potrero view

April 2009

Student Allegations are Challenged at Downtown High School

By Sarah Marloff

Earlier this year, a letter signed by 22 Downtown High School (DHS) students was sent to Kim-Shree Maufas, San Francisco Board of Education president.  The letter claimed that the school’s principal, Mark Alvarado, lied about the number of credits the students would earn from their attendance at Mission Language Vocational School (MLVS), among other allegations.  Fewer credits from the night school would interfere with the students’ ability to graduate from DHS this June. The letter also asserted that Alvarado was unsympathetic to their needs; that many students were so discouraged that they were considering dropping out of the school; that Alvarado doesn’t speak Spanish; and that the textbooks the school relied on were “monolingual,” even though “Spanish is the [school’s] primary language.”  

 According to Ellen Wong, DHS’s Instructional Reform Facilitator, who led the school’s effort to respond to the letter, of the 22 students listed only seven said they supported the allegations made in the document.  The other 15 either renounced the correspondence, or claimed that they were never shown it in the first place.  Alvarado believes that the well-written letter was organized by one of the school’s teachers, and drafted by someone from outside the school, in an attempt to undermine his authority.  One DHS teacher – and former union organizer – noted that the document was constructed in a similar fashion as a union request letter.

The letter may have been principally prompted by a desire to defend the students’ MLVS instructor.  The vocational school teacher apparently promised his students a certain number of credits for attending his class.  However, DHS must abide by San Francisco Unified School District’s (SFUSD) credit policy, which stipulates that one credit will be earned for every 12 hours of work.  “These kids were promised 10 credits for only two hours of work” said Eunice Nuval, a DHS teacher.   Nuval and Wong also stressed that none of the youth who signed the letter are in jeopardy of not graduating; nor have any of the students dropped out of the school.  

If a student appears to be contemplating leaving the school, staff  “counsels the student into a GED program. We’re all about options,” said Nuval.  Downtown High School, which is located on Vermont Street between 18th and 19th Streets, caters to full-time students who also hold down part-time jobs.

Emi Nakamura, 17, who has attended DHS since August, and was featured on SFUSD’s website last month, believes that whoever wrote the letter didn’t present it honestly to those who signed it. “I just can’t understand why someone would take advantage of power like so! Why would someone trick students into signing something they did not know about?  I know enough to say my classmates did not know what they were signing. All they wanted was their credits not to harm other people.” Nakamura graduated last month but will stay at DHS until June. “I love this school and the staff. They are the most supportive group of [teachers] I have met so far.”    

“Gosh,” said Wong, in response to the letter’s allegation that DHS has a “rigid” attendance policy.  Alvarado has perfect attendance incentives, where students are celebrated for attending their classes.  Attendance records are prominently posted in the hallway.  According to Nuval, these strategies have resulted in a “huge improvement” in attendance.  However, Elizabeth Nabbit, whose son recently turned 18 and is in his final year at DHS, pointed to problems with the school’s attendance records.  Twice now her son has noticed that he’s been marked absent on days when he was present. “When he’s marked absent it affects his credits. This is his last year. I know my son is counting on those grades. And shouldn’t the teachers’ records match the ones in the office? They should. The teachers know he’s been there. I’m sure there’s more. I’m only concerned about my son, but it’s not fair to the other children,” she said.

Alvarado is in his second year at DHS, but has been working in San Francisco schools – mostly located in the Mission District – for the past 12 years, including a two- year stint as John O’Connell High School’s assistant principal.  “It’s challenging that there’s an adult who used students to harm me. I’m a principal; attacks against me are normal. What I’m upset about are the lies in the letter,” he said. Alvarado acknowledged that the letter made some fair points, particularly related to Spanish language challenges.  “It’s true we should have more translations. We’re working on this. It’s a resource issue.” Alvarado paused. “We’re working hard to meet the needs of the students. What’s happening in the classroom is amazing. That’s what needs to hit the Board! Am I strict? Yes. Absolutely. I’m raising the bar and they’re rising to the next level to meet it.”

“The really upsetting thing is that there’s a lot of inaccuracy” in the letter, said Wong.  For example, Alvarado speaks Spanish, though, according to Nuval, two-thirds of the school’s students are not Spanish speakers.  DHS tries to ensure that at least one staff member can speak all of the languages represented by the families involved with their school, including Tagolic, Samoian, and Spanish.

There will be “no repercussions” for the students who signed the letter, according to Wong. “We just wanted to make sure they understood what they signed and what it meant.”  The staff plan to draft a formal response, which will support the school’s students and address the letter’s misconceptions.  “We’re trying to make the school shine,” said Nuval.

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