August 21st, 2009 | 
Author: In 2003, a committee was created with members appointed from the city Board of Supervisors and the Board of Education. In the beginning, the committee was used to discuss joint concerns on issues, such as affordable housing for teachers, student nutrition, and graffiti in the San Francisco schools. Unfortunately, the structure of the joint committee was a matter of contention from the committee’s inception with an imbalance of power.
The Board of Supervisors control the forum. They decide what issues are put on the meeting agendas for discussion. They have the right to make inquiries of the San Francisco schools’ officials, who are expected to respond to all inquiries. Unfortunately, this is a one-way power structure.
The San Francisco schools are funded by the state and not accountable to city or county governments. The structure of the committee makes the San Francisco schools’ officials accountable to the city’s Board of Supervisors and doomed from the beginning. Thus, the committee has met rarely in the past couple of years.
Though the San Francisco schools’ officials and city supervisors were scheduled to meet twice monthly in 2006, it did not happen, according to Jill Wynns, a veteran San Francisco schools’ board member. Unfortunately, 2006 was a year the committee was most needed. There were several San Francisco schools issues in the forefront last year that caused undue tensions within the San Francisco schools and the community. There were several closures of San Francisco schools, for example, as well as decisions on the use of voter-approved enrichment funds (from the city) for San Francisco schools’ expenditures.
A new committee chairman has been appointed to help bring the committee back to life. Chairman Bevan Dufty, a member of the Board of Supervisors, is promising a more mutual relationship within the committee to build more and better communication between the two leaderships.
In order to breath new life into the committee, Dufty plans to approach the forum as equal partners between the city supervisors and the San Francisco schools’ officials, beginning with agenda items. San Francisco schools’ officials now will be able to submit requests to put issues on meeting agendas. Though Dufty still has final say on the agenda items and there has been no commitment to two-way inquiries, this is a major first step toward positive change.
Other members of the committee include veteran supervisor Sophie Maxwell, newly appointed supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, veteran San Francisco schools’ official Jill Wynns, and newly-elected San Francisco schools’ officials Jane Kim and Mydra Mendoza.
It is hoped that the infusion of new people, especially the new chairman, will energize the committee into a partnership for positive change within the San Francisco schools.
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Educators in the San Francisco Public Schools are frustrated by the lack of balance in education. The recent focus on mandatory testing has moved schools nationwide away from holistic education. And this can have serious consequences on children in the San Francisco Schools.
Richard Florida in The Flight of the Creative Class says, “What we really need in order to prepare our children for the creative economy is a comprehensive education. Something that takes them from aesthetics to algebra without pretending that the two are mutually exclusive.” Aha!
Elliot W. Eisner, professor of education and art, Stanford University agrees. He states that “The arts are fundamental resources through which the world is viewed, meaning is created, and the mind developed.” Arts education has a profound effect on students, there’s no doubt about it. San Francisco Schools are finally acknowledging this, and are acting on it
In March 2004, voters, in unprecedented numbers, passed Proposition H. This proposition earmarked tens of millions of city funds for schools, including new funds for arts education. This had added further community and political support to the cause of arts education equity and access for all San Francisco Schools students.
The Arts Education Master Plan
September 28 was the beginning of a new era for arts education in San Francisco schools. The San Francisco Unified School district and the City are partnering on a historic effort to bring back the arts for all students. The Arts Education Master Plan will revitalize the education of San Francisco’s young citizens by capturing the diverse cultural and artistic energy of a city that is internationally renowned for its love of the arts.
At 10:30 a.m. at the San Francisco Performing Arts Library and Museum, Mayor Gavin Newsom, SFUSD’s Interim Superintendent Gwen Chan, and SF Arts Commission President P.J. Johnston joined members of the Board of Supervisors and SFUSD Board of Education, arts providers from across the city and students from Lowell High School, Claire Lilienthal and George Washington Carver Academic Elementary Schools in celebration of the Arts Education Master Plan.
“This master plan is a living document that exemplifies the partnership between the City and the school district on arts education,” said Mayor Newsom. “San Francisco’s efforts are unprecedented – and over the next few months, we will witness ‘order of magnitude’ changes in the arts education that children receive,” continued the Mayor.
The Arts Education Master Plan is San Francisco Unified School District’s blueprint for integrating the arts into each student’s daily curriculum. The Plan calls for a sequential, comprehensive arts education program that reflects the high quality of San Francisco’s artistic landscape in the areas of dance, drama, music, visual arts and literary arts.
The guiding principle of this plan is that all students deserve both access to and equity in arts education and each school community, no matter the neighborhood or academic emphasis, will be called upon to embrace the notion that every student must be provided with the arts as an integral part of the academic day.
Interim Superintendent Gwen Chan said “In San Francisco, we are committed to providing every student with a well-rounded education. For too many years, some students have not had opportunities to develop artistic literacy. Every school and every student will benefit from this plan.”
Community Involvement
The Master Plan reflects the views of more than 1,500 students, parents, teachers, administrators, arts providers, and civic and business leaders. Proposition H approved by San Francisco voters in 2004, became the catalyst, making the Arts Education Master Plan, completed in August 2006, a funded mandate. The extensive increase in arts education spending, programming, support and resources that the Plan recommends will be funded largely by Prop H funds. Additional funding, such as the new State funding for the arts, will be aligned to the Arts Education Master Plan.
The new plan will hopefully keep San Francisco school students in touch with the vibrant artistic community around them and help them to take advantage of the many enriching opportunities for art in the classroom and beyond. San Francisco schools are ready to implement the new curriculum program at all levels to ensure a consistent and fulfilling learning experience for all students. Students, parents, and teachers at San Francisco schools are confident that the Arts Education Master Plan will mark their community as one committed to continued arts education.