Sometimes, when writing to a federal, state or local official, letters and requests go unanswered.

For a group of lucky San Francisco middle school students, their questions about democracy will not only be answered, but the representative they wrote to will answer them in person.

State Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, is expected to visit Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School in the Portola neighborhood Wednesday at 10:30 a.m.

The seventh graders wrote to Yee as part of their curriculum to learn about representative democracy, according to San Francisco Unified School District officials.

Yee will answer questions from the students regarding issues that affect them including the state budget crisis and cafeteria food.

Yee, who was re-elected to the state Senate on Nov. 2, announced a week after his victory his intention to run for San Francisco mayor.

akoskey@sfexaminer.com