California state Senator announces support of recall of three San Francisco Board of Education members

On Thursday, California State Senator Scott Weiner announced his support of a recall campaign occurring in San Francisco of three members of the city's board of education in a scathing thread of tweets.

Weiner, a Democrat representing California's 11th district, which includes all of all of San Francisco, Broadmoor, Colma, and Daly City, as well as portions of South San Francisco, wrote on Twitter that Alison Collins, Gabriela Lopez, & Faauuga Moliga have "failed our students and families."

"Not only did these commissioners fail to do their jobs adequately, they engaged in abusive and disruptive behavior, interfered with the Superintendent's ability to do his job, & caused the school district to deteriorate during the pandemic," he continued.

Weiner wrote that the three "failed to prioritize the safe reopening of our public schools" by rejecting the superintendent's "request to retain an expert consultant to help navigate the pandemic & ensure a smooth reopening."

"In response to data showing significant learning loss due to remote schooling, President Gabriela Lopez stated that students were instead having 'different learning experiences' spending all day at home, learning in front of a computer," he continued.

Weiner also stated that the three allowed the San Francisco Unified School District to deteriorate in finances so "severely" that the "state Superintendent of Public Instruction had to intervene to stop the school district from becoming financially insolvent. SFUSD is now at risk of being placed under state control."

Collins, Lopez, and Moliga reportedly contributed directly to a "significant decline" in enrollment in the districts schools, with an increasing number of parents opting to remove 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," wrote Weiner.

These commissioners "so thoroughly jeopardized the functioning of the school district 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,'" wrote Weiner.

"The new contract also required the [Board of Education] to focus exclusively on reopening schools & reduced its ability to interfere with the Superintendent's hiring & firing. To say that this kind of contract is extraordinary is putting it mildly," he continued.

Weiner also stated that the trio had prioritized and then subsequently mismanaged the renaming process of dozens of schools that were closed during the pandemic, with no plans to reopen.

The commissioners went ahead and stripped Lowell High School of its merit-based admissions process with little notice, without engaging with the community or considering "other options to support Lowell's need to address racial equity," all while the schools were still closed.

The final point Weiner stressed was that Commissioner Collins had tweeted racist remarks about Asian Americans, and once those tweets resurfaced, "she was stripped of her role as Vice President & removed from committees. In response, she sued the already financially drained district and her fellow commissioners for $87m."

"Our [Board of Education] is in dire need of change. Families are pulling their children from our schools," Weiner concluded. "I've never before supported a recall. It's only under truly exceptional circumstances that I'm doing so here. Sadly, they've mismanaged the district so badly that I feel I have no choice."

According to SFGate, the commissioners and their defenders have attempted to pin the the recall campaign as a Republican-led endeavor. The endorsement form Wiener though undermines that argument.

Organizers have collected enough signatures to trigger a recall election, which is scheduled for Feb. 15, 2022.