ELECTION 2022
San Francisco’s Board of Education races used to be low-key affairs, but no longer.
After a contentious recall of three members, all by a two-thirds vote or higher, this election is different. Recall turnout was about 36 percent, but turnout should be higher for next week’s ballot. Each of the replacements, all appointees of Mayor London Breed, are running for office for the first time.
The recall was fueled by discontent that SF schools, closed from COVID, were not reopening fast enough, and that the board seemed to prioritize other issues such as renaming schools — which it finally shelved — and the Lowell High admissions policy, which it overturned without proper public notification.
The discord exploded in the wake of an $87 million lawsuit by Alison Collins against her board colleagues and the school district, after she was censured for her toxic tweets years ago about Asian Americans. (Here’s her Medium post about the tweets, where she sort of apologizes.) As for the Collins suit, it was tossed out of court.
Breed’s post-recall appointees — Ann Hsu, Lainie Motamedi, and Lisa Weissman-Ward — have changed the board’s composition, and the board has changed its comportment, although Hsu, in a candidate questionnaire earlier this year, stirred racial resentment with comments that insulted Black and brown families. (She apologized, and the board admonished her.)
The new board has returned Lowell to merit admissions and kicked off a review of all high schools, hired a new superintendent, approved a billion-dollar budget with help from a state windfall, set new academic goals for the district, and started an overhaul of its own practices.
One question to decide: How much will voters remember the recall? One of the ousted members, former board president Gabriela López, has thrown her hat in the ring again. Her website touts her previous stint but makes no mention of the recall or of her support for Collins over the lawsuit.
There are two more challengers. Alida Fisher just missed election to the board in her 2020 run and is a longtime advocate for special education in the district. Karen Fleshman is a mother of two SFUSD students and works as a diversity and inclusion consultant.
We asked all six candidates to answer the same five questions via email. Hsu, Motamedi, and Weissman-Ward responded; the other three did not despite multiple opportunities. (A note about methodology: The candidates knew we would fact-check, potentially annotate answers, and ask follow-up questions tailored to initial responses. We asked them to cap responses at 200 words and advised that we would condense for clarity and brevity.)
The Frisc does not endorse political candidates, campaigns, or ballot measures.
The candidates appear here in alphabetical order.
Ann Hsu
1) Student outcomes in several categories show a troubling gap between students sorted along racial and ethnic lines.
Please choose one category and explain how the district should solve this problem. Please be specific.
Hsu: The focus on student outcomes should be on proficiency to grade level for all students. If some students are not achieving grade level proficiency, that’s the problem we need to solve.
We must focus on K-3 literacy because our current third-grade proficiency rate is only 52 percent, with students from underserved communities having a much lower rate. We need to identify barriers to literacy proficiency for these students and help them overcome the barriers. For example, if it’s absenteeism, then we identify the causes of absenteeism and proceed appropriately.
The Frisc: SFUSD must roll out transitional kindergarten (TK) programs in every elementary school by 2025. Will this help address the K-3 literacy rate?
Hsu: The rollout of TK programs will help with our enrollment but not necessarily our student outcomes. We must ensure that at every grade level, including TK, we are teaching all students what they need to learn to set them up for success not only in school, but in life.
2) Enrollment has trended down for years. Please discuss one issue that you feel is crucial to reverse this decline, and what specifically the board can do about it.
Hsu: Families are leaving SFUSD, especially in middle and high schools, due to the perceived and actual lack of academic rigor. If we can bring back a focus on academic rigor and student achievement — specifically student outcomes — families will stay in SFUSD. It is the job of the board to focus our district on educating students and raising student achievement. One specific step is bringing algebra as an option back to 8th grade.
The Frisc: Do you have a source for the statement that families are leaving SFUSD because of the perceived or actual lack of academic rigor? If so, please point us to it, or otherwise tell us why you believe this to be true.
