San Francisco Superintendent Maria Su received an unexpected surprise on Wednesday afternoon when a group of roughly 20 educators, parents and students stopped by her office to personally deliver Valentine’s Day cards.
But the stack of cards, handmade by sixth and seventh graders at Visitacion Valley Middle School, were not so much adoring as urgent, begging Su to stop budget cuts on immigrant student programs.
San Francisco’s “newcomer programs” — public-school offerings that provide English language aid and academic support to immigrants newly arrived in the country — will be reduced if the current proposed San Francisco Unified School District budget is approved.
SFUSD blames a budget deficit for the need to make cuts to newcomer programs. Parents and families, however, said that the school district has long undermined the newcomer programs, even before the current budget woes.
The goal of Wednesday’s valentine delivery was to remind Su of a promise. During a Jan. 29 meeting, she agreed to meet with teachers to discuss the cuts. Wednesday’s visit was meant to pressure her to set a date and time for them to meet.
The group managed to catch Su, who was between meetings, in a large conference room. One by one, they greeted her with stacks of red, white and pink valentines.
“Please don’t make decisions that will hurt us!” read a large, pink card written by a student named Marie.
Eighth graders Sofia Benitez and Steicy Mejia, both part of the “newcomer” program at Visitacion Valley, were nervous to deliver their Valentines to Su, but rallied themselves.
“We want to tell her that what she’s doing is wrong,” Benitez said in Spanish. Benitez credits her newcomer program with helping her learn English and become a “model” student in class.
Su appeared caught off guard and touched by the gesture. “I feel so bad!” she exclaimed when she received the first few cards. She gave hugs to each student and parent who delivered a valentine.
“It’s a means of pressure,” said Veronica Coto, an organizer with Bay Area Faith in Action and parent to a former SFUSD student. “We met the goal.”
After hearing the stories of teachers, parents and students, Su expressed that she would “love” to set up a meeting with educators, which they scheduled for early March. “I want as many families in our schools as possible.”
While,I feel for the immigrant students and their families, Su needs to go! She was another one of Lurie’s mistakes, like the woman, he appointed supervisor, in the Richmond district. Su, like her the person before her can take, the million dollars and leave,for some weird reason,all SFUSD superintendents, get a million dollars, when they leave, but I suspect that she is running for something, like the mayor of S.F.