Summer internships make learning come to life for local high school students. Watch students and their employer mentors share their stories!

School may be out, but for hundreds of high school students the work is just getting started. Every year the San Francisco Unified School District’s Career Technical Education program places over 250 students in paid internships across San Francisco.  Internships take place in a wide range of fields including law, business, digital media, public health, tourism, engineering and education. Students complete these internships as part of their participation in one of the 19 Career Academy and Pathway programs available at Lincoln, Galileo, Washington, Balboa, Burton, O’Connell, Wallenberg and Marshall High Schools.

To learn more about the Summer Internship Program and how your company can support a local student, visit the district’s Career Technical Education Department website.

Parents, students and administrators announce their lawsuit at a press conference this morning.

Today, local parents and students joined the San Francisco Unified School District and a coalition of other California families, school districts and organizations in filing a lawsuit against the State of California, claiming that the State has failed to fulfill its constitutional obligation to support its public schools in a way that ensures that all students are provided an opportunity to meet the State’s academic goals and acquire the knowledge and skills necessary for success in our society.

Below, SFUSD parents share why their families have joined this lawsuit:

Carl Barnes, Plaintiff and SFUSD Parent, with his son Kibwe

I’m a proud father with two kids in the San Francisco Unified School District. Lumumba is a sixth-grader at A.P. Giannini Middle School and my little one, Kibwe, is a fourth-grader at Sheridan Elementary. I graduated from Lincoln High School here in San Francisco. I’m a firefighter with the San Francisco Fire Department. Naturally, I’ve talked to parents and kids from all over San Francisco.  We may not agree on everything about how to best educate our kids, but the one thing we all agree on is that our children our suffering from a lack of educational opportunities.

Now I’m not the kind of person who thinks a lawsuit is the way to deal with problems. I’d rather work with the school district administrators and teachers to address these concerns. And I have. We’ve spent late nights trying to find ways to save money, get more volunteers, and to provide the science equipment, art supplies and P.E. equipment that are necessary for a sound education.

But without the help of the State, many parents are getting turned off. We keep running into the same brick wall–the State of California doesn’t provide what our schools and children need. That’s why I joined this lawsuit–to demand that the State do its job. To demand a better future for your kids and my kids.

Michelle Parker, Plaintiff and SFUSD Parent

I am joining this lawsuit against the state of California because every child deserves a quality education. The state has high standards but continues to mandate without providing the appropriate funding to pay for the programming. It is time for Sacramento to take responsibility for its actions and find a way to design and implement a school finance system that provides all students equal access to the required educational program. Each child deserves the opportunity to become a successful member of society through a great education, and this will put them on the right path. The fact that this issue has come to a lawsuit is incredibly disheartening, but if this is a way to get there, as other states have proven, then I think it is time to “go there.”

Want to learn more about the fight for adequate school funding? Read more here.

McKinley parent Annie Bauccio Moore and DogFest Live Auctioneer Daniel Handler (a.k.a Lemony Snicket)

Author:  Annie Bauccio Moore, parent and PTA VP of Fundraising at McKinley Elementary School

In 2008, we at the McKinley PTA were looking for a cornerstone event that we could really put our weight behind in order to see a greater financial return on the huge efforts our families were making at more traditional fundraisers. Since more than half of our students came from low-income households, we also wanted to make sure that our fundraising efforts did not rely solely on our parent community.

At this time I took the opportunity to sit down with a former Clarendon Elementary School parent—Clarendon has had great fundraising success—and asked for her advice on how to make our development more successful. She shared with me what became the main tenet of my fundraising ideology: to find a fundraiser that was meaningful to our neighborhood community. Shortly afterward, I heard the words “dog show” and I knew we were on to something.

The proximity of McKinley to Duboce Park, the city’s first official off-leash dog/family park, gives us a unique opportunity to look to our outlying community for financial support of our students.  We have many families living close to our campus who don’t have kids but do have pets.  Organizing “DogFest,” a community dog show in Duboce Park, was a perfect way for our PTA to merge the interest of local dog owners with the interests of families with children.

