SFUSD | January 2017 | Untangle your digital life
 
 
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Central to SFUSD's Vision 2025 is our graduate profile, six core competencies we want every one of our graduates to possess. One goal in the profile is for graduates to contribute their voices responsibly in all aspects of daily life, from social media to face-to-face communication. That's why we're increasing our digital citizenship lessons and why we want you to know how we're teaching young people to be responsible online.

Happy 2017—I hope this year brings joyful learning to you and your family (both online and off).

—Myong Leigh, Interim Superintendent

 

Tackling the teacher shortage

Like many other districts, we've felt the impact of the nationwide teacher shortage. Learn more about how we're tackling the issue, from housing help to new teacher certification programs.

 
Your family's digital life

What's "digital citizenship"? How can you and your children be good digital citizens? If you've ever worried about how to manage your family's time online, particularly in the age of social media, take a look at how we're teaching our students about these issues and more.

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Sparking a love of STEAM

Every week, seventh-graders at Willie Brown Middle School work with mentors at top tech companies and learn about career paths and projects in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics), thanks to Spark Bay Area.

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Arts Education Resource Fair

Come to the most comprehensive gathering of arts education organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area! Talk to organizations about the art they do with students and about art advocacy, or check out art providers on behalf of your school.

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So what exactly does the Board of Education do?

We're welcoming two new commissioners to the Board of Education. But what exactly does that Board of Education do? Find out how the Board influences your child's education and learn how to participate.

 
Announcements

Enrollment applications due

The deadline for round one of enrollment applications is Friday, Jan. 13. Turn in applications at 555 Franklin Street.

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Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

All SFUSD schools and offices will be closed on Monday, Jan. 16 in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

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Lunar New Year observance

All schools will be closed Friday, Jan. 27 in observance of Lunar New Year. SFUSD offices will remain open.

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SFUSD in the News
 
12.26.16
English learners test better in SF public schools than California
English learners in the San Francisco Unified School District continued to meet state testing standards at higher percentages than the rest of California last school year, according to a recent report from the district. A summary of the report presented to the Board of Education earlier this month showed that Spanish and Cantonese speaking English learners in the SFUSD met or exceeded standards in math and English Language Arts in greater percentages than English learners across California.
 
12.25.16
New school board member unites SF youngsters with tech industry
Stevon Cook, one of two new members elected to the San Francisco’s Board of Education, has been the CEO of Mission Bit for almost two years. His goal is to open doors to the tech industry for low-income high schoolers through computer programming courses they would otherwise not receive at school.
 
12.23.16
Holiday stories, from some of San Francisco’s youngest writers
The California Report Magazine is airing some of these stories and poems in collaboration with 826 Valencia, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting under-resourced students with their writing skills and to helping teachers inspire their students to write. You can check out more of these stories at 826’s podcast, Message in a Bottle.
 
12.22.16
For homeless families, finding a home is a give-and-take
When classes let out for the day at Bessie Carmichael Elementary in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood, Principal Tina Lagdamen high-fives each boy and girl and says the same thing, over and over again: “See you tomorrow.” This seemingly simple phrase is an important reassurance for many of these kids, Lagdamen explains. Roughly 80 families at this school are homeless, which translates to more than 100 children here who are living in shelters, couch-surfing with family and friends, or even sleeping in cars.
 
12.19.16
SF district to provide pathway to teaching credentials
In San Francisco, the goal is to recruit, train, credential and hire teachers, district officials said, in a bid to alleviate an ongoing teacher shortage and ensure that those hired are specifically prepared to teach in city schools. “Since we have connections with these folks, we’re able to recruit them directly and offer them an alternative that might for many people get them past some of the barriers they might find when they’re trying to get their teaching credential,” he said. “We’re also recruiting people who really reflect the community.”
 
12.15.16
SF school board member Jill Wynns leaves after record 24 years
Imagine sitting in the same chair for more than 5,000 hours. Week after week, month after month, for 24 years—sitting in a swivel chair in board and committee meetings to analyze $600 million budgets, update policies whether important or obscure, and vote on whom to hire and fire. San Francisco school board member Jill Wynns doesn’t have to imagine. She did it. And Tuesday night was her last in the swivel chair.
 
12.10.16
San Francisco mayor announces $30 million initiative to help homeless families
The city of San Francisco has joined a partnership with the San Francisco Unified School District, as well as nonprofit organizations and private companies, intended to help reduce homelessness for San Francisco families, Mayor Ed Lee announced today. The Heading Home Campaign is a public-private partnership that will raise $30 million to provide housing to homeless families, according to the Mayor.
 
12.08.16
California schools seek to increase understanding of special education students with 'Inclusive Schools Week'
Los Angeles Unified and San Francisco Unified are among the state’s most active participants. San Francisco Unified has taken part in Inclusive Schools Week for the past three years, and Los Angeles Unified for the past two years. Officials from both districts said schools have participated individually in previous years, but that has now expanded to the districts inviting all schools to take part. In San Francisco Unified, every school is expected to have at least one activity planned, said Laura Savage, the special education ombudsman for the district.
 
12.08.16
SF preschoolers learn to code for Computer Science Education Week
Pre-Kindergarten class at Bessie Carmichael Elementary School in San Francisco’s South of Market District got a lesson in computer programming Thursday, December 8, 2016 as part of Computer Science Education Week within the San Francisco Unified School District. Students were given a lesson on sequences and programs by Google engineer Carrie Grimes Bostock before programming their own robot to perform two-step directions by scanning blocks with different commands, essentially programming the robots themselves.
 
12.08.16
School district redoubles efforts to keep undocumented students safe
When Juana came to San Francisco from El Salvador six years ago, it was to get out of a difficult relationship with her children’s father and to seek better economic opportunities. But because she and her kids are undocumented, Juana’s 11-year-old daughter, who attends Marshall Elementary School in the Mission, is often scared about the possibility of deportation.
 
12.08.16
Miraloma Elementary's Wall of Inclusion
To mark Inclusive Schools Week this year, Miraloma Elementary School took inspiration from the “Walls of Empathy” that have recently appeared in San Francisco, New York, and other cities. Students used over two thousand sticky notes to cover the hallways of their school in messages of hope, love, and peace.
 
12.06.16
California will soon provide ethnic studies classes for all high schoolers. Here's why.
In a second-floor classroom at San Francisco’s Washington High School, David Ko is leading freshmen in a discussion about bullying. But it’s not the typical conversation about treating others nicely. That’s because ethnic studies is not simply a history course detailing the achievements of members of different racial groups; the curriculum is conscious of and sometimes analytical about how race and ethnicity are intertwined with power.
 
12.06.16
School of the Arts community seeks healing after ‘Ghost Ship’ fire claims two of its own
The Oakland “Ghost Ship” fire claimed so many, so senselessly. The most recent count pegs the death toll at 36 with an expected toll of “under 50,” a ghastly figure. But for Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts, they lost lives from their community twice over.
 
12.02.16
Bay Area teacher uses chess to help focus students' lifelong outlook
A Bay Area teacher is using his knowledge of chess to inspire students to make better choices in and out of the classroom. Adisa Banjoko, teacher at John O’Connell High School in San Francisco, has developed a more than a just a chess club, he established a non-profit called Hip-Hop Chess Federation. The goal is to use chess to help students develop in other ways that will enhance their chances of success in life.
 
Image attributions:
Photo of Chinese couplets from Yu Ting Wong, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Picture of cables from four12, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Photo of SFUSD building from the SF Examiner
 
 
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