Despite large academic strides two-thirds of staff pink-slipped
Volume 12, Issue 7 - April 2008
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A majority of the United Educators of San Francisco members at Paul Revere School raise their hands to indicate that they were pink-slipped.
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At Paul Revere School, the warning that “the pink slips are coming” was tragically true. Much to the amazement of United Educators of San Francisco members who work at the pre-K-8 campus, 21 out of 30 teachers there were issued pink slips on March 15.
“I felt like we were all getting kicked in the teeth after working so hard throughout the year,” recalls sixth-grade math and science teacher David Russitano. “Everyone was very demoralized.”
Paul Revere is no stranger to trauma. Only three years ago the school underwent reconstitution, and teachers were told they could reapply for their own jobs. Only four were rehired, and the campus was turned into a “Dream School” by the district, offering regular instruction, dual language immersion in Spanish, and bilingual transitional instruction. Like many reconstituted schools in Program Improvement, students at Paul Revere are mostly Latino or African American and socioeconomically disadvantaged.
At first the dream was a nightmare, and teacher turnover was rampant. But under the leadership of the school’s principal, Dr. Lance Tagomori, things began improving. Staff bonded, took a wide variety of intensive professional development courses and student achievement grew. Student test scores went from 606 in 2006 to 631 in 2007 on the Academic Performance Index (API). Instead of being a revolving door for teachers, Paul Revere became a home where staff — nearly all first-, second- or third-year teachers — put down roots. That is, of course, until San Francisco Unified School District was told it would be receiving $40 million less next year in state funding and issued pink slips to more than two-thirds of teachers at the site.
“It’s so sad that this happened to one of the neediest schools after teachers spent two years training on how to help these students do better,” says Katherine Wolfe, a first-grade teacher who was pink-slipped. “We are young, motivated people who want to stay here. This is the epitome of what is not supposed to happen in education.”
Students have been trying to make sense of the fact that beloved teachers have been treated so shabbily. Robin McFadden, a kindergarten Spanish immersion teacher who was pink-slipped, told her students she was going to a protest rally and was amazed at their response.
“I told them I was going because someone was trying to take money away from their school, and I was going so they could have crayons, books and good teachers. One of my students said, ‘If someone is trying to take things away from the school, why don’t you call the police?’ It was a great question.”
Parents are unhappy at the turn of events and have started a letter-writing campaign.
Recently, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsome announced that he would donate $30 million in city emergency funds to San Francisco schools this year. With this bailout money, many pink slips will likely be rescinded. But next year, without additional funds, San Francisco schools might be in the same boat.
Elizabeth Tennent, a seventh- and eighth-grade history teacher who was not pink-slipped, has suffered extreme anxiety. “It hurt to know that so many of my colleagues were given one.” Zulema Valenzuela, a first-grade immersion teacher who was pink-slipped, says,“It’s really hard for us to come in here and do our job well and serve our kids well, not knowing if we are returning next year to these students and the community that knows us. There’s a lot of anxiety.”
