535 San Francisco Unified School District teachers will receive layoff notices this morning due to state cuts in education funding. Today's pink slip handouts stem from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's budget '09, which will see San Francisco schools losing around $40 million. According to CBS 5, Mayor Newsom is doing what he can, even if it's a Band-Aid solution to a longterm problem. Mayor Gavin Newsom has said he plans to ask the Board of......

According to a press release put out on PR Newswire by her attorney, Dr. Arlene Ackerman has filed suit against the San Francisco Unified School District in San Francisco Superior Court....

-The San Francisco Unified School District is still trying to figure out what to do -Here's a really sad story about a funeral director who's presided over forty funerals this year -In the BALCO case, the Chron argued in papers filed with a Federal Appeals Court that protecting confidential sources is essential for the public interest. -Somebody on Death Row in San Quentin commited suicide -Fog City Journal says watch out for this dude. -Pelosi......

-Veterans Day celebrated with parades and a memorial featuring boots. -Scientists head up to the Sierras to try and track Global Warming. ...

Members of SEIU Local 790 employed by the San Francisco Unified School District plan to announce their strike as early as Wednesday. We confirmed information posted on Indybay with a representative from the union yesterday. According to the Chronicle, the strike will not be legal under state law until ten days after a recommendation from a fact-finding panel is issued and considered by both the union and the district, which at the earliest would......

Amazing what a difference two days makes, huh? After the unions triumphed in their combined opposition to Arnold's Very Special Election -- well, would you look at that? Sutter is settling with the healthcare workers and the state's decided not to try and increase nurse-to-patient ratios after all. To the victors go the spoils! (And here's Arnold: "Oh, if I could go back in time like the Terminator, I would have listened to Maria and not had this election in the first place." He has got to cut it out with these lame references to his movies and the Kennedy family.) Emboldened by Nov. 8? Or maybe just sick and tired of being sick and tired? Well, the San Francisco Unified School District has called for a strike vote next. Even that offer from Arlene Ackerman to resign if they'd agree to settle didn't sweeten the pot enough for them? That must be some baaaaad contract they got. ...

Good morning, class! Today's the first day of the school year for the San Francisco public schools. Mmmm, smell the chalk in the air! Test scores are up, Ackerman's raise was approved by a trial court, things are good over at the SFUSD. One problem, though -- some union workers are staging a one-day sickout over their labor negotiations for raises. The school district wouldn't say how many people were out today, but volunteers will be staffing the principal's office at Malcolm X Elementary and there may not be hot lunches today if enough people are out (though the schools will give out sandwiches). This is not an officially union-sanctioned action, though the union is taking the position that if people are sick, they're sick. Also in honor of today, the Chron's got an article that follows three kids who went to the same preschool, didn't do so well in the school lottery system, and are now at three different elementary schools -- a public school teacher who's sending her child to an expensive private school, the Protestant family who's enrolled at a Catholic school after they decided the public school wasn't working for their child, and one who's thrilled with their public school despite its middling-level test scores. The article's fascinating -- we hope the Chron keeps following these kids throughout the year. How'd you take the first day of school as a kid? What's your thoughts about the SFUSD? Share with the class! ...

The SF School District wants to improve, and it wants your opinions. Go give 'em a piece of your mind this week at meetings around the city....