PPS of San Francisco, California

In a large urban district, schools may be labeled as "good" or "bad" and these reputations are rarely challenged by parents willing to seek first-hand information.   This is the case in San Francisco, where many parents would head to private schools if they could not enroll their children in one of the few "good" schools.   A group of parents who would become the founders of the PPS chapter, decided to personally investigate their neighborhood school in spite of the reputation perpetuated by neighbors.  They found welcoming principals, caring and enthusiastic teachers, and a wealth of diversity - all within walking distance of their homes.

Besides enrolling their children in San Francisco's public schools, these founding parents decided to go further and start a chapter of PPS in order to bring the PPS brand of parent activism to the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD).  Over the past two years, PPS-SF has made substantial progress toward achieving its goals by successfully organizing parents as leaders in their school district.  Despite its short existence, PPS-SF has a growing membership of over 300 active parents.  The chapter leadership believes that being part of a national organization helped the San Francisco chapter hit the ground running and keep up the pace.

To address the misperception that there were only a few good schools in San Francisco, and to recruit parents who might otherwise abandon public schools or leave the district, the chapter started with a campaign to help families think about what makes a good school and to help them look at the less well known schools.  PPS-SF encourages parents to get involved with their local public school when their children are still in preschool by hosting training sessions to  help parents know how to prepare their child for kindergarten.   PPS-SF has hosted over 12 events at community elementary schools providing information to parents about the district assignment process, how to choose a school and how to prepare your child for kindergarten.  These events provide an opportunity for parents to meet, organize and build a membership of parent leaders.

During the 2000-01 school year, PPS-SF held a 10-session Parent Empowerment Program at Sunnyside Elementary School funded through the California Department of Education's Tom Hayden Parent Involvement grant.  PPS-SF received the only Hayden grant awarded in San Francisco.   The participants represented a very diverse cross-section of SFUSD students, including parents who are stereotyped as not traditionally involved in their children's schools.  PPS-SF will continue its efforts to reach and involve under-represented parents who are overwhelmingly from communities of color and economically disadvantaged through partnerships with family resource centers in various communities throughout San Francisco.

PPS-SF parents have taken the initiative for change in our public school system.   Our members currently lead four task forces:  Educational Equity (ensuring all children have equal opportunities to learn); Recruitment Enrollment (demystifying and improving the school assignment process and recruiting families to public school); Parent Involvement Training (enabling all parents to help their children learn and be involved in schools); and School Lunch (improving nutrition).

PPS-SF wants families to know that as owners of the public schools, they do have a say in their children's education and have a critical role to play.  The chapter members see themselves as proactive and solution-oriented.  As Adlai Stevenson said of Eleanor Roosevelt:  PPS-SF "would rather light a candle than curse the darkness."