Over the past three years, DogFest has worked to break down the barriers that occasionally exist between dog families and kid families.  The success of the day makes real the possibility that these different parts of the community can not only co-exist peacefully, but also thrive together.

Thanks to growing local support and participation, DogFest has seen incredible growth in revenue.  Our inaugural event in 2008 grossed $12K.  This year we’re on track to gross $50K.  Sixty-five percent of this revenue is coming from outside our school community.

However, the most powerful success of DogFest can be shown in a story following our most recent event. The day after this year’s DogFest, I saw a non-McKinley parent wearing a DogFest T-shirt and asked her for an outsider’s perspective on what she would like to see us do differently in the future.

Her answer was this:

“What I think about DogFest is that I live two blocks from McKinley Elementary School, I have a two-year-old, and up until yesterday I was planning on private school.  DogFest has changed my opinion of the public schools in San Francisco.”

Says it all, doesn’t it?

This story was originally presented at Parents for Public School’s 2010 Annual Meeting. To learn more about ways you can support local public schools, visit the Parents for Public Schools-San Francisco website at www.ppssf.org.

Do you have a creative school fundraising story? Tell us about your success strategy!

Want more advice for organizing a fundraising event for your local public school? Here are some key fundraising tips from McKinley Elementary School’s PTA:

1)    Make it meaningful. 

2)    Make it FUN.

3)    Basic Needs:  Is the principal on board? Is the date open? Are you aware of PTA policies for collecting money?

4)    Never forget the School Objectives, Goals and Priorities.

5)    The Only Way to Raise Money is to ASK FOR IT.

6)    A comprehensive development program = money, manpower and time.

7)    Look to former co-op preschool parents for help in building a team of do-ers.

8)    Think over the long term.  Will the event still resonate in 2-3 years?  Is there potential to build on a single year’s successes?

9)    Don’t go overboard your first time out.  Take your time and build things responsibly.

10) Where are the gaps in your activity year?  Fall/Spring – Think about maintaining cohesiveness in your community.

11) Identify for your proposed event: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

12) Be mindful of Auction-Weariness.

13) Think about what a night out without the kids means financially to your community BEFORE they have even bought their ticket or bid on an auction item.

14) Explain to your parent body about your programs and the cost per kid if you need buy-in and support in planning a larger event.

15) Reinforce in order to retain interest: all successful development programs are driven by the belief the volunteer has in the mission.

16) Ensure that your parent body will be able to use their volunteer hours efficiently.

17) Outdoor Events (Public) = Visibility to your school.

18) Make your CASE (Copy and Steal Everything) J

19) Maintain a Donor Database

20) SAY THANK YOU!

Join us for the Parents for Public Schools-SF 2010 Annual Meeting! This event is an opportunity for parents across San Francisco to share their strategies for supporting quality public schools, including tips for school fundraising, starting after-school programs, and building community schools.

The meeting will also be a time for the PPS team to update the community on new initiatives and hold their board elections.

At the end of the day Superintendent Carlos Garcia will give a ”State of our Schools” address and students from the Burton High School ”Touch of Class” Choir will perform.

To  pre-register and reserve free childcare, visit the PPS website at www.ppssf.org by Tuesday, April 27th. You do not need to pre-register to attend.

Meeting information:

When: Saturday, April 24, 2010

9:00 AM – 12:30 PM

Where: Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School

350 Girard Street at Bacon

Parking available on lot – enter on Bacon St.

Public transportation: MUNI lines 9,44,54

The meeting will be presented in English, Spanish and Chinese.

Did you know that Summer Learning Loss accounts for more than half of the achievement gap between middle and low-income students?

Did you know that Summer Learning Loss results in a significant loss of academic skills— about 2 months worth of achievement— for students not engaged in any summer enrichment activities?

