The EdVocate West

Driving Past Cesar Chavez

July 8, 2010 at 1:53 am arunramanathan Leave a comment

Drove by my old elementary school where I taught in the Mission in San Francisco – Cesar Chavez elementary school. It’s a beautiful school to visit - literally covered with murals with a huge mural of Cesar Chavez on one side. I visited there a few weeks back and met with some of my old colleagues. I was surprised to see so many of them there after all those years. I was also surprised to see some of the changes in the student population. It used to be a much more diverse school with many more African-American and Chinese students. Now, it’s predominantly Latino. There’s a lot of research out there saying that schools are becoming more segregated – that there are less opportunities for students of different races to learn with and from each other. In a city as segregated, particularly on class lines as San Francisco, I would hope that the schools could be a driver of societal change instead of just reinforcing the existing system. Perhaps I am hopelessly out of date.

I also knew that Chavez was on the state’s persistently underperforming list. I guess it wasn’t much of a surprise. But I did know that the school was on an upward trajectory and then slid way down after its principal was moved a few years back. The year after, it lost over 100 points in API.

 SFUSD has decided to apply for SIG funds for Chavez using the turnaround model as the option. The option requires replacing 50% of the staff. I know that this will impact people I once worked with. I’ve been wondering about what this means? How do you identify the 50%? What criteria are used? I’ll be following up in a future blog as we find the answers.

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