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Parents demand emergency repairs at Buena Vista/Horace Mann as board considers reallocating 2016 bond funds
Summary
Parents, teachers and city officials urged the San Francisco Board of Education to shift 2016 bond money to urgent repairs at Buena Vista/Horace Mann, request lasting security upgrades and expand outdoor-learning funding; staff proposed a reallocation that prompted an amendment and was tabled for further legal review.
The San Francisco Board of Education heard hours of public testimony and a detailed staff proposal on Oct. 12 over whether to reallocate portions of the district’s 2016 general-obligation bond to urgent renovations and safety work.
Chief facilities officer Kamala Nathan presented a plan that would reassign bond authorizations to a set of priorities she said were needed "to make substantive progress over the next 6 to 18 months." The staff package included $15 million proposed for design and near-term improvements at Buena Vista/Horace Mann (BVHM), about $6 million estimated to install Columbine locks and related security systems at roughly 18 remaining sites, $20 million for a Southeast facilities plan to address several overdue modernization needs, $15 million toward a Mission Bay elementary school and $14 million for schoolyard greening and outdoor learning projects.
Parents and teachers from BVHM pressed the board for more money and faster work. "Today a piece of the ceiling fell off," said parent Carmen Rodriguez, demanding immediate action and full funding for a renovation. Community advocates described rat infestations, gas leaks, leaks and peeling paint and said repeated promises of repairs had not been kept.
The public tally of speakers ran more than 25 hands, including Supervisor Hillary Ronan, who said the city would introduce legislation and that the City would seek to cover emergency repairs. Ronan urged the board to approve Commissioner Alexander’s amendment to prioritize a full renovation for BVHM.
Commissioner Mark Alexander introduced an amendment to the staff proposal that would increase the short-term allocation for BVHM to $55 million (pulling funds from the arts allocation and reducing the Mission Bay add-on) and add language recommitting the board to the $100 million arts project so the district and community could plan a future funding strategy. The amendment prompted prolonged debate about priorities, equity and legal constraints on altering voter-approved bond measures.
Legal counsel and staff said the amendment required more precise drafting to ensure it complied with the bond measure’s categories; after discussion the board agreed not to vote on the amendment that night and to return a vetted proposal at the Oct. 26 meeting. President Lopez said staff and counsel should refine language before a final vote.
Before the debate, Chief Nathan told the board that some short-term repairs — server-room cooling, loose ceiling tiles, peeling paint and certain cafeteria upgrades — could be scoped and completed within months, while full modernizations required design and regulatory review that would take longer.
The board and community also discussed portable air cleaners: staff said a reallocation would allow the district to provide portable air cleaners for essentially all occupied indoor spaces (excluding large auditoriums and gyms) and that deployment could be completed by early winter.
Next steps: the board asked staff and counsel to redraft the amendment for formal consideration Oct. 26 and to provide a clearer schedule of the short-term projects that could be completed quickly, plus a design timeline for a BVHM modernization.
