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Teachers and parents urge board to save Fort Funston Environmental Science Center TSA position
Summary
Multiple teachers, parents and program staff told the board the Environmental Science Center at Fort Funston needs a credentialed Teacher on Special Assignment to run overnight field trips and support 1,300 students a year; speakers warned eliminating the TSA would jeopardize the program’s quality and accessibility.
During general public comment on May 22, current and former teachers, program staff and parents urged the San Francisco Board of Education to retain the full‑time Teacher on Special Assignment (TSA) at the SFUSD Environmental Science Center at Fort Funston.
Speakers described the TSA as the lead coordinator for hundreds of overnight and day field trips and as essential to making the program accessible to Title I students. "That field trip could not happen without the organization of a full time TSA," said Valerie Fernandez, a fifth‑grade teacher who described transformational experiences for students. Naturalists, parent volunteers and teachers said the program serves roughly 1,300 students annually and that classified staff alone lack the credentialed oversight and planning capacity the TSA provides.
District staff indicated a plan to shift responsibilities and rely more on classified staff, prompting speakers to plead for preservation of the credentialed TSA role. Teachers emphasized the TSA’s role in curriculum planning, safety oversight and teacher support on overnight trips. The board did not take an immediate action on staffing at this meeting; public commenters requested board intervention to find funding to preserve the position.
