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Board of Education

Elections 2008

Four seats on the Board of Education are up for election in 2008. There are 13 candidates running - we encourage everyone to learn about the candidates and vote on November 4th.

BOE Candidate Forum
Tuesday, October 7; 6pm to 8:30pm
Everett Middle School, 450 Church Street

Learn about the BOE Candidates and their positions on various issues.

This forum will be rebroadcast in its entirety on Tuesday, October 21 at 9pm on KALW 91.7 (www.kalw.org)

Questionnaire submitted to candidates (English, 128kb,pdf)

Questionnaire Summary - English (77kb,pdf)

Questionnaire Expanded Answer- English (72kb,pdf)

 

Sr. Dad Interviews
PPS Member Stan Goldberg has interviewed most of the candidates and has posted the podcasts on a special BOE page on his website: http://www.srdad.com/SrDad/SFBoE/SFBoE.html

PPS-SF will also sponsor four live Senior Dad issue related forums which will be posted to the website, http://srdad.com/SrDad/Live.html.  These Forums will be on the Tuesday at 10 shows (Oct 7 - Student Assignment, 14 - Special Education, 21 - Topic TBA, 28 - Topic TBA).  The candidates can choose to be included in any number of the shows.

Candidates (also see general info on http://www.smartvoter.org/2008/11/04/ca/sf/race/27/)

  1. Harold Brown www.fogcityjournal.com/profiles/profile_h_brown.shtm

  2. James Calloway http://www.smartvoter.org/2008/11/04/ca/sf/vote/calloway_j/

  3. Marigrace Cohen www.mcohenforbdofed.com

  4. Sandra Fewer sandrafewer.com

  5. Omar Khalif www.omarisok.org

  6. Alexander Young Lee email:kvorca1@msn.com

  7. Barbara Lopez www.barbaralopez.org

  8. Jaynry Mak Email:jaynry.mak@gmail.com

  9. Emily Murase www.emilymurase.com/

  10. Rachel Norton rachelnorton.com/

  11. Kimberly Wicoff kimberlywicoff.com

  12. Jill Wynns www.jillwynns.com/issues.html

  13. Norman Yee http://www.normanyee.com/

Withdrawn:
Glenn Davis http://glenndavisforschoolboard08.com/
Kelly Wallace

SF Bay Guardian interviews http://www.sfbg.com/elections/fall2008/

 

Parents for Public Schools aims to elevate the role of parents in public school advocacy and reform by promoting a new standard and a new attitude for involvement at every level. We encourage our members to get informed of the Board of Education meetings and processes.

School Board Leadership

From the CA School Boards Association: Find answers to frequently asked questions about the roles and responsibilities of school boards.

Standing Committees of the BOE

Board of Education has several committees that meet separately from the general Board of Education meetings. Standing Committees include:

See the Standing Committees page on the SFUSD website for the list of committee members. Meetings are not official until a formal and legal notice is posted. For meeting notices, please go to the SFUSD district website, Board of Education homepage and see the Meeting Notices* in the right column. *Standing, Ad Hoc, & Select Committee Meetings are subject to change.



District BOE Elections - Pros and Cons

Supervisor Alioto-Pier proposed changes to the City Charter to create BOE elections by district, having term limits and requiring more accountability to the Board of Supervisors. PPS-SF Executive Director Lorraine Woodruff-Long put together a spreadsheet of pros and cons of these proposed changes to the SF BOE (102kb,pdf).

Members’ thoughts on proposal
Thanks to those who participated in our poll on Supervisor Alioto-Pier's Charter Proposal as it was written (and the lively discussion on the PPS listserve!) We received almost 100 responses in two days. The results were as follows:

Result
Supervisor Alioto-Pier decided to pull the resolution from the Board of Supervisors Rules Committee and to halt it for the time being. It may come up again in the future to allow more time for community input and exploration. We were assured by her office that they would like PPS to help facilitate public school parent input into any future discussion if and when it does come up again.

RELATED CONTENT

BOE Meetings

The San Francisco School Board meets every 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month at 7 p.m. at 555 Franklin. There is parking available in the lot on McAllister Street.

For Board of Education Meeting Notices and Agendas, see the SFUSD website. There is always an opportunity to speak during general matters but you may also comment on any agenda item. Call 241-6427 to be put on the list to speak. This is also the number you call to speak to or leave a message for school board members.

Contact information for BOE members (82kb,pdf)

Can't attend the meeting? You can still find out what's going on:
1) Live broadcasts
Access the live broadcast during the meeting from the SFUSD website BOE homepage.

2) Board Meeting Broadcast Archives on Video on Demand on SFGTV
You can also view past meetings on Video on Demand (Note: you must have Windows Media Player).

PRESS

School Beat: Don't forget the School Board Elections; Lisa Schiff; Beyond Chron; October 9, 2008

School Board Battle is On; Beth Winegartner; SF Examiner; July 27, 2008