Psaki says Biden ‘trusts’ ‘teachers and educators’ after far-left school board members ousted in San Fransisco

Three of the seven members of the San Francisco school board were eligible for recall, and all were ejected from office by more than 70 percent of the vote. The Asian American population went out in high numbers to get them removed. At issue, were comments by Allison Collins, a now-former school board member who made derogatory comments about the "white supremacy" in the Asian American community, and the school board's plans to water down admissions standards for the rigorous Lowell High School. The school has a high Asian-American population, and the push to remove standards was with the aim of creating more "equity."

"We don't have any reaction directly to the decision by the local school board," Psaki said. But I would just reiterate that the President's objective has been keeping schools open from the beginning and now, at this point in time, 99 percent of schools are open in large part because of the funding in the American Rescue Plan and efforts that he and his Secretary of Education undertook to ensure schools had the resources and information needed to keep the schools open."

"We understand where parents are coming from," she went on to say," when they want schools to be open as well. And the President recognizes the mental health impact that has on kids for them to not be open. So we don't have any specific comments on the local school or local decisions about the local school board leaders, but that remains the President's objective."

The reporter followed up with a question that more specifically addressed many of the reasons that the three school board members were forced out, notably concerns that parents had about "equity" concerns, as opposed to academic standards, driving education and educational standards.

"I'm wondering what the White House or the President's message is to parents. You address the school reopening, but more broadly some of the issues that we've seen about equity, curriculum, play in some of these races," he said.

Psaki asked for more specifics, and he noted that there was a controversy in San Francisco over school renaming, with the school board pushing to rename schools such as those named after Abraham Lincoln (black lives didn't matter to him, they said), and George Washington. This renaming plan became the subject of a lawsuit in early spring 2021 when parents complained that funds were being used to rename school and not to reopen them.

In addition to that, the reporter cited the "many conversations about critical race theory." "I'm wondering," he asked, "whether the White House or the President thinks that some of these school boards, maybe in San Francisco and other places, have moved too far to the left, adopted liberal policies beyond what voters approve of, or just more generally what the President thinks of education and some of these issues around equity and inclusion."

"Well," Psaki answered, "I would say first that the President is married to a teacher, so he certainly trusts in the role of teachers and educators across the country and the kind of curriculum they are providing."

"I'm not going to have any specific comment on any local school board or politics of school boards as it relates to any political race, either," she said.