Friends of Lowell Foundation Rallies to Preserve California’s Oldest Public High School
Alumni, students and parents to gather to support merit-based admissions for Lowell High
SAN FRANCISCO, November 13, 2023 - The Friends of Lowell Foundation will rally tomorrow at
5:30 p.m. outside the Franklin Street San Francisco Unified School District office to preserve the
city’s rigorous Lowell High School as an academic, merit-based public high school and to
improve instruction for all San Francisco public school students.
The rally will be co-sponsored by the FOLF and the Chinese Parent Advisory Council. It will take
place in concurrence with the San Francisco Board of Education meeting, and its participants
will enter the Board meeting at 6:30 p.m., when the Board goes into open session. At the
meeting, SFUSD Superintendent Matt Wayne will present his proposal to gut the race-neutral
Lowell Admissions Policy and replace it with the same lottery system as the city’s
comprehensive schools, with the only difference for Lowell being a minimum grade point
average. This system excludes any form of entrance exam or application essay. Wayne would
also seek to impose more district control over admissions at School of the Arts.
“If they water down admissions rigor at Lowell and SOTA, there will be a giant sucking sound of
more families leaving the district,” said Lowell alumna Sarah Stettler, who pulled her own
daughter out of the SFUSD after elementary school because of the lack of 8th grade algebra
instruction. Her daughter is currently applying to competitive-admissions SFUSD high schools
Lowell and SOTA, as well as private schools.
“The SFUSD’s own survey data demonstrates that 89 percent of SFUSD families support the
rigorously merit-based admissions policy at Lowell, so the district needs to stop trying to
impose a lottery on Lowell,” said FOLF board member Christine Linnenbach, a Lowell alumna.
“The last time this happened, the lottery-admitted students were thrown into Lowell to receive
alarmingly high rates of ‘D’ and ‘F’ grades, meaning that they were not receiving instruction
tailored to their needs. No one benefits from that.”
Linnenbach launched the successful legal challenge that overturned lottery admissions in 2021.
The FOLF is now gearing up for another legal battle; on October 28, Linnenbach filed a cure and
correct letter about multiple violations of law surrounding the SFUSD’s High School Task Force,
the body whose recommendations shaped Wayne’s proposal.
To that end, the FOLF is engaging in a $250,000 fundraising campaign. Several generous donors
have offered to match funds for the first $100,000.
“Lowell opened doors to the American dream for my siblings and me, as it has done for
generations of immigrant San Franciscans, so we must now give back in order to save it,” FOLF
board member Lee Cheng said. “Those of us who benefited from a Lowell education in the past
will now ensure that the students of tomorrow who cannot afford private high schools in San
Francisco can also get a quality education.”
ABOUT THE FRIENDS OF LOWELL FOUNDATION
The Friends of Lowell Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization formed in 2021 to make
academic merit-based public education available to as many children in San Francisco as
possible. More information and donation opportunities can be found at
www.friendsoflowell.org and www.facebook.com/friendsoflowell.
ABOUT THE CHINESE PARENT ADVISORY COUNCIL
Formed in April 2021 by seven bilingual Chinese-speaking parents, the Chinese Parent Advisory
Council works to promote community-focused positive culture and quality education in the
SFUSD through parent participation in the Chinese community. More information can be found
at www.cpacsf.org and twitter.com/CPACSF.
Media Contact: contact@friendsoflowell.org