Imagine receiving a letter tomorrow in the mail that informed you that the next school day at SHC would be your last, because the administration knew that you lived outside the city. While no private schools in the city actually practice this, the public schools in San Francisco—collectively known as the SFUSD—demand that its students provide proof of residency in San Francisco in order to attend any of its schools.
On Thursday, August 30, one of my friends Sarah Ma, a senior at Lowell High School, received such a letter. Effective immediately, August 31 would be her last day at Lowell. Almost immediately, a district-wide grassroots movement fighting for her right to stay at Lowell took to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram under the hash-tag “Let Sarah Stay.” I was one of the ardent supporters who bombarded the superintendent with emails and angry tweets, demanding justification for her expulsion and that the school board seriously reexamine its decision. Though there was a district-wide walkout, petition, and protest that gained some local media coverage, it was ultimately decided that Sarah couldn’t stay at Lowell, a decision that was met with heavy hearts and bitter disappointment.
What incensed so many students like myself was that Sarah actually still lived in the city. She had only moved to Daly City temporarily while her house in SF was being renovated, and had since then moved back. She was being punished for “residency fraud,” because of the miniscule amount of money the district lost from her family in those couple months when they hadn’t been paying city property tax, which funds the local public schools. This also wasn’t the first time a situation like this had occurred. However, this particular incident was so hyped because Sarah was an invaluable member of the Class of 2013—she was treasurer, a coveted member of student government, and had done much more for the student body than most of the bureaucratic school administrators or the overworked, underpaid teachers. I know this firsthand, because I escaped from Lowell last year to seek refuge at SHC. Events like this in the public school system further illustrate the point that while schools like SHC continue to provide an excellent education, the public school system both city-wide and nation-wide is in serious need of a revamping, both in its policies and teaching styles.