New Day for Learning is facilitating a Summer Learning Collaborative of individuals and organizations from all sectors of City life – school district, community based organizations, the Department of  Children, Youth & Their Families,  and other city departments, cultural and recreational institutions, and private industry. The purpose of the Collaborative is to prevent the well-documented summer learning loss that accounts for over half the achievement gap between middle class and disadvantaged children.

A further focus is to increase access to physical activity and healthy foods, as children gain body mass index twice as fast during the summer months. Join us in our efforts to expand and improve enriched summer learning opportunities for all children across San Francisco. This is a perfect example of how everyone — not just schools — can contribute to the success and well-being of our students.

As part of the Collaborative’s work, New Day for Learning, the Department of Children Youth and their Families, and the San Francisco Unified School District are sponsoring the first all-city event just for YOU to learn about summer possibilities for the programs you provide. The day will include:

• Opening session – Why summer is so important this year
• 4 Concurrent training sessions throughout the day from Bay Area experts on planning quality summer activities, behavior management, incorporating visual arts, integrating science, staff development, nutrition, physical activity, etc.
• 25 “Get-it-done” workshops featuring creative programming ideas on everything from literacy through theater and outdoor exploration to digital media, science kits and community building.
• 25 Resource tables filled with new ideas for field trips, admission to museums and other attractions, staffing, materials and more!

Summer Program Providers – Join us for a Summer Resource and Information Fair!

Check out the workshop schedule.

April 21

9:30 – 3:00 pm

First Unitarian Church

1187 Franklin Street

TO REGISTER

CONTACT: Melanie Hopson, New Day for Learning

hopsonm@sfusd.edu

Call 355-2202 with questions

Author: Arden Bucklin-Sporer

Tour any number of SFUSD elementary schools these days, and chances are you will find yourself in a garden. Look around and you might also see a huge cistern collecting rainwater from a portable classroom roof. Students calculate its square footage, the annual rainfall and make predictions on how quickly the cistern will fill. When the rainy season is over, captured rain water will irrigate garden beds, which spill over with food crops and hardy native plantings. Hummingbirds dart around the red salvias planted by the third grade class. Nearby solar panels collect energy from the sun and power a solar pump which circulates water in the small pond. Fifth graders analyze the water for oxygen content and study pond life. Trees surrounding the yard provide shelter for birds and shade for students. Schoolyards, it turns out, are excellent places to teach about conservation, the food we eat, energy systems, community, and ecology –all the while satisfying state content standards. It is no wonder that SFUSD school communities, principals, teachers and students are rallying around green schoolyards in record numbers.

SFUSD is leading the nation in green schoolyards, thanks in large part to the Prop A school bonds which provide funding for design and construction of green schoolyards in more than half of our elementary schools. Leonard Flynn, Commodore Sloat, Sherman, Bryant, Alvarado, Hillcrest, SF Community and West Portal Elementary Schools have finished extensive greening projects, and many more school yard greening projects are in the pipeline.

School gardens, a fundamental component of schoolyard greening, function as outdoor classrooms, attracting teachers, students, and school community members. Food systems gardens are now in over 70 SFUSD schools and students are experiencing the profound pleasure of growing, tending, harvesting and eating the food they grow. Curriculum is directly linked to the outdoor classroom and provides a rich opportunity for learning in the real world. Peas formerly sprouted in classroom window sills are now planted in the school garden. These experiments are carefully measured, plotted, sketched, watered, tended- and the fruits of this labor are happily devoured. Students are thrilled to observe the lifecycle from seed to seed.

San Francisco’s cool climate is perfectly attuned to the school calendar which might account for the popularity of these gardening projects. We plant in late August when school convenes, harvest before Thanksgiving, allow some fallow time for winter rains, then replant in March for a late May harvest. We grow wonderful nutritious greens, lettuces, root crops, and cole crops such as broccoli, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts. Students enthusiastically eat vegetables from a school garden, much to the surprise of their parents. The consensus among school garden practitioners is that students will eat what they grow.

