By Tali Woodward

SHANE SAFIR TAUGHT 60 11th graders at Balboa High School last year. By now at least 15 of them have dropped out. Eight of them are African American, five Latino, one Vietnamese American, and one Samoan American. Safir says that she and her colleagues, including school administrators, "worked very hard to effect change from within. But we continued to see a lot of kids fall though the cracks."

The statistics on educational inequity are as bad in San Francisco as in any urban area. Latino and African American students are less likely to take advanced classes, more likely to go to schools deemed "failing" – and much more likely to drop out.

Two years ago Safir began meeting with three other teachers who felt there had to be a better way. "The problem wasn't the people; the problem was the institution," said Matt Alexander, one of the other teachers. "You can have over 150 students – there's no way you can get to know them well."

The four teachers considered opening a charter school but were encouraged by district officials to work within the existing public school structure. So they founded Small Schools for Equity (SSE) to push for the kind of small, autonomous high schools that have built an astounding record in other U.S. cities. The schools are manageable in size and are allowed more control over their programming, though they still answer to the district.

Local parents – as well as former and current public school students – were quickly attracted to the group, which sent 12 members to New York City last October to see some of the best-known small schools, many of which send 90 percent of their students to college.

On the SSE trip, parent Sandra Mitchell saw two schools that appealed to her. "A lot of it was the community spirit," she told us. "[At one] the head teacher picked up paper on the ground – didn't wait for someone else to do it. He even stopped a kid in the hall and said, 'You're supposed to be in this class' – he knew what class." Mitchell, who dropped out of Balboa in 1974, said she doesn't want the same thing to happen to her daughter, now an eighth grader.

The group resolved to try to open a pilot small school here in fall 2002 – and they convinced two San Francisco Board of Education members to help.

A few months later SSE was being attacked for shutting the African American community out of the process, despite the multiethnic character of the group – which says a lot about the identity politics that often come to play in San Francisco. The battle also demonstrates the tension between community members who want fast improvement and school administrators charged with ensuring that the school district makes well-considered decisions.

The giant urban high school evolved in the mid 20th century because educators wanted to minimize costs and offer an impressive array of specialized courses.

But numerous studies have shown that large schools aren't good for students. Smaller schools generally have higher graduation rates and test scores, regardless of the size of individual classes. In fact, no major study has shown that achievement is higher at larger schools. (Most studies have found that high schools should have between 500 and 800 students. San Francisco has relatively few giant schools, but most high school students go to school with at least 1,000 other kids.)

Small, autonomous schools have proved particularly effective with low-income and minority students. The personal relationships that small schools afford lead to improved instructional quality, teacher satisfaction, and community involvement. They have fewer disciplinary problems than their larger counterparts – and reformers say that the manageable size is more conducive to innovation.

Cities such as Miami, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and Oakland have begun small-school projects, and there's a growing push to break Berkeley High School into smaller learning communities, along the schools-within-a-school model.

After SSE hosted a November community meeting about developing small schools in San Francisco, school board members Mark Sanchez and Eric Mar drafted a policy stating that the school district would pursue the small-schools approach at city high schools. Attached to it was a more detailed plan requiring, among other things, the opening of a pilot small high school somewhere in southeastern San Francisco next fall. Sanchez told us he intended for the addendum to be a starting point for district plans, but the document was soon at the center of a political firestorm.

At the Jan. 8 school board meeting a flyer that played to Superintendent Arlene Ackerman's concerns about the proposal was distributed. "Stop the exploitation of African American students!!!" was printed across the top. "Would this happen if [Ackerman] wasn't a highly educated African American woman who has already put in motion a plan to improve academic achievement for African American students?" it asked.

The board referred the proposal to its curriculum committee, and when that committee met Jan. 15, a small but powerful contingent of African American leaders showed up to bash the proposal.

"It bothers me that what we have is some tribalism going on here that has absolutely no place in this school system. You talk about the southeastern sector of this city, and while there is a varied community there, a good segment of the community is African American. You haven't consulted any of us. You haven't talked to any of the faith leaders out there," said Rev. Amos Brown, a former supervisor who is well known for his hyperbole.