Hsu: Our district tracks where some families go when they leave us, but we don’t track why. I have been out in the community nonstop for over a year. From what I have heard, elementary school families leave most often due to uncertainty and disappointment associated with school assignments, whereas middle and high school families leave sometimes due to school assignments, but more often due to concern for the quality of academic and also social education in SFUSD.
‘There is high demand for schools like Lowell and SOTA. We need more of them, not less. We must challenge our students academically by meeting them where they are and providing different paths to academic success.’
3) At a recent school board meeting, a teacher said she loved her job and students so much that she hated taking a day off. Then she said this year has been so difficult, she’s seriously thinking about quitting. What do you say to her?
Hsu: I would ensure that the teacher was aware of our empathy for her challenging situation, and that we know our actions must match that empathy. We must support our teachers so that they can feel well equipped on every level to continue to do the job that they love. SFUSD must orient its lens to one of customer service.
Starting with the school board, which should serve San Francisco families and inform and support the mission of SFUSD, we must promote a culture of service from our administrators to our principals to our teachers and, most importantly, to our students.
Lastly, we must listen to teachers. They are the driving force behind the success of our students, and we must ensure that they have the resources to grow personally and professionally with their classrooms and teachings.
4) For the next year, a task force will review SF high schools. If it recommends ending merit-based admissions at Lowell and Ruth Asawa School of the Arts, will you abide by that? More generally, should the district provide the kind of academic environment that, as many families believe, requires merit-based admissions? If so, how?
Hsu: I will absolutely not abide by that recommendation. There is high demand for schools like Lowell and SOTA. We need more of them, not less. We must challenge our students academically by meeting them where they are and providing different paths to academic success. This is accomplished very well at Lowell and SOTA.
However, not all of our high schools should have merit-based admissions. The job of the task force is to first get a holistic picture of our high school portfolio, then recommend how to distribute programs and resources so that all students can have access to the academic programming or other equally excellent programs and career pathways that are appropriate and desired for their specific wants and needs.
The Frisc: In our conversation several months ago, you said “a ‘Lowell everywhere’ is a nice idea, but in terms of resources, it’s inefficient.” Has your thinking changed about distribution of programs and resources?
Hsu: I don’t recall making that statement, however I am looking forward to the findings and recommendations from our high school task force.
5) The district will likely ask voters to approve a facilities bond of $1 billion (or more) in 2023 or 2024. Does the district need to decide whether to close or consolidate schools before planning the bond spending?
Hsu: The study presented at the last board meeting showed we need much more than $1 billion to refurbish our schools. The bond sale plan can and should be done independently of any decision to consolidate schools. The bond spending plan will have to be tied to those decisions and our strategic priorities.
The Frisc: The bond sale should be done independently of consolidation decisions … but the spending will have to be tied to those decisions. Could you clarify?
Hsu: I served as chairperson of the reconstituted SFUSD independent Citizens Bond Oversight Committee for 10 months before stepping down due to being appointed a BoE commissioner. There are pros and cons of listing specific projects on the bond sale document that’s put forth to voters. Listing specific projects ties the district’s hands if and when priorities change. Not listing specific projects requires that the public trust the district to make good decisions after getting the bond money, and that trust is in short supply now.
In either case, it takes a number of months and years to plan and pass a bond, and if we want to put a bond measure to the voters in 2023 or 2024, we need to decide how specific to get, relatively quickly. I don’t want us as a district to be rushed into deciding about school consolidation due to the bond sale timing.
Lainie Motamedi
1) Student outcomes in several categories show a troubling gap between students sorted along racial and ethnic lines.
Please choose one category and explain how the district should solve this problem. Please be specific.
Motamedi: As a commissioner, I am committed to reorienting the district to ensure students are supported throughout their time in our district. The Board of Education is a governance board and our responsibilities are twofold: 1) support SFUSD in carrying out its purpose to successfully provide quality education for all of our students, and 2) ensure we are financially responsible in carrying out that purpose. In short, students must be prioritized front and center in our decision-making and budgets.
