Thank you all for attending this evening. We're going to get our program started now. My name is Danielle Deibler.
I'm with the League of Women Voters of San Francisco. We are a nonpartisan political nonprofit that encourages informed participation in the government. The League never supports or opposes candidates or political parties.
However, after thorough study, we do sometimes take a stand on issues. The League is committing to... committed to providing the resources that voters need to exercise the most fundamental right of our democracy, voting. Please visit lwvsf.org vote in the coming weeks and you'll find all the voter resources that we have to offer like our pro con guide and recordings of all of the forums that we're doing. As we stand here at the main branch of the San Francisco Public Library, we want to acknowledge that we are on the unceded ancestral homeland of the Ramaytas Ohlone peoples.
the original inhabitants of San Francisco. We recognize that we benefit from living and working on their traditional homeland, and we affirm their sovereign rights as the first peoples of this land. Okay, this election is going to feature a lot, a lot, a lot of ranked choice voting contests. So the Department of Elections has partnered with a number of organizations like ours to do a little kind of ditty on what ranked choice voting is and what it's going to look like on your ballot. On your ballot, a Ranked Choice contest is going to appear as a grid.
The candidates are listed on the far left column, and the rankings are along the top row. You rank the candidates by filling in ovals from left to right. In the first column, you fill in an oval for your first choice, rinse and repeat for the second and third, and for as many candidates as you do wish to rank for that contest.
Keep these things in mind while you are ranking. You cannot give the same rank to more than one candidate. If you do, your vote in this column and any other column won't be counted.
So there is no I like chocolate first and third. There is only first. You cannot rank the same candidate more than once. Only your first choice is counted and others are disregarded.
You can write in candidates. And to do that, you want to go down to the bottom. Underneath all the candidate names, there will be little fill-in sections.
You write the name of the candidate and then you list the corresponding rank for them. All right, and now that we have gotten all of our kind of housekeeping business for the day, I am going to introduce you to our moderators. So Saba and Sana Rahimi are our moderators tonight. Saba Rahimi is a junior at Carleton High School and a member of the League of Women Voters of San Francisco's Youth Council.
Saba joined the council because she's passionate about youth activism, voting rights, and advocacy on social issues. As president of their entrepreneurship club, She started her own business selling custom jewelry and helped found an organization dedicated to assisting underprivileged orphans in the Middle East. She's won three state honors for piano and enjoys listening to music.
She also likes to go to the beach, play volleyball, and meet new people outside of school. Do you want to welcome, or do you want to come up on stage? And yes, they are twins. Ha ha ha ha ha.
Okay, and then I want to introduce her sister. Sana Rahimi, she's also a junior at Carleton High School and a member of the League of Women Voters of San Francisco's Youth Council. Growing up in the Bay Area, Sana frequently visits San Francisco and is passionate about activism efforts here. She wants to help people's voices be heard and enable them to be engaged in opportunities that enable them to foster a sense of community.
At school, Sana is a part of the Middle Eastern Club, the Key Club, and the Entrepreneurship Club. In the Entrepreneurship Club, she's the chief marketing officer. She organizes events and the donations from these events from the club go directly to charities including Freedom of Feeding America, the Wounded Warrior Project, St. Jude, and the Ocean Cleanup Project. Sana is excited about being part of the Youth Council and she wants to make an impact and work hard to foster a sense of belonging and inclusion. Welcome Saba and Sana.
And now I am going to turn, this is now your forum, and you are in charge. Thanks Danielle. I'm thrilled that so many San Franciscans are joining us to hear from the candidates from the SFUSD Board of Education.
Candidates, welcome and thank you for participating. These candidates will be sharing their views on key issues affecting our city. The questions we'll ask were selected from those submitted in advance by residents and organizations throughout the city.
In case your friends, family, and neighbors couldn't be here tonight, this forum is being recorded. It will be on our website at lwvsf.org and on our YouTube channel. It will also be on SFGov's TV, YouTube, and cable channels.
First, I want to let our audience know some important ground rules. For those watching online, you're in listen-only mode. That means that Q&A and chat features are turned off. For those in the room with us, please be respectful and refrain from making noise. No booing and please hold your applause until the very end.
This all helps ensure that everyone in the room and watching online can hear the candidates'visions for the future of San Francisco and the important issue of our public schools. It also makes the video's closed captions and audio clear for those viewing remotely. or watching the recording. Here are the rules for the forum. Candidates, you will make opening and closing statements.
You'll get 30 seconds for opening statements and 60 seconds for closing statements. Opening statements will be in alphabetical order by first name and closing statements in reverse alphabetical order by first name. Due to the large number of candidates, we've adjusted our rules to maximize the number of questions within the one-hour forum. Candidates have been randomly divided into a group of five and a group of six, which will remain the same throughout the forum. Here's how it will work.
The order in which candidates within each group respond will rotate, and will also rotate which group answers each question first. Each candidate will have 60 seconds per response. Not all candidates will answer every question. Each candidate has a flag card next to them when they want to answer a specific question posed that is not posed to their group.
This card can only be used one time per candidate. These adjustments ensure that each candidate has a fair chance to participate and the audience gets the most out of this hour. A leak member will provide you with a visual indication of how much time you have left. Candidates, do you see the timekeeper in the front row? Your responses to questions should be about...
the issues and policy. Candidates, please be respectful. Do not make personal attacks on other people.
Don't direct your responses to other candidates. You don't need to mention other candidate names. They can speak for themselves when it is their turn. This is a forum, not a debate. If you have a rebuttal, you don't get extra time.
Instead, please fit the rebuttal into your time responding to another question or in your closing statement. All right, voters, you have important decisions to make for the November 5th election. Tonight's forum is a great opportunity to learn about the candidates before you vote.
Let's begin. We'll start with opening statements. We'll go in alphabetical order by first name. In your opening statement, please introduce yourself and share why you're running for the Board of Education.
Please stay within the 60-second time limit. We'll start with Ann Hsu. 30 seconds, right? No, 60 seconds. Okay, I go.
Okay, hello, I'm Ann Hsu. I am a school principal and teacher and parent of public school students. Three years ago, I was a leader of the successful Recall School Board campaign. Two years ago, I served on the school board and restored merit back to Lowell High School and helped save JROTC.
And one year ago, I founded a non-profit school. that works with working and immigrant families of San Francisco. And I'm running because I have the experience to start serving students from day one.
All right, we'll move on to Jamie Hewling. Hi, I'm Jamie Hewling. I'm running for school board as an SFUSD mom.
I have a second grader and a toddler who's going to be in TK soon enough. She's growing up fast. As the first woman on my mom's side of the family to go to college, I've spent over a decade working on college equity access issues in San Francisco and serving SFUSD students.
And I've spent my career as the first lawyer in my family as a deputy city attorney in public service fighting for San Franciscans, including bringing in $350 million for opioids. Thank you. Next we'll go with John Gerson. Hi everyone, my name is John Gerson.
I'm a father of two. I have a teacher in my family. I'm an appointee to our Citizens Bond Oversight Committee at SFUSD.
