Board finds instructional material insufficiencies; staff to remedy within statutory window

District staff told the San Francisco Board of Education on Sept. 28 that several sites still lack sufficient instructional materials in core subjects and that some high‑school science equipment and world‑language/health materials are also insufficient.

Daisy Santos, supervisor in the Curriculum Resources, Libraries and Media Services Office, read the resolution required by Education Code Section 60,119 and reported insufficiencies in three elementary and 12 high schools for core materials, and additional shortages for science and world‑language materials. Santos said causes include late site requests, late responses from sites about remedial actions, and some materials being out of print.

Commissioners pressed staff on the high percentages reported for shortages, some listed at or near 100 percent. Santos said vendor turnaround is often one to two weeks but that practices vary by site. Commissioner Yee and others said there is no centralized system for accounting textbooks and that turnover, teachers leaving, and books leaving with students have compounded the problem.

Staff said they are planning a centralized textbook-management system and are working with area teams to track books and reallocate supplies from declining-enrollment schools to those with rising enrollment; implementation timing depends on available budget and personnel. Commissioners asked for a postmortem report explaining why the system broke down and what will be done to prevent a recurrence.

The board voted to approve the resolution documenting insufficiency and to require staff to remedy shortages within the statutory two‑month window. Roll call recorded seven ayes.