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The GrowSF Report: School closures paused, interim Superintendent replaces Matt Wayne
PLUS: We are so back: SF’s comeback summer is here to stay
What You Need To Know
Here’s what happened around the city for the week of October 13, 2024:
- School closures paused, interim Superintendent replaces Matt Wayne
- We are so back: SF’s comeback summer is here to stay
- SF’s Metreon mall is up for sale
- San Francisco overdose deaths decline in September
- El Faro owner to sell after 45 years, following a string of break-ins
Recent & upcoming openings:
- Che Fico Pizzeria launches at Chase Center
School closures paused, interim Superintendent replaces Matt Wayne
Well that was fast. The SF school board slammed the brakes Friday on closures for 13 public schools, a decision that came less than 2 weeks after we were all told they’d likely shutter. Former SFUSD Superintendent Matt Wayne appears to have taken the brunt of the controversy: His exit from the district was announced shortly after an emergency meeting Friday evening that completely changed the tides on plans to shore up a $400 million deficit.
“With a new Board of Education being seated soon as well as our ongoing significant fiscal issues, I believe the time is right for new leadership in the District,” Wayne said in a statement. He was not present at Friday’s meeting.
So this all sounds like good news for parents and pundits who were angered over the closures, but it’s hard to see a clear path out of SFUSD’s current mess. Right now Maria Su — executive director of SF’s Department of Children — will step in for Wayne as superintendent overseeing the district’s 48,000 students.
“What I bring is the ability to recognize operational problems,” Su told the Chronicle, adding later, “We need to know this district has its act together.”
So many questions arise from this about-face at SFUSD, here’s our attempt at answering them:
What happened to Superintendent Wayne?
Wayne appears to have been pushed out by the Board of Education. Instead of firing him, the Board negotiated the terms of his resignation.
Who is now running SFUSD?
Maria Su will serve as interim Superintendent until June 30, 2026. Su is the executive director of the Department of Children, Youth and their Families (DCYF), and she has been the co-lead of the Stabilization Team from the mayor’s office. She will remain an employee of the City of San Francisco (not SFUSD), and will serve as interim Superintendent under a Memorandum of Understanding.
Why was Maria Su chosen as interim superintendent?
Su is highly regarded as a leader, and her experience at DCYF gives her some familiarity with SFUSD. The Board of Education appears to have asked several senior SFUSD executives to serve as interim superintendent, but all of them declined.
What will Interim Superintendent Su focus on?
SFUSD’s official statement lists three priorities:
Maintain local control by implementing a budget stabilization plan, which includes a plan to staff schools and deliver educational services and programs critical to student success
Restore trust and public confidence in SF public schools through accurate, timely, and accessible communications, robust community and school outreach, and cultivating strategic partnerships
Restore, remediate, and develop healthy operations systems with improved oversight and accountability
Basically, she will focus on implementing the current (fiscal year 24-25) budget, passing a fiscal year 25-26 budget, and getting basic operations and communications in shape.
What about school closures?
For now, school closures are being shelved. However, the SFUSD statement explicitly says, “Moving forward, SFUSD must consider school mergers or closures as a potential strategy to mitigate the effect of declining enrollment.” Sooner or later, SFUSD will need to tackle this issue.
How does the California Department of Education feel about this?
Based on public statements, this appears to have been done with the blessing of the state appointed fiscal advisors, and ultimately the state superintendent of education Tony Thurmond.
Who is to blame for this mess?
The Board of Education.
The single most important responsibility of the Board of Education is to recruit, hire and oversee the Superintendent. If the Superintendent flames out in less than two and a half years, it reflects a failure of the Board of Education.
What does this mean for my vote for the Board of Education?
The next Board of Education will need to recruit, hire and oversee the next Superintendent.
GrowSF believes it is more important than ever to choose Parag Gupta, Supryia Ray, John Jersin and Jaime Huling. Each of them has the experience, temperament and judgment to do this job successfully.
The only incumbent running for Board of Education is Matt Alexander. He should be fired along with outgoing Superintendent Matt Wayne. Both have failed in their roles.
The Board of Education needs an upgrade. Vote for the GrowSF endorsed candidates.
SF’s comeback summer is here to stay
San Francisco’s lifeblood this year has been our street fairs and block parties; We’ve experienced electric Downtown First Thursdays, tons of night markets and dance parties, outdoor boozy antics and massive raves. While doom-loop naysayers constantly say our city is dead, it’s hard to remember a time post-pandemic as alive for San Francisco as 2024. Crime rates also fell, and the number of people who died from accidental overdoses took a nosedive recently, too.
