A group of unruly protesters abruptly stormed a S.F. State dormitory last night while students were presumably trying to study for finals which start next week.

According to S.F. State officials, the unauthorized people stormed Mary Ward Hall at about 8 p.m. creating quite a scene. No word on what the rally was all about, but it certainly gave students a good reason to take a study break.

Police were called to the scene and attempted to remove the protesters who reportedly resisted arrest, said Ellen Griffin, spokeswoman for the university.

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Teacher layoffs: another summer time ritual.

Today, 70 teachers and 35 other public school employees will receive layoff notifications.

If this year is anything like recent ones, though, almost all those employees will have their jobs back by the time school is back in session.

The layoffs have become something of an annual rite of summer vacation as of late. The San Francisco Unified School District, cash-strapped and uncertain how much state-funding it'll receive for the upcoming school year, fires off the layoff notices as a precaution. This, in turn, angers the city's teacher's union, United Educators of San Francisco, which sees the layoff notices as an unnecessary stress on the teachers, some of whom will likely find jobs in other district's rather than wait and hope that the layoff will be rescinded.

This year's layoff numbers, though, do bring signs of optimism for both sides.

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An SFUSD must read

Six San Francisco Unified School District employees were hit with felony charges after allegedly diverting $15 million in public money into slush fund accounts that were later used for employee bonuses, among other things.

The accused include: former Associate Superintendent Trish Bascom; former Senior Executive Directors Linda Sue Lovelace and Meyla Fatma Ruwin; former Principal Administrative Analyst Lilian Lamorena Capuli; former Assistant Principal Mychel M. Navales; and Senior Clerk Typist Betty Chuey Wong.

District Attorney George Gascón said the group also misappropriated some $250,000 for their own personal use.

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Courtesy of the SPCA

Meet Tucker. Last year's winner.

Attention all pups and mutts: Get read to strut your stuff.

This year's Whole Enchihuahua costume and awareness event is set to be fiercer and cuter than ever, as the Bay Area's most adorable pooches and their humans will meet in Dolores Park this Saturday for three hours of entertainment, wet kisses, and canine education.

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Robert Shearer

The corruption saga surrounding Robert Shearer, the former SF State employee accused scamming the cash-strapped university out of millions, is finally coming to a head.

After years of investigation, Shearer was arrested on April 18 in his Fremont home on suspicion of colluding with a hazardous waste disposal contractor, Stephen Cheung of Chemical & HazMat Technology, to inflate contract costs.

Cheung's arrest was a little more exciting.

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It was show-and-tell time at school

A female student at International Studies Academy was detained this morning after she allegedly zapped her classmate with a stun gun she brought to school -- the same school that was on lockdown yesterday when a student was reportedly found with a gun.

Police say they got the call before 9 a.m. today on reports that a male student was hurt; police arrived but said they could not find any injuries on the boy. They did however, find the stun gun, which belongs to the female student.

According to Sgt. Dennis Toomer, the girl was showing off the gun to a curious classmate when the two got into a "friendly tussle" over the stun gun. At some point during the tussle, the male student claimed he was zapped by the gun.

See Also: BART Passenger Zaps Other BART Passenger With Stun Gun

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Armed kid at school today

A 14-year-old boy is in custody today after he was reportedly found with a gun at a Potrero Hill high school, police said.

Teachers at International Studies Academy, located at 655 De Haro Street, called police at about 11:15 a.m. claiming there was an armed student on campus. A suspicious security guard at the school had taken the kid to the principal's office where he was asked to empty his pockets.

The eighth-grader instead took off running and left the school grounds, said Officer Carlos Manfredi.

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And that's a good thing?

Preschool just isn't what it used to be.

The Pleasanton preschool that got into trouble last month after a teacher allegedly tied up a toddler and shot a photo of the scene, is receiving another demerit.

According to CBS News, a staffer at Centerpointe Christian Preschool reportedly pinched a kid sometime in February. No word on why this child was roughed up, perhaps it was nap time at the school?

Needless to say, the state is not happy about it and being that this is the second reported abuse case in less than a year (try less than 90 days), the state is slapping the private school with a $150 fine. We assume that's included in tuition fees.

See Also: East Bay Teacher Ties Up Toddler Who Refused to Nap, Takes a Photo

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If you had so much fun over spring break that you are now considering dropping out of school to make the beach your full-time gig, read this article first.

SF Weekly came across this cringe-worthy message over the weekend -- which among other things, verifies our state's educational system was been failed us.

Joe Eskenazi

Beauty school dropout ...

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For better or worse

You'll be hard-pressed to find any adult who'll say nap time isn't important. But apparently over at the Centerpointe Christian preschool in Pleasanton, mid-day siestas are non-negotiable.

We hopped right on the bandwagon of appalled people this morning after reading the news of a preschool teacher who tied a toddler's wrists and ankles with masking tape, then made her sit on a cot as she took a photograph.

The incident was never made public until recently when the teacher whipped out her cellphone to show two other teachers the image of what would become a not-so-proud moment. One of those teachers just so happened to be the mother of the two-year-old girl tied up, according to press reports.

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