Editor:

The SF Board of Education is up to more shenanigans, now creating a new zone-based school assignment policy that focuses more on neighborhoods but assesses the block-by-block racial/income/English proficiency make-up of zones. This seems like social engineering gone haywire and just another race experiment. Nevermind that, as of 2019,

“The achievement gap for SFUSD’s focal student subgroups has slightly narrowed. There was a higher rate of change of African American and Latinx students who met or exceeded state standards this year than last year, as compared to the change in proficiency results for the entire District,” according to the SFUSD (Sept. 19 Ahead of Peer Districts in Students Meeting Standards Report). “The [English Language Arts] and Math results for African American and Latinx students are the highest they’ve been since the [California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress] testing program began five years ago.”*

Board members seem hell-bent on the use of race to equalize racial outcomes, despite academic achievement progress, despite having lost a 1994 lawsuit that forced them to stop using race in school assignments and despite declining student populations due to unpredictable and convoluted assignment policies. Each new policy resembles a new experiment, piled upon all previous failures based on the ridiculous and illegal use of race and race proxies.

*10/09/19 SFUSD Ahead of Peer Districts in Students Meeting Standards | SFUSD 

Denise Louie