In 1996, the San Francisco Unified School District officially christened the Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy in the city's LGBTQ Castro district a few blocks away from where Milk had lived and operated a camera shop on Castro Street in the 1970s. It came 18 years after the city's first gay supervisor was assassinated inside City Hall along with then-mayor George Moscone.
Ever since, the kindergarten through fifth grade elementary school at 4235 19th Street has drawn LGBTQ families looking for a welcoming school environment. It remains the lone school site in the district named in honor of an LGBTQ individual.
And now, its days could be numbered. Superintendent Matt Wayne, Ph.D., announced last week that the Milk academy was among the 11 schools targeted for closure as the school district grapples with slashing $100 million from its budget.
It is aiming to cut 500 positions from its payroll. Shuttering the 11 school sites is expected to result in a $22 million cost savings for the district that is struggling to react to declining enrollment. Its budget from the state is pegged to the number of students it has, and state officials have threatened to take over control of the school district if it doesn't address its fiscal issues.
With fewer than 200 students, the Milk academy has long been rumored for closure. Nonetheless, the news when announced last Tuesday stung its families, faculty, and the LGBTQ advocates who fought to get it named for the gay civil rights icon and have helped fundraise for it over the years. They are now rallying to keep it open.
Wayne is to present the final school closure list at the school board's November 12 meeting, and the board members are slated to vote on the matter when they meet again on December 10. It would be implemented next fall at the start of the 2025-2026 academic year.
According to the school district, the Milk campus is being eyed for use as an Early Education Center. Milk's students would be merged with those attending the nearby Sanchez Elementary School at 325 Sanchez Street.
A meeting with Wayne and Milk academy parents is set to take place from 4 to 6 p.m. this Wednesday, October 16, at the school.
"Students from Harvey Milk would come to the Sanchez campus," noted Wayne in a letter to the Milk academy community. "As you may know, SFUSD faces significant budget cuts at the district level and a drastic reduction of student services if we do not consolidate our resources. This situation is why we would like to engage with your school about what this means."
Due to the long-standing fears that the Milk academy would be closed, the Bay Area Reporter asked candidates seeking the four Board of Education seats on the November 5 ballot if they would protect the campus from being shuttered. The responses from the seven contenders who replied, well before the list of targeted schools was released this month, were mixed.
Candidates respond
Among those who emphatically said Milk academy should remain open was Laurance Lem Lee, a licensed general contractor who attended city schools and serves as a member of the district's Independent Citizens' Bond Oversight Committee.
"Yes, I live in Noe Valley and know how much this school means to this neighborhood. I will fight to keep it open," pledged Lee about the Milk academy.
Republican Min Chang, CEO of health care company Homebridge, also told the B.A.R. she would keep the Milk academy open.
"Closing schools is not the answer; it will only make things worse and drive more families away from public schools," wrote Chang. "It will also make the existing schools more crowded and class sizes even larger; the schools that are targeted for closure are the smaller schools and specialty schools that are much needed in our communities. Closing schools also does not solve the budget deficit."
Parag Gupta, a straight ally whose daughter attends a district school, was noncommittal on saving the Milk academy. He instead focused his reply on the process being used by the school district to determine which schools to close.
"I believe the identified SFUSD Resource Alignment Initiative criteria that have been shared with families across our school district must be uniformly applied. I have faith in the school district to be compliant with AB 1912 and pass the Stanford University Equity Audit to make sure its school closures take into account gender identity and sexual orientation," wrote Gupta, the chief program officer at Mercy Housing, the largest U.S. nonprofit affordable housing provider in the U.S. that is working to add it the LGBTQ-affirming senior housing it has built in San Francisco.
Stanford University researchers conducted a third-party equity audit aimed at ensuring no community or student group would be unfairly harmed by the school closures and mergers. As for the Assembly bill Gupta referenced, it mandates that financially distressed school districts engage the community and conduct an equity impact assessment before closing, merging, or consolidating schools.
