Dear Parents/Guardians,

It is with heartfelt words and mixed emotions that I write this letter to you. As of June 30, 2020, I will be leaving the position of Principal of Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy and beginning in a new position as a Performing Arts Supervisor in the Visual & Performing Arts (VAPA) department.

For the past five years, I have had the absolute pleasure of leading HMCRA and helping to build systems and structures to help it turn into one of the most dynamic public schools in San Francisco. In reflecting back over the past five years, I’m thrilled about all the positive changes we have made, including the very strong focus on academic achievement, the focus on social-emotional learning, and the positive changes in overall school culture. We have made the education at HMCRA more about the whole child and less about test scores, and I think you can feel it the moment you walk in the building. I have always said that my goal is to make it difficult for parents to pick up their children at school because their child does not want to leave, and I feel that we have mostly succeeded. 

I am also very pleased with the amazing staff that has come to call Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy home. The HMCRA staff is filled with hard-working and remarkable people that care deeply about all of our kids! This is a building full of leaders and learners who are philosophically-aligned to figuring out a better way to make education fun, engaging, and new; they do not settle for allowing any of our students to be underserved, especially those from cultures that have been traditionally marginalized. I am pleased with the work that has been done and am super excited about the team that will be here next year and beyond to continue to actualize the vision of HMCRA. I know that they will continue to work tirelessly to provide a high-quality education for your children. 

What I am most proud of, though, is our school community’s commitment to social justice and equity. We have the shared belief that we must all come up together and we have proven this year after year by meeting the state and federal financial shortfalls by raising money to provide staff, resources, programs, and supplies for those who need more. We have created spaces for discussion on how to try to continuously improve in the area of race and equity. Even at this moment, during a shelter in place and COVID-19,  there are dozens of families reaching out to see how they might be of support for others in our community with greater needs. And, perhaps most importantly, we have worked diligently to put each and every child first, regardless of race, gender, religion, socioeconomic status or any of our differences. We have found the commonalities that bond us and bind us as human beings, as people in this world together.

I used to say that we would need to change the name of the school if we couldn't live up to it, but now I say that the name must always stay Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy. We can never change the need to focus on civil rights and working towards true equity but we can change the people if they are not getting the work done. I know that we have made so much growth as a staff and as a school and that we are headed in the right direction. I also know that there is a need for a new leader to come in and get HMCRA over that hump that still remains, continuing to work to dissolve the social divide that still remains. My decision to leave is due to the need for a better work-life-family balance with less stress and demand and knowing that Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy still needs a leader who can put in the long work hours that are necessitated at this time. I would not be able to do the job well by not being able to continue to fully commit with time and energy to all the tasks that the work of being a principal entails.

I hope you know how much I have truly enjoyed these last five years. I am especially appreciative of our students. I have been most fortunate to get to know your children, both as students and as amazing young Human Beings. I am extremely grateful to you for entrusting to me your children each day you send them to school.  I look forward to hearing great things about their accomplishments as they continue their education at Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy and beyond. I love this community, our staff, and most of all, our children.  

My supervisors, Ana de Arce and Regina Piper will be working with a staff and a parent lead to ensure that there will be community voice in the selection process for the next principal and that the leadership transition will be seamless for your children. They will be in regular communication about the process for involving members of the HMCRA community in selecting a new principal to tackle the unfinished work and continue to propel the school towards greatness. I trust them 100%, as they have always held HMCRA close and want nothing but the best for our community. More information will be coming soon. 

I am still working through the end of this school year to help ensure we have a strong finish to this strange ending, and I want to thank you with eternal gratitude for your support and help in making HMCRA so wonderful! This has truly been something WE have done TOGETHER!

Sincerely,

Ron Machado