I've run a small education foundation that focuses on underprivileged communities for the last few years, and I'm lucky to have professional experience leading organizations through fiscal crisis like the one our school is facing now. I'm proud to be endorsed by our teachers union, Nancy Pelosi, Senator Scott Weiner, Assemblymember Matt Haney and many others and Maddie Krantz. Hi, my name is Maddie Krantz. I am recently a graduate of Abraham Lincoln High School, and I am currently I enrolled at CCSF. My plan for being on the board is to help teachers, especially giving them a pay raise.
And I also want to help ensure that students can feel safe in schools, especially because we have a lot of issues that need to be resolved. And yeah. Next we'll go with Min Chang. Hi, I'm Min Chang.
I'm first and foremost a mom. We are parents to two lovely young ladies, and so we know how difficult, how challenging it is to bring up kids, and how rewarding it is, and we know how important education is. I'm also a product of public schools, and currently I'm a CEO.
I run a health care company here in San Francisco. I have the leadership, I have the financial acumen, as well as 35 years of experience to really bring to the board. And I think that I'm the right person in terms of really helping us get out of the fiscal crisis that we have currently. Thank you. Next we'll go with Matt Alexander.
Hi everyone, I'm Matt Alexander. I'm the current president of the San Francisco Board of Education and I'm running for re-election because I think we need a public school educator on the board. I have 20 years experience as a teacher and principal in SFUSD and I think our current board has begun to make progress on addressing the fiscal and operational problems in the district, focusing on student learning and creating a better school system for our kids and I want to continue that work with some new colleagues, some of whom you'll see up here.
Now I'll go with Parag Gupta. Hi, everyone. My name is Parag Gupta, and I am running because I'm an SFUSD dad, a proud SFUSD dad.
I'm also a product of public schools here in the Bay Area, and I've also worked in community for 25 years. I'm currently a leader at Mercy Housing, the largest non-profit affordable housing in the country, where I look at both the... impact outcomes as well as the financial metrics and have to marry both of them in a large complex organization the same that will have to do at SF USD.
I also served a school site council chair. Thank you Now I'll go with Lawrence Lee. Thank you League of Women Voters for organizing and thank you audience for coming tonight My name is Lawrence Lee and I'm a K through 12 graduate of San Francisco Public Schools I'm a San Francisco native. I'm a child of immigrants I'm running because I want to give back. I had a great experience as a student here, and I think that it's time for someone who can understand all the different details and history of the schools to help out.
I've been doing a lot of work with communities all across the city for helping out the schools, from the Citizens Bond Oversight to Asian American Parents to students with school safety. Thank you. Now I'll go with Supriya Ray. Hi folks, thank you all for being here and I want to thank the League of Women Voters and the moderators for giving us all this opportunity tonight.
My name is Supriya Ray. I am a parent of two kids in the school district. I'm also a lawyer and a writer and I spent many years teaching.
I'm running for the school board because I want to make sure that all kids have the access and opportunity to reach their potential. I myself come from a background of significant disadvantage and I am where I am because of school. I want to make sure that's possible for all kids to find their path.
I've been working as a volunteer primarily in the school district for years and bring experience to it. Thank you. Now we'll go with Virginia Chung. Thank you. I'm Virginia.
I'm a single parent of a SFUSD student and daughter of refugees. I have 20 years of experience in education and family support services. I am an advancement officer. I've spent the last... Nearly eight years in early education at the largest Head Start provider in San Francisco.
I also co-founded an organization that provides art education in prisons. I've been endorsed by the San Francisco Women's Political Committee, Mayor Breed, and Supervisor President Peskin. Great, thank you all for your opening statements.
Remember if you want to answer a specific question please hold up your flag card. and you will be able to answer that question last. Now on to our questions. Our first question will go to the green group.
San Francisco Unified School District is experiencing a prolonged budget crisis. This month, the school district plans to announce the schools that it will close in 2025. What is your stance on school closures as it relates to the San Francisco Unified School District? How do you propose the district support students, families, and staff impacted by the school closures to ensure a smooth transition and minimize disruption to education. We'll start with Maddie Krantz. I definitely think that The school closures is a big issue, but it's something that has to be done.
And I think that we can definitely help students by giving them priority when selecting their new schools to make the transition easier. Thank you. We'll go on to Min Chang.
Yeah, I don't believe that closing schools is actually the answer. I think that there are a lot of other areas we can take a look at in terms of reducing costs and also growing revenues. So I would prefer actually looking at that first.
And closing schools has a lot of sort of unforeseen negative impacts. So, for example, most likely the schools that will be on the list that we, I think, sent out in mid-September will be smaller schools, specialty schools, schools that really serve the community. So I think it's really important for us to keep those in the community. Also, just because a school may survive the first cut, what's to say that they won't be cut the next year?
So I don't think closing schools really keeps families in San Francisco that want to go to public schools. And I think it's important for us to think about the impact of an action like this on sort of the overall system. I do think there's obviously a fiscal and financial crisis and challenge that we have. And so I do believe that there are other measures that we can take a look at first.
There may be, as part of that exercise, schools that will need to take a look at to close. Thank you. We'll go on to Matt Alexander. I think Min raised some really good points around the problems with school closures. And frankly, the track record of school closures in other cities has been awful.
And San Francisco's own past school closures have had a disproportionate impact on low-income communities and communities of color. And we cannot do it that way again if we're going to approach... school mergers or closers and I'm more open to mergers because I think there may be opportunities where we have two smaller schools to bring them together and have a better resource school where we can provide a better education for kids. So if we can do that I'm open to it and this is what I and my colleagues on the board frankly have said to the superintendent if we can do it with a lens toward equity and ensuring that that low-income communities are not disproportionately impacted. And if we can ensure that community voice is at the center, then we're open to proposal.
And we're going to see what the superintendent proposes to us in a couple of weeks. And then we have to vote yes or no on that proposal. So I'm open but skeptical based on the standards that we've set because I do think that there are some real concerns.
So thank you. And let's finish off with Parag Gupta. Great.
This is not going to be easy. I know closing schools. And the disruption that that creates within school communities, within families that have grown close together, it's not to be underestimated. We need to make sure that when new school board members come in in January, after the decision is taken by the current board in December, that we support our families as much as possible, provide them with social and emotional support, the one-time expenditure on making sure that we retain as many families as we can. We take care of them, make sure that they feel welcome.
and their new school communities is absolutely critical. And we have an opportunity to create excellence within the local neighborhood schools. And this, to President Alexander's point, needs to be done, especially in our southeast schools where we know we have the majority of students. Over 45% of our students in SFUSD live in the southeast.
So making sure we focus on that equity and that excellence is absolutely critical. Thank you all for your responses. Now we'll start off with our second question.
Our second question will go to the purple group. Do you support or oppose allowing students of minority religion to take holidays off without penalty? If you oppose it, why?