Thanks to devoted parents and teachers, these gardens continue to thrive year after year. Garden and greening projects are as much about bringing school communities together around a shared goal, as they are about the resulting outdoor space. If you are wondering how to get involved with a school garden project, consider the following:

If you are a parent:

• Start a school garden committee at your school
• Work with the committee , teachers, and the principal to envision your school garden
• Find out if your school is a Prop A bond school
• Contact the San Francisco Green Schoolyard Alliance and get connected to the great community of school garden practitioners
• If your school has a garden, volunteer to work with a classroom teacher in the garden

If you are a community member:

• Get certified with the San Francisco Education Fund
• Contact the San Francisco Green Schoolyard Alliance for information on SFUSD school gardens
• Give generously to your neighborhood school garden

We look forward to seeing you in the garden!

Arden Bucklin-Sporer is the Executive Director of the San Francisco Green Schoolyard Alliance. She is co- author of Timber Press’s “How to Grow A School Garden: A Complete Guide for Parents and Teachers” available in June, 2010.

A summer internship can be a transformative experience for a student. But before they can get a foot in the door, they need to know how to make a good first impression.

On Saturday, February 27, members of San Francisco’s business community interviewed hundreds of public high school students. During these mock interviews, professionals grilled students about their experience and skills and offered constructive criticism.

Want to help a student prepare for a summer internship interview? Learn how you can volunteer for a second round of mock interviews on March 6.

Curious about the experience? Below, volunteers and students share their thoughts about the event.

Suzanne Goodman, Moscone Center

If you don’t have kids, the only experience you may have with students is with young people being rowdy on MUNI. This opportunity gave me a great impression of high school students. I found them to be well-spoken and well-prepared. The afternoon went by quickly.

In the business world, we all complain that there aren’t good entry-level employees in the workforce. Coming out to help students prepare for an internship is a great way to stop talking about this issue and do something about it.

John Paul Keenan, L2Wireless

This is fun. Why wouldn’t you do it? There are great students. Plus, you get to meet some other cool professionals.

These students are doing things that blew me away. When I was in high school I think I had one fast food job on my resume. Today I met one student who’s interested in technology and getting her Cisco certification at City College. I know a buddy of mine who’s trying to do that now, and I know that is not easy to get.

Michael Theriault

Secretary Treasurer, San Francisco Building and Construction Trades Council

This experience is painless. I found students to be motivated and articulate. At the end of the day you feel good that you’ve helped them.

This year the Building and Construction Trades Council is placing 40 high school interns. We’re also trying to start a new Construction Pathway at John O’Connell High School. Years ago, the school used to feed our trade. We’d like to start that relationship up again.

Diana Ambrocio, 11^th Grade

Dream Job: Nurse

I was so nervous today because I’ve never done an interview, but over the course of my session, I opened up and enjoyed my experience. Next time around, I’m going to use more professional language in my cover letter. My first letter was too informal in the introduction.

I’m also going to be more specific with the details on my resume. I don’t have a lot of professional experience, but I can use my extra curricular activities to demonstrate examples of taking on leadership roles and responsibility.

Jessical Terrell, 11^th Grade

Dream Job: Pediatrician

I got some great feedback from my interviewer. Next time I’m applying for an internship, I’m going to prepare questions for my interviewer, so I can learn more about the company I’m applying for; I’m going to use a thesaurus to vary the words I use for my cover letter and resume; and I’m walking in with a confident, positive attitude.

Why I love McKinley

Author: Patricia McFadden, parent of a 2nd grader and kindergartener

I love McKinley Elementary because it is a great community! It’s on the small side for the public elementary schools and while far from perfect, there is a wonderful combination of teachers, parents, school staff, and community members that support EVERY child.