Is this upward swing permanent? We think so.
“There’s a lot more everything than there used to be,” Steffen Franz, the technical director of Illuminate, told the SF Standard. He later added: “It’s people not only believing our city is making a comeback, but it should be the amazing hub of art in our country.”
We’ve still got a lot to focus on heading into the November election and beyond. As the SF Chronicle noted, we are still grappling with empty offices, budget deficits, and lagging tourism. It’s a slow recovery, but the best way to keep our upward momentum going is to put the right leaders in charge.
SF’s Metreon mall is up for sale
In a city with notable retail woes, Metreon mall has defied the odds with its success — and now it’s for sale. Home to a downtown Target and the only IMAX theater, the 312,000-square-foot mall remains nearly 92 percent leased.
The Metreon has kept its doors open and its foot traffic steady, but now its owners, private equity firm Starwood Capital Group, who acquired the mall in 2012 as part of a $1.15 billion deal, are looking to sell.
The sale may not be easy: in 2023 the Standard noted that Metreon’s Target saw an estimated 10 thefts daily. That is a grim and unacceptable reality, but it is also overshadowed by the mega foot traffic that the mall routinely brings in.
Overall, we think the sale is likely just the beginning of a new chapter for the iconic space that will continue to see us shopping there, watching films and throwing parties on its upper decks.
San Francisco overdose deaths decline in September
In San Francisco, accidental overdose deaths from fentanyl hit a four-year low in September. While this number should be zero, the SF Chief Medical Examiner reported 23 fentanyl-related deaths last month, compared to 52 in September 2023 and 35 last August. That’s the lowest since the city began tracking monthly overdose data in 2020.
“We hope this downward trend will continue,” San Francisco Health Director Dr. Grant Colfax said at a news conference Wednesday, according to The Chronicle.
He credited a nighttime pilot program launched in March that connects people with a doctor over the phone to prescribe buprenorphine, a medication for opioid use disorder. Since then, SF has seen a 39 percent drop in fentanyl deaths, and the city is now extending the program's hours so that it’s available from 8 a.m. to midnight.
It’s not all rainbows, though. Total overdoses for the year exceed 500, and overdoses from xylazine are climbing and are on track to double last year’s total. We have a lot more work to do.
El Faro owner to sell after 45 years, following a string of break-ins
Raymunda Ramirez, the owner of the Mission taqueria El Faro, announced she will be selling the restaurant after 45 years of calling it a second home. The decision follows a series of break-ins, with the most recent incident occurring last Sunday — the third in just a week.
Ramirez, who first worked as an employee before taking over ownership 25 years ago, expressed frustration and exhaustion. “I can’t continue living like this,” she told Mission Local. “I wonder why this is happening? Why me?”
Theft is a problem we’ve seen often hitting retail spots like Bayside Market, which announced last month it would close after multiple break-ins and rampant shoplifting. It’s a problem in the culinary world, too, with the recent closure of Denny’s that cited frequent dine-and-dash customers as a culprit for the SF location’s budgetary woes.
Our local businesses deserve better protection and support as they navigate the challenges of operating in today’s environment. A GoFundMe has raised $14,000 to help El Faro recoup its losses.
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Recent & upcoming openings
A great city is constantly changing and growing, let’s celebrate what’s new!
Che Fico Pizzeria launches at Chase Center
Che Fico Pizzeria is the latest addition to the Che Fico family that’s known for its Italian-centered eateries and creations. The new space adjacent to Chase Center focuses on naturally fermented dough and hand-pulled cheese, offering pizzas by the pie or slice. The menu also includes a selection of salads, sandwiches, and desserts like soft-serve gelato.
WHERE: 1 Warriors Way, Suite #300, San Francisco, CA
Your Action Plan
Now that you know what’s happening, help us shape what happens next:
It’s time to vote — Use our Voter Guide to navigate the ballot
Getting informed about everything on the ballot is hard, that’s why we have worked super hard over the past three months to produce our biggest, most informative, voter guide yet. Our well-researched analysis cuts through the noise and provides the critical information you can trust.
Read the full GrowSF Voter Guide and share it with your friends. Let’s put San Francisco back on track.
The Spirit of San Francisco
There’s a lot to love about our city and the Bay Area. Here’s what makes it great. Brought to you by The Bold Italic.
