25 thoughts on “Principal at Paul Revere School Arrested for DUI Hit and Run”

1. Definitely bleach in da face

2. Everybody knows about this but no one wants to touch it! Will she be automatically fired? Or, more likely, paid leave. Full bennies.

3. Was it a rental car? Why did she have a Colorado license plate??

4. Here’s the dirt, and while court would consider this hearsay, it is coming from my best friend who works at the school. The parents wanted her out very, very badly. She understood that the principal was not going to return but had not make an official statement. And while many of the parents (as well as the students subject to her alleged scorn) didn’t care for her, my friend saw that she was quite nice and supportive to the office staff. On the other hand, my friend was not habitually tardy, absent or sassy, and she did her work, so she could not report of the principals demeanor when upset. Nevertheless, DUI hit and run? Not a good way to collect Brownie points. Didn’t a local lawyer do something similar not too long ago? Sheesh! Where are the responsible adults?

5. The SF Examiner’s “update” fails to mention that the accusations from last fall, orchestrated by a state level group with ulterior political motives, were proven on the whole to be false and unsubstantiated by the district.
   And Lupe has it completely backward. The school community strongly supports Ms. Milosky, who is indeed planning to return next year. Our scores have improved across the board under her leadership. Truancy is down, attendance is up and there is a core group of energetic and talented teachers in the classrooms. This spring, following months of outreach by parents, faculty and staff, including speaking at SFUSD board meetings, the principal received an extension to her contract, much to the delight of many. (Note: The link is the 4/10/2012 board mtg, skip to 02:11:48 to see the Paul Revere discussion.)
   While I am certainly disappointed with her poor judgement last weekend, I remain supportive of Ms. Milosky in her continuing efforts to improve our school.We teach our kids to learn from their mistakes, and we’d be hypocritical not to give her that same chance.

   • PR PARENT ..I guess it’s okay for you to have a Alcohoic Criminal leading the way
     for your children?…who else lands the cover of San Francisco news papers 3 times in less than a year w BAD press… Are you gonna be ok when slaps your kids.. WHEN IS ENOUGH ..ENOUGH….

   • I feel badly for everything Paul Revere has been going through. I attended this elementary back when the “new” building had just been completed. Public schools were so very different back then, and I feel grateful for that. When I moved back to Bernal, I was fully aware of all the controversies revolving around the school. When my friend, who also had attended PR at the same time I did, began working in the school office, she saw and felt that “line in the sand”. Being of the “old school”, she did not see Ms. Milosky as anything but efficient, but also saw the anger and animosity felt by the anti-Milosky camp, and they were vocal. SFUSD doesn’t always keep their word to families. They do what is in the best interest of the district, not the schools, and the situation at PR was a public relations nightmare for them.

6. I was wrong about Ms. Sammon, I thought her incapable of building community but now see that she has built 2, for and against.

7. Looks like there are 2 or 3 sides to this story. Does anyone really think an employee should lose her job if convicted of a DUI on a weekend while off work?

   On an unrelated note, I chuckled at the thought of “The Avenger didn’t stop and continued heading north.” Felt like I was in a Marvel Comic for a minute.

8. Hearsay indeed! You said it Lupe. The fact is “your friend” is wrong and MOST parents do not want her out. Think about statistics before making outrageous sensational claims. Art is right too, many sides to the story.

   Supportive – caring for all children in the school – parents believe in turning the school around, that it is possible, and that Sheila is the one leading that effort. The team she assembled will succeed, but because we need community support, people giving the negative attention so much clout, is hurting our efforts to transform the school into place to Bernalites want to send their children. Only the tiny minority, lead by parent, former employee and persistent critic of PR, Anna Jackson, are on a mission for character assassination of our principal, with ACCE pulling the strings. Why has there not been an exposé on why this group has been illegally meddling with this school since last summer? They collected, illegally, parent’s contact information and cold called parents and successfully brainwashed many of them into thinking tearing apart a school community mid- reform was a good thing? Many realized later th harm they caused. I cannot think of one good thing this group has done for MY child. Is my child’s well being included in their efforts to dismatle the school because their brood of children lack structure and act out? How is this building a community?

   If only people could look in the mirror and see that no one is infallible. Even if not a parent, support the school instead of trying to tear it down. So many of us love our children learning spanish just down the street, love a GE teacher understanding and interveening with children unable to read at age 7, appreciate a big hug and encouragmement from our fantatic support team (starlett and so many others) and want to see this place blossom, inside out. This is an innercity school, no doubt.

   Try living by the golden rule (some of these demonstrators of discord even preach it) instead of spreading gossip via their OWN children.