Parents are involved in the school through class projects, tutoring, and other volunteer opportunities. The teachers are experienced, patient, and compassionate and, most importantly, love their work. My sons see a broad section of cultures, economic income levels, and learning levels, and learn everyday about the value of each person, without a specific lesson on the subject.

My sons are challenged to learn new things and I am pleased and amazed to see their growth. They learn the subjects and they learn respect for others and common values.

Most importantly, my kids love their school too. McKinley rocks!

Why I love Fairmount

Author: Lauretta Komlos, parent of a 2nd grader and incoming kindergartner

First and foremost, it is a place where my child is getting an excellent education, AND is learning a second language. I am amazed at the level of instruction she has received. The teachers are smart, loving, devoted, and motivated. My kid is a science and spelling nut and she has gotten her fill of these. She may know animals and their genus in Spanish, but she knows them. Yes, I never really thought about what makes a mammal a mammal, but you will get an earful of these and many other wonderful facts if your child gets lucky enough to enroll at Fairmount.

Secondly, the school has an amazing shadow support team. I was approached by teachers and the school social worker to enroll my daughter in several programs that I didn’t even know existed and that have assisted her greatly in her parallel social development.

Lastly, I love the potential of Fairmount. Fairmount has not yet “arrived” on the public school scene. There is a lot of work to be done, and I see that as an opportunity to shape my Children’s education and to be involved in the community. All hands are invited to participate, and no ideas will be turned away.

Why I love Alice Fong Yu

Author: Tom McVey, parent of a kindergartener

TD McVey and his kindergarten teacher May Ng at Alice Fong Yu’s Halloween parade.

I love this school. The academics are stellar, and the opportunity to learn two dialects of Chinese is exciting.

I was surprised how rapidly my kid started to absorb the language – singing songs, counting numbers, and pointing out the characters he knows when we pass by a sign using Chinese pictographs. I think learning a new language has added to his confidence and pride. We feel fortunate to be in a district and school that has taken a real lead in immersion education.

The school is *very* well organized. The teachers are hardworking and highly trained. I’ve been impressed with the simple, elegant, understated way discipline is handled in the kinder classes, and have learned a lot on how to work with my own kid. The principal, Liana Szeto runs a tight ship, and had the vision to create the nation’s first school that was wholly Chinese Immersion.

Expectations are high not only for the kids but also for parents. Homework starts early: there’s a fair amount given to the kindergarteners, and this ramps up substantially in the higher grades. So expect a lot of wrangling as you get your kid to knuckle down. I love that there’s a workshop for parents who aren’t familiar with Chinese to help them help their kids with their homework!

Do you love your public school? Share your story with us, and learn how you can take action to support SF public schools in the face of state budget cuts.

Author: Marcia Jarmel

Marcia and her husband Ken Schneider directed Speaking in Tongues, the award-winning PBS documentary telling the stories of four diverse kids becoming bilingual in San Francisco’s public schools.

Speaking in Tongues was inspired by our experiences with the parents and students at our sons’ Chinese immersion school here in San Francisco. When we first decided to enroll our older son, friends and family thought we were crazy, especially since neither of us knew Chinese. They thought we were putting our sons’ English-language development at risk – one of the most common misconceptions about immersion programs. We felt reassured by the 40-odd years of research suggesting that, quite the contrary, kids – whether native English speakers or not – will do better academically when they’re learning bilingually. That’s certainly been our experience. You can check out key studies by following the links on the film’s website.

Academic achievement is not the only reason for kids to become bilingual. As the students in Speaking in Tongues demonstrate, knowing more than one language opens all kinds of doors: to jobs, to an understanding of people from different cultures – be they around the corner or across the globe – and to a greater understanding of ourselves and our own families.

