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‘Revolt’ Against Progressive Agenda: San Francisco Voters Recall Three School Board Members

   DailyWire.com
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - FEB. 12: Supporters of the San Francisco School Board recall gather at Carl Larsen Park during a rally in the Sunset District of San Francisco, California Saturday, Feb. 12, 2022.
(Stephen Lam/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)

On Tuesday, parents and residents in San Francisco voted overwhelmingly to recall three progressive members from the city’s school board who have been accused of pushing Leftist ideology and putting children last during the pandemic. In response, Democratic Mayor London Breed said that the recall was a sign that educators and board members should focus creating a “well-run” public education system “above all else.”

As reported by Fox News, in January 2021, San Francisco citizens launched a recall of President Gabriela López, Vice President Faauuga Moliga and Commissioner Alison Collins, “claiming the school board members poorly chose their priorities, which included the renaming of 44 schools, but were slow to reopen district schools that were closed under the coronavirus pandemic.”

As noted by The New York Times, the board wanted to rename 44 schools in the city based on progressive ideology. Collins also came under fire anti-Asian tweets.

The targeted schools carry the names of a range of historical figures including Abraham Lincoln and the three other presidents chiseled into Mount Rushmore; Spanish conquerors such as Vasco Núñez de Balboa; John Muir, the naturalist and author; and Paul Revere, the Revolutionary War figure.

After a barrage of criticism, including from Ms. Breed, the board put the renaming process on hold. A judge ruled that the board had violated a California law on open meetings in its proceedings.

Criticism of the board grew stronger, while signature gathering for the recall effort was already underway, when controversial tweets written by Ms. Collins, the board’s vice president, were discovered. In them, she said Asian Americans were like slaves who benefited from working inside a slave owner’s house — a comparison that Asian American groups and many city leaders called racist.

At least 70% of voters supported removing each member from the school board, something an organizer of the re-call effort called a “revolt” against their agenda. Siva Raj, a Golden City parent, told The New York Times that the vote was “the people rising up in revolt in San Francisco and saying it’s unacceptable to abandon your responsibility to educate our children.”

“The city of San Francisco has risen up and said this is not acceptable to put our kids last,” Raj also told Fox News.  “Talk is not going to educate our children, it’s action. It’s not about symbolic action, it’s not about changing the name on a school, it is about helping kids inside the school building read and learn math.”

Another parent, Ann Hsu, “helped register more than 500 Chinese residents in the months before the election.” Hsu noted this issue was extremely important to Chinese immigrants.

“That’s been ingrained in Chinese culture for thousands and thousands of years,” she said regarding the importance of education. The mother also told The New York times that the board was “incompetent.”

Breed, who is up for re-election this year, also called the vote “clear message.”:”

“The voters of this city have delivered a clear message that the school board must focus on the essentials of delivering a well-run school system above all else,” Breed said in a statement after the vote. “San Francisco is a city that believes in the value of big ideas, but those ideas must be built on the foundation of a government that does the essentials well.”

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