The Daniel Webster Middle School Task Force working on behalf of the entire DW school community has submitted a proposal to SFUSD to change DW from a single campus K-5 to a split-campus PreK-8 that will double the capacity for students in the neighborhood to meet increased demand and booming population. 

Please support us by signing on to our resolution below.    

Sponsored by the Daniel Webster Middle School Task Force

Adopted by the undersigned

WHEREAS, in May 2011, the San Francisco Unified School District announced that Daniel Webster (DW) and Bryant Elementary (BE) schools would feed into International Studies Academy (ISA) for middle school; and

WHEREAS, DW, BE and ISA are equally underserved schools with large populations of socioeconomically disadvantaged minorities, English-language learners, and free and reduced lunch recipients; and

WHEREAS, DW is a fifth-year Program Improvement school for its failure to meet federal academic benchmarks; and

WHEREAS, BE is a SIG school for consistently falling within the lowest achieving 5 percent of schools; and

WHEREAS, African American and Latino students are not being served at ISA: their proficiency in Math and English Language Arts are some of the lowest in the District; and

WHEREAS, there is virtually no demand for ISA: for both middle school and high school, ISA is last in terms of first choice requests; and

WHEREAS, due to the dedication of parents and staff at DW and in the Potrero Hill community, demand for DW is on the rise; and

WHEREAS, there is widespread opposition to the proposed ISA middle school feeder plan from the DW community, beginning with a letter of opposition to this feeder pattern signed by 41 parents in May 2011; and

WHEREAS, DW has lost many students who have transferred to other schools as a direct result of the ISA middle school feeder program; and

WHEREAS, the latest research from top institutions like Harvard conclude that K-8 schools produce higher test scores in urban settings and experience fewer behavioral problems among students; and

WHEREAS, current research shows student performance actually drops after the transition from elementary school to schools with 6-8, or 6-12 grade spans; and

WHEREAS, the PreK-8 DW proposal closely aligns with District goals for all its students; an

WHEREAS, the PreK-8 proposal better addresses the needs of historically underserved students; and

WHEREAS, the PreK-8 proposal is financially sustainable as it maximizes student-teacher ratios in accordance with teacher union contracts; and

WHEREAS, the PreK-8 proposal is financially responsible in that it allows the Prop A modernization upgrades to occur concurrently with any construction required for the new configuration of the campus; and

WHEREAS, the PreK-8 proposal continues the momentum of recruiting families into DW and public schools; and

WHEREAS, the PreK-8 proposal will stem the flow of families leaving DW for other schools by creating a stable and attractive middle school option; and

WHEREAS, there is inadequate elementary school capacity in the DW attendance area: by 2015, there are projected to be 444 kindergarten-aged children, but only 22 available seats; and

WHEREAS, the PreK-8 proposal creates more seats within our large attendance area by doubling the number of classes per grade level; and

WHEREAS, the PreK-8 proposal increases the capacity in the SIP program at a time when demand for immersion programs exceeds space available; and

WHEREAS, the PreK-8 proposal triples the capacity in the GE program, providing needed spaces in Potrero Hill, which has a burgeoning school age population; and be it

RESOLVED, the DW community rejects feeding DW into ISA as part of a middle school feeder pattern; and be it further

RESOLVED, we the undersigned urge the Board of Education and SFUSD leadership to adopt the proposal presented to the District by the DW Middle School Task Force that will convert Daniel Webster Elementary School into a PreK-8, thereby keeping our school community intact and providing our students with a path to success.   

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