Severely handicapped class arrives - The Lowell

EDITORIALS,
SB 813: Politics versus education?
5FUSD. It stands Tor the San Francisco Unified
School District. It b unified in its goal: to provide
the best educatlcual system to the stadents of San
Franchco. BUT IS THE SAN FRANCISCO
SCHOOL DISTRICT R& U.Y UNIFIED?
Looking at tlic actions taken by the UNIFIED
school district with regard to the lengthening of the
school day is stated in Senate Bill (now law) 813. the
district I* nut unified.
The district administrators and the teachers have
not acted with the primary goal of doing what is twit
for the rwdents* education* in the matter of SBH13.
They have acted, it seems, with more of a goal of retalning
and gaining political stability than with the
goat of educating students. They have placed their
politics befo*c the itudcnu' educations.
On August 30, too working day» before the
•cheduled beginning of school. Shirley Thornton.
Ihe Area Superintendent In chtr^t* ol all Snn Francisco
high ichols, Usued a directive that stated that
all high school! were to change their schedules from
45 to 55 minute periods and shorten the lunch hour*
;o 40 minutes.
SB813 brings an addition to the total number of
Instructions} minutes in the school year. SB813
staled that if over a three year period from 1984 to
1387. the individual school districts increased the
number of minutes in school for students, the
district would receive mare funding.
The S»n Prancisco School District accepted the
terms of SB813 on this matter *nd received 11 percent
more money fur 1534 than it received in 1983.
Instead of spreading the major change over the
allotted three year period, two working days were
given for the change to take place. The district ad*
ministration had not consulted with the teachers
about its Intentions or discussed the possible effects
of such a change with them. It would appear that the
Superintendent and the other administrators
downtown were afraid that if they didn't instantly
administer the change, someone from Sacramento
would come to San Francisco, find that there was a
high schoul student *ho wasn't attending school for
the necevmry number of minute*, and take back the
funds HI*en to the district. But this fear on the part
of the school district was unwarranted; they were
worried about something that didn't need lo be done
until 1987.
The bargaining agent fur the teachers nl present Is
the Sa- * ' -n Classroom Teachers Association
(SFCTA). But nut all tca:hcrs are members of the
CTA. The San Francisco Federation of Teachers
(SFFT), with which some tear hers aie affiliated, was
at one time the bargaining agent for the San Fran*
cisco teachers, but lost the position to the CTA when
the teachers voted for which group they wanted to
represent them.
There it one point that is needed to be clarified.
The term "teachers" as used throughout thif
editorial is nut refcrrinj- to individual teachers but
rather the teacher organizations — the CTA and the
SFFT.
On No*ember 13. Ihe teachers officially lodged a
protest at the Board nf Education meeting with
regard to the lengthened day. They claimed that the
change in the school day was a change in working
conditions not agreed upun in Ihe contract and ask*
cd the Board of Education to rescind the longer day.
It may have been purely coincidental, but
November 13 was exactly one week after the 1984
election, an election which included the balloting for .
members of the Board of Education. Thrush the
membership of the Board does not change until
January. It seczis possible that the teachers may
have waited until after the election to file their pro*
test irr order to see if the new members of ihe Board
of Education were likely lo be sympathetic to their
requests. There Is nothing wrong with this except
that leaving individual teachers and students with a
schedule that Is perhaps educationally unsound for a
whole month does not ucm like a way to insure good
education.
In recent months the CTA and the SFFT have
been trying to discredit each other to gain popularity
for the next election.
The divisivencss due to differences of opinion bet*
ween the CTA and the SFFT Is a weakening factor in
the current teachers' situation. If the CTA and the
SFFT for once truly agreed upon the prob'cro and
worked out possible solutions, they coutri perhaps
reach er agreement with the school district administration
which would be beneficial to the administration,
lo ihe teachers, and most of all to the
students.
It is perhaps idealistic to hope that politics does
not enter into the educational affairs when the Board
of Education and the teachers' bargaining agent are
elected through a political process.
However, this is the United States and Idealism Is
still alive. And idealism indicates that V the school
district admini'tra.ors and the teachers gave more
thought to what is best for the education of the
students, the politics would fall into place. Both par*
ties should not fotget the primary purpose of the
educational institution.
KFRC changes rules; angers Lowell
Parking alternatives needed
Luwcll students who drive to school should be able
to park to most convenient space* available.
Howevci. this Is not the case. Daily unused spaces
in the faculty parking lot arc off-limits to students,
who are then forced to park farther away from the
school.
ITn faculty parktaf Idni typical day al 4 JO «-m.
The most convenient place for students to park is
•long Eutalyptus Drive. Unfortunately, puking is
only permitted on one side of the street for an
unlimited amount of time. All the other streets surrounding
tbe campus bars two-hour parking only.
