We Are SFUSD

We Are SFUSD

1st grade student Estella looks at her homemade school project - a porcupine made of toothpicks and a piece of steak

My favorite teacher makes learning more fun by giving homework that involves hands-on activities.

Estella

1st Grader at Bessie Carmichael PreK-8 Filipino Education Center

Cadi Poile, director of custodial services at SFUSD, stands wearing a face mask at an SFUSD school playground

I’m proud of how much work and how far the facilities department has come - it’s pretty amazing to see all the collaboration to get our school buildings open and ready.

Cadi Poile

Director of Custodial Services

Cecile Laberinto

If there's anything I want the world to know about school lunch workers, it's that we care and we're here, and no matter what, we'll always be here.

Cecile Laberinto

School Lunch Worker, Willie Brown Middle School

Joy Patterson

Partnership starts with families and the student, respecting where they’re at, where they come from and the fabric that makes them who they are in that moment.

Joy Paterson

Teacher, SF Community Elementary School

Stuart Briggs

My job as a teacher is to arrange for victories for my students.  I may present them with a task, but as an educator I try to envision the way forward. 

 

Stuart Briggs

Teacher - Jose Ortega Elementary School

Mira Carberry

Representation is really important. Books should be mirrors for students, content should be mirrors for students, they should see themselves represented in the curriculum.

Mira Carberry

Teacher - Buena Vista Horace Mann

Suzann Baldwin

As a teacher, I have always believed that equity and justice meant being the best possible teacher I could be for my students.

Suzann Baldwin

Spanish Teacher - Abraham Lincoln High School

Danielle Brown Sanchez, Parent at Dolores Huerta Elementary School

I wanted to take a minute to thank all who were involved in providing Chromebooks for the students to borrow. I have a third grade daughter who is benefiting from this decision. My husband and I both grew up in San Francisco and honestly, I am so pleased with all of the efforts that SFUSD always seems to make. Thank you again for giving our family one less thing to stress about during these changing times.

Danielle Brown Sanchez

Parent at Dolores Huerta Elementary

Nia Black

I want to study Political Science in college because I want to be a Civil Rights attorney. America needs more people who are able to fix it - things like police brutality, the prison system, and sentencing laws.

Nia Black

Senior at Galileo Academy of Science and Technology, Student Emcee for the 2020 African American Honor Roll

Crystal Hawkins

My supervisor trusts me to do the work, knowing that I understand the vision and I'm going to truly partner with the children and families.

Crystal Hawkins

Family Liaison Coordinator at Shoestrings Children's Center

Eldridge "Swift" Anthony - We Are SFUSD

The key to dealing with kids is you talk up to them, you don’t talk down. Things like that build trust with kids, and if they don’t trust you then they can’t identify with you and they won’t deal with you.

Eldridge "Swift" Anthony

Head of Security at Willie L. Brown Jr. Middle School

Mariko Tanaka We Are SFUSD

I think being fearless makes you the best player you can be. You’re fearless to make mistakes and trust your teammates, which is a big part of volleyball. Being fearless is something that contributes to the game and is one of the most important factors that got us to win the championship.

Mariko Tanaka

Senior at Lowell High School & 2019 Lowell Varsity Volleyball Team State Champion

Meena Jamerson, Grandparent at Dr. William L. Cobb Elementary School

My granddaughter loves it here, and she’s always a good student. The school is more like a family school, because you can work out your issues and they look out for my granddaughter.

Meena Jamerson

Grandparent at Dr. William L. Cobb Elementary School

James Walsh

When I’m out on the field, I just want to play hard for everyone on my team. I do it for everyone out there, the people at home, all the friends I’ve made since I came to Lincoln. It’s been really fun.

James Walsh

Senior at Lincoln High School & 2019 Lincoln Varsity Football Team State Champion

Chris Tasi, Pacific Islander Coordinator

I want to raise up a champion generation, to get our students to understand who they really are and how they could reach the moon. Let’s celebrate and build on each other’s strengths, because united we can move forward. We are SFUSD, we are Pacific Islanders.

Chris Tasi

Pacific Islander Coordinator

Leslye Lugo

We do young people a disservice when we do not believe in them. We do a disservice to them when we do not show and prove to them that they are capable. I believe if we spent time listening and building with them, they are ready to make this world better.

Leslye Lugo

SFUSD Alumna

Levalasi Loi-On

I am so grateful for the spaces that have helped to nurture my love for my family and communities. Therefore, my work in education hopes to help build and support these spaces for students--that not only honors the legacies of learning and knowledge but also reminds them that their roots are nothing to be ashamed of.

Levalasi Loi-On

Burton High School Alumna

Gary Lew, Teacher at Spring Valley Science Elementary School and SFUSD Alum

I come from a family of teachers, and I feel that I’m following in that tradition of giving back to the community. I know exactly what path I want to send my students on, because I’ve been on that path myself.

Gary Lew

Gary Lew, Teacher at Spring Valley Science Elementary School and SFUSD Alum

Mario Chang

I tell my students’ parents that I teach their kids like they were my own kids. I tell them I have three kids who went through the public school system, I really have faith in this system, and I want the best for their kids the same way I want the best for my kids.

Mario Chang

Teacher at Mission Education Center

Wisdom Onuoma

The impact that I want to have in the world is for the world to know who I am. What I mean by this is If that is in sports by playing soccer or in serving in a government seat, or even if I am a garbage man, I want to make sure that I create change for the better.

Wisdom Onuoma

9th Grade Student at Lowell High School

Marianne Feibusch

My friend and I always sat on the bleachers and we looked at the Golden Gate bridge while we ate lunch. We liked it. It was a good place to eat lunch. 

I remember that everyone liked Ms. Garin for her good sense of humor. When I recall her face she’s always smiling. I went into teaching myself and that may have been her influence.
 

Marianne Feibusch

Alumna

Andrew Va'i

“Ole ala ile pule, ole tautua” which translates “the path to leadership is through service”. Throughout my lifetime of work within the community and education, I have prided myself in helping others. It is that action that I lead with to change the world, having the ability to serve. The changes that we seek to make on a macro level are only possible through the interpersonal.

Andrew (Drew) Va'i

Alumnus

Chelsea Boilard

I remember vividly learning about wealth inequality with Peer Resources. I was a student at Lowell High School, and while I knew that inequality existed, that poverty impacted some communities more than others, and that such inequality caused deep harm, this workshop was the first time I had been given a framework, tools, and language with which to describe it, and consider my own role and privilege in this country’s economic system. This moment—that I remember so clearly more than 20 years later—marked an awakening for me, and Peer Resources deserves some of the credit for my early political development.

Chelsea, Boilard, Alumna

We are SFUSD

Michael Essien

I believe in using the Community School Model and a ‘whole school approach’ to address challenges for both students and teachers. As an educator, my goal is to provide opportunities for youth to exercise student agency. It is through student agency that we disrupt the harmful social reproductive nature of schooling and liberate children.

Michael Essien

Principal, Martin L King Middle School

This page was last updated on June 27, 2022