OVER THE PAST five years, San Franciscans have made progress in forcing city hall to end its secrecy and backroom deals, with the passage of Proposition G (the Sunshine Ordinance of 1999) and the important work of the 11-member San Francisco Sunshine Ordinance Task Force.

Yet, while the city has moved in the right direction to increase public access to meetings, records, and the decision-making process, the San Francisco Unified School District has become less responsive to sunshine and open-government reforms. For example, meeting agendas are not fully disclosed, meetings are not always properly noticed, public comment at school board meetings is commonly discouraged, and committee meetings are poorly attended because the public can't rely on their hit-or-miss schedules.

Reporters requesting basic district records are often stonewalled. And hard-hitting investigative reporting or critical questioning by news staff often results in an all-out offensive attack on reporters by SFUSD's $400,000-a-year public relations department, which has over the last two years become a publicity mouthpiece for the superintendent's office.

Even more disturbing is the de facto gag order on school district employees: Superintendent Arlene Ackerman prohibits staff from contacting the media, be it for whistle-blowing on waste or fraud – or even a lack of heat in the classrooms. This gag order extends to the Board of Education itself. On numerous occasions, school staffers have come to board members to extend invitations to school events or to amplify concerns about the schools, but with a look of fear in their eyes and usually with the caveat "I am forbidden to talk with you, so please don't tell anyone that we've met."

When one top-level department head approached board members in 2003 to reveal alleged extortion on the part of a mega-contractor with the district, as well as with what appeared to be the misuse of public funds by district officials, he was pushed out of the central office within a day, directed not to "set foot" on district property, and ultimately forced to resign. This was done because he refused to mislead the board at a public meeting to accept a contract that he felt was going to lose the district millions of dollars – and because he dared to meet with board commissioners.

As one teacher remarked when the gag order was invoked by his school's principal, "What is this, the Mafia?"

Clearly there are core First Amendment issues at stake, and a management policy that squashes dissent is a big impediment to the functioning of an elected school board, the oversight and policy-making body for the school district.

To date, the San Francisco Chronicle has been relatively silent on the issue of sunshine and the First Amendment rights of all who work in the district. We are appreciative that the Bay Guardian is out in front, demanding, as we do, a change in business as usual in the school district.

With commissioners Eric Mar and Sarah Lipson, we and many sunshine advocates have introduced a sunshine resolution for the school board that will explicitly remove the gag order and put the district under the jurisdiction of San Francisco's Sunshine Ordinance. We believe this measure is good for kids, schools, and a democratically functioning school district.

Despite strong public support for good government reforms, passage of this resolution won't be easy given the school district power structure's resistance to sunshine. It isn't clear whether a majority of the school board supports open-government reforms.

But because of the diligent work of the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force, there is cause for hope. The task force is working with like-minded elected officials at both the Community College Board and the Board of Education. By the end of the year, San Francisco City College may have much greater transparency in its governance and administration. We hope the school district will follow suit and help make San Francisco one of the nation's sunniest cities.

Mark Sanchez is a member of the San Francisco Board of Education. Jane Kim is a candidate for the board.