For those families and educators at the school sites impacted, Gupta said they should be provided with emotional and logistical support.
"I recognize that potential school closures will result in meaningful disruptions to impacted students, teachers, and families and that is why thorough stakeholder engagement must continue," wrote Gupta. "Ultimately, the goal is to find a solution that best supports the needs of all SFUSD students and teachers while ensuring the long-term financial sustainability of the district. I strongly believe that SFUSD needs to remain in control by San Franciscans, and not be completely taken over by the State of California."
School board President Matt Alexander, a straight ally who is a former longtime teacher and principal in the district, told the B.A.R. he couldn't answer the question due to his serving on the board.
"As a sitting school board member, it would not be responsible for me to take a position on this question until we see the superintendent's proposed plan for school mergers and closures. But I will say this: SFUSD definitely needs a school named after Harvey Milk, and I won't support a plan without a school named to honor him," wrote Alexander, who has two adult sons and now works as a bilingual community organizer.
He did acknowledge that the district's past school closures were "deeply flawed" and the current board expects Wayne to follow the equity guidelines that were established for this current round. But with roughly 42,000 students spread across more than 100 campuses, and less money coming in, Alexander told the B.A.R. he believes combining smaller schools makes sense so they are better resourced.
"For example, merging two tiny elementary schools can allow us to have one school with a full-time social worker, literacy coach, teacher collaboration teams, and better facilities," he wrote. "I've become convinced that we have to ensure fully staffed schools, which will offer better working conditions for educators and create better outcomes for students."
He told the B.A.R. he plans "to follow the lead of students, families, and educators as this process unfolds. I believe with community input and a genuine commitment to racial and economic equity, we can use our limited resources more effectively and create the schools our students deserve."
Attorney Jaime Huling, a bisexual married mom of two children, one a second grader in the district, noted the decision to close schools will be made before the school board race winners are sworn into office in January. Thus, should she win a seat, Huling told the B.A.R. she wouldn't seek to have the newly configured board vote on it again.
"It's the school board's responsibility to do what's best for the entire district, not for any one school. It is not in the district's best interest for the new board to re-visit the school closure vote," wrote Huling. "In order to keep families and educators in the district, plans will need to be executed immediately to find new placements. Families need to enter the school assignment system by January 31, 2025, if they choose to be re-assigned to a new school — we can't leave any school community in limbo with indecision while their window to find a new, welcoming community disappears."
John Jersin, a straight ally who has two kids with his wife, also did not call for saving the Milk academy from being closed, despite its uniqueness and students' performance.
"Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy's mission to encourage activism in students and to improve awareness of issues around the world is important. No other school exists in the same cultural context, with the same goals and vision. The students there perform very well, and the school is something of a gem in our portfolio," wrote Jersin, who works at LinkedIn. "It's also a small school, inherently more expensive to run than the schools other students attend, and we must recognize that it does especially poorly on measures of equity. Our top priority must be ensuring the survival and health of our entire school system as opposed to one particular school."
Lawyer Supryia Ray, who has two kids in the district, told the B.A.R. that she appreciates "the significance and importance of the Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy to the LGBTQ+ community, the local neighborhood, and other stakeholders."
She is open to having the new board members reexamine the school closure decision in January should she be elected and "if the circumstances warrant it and based on community input — particularly marginalized communities like our queer community."
Fellow district parent Virginia Cheung was ambiguous in her stance on keeping the Milk academy open.
"I will fight to keep schools open that have safe and healthy environments, foster excellence and acceptance, and have unique programs that serve the community's needs," wrote Cheung, who in March stepped down as director of advancement at Wu Yee Children's Services. "I support temporary suspension of schools to consolidate classrooms to ensure every child has a qualified permanent teacher, however, I want to also focus on a long term strategy to rebuild and repurpose buildings sustainably that accommodate population changes and can serve as vibrant community hubs that support housing and provide other resources to the community."
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