   Teachers with a beef are the ones who cannot keep up with the new curriculum. Fact. Bitterness stemming from that makes a perfect specimen for ACCEs little destructive adventure with your much cherished neighborhood school. Former employees losing their jobs still harbor bad feelings.

   The systemic issue at this school is parents who disrespect rule, and so their kids do not care either. The ways in which the school deals with those children and their parents will set the tone for the school because that news is so much more juicy when shit hits the fan. It wont matter how much better the school becomes, how literacy and math improves and that it is a safer school than 3 years ago, but all the bad opinions receive the spotlight. My child’s only fear is being hurt by an insolent classmate; mine is that his education is affected by the attention said child recieves during instructional minutes.

   I only want to make these staments on bernalwood about it because I have addressed the school before here. Mission locals opinion article about the accounts are very biased, without an understanding of the past unsubstantiated claims.

   Many of us are tired, glad summer has come, and don’t necessarily support the very poor decision Sheila made driving home that night, but it is her personal life. I do understand the seriousness of her suspected drunk driving, but understand that these alleged misdemeanor charges do not affect our children’s safety, education, and most of the children’s well being while AT Paul Revere. If Sheila was to step down, she would leave behind wonderful teachers, administrators, community support teams, and curriculum. It takes a village, and I a pretty sure Sheila understands that. I do.

   The very few parents who are making outrageous claims about the structure of the school have been complaining years, and principals past. It’s nothing new except that ACCE leads the discord.

   I hope bernal wood will support our school despite the rumors and gossip, and that when neighbors see fund raising efforts for our arts and extracurricular activities via the PTA, that they do not turn up their noses because of something they heard playing telephone. our children deserve community support, regardless of an arrest.

   • Amen.

     • And very well said. Thank you.

   • Bernal Mummy… I guess ALCOHOLIC CRIMINAL ACTIVITY …from your principal is of w you….THAT FACT YOU CANNOT DENY

     • Who appointed you God? Your arrogance is impressive.

   • Well said indeed.

   • “I hope bernal wood will support our school despite the rumors and gossip…” So you’re saying that the principal was not arrested for DUI hit and run? Who in their right mind would stand behind and defend such an irresponsible principal? Who would even consider touring PR if she is still principal? I don’t see how or why she should keep her job.

   • Wow. I feel your pain. I get it more that others might, which is why I know that your initial comment is not a personal attack on myself or my friend, who is in fact real. Sadly, I have been in your boat, trying to help save administrators and schools from those that cannot see the forest for the trees. Having worked with the powers that be is challenging at best. The system is a mess, no doubt about it. The situation at PR was stressful for everyone, which included my friend, who attended PR back when the “new building”, as it was called, was just constructed. It saddened her to see how the school had changed, and how the school district does not put the children first. But, alas, it is what it is. What she saw, heard and felt was depressing, but that was her workplace. She held Ms. Milosky in high regard, and is saddened by the recent turn of events. I wish all of you much luck in your fight to support and uplift Paul Revere.

9. You post anonymously and then accuse a parent by name who is on the other side of the argument? I guess the principal is not the only one lacking integrity.

   “Is my child’s well being included in their efforts to dismatle the school because their brood of children lack structure and act out?” Brood? Do you mean to be classist or racist or both when applying that term to multiple siblings?

   Even if I thought this principal was an effective one (and no, I do not) I cannot imagine how she could now have any credibility with the student and parent population which are NOT like you. My god! It’s got middle schoolers. Haven’t there been incidents of students getting caught drinking at school before? How could she now have any authority in such situations?! I think you all need to be realistic about this and a little less entitled.

10. Children’s well being
    are being lost
    Around the globe each flashpoint has it’s own personality
    A dispute here, a school in conflict there
    A principal or megalomaniac almost everywhere
    But whether the location is PAUL REVERE or A school in South Yemen there is a
    Connection between many of these struggles
    They are angry conflicts of desparate people
    Who feel they have neither the resources nor
    The clout to fight their enemies at the negotiating table
    So they take their negotiations to the streets

11. Your entitlement is showing! (Not you god, you’re cool), the elites (thought hard about that word, I do know and care for many of you, but I think it is the right word) of the school do not care to hear alternate ideas. ACCE was invited in by a valid portion of the community led by a brave hard-working mother who finds herself in a more public arena than she imagined and is holding up remarkably well to public attacks.
    Just imagine a potential scene of middle-schoolers caught drinking in the bathroom next year and this principal trying to express authority.
    Will they even bother to give her a desk downtown, or just send the checks to Mill Valley for the next 3 years?

