Sfusd Field Trip: Fill & Download for Free

The top factor was, of course, that both districts are historically “safe” Republican seats[1]. The 9th has not sent a Democrat to DC since 1963, and is rated by Cook as a R+8 district.It’s not really about “gerrymandering” for this district, which actually became more compact following re-drawing.Here is how the district looks now:Here is what it looked like previously:The seat should be an easy win for the Republicans, and Democrats are talking about how it is a moral victory because the margin for Bishop (about 4,000 votes, or +2%) is less than Trump’s margin in 2016. This has some truth, but it’s also a warning sign for the Democrats, in that in the 2018 Blue Wave election, the margin for pastor Mark Harris was 900 votes. So McCready actually did worse this time than last.It is a sign that Trump is in trouble in NC, but it also is a sign that the “blue wave” might have crested.This is a seat that honestly should be Red, but that the Democrats have to be disappointed that they failed to take it.In the end, the Democrats lost a ‘flippable’ seat.Footnotes[1] http://1 SFUSD | Field Trip Permission Form (Standard Day Trip)

As someone who taught both in SFUSD and several private schools in the city, here are my thoughts:Let's first look at who goes to public schools - Almost half of public school students come from middle class families, by definition, families with an annual household income of average $80,000 - $150,000 per year in the city(SF Mayor: Middle Class Means Earning $80,000 to $150,000.) Meanwhile, the overall average starting salary for Class of 2013 new college graduates currently stands at $45,327 (Salary Survey: Average Starting Salary for Class of 2013 Grads Increases 2.4 Percent). So it is safe to predict that when the recent college grads reach their mid career, they are most likely making $60k-70k per year, and with both working parents, that will be a solid middle class family. According to statistics, we could believe that half of the SFUSD students come from good household where both parents are most likely college educated, and understand the importance of education. I have worked with many wonderful middle class families. They are generally well-educated, super supportive for classroom discipline, and also financially stable to support additional learning needs(ok I am not talking about giving each kid an iPad, but they buy markers, pencils, paper, tri-fold boards - any class supplies I possibly need at any moment). They are the angels to schools and also strong supporters for public school system.This should be the group that make public schools a wonderful place to be at, however, we cannot forgot there is another 50% here in SFUSD - kids from the working class and poverty class family. As a teacher, I spent A LOT of instructional time everyday dealing with misbehaving kids. It does not take more than one kid per class to destroy a good class period for learning, and when I get two or more, well, I can already see the frustration on other students' faces even before they get here. Though I hate to say it out aloud, the "trouble kids" in each class are almost entirely from working class families as well as families that struggle on the poverty line. In SFUSD, 61% of students receive free or reduced lunch(Our District in a Snapshot). That pretty much tells the story. I teach at a Title I(high poverty) school, so I have students who are constantly hungry, do not even have parents at home, have no backpack or any school supplies, homeless, or even worse - victim of multiple child abuse cases. They come to school with such a huge anxiety issue because of the family they are from, and the easiest way for them to deal with those issues is to act out during class. Most of students coming from those background already have chronicle mental issues that have been documented for years throughout their time in SFUSD, however, there is really not much the school or the teacher can do to help them with our current system. Many of my friends were shocked by the recent news on over 2,000 homeless students in SF public schools(Thousands of SF public-school students are homeless), and I know it by seeing many of them everyday on campus getting in trouble for being angry, aggressive or depressed. And of course, constantly disrupt the class, so the teacher cannot teach, and as an result, other students could not learn.I know what I said above make me sound like a terrible teacher who complain about my job everyday because of the low-income family. The truth is, I love my job, and I enjoy teaching, but I know how much time I spent on those particular group of "misbehaving kids" and how little I can do to change them. Meanwhile, I truly feel terrible for my well-behaved, eager-to-learn students because I could not provide them the positive learning environment they deserve. To be honest, I know in my heart that they could have a so much better education experience if they are not in this school. They will get a lot more opportunities to learn interesting things and do amazing projects that challenge them to a higher level. And I know exactly where they should be at.So here comes the harsh truth - before I committed to public education, I worked at one of the best private schools in the bay area, or probably in the entire country. My 8th graders founded companies that run online business with Bitcoin, built GoKart with solar powered engine, directed documentary about SF Giants, and published photography work that won national awards. It is amazing to read the list of achievement they made, and you can probably guess how many Teslas there are in the after school pick-up line. You can probably also guess how shocked I was on my second week teaching in my current school, and found out half of my kids did not know who Columbus was.I have heard comments on how we should raise the bar for teacher education and therefore we have better teachers for public schools. I have also seen many exceptional teachers in public schools that work so hard to make sure their students who come from disadvantaged background receive the same education experience as private school kids. Private school teachers also work hard and are wonderful educators, but let's be honest - when ALL of your kids come to school with an iPad or Macbook and already know which Ivy League schools they will apply to in a few years, there is no equal comparison here. For a public school teacher, it take SO MUCH effort to just go through the day and if no one got punched or hurt in your class, that's success. I have to confess that when I was at private schools, I did so much more with my students - projects, field trips, seminar, open sessions, creative units, etc., and teaching was fun, for nearly 99% of the time (of course there were times when I was just completed exhausted from a 3-day camping trip). I did not realize this back then, but now think back - free of classroom management issues was such a beautiful thing, and really made me commit to teaching as a life long career. Now, I spend about 1/3 class time teaching new material, 1/3 supervising them do work(so they are held accountable for graded work and also are kept busy), and 1/3 keeping the class under control and random kids off the table. Ok, that's exaggerating, but that is actually how I feel like for EVERY SINGLE DAY. Not sure how long I can keep doing this, but as far as I know, half of the new teachers quit within five years(Up To 50 Percent Of Teachers Quit Within Five Years, Says Report ), and now I can see why. You can't expect someone who is paid with the lowest salary possible for a Master Degree to not only play the teacher's role, but also stand as the parent, the social worker, the police officer(sometimes, yes), and can still do all the hi-tech creative fun things a teacher is expected to do in nowadays progressive classrooms, as SFUSD like to call themselves.I can go on and on about the difference between private schools and public schools, but to direct the answer back to the original question: there is a reason for SF public schools' bad reputation. It is the combination of class difference, teacher preparation(I did not even touch on that, but yes, disqualified teachers are also problems), school system malfunction, bureaucracy, teacher turnover rate(SFUSD had 62 open positions that still need to be filled the week before the first day of school this year), etc. But this issue is beyond you and me. Of course if your kid can make it to Lowell, it's another story. But no matter what, he/she might still become the victim of social issues just in the daily school setting. I know teachers who teach at Lowell also have their own concerns with the nearly all-asian demography. Meanwhile, private schools are not doing a very good job preparing kids to understand the society's issue, and I do think it can become a problem.From my personal experience and thinking from a parent's perspective, if you are financially capable, send your kid to private school, so he/she can enjoy his/her time at school free from classroom disruption, bullies, tired and grumpy teachers(think about what those behavior issues can do to a teacher who has taught for 20 years). Most importantly, he/she can actually enjoy learning at school.