In the film, we follow four very different kids: a Mexican-American boy whose immigrant parents see language as the key to his full participation in the land of opportunity; an African-American kindergartner whose mom hopes that Mandarin will be his ticket out of the projects; a Chinese-American girl recapturing the Cantonese her parents sacrificed to become American; and a Caucasian eighth-grader eager to expand his horizons. All four kids have performed very well academically. Jason, the Mexican-American student, is maintaining a 4.0 average and is testing above grade level in both English and Spanish, despite the fact that his parents never went to school at all.

Through the good graces of the San Francisco Foundation, there will be many opportunities to see Speaking in Tongues in the next year. Each school in the district will receive its own copy and the district will be using the film in professional development for educators, parent education, and teacher recruitment. The film will be on KQED next fall, too.

Want to find out where you can see the movie and learn more about the benefits of multilingualism? Join the film’s Facebook group, or check out the film’s website.

Interested in learning more about immersion programs in San Francisco public schools? Check out the district’s Multilingual Education Department.

A Spark Student Apprentice from Presidio Middle School works in the medical field with an Apprentice Teacher.

By The Spark Team

When education budget cuts threaten to decrease funding and other resources for already struggling public schools throughout the Bay Area, it’s important to develop creative problem-solving strategies and explore untapped resources. Spark does this by leveraging what was before a largely underutilized supply of individuals who can volunteer at their own workplaces. In the Bay Area, and in cities throughout the country, there are thousands of people who can fill in the gaps left by a struggling economy.  These people are me, you, and everyone we know—working individuals who have followed a career path, and can share that experience with a young person struggling in school. Spark recruits and trains these willing community members, connects them with students, and, in the process, draws new volunteers into the education system. Our volunteer Apprentice Teachers play an important role in motivating at-risk students in our community to see school as a vehicle for setting and achieving positive goals.

We connect adults working in every imaginable field with at-risk students who are struggling to understand the relevance of their education. Meet Gloria and Erica, a Spark Apprentice and Apprentice Teacher pair who underscore Spark’s ability to engage and inspire young students while tapping into the vast resource of professional volunteer mentors in the Bay Area.

————————————-

The Apprentice
The most important thing I learned during Spark is that no one can ever tell you that you can never work at your dream job.  School has changed for me because now I work harder to get to my dream job as a person in the medical field.  The thing that surprised me the most about my apprenticeship was how much people welcome you and how much they care about what you want.

My mentor Erica talked to me about what she did in college and what I have to do if I wanted to specialize in the medical field. I think that if I try hard enough I will be able to achieve that dream.

Gloria – 7^th Grade Spark Apprentice, Presidio Middle School

The Apprentice Teacher

“I work as a nurse practitioner at San Francisco General Hospital in orthopedics.  I love my job, I love teaching, and I love being around youth.

I was personally drawn to Spark because, growing up, I had all kinds of ideas in my head as to what I wanted “to be.”  I was lucky to have opportunities to enroll in classes and camps to figure out who I was. Now that I am “grown up” I can look back and see how important all those experiences were in molding me into the individual that I am today, one who’s content and finds much passion in my work. I really wanted to contribute that same “spark” to a student, and help mold him/her into the person they will become.

I really had a very positive experience with my dear student, Gloria. The experience was manageable and rewarding.  A few hours a week is nothing in influencing our future generation to excel and set positive life goals. Gloria and I still keep in touch. Sometimes I think I learned more from her…

Erica Eshoo – Spark Apprentice Teacher, Fall 2009

————————————-

Are you interested in mentoring a student through a one-on-one apprenticeship? To learn more about opportunities to be an Apprentice Teacher, check out www.sparkprogram.org or email spark@sparkprogram.org.

Do you have experience mentoring a student in your professional field? Share your story with us.

Spark is a youth empowerment program that addresses the dropout crisis by re-engaging at-risk students in their education with hands-on, individualized apprenticeships in their “dream job.” In 2010, the organization will work with 300 students in the Bay Area and Los Angeles. Spark has received the prestigious Ashoka and Draper Richards Fellowships.