If you support, how would you implement a plan to support? We'll start off with Jamie Hewling. Well, I guess as a lawyer, I'm going to give the lawyerly answer, which is that We need to make sure that whatever we do is compliant with the Establishment Clause, where you can't preference one religion over another, and that's the problem that the school district got into when it adopted a school calendar that made it a holiday.
On the basis of that religion, there's an entire body of law about when a religious holiday can be a public holiday, and there are actual thresholds for that, and we need to... Move toward a board that is focused on its legal obligations and governance and compliance and stop making these unforced errors that cause us to draw expensive lawsuits, draw money away from serving kids, and remake decisions the right way again and continue to cause delay and distrust. Thank you.
We'll go on to John Jerson now. I think one of our core values as San Franciscans is diversity and how much we care about the different experience that different people have, the different values, the different cultures, and yes, the different religions that they bring. And we want to lift those up and help people celebrate them and help people be who they are in their community.
And I don't think we can let challenging red tape get in the way of that. And so I think we need to find creative solutions. I think Jamie made...
excellent points and I actually strongly agree with her. I also think there's an opportunity for innovation and figuring out how we can create like floating holidays or change the way that we do attendance and create exceptions so that we can support students where they are. Thank you.
We'll go on to Lawrence Lee now. This is an important question. I appreciate it. I remember when I was a student in San Francisco schools and I didn't get a chance to take Chinese New Year's off.
Obviously, we've come a long way, but there's still a concern. Our San Francisco schools have many families where religion is a big part of it, and I'm a mixed-race family where I appreciate the fact that Muslim race and so many other different religions have these different days off. And I think that there's a way in which we can work with the schools and the teachers to have these days off and just understand it's part of life such that we encourage our chances for our families to want to keep going to school.
We can't... discourage them and have this kind of sense that like they're not welcome because of the religion and family. Thank you Thank you.
We'll move on to Supriya Rayna. Thank you for the question. It is critical in a diverse society multicultural multi-ethnic society that we are able to recognize Accommodate and celebrate all of our diversity It's also critical for a school district to operate in a fair and defensible and legal manner.
We need to learn better how to do these things, and we can do them. We should have a process in place, for instance, by which we make decisions about school holidays so that we do not end up in a situation like we had before, where things are being done on the fly and ad hoc. That leads, as folks have indicated, to lawsuits and incredibly... unnecessary levels of division and upsetness among our school communities. If we had had an appropriate process in place, then we could have considered this issue when it came up in a way that everybody would find fair because everyone would have the same rules apply to them.
In terms of individual things, I favor something like a floating holiday to make folks to accommodate everybody. Thank you. Thank you.
We'll go on to Virginia Chung now. Thank you. I don't think we should be punishing people for celebrating their holidays.
I don't think we should discourage people from celebrating their holidays, but I do think we need to have strong processes in place so that we're planning ahead and setting parameters for what is appropriate for the entire school district that is equitable. So for the... For the school board, I think we should be more focused on creating policy around diversity and how we can celebrate each other's differences rather than, as Supriya said, this ad hoc kind of reactive response to every request that comes our way. So I'm in favor of creating high level policy that the school district should follow consistently.
Thank you. Now we'll lastly go on to Ann Hsu. I guess I'm the only one in this group who actually voted on that two years ago, and I happen to be the only no vote for the Eid holiday.
My objection at that time was not that it's any particular group, but was that SFUSD had not done the operational and financial impact analysis of giving these holidays. And without criterias to judge, then... And since we do have a very diverse school district, then every ethnic group, religious group can come and ask. And it would be unfeasible to satisfy everybody and give 50 holidays a year.
So our school district needs to have certain criteria to evaluate these requests. It is not judgmental on any group. And also, we should think that parents may not have the day off if we give the students a day off.
So we need to consider that as well. So And I think we should include curriculum that celebrates holidays rather than having kids take days off. Thank you all.
We're going to move on to the next question. Our next question will go to the green group. This past January, the Board of Supervisors passed a resolution calling for a sustained ceasefire in Gaza, humanitarian aid, release of hostages, and condemning anti-Semitic, anti-Palestinian, and Islamophobic rhetoric and attacks.
Do you support or oppose that resolution? What do you think the Board of Education's role is regarding this issue? We're going to start with Min Chang. So yeah, so I'm going to kind of stay in the realm of public education as I answer this.
So I'll start with, and I promise I'll get to the answer, but I'll start with that today in our school environment, you know, we have a lot of bullying, harassment, harassment, violence, discrimination. And so for me, it's very important that we create an environment in school and also outside of school that's safe for our children to learn in. I think that's super important. important. So I think that in that context, as I think about the global issues and global things we're tackling, I think it's important that we come back to teaching some of the core subjects.
I'm a big believer that if you teach history well, by default you actually teach our kids about diversity, equity, inclusion. And so through the lens of the core subjects that we have, we actually do bring about really well-rounded... children I said earlier that I'm a thank you let's move on to Matt Alexander I don't think that it's appropriate or helpful for a school board to be taking positions on political issues that are not within our purview and I'm proud that during my time on the board we've adjust we've new governance standards that frankly wouldn't allow us as a school board to adopt a resolution on any issue like that because it's outside of our we frankly don't have power over it but I can say as an educator what we do have power over and what is our responsibility is ensuring that these really, that current issues, including really controversial issues like that one, can be discussed in schools in a safe manner.
If we can't have hard conversations in our schools, where can we have them? We need to model what democratic discourse looks like, and we need to create safe environments, especially for students that are in the minority, which might be Jewish students in one situation, might be Palestinian students in another situation. Everyone needs to be safe, especially those that are in the minority. particular issue or discussion in the classroom or in a school and that's our responsibility as educators thank you let's move on to Parag Gupta I would just build on what men and Matt have both said in that sticking within the purview of SF USD I think one of the best things that the school board had done in the last couple of years was to create the visions values guardrails and goals to make sure that the the business of the school board is to focus on student outcomes, making sure that they maintain the fiduciary responsibility.
I mourn the loss of life. This is an absolutely serious issue. And as Matt mentioned, this is something that we should be able to discuss while at the same time making sure that no one feels unsafe, no one feels picked on, no one feels bullied.
Everyone has the right to learn and educate in a safe environment. Thank you. Let's move on to Maddie Krantz. I am Jewish, and I was in public high school during the whole school year where this conflict started, and I witnessed some pretty hateful stuff. So as someone with personal experience, I think the school board should not be involved in this stuff if possible.
And I think we need to put more protections for Muslim and Jewish students in schools so that they aren't being bullied and harassed for their religion. Thank you. We'll move on to the next question now. Our next question will go to the purple group.
Not all San Francisco high schools offer honor courses, and some only offer a small selection of courses. Is there any plan to roll out a more universally accessible program for gifted students? We'll start off with John Gerson. This, in a roundabout way, this is why I think the fiscal crisis is so important to solve, because right now we're in such a mindset of cuts.
Of taking things away and that's painful and it's not what students deserve. We should be building up programs like honors classes and AP classes which are missing far too often. And we know that this is a huge impact that you could have on students by bringing those classes back because we have a research organization called the New Teacher Project that we often bring into our district. And their analysis is consistently that the number one change we could make is to raise expectations of our students.
