A parent-led recall has ousted three San Francisco school board members who kept schools closed — middle and high schoolers were out for 18 months — while the board focused on repainting a historic mural, renaming schools and ending merit admissions at a selective high school.
It was a landslide with nearly four out of five voters voting to recall Alison Collins, the most controversial board member.
“The voters of this City have delivered a clear message that the School Board must focus on the essentials of delivering a well-run school system above all else,” said Mayor London Breed, who endorsed the recall. She’ll appoint three new members who will help choose a new superintendent.
“It’s the people rising up in revolt in San Francisco and saying it’s unacceptable to abandon your responsibility to educate our children,” said Siva Raj, whose children struggled with remote education. A newcomer to the city and a political novice, he launched the recall campaign a year ago with Autumn Looijen. They went online and discovered lots of other parents and community members were fed up. It snowballed — like an avalanche.
The Chinese community was highly motivated: Immigrant parents see merit-based admissions as a ladder for their hard-studying children. And, then, Collins’ anti-Asian tweets came out.
Despite donations from venture capitalists, including billionaire Arthur Rock, this was a blue-on-blue campaign: There are lots of liberal and moderate Democrats in San Francisco who want a competent, students-first school board.
Update: “Closet Republicans” backed the recall, Board of Supervisors president Shamann Walton told the San Francisco Chronicle before the election. He blamed “Trump’s election and bold prejudice” against “people of color making decisions in leadership.”
Six percent of San Francisco voters are registered Republicans. It must be a big closet.