Brown and five other community leaders submitted a letter to the school board that began, "Members of the African American community are appalled at the apparent undermining of Superintendent Ackerman's efforts to implement her strategic plan [for the district]."

While some point out that the word "racism" was never used in the attacks, the sentiment is clear. It's not the first time a proposal has ignited the fury of Brown and his associates, who spend a considerable amount of time campaigning against policies they describe as bigoted. When Sup. Matt Gonzalez introduced a plan that would give the Board of Supervisors further control over San Francisco's Housing Authority in February 2001, dozens of people – including Rev. Brown – descended on the meeting to accuse Gonzalez of overstepping his bounds.

Mar and Sanchez aren't often accused of being insensitive to minorities – and not just because one is Asian American and the other is Latino and gay. They're left-wing guys who have committed to eradicating the achievement gap in local schools.

Sanchez is still reeling from the battle. "I've worked for poor kids of color my entire educational career. It's frustrating that I've done something that has been characterized as racist," he recently told us, adding that he is meeting with black leaders to try to find a way to move forward.

Organizers from SSE say that while they think the accusations of "tribalism" are unfounded and unfair, Ackerman has raised some legitimate concerns about the proposal, though they have been largely overshadowed.

At the Jan. 15 meeting Ackerman laid out specific concerns about how opening a pilot school might adversely affect other schools, the district's admissions plan, and various legal agreements. She also emphasized how the policy conflicts with her "Excellence for All" plan.

Excellence for All, a book-length status report and reform plan for the school district that the board adopted in April 2001, set up a task force structure to research and plan reforms mainly intended to eliminate inequity within the district. "In this case individuals and organizations outside of the district have developed this resolution ... without sufficient coordination with the district staff and its task forces," Ackerman said at the meeting.

Ackerman oversaw the development of several small schools in Seattle and told us she hopes they will ultimately be one of many schooling options here. But she emphasized that the district must use a systemic approach to strike a balance between what's fiscally sound and what's good for students. (Small schools are generally more expensive, though a 1998 study of New York City schools found that the cost per graduate is less than at medium or large high schools.)

For years school board president Jill Wynns has been bemoaning the district's lack of planning. She says that the new course Ackerman is charting for the district – one in which the full picture is valued over any particular group's desires – will allow the board to make better decisions.

Wynns acknowledges that the big-picture approach could prevent some community-developed projects from winning quick board approval. But that's not necessarily a bad thing.

A couple years ago it seemed that any constituency with some organizational acumen could win board approval. A group would show up at a board meeting and make a bunch of noise about this or that, and the board would vote for the project. All the while, less-visible groups got nowhere. It's no coincidence that the district is just now planning to rebuild Bessie Carmichael Elementary, which has been housed in one of the worst district facilities for years and hasn't had a highly organized community to speak for it.

The district's recent history also makes the transition to a more careful process somewhat loaded. Former superintendent Bill Rojas was famous for his ability to control the school board – he got it to rubber-stamp questionable deals that have launched half a dozen governmental investigations into the district. So the community now seems squeamish about entrusting the current superintendent with too much authority. Ackerman is firm in her understanding of her relationship to the elected board. "The how should be left up to me and the staff. The what is up to the board." But she also allowed that "it's a delicate dance. Sometimes I feel like I'm dancing with seven board members." She said she tries her hardest to keep everyone informed – even on the details.

And on this issue, at least, the board was willing to defer to Ackerman. After hearing her comments at the Jan. 15 meeting, the curriculum committee voted to strip down the small-schools proposal so that it's more of a vague policy statement than a large reform effort. Ackerman told us that the High School Task Force will probably solicit proposals for small schools by next fall and then will do a formal comparison. The district, she added, is also talking to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation about helping to fund the effort.

Everyone acknowledges that SSE has pushed the small-schools issue to the forefront, though some wish the activists had gotten further. "I believe this is a no brainer-type issue," Mar told us. "We need to consider the overall reform plan, but this one pilot school shouldn't be seen as such a threat to the district. I feel we need more community-based efforts."

SSE still wants to work with the district to open small, autonomous schools here. Safir, who now works full-time as the group's codirector, said, "I think this is an opportunity for San Francisco to join a movement that's research-based and that works for kids."