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Board approves new elementary attendance areas, delays middle‑school feeder pattern implementation for one year
Summary
The San Francisco Board of Education approved new elementary attendance-area designs and a one‑year delay of elementary-to-middle feeder patterns, adopting a temporary middle‑school placement process for 2011–12 and directing staff to develop transparent boundary‑adjustment protocols.
The San Francisco Board of Education on Sept. 28 approved new elementary attendance-area designs and delayed implementation of elementary-to-middle feeder patterns and middle‑school attendance areas by one year, the board said in a substitute motion read at the meeting.
Miss O'Keefe of the Educational Placement Center read Substitute Motion 0824 SP2, which directs the district to adopt the new elementary attendance-area map, postpone feeder‑pattern implementation until the 2012–13 school year, and use a temporary application-based process for middle‑school placement in 2011–12. The temporary process gives priority in this order: younger siblings of currently enrolled students, students who live in CTIP 1 census tracts, and then all other applicants. The superintendent retains authority to adjust boundaries and must notify the board of any such changes, the motion says.
Board members said the delay will give staff time to develop outreach and enrollment supports for families and to create a transparent protocol to handle boundary‑change requests. Commissioner Norton asked whether staff would run more robust enrollment fairs and outreach for middle schools; Miss O'Keefe replied the Educational Placement Center will expand the enrollment fair into a full enrollment fair and revisit the communications plan.
Parents who spoke urged refinements. Peter Cohen, a McKinley parent, recommended creating ‘‘buffers’’ around hard boundary lines so families who live a block apart but on opposite sides of a boundary have some local priority rather than being treated the same as families across the city.
The board conducted a roll call after discussion and recorded six ayes, approving the substitute motion as presented. The board directed staff to return with protocols for adjusting boundaries (targeted for January–February) so any changes can be presented before the next enrollment cycle.
The motion also specifies how seats will be allocated for non‑transitional grades in accordance with federal priorities under the No Child Left Behind Act and state/federal requirements, and it clarifies that, during the interim year, policy P5101 governs seat allocation.
