Principal sparks outrage

A controversial principal tasked with turning around a struggling, low-income school has been accused of physically and verbally abusing students by a group of parents who are demanding her immediate removal.

Principal Sheila Sammon of Paul Revere K-8 is the subject of several complaints filed by parents directly through the Unified School District Board. In addition, the SFPD confirmed that at least one police report had been filed naming her as the perpetrator of a physical assault.

Sammon declined the opportunity to comment for this article, but has publicly denied all allegations made against her.

Concerns about the allegedly excessive and abusive nature of Sammon’s disciplinary policies came to a head in October when roughly 20 parents rallied outside of the school, demanding that she resign.

Phillip Pierce, who organizes for the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, an advocacy group assisting the parents with their efforts, said that “over 100 signatures” were collected on a petition calling for Sammon’s removal and an end to what the parents see as her worst policies.

Anna Jackson, who has three children enrolled in the school, said she has had serious problems with Sammon, including an incident involving one of her sons, then in first grade, where the police were called.

“At lunch time the principal picked my son up by the shoulders and forced him down on a bench, shook him and started screaming in his face, and my son was hysterical,” Jackson said. “I found out the police were called.”

Jackson said that she went to the nearest police station with an eyewitness and filed a police report against Sammon.

“My kid was traumatized,” she said. “He was so scared, he was having nightmares and screaming and wetting the bed … it was far too much, and that’s when we decided to do the petition.”

Jackson is not alone. Fran Evens, whose daughter attends the school, said that Sammon slapped her daughter in the face. Evens also says she filed a police report, though this could not be independently verified by press time.

Behavioral policies
Concerns about Sammon are not limited to these alleged incidents. Some parents feel her disciplinary practices and behavior-based “star system” create an environment of fear.

“These kids are paranoid and afraid to lose a star,” Evens said. “If you lose a star enough times you get silent lunch [alone] in the basement.”

Sammon and other Paul Revere administrators and staff have publicly denied that children are left unattended or that “basement” is a fair characterization of the room where “silent lunch” happens.

El Tecolote received no cooperation in efforts to arrange a visit to the “basement” in order to independently verify the nature and location of the room.

Carel van Eck, whose 8-year-old daughter is enrolled in Paul Revere’s Spanish immersion program, says that the other side of the star system, which uses positive reinforcement by giving a treat to students who retain enough stars, has been a big motivator for his daughter.

“It’s important for [the students]; it helps them be excited about behaving,” he said. “My perception of the policy is that it’s an effort to really help each and every child to have the standard they need to get a fighting chance to go to college.”

Bathroom policy
Another controversial aspect of the “star system” is a policy concerning bathroom use by students: students who use the bathroom during class time lose a star.

The end of the “bathroom policy” is a core demand of the petition.

“She came up with these crazy rules,” Evens said. “The children can’t go to the bathroom [during class]. Some have wetted on themselves. Then, when they do go to the bathroom, she has the upstairs bathroom locked so they have to come all the way down to the front.”

Jackson says that many kids have soiled themselves to avoid losing a star—ACCE has collected dozens of written complaints from parents alleging that their children came home with urine and or feces-soaked pants and, in some instances, severe bladder pain.

“Kids were coming home with pee and poop on them,” Jackson said. “It’s unfair, it’s violating their human rights, it’s humiliating and it could make them sick.”

In fact, the bathroom policy is in direct violation of a SFUSD resolution guaranteeing unfettered student access to bathrooms at any time and barring administrators and teachers from punishing students “in any way, including academically, for using the restroom.”

According to a memo sent home with students, the policy has since been discontinued, although no mention of the petition or district resolution is made.

“We will no longer take a star sticker away from a student for using the bathroom during class,” it said.

But children are still saying that they cannot use the bathroom without losing a star and, according to a school staff member who chose to remain anonymous citing concerns about losing their job, the policy is still effectively in place and two main bathrooms in the front of the building remain locked.

Locking students out of bathrooms is also a direct violation of the SFUSD resolution.

Despite the allegations, van Eck said he thinks Sammon’s policies have done a great job turning around a struggling school. He also believes parents like himself, who generally support Sammon and her policies, are the vast majority at Paul Revere.

“No one asked me to [sign the petition] and I would have gladly refused…removing the principal is counter effective,” he said. “This whole petition is the worst idea ever and it doesn’t provide any solutions.”

But Jackson is convinced she has no other choice.

“It’s not just her being mean to the kids, it’s so much more,” she said. “I don’t think she’s qualified for this job, I don’t think she’s right for this community, I don’t think she really cares.”

A struggling school
Paul Revere is one of 10 San Francisco schools that have received federal School Improvement Grant funding because of low academic performance. It’s also one of 187 “persistently low achieving” schools identified by the California Department of Education in 2010 as part of an abortive attempt to secure federal “Race To The Top” funds.

The state required all low achieving schools to select one of four “turnaround models,” including the option to replace the school’s principal and rehire no more than 50 percent of the original staff.

These requirements lead to the hiring of Principal Sammon, who brought a test-based, no-frills approach to Paul Revere’s curriculum in an effort to improve the school’s Academic Performance Index scores, the basis of CDE’s designation of low-performing schools.

So far, the changes have garnered modest but positive results on paper—an increase of 28 points from the school’s 2010 API score.
But Jackson feels like Sammon has hurt the school with her curriculum choices.

“I noticed right away when she took over, she removed enrichment from the kids … extra-curricular activities, PE, a lot of dance classes, a lot of art … the kids need this for their brains to develop,” Jackson said. “I think she took something away from the kids that was of great benefit.” She added that her kids seem frustrated, upset and overworked since the changes were made.

Others, however, are very pleased with the changes.

Van Eck says his daughter is “blooming” as a student under the new structure.

“We needed a school transformation; students were graduating from Paul Revere who effectively could not read or write, and failed miserably in high school, so the school needed to change,” he said. “There was an immediate focus on instruction … more time in the classroom, focused on standard material required.”

The parents calling for Sammon’s removal have appeared before the SFUSD Board twice since their October protest. As of press time, the Board has not taken any action to address the parents’ concerns.