San Francisco Board of Education

The San Francisco Board of Education is made of seven Commissioners, elected by voters across the city to serve 4-year terms. It is subject to local, state, and federal laws, and determines policy for all the public schools in the San Francisco Unified School District.

The current members of the Board of Education are:

Former members of the Board of Education include:

In October 1849, John C. Pelton opened a school in a Baptist church in San Francisco, depending entirely upon voluntary donations and tuition for funding. It was free only to poor children. In 1850, the city council came to his assistance and adopted an ordinance making it free public school for all children, a first in California. In 1851, the school was reorganized under an ordinance providing for a San Francisco Board of Education and a Superintendent.

In 1906, the San Francisco Board of Education prohibited 93 Japanese American and Korean American students from attending public schools. A compromise was reached whereby the students would be allowed into the schools and the Japanese government would stop issuing passports for laborers to the United States.

On April 18, 1906, the morning after the 1906 earthquake, members of the Board of Education, including Aaron Altmann, David Oliver, Thomas F. Boyle, and Lawrence F. Walsh, Superintendent Alfred Roncovieri, Secretary E. C. Leffingwell, along with and all employees of the Department, reported at the repair shop of the Board of Education at corner Pine and Larkin streets to rebuild.

The group spent the next two days guarding SFUSD property, checking up on teachers, and ensuring that all of their employees had proper shelter.

Out of a total of 74 school buildings controlled by the SFUSD in 1906, 29 were destroyed by fire, and many of the remainder were seriously damaged by the severity of the earthquake. The Girls' High School, located at Scott and O'Farrell streets, was totally wrecked by the temblor. Mission High School, located at Eighteenth and Dolores streets was badly damaged as well.

The Oriental School was also opened after the 1906 earthquake to solely serve children of Chinese, Korean, and Japanese descent.

Arlene Ackerman arrived in SFUSD in mid-2000 and immediately began cleaning up the financial affairs of a school district marred by fiscal scandal under her predecessor Bill Rojas. Her efforts resulted in arrests of alleged perpetrators who had been looting school-district coffers, as well as the exposure of alleged schemes impacting other school districts nationwide.

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Wikipedia