Executive Director Message

Together, let our dreams Blossom glad we are back! 2023-2024

Read Executive Director Vanessa Marrero's Welcome Back Message:

I am thrilled to have the opportunity to lead such an amazing organization, Parents for Public Schools of San Francisco! Each of you are pivotal to the success of our educational ecosystem.

At Parents for Public Schools of San Francisco, we focus on solutions, strive to serve with a community development mindset, have fun and love what we do, and are intentional with our service. I wake up every day asking myself, "What do I want to share about the value and power of public schools?"

A compelling article, titled: Why We Still Need Public Schools: Public Education for the Common Good, Center on Education Policy states:
When asked to choose which reason for public schools seemed most important to parents.

25% participating in a national poll cited as their top reason “to give all children a chance to get ahead and level the playing field”

22% said “to keep America strong and competitive in the global economy

19% said, “to help strengthen our democracy so children will have the skills to participate as adults.

16% said, “because today’s children are tomorrow’s workforce.

To champion public schools and the advancement of resources and services, we have provided 1:1wellness parent check-ins to community tabling, workshops to policy convenings, and services provided with parents to capacity building of the system; we value serving as a credible model.
We bring to parents every day an authentic partnership that crosses differences by empowering solutions. That is the work that must be done- it's critical, it's urgent, it's important, and it means pathways to thriving educational careers.

In fact, over the summer, I attended the Smithsonian National Education Summit; Together We Thrive, Fostering a Sense of Belonging, in Washington DC. A convening with educators and parents all over the country. While SF is unique, we also face similar challenges as other parents in Texas, Florida, and Ohio; we grapple with inequity, teacher shortage, sense of belonging, attendance, and parent power.

Last year, our organization focused on building system coherence in the district, school, and community by hosting convenings, serving on task forces, tabling in communities, speaking out at Board of Education meetings, and launching digital platforms to message what and how we are doing. We have grown our followers by 300% and have increased our staff, doubling ethnicity across APPI, Latino, and Black leaders in our organization. Our Board welcomed its only Black Board Member and added Latino Board Member.
This year our focus is attendance; with over 100 schools in the district, we will bring our six solutions with parents across schools. To learn more about our exciting Our Six Solutions: https://my.visme.co/view/016vmjx1-g8nlq7ormr3q2m9d

Parents of Public Schools of San Francisco, we can only do this together.

We recognize there will be growing pains, but we know there will be great milestones, and if we stay rooted in this mission, "We believe public education is the fundamental value of democracy," huge things will come for our children and our schools!

In Service, Vanessa