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In 2011 the head of school made a salary of $167,950, according to tax returns. In 2012, the new head of school started with a salary of $240,481 (total compensation). Fundraising is always critical, and mission critical for a head of school, and in recent years there has been a slump as shown in the tax forms that one year included a list of families who donate an extra $100,000 or $8,000 or $12,000 per year that do in fact keep the school afloat during economic downturns. By very recent tax returns, the head of school made upwards of $500,000 in total annual compensation.<ref>https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/941156256</ref> <ref>https://www.nais.org/magazine/independent-school/fall-2021/head-of-school-compensation-and-the-legal-landscape/</ref>
In 2011 the head of school made a salary of $167,950, according to tax returns. In 2012, the new head of school started with a salary of $240,481 (total compensation). Fundraising is always critical, and mission critical for a head of school, and in recent years there has been a slump as shown in the tax forms that one year included a list of families who donate an extra $100,000 or $8,000 or $12,000 per year that do in fact keep the school afloat during economic downturns. By very recent tax returns, the head of school made upwards of $500,000 in total annual compensation.<ref>https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/941156256</ref> <ref>https://www.nais.org/magazine/independent-school/fall-2021/head-of-school-compensation-and-the-legal-landscape/</ref>



==School structure==
==School structure==

Revision as of 16:52, 15 February 2022

Katherine Delmar Burke School
Address
Map
7070 California Street

San Francisco
,
San Francisco County
,
California
94121

United States
Information
TypePrivate
MottoEducate, Encourage & Empower Girls
Established1908
FounderKatherine Delmar Burke
Head of schoolMichele Williams
GradesKindergarten-Eighth grade
GenderGirls
Enrollment400 (2020-2021)
Color(s)Green and Gold   
MascotTree
AccreditationCAIS,NAIS
YearbookWorks & Days
Tuition$41,000 (Lower School)
$41,000 (Upper School)
Director of Upper SchoolSheena Tart-Zelvin
Director of Lower SchoolAlice Moore
Director of AdmissionsNatalie Mast
Athletic DirectorAshling Bryant
Websitehttp://www.kdbs.org

Katherine Delmar Burke School, commonly known as Burke's,[1] is an independent girls' school for kindergarten through eighth grade, located in the Sea Cliff neighborhood of San Francisco, California, United States, near Lincoln Park. Until 1975 it also included a high school. It was founded in 1908 by Katherine Delmar Burke and was named Miss Burke's School. [2]

Burke's is one of three all-girl K-8 schools in San Francisco. The school is a member of the California Association of Independent Schools. Originally it could have been a finishing school but the founder Katherine Delmar Burke wanted girls to be college ready.[3]

History

The school's first location in 1908 was at Steiner and Pacific Streets in Pacific Heights. It then relocated to a house at 2310 Broderick Street. In 1918 the growing school moved to a new building designed by architect Julia Morgan (a friend of Katherine Burke), located at 3065 Jackson Street. The school began acquiring property in Sea Cliff in 1929. At first only the Kindergarten and First grade were located there. The rest of the property was used as a sports venue for the upper classes. There was a large grass sports field, basketball courts, and 5 tennis courts. In 1949, grades 2 through 6 were moved there after the completion of new classrooms.

The high school and grades 7 and 8 remained at the Jackson St. building until 1975, when Burke's high school closed and the building was acquired by San Francisco University High School.[4][5][6]

For many years, Burke's was considered a pre-eminent school. With the parochial schools, it and Hamin's school were two of the only private schools in San Francisco in the early twentieth century. The school was nestled in Pacific Heights and the classes were small from the start. [7] The book San Francisco's Pacific Heights lists the different locations as the 1908 location being at Steiner and Pacific in a location now gone and then 2310 Broderick Street where the house had five rooms and there were eight-nine students. Eventually they outgrew the house and moved elsewhere.

