May turn to school zones
Social equity, simplicity sought in 8th try to fix placement system
San Francisco’s intricate student assignment system is set for yet another makeover, as district officials balance choice and predictability with a desire for more equity. The idea is to make schools more racially and economically integrated while simplifying a complicated process.
Instead of a choice of 112 kindergarten programs, families would choose from a dozen or so within a socalled zone near where they live, with a guarantee they would get one of them.
The proposal, which goes before the school board for a first reading Tuesday, is the eighth attempt to revise the student assignment system in the past 50 years.
The effort to fix the process comes amid nationwide outrage over racial and economic inequities, with San Francisco already mired in a heated debate over the renaming of schools honoring figures including George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and John Muir over ownership of slaves or other offenses.
District officials also face a backlash over a plan, driven by the coronavirus, to make admission to the academically elite Lowell High School mostCity
ly random for a year.
In years past, changes to the student assignment system have split the community, with some families wanting a guaranteed spot at a neighborhood school while others argue for a return to mandatory busing to desegregate campuses.
This time, the school board will debate the proposal midpandemic, when many parents have less time and energy to participate, with a final vote expected in early December.
Under the new proposal, the public school system would chuck the current process that gives elementary school families the opportunity to request a spot in any site in the district, with students then assigned using a complicated lottery system that gives some priority to siblings and those in the neighborhood.
If approved by the school board, the kindergarten class of 2023 would be the first group assigned under the new policy. The policy would not change the middle and high school assignment process.
The goal under the current system was to give parents significant choice while also trying to diversify schools.
When there is more demand than space, the system generally gives priority to families who live near a given school as well as those living in census tracts where students post low test scores.
Since that system was adopted in 2010, it has failed to desegregate schools while frustrating many families who did not get a seat at any school they listed as a preference.
The proposed new system would restrict school attendance to one of a dozen or so elementary schools in each zone.
“The whole point is it’s controlled choice,” said school board member Rachel Norton, who chaired the committee on student assignment. “You don’t get to choose from everything, and you don’t have a shot at everything.”
Parents would identify preferences among schools in their zone, with access to language and special education programs in each zone and a guaranteed spot somewhere in the zone, though it might not be at one of a family’s choices.
The assignment would take into account a diversity measure to ensure that each school is balanced by race/ ethnicity, household income, language proficiency, disability and other factors. The measure would rely on demographics from each child’s neighborhood, rather than the student’s personal characteristics.
The system is similar to that of Berkeley Unified, where the city is sliced into three areas from east to west, with students assigned to schools in those zones to ensure schools are not segregated racially or economically. Berkeley’s system also uses a child’s neighborhood demographics as a standin for the student’s race or family income.
The plan has arguably worked well in Berkeley, where the schools reflect the overall population, despite economic and racial disparities between the east and west sides of the city.
The goal is to develop zones reflecting the district’s demographics, with each school mirroring that diversity.
“Your choice is still going to drive where we try to assign you in your zone,” Norton said. “But you’re going to be assigned to the choice where you add the most diversity.”
The district has been working on crafting a new assignment system for elementary schools since 2018, with several public meetings.
The proposed plan only includes the basic outline of how the system would work, and does not include how the zones would be drawn.
Given San Francisco’s freeways, hills and other geographical features, creating equitable zones could be a challenge.
The idea of a diversitybased zone system is a step “in the right direction,” but not a solution, said Kevine Boggess, policy director for Coleman Advocates, a San Francisco nonprofit advocating for young people of color and equity in schools.
“Our city is so segregated and there’s so much economic segregation,” said Boggess, who is among 10 candidates for school board. “Certain families won’t send their children to certain schools.
They’ll just leave the public school system altogether if they don’t get their school.”
A school assignment system won’t necessarily solve the disparity in money raised by PTAs, the experience of teachers in schools and whether families have the means to transport their child to a preferred school, he said.
“Ultimately. we live in an unjust society, and it plays out in education, too,” Boggess said. “If you go to a school on the west side, you probably go to a better school than if you went to one on the east side.”
The district has scheduled four virtual community meetings to explain the proposed system over the next few weeks.
The hope is that it’s much simpler to navigate, Norton said, with “a known universe of choices, and an understanding of your best and worst case scenarios.”