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Board approves grade reconfiguration for Phase 1 "dream schools," directs staff to explore high-school option
Summary
The Board approved a superintendent plan to reconfigure Phase 1 dream schools (pre-K–3 at Drew, 4–8 at Willie L. Brown) and asked staff to examine high-school options (including Thurgood Marshall or other sites) to preserve a K–12 continuum. The decision followed extensive community testimony urging a Bayview high school.
The San Francisco Board of Education voted Jan. 9 to approve a superintendent proposal to reconfigure grade spans for Phase 1 "dream schools," establishing Dr. Charles R. Drew as pre-K–3 and Willie L. Brown as grades 4–8. The board’s resolution leaves the high-school component open and directs staff to explore ways to provide a K–12 continuum for students, including investigating an option at Thurgood Marshall or other nearby high-school sites.
The item drew extensive public comment. Parents, teachers and community groups representing Bayview Hunters Point urged the board to preserve a high-school pathway in the neighborhood, saying the original vision for the dream-school model called for a pre-K–12 continuum. Dozens of speakers said they feared losing the promise of a community high school, raised safety and transportation concerns about students traveling uphill or across town, and recommended that the district prioritize a viable local high-school option for the community.
District staff and the superintendent said the recommendation was shaped by five community meetings and local input; staff presented data showing student-choice patterns in the Bayview (the staff noted that roughly 5,700 students live in the Bayview area and about 1,300 attend neighborhood schools, with the remaining majority attending schools elsewhere). Staff reported that the ninth-grade enrollment at Gloria R. Davis was small (about 30 students) and that a substantial share of Bayview students choose schools outside the immediate neighborhood. The board therefore approved the 4–8/ pre-K–3 configuration while preserving flexibility to develop a high-school solution that could preserve aspects of the dream-school program.
Board members and staff emphasized they would survey current eighth- and ninth-graders at Gloria R. Davis to determine whether families would accept a grouped placement or an option at Thurgood Marshall and to define what program elements of the dream continuum could transfer to another site. The motion passed by roll call with six ayes.
