How to Enroll Your Kid in Public School in San Francisco

Step 5 GET INVOLVED

As SFUSD Superintendent Carlos Garcia said at a recent meeting of Parents for Public Schools, "Schools are only as good as the parents that get involved with them." This is, of course, true no matter where you live in this country.

So now that your child attends a school, get involved with it! This doesn't mean you have to sign away your life to an endless barrage of bake-sales and PTA meetings. As one parent put it, "School involvement has different levels, and the most basic level is just being around a bit more. If you can take five minutes to linger when picking up your kid after school, do it." Get to know other parents, your child's teacher, what's going on in the school in other grades.

If you want a more structured way to get involved, check out www.sfsv.org. Through them you can volunteer to do everything from tutoring an individual kid to helping out in the library regularly, or signing up for specific events. The only requirements are TB shot and some enthusiasm.

So overall, keep in mind that you won't be getting what you paid for, since in fact you paid nothing (taxes aside). But if you give a little, or maybe a lot-- in time, energy or other forms of help-- you'll get back what you gave and more.