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 Graduates from the Thurgood Marshall Academic High School Class of 2007 celebrate. In 1994, this college preparatory school was founded and located in Bayview Hunters Point to demonstrate that its largely Black, Latino and Pacific Islander students could meet the same high standards as students at Lowell High School, one of the top high schools in the country.
Parents and youth members from Coleman Advocates for Children & Youth, a nonprofit organization working to keep struggling families in San Francisco, took matters into their own hands to create change in San Francisco’s public school system so all public school children can have a quality education. They drafted the Closing the Achievement Gap Resolution, a community-initiated policy setting a goal for SFUSD that by 2011, at minimum, 60 percent of all students in every racial group will be on track to college or a living wage job. This landmark resolution would also allow the community to hold the district and Superintendent of Schools Carlos Garcia accountable to this goal.
“We need to stop the discrimination and we need more support and a chance to achieve in school. Passing the Closing the Gap resolution would give students hope that we can succeed,” said Hans Winterstein, a youth leader from Coleman Advocates and student at International Studies Academy High School. The Closing the Achievement Gap resolution was drafted in partnership with Board of Education Commissioners Eric Mar, Kim-Shree Maufas and Jane Kim and is expected to be adopted on Monday, April 22, at the Board of Education Committee of the Whole meeting.
“It takes a whole community to raise a child, and the community is failing our African American, Latino and Pacific Islander children. This is about our schools and our children’s future. Our children can do better and our district has to do more!” said Sealiimalitoa Ripley, a guardian of a pubic high school student and parent leader at Coleman Advocates.
Coleman Advocates is outreaching to parents, guardians and high school students who want to increase educational opportunity for all students in San Francisco. To find out more information about how the community can help close the racial achievement gap, call (415) 239-0161 or email
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and visit www.colemanadvocates.org.
Ingrid Gonzales-Padilla, Ed.D., is development and communications director for Coleman Advocates for Children & Youth, 459 Vienna St., San Francisco, CA 94112. Call her at (415) 239-0161, ext. 24, or email
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Rally to close the achievement gap
On Tuesday, April 22, 6-6:30 p.m., at SFUSD headquarters, 555 Franklin St., Coleman Advocates is holding a rally to call on the Board of Education Commissioners to vote in support of the Closing the Achievement Gap Resolution that was initiated by Coleman parent leaders. Immediately following the rally, parents and youth will walk into the School Board meeting to testify in support of the resolution and to hear the results.
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