And what does it tell them when we don't even offer them advanced classes? We should be offering more, we should be expecting more, and our students will thrive. But we have to get through these challenging issues like the fiscal crisis in order to bring programs like that back.
Thank you. We'll move on to Lawrence Lee now. Yeah, that's a tough question. I went to Lowell High School, and I could see that the course offerings across the schools are very different.
What's really important is to get our middle school kids up. Eighth grade algebra is something I backed, and have these schools. have centers of excellence.
We want all high schools to be very popular, to have it to be the number one choice for lots and lots of families. In order to do that, we also have to, as John mentioned, be thinking about the money. And one thing that is very worthwhile continuing is to do what we're doing now, which is to have these kids take some classes at City College so that they can get the advanced classes.
This is something that is very proven, that helps out students. It's hard, sure, for certain... like travel and timing and that sort of thing, but this is something that we can figure out all the details to get to us to a better place once we have more money. Thank you.
We will move on to Supriya Ray now. Thank you. I alluded to before that I've done a lot of work in the school district.
I have spent more than four years now, nearly five years, doing advocacy with other parents, teachers. and education advocates throughout the city to try to improve outcomes for kids. And among that work, we've worked on literacy and math. If we don't teach our kids well enough to read and to do math, it's going to be very hard for them to be prepared to succeed in higher level courses. We owe every child an opportunity to be their best self, to find their path.
So I would say that I highly support having challenging material for every student. no matter where any student is, they can be challenged and grow. That means we need to meet them where they're at.
For high-performing kids, that means we need to offer honors and AP classes. And in fact, SFUSD's AP program is among one of the most coveted things, not just in our city, but very well viewed in the state. We succeed incredibly well, especially for disadvantaged students in these areas, when we prepare.
Thank you. Thank you. We'll move on to Virginia Chung now. I think it's really important to provide pathways for students who are interested and are capable.
However, my focus, having worked at the largest Head Start provider in San Francisco, is on early education and early interventions to ensure that every child has access to literacy and math and all the supports that they need in order to show up in the classroom ready to learn. I think it's late to be talking about honors and AP. I think the focus needs to be in the first five years or as soon as possible because that's where kiddos are laying the foundations for their learning and we're not doing enough and we're not doing well enough and we're not justifying our children's development by not focusing on comprehensive care in the earliest years.
Thank you. We'll move on to Ann Hsu now. I run a nonprofit school, K-8, right now, and I can see.
From firsthand experience, it's actually very good to have smaller classes for elementary students. But when it gets to middle school and high school, I have two high school graduates of SFUSD just this June. It is really better for the kids to be in a larger environment for middle school and high school so that you can offer more variety, whether it's sports or AP or honors. You just need large numbers.
number of students, so that says we do need to consolidate schools so that we can offer these courses to students. And I fully support offering more honors courses and bring back the GATE program in middle school. Elementary school is still very good to have it small. And I think we should bring all of that back to all the high schools and middle schools, all of them. Thank you.
We'll finish off with Jamie Hewling. I think for far too long, the conversation about accelerated learning in San Francisco has kind of been around pitting different communities against each other, as if it's something that only white and Asian families want and black and brown families don't. And I think that that is just profoundly inaccurate and inequitable.
We have a district that's 86% students of color. And if we aren't able to give those students, all of those students, access... to a curriculum that allows them to reach their full potential, we are not achieving the goal of what a public school system should be doing. The fight about admissions at Lowell was very hard fought, and the lesson that I took from it is that there's more demand for accelerated learning in the district than we currently offer. We should have more APs, especially on the southeast side of the city, so that everyone can experience.
and excellent education in their neighborhood. Thank you all. We're going to move on to the next question. Our next question will go to the green group.
As a school board member, what will you do to increase the representation of historically underserved and underrepresented youth in merit-based programs, like Lowell and Ruth Asawa School of the Arts, and ensure their success? We're going to start with Matt Alexander. Well, I, as an educator, like I said, I have 20 years experience as a teacher and principal in the district, all that experience was with students that have been historically marginalized, low-income students, black students, Latino students, students with IEPs, English language learners, immigrant students. And I'm proud that the school that I worked at, June Jordan School for Equity, during the period when I was principal, had some of the highest graduation rates and college eligibility and college entrance and success rates for black and Latino students in the district. So I know what it takes as an educator, and it's really what some people have already...
been talking about it's high standards with high supports and that's what it takes I mean you have to create an environment where people feel first safe and included right in a safe school environment but then there have to be rigorous academic standards but support to get everyone there right so if folks are but if kids are behind you can't just say well you're not worth it you got it you got to give them the support to meet those high standards and I've seen it work and we just don't have a system yet where it happens consistently and I think that's our challenge as a district thank you let's move on to Parag Gupta So this was actually an issue that I worked on when I served as leader of a foundation that focused about $160 million on post-secondary success within San Francisco and the East Bay schools. And we particularly focused on black and brown students. Two things that I found. The first, the conversation has to start a lot earlier.
And so we actually separated fund out specifically for early brain development and early education. education to make sure that we had an equal path for everyone, an equitable path for all students. The second thing, the conversation cannot start when a child is ready to apply to Lowell.
We need to start that conversation in advance. If you look at other school districts in other states, what they do is actually allow people to take algebra, allow people to go to better schools, and then they support them in that journey. They support them a couple of years in advance.
Thank you. Let's move on to Maddie Krantz. I think that one thing we can do is to make it more accessible by having more APs in other schools that might have less. And also, especially for disabled students, making sure that IEPs are more easily accessible, especially if they take an AP, it might be harder for them. So, definitely making it easier.
Another thing we can do... is make the process to sign up for an AP easier, and also making the test easier, and also providing free tutoring for people so they can take the test and be able to buy all their textbooks, too. Thank you. Let's move on to Min Chang.
Yeah, so I've had a chance to visit a lot of our schools in the districts, and I always say that, you know, we have over 120 beautiful schools that sit in probably 39 amazing neighborhoods, and the schools that I visited, they're very reflective of the communities that they actually sit in, and so they are very diverse. And, you know, in business, we always start with the customers in mind. So for me, the customers here are the families, the parents, the kids, right, the schools.
And so if you start at that level, if you understand the needs and requirements from a customer standpoint, and you design and build a community, the neighborhood schools that way, then it will be reflective of what it is we need and that you will have, right? You'll have the students, you'll have the families who want to attend those schools because they will provide what the needs and requirements that they're looking for in those schools. So I'm a big believer of doing that.
That doesn't mean that you don't overlay it with, you know, other things from a school district perspective, but you've got to start with the customers in mind. That's always our North Star. Thank you all for your responses.
We'll move on to the next question now, which will go to the—oh. So is this for this question that happened? Yes, you will be able to answer the question at the very end.
Yes. Oh, okay. Um, yeah, go ahead. Do you want us to repeat the question?
