San Francisco Community Alternative School

Description

1972 parents and teachers founded San Francisco Community School. Their mission was to start a family-involved, child-centered school, which represented the ethnic and socioeconomic diversity of San Francisco, and their objectives are still central to our mission. Later, SFC was designated a Small School by Design within the Small Schools By Design Pilot Project initiated by the Board of Education. Because SFC has been able to maintain its small size (roughly 290 students), we continue to be able to establish and maintain personalized relationships with students and families to better meet the needs of our diverse student body.

Since our beginning in 1972, we have sought to establish a learning environment where students, parents, teachers, and the community at large work together and make decisions collaboratively. We prioritize "keeping equity at the center", which means that we strive to ensure that the needs and desires of all of our community members are reflected in our practices, meetings, decisions, curriculum, and programs. SFC staff, parents, and students continually work together to learn about and practice inclusive ways of being to create a school culture that supports all students in meeting high standards of academic achievement and community responsibility.