Mission High School
Public schools are important to us. My mom was a public school teacher and my dad’s still working as a professor at Sonoma State. Joe and I send our kids to San Francisco Community in the Excelsior. In fact, most of our close friends here in San Francisco send their kids to public school. Should anyone ever tell you the city has terrible public education and you must flee to Marin, let me speak to them. We’ve had some wonderful experiences here.
However—and this is not a news flash—public schools are terribly underfunded. When our sons’ teachers send home notes asking for things like erasers, Kleenex, glue sticks and other supplies for the classroom, it’s a stark reminder that our city’s school system is in desperately in need of things much more basic than the organic garden that we’re always looking for help with too. Carrots are nice, but pencils are necessary. When the kids have furlough days, it’s clear that things are need to be fixed. (Though, as the boys are watching Sponge Bob at 10 am on a Friday, I think they’d disagree wholeheartedly with this).
All of this is to say that Joe and I have decided to make public school and education our focus at Tacolicious. At the Valencia Street location, we’re starting to partner with Mission High School—which seems like a natural fit considering our Paul Madonna mural is a constant reminder of this high school’s beauty. At the Chestnut Street location, we’re partnering with buildOn which runs great afterschool programs, not to mention takes kids to build schools all over the world.
But all you really need to remember is this: Starting in March, every month Tacolicious will give 15 percent of its Monday proceeds to a public school in the neighborhood. This means lunch and dinner. Look at it this way—since we’re essentially open from 11:30 to midnight (Chestnut closes an hour earlier), there are over 12 hours in the day for you to eat a taco and make a difference. Or get drunk off tequila and not be filled with self loathing. It’s also a perfect time to bring in the kids. Our kids menu is $7 for an agua fresca, beans and rice, a choice of taco, and a sundae. Dieters can come in for the Marina Girl Salad. There’s something for everyone, but particularly the schools.
Here’s the breakdown as to what schools are the beneficiaries for the spring. We’ll start up again in the fall.
We hope you’ll come by and forward this post to other public school supporters.
Tacolicious School Project
SPRING SESSION, 2012
Valencia Street location
• March, Mission High School
• April, San Francisco Community
• May, Buena Vista Horace Mann
Chestnut Street Location
March, April, and May:
Galileo Academy of Science and Technology and its buildOn afterschool program