The power structure of the school started with Katherine Delmar Burke's mother Elizabeth "Lizzie" Kennedy who was related to the Kennedy family and had run a school. The graduates of her school became part of the city's elite and formed a powerful network as would the Burke's alumnae in years to come.[8]

The school was called "Miss Burke's" as shown in a Works and Days yearbook at the San Francisco Library from the 1950s. [9] By the 1970s, it was called "Katherine Delmar Burke's" as shown in a cookbook made by the school "Katherine Delmar Burke's Complete Kitchen Works." [10]

In 1954 the seventh grade was located at 3065 Jackson and the tuition for grades 6 through 12 was $775, payable in two installments with fees for lab, P.E., and art supplies, according to the San Francisco Pacific Heights book.

An Irish newsletter mentioned "All Hail With Joyous Voices," a book by David Fleishhacker and how it shows the place in history that Burke's holds in San Francisco especially for getting young women college ready. [11] [12]

Governance

The board of trustees and head of school role is critical to a functioning school, and the board takes an “oath of loyalty” to the head that could lead to a situation where no one is in charge with the head differing to wealthy donors (who may be on the board).[13] [14] [15]

In 2011 the head of school made a salary of $167,950, according to tax returns. In 2012, the new head of school started with a salary of $240,481 (total compensation). Fundraising is always critical, and mission critical for a head of school, and in recent years there has been a slump as shown in the tax forms that one year included a list of families who donate an extra $100,000 or $8,000 or $12,000 per year that do in fact keep the school afloat during economic downturns. By very recent tax returns, the head of school made upwards of $500,000 in total annual compensation.[16] [17]

School structure

Since Burke's has been in San Francisco for a hundred plus years, there are many alumnae present in the Bay Area who are still involved with the school structure. Some have gone on to become parents as the school as well. Burke's alumnae newsletter as far back as 2012 listed the number of students of alumnae who were at the school, and then the number was 15.[18]

Culture

A modernization is that the girls are now allowed to wear pants for the first time in the school's history. Gender is being reconsidered at this historically all-girl's school in ways that were inconceivable in the past. The Gender Inclusion Statement[19] has been significant modernization in a traditional environment where the uniform was a skirt for more than a hundred years.[20][21]

A culture of a school is said to change about every ten years, and with the steep increase in the last decade along with modernizations in the view of gender, Burke's does change throughout time. It is advertised as an open campus, and yet in the past few years there's a notable security presence at the school and the students even had a day of appreciation for the security in February 2022.

This culture is described in the Vanity Fair article "Blue Bloods and Billionaires" that features at least one benefactor to the school.[22] The Nob Hill Gazette also chronicles many of the alumnae and parents of the school in the article, "Old Money, New Money, and Everything in Between."[23]

One indepedent school system insurance United Educators points to instance where some student’s families become benefactors and the students can overpower the teacher.

Girls' school specific info

Burke’s hosts a speaker series called, "Great Girls Deserve Great Schools Symposium” that was started by Burke's alumna Doris Fisher '49 in the "early 2000s to bring prominent educators from around the United States to campus to speak about the challenges of teaching girls in our modern society.” Speakers include Madeline Levine, Ph.D., bestselling author of The Price of Privilege.[24]

The concept of mean girls is discussed across social media sites in relation to Burke's. One 2019 alum on Facebook reviews (since not viewable) states there was an "extreme rich kids are always right". This idea is backed up by books such as “Girls on the Verge” by Burke's alumna Vendela Vida that discusses what makes a “good family” in these circles and her experiences as a debutante.

Recently Rachel Simmons spoke at Burke's as advertised by the school and her work centers knows the girls' school culture and the parent culture as shown by her book, "Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls."

Admissions

In a recent job description for advancement, there's a term known as "loyals"[25] that include tech titans as well as families that descended from founding fathers, and families of beloved headmasters who also were well known in the city. [26]

With the competition steep to get into kindergarten, alumnae advantage creates a system where some families can be favored in admissions.

In 2006 the school was profiled in the San Francisco Chronicle article "Many reluctantly choose private schools". [27] The article states that, "Private and parochial schools -- arguably a second, shadow school system in San Francisco -- are not governed by the state and receive no public money. They must provide only the most basic information about themselves, including their address and how many students they enroll, to the state's Department of Education. They are not required to give standardized tests or report their demographic data. In general, they fly under the radar of government officials and the media."

