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Parents and students press SFUSD over troubled opening at Willie Brown Middle School
Summary
An extended public-comment period at the Sept. 29 board meeting featured students and dozens of parents describing safety problems, staff shortages and broken promises at newly opened Willie Brown Middle School. District staff pledged to prioritize corrective action.
Students and parents filled the board meeting on Sept. 29 to describe what they called an unsafe and poorly supported opening at Willie Brown Middle School in the Bayview.
Multiple student speakers described bullying, frequent fighting and an atmosphere that makes learning difficult. Sixth-grade students urged the district to add more adults on campus, citing incidents in which peers were physically harmed or left without timely adult support. "We need more adults that care," one student said during public comment.
Parents and long-time community members detailed operational problems they observed in the school’s first weeks: telephones that did not work, no functioning walkie-talkies for security, shortages of counselors and paraprofessionals, missing curriculum materials and delays in transferring students’ IEPs. Several parents said the founding principal resigned early in the school year and that teachers had left within days of the opening.
Community advocates and public commenters asked why promised programs—counseling, STEM courses, a wellness center—were not in place. Speakers also described cases they said required mandatory reporting and said district responses had been slow. Some called the opening "a failure" and urged immediate district intervention.
Deputy Superintendent Surajana Guerrero responded directly to the parents and students, acknowledging the problems and saying the district would identify concrete, prioritized steps to address safety, staffing and trust. Guerrero told the board the district understood the urgency and committed staff to work on remedial actions at Willie Brown as a top priority.
The board did not take any formal action during the meeting beyond hearing testimony and hearing the deputy superintendent’s pledge to take action. Parents and community members requested regular updates and faster staffing support; district staff said they would return with implementation details.
Those concerned about conditions at Willie Brown were urged to use district liaisons for follow-up; the board said it would track corrective actions as part of ongoing oversight.