Sorry about that, I've just turned the mic on. Okay, there's a couple of points I wanted to make about this. As somebody who came from a very disadvantaged background myself, it is absolutely critical that we offer kids the opportunities to take advanced coursework.
If we don't, the folks that get hurt the most are the folks who don't have those opportunities. Not everyone's family can enroll them in a class outside the school district. Not everyone's family even knows that such things exist.
So it is critical that we provide these advanced opportunities for our public school kids, or they probably won't have them anywhere else. In addition, I want to note that we need to provide early education. Like, that is critical.
The earlier we can get to families, the less of a gap there will be. And there is a significant gap when kids arrive at SFUSD in terms of kindergarten readiness. The earlier we can get to families and help them prepare, you know, and help their kids prepare for being ready for school, the smaller that gap will be and the better chance they'll have.
I also want to note, with regard to AP education, the fact that schools like Lowell have an extra AP preparation period is what enables them to help the most disadvantaged kids succeed. Thank you. Thank you guys all for your responses.
We'll move on to the next question, which will go to the purple group. Schools like the June Jordan School of Equity and the San Francisco community offer innovative programs. What is your philosophy on how small schools, what is your philosophy on small schools and how will you ensure that programs like these are sustained? Additionally, in the event of any school consolidations, how will you ensure a smooth and beneficial transition for students and teachers to alternative schools? We'll start off with Lawrence Lee.
Like you said, those schools are great communities. They serve very important parts. of the school district and serves so many families and they've got such a long history man alexander is an example of of someone that's helped out the june jordan school it's definitely hard to figure out how to how to support schools as they're think being thought about with closures and mergers i was talking to someone that's uh part of a staff of an elementary school where they have fourth and fifth grade combined and a full-time substitute teacher This is something where we have to consider how we can help people as they transition. If there is schools that are going to be closed, we have to kind of focus on getting communities to stay together as much as possible to make sure that the people that most need the help, that need the translation help, that need the extra help with understanding how things are transitioned, will get that chance.
to really have the handheld so that they can feel that it's part of a successful change. Thank you. We will move on to Supriya Ray now.
Thank you. Something about small schools that I learned relatively recently and was surprised to hear is that even small schools were intended to be about 300 students. That is not the case right now for our schools that are small schools. Some of them have somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 to 200 students. And it is not, unfortunately.
generally fiscally sustainable for these schools to continue when they're not even at the enrollment that small schools are intended to be. So we need to figure out how to best serve our students and I think what is most important is having the staffing, the personnel there, folks who are actually certificated teachers, sufficient paraprofessionals in the classroom, sufficient librarians and social workers. I would rather focus our resources on the personnel.
And on the programs that we offer students, because that is what brings students and families to SFUSD, as opposed to the buildings. It's very difficult, no matter what, you know, to lose your school. I would be devastated to lose my kids'school. But ultimately, we have to look at what serves kids best.
And if our schools are too small, we can't serve them best. Thank you. Thank you.
We'll move on to Virginia Chung now. Every child deserves to have an excellent education in their neighborhood that is accessible and no matter whether they're taking public transportation or walking, every child should have access to a school. Nobody should have to rely on luck to get a good education and that's where we're at, where people are depending on the lottery and people are depending on luck. to get the supports that they need. So we need to focus.
A lot of our families are experiencing homelessness. A lot of our families don't have two parents. And we need to provide the supports for every single child to show up in the classroom with mental health supports, with social work, with social workers, with counselors and mentors to make sure that... They feel continuity and they feel safe and they belong in the community.
Thank you. We will move on to Ann Shuna. As I mentioned earlier, I serve students who are K-8 right now and I have twin boys who just graduated from high school.
And again, I think smaller schools on the elementary ages are appropriate and good. relatively small, but by the time you get to middle school and high school, they should be bigger schools so that we can offer a diverse range of academic and sports and other interest programs and clubs and they give opportunities for the children as they grow into the teenage years to exercise independence, to exercise the opportunity to make new friends and diverse friends and find resources for themselves because they're going to have to do that when they graduate high school so we want to give them a little more opportunity in middle school give them more opportunity in high school so those schools need to be bigger and bigger so that they can be ready for college and the rest of the society thank you we'll move on to jame healing now you So as a parent who not too long ago went through the school assignment system, I think one of the amazing things about SFUSD is the choices and the options. You can choose project-based learning.
You can choose a Montessori school. You can choose language immersion. You can choose a large school or a small school.
And I think it's really important to... protect some of those programs, but they don't necessarily need to, and they honestly can't financially continue to be standalone schools at standalone locations. We have many K through 5 schools that have fewer than 120 students enrolled right now, which is less than one full classroom for each grade.
And when that happens, you don't have funding per pupil to have a librarian, to have a PE teacher, to have a lunchroom monitor. to have an art class, all of the things that our students need and deserve. And so we need to think about how we can co-locate schools to keep strong programs going, but have everybody have the basics.
Thank you. We'll finish off with John Jerson. I want to thank Jamie for mentioning the programs, because I have a family member that works at June Jordan as a teacher. And if you know that school, you know this question isn't a question about school size.
It's a question about... treating students differently. We too often think of every kid as being average and we we develop the same programs for every kid and that simply doesn't work for too many kids.
June Jordan has very special programs in place that I care deeply about. Matt Alexander you know this well. They have different ways of looking at student success.
For example they they do testing of students that's multi-format, they have a portfolio format that takes students'natural strengths, which might be very different from the norm, and test them that way. Those kinds of programs, that ability to treat students differently, that's what we need to protect. Does it need to be in that building that June Jordan is in today? It doesn't.
But those programs and that perspective that students really are different, that's essential. Thank you all. We're going to move on to the next question. Our next question will go to the green group.
This week, there was a school shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia. According to the Center for Homeland Defense and Security at the Naval Postgraduate School, the last school shooting incident in San Francisco public schools occurred in 2016. What measures and protocols do you think the school district should plan to implement and improve over time? to enhance student safety and emergency preparedness in the event of a violent incident on campus. We'll start with Maddie Krantz.
As someone who recently graduated high school, I know that we have active shooting drills, but students shouldn't have to go through that, and they shouldn't have to worry about if they will ever come home from school. They should just already feel safe. The question isn't, What we can do to keep guns away.
The question is how the government can keep guns away already so that we don't have to be the ones to deal with it. I feel like as someone who's in college, I should be able to walk into my classroom and not deal with guns. And I think we should pass legislation nationally so that every school is safe, not just ours.
Thank you. Let's move on to Min Chang. Sorry about that.
Yeah, I want to kind of maybe touch on a couple things. One is that currently SFUSD, I think, is more standalone in terms of providing security and safety. And one of the things that we can look at, actually, is working more closely with the mayor's office, with the city.
in terms of tapping into some of the resources from the police department and so forth. So I do think that that is something very tangible that we can take a look at and really supporting making sure that there's safety both inside and outside the school. I want to echo some of the things I think, Maddie, you mentioned, that it's really important that we provide that environment that's safe.