What we’re doing this week
Boo at the Zoo
Boo at the Zoo features Halloween fun for all ages, including a costume parade and contest at 12 PM, a Franken-stomp Dance Party at the playground, and the Haunted Nature Trail filled with spooky decorations. Visitors can also enjoy Halloween-themed enrichment treats for the animals and creepy crawlers in the Insect Zoo.
WHEN: October 26–27, 2024, starting at 10 AM
WHERE: San Francisco Zoo, Sloat Blvd at the Great Highway, San Francisco, CA
Bay Area artist Tauwoo album release party with Emily Afton
Rickshaw Stop presents the co-headlining album release party for Tauwoo — who is an Oakland-based songwriter, singer and multi-instrumentalist — and Emily Afton, with support from Dani Offline. Doors open at 7 pm, tickets are $17 in advance and $20 at the door, and the event is all ages. Tauwoo will perform songs from his new album Disquiet, while Emily Afton will celebrate the release of her new album Circaa, including the singles "Make," "Free," and "Running Out of Time."
He’s offered TBI readers a discount code for $15 advance tickets with the code “TauTon”
WHEN: Thursday, October 24, 2024, 7 pm
WHERE: Rickshaw Stop, 155 Fell Street, San Francisco
What we’re writing about
Castro Halloween is coming back again for 2024
Halloween in the Castro is getting its second year back from the dead in 2024. The nighttime festivities are returning October 26th along with afternoon events the next day, marking the latest installment since its comeback in 2023. This isn’t the wild block party of decades past; It’s community-driven and family-friendly, but honestly, we’d expect at least a little craziness — it is San Francisco, after all.
‘Prelude’ brings modern southern comfort to the Jay Hotel
Prelude is a more upscale approach to modern Southern. Prelude’s space is 1970’s chic, like the hotel it’s situated in, warm with velvets and earth tones, wood-beamed ceiling and glowing lighting, plus a gorgeous, light-filled bar.
Starting with bites, Chef Hendrickson-Jones’ sense of play is in full display with cornbread financiers accompanied by cultured Hokkaido uni butter. Deviled eggs draped in fried chicken skin, various pickles and fermented bites from their larder, plump dirty rice-stuffed chicken wings and especially pimento cheese dip scooped up with fish skin chips is all a good time, especially with cocktails.
‘One to One’ documentary offers a deeper look at John and Yoko
In One to One, Macdonald and Rice-Edwards recreate the world John and Yoko inhabited over an 18-month period in 1971–1972 following the Beatles’ breakup. Their film is a portrait of two artist-activists who aimed to influence their politically turbulent times before eventually retreating to a more domestically quiet life (skipping over their temporary separation in 1973–1974).
Part of SFFILM’s Doc Stories, it premiered at Vogue Theatre October 18th with director Kevin Macdonald giving a Q&A.
How to Halloween in San Francisco 2024
As the fog rolls in and the city’s shadows lengthen, so too does San Francisco transform into a spooky, fun playground for Halloween. We are a city born to dress up and do much of that way before the 31st — and after, for that matter. The Bold Italic has found a ton of opportunities this Halloween season that range from frights and thrills to dance parties. Castro Halloween is now back with us, too. Here are our selections.
Cleve Jones’ 70th served up many drag queens, leather daddies, and activists
Cleve Jones is a name synonymous with resilience, community, and the fight for LGBTQ+ rights. His glitzy birthday at Hibernia Bank was billed as a party on Friday night, but many times it felt more like a public television special that showcased local LGBTQ+ community leaders. Cleve kept his promise to keep speeches to a minimum, but in their place we saw throngs of drag queens, leather daddies, choir members and activists march to the stage to take a bow and pose for a photo.
When SF goes formal: The black-and-white ball at Fort Mason
It’s not often you get an OG society moment complete with dress codes, along with a feeling of wealth that’s literally wall to wall — and it’s especially rare in San Francisco. In a city known more for its casual charm and tech-driven lifestyle, a recent soirée at Fort Mason Center delivered a black-and-white ball that would have made Truman Capote proud, even if some attendees broke the rules.
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Paid for by Coalition to Grow San Francisco - Grow SF PAC. FPPC # 1433436. Committee major funding from: Jeremy Liew. Not authorized by any candidate, candidate's committee, or committee controlled by a candidate. Financial disclosures are available at sfethics.org.