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“The seven school board members talk for two hours about whether the dad brings enough diversity....
The gay dad never utters a single word. The board members do not ask the dad a single question before declining to approve him for the committee.” https://twitter.com/sfchronicle/status/1360595377771208705
The gay dad never utters a single word. The board members do not ask the dad a single question before declining to approve him for the committee.” https://twitter.com/sfchronicle/status/1360595377771208705
“What’s wrong with these people? They’re committing political malpractice and educational malpractice seemingly at every meeting,” - @RafaelMandelman, a gay supervisor representing the Castro who said he’s heard repeatedly about gay students facing bullying and discrimination.
The candidate, Seth Brenzel, 48, “lives in Bernal Heights with his husband, a child psychologist.... He’s ED of the Walden School, a nonprofit that runs music camps, and he sings tenor for the San Francisco Symphony. He’s the co-president of the PTA at his daughter’s school.”
“any normal board would have at least tabled the appointment, quietly, rather than publicly humiliate him for two hours, said PAC chair @NaomiLaguana. After all, hundreds of parents were waiting to speak about opening schools, a topic that, as usual, didn’t come up for 7 hours.”
School board members @lopez4schools, @AliMCollins, @marksanchezsf, @mattalexandersf and @KevineBoggess didn’t return requests for interviews from @hknightsf.
“Parents teach their children to treat everyone fairly. To not be rude. To listen more than speak. To do research before forming opinions. To not waste other people’s time. To focus on what’s important. To acknowledge mistakes.”
“It’s too bad school board members haven’t learned these lessons over the past dreadful year of distance learning for the more than 52,000 children in their charge.”
“There was the stripping of 44 names, including Abraham Lincoln and Dianne Feinstein, from schools, an important pursuit in general that became an international punch line with the revelation that the volunteer committee leaned on Wikipedia for research and made blatant mistakes.
See @hknightsf’s column here: https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/heatherknight/article/Effort-to-rename-S-F-schools-could-have-been-15862976.php
@esksf’s column here: https://missionlocal.org/2021/01/the-san-francisco-school-districts-renaming-debacle-has-been-a-historic-travesty/
Or @ichotiner’s interview of @lopez4schools here: https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/how-san-francisco-renamed-its-schools
@esksf’s column here: https://missionlocal.org/2021/01/the-san-francisco-school-districts-renaming-debacle-has-been-a-historic-travesty/
Or @ichotiner’s interview of @lopez4schools here: https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/how-san-francisco-renamed-its-schools
Then came a crucial discussion about racism at Lowell High. The board approved admissions change Tuesday, but only after limiting opponents to 30 min, while giving supporters far more time — a violation of the Brown Act, which dictates how government meetings must be run.
“Before the vote, @AliMCollins blasted HS journalists at The Lowell for sharing a petition to keep the current admissions system, and for not covering a racist incident at the school. Neither accusation was true.”
“Collins apologized, but never explained why she was publicly slamming teenagers in the first place.”
“District data shows Black, Latino and Asian students are falling behind white counterparts. But @lopez4schools told the Chronicle, for a story about students’ learning loss, ‘They are learning more about their families and their culture, spending more time with each other.’”
“In texts obtained by a parent through a public records request and shared with me, @AliMCollins seemed to dismiss women’s concerns about supervising their children’s learning while working full time.”
She texted Superintendent Vince Matthews, “Professional moms are losing it right now. They want to hear something they want to hear.”
(Keep in mind, the majority of parents in every racial group, except for Asian Americans, would like to send their kids back to in-person school according to SFUSD surveys.)
“Jinan Mahmoud is Arab and Palestinian, and her son’s father is Black. Her son, Mustafa, is a 3rd grader who struggles to focus on Zoom school. She quit her job as a childcare provider to stay home with him, then hired a therapist when she grew concerned about his mental health.”
“For now, the single mom is getting by with money from three other families whose children she supervises. She said she’s frustrated by endless hours of conversation at the school board that result in no concrete change for her son.”
“‘A lot of talk, but no action doesn’t get anyone anywhere,’ she said. ‘Everyone I know has been applying to private schools, but not everyone has that option. I certainly don’t. Where does that leave my son?’
I don’t normally tweet practically whole stories but I am so mad. Please subscribe to the @sfchronicle so you can read more of @hknightsf’s great work.
If you compare to other districts in the Bay Area, their process seems much more straightforward: https://twitter.com/allymarkovich/status/1360078473658728454
None of this two days a week and only for a few hours a morning until July 2022: https://twitter.com/monicagandhi9/status/1360267233914548230
Instead, this S.F. school board member is spending the morning tweeting Merriam Webster dictionary definitions of “whataboutism”: https://twitter.com/alimcollins/status/1360611687871614985
This school board could be doing its job like other districts that have high percentages of low income students in the Bay Area. But it’s not. It’s atrocious and embarrassing: https://twitter.com/hillaryronen/status/1360340948828311553