And part of that is making sure that we have some of the preventative measures. A lot of times when you get to the point where an incident like this happens, it's already too late. So how do we ensure that, you know, our kids are actually taught and that there's, you know, education around this in terms of making sure that some of the mental health challenges that we have in our schools that may lead to incidents like this are actually addressed early on?
Thank you. Thank you. Let's move on to Matt Alexander.
This is a difficult question for me because I was present at that shooting in 2016. It occurred. At dismissal time at June Jordan, when somebody came up to our campus and opened fire on our students as they left campus for dismissal, I greeted the SFPD officers who arrived within minutes with their guns drawn. I comforted a girl who had a bullet in her leg while we waited for the ambulance to arrive. And so I know that this is, for me, this isn't a philosophical issue. Literally a life-or-death issue for our students.
I can't answer the question in a minute but I can tell you that I have worked closely with SFPD on issues like this. I know what it takes to keep a school safe and how to respond in those situations but also what's necessary in terms of violence prevention, restorative justice, and all the things we need to do to prevent them from happening as well. So thank you for the question. Thank you. Let's move on to Parag Gupta.
So, I remember when my daughter was in first grade, there was a lockdown. And all the students had to huddle. They knew exactly what to do. They had to huddle.
The teachers barred the doors. And perhaps the most upsetting thing was... that I didn't hear about it until my daughter came home and told me. A lot of us parents were just appalled that the level of transparency and communication was such where we did not hear about it until we heard about it from our own kids.
I think there's a lot we can learn from our students themselves. We have a student advisory council. They've asked for locks.
The students themselves walked out when they felt that sexual assault was an issue. We need to focus on those, the voices that are closest to the ground, because they will tell us what's right. I myself am a gun safe candidate, and it means a lot to me to be a gun safe candidate and also to take this issue seriously to make sure that we're We should have Vision Zero for this.
Thank you. We did have a flag, so let's move on to Ann Hsu, and then we will move on to Florence. Yes, as a parent, safe schools is even more important than academics, than excellent academics. kids to be alive so that they can learn.
So it is fundamental. And I think there are two ways to address the current unsafe school environment. One is what we can do now and how can we better change it for the future.
I think we should restore the police resource officers that were invited out of our school district a number of years ago, for one, for now, and also change our policy from a board level so that we can improve student behavior so that actually teachers can teach, because that's one of the reasons that teachers are leaving. Students are just not given consequences for bad behavior. And that. builds an environment of just more and more bad behavior, and then it eventually leads to gun violence. Thank you.
Let's move on to Lawrence Lee. Thank you for this question. It's a tough situation, as Matt Alexander mentioned. And on top of that, just having the threat of lockdown happen this year in Galileo High School, McLaren Park, it just happened this month.
So this is something, a very real part of students, educators, and parents'lives. There is a lot we can do better because I was with those students when they protested. And definitely, as Madeline says, we have to do more. We have to make sure that these students are centered as we think about mental health, as we think about having the locks on the schools, as we think about all these things that the students are speaking for. But also we have to think about, as Anne says, the educators'lives.
They should not have to do that extra kind of work of thinking about the safety of that kind of thing. I talked to a high school staffer that was the one who helped get a weapon off a high school student one day last school year. And then on top of that, there are families that are worried about that. So what are their families'concerns?
They need to know from the district what is happening. And that's something where we have to make sure the district is not putting things under the rug. So there's a lot to do here for sure. Thank you. For our next question, it will go to the purple group.
How will you ensure that the process of school closures is done fairly and transparently? We'll start off with Supriya Ray. Yes, so our question is, how will you ensure that the process of school closures is done fairly and transparently?
Okay, thank you so much. Something to know, if folks don't, is that the current timeline for school closures is that the superintendent will be presenting a list on September 18th. And then there will be discussions at the various affected schools with the communities there. That will be followed by a potential second list by the superintendent and then a vote on that list in December. So that's the current plan.
In terms of candidates here, new candidates, if elected, will not be making those closure decisions. But with respect to the process, I think it is extremely important that we have a fair, open, and transparent process. When the district conducted surveys earlier this year, a lot of parents and students, too, did not know much about those surveys, had a hard time understanding them, and had a lot of questions about...
what their responses would even mean or whether they would be taken into account. So I think the district has to redouble its efforts to be sure that it is open and clear with everyone and that it makes its plan for any school closures and transition process clear to everyone affected. Thank you. Thank you. We'll move on to Virginia Chung now.
Thank you. What I haven't heard... Be articulated well is what our students have to gain from the closures. I haven't heard of a plan for what that transition will look like and how it will improve their experience. And that's where my biggest concern is.
While we're making these decisions, it has to mean something positive for our students. It has to mean that... These students We'll have a qualified permanent teacher in the classroom. We're dealing with high rates of chronic absenteeism, and we need to make sure that the tradeoff means that they're going to benefit.
So we need to hold the administration accountable to detailing what that looks like to ensure that the students know what's at stake. Thank you. We'll move on to Ann Shuna. Over the months that the school district had held community meetings to solicit input about how to evaluate schools for potential closures, the conclusion was that 50% was going to be on equity, 25% on academic excellence, and 25% on the facility's conditions.
The one that I have the most problem with, and I think a lot of people have a problem, is what is the definition of equity? Basically, I think it just gives the school district the excuse to close by whatever criteria they decide, and I don't think that is fair or transparent. And to the point earlier about transition plan, whichever schools are going to be merged or closed, I do support that they... be merged and closed some. The parents need to know what to expect afterwards.
It doesn't matter which schools. What are the parents going to do if your school is on the closure list? Thank you. We'll move on to Jamie Hewling now. I saw a data analysis today that showed my kids'school potentially on the chopping block, a fully enrolled dual language immersion Spanish school that serves primarily Latino kids.
and it qualifies as a Title I school. And I'm just as scared as everybody about how this is going to go if schools are closed and if my kid's school is closed. And I think that to make it fair, to make it transparent, we need to really hold true to the promise that at the end of this, every school is going to be fully enrolled and fully staffed and fully funded. And that we need to... Really address the family's needs.
You need to have the same start time. You need to be able to get to that school. You need to be able to have before care and after care, have siblings together. If there's one time that we're going to get the logistics right, it has to be with school closures so that we don't lose more families.
Thank you. We'll move on to John Gerson. The communication about school closures has been Lacking to say the least, and I see how frustrated people are, I see how anxious people are, and they're right to feel that way. They haven't been communicated with as well as they should have.
There's a lot to say there, but I want to address this issue of fairness that I think is in a sense even more important because what's not fair is the structure of our school system today. Our school system... Shows the footprint of historically racist policies like redlining from decades ago.
We have underinvested in the southeast corner of our city forever. And 47% of our students live there, but they don't have nearly enough schools. So what is fair is no longer requiring kids from that corner of the city to drive 45 minutes away to get the same education that other kids can cross the street for. So we need to shift our resources in that direction.
Thank you. We'll go on to Lawrence Lee now. It's hard to add to what everybody else says because there's a lot of concerns.