The gap areas in student learning are well known. The board and superintendent came together over the last several months to develop a roadmap to improve learning and interrupt the systems that are enabling these gaps. We know our literacy, math proficiency, and career/college readiness outcomes need to improve. For instance, currently only about 50 percent of our socioeconomically disadvantaged students are college-ready upon graduating from high school. We need to provide access and resources to all of our students so they have the opportunity and preparation for success.
The Frisc: Could you address specifically how the district should solve the problem of college readiness?
Motamedi: The superintendent and his staff are in charge of determining interim steps to meet the goals and regularly communicating progress to the board and the public.
2) Enrollment has trended down for years. Please discuss one issue that you feel is crucial to reverse this decline, and what specifically the board can do about it.
Motamedi: As a parent, I have found the current enrollment system confusing and ineffective. We need to clearly and broadly communicate what is offered at all schools. Likewise, we need to invest in programming that is attractive to our students and families. For instance, the district stopped producing a high school course catalog in 2014 and has repeatedly declined to bring it back.
We need [to] take inventory of what is being offered, what we actually have, and what we need to support school sites. This is a needed first step in building confidence about the district’s commitments to academic, enrichment, and extracurricular programs and pathways.
Our enrollment system needs to reflect student and family priorities. I hear too often that the complexity and uncertainty of enrollment systems have led to families divesting from our system or adversely affected their confidence. Criteria are different for elementary, middle, and high schools. The system arguably encourages, and at times incents, families to look outside of our system.
The district [also] needs to deliver on its educational promises and show positive outcomes at all school sites. All neighborhoods and communities must have schools that they are proud of and wish to attend.
The Frisc: Are there studies or surveys showing enrollment uncertainty is driving families away?
Motamedi: SFUSD isn’t currently tracking why families are leaving the district or declining to enroll, but I think we should. San Francisco should have a public education system that all families consider as an option, and knowing why families are opting out is helpful information. Over my decade in the district as a parent, I’ve heard many stories from families indicating that the enrollment process is a source of frustration and a burden. And uncertainty in outcomes, or assignment to a school they did not request, led them to look at alternatives.
‘I am keenly aware how the payroll and benefit issues we inherited have impacted retention, recruitment, and overall [staff] morale. I do believe we are in a significantly better place with Superintendent Wayne’s leadership … that said, I know that these issues can overshadow everything else.’
3) At a recent school board meeting, a teacher said she loved her job and students so much that she hated taking a day off. Then she said this year has been so difficult, she’s seriously thinking about quitting. What do you say to her?
Motamedi: Our students’ learning environment is our educators’ work environment. I regularly hear from principals, educators, families, and students about the difficulty in getting resources and interventions to support learning and instruction. The board’s governance work is focused on student-centered decision-making to support students and educators — and establishing accountability and transparency to ensure that our priorities are met.
I am also keenly aware how the ongoing payroll and benefit issues we inherited have impacted retention, recruitment, and overall morale. Fixing those remaining issues is central to restoring trust and in shoring up our staffing. I do believe we are in a significantly better place with Superintendent Wayne’s leadership in scoping and addressing the issues. That said, I know that these issues can overshadow everything else.
I am committed to ensuring that our educators are supported and have not shied away from doing the challenging work of building systems that are designed and working in support of our educators’ and students’ success.
4) For the next year, a task force will review SF high schools. If it recommends ending merit-based admissions at Lowell and Ruth Asawa School of the Arts, will you abide by that? More generally, should the district provide the kind of academic environment that, as many families believe, requires merit-based admissions? If so, how?
Motamedi: I am committed to ensuring that SFUSD offers access to academic, enrichment, and extracurricular programs that meet the needs, interests, and demands of our students across all high schools. Further, I will continue to advocate for transparency regarding what is being offered in our high schools and where. Our students have the ability, aptitude, and aspiration to succeed. We need to provide access and resources to all of our students so they have the opportunity and preparation for success.
I have not been able to find information about previous efforts to review our portfolio of high schools. I have been told that it has been at least twenty years.
