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San Francisco State University seeks to trim $2M with administrative cuts

San Francisco State University
Administrators at San Francisco State University hope to trim their growing budget deficit by further slashing administrative costs as part of a proposed restructuring of the school’s colleges from eight to six. Earlier this year, a campus advisory panel made up of professors suggested restructuring the school’s colleges to cut costs. Following the governor’s announcement that a June special election would not be held to possibly extend tax revenues, university President Robert Corrigan looked for ways to double the savings from that proposal. Read More

Donated computers aid studies in San Francisco schools

Every day for roughly 30 minutes, Litia Lelea sits in front of her home computer to practice English and math. Computers just like it were given to her and 21 other students at Malcolm X Academy in the Bayview in an effort to close the digital divide. The expectation is that Litia must complete at least 100 minutes of work each week in the district’s Educational Program for Gifted Youth, an online learning regimen. Her progress is tracked by her school and her parents. Read More

San Francisco families find mixed results with assignment system

Horneff Cohen family
Last year, the San Francisco Unified School District announced a system to make it easier for schoolchildren to attend a school of their choice — and possibly closer to their home. But things didn’t turn out that way. Just 56 percent of families received their first choice, down from 62 percent in 2010. Read More

Without tax extensions, San Francisco schools inch closer to teacher layoffs

San Francisco schools
With a June special election focused on tax extensions looking less and less likely, the possibility of hundreds of San Francisco teachers being laid off has increased.On March 1, the district announced it could lay off 473 teachers, aides and administrators before the coming school year, or about 8 percent of that workforce. By state law, the district must give pink slips to anyone it intends to dismiss by May 15. Read More

Border abuse leads to changes by San Francisco Board of Education

School officials have been enrolling students for years, but the district finally got around to defining what it means to be a resident of The City. The new policy, which was approved by the Board of Education on Tuesday, is aimed at addressing a long-standing problem with families using false addresses to register for city schools. “[It’s] something we’ve been struggling with a bit,” said Norman Yee, vice president of the school board. “Over the years, we’ve found a large number of people don’t live in San Francisco.” Read More

San Francisco students skipping breakfast at school

San Francisco student breakfasts
Across California, more students than ever are eligible for free and reduced-price meals at school, but fewer kids are taking advantage of the service — particularly for breakfast. San Francisco public school officials are trying to address the trend by making it easier for students to get meals. Read More

Failure looms for schools under No Child Left Behind Act

No Child Left Behind
Three-quarters of schools nationwide will fail next year under the standards of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, according to the U.S. Department of Education. Federal officials, though, hope to change the law before that happens. Nationally, the Department of Education estimates the number of schools failing will jump from nearly 40 percent this year to 82 percent next year. For 2009-10, only 48 percent of city schools met the federal standards. Read More

New student assignment for San Francisco schools is in place, but remains controversial

San Francisco Unified School District student-assignment
For more than three decades, the San Francisco Unified School District has placed students in schools based on socioeconomic factors, no matter where in The City the child lived. Instead of attending a school down the street, a student could be bused across town in the name of district diversity. Many parents were frustrated with the old system, which was created in the 1980s following a class-action lawsuit that charged that students were being assigned in such a way that created racially segregated schools. Read More

More than 200 protest USF’s move to boot Upward Bound off campus

More than 200 students, staff and community members protested around the Saint Ignatius Church on the University of San Francisco’s campus Thursday in hopes of saving the Upward Bound program.Upward Bound, which is a federally funded program to help low-income and at risk teens prepare for college, will no longer be housed at the university after August 2012.University officials said the program can no longer continue on campus because of a “severe space crunch.”According to a released statement from the University, officials do not see an easy solution. Read More

Pay raise for San Francisco Board of Education members debated

San Francisco voters
A measure allowing a pay raise for members of the Board of Education will go before voters in June if a special election is called. The cost of any raise, however, would be borne by the financially struggling San Francisco Unified School District. Read More
URL: http://www.sfexaminer.com/archive/17506/17506?page=36&type[story]=story