When I finished business and law school last June, I didn’t think school would be on my mind for a long time. I don’t have kids, I’m not married, and I have had quite enough of the classroom for the imaginable future.  Like many of my friends, my daily priorities focus around my career, my hobbies, my girlfriend.

But even in this phase of my life, I’ve recently found myself thinking about schools again.  Having spent the last decade of my life moving for education and jobs, I have been hungrily anticipating settling down in San Francisco and making a life here. 

Maybe it’s just selfishness talking, but after building a strong group of friends and professional contacts in the city, I really don’t want to feel forced move to the ‘burbs when I have children. The city itself is such an educational place for kids, with its cultural, socio-economic, and ethnic diversity, its beauty, and its compactness. Still, without a safe and convenient school that would give a child the best opportunities, I can see even now that I might bite my lip and go lawn-mower shopping.

The other option for me is private schools. But even if I can afford private education, I would still choose public schools if they are a reasonable option. I’m sure many private schools have more resources than public schools, but I don’t see how they can offer the diversity that public schools do. Moreover, schools are fundamental parts of our community, and I don’t like the idea of taking my children out of the community to place them in a removed private academy. What message does that send to them about how they should treat their neighbors, or be involved with their own communities?

At the same time, I don’t want to deal with the uncertainty of where my child would go to school. But if all public schools were equally good, or even close to equal, a student assignment lottery focused on diversity probably wouldn’t be so scary to me.

Over the next two months, the school district is having town hall meetings to discuss their efforts to change their student assignment system. They say it’s not just about making schools more diverse, but ensuring a quality education for all kids in the city.

Now, a town hall meeting may not be what my friends and I think of as a good time, but maybe if we went it would be a good thing…

Jacob Kraft, a recent Stanford business and law school grad, lives in Portrero Hill and works for a Bay Area investment firm.

To learn more about town hall meetings on SFUSD’s student assignment redesign, visit www.sfusd.edu.