Advice for new school board -- not what you think

Here's what you shouldn't do

First, congratulations to the newly appointed members of the San Francisco Unified School Board: Ann Hsu, Lanie Motamed and Lisa Weissman-Ward.

We can only imagine the fire hose of advice and suggestions you three have gotten since Mayor London Breed appointed you last Friday. I’m sure it has been overwhelming.

And that is why I have decided not to add to the onslaught of input. In the interest of letting you settle in, I won’t be giving you any advice.

Ha. Just kidding.

Of course I’m going to give you advice. What do you think we’re doing here, practicing our typing? It just might not be the advice you expect.

Let’s begin with the obvious. The School Board, and particularly School Board meetings, have become political quagmires. Issues often feature two deeply-entrenched, angry groups, whose opinions are directly at odds.

Arguments sometimes last deep into the night, with meetings stretching to seven hours and beyond. And it seems nothing is ever settled.

And if you new members get dragged into some of those rabbit holes, you won’t get anything done.

And at SFUSD, something really, really needs to be done.

There are two issues that have to be highlighted in bold type.

First, is the hiring of a new, innovative, hopefully charismatic superintendent. The school reset begins there.

Now, it might not be the easiest sell. Everyone’s read the stories about what the clown car the SF school board has been. But if you can sell someone on the idea that they can be an agent of change, and can effect a turnaround, you might find your man or woman.

Second, teachers have to be prioritized. Teaching is a tough gig in the best of times. But during the pandemic it was a nightmare.

It’s not just here, teachers are quitting in droves. This Wall Street Journal story notes that from January to November in 2020, some 800,000 public school teachers resigned.

Obviously, good teachers are the backbone of any successful school district. San Francisco has to be seen as an appealing place to be a teacher. Whether that means making affordable housing available or finding a a way to raise pay, it is critical.

And what isn’t working is the current shameful, inexcusable problems with payroll. Teachers actually had to camp out in district headquarters to get a promise to be paid in full.

They got an apology from outgoing Superintendent Vincent Matthews, but it must have seemed like same-old, same-old to the teachers.

OK, now here’s advice you aren’t expecting . . . what you shouldn’t do.

Better sit down. This could get bumpy.

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Do not get involved in the Lowell High School controversy:

Hear me out. This is definitely a hot button. There are even stories that claim that it was the biggest factor in the landslide recall vote of the three previous school board members.

Again, you’ve got two angry and committed sides.

Lowell alums, many of them Asian parents, want the school to go back to merit-based admissions, meaning you need great grades and terrific test scores to get in.

Advocates for diversity want to keep the new lottery system, noting that it created an increase in black and hispanic students.

Everybody’s ready for a fight. A seven-hour board meeting looms.

But Mission Local columnist Joe Eskenazi has argued very persuasively that a merit-based public school is almost certainly a violation of state law.

Specifically, the California Education Code says if more students want to attend a school than there is room: “that selection of pupils to enroll in the school is made through a random, unbiased process that prohibits an evaluation of whether a pupil should be enrolled based upon the pupil’s academic or athletic performance.”

So if the question is whether or not it violates the law, it sounds like a matter for a court. Attorneys should get involved and there should be a legal ruling.

And you, as a school board, could say, “It is out of our hands and in the courts. We will abide with what they decide.”

The decision will — we can absolutely promise — not make everyone happy, but as a school board you can say you are only following the law.

By the way, The New Yorker did something I’m surprised local media didn’t try. A reporter embedded at Lowell during the first year of the lottery system, to see how new lottery-chosen students were doing. And, how teachers, accustomed to high-achieving go-getters, were working to reach the newbies in class.

Somewhat surprisingly, it is a very hopeful account. You can’t help but be impressed by the efforts of the teachers, and there are some very real encouraging signs with students who were previously not on an academic track.

You may need a subscription to read The New Yorker, but it is worth the price.

Second, stay away from the masking controversy: Again, we’re already setting up battle lines. We’ve got parents demonstrating to remove the masks. We’ve got teachers giving out treats and prizes to students who stay in masks.

The rhetoric has already hit DEFCON 1. Check out this quote from Michelle Jacques-Menegaz, of the Parent Advisory Council, expressing her fury at allowing students to go unmasked:

“If even one student, teacher, staff or family member is harmed as a result of this decision, then the district should be held responsible.”

So if someone goes to dinner on a Saturday night and gets COVID, that’s the schools board’s fault.

Do not engage. The response should be, “It is a personal decision. You can mask up if it makes you feel better or take it off as allowed by the state and school district.”

That’s all. Your choice. Teachers, principals, students and parents are going to have to make their own decisions and work it out. Just like at the supermarket.

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Finally, it is impossible to overstate how important this moment is for San Francisco public schools. The district has been bleeding enrollment for years. Remote learning went on way too long and discouraged everyone.

The current path is only driving more students to private schools, charter schools or to move out of the city.

With three new board members and a new superintendent, SFUSD has a chance for a reset. We could look back on this and say, with pride, this when the district began to turn it around.

It’s just that time can’t be wasted with arguments where one group tries to tell another group what to do.

This can work. It can be done. But we’ll be watching.

And the first time there’s a seven-hour meeting, we’re going to give you an F.

Contact C.W. Nevius at cwnevius@gmail.com. Twitter: @cwnevius