I am very interested in learning from the process the task force undertakes and look forward to their recommendations. I am pleased that this undertaking is meant to review the offerings across all high schools, not just two. I look forward to the recommendations for our portfolio of high schools to best serve our students. I am hopeful that the task force will not just be reviewing the status quo in SFUSD but will look at best practices of districts that are successfully closing opportunity gaps and proving demonstrable and positive student outcomes and success.
5) The district will likely ask voters to approve a facilities bond of $1 billion (or more) in 2023 or 2024. Does the district need to decide whether to close or consolidate schools before planning the bond spending?
Motamedi: As a board, we have had no discussions regarding the scope of any future bonds and school sites, nor have I independently.
The Frisc: You say there haven’t been discussions, but what about looking ahead? This question is about future decisions.
Motamedi: Any response would be conjecture. Approximately 30 percent of SF students are not enrolled in SFUSD schools. I am much more focused on opportunities to increase enrollment through recruitment and retention, and this question does not include that as a factor in long-term decision-making.
Lisa Weissman-Ward
1) Student outcomes in several categories show a troubling gap between students sorted along racial and ethnic lines.
Please choose one category and explain how the district should solve this problem. Please be specific.
Weissman-Ward: Increasing literacy rates. It is important to start with the belief that all students have the capacity to become independent learners and thrive in an educational setting. The lack of students doing so is the fault of systems endemic to the racist, xenophobic, classist, and ableist underpinnings of the colonization of this country.
The board just voted unanimously on its five-year goals, one of which includes increasing third-grade literacy rates from 52 percent to 70 percent. The superintendent will use a targeted universalism approach and establish interim goals designed specifically to close gaps as opposed to just changing averages. The superintendent and district staff, not the board — as that is not our role — will implement the goals. I recommend that the district focus on the following strategies:
First, Curriculum & Instruction staff engage with progressive academic experts. Next, highlight the intersectionality of the issues that impact many focal groups. By approaching the work with a cultural humility, anti-racist and anti-biased lens, the [staff and] experts can ensure that students are able to thrive academically, emotionally, and socially. Finally, ensure adequate professional development for educators so that they are comfortable, prepared, and competent to support focal group students.
The Frisc: Is ‘adequate professional development’ a matter of more money? More off-site time? What are the barriers?
Weissman-Ward: Professional development can happen on site and off site and take on multiple forms and methodologies: training by experts and colleagues, group share/strategy development, or more one-on-one development in the classroom. I would be interested in exploring how our central office staff can spend more time at school sites to offer collaborative support and training. Professional development requires time and resources, and any additional ask must be in accordance with bargaining agreements.
2) Enrollment has trended down for years. Please discuss one issue that you feel is crucial to reverse this decline, and what specifically the board can do about it.
Weissman-Ward: I think three issues are related. First, SFUSD must provide much better communication to families and opportunities beyond the podium at 555 Franklin [SFUSD headquarters]. The board [recently] engaged in nearly two dozen listening sessions. We need to continue to go into community instead of expecting community to come to us.
Second, when teachers aren’t sufficiently supported, the students aren’t either. By increasing teacher retention, we will also increase enrollment. Two critical steps are paying them, period, and paying them more. I am thrilled that we just approved a 6 percent raise for teachers and paraeducators. The payroll systems continue to be faulty [but] for the first time the district understands the full scope of the problem.
Third, SFUSD staff and the board must elevate the quality of all schools so that our families do not experience anxiety and uncertainty when it comes to school selection. We must also do a much better job celebrating the amazing programs and schools that we do have. I believe that our targeted goals that we just passed and the targeted work we are doing around our high schools are two examples of elevating the quality of all of our schools and programs.
3) At last week’s school board meeting, a teacher said she loved her job and students so much that she hated taking a day off. Then she said this year has been so difficult, she’s seriously thinking about quitting. What do you say to her?
Weissman-Ward: First, I would start by acknowledging the very real and valid feelings that she has shared. We have received consistent feedback that our educators do not feel understood, listened to, acknowledged, or respected. As an educator myself — and frankly, as a human being — I value and appreciate all of these things. Second, I would apologize for the district having made it so challenging and untenable for her. This would be my second step because I am a firm believer in apologizing for the harm caused.
