Update 3/25: Dr. Rodger's  supervisor showed up to Galileo today and verbally assured us that Dr. Rodgers and Mr. Reid will be offered a contract next year. We won for now. Thank you for your support.

Update 3/24, 9:33 PM:

Multiple sources have informed me that Dr. Rodgers and Mr. Reid have been removed from the “may not rehire” list and will be offered new contracts in May. However, I am still awaiting official confirmation from a higher-up in SFUSD. PENDING CONFIRMATION.

Regarding public comments, I was told it is “safe” to call them off, but I encourage each person to decide for themselves whether they still want to attend.

Hello Parents, Teachers, former students, students, members of San Francisco .

 

Our principal Dr. Rodgers is in danger of being ousted by the Board of education. It has been an ongoing trend where when an administration enforce and hold rules in the name of morality and academic integrity, they receive pushback from the vocal minority.

Dr. Rodgers has been here for less than one school year and her focuses were as follows:

1)Crackdown on students wandering the hallways instead of attending classes

2)Prevent fights from breaking out

3)Enforced a culture of respect. She will not tolerate students blatantly disrespecting staff

4)Held everyone accountable (academics, behavior, plagiarism)

Most of our students in Galileo are respectful and rule-abiding scholars. However, It breaks my heart that recently these students have wavered in their support of our principle for the following reasons:

1)Dr. Rodgers has limited the AP class a student can take next year to 3. Any more requires a quick meeting with a counselor.

Clarification: Her reason for doing so was to prevent student burnout. It is entirely possible to take more than 3, the student just needs a parent to contact their counselors. However, teeagers like to be dramatic and omit some information causing "drama" to ensue. By the way, they can also dual enroll in CCSF classes for GPA boosts. While I may not agree with this one, there are ways to circumvent it as stated above. To my knowledge, other schools such as George Washington High School have had this policy for years. Dr. Rodgers is willing to listen to feedback this can still change!

2) Some students have expressed dissatisfaction with the slow progress on the bleachers renovation, causing our ever popular "Song and Yell event" to be delayed. The blame was placed on our principal.

Clarification: The renovation started with our previous administrators, it has nothing to do with Dr. Rodgers. Our principal has nothing to gain by intentionally delaying the bleachers. In fact, construction has made it impossible for staff to get parking, but we as adults know Dr. Rodgers has no control over it. 

3)Students are angry that some color of attire is restricted. 

Clarification: SFUSD’s dress code prohibits clothing that poses health or safety risks or disrupts learning. Clothing, jewelry, and personal items must not display vulgar, obscene, or sexually suggestive content or promote drugs, alcohol, or illegal activities. Shoes are required, and hats or head coverings are not allowed indoors unless for religious or cultural reasons. See-through tops, bare abdomens, and overly revealing garments are prohibited. The dress code can be adjusted for religious, cultural, health, or special activity needs. Violations should be handled discreetly, without suspension or expulsion. Enforcement must be fair, without discrimination based on gender identity, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, income, or body type.

We have had what was claimed by students "gang affiliated fights" in and out of school. As a result we have banned Red, Blue, and the combination of Black and Yellow.

Clarification: Some students claim these colors are banned completely with the most egregious claim of   "Black is banned". That is false. Black is only banned paired with yellow. Furthermore, they will only be cited if the majority of what they are presenting externally are those colors. This misinformation has been blown out of proportion and must be stopped. To prevent the possibility of future gang wars, we have banned it. Furthermore, administration is legally entitled according to the SFUSD rules.

My personal story

On my first day of my first year of teaching in SFUSD in Francisco Middle school, a student threatened to put a grill mark on my face because I asked him to put his phone away. My administrator at the time did nothing.

 

Soon after, I had two students bringing a knife to school and trading weapons in front of me. I reported it to the dean, the students only got the knife taken away. There were no consequences. 

 

Later, me and my former colleagues in Francisco have received countless death threats from the same student and no consequences were enforced.  The student was later allowed to graduate.

 

This student and other students have continued to curse at me, act defiantly, and disregard the rules. I had to cater and bend over backwards to ensure this student is engaged even the slightest. This was at the cost of neglecting the students who wanted to learn as I was too focused trying to fix the negatives.

 

I have left the school with 4 new health problems: Diabetes, Osteoporosis, Heart palpitations (i was ordered to wear a heart monitor), and vision issues. All according to my doctor, due to stress.

 

Soon after, I moved to Aptos Middle School. There, I did not receive death threats but I did break up many fights for the first half of the school year. There were also a ton of students wandering the hallways.

 

As teachers, when kids show up with attendance issues, we are expected to catch them up. However, with excessive truancy, it means we must put much more effort into "remedying" the natural consequences of such behavior.

AT THE COST OF YOUR CHILD'S EDUCATION.

We finally have a principal who understands that allowing a few students to spoil the academic opportunity for the rest of the class is unacceptable. She has worked really hard to make the school a place where we can FOCUS on teaching the students. I have never felt more like teacher and less of a babysitter. I feel supported by Dr. Rodgers. For the first time, I feel like I can focus on the students who are here to learn because I know the administration has my back in dealing with the behavioral problems.

That has been met with pushback from our teenagers. 

I don't blame the teenagers, because statistically teenagers are still immature and cannot see the long-term bigger picture. As Parents, I implore you to do the right thing for our school and support Dr. Rodgers by signing this petition AND showing up to the Board of Education meeting on March 25th 6:30pm (555 Franklin Street) on the first floor, Irving G. Breyer Board Meeting Room. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1itFCDQqpKLbrhme-93buahK2WOlwP0fr-JrJCyVaw-w/edit

I take all responsibility for the incoming questions and political pushback. Thank you,

-Mr. Chen