Burke's is prominently featured in this article, as well as in other articles in this publication around that time, and the main person interviewed sends his twin girls to Burke's and another child to an independent high school in the city Urban. The parent is quoted as saying he is uncomfortable with the class divisions and how you can tell the difference between public and private schools in San Francisco just by looking at the students. This 2006 article shows the angst parents felt at that time as tuitions were rising, Urban was $26,000 and the Burke's tuition was $70,000 for twins, which the parents got some financial assistance on.

Tuition numbers

In 1954 the seventh grade was located at 3065 Jackson and the tuition for grades 6 through 12 was $775, payable in two installments with fees for lab, P.E., and art supplies, according to the San Francisco Pacific Heights book.

The tuition has also increased in the past ten years and is now $41,000.[28]

At the price point of $41,000 (this accounts for construction as well as the increase in insurance for private schools), Burke's may have reached what Caitlin Flanagan in "Private Schools are Indefensible" in the April 2021 Atlantic recently stated that money is god in private schools.[29]

A comparison of years past in the publicly available tax forms will show the financial situation at Burke's is different than presented by the Board of Trustees.[30] The tax forms show a school whose endowment is lower than peer schools such as Hamlin's.[31] [32]

Accounting for inflation from the 1980s tuition of around $5,000, Burke's would be about $11,000 today. That's the current cost of tuition for one at competitor Notre Dame des Victoires where three plus students can attend for less than one Burke's tuitions -- similar to the costs at other parochial schools that have also had am equally long history in San Francisco. The other independent schools in the California Association of Independent Schools have increased more and are in the $40,000 to $50,000/annual tuition. Burke's gave out $1.9 million in financial aid in the last tax year.

Curriculum and other trainings

In about 2010, the book "Girls on the Edge: The Four Factors Driving the New Crisis for Girls" by Leonard Sax delved into the areas of sexual identity, the cyberbubble, obsessions, and environmental toxins and used Burke's students and their families as interviews.[3] This shows the changing world for girls and by 2015 a climate survey at Burke's by the educational group Challenging Success would reveal an underlying stress in both the students and adults. The head of school wanted to "do it right" and started a school-wide mindfulness program using Mindful Schools that's been in effect to date.[33]

A former upper school head's blog discussed how to handle bullying as an educator in 2018[34] that referenced a Rosetta Lee training [35]. The Rosetta Lee training showed the classic girls' school bullying (especially in middle school) and used modern-day terms like indirect aggression and relational aggression as well as class-based bullying.

In the Rosetta Lee training, she provided many resources about how to emerge from a bullying culture. One is to understand the role of the bystander and to try and turn students into up-standers who are willing to act to prevent the harmful bullying climate.[36]

Extracurricular activities

Since Burke's was one of the only private schools in early 1900s San Francisco, its graduates have formed a portion of the city's elite society since the start. There are pictures in the book about Pacific Heights of old families whose children (known as scions) are now students at Burke’s.[37]

Many “Burke's girls" each year are debutantes and everyone is invited to learn to dance at the MidWeeklies (now in its sixtieth year) with the other private schools in the network.[38]

"This is the little-known world of the MidWeeklies, an invitation-only dance school for sixth- and seventh-graders. The event marks an important steppingstone in a San Francisco social education, the path to etiquette classes, the Cotillion and eventually to the exclusive Francisca and Pacific-Union clubs," states a San Francisco Chronicle piece from 2011.

This is a lesser-seen side of San Francisco, but Burke's girls have been part of it from the start and it's a way to socialize with boys from the "brother school" Town or the other boys schools.

Here is the background from the Chronicle story:

"The schools whose rosters are used as invitation mailing lists have denied any association with it. Yet for eight nights during the academic year, 400 private-school children in the sixth and seventh grades gather at San Francisco's California Club for the invitation-only dance classes.

Everything about the MidWeeklies - its exclusivity and 80-year history, its arcane dress code and wedding-style invitations, the way people shuffle and flinch when its name arises - seems from another era.”

