Lafayette Dolphins, we need everyone to come together and make a big splash. Mr. Kassebaum received preliminary budget parameters from the district/state and there are alarming cuts being forced upon SFUSD elementary schools. I hope most of you read his email  this morning. 

The PTA has been working hard behind the scenes with our teachers and staff on creative solutions, and step one is PUSH BACK.  This needs to happen within 12 hours, as the district is beginning the process of school assignment right now. Next steps...well, those will come next. 

Thank you for all you do! 

🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨

WHAT THEY WANT TO CUT

• They want to implement combo-classes for grades 1 through 5 and cut 2 full-time teacher positions for the 2025-2026 school year, continuing to artificially limit enrollment, lowering it for every single grade despite Lafayette being above 98% capacity. 
• They want to cut our Assistant Principal position, despite us being one of the largest elementary schools in the district. Lafayette supports more than 70 children with IEPS, and each meeting requires an administrator present. Losing one of our two qualified admins would make it impossible to adhere to this requirement and serve our most vulnerable students.  
• The CA Dept. of Education (CDE) will not allow PTOs/PTAs to fund any full time educator positions, meaning we would lose our ELD and 4th/5th Support Teacher and STEAM positions despite the money we have worked so hard to raise for our students.

This is infuriating. It will hurt and impact all of our students and teachers and we will not stand for it. And we are not the only school. This is happening across all the schools in our neighborhood.

WHAT WE NEED EVERYONE TO DO

• Call or email our district supervisor, the Board of Education, the Mayor's Office and the CA Dept of Education within the next 24 hours. 
• Email template is below so you can cut and paste, or add your own flair
• Phone numbers and email addresses are below too
• Post to all your social channels and demand that this harm to SFUSD students be undone. 

EMAIL TEMPLATE FOR YOU TO SEND:             

Subject Line: 

Cutting Enrollment at a Thriving School is a Misguided Plan and Will Undermine Growing Confidence in Our Public Schools 

Email Body:

I am a parent at Lafayette Elementary School in San Francisco. The budget cuts for 2025-2026 proposed by SFUSD and CDE are illogical, harmful, potentially unlawful, and will further erode confidence in our public schools.

1. We are a 98% enrolled (472/481), fully staffed, thriving school, in a newly renovated building located in one of the fastest growing, family-friendly neighborhoods in San Francisco. Our School Tours for 25/26 were filled to capacity days after dates were released, and EPC specially asked us to raise the cap on attendance and offer more tour dates. We did, welcoming hundreds of enthusiastic families eager to find their place at Lafayette Elementary. 

2. Just this week, SFUSD Board of Education President Phil Kim shared that there are nearly 700 more transitional kindergarten applications and 150 more kindergarten applications for next year than this one. 
   
3. Yet we are again being told to intentionally cut enrollment. Last year we were asked to under-enroll the incoming 2024-2025 Kindergarten class, cutting us down from 4 kindergarten classes to 3 kindergarten classes. And now we are being told to reduce our capacity in grades 1 through 5 and implement combo-classes and cut 2 full-time teacher positions for the 2025-2026 school year. This would mean the loss of a first grade classroom now and would set in motion more teacher casualties with each year that follows.

4. Our Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) has worked hard raising money to address the needs of our students when site budgets were not enough. The decision to strangle the PTA’s ability to fund an upper grade combo class support teacher where it is warranted, and an ELD specialist and STEAM teacher where it is desperately needed, means the loss of more student-centered staff and is wrong. It also breaks the promises the PTA made to our community when we asked for their donations. This betrayal of trust and reason will only drive away families that have the most financial support to offer our public schools.
   
   
5. As an SFUSD designated school for Deaf and Hard of Hearing students, and the only school designated for auditory/oral learning, the proposed actions potentially violate the Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, California Government Code sec. 11135, and California Education Code sec. 220. The DHH students are entitled to any and all benefits provided to other SFUSD students, including non-combined classrooms that adhere to contractually provided for class size limits, classroom supports, and access to all learning opportunities, such as STEAM and library. We believe other similarly enrolled SFUSD schools are not being subjected to the same cuts Lafayette is facing and the proposed enrollment cut creates the potential for disparate treatment of our DHH students. 

These actions are irrational and arbitrary. If enacted they will lead to further outflows of students and families from our public schools and city.  It is indefensible to restrict families artificially from attending their preferred schools and to intentionally stymie a community's efforts to support its public school. It does not create increased equity or improve our system.  It would just further undermine confidence in the administration of our public school system.

EVERYONE YOU SHOULD CALL/EMAIL:

1. California Department of Education Advisor Overseeing SFUSD’s Finances, Elliott Duchon: nextlevel@f3law.com
2. California State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tony Thurmond: Superintendent@cde.ca.gov; (916) 319-0800
3. Richmond District Supervisor, Connie Chan: chanstaff@sfgov.org, 415-554-7410
4. Mayor’s Office, Daniel Lurie: daniel.lurie@sfgov.org
5. SFUSD Deputy Superintendent, Karling Aguilera-Fort: Aguilera-FortK1@sfusd.edu 
6. SFUSD Superintendent, Maria Su: mariasu@sfusd.edu
7. SFUSD School Board Members
• Board President, Phil Kim: philkim@sfusd.edu
• Board Vice President, Jaime Huling: jaimehuling@sfusd.edu 
• Commissioner, Matt Alexander: mattalexander@sfusd.edu 
• Commissioner, Alida Fisher: alidafisher@sfusd.edu 
• Commissioner, Parag Gupta: paraggupta@sfusd.edu 
• Commissioner, Supryia Ray: supryiaray@sfusd.edu 
• Commissioner, Lisa Weissman-Ward: lisaweissman-ward@sfusd.edu 
8. Executive Director, Cohort 2, Jen Sethasang: sethasangj@sfusd.edu

Talk about this with other families and spread the word. It's time to take action.

We've got this.