Beaten down by the SF Unified School District. [View all]

[RandySF]

We gave it one more shot before moving our son to private school. Before finally pulling the trigger and withdrawing him from the District, we tried to get him into a public school whose administrators organized effective anti-bullying measures. But they are full and the district will not make room for one more student trying to get away from the kids who made his kindergarden year less than fun. We listened to nine months of promises from our principal that safety was her top priority and believed her because we did not want to believe we made a mistake choosing to send him to our neighborhood school (we have school choice in San Francisco). We listened to the PTA president who promised us he was pushing for change by recruiting good families. We listened to parents whose kids were apparently not experiencing the same problems (we finally learned that this year's group of kindergartners was difficult. One even threatened a teacher).

We listened to public school advocates who urged us to keep fighting. We listened to the Parent Voice office who told us they were on our side. We endured the placement counselor who refused to even give us her name. And in one last attempt to avoid the burden of private school, we placed his name in the waiting pool for the closest school that is not ruled by bullies. Today we learned he was not still not allowed in.

We give up. We know when we've been beaten. We know there are outstanding teachers in the San Francisco Unified School District. We know there are excellent principals, too. But if you are a parent that finds yourself in a difficult situation, you are on your own. Our son may be one of 58,000 kids in school throughout the city, but he is the only child we have. So we are going to have to use the well-worn cliche that we going to do what's best for him. But let no one ever say that we turned ur backs on what we believe. San Francisco Public Schools turned their backs on us.