San Francisco supervisors press school district for 3‑month plan after grand jury warns of 2,500 chronically truant elementary students

The Board of Supervisors’ Government Audit & Oversight Committee pressed the San Francisco Unified School District on its response to a civil grand jury report about chronic truancy, asking the district to present a comprehensive plan within three months.

At a continuation of a grand jury hearing, Associate Superintendent Trish Bascom told supervisors the district has made attendance a top goal for 2009–10 and reorganized student support services into three areas—prevention and intervention, counseling and social services, and family/out‑of‑school time—to coordinate anti‑truancy work. “The curriculum must be relevant and engaging for students,” Bascom said, describing the district’s approach to improve school climate and student engagement.

District staff provided program details and data. Mayla (Veil) Ruen, senior executive director for prevention and intervention, said the district held 432 Student Attendance Review Board (SARB) hearings in 2008–09, has launched monthly data distribution to sites, and resumed SARB hearings and follow‑up contract reviews this school year. Ruen said the district is partnering with community‑based organizations and the District Attorney’s office to triage high‑priority cases.

Civil grand jury members told the committee the scale of the problem is larger than the district’s initial targets: "There is only one clear answer when we're dealing with elementary school truancy. We go from 2,500 to 0," a grand jury speaker said, urging aggressive home visits and citywide coordination.

Supervisors pressed for specifics: when asked how many students the district would return to school under a 5 percent improvement target, district staff said a 5 percent gain would bring a minimum of 300 students back into school. The district clarified its broader count of chronic and habitual truants was 4,967 in the last school year from a total student population of about 56,000.

Committee members repeatedly asked who will act as a first responder when citizens spot school‑age children on the street during school hours. Bascom said the district operates a "stay in school" hotline to dispatch attendance liaisons and described a Bayview care center (capacity 20) and plans for another care program in the Western Addition to provide a place where students found off campus can be assessed and re‑enrolled.

Public commenters, including students who attend court schools, told the committee that relationships with teachers and school relevance are central to reversing absenteeism. Community advocates urged the board to tie city grants and programs to measurable impacts on attendance.

Following discussion, supervisors instructed the Office of Legislative Analyst to amend a resolution and asked the district to prepare and present a comprehensive truancy plan—covering goals, daily counts, demographic breakdowns and interim targets—within three months. Supervisor Maxwell made the motion to request the plan, which the committee accepted.

The committee left the record open for the grand jury to reply and moved to public comment. The hearing on the truancy report will continue as the district develops the requested plan.