest the district's deceptive move at the Board Meeting on December 13th. I suppose they expected us all to take this silently, didn't they?
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