UESF is inviting people to join them in a Rally & March on Tuesday, March 11 in front of the State Building at 4 p.m.

Joining educators and parents across the state, UESF is using the rally to send the unequivocal message to the Governor and StateLegislature that his education cuts are absolutely unacceptable.

The Mission Bears are back at the San Francisco Boys Basketball Championship with the City’s leading scorer, Demaree Hampton. They will be playing perennial powerhouse Lincoln (with 2100 students).

The championship will be at 5 p.m. at Kezar tomorrow (2/29/08).

Mission got into the championship with a close 58-54 victory over Lowell High School, last year’s champion. Demaree Hampton put up 27 points with Bears’ Harry Howard hitting 14 points. Lowell’s Travis Hom’s 23 points couldn’t stop Mission’s hot winning streak.

Looks like San Francisco’s own Matt Gonzalez will be Ralph Nader’s Vice-Presidential candidate. This isn’t, frankly, much of a surprise to me, or to many of the people who washed their hands of Gonzalez when he walked away from the movement he helped build in his 2003 mayoral run. Or rather the specific shark he chose to jump is, but that he’d choose some sort of quixotic way to seal his fate is not.

UPDATE:

In the championship match for the San Francisco AAA Division’s girls basketball, Lincoln High School will be facing Lowell High School at 4 p.m. at Kezar Stadium tomorrow.

Lincoln won their berth by beating Wallenberg by 53-32 on Tuesday. Lowell had a tougher time with its opponent, Washington with a score of 53-40.

Lincoln and Lowell are SFUSD’s largest high schools and are perennial powerhouses in the SF AAA league.

The Board of Education met on Tuesday, Feb. 26. The highlights were:

1. The Citizen Advisory Committee for Special Education testified that General Counsel had taken out a portion of their newsletter, stating that it was legal advice. Only Commissioner Mar spoke against censoring the CAC, but he also noted that the District needs to ensure that it is protected from future lawsuits. Both Jill Wynns and Jane Kim defended the General Counsel, stating that the CAC should be working with the district rather than giving advice to parents on how they can best fight for their children when they don’t agree with the District’s actions.

This is mind-bogglingly brilliant:

From The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights

Funny Obama commercial from Texas.

The San Francisco Board of Education announced that there is a projected $49 million budget hole for 08-09 due to state education budget cuts.

Layoff notices will be sent to 140 administrators and 395 teachers by March 15. President Sanchez noted that this would be 10% of the district’s teachers. But since many of the administrators who will receive layoff notices have seniority rights as teachers and principals, there will be a great deal of bumping of teachers and principals.

For teachers, the breakdown is:

173 elementary school teachers
124 middle school teachers
98 high school teachers

Those receiving layoff notices include:

Passed on by Leyla Farah

Monday, February 25, 2008
Deb Price
Gay leaders seeks more candidates of color

When Joe Angelo ran for city commissioner of Wilton Manors in southern Florida four years ago, he pledged to control development, build a new city hall and clean up neighborhoods to fight crime.

But when he won, the headline in the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel said: ” FLORIDA’S FIRST GAY BLACK PUBLIC OFFICIAL.”

“It was scary to see that big headline,” recalls Angelo, 42, who’s considering running for mayor. “But the day after the headline was the best day because I realized I was liberated.”

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

We would like to invite you to our second annual fundraiser for the Queer Youth Organizing Project (QYOP) of Pride at Work. We will be honoring Pride at Work co-founder Howard Wallace for his lifetime of dedication to the labor, LGBT, and anti-war movements. The event will be held on Thursday, March 13, 2008 at the SEIU 1021 offices at 350 Rhode Island.

Your support over the past year has enabled QYOP to grow into a thriving organization of young labor activists, strengthening our history of building coalitions between the labor movement and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender community in San Francisco.