Supervisor Fiona Ma: Our Commitment to Families

The recent controversy over school closures and consolidations has once again raised concerns in the Parkside District over the future of the Dianne Feinstein Elementary School.

In 1978, Parkside School was closed due to structural problems. Since then, it has housed district administrative offices. Plans to rebuild Parkside Elementary were put into motion almost a decade ago. Those efforts got a boost in 1997 when voters approved funds for the new school. However, since then, the school has faced many challenges to its reopening, including a SF Unified School District fiasco over spending practices, protests from local residents over a plan to include teacher housing, and concerns from preservationists who felt the original site could still be repaired.

Throughout these controversies, Parkside families and advocates, with support from my office, have persevered and, as a result, we are on the verge of seeing the school open.

The Dianne Feinstein Elementary School is in the final stages of construction and is set to welcome students this fall. The new 62,000-square-foot school will include 26 classrooms, a library and a multipurpose room. It is designed to accommodate 500 students from kindergarten through the fifth grade, although current plans are to open it only for kindergarten through third grade.

Even with the recent set of closures in the school district, I am committed to making sure that our promise to Parkside families is kept and that this school welcomes all students who want to attend in the fall.

To this end, I also support an effort by families of the Japanese Bilingual Bicultural Program West who do not wish to move out of the Parkside to be accommodated at Dianne Feinstein Elementary.

Although Dianne Feinstein Elementary does not currently offer a language immersion program, it will give these families the opportunity to stay in the Parkside and attend a neighborhood school.

In a time when enrollment is declining and families are leaving San Francisco, we have to do all we can to support those who want to stay in our communities.

The struggle to reopen Parkside School is nearly at an end, but we need to make sure that the dream is fully realized. It is our responsibility and the school board's responsibility to keep their promise to the Parkside and fully open Dianne Feinstein Elementary for all grades, from kindergarten through fifth, so that the families of the Japanese Bilingual Bicultural Program West and other westside children continue to have a neighborhood option.

San Francisco Supervisor Fiona Ma represents District 4, which includes the Sunset and Parkside districts.