Campus

The school became known to law enforcement and the F.B.I. in 2019 when there was a credible threat from a neighbor who spoke of delusions and a mass attack, but did not mention the school specifically.[10] In the 2019 tax records, the school spent $172,869 on security as well as around $103,862 on Folger Levin law firm.[39]

In 2007, San Francisco Magazine published a story, "Schools Gone Wild" that quoted the former head of school for 25-years beginning in 1970 David Fleishhacker[40] as saying, “All schools have edifice complexes.”

The article continues to state that in 2007, "Indeed, Burke’s is in the midst of its Second Century Project, which seeks to raise $17 million to upgrade its 3.5-acre Sea Cliff campus with state-of-the-art science, fine arts, and performance and gym facilities, as well as an expanded 25,000-volume library with dedicated women’s and global collections to serve its 400 students."

This piece continues to describe the competition, "In lockstep, the 400-student Hamlin School just purchased the lot next door to its existing campus on Broadway, in one of San Francisco’s ritziest neighborhoods."

In recent years (original end date 2018), the school underwent a construction to upgrade the dining space and add classrooms where the tennis courts once had been.[41] The offer made in the video to match gifts of $25,000 rankled some alumnae who wrote about the donations solicitations it in greatschools.net in the reviews. [42]

Burke's advertised as an open campus, and yet in the past few years there's a notable security presence at the school and the students even had a day of appreciation for the security in February 2022.

The school was able to open as soon as health guidelines permitted while public schools were shuttered because of running through the district.[43][44] [45]

Former headteachers

  • Katherine Delmar Burke, 1908
  • Barbara Burke, 1929
  • Olive Balcom, 1960
  • David Fleishhacker 1970-1995
  • Jessie-Lee Abbott 1995
  • Kim Wargo 2008
  • Lisa Lohr 2011-2
  • Michele Williams 2012-present

