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APAC tells SFUSD board families need more help to make Black students feel they belong
Summary
The African American Parent Advisory Council told the San Francisco Unified School District board it has grown participation but still sees gaps in sense of belonging, and requested district partnerships, implicit-bias training, and pilot individualized learning plans for cohorts of African American students.
Leticia Irving, program coordinator for the African American Parent Advisory Council (APAC), told the Board of Education that APAC has expanded to 24 site-based groups and held seven districtwide meetings in 2018–19 averaging 62 unduplicated participants, and that the group is pushing the district to address out-of-school conditions that affect learning.
"We are asking that SFUSD work closer with the city and county of San Francisco to address the conditions outside of the classroom that impact learning and overall wellness," Irving said. APAC leaders highlighted events including a "Learning While Black" forum that drew about 190 participants and sustained efforts to distribute books by Black authors across sites.
APAC asked the district to fund implicit-bias training for staff and to study and, where feasible, pilot individualized learning plans for cohorts of African American students at elementary schools to raise access to A–G coursework and improve competitiveness for CSU/UC eligibility. "How are the children?" the presenters asked the board; APAC framed its work around the answer, ‘‘All the children are well.’’
Board members thanked APAC, acknowledged uneven family experiences across sites and asked staff for follow-up. Commissioner Collins and others asked for timelines and reporting back from Superintendent Dr. Matthews and deputy staff on feasibility, and suggested leveraging city agencies and community partners referenced in APAC's "Beyond the Schoolhouse" study link.
The board also heard two parent speakers during public comment who described fundraising and site-level interventions that raised SBAC scores at Jose Ortega and other schools, including parent-funded tutoring and targeted instruction. Staff said climate surveys and principal conversations are primary tools to surface family experience data but acknowledged response rates vary; APAC representatives noted survey response counts can be small and asked the district to consider richer qualitative outreach.
The board urged APAC to continue its invitations to commissioners to visit APAC meetings and committed to follow-up on implementation steps, implicit-bias training, and potential city-district collaboration.
The board moved on to the next agenda items after thanking APAC for its presentation.
