Open Forum:

Board president says district’s main priority must be reopening city’s schools, not renaming them.

As a credentialed teacher serving as a volunteer school board member, I make every effort to respond to every email. Every single day I am talking to parents on the phone, answering their questions about distance learning, and trying to find them resources and support. The reason I’m here is because I’m committed to making sure every student and family at the San Francisco Unified School District is supported.

Six weeks ago, I became president of the school board. Since day one, my priority has been to reopen our city’s public schools safely. As soon as possible.

There have been many distracting public debates as we’ve been working to reopen our schools. School renaming has been one of them. It was a process begun in 2018 with a timeline that didn’t anticipate a pandemic. I acknowledge and take responsibility that mistakes were made in the renaming process.

We recognize we need to slow down. And we need to provide more opportunities for community input. We are working with educators at all levels to involve and educate our school communities about the renaming process. We are realizing, especially now, it will take time and energy to get that right.

We are deeply grateful for the work of the renaming committee and many schools are as well. They are excited about the opportunity to uplift communities that have previously been underrepresented. Our students need to attend schools where they feel valued and seen. This work is antiracist and we’re proud of that.

But reopening will be our only focus until our children and young people are back in schools. We’re canceling renaming committee meetings for the time being. We will be revising our plans to run a more deliberative process moving forward, which includes engaging historians at nearby universities to help.

In the meantime, this is the last time I’ll comment publicly on renaming until schools are reopened. We will not be taking valuable time from our board agendas to further discuss this, as we need to prioritize reopening. Word choice matters, and in the midst of a heated crisis, I think that all of us acknowledge it can be easy to say the wrong thing. I want us to focus our time and actions where they matter most. On the safety of our children, and on safely getting them back into schools.

I know students and families are suffering and I want you to know that I hear you and see you. And I know I speak for many of my colleagues on the school board, and our partners across the city.

Above all, we understand that students and families are frustrated. And we understand the physical and mental health strain that they are under. As I talk to parents, I have heard how hard it is to worry about your child shutting down and their struggle to stay motivated in distance learning. I’ve also heard from many families who worry that their stress of eviction, food insecurity and immigration status is having an impact on their wellbeing. This is all hard, too, when their children may have been thriving at school before the pandemic started.

We’re in negotiations to get the work on returning to inperson learning done and I’m committed to working with city partners to get vaccinations, testing and other resources we need.

I’m going to share as much information with parents as possible as this process moves forward. And I have faith and confidence that we will get this right. Together. As we say in Spanish, “Pueblo unido, jamás será vencido.” Our kids are counting on us.