Mean Streets School Provides Lifeline to Neighborhood Children

New America Media, News Feature, Donal Brown// Photos by Melanie Reynard, Posted: Jun 21, 2008 Share/Save/Bookmark

SAN FRANCISCO – Amid drug dealers, homeless and garbage-strewn streets, children walk to school in white polo shirts and red sweaters. Street denizens respectfully step aside as they pass by.

Instead of sending students from the Tenderloin – a San Francisco neighborhood known for its homelessness, crime, drug deals and sex trade – to private schools in tony areas, the seven-year-old De Marillac Academy provides its pupils a co-ed Catholic school education right in their neighborhood.

Most families apply to the school after hearing about it from neighbors, friends and relatives. Students and their parents are interviewed at home, where teachers are able to see the challenges they might have in finishing homework in the crowded confines of a studio apartment. Finally, the students are tested for academic promise.

homelessA homeless man sleeps outside De Marillac Academy.The school demands that students make a significant commitment to the program -- including attending summer school -- and that parents attend regular school meetings.

Ninety percent of the students are Latino, many of whom are working to improve their English skills.
The school includes more learning time to bring the students up to grade level in reading and composition. The last 45 minutes of the extended school day is a time for quiet study and tutoring by teachers and volunteers.

While some critics of public school education argue that spending more per student will do little to improve education, adequate financing is central to the school’s success.

The tuition for De Marillac is $15,000, but every student is on scholarship. Parents pay $420 to $900 annually depending on household income. The actual cost for each student’s education is greater than $15,000 since the California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC) provides several costly programs essential to the success of the school.

By contrast, according to a report by Jennifer Imazeki published by Stanford’s Institute for Research on Education Policy & Practice, the average spending per student in California’s public schools is $8,268. “The current system of school finance appreciably under-funds districts with the highest needs,â€