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Parents and students press SFUSD board over school assignment process and long commutes; Visitation Valley parents demand fixes
Summary
Multiple speakers at public comment urged the San Francisco school board to change the middle-school weight-pool assignment process and address what they described as long commutes and overcrowding. Visitation Valley parents raised staffing instability, mixed-grade overcrowding and safety concerns and asked for prompt district follow-up.
A large group of public commenters used the board’s two-minute public-comment time to press the San Francisco Unified School District about middle-school assignments, transportation burdens and staffing and safety problems at Visitation Valley Elementary.
Several parents and students described being assigned to schools more than an hour from home by public transit, saying the district’s weight‑pool placement left families with unaffordable travel or the choice of private school. Bill Ford, a parent, urged the board to hold town halls and to reconsider the assignment algorithm. A student speaker said the district’s placement forced his family to pay private-school tuition that he called "a $7,000 mistake" for the district.
Parents from Visitation Valley presented multiple complaints: loss of experienced bilingual teachers, frequent turnover among staff, mixed fourth/fifth-grade classes exceeding 40 students, and incidents the parents described as safety concerns (students bringing knives, bullying). Parents asked the district to meet and resolve their complaints and said they would pursue media and further action if they did not receive timely responses. Superintendent Carranza and staff offered to convene district administrators and the school’s assistant superintendent to meet with parents after the meeting.
Board members listened and directed staff to follow up; Commissioners and staff acknowledged limitations of the district’s assignment process and promised additional review and outreach ahead of upcoming enrollment fairs.