Third, I would do my best to assure her that I, along with my six BoE colleagues and superintendent, are absolutely committed to making the changes needed to support our educators and staff. Finally, I would continue to do what I’ve been doing since I was appointed in March: engage with district staff and my colleagues to push for the changes to create workplaces for our educators that are supportive and bring them joy.
‘I support building 100% affordable housing on district-owned property that has been rezoned for educator housing.’
4) For the next year, a task force will review SF high schools. If it recommends ending merit-based admissions at Lowell and Ruth Asawa School of the Arts, will you abide by that? More generally, should the district provide the kind of academic environment that, as many families believe, requires merit-based admissions? If so, how?
Weissman-Ward: In June, I voted to support the creation of [the] task force to develop community-led recommendations to improve all high schools. For far too long we have been operating from a scarcity mindset, and it is shameful that we are focused on a single high school and not working to elevate all of our high schools. This task force is also tasked with examining the current admissions process for both Lowell and SOTA and we expect it to issue recommendations regarding future admissions processes that promote both equity and excellence from an academically rigorous perspective.
In San Francisco, we should have an abundance of high schools with reputations for excellence. I look forward to receiving recommendations from the task force about how we can grow and expand our rigorous academic programs and ensure that the admissions process ensures equitable access. I also look forward to receiving recommendations about how we can explore additional opportunities for students who are interested in STEM, the arts, and trade school programs.
The Frisc: New York City has gone back and forth on merit-based admissions. Are there any lessons to learn from that experience?
Weissman-Ward: Absolutely. My hope is that this task force will analyze lessons learned in New York City, Boston, Chicago, Southern California (with magnet schools and international baccalaureate programs), et cetera.
5) The district will likely ask voters to approve a facilities bond of $1 billion (or more) in 2023 or 2024. Does the district need to decide whether to close or consolidate schools before planning the bond spending?
Weissman-Ward: I want to make it very clear that I am strongly opposed to school closure or consolidation, where the recommended closures impact schools, neighborhoods, and communities that are already negatively impacted by systems of power. In every forum or questionnaire where I’ve been asked this question, I have consistently articulated this position.
Before the district asks voters to approve a facilities bond, the district will need to establish a facilities master plan, which would inform how to use any future bond funds. The master plan absolutely needs to be informed and determined by conversations with the community prior to any approval.
Finally, this past September, the California legislature passed Assembly bill 1912, which requires that where a proposed closure or consolidation of school occurs [and] the reason is to meet expenditure obligations, the district must, among other things, conduct an equity impact analysis. I think this is extremely important given the historically problematic nature of school closures on communities of color and low-income communities.
The Frisc: The master plan will likely identify under-use of many properties, like the dirt lot on 7th Avenue. Should the district move to turn those sites into teacher housing, given the affordability crisis for teachers (and so many others)? If so, what’s the board’s role? Should the housing be reserved for teachers?
Weissman-Ward: I support building 100 percent affordable housing on district-owned property that has been rezoned for educator housing. One such example is the Shirley Chisholm Teacher Housing project, which just broke ground last month. (Editor’s note: This is the only such example, and it has taken 20 years to break ground.)
I also support developing a big-picture plan that takes into account all available district land and maximizes below-market-rate units for teachers and paraeducators.
If we can achieve more affordable units through an approach that includes federally-subsidized as well as mixed-income housing, I would like the district to consider that plan, especially if [it] can help build faster. My hope is that this discussion does not turn into a protracted argument between groups of individuals, all of whom both desperately need and deserve affordable housing. Instead, I hope the conversation follows a “yes, and” model of dialogue.
I would like to partner with the SF Building Trades Council and the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust to help us not only provide career pathways into union apprenticeship for SFUSD graduates but to help us finance educator housing projects that employ 100 percent union labor, including many of those same school district-graduate construction apprentices.
Alex Lash is editor in chief of The Frisc.