    • Ex PR: What are you trying to accomplish? Clearly your ‘solution’ to improving our school was to leave it. And now the best you can do is to snipe away on this blog about how right you were to leave and to cast aspersions on those who stay. The ACCE ‘solution’ was to foment lies and hyperbolic accusations, to divide the community further. Last fall and now, I hear no other proposals, no suggestions for how a new principal could do better, for how to make Paul Revere a better place for our children.
      Nor do you, or they acknowledge what is going right. That test scores have improved across the board, that truancy is down, that more parents are putting Paul Revere on their application, and that just maybe the school is a better place now than 3 years ago. They are very good at saying what they don’t want. You are very good at leaving.
      The elites, as you so blithely say, are in reality a large and broad slice of our diverse community. We are English and Spanish speaking. We are parents, teachers and administrators. We are white, black, brown and yellow. We are native San Franciscans, and we are illegal immigrants. We live in Bernal, the Mission, in Bayview and beyond. We organize and attend school cultural events and greening days. We are chaperones on field trips. We go to school-sponsored English and Spanish classes. We help out in the yard at recess and at lunch. We cut and distribute fruit every day for every child in the school. We work with teachers in the classrooms. We raise badly needed funds in the face of budget cuts. We work with local businesses to create community. And we support a principal who makes hard choices and stands by them, like setting expectations that school starts on time and setting high standards for teachers so test scores improve. And yes, we allow her to have a personal life, and when she makes a mistake, we support her like we would a family member, hoping she too can learn and become a better person for it.
      We stay even though the going is tough.
      What are you doing? How are YOU making THIS school a better place?

      • PR PARENT..YOU ALSO SUPPORT A RACIST CRIMINAL DRUNK…. Maybe you SHOULD start DAMAGE CONTROL For the next time YOUR LEADER STEPS IN IT…
        When are you gonna stop making excuses??????
        There is a reason EX PR PARENT IS AN EX…. YOU TALK ABOUT IMPROVEMENT FOR YOUR KIDS… He’s LIVING THE IMPROVEMENT

        CANT wait to hear how you will you defend the NEXT TIME…. Believe me there will be a next time…GOD

12. All those supporters of this criminal, do a background check and see just how many schools she has bounced around from, like an unwanted nuisance. Tamalpais School District, South San Francisco, just to name a few!Why would you want the leader of your kids’ school to be one who lacks self control, judgment and respect?!?! WHY would you want your kids to look up to a woman who is all over the news for DUI?!?! Wake up SFUSD and fire her, salvage that small bit of integrity you are stomping all over.

    • Well said! Many of us have never wanted her to lead our school in the first place, but a few vocal parents have been in the forefront claiming that we all support–not true! She was never the right fit for our school.