Notable alumnae

References

  1. ^ Pope, Denise; Brown, Maureen; Miles, Sarah (2015-07-27). Overloaded and Underprepared: Strategies for Stronger Schools and Healthy, Successful Kids. John Wiley & Sons. p. 154. ISBN 978-1-119-02244-2.
  2. ^ https://sfpl.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S93C1788081
  3. ^ "Katherine Delmar Burke School | All-Girls K-8 School in San Francisco ~ History". Burke's. Archived from the original on January 28, 2022. Retrieved February 14, 2022.
  4. ^ Tricia O'Brien, San Francisco's Pacific Heights And Presidio Heights (Arcadia Publishing, 2008), ISBN 978-0738559803, pp. 76-77. Excerpts available at Google Books.
  5. ^ Mark Anthony Wilson, Julia Morgan: Architect of Beauty (Gibbs Smith, 2012), ISBN 978-1423636540, pp. 65-66. Excerpts available at Google Books.
  6. ^ "History" Archived 2012-12-03 at the Wayback Machine at Katherine Delmar Burke School official website (accessed 29-11-2012).
  7. ^ https://www.google.com/books/edition/San_Francisco_s_Pacific_Heights_and_Pres/J8dEQubtnqYC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=katherine+delmar+burke&printsec=frontcover
  8. ^ https://www.google.com/books/edition/History_of_the_San_Francisco_Bay_Region/rbQzAAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=katherine+delmar+burke&pg=PA187&printsec=frontcover
  9. ^ https://sfpl.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S93C1788081
  10. ^ https://sfpl.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S93C3555753
  11. ^ http://www.ucdpress.ie/pdfs/09%20September%20SF%20Irish%20Herald%20review%20p18.pdf
  12. ^ https://sfpl.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S93C2532669
  13. ^ https://www.greatschools.org/california/san-francisco/8684-Katherine-Delmar-Burke-School/#Reviews
  14. ^ https://www.caisca.org/page/22435_Conference_Presentations.asp?pass=2&event=371
  15. ^ https://www.nais.org/magazine/independent-school/winter-2022/boardroom-understanding-the-parent-trustee-role/
  16. ^ https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/941156256
  17. ^ https://www.nais.org/magazine/independent-school/fall-2021/head-of-school-compensation-and-the-legal-landscape/
  18. ^ https://doczz.net/doc/5742629/here---burke-s---katherine-delmar-burke-school
  19. ^ https://www.burkes.org/about/who-we-are/our-commitments/inclusivity/gender-inclusion-at-burkes#:~:text=Burke%27s%20Gender%20Inclusion%20Statement%20Burke%E2%80%99s%20mission%20is%20to,and%20fulfill%20their%20potential%2C%20now%20and%20throughout%20life.
  20. ^ https://www.burkes.org/admissions/student-uniforms
  21. ^ https://assets.dennisuniform.com/clients/uniform-guidelines/w0ubur.pdf
  22. ^ https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2013/10/pacific-heights-real-estate
  23. ^ https://nobhillgazette.com/old-money-new-money-and-everything-in-between/
  24. ^ https://www.burkes.org/support/events
  25. ^ https://www.burkes.org/list-detail?pk=190626&fromId=172934
  26. ^ https://www.burkes.org/support/loyalty-society
  27. ^ https://www.sfgate.com/education/article/Many-reluctantly-choose-private-schools-2534121.php
  28. ^ https://www.burkes.org/about/at-a-glance
  29. ^ https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/04/private-schools-are-indefensible/618078/
  30. ^ https://www.burkes.org/about/leadership/board-of-trustees/news-from-the-board
  31. ^ https://www.burkes.org/about/leadership/board-of-trustees/news-from-the-board
  32. ^ https://www.burkes.org/about/at-a-glance
  33. ^ https://www.google.com/books/edition/Girls_on_the_Edge_The_Four_Factors_Drivi/ftE2j_5dDN8C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=katherine+delmar+burke&pg=PA305&printsec=frontcover
  34. ^ https://www.burkes.org/news-detail?pk=1039006
  35. ^ https://www.slideshare.net/leerosetta/katherine-delmar-burke-school-alternative-aggression
  36. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20060819111408/http://www.ncesd.org:80/safe_civil/docs/resources/cycle_of_bullying.pdf
  37. ^ San Francisco's Pacific Heights and Presidio Heights, Tricia O'Brien, 2008 https://www.google.com/books/edition/San_Francisco_s_Pacific_Heights_and_Pres/J8dEQubtnqYC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=katherine+delmar+burke&printsec=frontcover
  38. ^ https://www.sfgate.com/style/article/MidWeeklies-instructs-kids-in-manners-and-dancing-2371291.php#photo-1898630
  39. ^ https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/941156256
  40. ^ https://sanfran.com/schools-gone-wild.
  41. ^ https://www.givecampus.com/schools/KatherineDelmarBurkeSchool/the-alma-mater-fund-of-the-campaign-for-girls/#updates
  42. ^ https://www.greatschools.org/california/san-francisco/8684-Katherine-Delmar-Burke-School/#Reviews
  43. ^ https://www.burkes.org/community/parents/parents-association
  44. ^ https://www.ktvu.com/news/coronavirus-forces-all-san-francisco-public-schools-to-close-for-3-weeks
  45. ^ https://www.msnbc.com/weekends-with-alex-witt/watch/san-francisco-district-union-reach-deal-to-reopen-schools-100660293978
  46. ^ Sara Langs,“Afterman wins first Trailblazer of the Year Award”, Sports Illustrated, December 2, 2019
  47. ^ "Obituary -- Elizabeth Charleston", San Francisco Chronicle, April 11, 1997.
  48. ^ Staff (April 23, 1986). "Marjorie Eaton, Veteran Actress of Stage and Screen, P.A. Resident" (payment required). San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved January 16, 2012.
  49. ^ "Burke's Alumna Jennifer Egan Wins Pulitzer" Archived 2013-04-15 at archive.today, Katherine Delmar Burke School official website, April 6, 2011.
  50. ^ Julian Guthrie, "Vendela Vida wraps trilogy on women in crisis", San Francisco Chronicle, July 6, 2010.
  51. ^ "The Inner World Of Ali Wong". digital.modernluxury.com. Retrieved 2020-01-31.

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