November 4, 2021

Senator Wiener Announces His Support for Recall of Three Members of the San Francisco Board of Education

SAN FRANCISCO – Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) has endorsed the recall of three members of the San Francisco Board of Education: Alison Collins, Gabriela Lopez, and Faauuga Moliga.

Senator Wiener supports the recall of these Board of Education Commissioners because they failed to do their jobs adequately, engaged in abusive and disruptive behavior, interfered with the Superintendent’s ability to do his job, and caused the school district to deteriorate during the pandemic, all to the detriment of tens of thousands of children attending our public schools.

These three members of the Board of Education severely harmed the school district and its students by: 

• Failing to prioritize the safe reopening of our public schools. For example, they rejected Superintendent Vince Matthews’ request to retain an expert consultant specifically to help the district navigate the pandemic and ensure a smooth reopening. The Superintendent described this awful decision by the Board - a decision driven by politics - as a “body blow” to his work to reopen San Francisco’s public schools. In response to data showing significant learning loss due to remote schooling, President Gabriela Lopez stated that students were instead having “different learning experiences” by spending all day in front of a computer instead of in school.
• Allowing the school district’s fiscal standing to deteriorate so severely that the state Superintendent of Public Instruction had to intervene to stop the school district from becoming financially insolvent. The school district is now at risk of being placed under state control.
• Contributing to a significant decline in enrollment, with more and more parents pulling their children from the school district. Enrollment is at its lowest level in decades, leading to projected loss of state funds in the tens of millions.
• So thoroughly jeopardizing the functioning of the school district during the pandemic - with inappropriate and disruptive behavior - that the Superintendent announced his retirement and ultimately agreed to stay on another year only with a new contract that required Board of Education members to “govern in a dignified and professional manner, treating everyone with civility and respect.” The new contract also required the Board of Education to focus exclusively on reopening schools and reduced its ability to interfere with the Superintendent’s hiring and firing of staff. To say that this kind of contract is extraordinary is putting it mildly. The fact that these contractual provisions were needed speaks volumes.
• Prioritizing and then mismanaging a process to rename dozens of schools despite these schools being closed – with no plan to reopen – during the pandemic.
• Without engaging significantly with the community, stripping - on exceptionally short notice - Lowell High School of its merit-based admissions process. This decision also took place while schools were closed due to the pandemic.

Additionally, Commissioner Collins tweeted racist remarks about Asian Americans in 2016. After those tweets publicly surfaced, she was stripped of her role as Vice President of the Board and removed from her position on various committees. In response, Commissioner Collins sued the already financially drained district and her fellow commissioners for $87 million. Commissioner Collins put her own needs ahead of the financial viability of the school district. The lawsuit was ultimately dismissed by a federal judge.

Senator Wiener released the following statement: 

“Our Board of Education is in dire need of change. Families are pulling their children from our schools, and enrollment is at its lowest level in decades. These three Board of Education members have consistently focused on politics instead of students. Last year, the Board of Education should have been singularly focused on safely reopening our schools. Instead, they voted against hiring a consultant to help with that process. The district faces dire financial challenges and needs strong and responsible leadership to right the ship. We need leadership that prioritizes and uplifts all of our students and that is fully focused on their well-being over personal political priorities.” 

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2021年11月4日

威善高參議員宣布支持罷免三藩市教育委員會三名成員

三藩市– 參議員威善高（民主黨-三藩市）已背書罷免三藩市教育委員會的三名教委：高勵思（Alison Collins）、盧佩思（Gabriela Lopez） 和 莫力加（Faauuga Moliga）。

參議員威善高支持罷免這些教委，因為他們沒有做好自己的工作。在這些委員的領導下，教育委員會：

• 未能優先讓我們的學生安全地重返學校。例如，他們拒絕聘請顧問來專門幫助確保學校順利重新開放。對數據顯示遠程教育造成的重大學習損失，教委主席盧佩思做出回應表示，學生反而擁有“不同的學習體驗”。

• 學區資金管理不善，以至於州教育總監不得不進行干預，以阻止學區陷入財務破產。

• 入學人數大幅下降，越來越多的家長將孩子從三藩市聯合學區帶走。入學率處於幾十年來的最低水平。

• 在疫情期間優先對數十所學校進行重新命名，然後程序不當，儘管這些學校當時沒有重新開放的計劃。

• 沒有與社區進行大量溝通，剝奪了洛威爾高中的擇優錄取流程。這也是在學校因大流行而關閉時發生的。

此外，高勵思教委於 2016 年在推特上發表了針對亞裔的種族主義言論。她隨後被剝奪了教委副主席的職位，並被解除了她在各個委員會的職位。 作為回應，高勵思起訴已經財政枯竭的學區和其他教委尋求 8,700 萬美元補償。 該訴訟隨後被聯邦法官駁回。

威善高參議員發表了以下聲明：

“我們的學區急需新的更好的領導。 家長們正在將他們的孩子從我們的學校中拉走，入學率處於幾十年來的最低點。這些教育委員會成員一直專注於政治而不是學生，專注於對我們的孩子沒有直接影響的非緊急和不必要的昂貴事務。去年，教育委員會本應專注於安全地重新開放我們的學校。相反，他們投票反對聘請顧問來幫助完成該程序。學區面臨嚴峻的財務挑戰，需要強有力和負責任的領導來糾正問題。現在是教委優先考慮和提升我們所有學生，完全關注學生的福祉而不是個人政治優先事項的時候了。”

***以英文版本為準***