SF Board of Education Introduces Resolution Regarding Lowell High School

San Francisco (February 2, 2021) - Members of the San Francisco Board of Education will introduce a resolution at its Committee of the Whole meeting on February 2, 2021 regarding Lowell High School. The resolution calls for an equity audit led by community leaders and to use the regular admissions process that is used by other comprehensive high schools in the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD).

The resolution, “In Response to Ongoing, Pervasive Systemic Racism at Lowell High School,” was authored by Board President Gabriela Lopez, Vice President Alison M. Collins, Commissioner Matt Alexander, and Student Delegates Shavonne Hines-Foster and Kathya Correa Almanza. 

The resolution calls on the SF Board of Education to initiate a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) process with the Education and Civil Rights Initiative (CRI) of the University of Kentucky College of Education, Lexington KY, in collaboration with the SF NAACP, California NAACP and National NAACP to facilitate the creation of a Community Coalition to define and oversee an equity audit and resulting action plan to “address the exclusion and ongoing toxic racist abuse that students of color, and specifically Black students, have experienced at Lowell High School since the school’s creation.” The Community Coalition would be comprised of the SFUSD Black Student Union leaders, SFUSD African American Parent Advisory Council, the SF Alliance of Black School Educators, and other alumni, anti-racist educators, students, and community leaders.

If the resolution is approved by the Board, students applying to Lowell will use the application form used for SFUSD’s comprehensive high schools indefinitely. For many years the SFUSD has used grade point average and Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) scores from a student’s 7th grade and the first semester of 8th grade as factors in determining admission offers to Lowell High School. A temporary one-year change was approved by the Board of Education last fall in response to COVID-19 and the lack of SBAC test scores from the previous year. 

The resolution states, “SFUSD is deeply committed to affirming the lives of our students and has been changing our institutional culture to align with that commitment and undo the normalization of inferiority and bias. Over the years, Board of Education Commissioners, superintendents, scholars and community members have consistently cited Lowell’s selective, exam-based enrollment system as a major contributing factor which perpetuates the culture of white supremacy and racial abuse towards Black and Latinx students.”

The resolution “In Response to Ongoing, Pervasive Systemic Racism at Lowell High School,” will be introduced February 2, 2021. The meeting begins at 3:00 p.m. Members of the public will have an opportunity to provide public comment. 

Observe Meetings: To observe the February 2nd Special Meeting by video conference, please click here at the noticed meeting time. Webinar Password: 271410. It may help to download the Zoom app before the meeting if you don’t have it already. Instructions on how to join a meeting by video conference are available at: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201362193 -Joining-a-Meeting. 

Listen to Meetings By Phone: To listen to the meeting by phone, please call at the noticed meeting time (669) 900 9128, then enter Webinar ID: 833 4133 7025, then press “#”. Password: 271410. If asked for a participant id or code, press #. Instructions on how to join a meeting by phone are available at https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201362663 -Joining-a-meeting-by-phone.

To Make Public Comment on Agenda Items: the Board President or Chair will introduce the item and call for speakers, and staff indicate who will be speaking next.

• To comment by video conference, click on the Participants button at the bottom of your screen and select the “Raise Your Hand” button to request to speak when Public Comment is being asked for. When called upon, you will be unmuted. After the allotted time, you will then be re-muted.

• To comment by phone, you will be prompted to “Raise Your Hand” by pressing “*9” to request to speak when Public Comment is asked for. When called upon, you will be unmuted. After the allotted time, you will then be re-muted. Instructions of how to raise your hand by phone are available at: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201362663 -Joining-a-meeting-by-phone.

Read the resolution here.

##