John O’Connell High School student Damonni Minor’s favorite subjects are math and science, although her grades don’t always reflect her enthusiasm. “I think homework is pointless,” said Minor, who gets mostly C’s. “I already know the material.” But now, thanks to a new program at John O’Connell, students like Minor who perform well on the California Standards Test can receive...
The mountains loom large over the San Francisco Board of Education’s attempt to increase diversity in schools across the city and reverse a widening racial disparity in achievement. While many urban areas have struggled to address segregation and poor test performance among black and Hispanic students from low-income families, San Francisco faces a fairly unique geographical challenge.
By ALLISON DAVIS De’Anthony Jones, a 17-year-old junior from Mission High School, asked those in the audience who had lost a friend to violence to raise their hand. Twenty hands shot up. He then turned to the 11 Board of Education candidates at a youth-led forum on a recent Thursday. “What are you going to do about the violence that...
By MADELEINE BAIR As Mark Sanchez, president of the San Francisco Board of Education and candidate for District 9 Supervisor, tells it, his career in politics began by accident. It happened in the late nineties, when Teachers 4 Change, an organization Sanchez co-founded with other San Francisco teachers, picketed at City Hall, demanding more resources for underfunded classrooms and underpaid...