I definitely remember San Francisco going through these closures in 2006 and Oakland, which it just had to go through recently. This is definitely going to be tough. And what I recommend in general is just over-talk about things.
We need to have families trust that this is a good process. I was with Mission High School students and families as they were giving community feedback, and the main thing they were asking is, is it really worthwhile, all our feedback? So we need to have a sense that the work that the community has done is going to be actually followed through and something that they have incorporated. So it's all about the trust, and to get the trust is to be overly transparent.
You can't just say Stanford said it's okay and this is equitable because we use that word. It's really about really going into detail about how these tradeoffs were chosen to be the best thing short term and long term. Thank you.
It seems like we had a flag raised for Min Chang. You may go ahead. So as you've already heard from me earlier, I'm not a supporter of closing schools.
I think the focus should really be on investing in our schools in terms of raising the bar in terms of our curriculum, making sure that our school buildings are actually taken care of, and also making sure that our kids are safe. So I really think that the focus should be on improving schools and really listening to the community. and really raising the bar in terms of performance.
In addition to that, there is a financial crisis. So I do think that focusing on revenues in terms of looking at federal, state, and local funding, also looking at reducing costs in the central office, I think there's a lot that we can do, and I would actually focus on those efforts first before we end up looking at closing at schools, because that should be the last resort. Thank you, we'll move on to the next question now. This one will go to the green group.
What change would you make at the K-5 level to better prepare students for success in later years? We'll start off with Matt Alexander. Well, one thing I'm proud of that we've done on the board already is we've adopted a new literacy curriculum for the first time in 20 years. Next year, we're going to adopt a new math curriculum. So I think having a solid curriculum is really important, but we also need teachers that are well-trained in instructional methodology and have solid professional development in order to use that methodology.
Some of you have heard me talk about the John Muir math program, elementary school math program. That's an example where they've invested in teachers in curriculum, pedagogy, and professional development for teachers, and they've shown... really phenomenal results.
I work with the Board of Supervisors to get $8 million to help expand that program at three other schools, also showing promising results. So I think we can look at places where it's actually working and then build those out system-wide. I think that's what it takes in order to improve that early education, which is critical, as several people have mentioned, for the future years.
Thank you. We'll move on to Parag Gupta now. Great. This is this is also where I think we need to lean into our vision value goals and guardrails where we've identified kindergarten readiness third grade reading these are critical pieces to make sure to make sure that we are meeting our students needs and also helping to catapult them forward in what they do and making sure that that is equitable that everyone all 49,000 students have that opportunity to achieve when we look at say the way in which LCAP has been you administered and the best use of that kind of funding, it absolutely should be going to making sure and ensuring that we have teacher quality, whether that be through increased salaries, whether that be through different ways that we can retain our teachers.
Part of that might even be in the central office when we look at what do we do in terms of our human resources to be able to support our teachers and make sure that they have the resources that they need so that we don't continue to lose 400, 700 teachers a year. Thank you. We'll move on to Maddie Krantz. Yes. What changes would you make at the K-5 level to better prepare students for success in later years?
I think that we should definitely give teachers a raise because if teachers are paid more, they will be able to afford to get more supplies, which will in turn better benefit students. And I also think training teachers on how to work with disabled students will help. Because they especially are struggling the most, and if they can help these students, that will definitely improve their success. Thank you. We'll move on to Min Chang.
Yeah, a couple of tangible things. I'm a big believer that foreign languages or languages in general can be taught very early on. You know, I learned languages really early on.
I think it's really important for us to introduce that as early as possible. In fact, I would say that in terms of all the core subjects, the earlier we can start teaching that and providing that to our kids, I think the better we would be. I also want to comment on educators and teachers in general. I know that oftentimes we forget about them. We focus a lot of attention on students and families, but having really good educators actually leads to better teaching, better education, if you will, for our kids.
And so what does that mean? So that means actually offering a career path for our educators, making sure that they are treated as talent within the school system. It also means supporting them in terms of cost here in San Francisco.
It's really expensive to live here, as you all know. And so I think making sure that we provide that support to our educators so they can actually be here and be teaching. I know a lot.
Thanks. We did have a flag. Let's ask John Jersen.
Thank you. Look, the question is about what we can do for K through 5 education. The number one thing we can do is give better prepared students into that program. And that starts with early childhood education and that that topic is essential and it keeps coming up so I just want to address it directly early childhood education has been a big part of my campaign for since the beginning I know that's true of Virginia also I want to share share some facts.
Our early childhood education program at SFUSD is under enrolled by over 85%. I hear all the time parents who don't know that program exists or who paid the $100 application fee, which we should not charge, and then their application is never responded to. We need to fix that program and we have the funding to do that.
The city right now has $469 million in a fund for early childhood education waiting to be tapped into. We need to partner better with the city programs. That's something that I'm willing to fight for. We're only missing the political will.
Thank you. We do have another flag for Virginia. Thank you.
I'm going to lean into Maslow's hierarchy of needs. A lot of our kids don't have the basics. And it's...
For a lot of our kids, it's not just about the curriculum. It's about being able to get to school, having food security, having housing, having transportation, and having worked in early childhood development and writing a lot about brain development, we know that our kids cannot learn when they're experiencing trauma. So we need to address those basic needs. So that our kids can show up in the classroom with their bellies full, and that they feel safe, they feel accepted, and they feel valued. So we have to have a comprehensive strategy, working with our community organizations, working with the city to create a safe environment citywide to address the issues of violence.
My goal in our public schools is to establish an anti-violent environment. Thank you. That was our last question. Candidates, it's time to share your closing statements with our San Francisco voters. We'll go in reverse alphabetical order by first name.
You each have 60 seconds for closing statements. Let's start with Virginia Chung. Thank you very much for having me here.
This mission is personal to me as a parent of a third grader. We have quite some time in the school district. And I've worked in education and family support services, and I know that we have to have a comprehensive strategy. Everybody's kind of looking at one part of the elephant.
We have to look at everything. And no one should have to rely on luck to get a good education. We have to look at each student as an individual and address their needs so that they can show up in the classroom ready to learn. We have to have pathways that engage our students so that they want to continue on. And the indicator of a good education is that our students want to go to class, that they want to go to school.
And so we should do everything in our power to enable that environment so that every child wants to learn. Thank you very much. Thank you.
Let's move on to Supriya Ray. Hi everyone. Thank you again for being here and taking the time to listen to all of us tonight. I have been advocating for students and families for going on five years now.
I've been on the ground. I've worked on everything from reopening and safety to literacy and math. I will be ready to serve on the board from day one. It's my focus. It's not a stepping stone for me.
It is why I'm here to try to bring the concerns of families and students to the fore. and to make sure that we produce the best outcomes and experiences that we can for our students. I know what a refuge and a launching pad school can be. It was for me as someone who came from serious childhood trauma and adversity. School is safety and stability and access and opportunity.
