Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1996. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
San Francisco Chronicle - The Voice of the West, 901 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94119
Tara Shioya, Chronicle Staff Writer
And in an unexpected move after much emotional testimony from the public, the board also agreed to reconsider the decision announced by Superintendent Bill Rojas to "reconstitute" three San Francisco schools by removing their entire administrative and teaching staffs. He announced the reconstitution last Thursday for Starr King Elementary, Aptos Middle School and Balboa High.
More than 400 community activists, parents, educators and students filled the Everett Middle School auditorium to protest the AIDS legislation as well as a recent decision to transfer teachers and administrators from the three schools and the earlier firing of top administrators at Mission High.
"We're very happy," Michael Bellefountaine, one of 25 AIDS activists at the meeting from ACT UP San Francisco, said of the board's decision. "It's a first step. But we want to see them actively oppose this said bill. It's a matter of life or death."
The bill proposed by Assemblyman Steve Baldwin, R-El Cajon, and co-authored by Senator Quentin Kopp, independent-San Francisco, would require parental consent for students to learn about any sexually transmitted disease. Currently, school districts are required to tell parents about courses on AIDS prevention, and parents can keep their children from such lessons.
Only three people at the meeting spoke in favor of the bill. Their comments were met with hisses and jeers and cries of "bigot."
"This is a simple change in the law which enables parents to actually find out what is going on in the classroom," said Bruce Budnick, a parent who protested four years ago when guest lecturers discussed dildoes and oral sex with a class of 11-year-olds.
Teachers and students also came to protest last week's decision to radically overhaul administration, teachers and staff at Starr King Elementary, Aptos Middle School and Balboa High. The process called "reconstitution" is designed to improve the district's poorest performing schools.
The board last night said it will study the issue, including past reconstitutions, and vote on the issue at its next meeting May 28.
The Comprehensive School Improvement Program is based on a district-wide evaluation that considers several criteria, including attendance, dropout rates and academic scores. Under the program, students remain at their schools but all employees lose their jobs. They are guaranteed posts in the district, but if they wish to return to their old schools they must reapply for those openings. The teachers union says the process is too rushed and too severe.
Other students and parents urged the board to reverse its decision in February to fire three Mission High administrators by July and to urge the district to reinstate more than a dozen long-term substitute teachers at that school. Teachers were shocked by the decision to sack principal Lupe Arabolos and vice principals Jan Hudson and Peter Long-an administrative team that has helped improve the struggling school.
The board took no action on that issue.
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