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"Japanese Bilingual Bicultural Program West Among SF Schools Facing Merger, Closure"
Published in the Nichi Bei Times, January 19, 2006.
The Japanese Bilingual Bicultural Program (JBBP) West, a public school founded by the Japanese American community more than 30 years ago to preserve the Japanese language and culture for their children, is among nearly two dozen schools awaiting the San Francisco Board of Education's scheduled vote tonight about their future.
The JBBP West may be forced to choose between merging with one of two schools — Rosa Parks in the Western Addition or Cabrillo in the Richmond District — a decision that has some interested parties at odds.
The Board was scheduled to vote on the proposed mergers and closures during its Jan. 12 meeting at Everett Middle School but delayed it after more than five hours of public comments, and a chance that more funds could be made available to keep schools open.
The closings or mergers could potentially affect up to 26 schools, including the JBBP West. This is part of the city's plan to offset a $5 million funding reduction due to the loss of more than 1,000 students from SFUSD last year, a trend that could continue for the next five years.
A $5.3 million spending bill was introduced Tuesday by San Francisco Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, but many hope that a gift, not just a loan, will be provided.
The vote is again scheduled to take place at Everett Middle School.
If changes are implemented, they would take effect for the 2006-2007 school year.
And while the JBBP West community must deal with the already difficult burden of transitioning from a stand-alone program to merging with another school, its situation is unique in that it was the only school at the Dec. 6 BOE meeting that was given the responsibility of deciding between two potential locations, according to the JBBP West's Parent Teacher Community Council co-chair Ina Dang Brownson.
"The problem is in the process," said Dang Brownson, about the decision the school must make between merging with either Rosa Parks or Cabrillo Elementary. "The two sites are so vastly different that they both have political implications attached."
Now, the community must make a decision while still making it known that their ultimate goal is to remain a stand-alone site.
According to the SFUSD's Executive Summary about community feedback, those who favor merging with Rosa Parks Elementary cite its close proximity to San Francisco's Japantown, on O'Farrell Street between Webster and Laguna, as allowing the program to become closer to the community that initiated it.
Those in favor of Cabrillo, located at 735-24th Ave. in the Richmond District, point out that it is less than three miles from the current location, as opposed to Rosa Parks' six-and-a-half miles, and closer to most students' homes.
However, the SFUSD summary notes that the majority of the JBBP West staff prefer a merger with Rosa Parks. Additionally, moving the JBBP West to Cabrillo would exceed the capacity of the building and raise questions about what cuts would be required to allow both programs to co-exist.
The JBBP is no stranger to moving. Since its inception in 1973, the Japanese Bilingual Bicultural Program has existed at a myriad of locations, including Cobb, Rooftop, Alvarado, Sherman, Anza and Columbus schools. It finally settled at Clarendon Alternative Elementary School in 1982, where it operated for more than a decade.
The community was divided into two when disagreements arose in late 1999 about whether the Japanese language should continue to be taught by native speakers, as originally implemented, or by language professionals who were not necessarily native Japanese.
One group remained at Clarendon while the other, which kept the native speakers as language teachers and became the present-day JBBP West, moved to De Avila Elementary School on Haight Street in 2000.
Three years ago, it became a stand-alone site at its current location, the former Sunset Elementary School.
While there exists a difference of opinion about a merger school, the official goal would result in the continuation of a stand-alone location, making the Rosa Parks/Cabrillo disagreement a moot point.
"Our official goal is to remain a stand alone site so that we have room to grow and continually improve our program," said Dang Brownson. "Neither of the two merger options truly fulfill this goal."
Having had a stand-alone site for the past three years has helped the school to strengthen both its general education as well as Japanese language and culture program, said Dang Brownson, who cites the ability to receive test scores just for the JBBP West students, as opposed to having them "mixed with whatever school we were combined with."
And while the SFUSD cites enrollment trends, including low enrollment, as factors for considering which schools to potentially merge or close, the JBBP West contends that they are actually growing, but must be allowed the time and space to do so.
With a current enrollment of 194, projected to increase to 217 next year, the program last year received 99 requests for 40 open slots, said Dang Brownson.
The JBBP West was scheduled to hold a community meeting with San Francisco Supervisor Fiona Ma at the South Sunset Recreation Center at Vicente and 40th Avenue on Wednesday night, after the Nichi Bei Times went to print. The JBBP West's plan for growth and the desire for a stand-alone site were to be discussed.