Unless x student has a mod two or three class, and
gets to school early, there arc no parking places left
on Eucalyptus Drive. So. where are the' rest of the
students supposed to park?
There are a limited number of parklug spaces
along the driveway down to the teacher's parking lot.
but not enough to accommodate all the cars at
Lowell. Thus, a student must park along a street
surrounding Lowc'J and move hU car every two
hours or park m Ihe faculty pairing lot which is
Always half rmii:j.
Bniito the faculty parking lot. the only other
ptrking lots al Lowell arc the smell faculty lot by the
trcssclpalh and the lot located behind ihe football
field, which is always half filled wilh cars from
students who attend San Francisco State University.
The question then Is. why is it such a problem if a
student parks ir. Ihe faculty lot? Many teachers park
along Eucalyptus Drive and don'l use the faculty
parkins facilities. They are inking away student
parking spaces, and other facility members complain
if a Undent parks in a half emply faculty lot.
Jamc? Thomas, the dean in charge of parking at
Lowell, does not SK a problem with students parking
in the faculty lot. as long as it is at the end of Uu.
lot where the teachers do not park. The problem is
tliat teachers feel that if they leave school in the middle
ol the day to pick up supplies, their parking
place vrill be taken by a student, so that when they
return lo school they hare lo pork in another snoot
Because of this, the entire parking lot is off limits to
students.
The Lowell administration should concern Itself
wilh the problem of student parking. Just as it is
more convenient for some teachers to park along
Eucalyptus Drive instead of the faculty lot. it h more
convenient for some students to park «t the end of
the faculty lot instead of behind the football field
Since there are approximately •» available parkin a
spaces in the facultytot everyday, the administration
should make a provision to the parting rules that
would allow students to park in a specifically defined
area of the lot. This would Insure that faculty
members have a place to park while making convenient
parking spaces ay-JaMc lo. nudentt.
Radio station KFRC. 7-ELEVEN Food Stores,
and Apple Computers sponsored the "Hottest High
School Contest'* during the month of Novcm**er.
ThU contest was run wilh the inlentlcn thai the h.\ih
whool that turned in Ihe most ballots would witf
about S3O.00O worth ol AppU nimpuiin *«u ww\*4jr~
software.
But. the problem for many high schools, including
Lowell, was thai Ihe rules were chanced sever: 1 -times
daring ihe contest, making it vinii/it]*> impossible
for them lo win.
When the contest was first announced. _.c Lovcli
Executive Council (LEO eageily look me challenge
of publicising the contest at Lowell and urged all
students to go to 7-ELEVEN Slorei and obtain is
many ballots as possible. Then, members of the LEC
stationed a box in the main hallway for Ihe filled-out
ballots to be dropped oil. However. 7-ELEVEN's
policy of "one ballot per customer" prompted many
schools lo get ballots dirccly from the radio station.
Next, the LEC asked i 1 post cards requesting
ballots would be acceptable lo KFRC. A KFRC
spokesperson at first said lhat they would be
honored. But after the LEC sponsor readied some
50.0CA) cards for distribution to registries fand from
there lo KFRC). a contct official announced that
post cards would NOT be acceptable - only Sellers
requesting billots would be honored.
So. while the LEC put away the post cards. KFRC
stated thai it would give out 50 ballots per letter arriving
at Ihe station. * . t.ovell received the latest
nrws. another school Oi ,^r • JCFRC wilh 4.000 letters
IJ '.' ict;erj mi/'iufc-i: •>>• 50 ec;-»;'s 200,000
b»Vu, K RC filled e cr. i ,tcr requ'-.i >>i ballots
u "-" ""-^—. * »n out. bul would not rc^vl ruymore
letters brought Ir Ihe station. Inilciu. AFKC said
lhat de letters lia. 1 . to be mailed individually to
KFRC. Once aKa:n. the rules were changed lo
I "well's dtuovantagr
Fin-.;w. .hei th» .EC asked if the lc.-.r- .'ram
Lo*eli „ . :* •„ .nailed in bulk. KFRC sa'. no.
rhe i.al contrit, »s it turned out. vai •« li-'a in
'he most letters before KFRC ran out of ballots. And
It seems that every time the LEC turned a corner, all
it found was a dead end. To put it mildly, this con-
-•• .was just plain unfair.
V"-*' kird oi statement should we make in
response I, ft- ao-es of the "Hottest High Schcol
Contest?' s.,o, H wt "change the station" and nol
IWen to KF. a. longer? And for their part in Ihh
calamity, tho- id - : boycott l.ElfzVEii'f
Student go./-.,im.ni nujn ?r • arc rl8htluH"
angered at ih