13. As a Bernal Heights dad, I also believe in neighborhood schools but ones that are diverse, inclusive and focused on really building a community that supports all of our children with special emphasis on those with traumatic and disadvantaged backgrounds. It is a shame some of these postings have focused on personal and organizational attacks rather than looking at a pattern of problems with our school system. Real school reform cannot be an “us and them” approach and instead needs to create an inclusive school climate that achieves diversity and works through some of the class challenges currently facing many SF schools. I absolutely believe in achieving discipline and clear strong structures. But, from many past reports and the reason for parents concerns last Fall (2011), Paul Revere had a real model of addressing issues related to poverty and focused on proactively creating opportunities to integrate diverse experiences and challenges. The many parents who left, are still at PR, or have followed it over the years, seem to be responding to the loss of that success and the lack of leadership, long term plan and support by the District.
    This is so much deeper than allegations of brainwashing, lies, illegal petitioning, exaggerated accusations or an “us versus them” sentiment disturbingly expressed here. The comments about embracing and achieving diversity are the right foundation of what we need for all of our public schools to succeed. Most importantly, we need to achieve diverse schools for every child and every parent, not just the ones who can afford the time and money to be involved. Many of the parents who reached out to ACCE are struggling in this current economy and may not have the fundraising skills, time off of work, or extra money needed to support their teachers. What I do know is that I and a number of parents working with ACCE at a number of different schools including PR together want what is best for all of our children with a truly inclusive community school, full support to the classroom, strong discipline that is restorative not punitive, and strong structures that are clear and can be evaluated to measure success.
    A True Community School
    Rather than blaming “those” parents and defending a principal’s pattern of poor judgments, one step Paul Revere and other schools facing the same struggles could do is to invest and focus on achieving success for every child. My sense from working with parents from Paul Revere a few years ago was that Principal Tagomori had been very successful in achieving this model of a true community school. For those who remember, in 2007 he was handpicked and persuaded by Interim Superintendent Gwen Chan to leave Cesar Chavez Elementary specifically to turn around Paul Revere. He did that by getting support from the district and embracing (not abandoning) the original community of the school, created a tight-knit school community and invested in restorative justice using the UCSF hearts trauma program. Look at some of the glowing reviews three years ago such as a review of PR on the SF K Files from 2009 or in the Chronicle where someone posted “Since then, under the guidance of the extraordinary principal Lance Tagomori, the school’s Annual Performance Index has gone from 630 in 2007 to 739 last year, 800 being average.”
    More than Test Scores
    Schools are about far more than test scores. In a March 26, 2010 SF Chronicle article on the school had this quote “It’s taken a little time, but every year the school is improving, and he (Principal Tagomori) has a lot to do with it,” said parent Charlotte Allen. “You can’t judge everything and base everything on one test. It’s not fair to Paul Revere.”
    Paul Revere is now in the final year of the School Improvement Grants- the latest national innovation for school reform. The additional $1.5 million a year the school received because Principal Tagomori left was one opportunity to invest in models of success for our diverse public schools. Models that have proven success have first focused on a commitment of education, health, counseling, etc. resources for the children who need them the most. Second is focusing on the classroom and investing in the highest quality teachers with professional development and retention. Third is creating an successful environment and culture where parents, students and school staff can work together. Instead, successful programs like the UCSF Program are no longer at Paul Revere and a punitive versus restorative disciplinary system was put in place by Principal Sammon.
    School Climate
    In order to build a successful school climate there need to be systems that are proactive and preventative of behaviors in the first place rather than reactive and punitive. The “us” side has told the “them” side to take their problem kids and leave the school instead of seeking the kind of counseling and support that Principal Tagomori and the UCSF program made available and focused on. That successful program and other relationships are no longer there. Other schools to look at who have been able to achieve strong and effective discipline as well as supporting diverse student populations are Rooftop and Buena Vista. One step could be to bring together anyone interested to be part of a meeting to really understand a model of what could be implemented at PR from these schools and look at a way to bring the parent and staff community at PR together so that there is not further divisiveness.
    Bigger Challenge
    Unfortunately there is a much bigger challenge here. Years of underfunding, new ideas and politics have made it nearly impossible to create public schools and public school communities that can be successful and sustainable. It is terrible what has happened to schools like Paul Revere but it is an example of what is happening at many schools. The District takes one great principal from a school community without their input and places him in underperforming school. In just over two years, underperforming school shows major success but it is not fast enough and the shift from No Child Left Behind focus on test scores takes next step with School Improvement Grants (SIG) under President Obama which require severe actions such as removing 50 to100% of teachers, the principal or school closure. Then SFUSD makes top down decisions again without regard for parents or teachers or school community that was built and principal leaves. School has added pressure to start a new program with new principal and despite more funding, only has 3 years to now achieve even higher test scores to show measure of success.
    One way to look at achieving successful schools is to look at the research done by Linda Darling Hammond from Stanford who criticizes the race to come up with new innovations and focuses on core principles of what has worked:
     Resources for those who need them most.
     High standards and supports for special needs.
     Qualified teachers.
     Evaluation of education.
     Balancing decentralization and centralization. (Laukkanen, 2008, p. 319)
    You can read more about her research here http://www.nea.org/home/40991.htm
    Many schools are facing the same challenges as Paul Revere. While groups like ACCE, SFOP, Coleman, and local SSC’s are trying to figure out the best way to navigate new ideas by the district, hard decisions around the budget, the instability created by teacher layoffs, and responding to new policies and initiatives at the State and Federal level which can be overwhelming, we really need to come together around two parallel paths.
    One is we need more funding for our public schools. We cannot rely on the generous time and money parents who are in the “haves” can give. It is an unfair system. While there is a revenue proposal on the ballot for November it took us a few decades to get to where we are in lower and inequitable school funding. Together we can figure out a path to fully fund public schools.
    Second, we need a diverse community school model that the district supports and invests in that successfully invests in the kinds of programs that other schools have been successful at in the past and now. Linda’s lessons provide some outline but without a clear plan and movement away from teach to the test, we will continue to fight amongst ourselves. As the many passionate posts, work of groups like ACCE and others indicate, we all value the best education for our children. Defending or attacking Principal Sammons patterns of poor judgment are not helping. We just need to come together, agree on a plan and achieve what is best for all children at Paul Revere and the many other schools who are facing intense pressure, stress and challenges. Those parents who are interested should reach out to which ever group you feel most comfortable working with and get involved in the reforms needed for our schools.

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