SAN FRANCISCO -- A crowd of more than a thousand concerned parents, teachers and administrators turned out Thursday night in at a town hall meeting in San Francisco to discuss ways to stop budget cuts from crippling the city's school district.
The hall meeting at Marina Middle School focused on coming up with solutions the day after the San Francisco Unified School District voted to send lay-off notices to almost than 900 employees, many of them teachers and principals.Parents and teachers carried the same message: They are tired of a lack of funding and need to do something about it."I think it's time for parents and teachers to feel really empowered," said teacher Kat Klein. Klein said she encouraged parents to organize when the district announced it had a shortfall of more than $100 million.What came of that was the formation of a group of mothers called by some the "San Francisco Six."Parent Crystal Brown was one of those leading the charge."We've heard from principals [that] we're cutting summer school," said Brown."We're putting them into a war zone. These kids have no where to go and are not going to get lunch that day."Brown and others involved said the town hall was no chit chat forum; it was aimed at finding immediate solutions to close the budget gap.School administrators said the cash crunch was backing them into a corner."It's not having enough to fund my teachers, you know? Do I want a computer teacher or 22 kids in the classroom?"