Equity

By Trevor McNeil

A frontline perspective of what can make an impact, close the opportunity gap, and evaluate if past programs are having their desired impact

Online and community-based school signup - in 21st century San Francisco there is no reason our school sign up process should be done on paper and in person during weekday working hours. School choice is inherently unequal and our current system inadvertently doesn't allow those families our complicated lottery seeks to serve to participate fully. Support teachers - you can't have quality schools without quality teaching and you can't have quality teachers unless you support them. A fair contract, supportive polices, and a constant eye towards ensuring a living wage that respects educators and paras as the professionals they are will help make sure that we can make sure our district is letting teachers thrive. Rethink sex-ed - I want to work with parents and activists to make sure the way we teach "family life" or whatever euphemism is used to describe sex education is in line with state standards and best practices. Those practices include personal safety, healthy relationships, wrap around services, and sexual health. Classic sex ed starts too late, is very hetero-normative, and at worst amplifies misinformation that exists in at-risk populations. Language access - why isn't the SFUSD website entirely translated? We need a language audit to make sure that the experience of a family in researching schools or accessing quality information on their student is not dependent on their access to English-only materials. Wraparound services!!! - schools can't change the inequities in our society overnight. But we can admit that a child who is hungry, terrorized, or processing serious trauma can't learn. We need to prioritize a full-time social worker at every campus and work with community support organizations to ensure students are healthy and looked after in their neighborhoods. A student doesn't fail because of their background - we let them down and schools are the most crucial place to help lift them back. Don't forget Middle School and Dynamic curriculum that leads to AG success for all - as a middle school teacher I'm amazed how sentient these kids are: they are beginning to understand how they are as a student, a person, and a citizen. It's those crucial middle years that the foundation for students seeing themselves as successful beings to take root. And success has many different manifestations. A high school diploma is an absolute goal - and we WILL get you college-ready if you want. But part of my philosophy as a teacher is to trust the students: by 10th grade students know themselves and if they are hungry for more meaningful curriculum we should give it to them. If they are eager for real vocational education beyond summer internships that prepares them for success in a union workshop or dynamic culinary venture or coding. Porject-based, student-centered curriculum that doesn't discount vocational education will be something that I will pursue on the school board. If we offer students authentic things to learn we will be able to cut drop out rates, truancy, and help education truly be a path to a better future - however the student defines that for themselves. My classroom is about allowing activities for self-realization and providing empowering tools for actualization --- I hope our school district can do the same thing and fight school reformers who would rather square our students in the round peg of a bubble test. Translation office hours - That I speak Spanish makes me a much more effective teacher. It's a blessing and I'm really glad I have that tool. But I know great teachers who don't speak another language and still want to call home - to complement, share a concern, or introduce themselves. It would be super-easy to have our great fleet of SFUSD translators available to have a conference call with teachers at certain times of the week so educators could call home to families that might not be as engaged as they want to be because of a language barrier. It really would be easy. So why hasn't it been done? I don't know. The current school board care and is full of very experienced people. But none of them report to a classroom everyday. None is implementing Common Core standards and addressing the promise/challenge of technology incorporation. The fact that San Francisco hasn't elected a teacher to the school board in ad decade is a concern and core reason I am running. I am the only public school teacher in this race and would be honored to receive your trust and your vote.