Dear Supervisor Dufty,
My church, the First Unitarian Universalist Society at Franklin and Geary, houses and supports a free, after-school program for 24 students from John Swett elementary. The after-school program, Up On Top, has been going on for several years and keeps kids from very-low-income safe and nurtured after their classes.
If these kids are transferred, it is likely that they cannot continue in Up On Top. Currently, volunteers and staff walk the children from the school to the church up Franklin Street. If John Swett closes and the children are further away, we cannot get them into our building. Up On Top’s budget is already stretched, and transportation to/from the program will be prohibitively expensive. They will have no safe place to go after school.
I understand that the School Board makes its own decisions. But, honestly! Closing schools so that the district staff has better office space shows terrible judgement. Dumb decisions deserve to be challenged!
I hope you will consider supporting Supervisor Mirkarimi’s legislation — or other appropriate steps.