Defending all the school board members
There's a string of anguished parents posting right now on TheSFKFiles blog about their frustration with the SFUSD school assignment process, now that results of Round 2 of the lottery have just arrived. Amid the angst, one commenter posted scathingly that only two of the current Board of Ed members has kids currently in SFUSD schools, implying that for that reason the other members wouldn't care.
Well, I do feel I have to defend the current school board commissioners — all of them, whether or not I'm philosophically in line with them at all times. And that's despite the fact that I'm supporting Rachel Norton for school board and she too is making that point, since she's a current SFUSD parent.
That's a really tough job with long, long, late-night hours, for a token stipend ($500 a month). With kids at home, I simply couldn't do it without seriously shortchanging my family, and I think most parents are in the same situation. I mean, not just in a small way; my ability to parent my kids would be absolutely devastated.
I'd like to get more involved in the PTA at the state level because of its vital role in political advocacy for children and education — but that is simply off the table until my kids are grown.
How tough the Board of Ed job is was driven home to me by something veteran Commissioner Jill Wynns mentioned in passing. During a painful round of school closures, an enraged parade of speakers was at the microphone at a packed, heated BOE meeting. One furious speaker reached into her purse. Jill — and the other board members, I'm sure — had to seriously make a split-second decision whether to dive under the desk (no one did). The speaker turned out to be reaching for a pencil.
Jill, for one, was elected to the BOE when she still had kids in SFUSD schools, and has continued to serve as her three kids grew up and went off on their own, as does happen.
What about the other BOE members?
— Jane Kim — no kids nor prior direct SFUSD involvement, but she has been deeply involved in nonprofits working with many SFUSD high-schoolers. (She was the top vote-getter in the election in which she won her seat, with an army of SFUSD teens out campaigning for her.)
— Eric Mar — current SFUSD parent.
— Kim-Shree Maufas — grown child who attended SFUSD schools.
— Hydra Mendoza — current SFUSD parent.
— Mark Sanchez — no kids, but a former SFUSD teacher. (State law bars teachers from sitting on Boards of Ed in the districts where they teach, so he is not legally allowed to teach in SFUSD currently.)
— Jill Wynns — as noted, grown kids who attended SFUSD schools, and were still in school when she was originally elected. And as the longest-serving BOE member (again, essentially as a volunteer), she has lived and breathed school issues for years.
— Norman Yee — grown kids who attended SFUSD schools.
Just for this one moment, I'm defending ALL the BOE members against the implication that they're too removed from SFUSD schools to be concerned about how the enrollment process impacts families. I honestly don't think that's fair or accurate.
Well, I do feel I have to defend the current school board commissioners — all of them, whether or not I'm philosophically in line with them at all times. And that's despite the fact that I'm supporting Rachel Norton for school board and she too is making that point, since she's a current SFUSD parent.
That's a really tough job with long, long, late-night hours, for a token stipend ($500 a month). With kids at home, I simply couldn't do it without seriously shortchanging my family, and I think most parents are in the same situation. I mean, not just in a small way; my ability to parent my kids would be absolutely devastated.
I'd like to get more involved in the PTA at the state level because of its vital role in political advocacy for children and education — but that is simply off the table until my kids are grown.
How tough the Board of Ed job is was driven home to me by something veteran Commissioner Jill Wynns mentioned in passing. During a painful round of school closures, an enraged parade of speakers was at the microphone at a packed, heated BOE meeting. One furious speaker reached into her purse. Jill — and the other board members, I'm sure — had to seriously make a split-second decision whether to dive under the desk (no one did). The speaker turned out to be reaching for a pencil.
Jill, for one, was elected to the BOE when she still had kids in SFUSD schools, and has continued to serve as her three kids grew up and went off on their own, as does happen.
What about the other BOE members?
— Jane Kim — no kids nor prior direct SFUSD involvement, but she has been deeply involved in nonprofits working with many SFUSD high-schoolers. (She was the top vote-getter in the election in which she won her seat, with an army of SFUSD teens out campaigning for her.)
— Eric Mar — current SFUSD parent.
— Kim-Shree Maufas — grown child who attended SFUSD schools.
— Hydra Mendoza — current SFUSD parent.
— Mark Sanchez — no kids, but a former SFUSD teacher. (State law bars teachers from sitting on Boards of Ed in the districts where they teach, so he is not legally allowed to teach in SFUSD currently.)
— Jill Wynns — as noted, grown kids who attended SFUSD schools, and were still in school when she was originally elected. And as the longest-serving BOE member (again, essentially as a volunteer), she has lived and breathed school issues for years.
— Norman Yee — grown kids who attended SFUSD schools.
Just for this one moment, I'm defending ALL the BOE members against the implication that they're too removed from SFUSD schools to be concerned about how the enrollment process impacts families. I honestly don't think that's fair or accurate.
Labels: SFUSD Politics
3 Comments:
Well Jane did serve on the Prop H Community Advisory Council if that counts for SFUSD involvement.
I think it is important to have BOE members who have children at all stages of the SFUSD. It is essential to have some whose children are currently students, but equally important to have some whose children have gone through the entire process, through graduation. After all, a member whose children are in elementary school doesn't really understand the issues affecting high school students in the same way that a member does whose children have been through it.
If parents of younger children in SFUSD serve on the board, their children will directly experience the impact of their decisions in future years. It's impossible for one school board member to know everything and have every relevant experience, but I would argue that looking ahead to middle and high school for one's own child is a powerful context for a school board member to experience when making decisions about the direction of our schools.
But I've never argued that the current board members don't deeply care about the experience of kids in SFUSD. My argument is simply that the current board--and the future one, if we don't elect more parents of current students--is a little out of touch with the actual day-to-day experience of the schools today.
I think it's relevant, for example, to ask what the assignment process was like the last time Jill Wynns', or Norman Yee's, or Kim-Shree Maufas' children went through it. Can they truly relate to the anxiety, confusion, and yes, anger, that parents on the sfkfiles blog are expressing today? Can Jane Kim or Mark Sanchez? I don't have to ask that question about Hydra or Eric Mar, whose children are currently in SFUSD schools.
Those experiences are just one facet of the entire picture but they are still relevant and they are important for school board members to understand.
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