SFUSD board accepts Williams oversight inspection reports for 28 low-performing schools

The San Francisco Unified School District Board of Education voted Nov. 12 to accept independent auditors’ Williams oversight reports covering 28 decile 1–3 schools.

Susan Wong, executive director of equity, policy and operations, summarized two audits: one by James Taylor reviewing instructional materials and implementation of the Wayland Suela settlement for students who completed 12th grade but did not pass the high school exit exam, and another by George Caligros inspecting facilities. Wong told the board that textbook inventories were generally adequate (one school had outstanding Chinese textbooks but orders were placed) and that the district’s Williams facilities inspections scored 92.6 out of 100 across the 28 schools.

Wong said no school was ranked “poor,” four were rated “fair” and 86% of schools either maintained or improved their ratings from the prior year. She described a list of work orders for the schools rated “fair” and said many repairs are already underway.

During follow-up questions, commissioners pressed staff on declines in ratings at specific sites, including June Jordan (formerly Burbank), John Muir and Mission High School’s approach to on-site CASI instruction. Wong and the auditors said inspectors have applied stricter standards this year — for example, extreme deficiencies are recorded for missing essentials such as toilet paper — and agreed to return with more detailed explanations and to invite inspectors to future meetings to answer questions.

The board called the roll on the motion to accept the reports; the clerk recorded five votes in favor and the motion carried.

Next steps: staff will provide follow-up reports on school-specific facility declines and on textbook tracking best practices to the board.