Is Segregation a San Francisco Value?
Education, MediaJun 2, 2011Bill O’Reilly and other conservative talkers often portray my beloved San Francisco as a liberal Sodom and Gomorrah, an icon of corrupt mores summarized snidely as San Francisco Values.
At first blush, a recent story in SF Weekly appears to fit O’Reilly’sliberal stereotype: “Schoolhouse Rocked: S.F.’s Most Controversial Charter School Throws Off For-Profit Masters”. The cover page feature article sounds anti-corporate, revolutionary, and the reporter, Lauren Smiley, even refers to the Edison Charter Academy as “indie,” as if it were a new underground punk band, refusing to sell out to The Man. Further, Edison is “community school,” which no doubt would get O’Reilly in a rant about socialism, a rant that would only be reinforced by the school contracts with a local food service called – gasp! – Revolution Foods. Even the ironic title – referring to the 70s children’s TV program “Schoolhouse Rock” – suggests that Smiley’s article is another missive from the Liberal Establishment, another report perverted by San Francisco Values.
And yet, the SF Weekly story, cloaked in the window dressing of the Liberal