South San Francisco, CA April 13, 2023
The South San Francisco Unified School District will hold the monthly meeting this evening at 7pm at the Baden High School Gym located at 825 Southwood Drive in South San Francisco.
The FULL Agenda can be found HERE
Parents and guardians are asking for the public to attend
and to speak up about two very important issues that are NOT on the agenda.
BEATING AT EL CAMINO HIGH SCHOOL ADDRESSED
This past February a concerned parent sent us a very disturbing video showing two students beating up another student in the bathroom at El Camino High School. While vandalism was also part of this act, it was the two students kicking the other student in the head after they had him on the ground. Another student stood by and took the video. The parent asked us to share this on our platforms, yet we believed this needed to be addressed by the School District and our Police Department.
We provided the parent with the contact information for each department and responsible parties. Within a few days we received this video from other concern people in our community asking that this be shared. Due to the graphic and horrific display of brutal behavior, and that these appeared to be minors, we did not, and will not, provide that to the public.
Inquiries on an update continued to come to us, and because there had not been any press releases from either our SSFUSD or the PD, we reached out to both agencies to see what had been done. A recent anonymous letter detailed some of the information we wanted to clarify (see below) and we greatly appreciate the Director of Student Services / Emergency Communications Coordinator, Ryan Sebers for his response to this situation.
Below is the outreach of both parties. In other correspondence we have received, parents are asking that concerned residents attend this evening’s school board meeting to get a further accounting of this brutal attack.
Thank you to Ryan Sebers for providing this response:
Thank you for reaching out and checking in with us about these concerns, we appreciate the questions you’ve raised.
We take conflict situations seriously, investigate them thoroughly, and hold participants and contributors accountable for their actions. While laws governing the confidentiality of student records prohibit us from sharing specific information about what disciplinary action was taken, we can certainly say that a response to the situation was implemented in accordance with our school and district policies. The participants received appropriate interventions, guidance, and support, and preventative measures have been taken to educate our school community about behavioral expectations and safe conduct.
We continue to encourage our students and staff to report concerns and conflicts rather than be silent bystanders. Unfortunately, not all students follow our expectations, and we continue to counsel those in need of guidance, including students who may record or provoke fight participants. It is also unfortunate that some students may choose to watch conflicts, and we will continue to foster a culture of mutual care and concern to encourage reporting instead of spectating.
Parents can also assist with the culture and climate of our schools by encouraging their students to report any concerns for safety, awareness of conflicts among other students, and to remind them about the importance of not standing by to watch conflict situations.
Sincerely,
Ryan
Ryan Sebers
Director of Student Services
Emergency Communications Coordinator
SSFUSD
398 B St.
South San Francisco, CA 94080
(650) 877-8744
(659) 583-4717 fax
EL CAMINO HIGH SCHOOL CANCELS HOME BASEBALL GAMES
Our students at El Camino High School are understandably upset to learn there will be no more home games for the baseball team after a player was injured due to poor field conditions, a parent said. Parents, coaches, and especially the players are seeking another alternative as they press the District to remedy this situation sooner than later. This issue has been a long standing problem as the team uses both the Buri Buri School and the Callero field at Baden High School.
A player was recently injured while playing baseball on Colt Field. A parent reported the player hit the center field pole, none of the poles in the outfield have padding. Past / current coaches have emailed the AD’s and school and no one seems to care.
This injury could’ve been prevented and should’ve never happened had the AD’s made sure the field was safe to play from the beginning of the season. – A Concerned Parent
With all the programs for our youth shrinking, and the focus in SSF being expanding, it is very mind boggling how we can entice more families to all of these new developments being built, when SSFUSD is failing to upkeep our schools, fields and extracurricular activities for our children of the district. There is a school board meeting tonight at 7pm at Baden High School that the community should attend and voice their concerns. Where are the advocates for our kids? When will improvements be made that reflect our kids are actually being served adequately?
Please show up tonight, 4/13/23 at 7PM at Baden HS, and voice your concerns to our school board. – Anonymous Please – SSF Resident
Parents are asked to attend and fill out a speaker card and let the School Board know the concerns and the importance of this decision.
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where can we see the video?
I saw that video and I am glad your website did not show it, it is terrible.
We show our kids what we think of them as adutls when they cannot play sports on their own fields because we use money for other things. NO excuse for this
When kids do bigger crimes because they get away with smaller crimes we say its gun violence but you can see from that video that it is people violence that starts it.
Adults dont want to do their jobs so kids don’t get upset.
We reap what we sow and we are sowing bad seeds.