Four for the S.F. Board of Education
San Francisco’s public schools face no end of challenges. Teachers are scraping by in an extremely costly city. A new superintendent must be found. A glaring achievement gap exists in racially imbalanced classrooms.
One consoling factor may be an elected school board that’s learned to settle issues with a minimum of rancor and a maximum of consensus. This atmosphere deserves a voter endorsement for incumbents who are willing to work together on significant problems.
Here are the Chronicle’s choices for four seats on the November ballot:
Stevon Cook: In his first run two years ago, he finished just out of the money. Now he’s back after continuing to stay in touch with school board topics. Cook is a third-generation city resident and public school product. His chief goal: getting more resources, parental interest and teacher commitment to classrooms in the east and southeast side of the city.
He also wants to link up graduates with city vacancies in public safety jobs as a way to break generational poverty.
Matt Haney: The board’s president is running for his second term. He came aboard with little experience but has shown himself to be accessible and effective.
One task he should take on is tweaking the probationary period faced by new teachers, who can be dismissed or made permanent after two years. Adding another year, which will take state approval, would give the district a better read on a teacher’s prospects. His negotiating skills could get this task done.
Rachel Norton: She’s going for her third term and has proved to be a strong advocate for the disabled. On the crucial issue of teacher recruiting, she favors a variety of ways to reward teachers who need a bigger paycheck to live here.
She also wants to avoid hiring a “marquee superintendent,” who will make a splash and then trade up to a larger urban district, as the next choice to succeed Richard Carranza, who abruptly left for Houston’s top schools job. The next leader should be willing to stay for a decade or more, she says.
Jill Wynns: She has served on the board for 24 years, and her long run gives the city invaluable experience. Talk of raising teacher’s wages from $55,000 to $75,000, one out-of-the-box idea, will cost a budget-busting $40 million, she notes. Her command of school finances and personnel rules is especially important as the board plans for new buildings and growing enrollments.