{"id":186357,"date":"2026-02-20T18:17:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T18:17:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/186357\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T18:17:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T18:17:10","slug":"kids-dodge-drugs-feces-near-s-f-mission-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/186357\/","title":{"rendered":"Kids dodge drugs, feces near S.F. Mission school"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since July, Sasha Gaona, chief of staff for District 9 Supervisor Jackie Fielder, has been working with parents, staff and city leadership on how to manage the chaos outside Marshall Elementary<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Parents and staff said they love Marshall\u2019s programs, diversity, community and overall ethos \u2014\u00a0it is a K-5 English-Spanish immersion school that welcomes many newcomer immigrant students<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But the school, located a block from the 16th Street BART Plaza<\/a>, has been dealt a tough hand geographically. Six school staffers and six parents told Mission Local about their routine sights<\/a>: drug use, drug dealing, public intoxication, public urination, public defecation, littering, sex, and nudity.\u00a0All are in the school\u2019s immediate environs.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy daughter covers her mouth and nose,\u201d\u00a0said Karen Puc, the mother of a seven-year-old student, in Spanish. \u201cSometimes we play that we jump poop on the street,\u201d she said \u2014 they make it a game, like hopscotch. <\/p>\n

\"AFeces outside of Marshall Elementary on Wednesday February. 18, 2026. Photo by Oscar Palma.<\/p>\n

Students have come to laugh at how many feces they have to avoid on their way to class, concurred a teacher.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes people are blocking the sidewalk and won\u2019t move,\u201d said Edelmira Velasquez, the mother of a five-year-old girl. \u201cThey\u2019re peeing as we walk and they don\u2019t seem to care. It\u2019s a little uncomfortable.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"The \u201cThieves\u2019 Market\u201d near 16th and Mission in June 2025. Photo by Vincent Pflieger.<\/p>\n

\"A16th Street between Mission and Capp streets on March 28, 2025. Photo by Marc Salomon<\/p>\n

But Marshall Elementary is not the only children\u2019s site close to the 16th Street plazas. Mission Neighborhood Center runs an early education program at 1954 Mission St. The sidewalks outside the building were once similarly chaotic but have become considerably calmer in recent months.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With that in mind, Gaona has requested more police foot patrols around the school \u2014 the Mission police station, at 17th and Valencia, is both a few blocks, and light-years, away \u2014 and community policing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So far Marshall parents have managed to get a police officer from Mission Station assigned to be on site most days during drop-off and pick-up hours. <\/p>\n

According to a statement provided by the Department of Emergency Management, the city recently expanded community ambassador<\/a> presence in the Mission, with ambassadors<\/a> providing safe passage escorts, positive engagements, basic interventions, de-escalation, drug activity deterrence, litter cleanup, wellness checks, and overdose reversals. <\/p>\n

While none of those ambassadors appeared to be specifically assigned to Marshall, the department wrote that they are able to move around or stay fixed in one place, prioritizing \u201cflexibility of resource type and location.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

There are at least 12 ambassadors and two supervisors on the streets of the Mission, the department continued, working schedules that \u201cmay change at the city\u2019s discretion based on shifting operational needs and street conditions.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"ThreeA group across from the classroom\u2019s windows on Dec. 4, 2025. Photo courtesy of a Marshall Elementary staffer.<\/p>\n

Still, everyone acknowledged that there\u2019s work to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are mental health issues, there\u2019s defecation, there\u2019s drug usage everywhere. We have had people having sex here underneath the third grade classrooms,\u201d said a school staffer, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation. \u201cI\u2019ve worked at different schools and this is the first experience that I\u2019ve had so close to drugs, or people doing drugs within school grounds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the last three years, 1,946 requests were filed using the city\u2019s 311 report system\u00a0for the streets bordering\u00a0the school, according to city data. That\u2019s roughly two per day.<\/p>\n

\"AAbout two 311 reports were filed per day in the area around Marshall Elementary over the last three years. Image courtesy of the office of the city\u2019s administrator.<\/p>\n

Another female staffer at Marshall, who also asked to remain anonymous, said she\u2019s been followed on her way to and from the school. \u201cI cried the whole first week I worked here because I felt unsafe and I just didn\u2019t know where to walk,\u201d she said. She thought about leaving, but decided against it because she doesn\u2019t want to leave the kids halfway through the school year.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe it\u2019s a bit better from the time I arrived,\u201c said a teacher, who also asked to remain anonymous.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I still can\u2019t say that I\u2019m in a clean, peaceful environment with the right conditions to develop my work, and for the children, who are the most important, to be safe and ready to learn.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The teacher said that, on occasion, smoke has come through the windows facing 15th Street. It is not tobacco smoke, the teacher said, and staff struggle to answer questions from children about what it is.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat can I tell these poor kids?\u201d the teacher continued. \u201cI tell them these are substances people consume that are bad for their health. They tell me, \u2018Teacher, the smell bothers us.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AA man stands with his pants half way down beneath a classroom at Marshall Elementary on Sep. 15, 2025. Photo courtesy of a Marshall Elementary staffer.<\/p>\n

The fact that nearly 90 percent of Marshall\u2019s student population is Hispanic, and about 86 percent of them fall under socio-economical disadvantage, make the conditions around the school seem particularly unfair. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is completely unacceptable the conditions that they have beenoperating in. We live in one of the wealthiest cities in the world and our children can\u2019t have access to good public safety,\u201d said Gaona. \u201cWe legally can\u2019t control city departments, but the power we do have is elevating our constituents\u2019 concerns. I\u2019m always happy to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Jan. 26, Fielder sent an email to Mayor Daniel Lurie and multiple city heads in an attempt to effect change.<\/p>\n

Steven Betz, the mayor\u2019s assistant chief of public safety, replied offering to be the point person problems around the school. Betz told Fielder that he was talking to other city departments to create a plan for Marshall Elementary.<\/p>\n

Since Betz became involved, parents and teachers have noticed a few changes. <\/p>\n

Betz held at least one meeting with school staff and the Marshall PTA, which has raised hopes that change is underway. Public Works reports that, over the last month, the agency started cleaning the area around the school before children arrive in the morning, instead of afterward. <\/p>\n

The department has also been steam cleaning the sidewalks around the school proactively instead of waiting for 311 requests.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AStaffers and parents at Marshall Elementary say people often congregate at the ADA ramp at 15th and Capp streets. Photo by Oscar Palma.<\/p>\n

And while the adults get to work, children at Marshall Elementary have their own plans. On a recent visit to the school, the windows of one of the classrooms were covered with construction paper cutouts made for a recent class about Martin Luther King\u2019s \u201cI have a dream\u201d speech.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

When asked about their own dreams, a few were predictable, like \u201cI want to go to Disneyland.\u201d<\/p>\n

A surprising number, however, dealt with the streets around the school.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\u201cFor people not to throw garbage on the street,\u201d read another. \u201cFor no more unhoused people and garbage on Mission Street,\u201d read one. \u201cFor people to have a place to live.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Since July, Sasha Gaona, chief of staff for District 9 Supervisor Jackie Fielder, has been working with parents,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":186358,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[2673,87769,87770,101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-186357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-16th-st-plaza-cleanup","tag-capp-street","tag-marshall-elementary","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186357\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}