South San Francisco, CA March 14, 2019 Submitted by Concerned SSF Resident
Some bad events have taken place at certain Elementary schools, and it was mentioned that more bad news is on the way.
With all the construction being passed to build more housing in SSF, our School Board wants to reduce the number of teachers from Sunshine Gardens Elementary. I
It’s quite frustrating not only for the dedicated Teachers and staff, but the children of this school are affected.
Now, it has come to our attention that the SSF School Board wants to reduce the number of teachers at Sunshine Gardens Elementary school to combine grades. It is absolutely unacceptable to everyone who works there and whose children go to this school.
No one wants to see children cramped into classrooms, Learning will be extremely difficult and everyone will suffer by doing this.
Also, we have many 5th graders who are going into the 6th grade with very low reading scores. How are they to function and move up when the School Board is pushing them behind in their grades and without the extra help.
We need to hire more teachers and make classroom sizes smaller. We should never lose teachers, period!
In fact, Title 1 and Title 3 schools have been asking for more additional help especially with reading, hiring another Special Education teacher, another 4th and 5th grade teacher, and the School District keeps ignoring these schools and refuses to help with any problem.
They think we don’t know the games they are playing but we all know. We get fed the same lines over and over again with “We hear you”, We understand”. No, they don’t understand. As long as their children do not attend Sunshine Gardens or any other Title 1 or Title 3 school,, most go to Monte Verde, Ponderosa, or Buri Buri Schools, and the money is distributed quite generously to those schools while the rest of the Title 1 and Title 3 Elementary Schools suffer greatly.
At this point we need to get the word out what this terrible School Board is doing to Sunshine Gardens Elementary.
We are requesting that all parents, grandparents, aunts , uncles , guardians please attend the PTA meeting on March 21st at 6:30pm for Sunshine Gardens Elementary. This is for this school only.
If we do not get the support from families, then we are in a huge crisis.
The School Board always talks about equality. Where is the equality when these Elementary schools are being ignored and being pushed into the ground? There is segregation on Title 1 and Title 3 schools in this District. I hate to even use the word segregation but it’s true. .
If our children fail, it’s the fault of the SSF School Board not the Teachers nor the children. We demand that we get the additional support we need immediately before the new school year begins again in 2019.
Please, we are asking for help from other schools to not let this happen to Title 1 and Title 3 schools. Our children deserve the best education that they can get. We cannot leave them behind and forget them.
Thank you for your support and help spread the word to attend the Sunshine Gardens Elementary school PTA meeting on the 21st of March.
The School Board supports all of our schools. Our Board goals can be found on the following page: https://www.ssfusd.org/goals
Every decision we make supports those goals.
We were invited to the Sunshine Gardens PTA Meeting to listen to the concerns of their community. We happily accepted. So as not to violate the Brown Act, two Board Members will be present (President John Baker and I, Vice President Pat Murray.) Superintendent Moore will also be there.
Please know that we look forward to hearing the concerns of and working towards solutions with the Sunshine Garden community.
This is a disgusting example of greed and ignorance coming together. Look to the top and then follow the money. SSF is just one of thousands of communities being skinned to the bone. Resist and Rise Up! More can see than there are those who refuse to hear! Bless this wonderful Community! Sunshine Gardens used to be a “Model Facility of Education” ; I am sure the Teachers and Students still are, fill in the blanks!
So when the school finally closes to build all these houses where do we send our kids?
To Buri Buri.