School is what allows so many of us to reach our potential and to find a path in life. And we all have a stake in that, whether we have kids in the public school system or not. The public school system is a public good and it's foundational to our democracy. I'm going to work on the bread and butter issues that matter to families, safety and the budget and excellence.
And I thank you for your consideration. I hope to earn your vote. Thank you.
Thank you. Let's move on to Lawrence Lee. Thank you for this excellent forum.
I think it's the best run that I've seen. And thank you guys all for listening. We have a crisis, but we also have an opportunity. How do we get to a fantastic school district which... is great at equity and excellent, and we can have students that want to keep bringing in students to the school district so we have growing enrollment.
This is all possible, and I'll tell you how, because I've been working on it. We can fix our finances. I've been working with the auditors for years.
But on top of that, we can listen to the community. I've definitely been doing that. What does the community want? We can do a lot of things this year, and we can build on that year after year after year. This is a good direction.
These visions, values, goals, and guardrails, for sure. But for sure, we have to do the more things that people need. Get people to want to have their kids in school. Fix chronic absenteeism. Get the literacy up to...
grade level for everybody. This is something that's possible because it's happening across the country. There is a lot of things that I we can go into but vote for the SFUSD graduate Lawrence Lee.
Thank you. Thank you. Let's move on to Parag Gupta. Great. Well, thank you.
Thank you all so much for being here. Thank you for putting on this forum. Thank you to our moderators. My family's history is rooted in education. My grandfather started the first women's college in his region in India.
My parents came to this country with $200 in their pocket. They never skimped on my public school education. And I seek to give that, and I've sought to give that in terms of really providing for and empowering our families for 25 years.
I seek to now serve on the school board and... You know I am a consensus candidate I've been endorsed by the teachers union by parent action by speaker Meredith Pelosi senator Wiener Jane Kim and Matt Haney We have a lot to love in our school district. We have great diversity, we have excellent school programs, we have great language programs, and there's a lot of work to do.
And I am ready to hit the ground running come day one in January if elected. Thank you. Thank you. Let's move on to Matt Alexander.
I was born in 1970, and I was raised believing in the American dream because my family basically lived it. My grandmother's family came here from a poor farm. village in southern Italy and she had to leave school at age 13 in order to work but her son my dad went to college on a full scholarship and I was taught that I needed to work to ensure that others had that same kind of opportunity that's why I became a teacher I spent 20 years as an educator in SFUSD, and that's why I agreed to serve on the school board.
I'm not using this as a stepping stone for any other political office. I'm here to continue the work, to continue fixing our fiscal and operational problems in SFUSD. to keep our focus on student learning, to restore trust with families, and to really build the public school system that this great city deserves.
Thank you for being here. Thank you for engaging. And I'd be honored to earn your vote. Thank you.
Let's move on to Min Chang. So I believe that experience really matters in this race and relevant experience matters. And so as you've heard, you know, we are in a fiscal crisis. And so as CEO, it's something that I know how to fix and I know how to do. businesses.
I've done it three times, been CO3 three times in different companies. And just as an example, the company that I'm in right now that I'm running, when I first stepped in we were in deficit situation and we're able to turn that around. We're very positive from last fiscal year. We're going to continue being positive this this coming fiscal year as well.
So I have the experience to take us out of this crisis, but in addition to that it's really important to also be able to plan out. how we're going to grow our schools as well. And so I have that experience in terms of growing businesses. So if elected, I will commit to growing our schools, not closing them.
I will commit to raising the bar performance of our children as well as our educators. And most importantly, I will commit to working with all of you, working with the community in terms of solutioning. Thank you. Thank you.
Let's move on to Maddie Krantz. I first want to thank all of you for being here, and I want to start out by saying that I am the youngest candidate, but that doesn't mean I'm not inexperienced. I've worked as a teacher's aide in several elementary schools, and I had an internship at my synagogue, so I have a lot of experience working with kids, and I'm also...
I was the club president for my school's GSA, so I have a lot of experience working with people from diverse backgrounds, and I feel like I could bring a unique and diverse perspective and bring a voice to students and teachers who have been left out of the conversation for way too long. Thank you. Thank you.
Let's move on to John Gerson. Thank you all so much, truly. Public schools shaped my family. They helped my mom escape poverty.
They gave my dad stability when he faced chaos at home. And as a child, they taught me how to code and changed my life. I remember in middle school, staying up late, writing computer games and sharing them with friends and then selling them to friends. And I realized I'd started a company.
So I did that again after college. I started a company literally in the storage closet of my friend's office. We couldn't afford our own office at the time. And we grew that company and then LinkedIn eventually bought that company and asked me to lead their core business unit.
So I had this wild experience, suddenly finding myself leading an organization with thousands of people and a multi-billion dollar budget. And that was exciting and important work. And then I had kids and they became so much more important.
I started an education foundation about five years ago. And now as I see my kids about to... Spend the next 10 plus years in the school system.
I see how these skills and experience I'm very lucky to have are a fit for the crises we face. Thank you. Let's move on to Jamie Hewling. Thanks so much for having us and spending your night on really important local issues that are going to shape the future of our city.
In addition to being a mom, I'm also a daughter and was raised by a conservative car salesman and drill sergeant. and a working-class Latina who raised me with liberal Catholic values. And as you might imagine, they didn't agree on much, and I grew up learning how to be a fighter.
And I also learned that our differences don't have to divide us. We can still—we don't have to be enemies just because we disagree. And I've spent my entire life as a public servant and a fighter for San Franciscans.
I have deep, deep experience, as some in the audience know, getting results for the people of San Francisco. bringing funds in, solving local government problems. And our school board and our kids really need somebody who has that local government and governance expertise to help us weather this storm. So I would very much appreciate your vote. Thank you.
Thank you. Let's finish off with Ann Hsu. SFUSD is in crisis, and I have the personal and professional experience to start helping students on day one.
I'm a parent. of this year's SFUSD graduates, twins. I served on the school board.
I served as the chair of the Citizens Bond Oversight Committee and the president of the Galileo High School PTSA. I also have firsthand experience from running my own school where we brought kids who came in two to three years behind grade level academically, we brought them on and above grade level in one year, and I want to bring that to all students of SFUSD. My priorities are first to fix our fiscal crisis with truth and transparency, to attract and retain students and families with academic excellence, safe schools, and a customer service mentality, and to attract and retain teachers by having sensible policies that improve student behavior so teachers can teach. I ask for your vote.
Thank you all. On behalf of the League of Women Voters of San Francisco, we want to give our thanks to all the candidates for participating in this non-partisan forum. Additionally, to everyone here tonight, we thank you if you're tuning in online or watching the recording. Thank you so much for participating in our democracy by learning about your choices for the upcoming election. The League of Women Voters is hosting candidate forums for most of the local races, including the Community College Board, Mayor, and sheriff.
Visit our website at leagueofwomenvoterssf.org to learn more and RSVP. Be a voter and cast your vote by election day on November 5th. Your vote matters.
Be the change you want to see. Together we can build the future of our community and our education system. Remember to vote. and encourage your neighbors to vote as well. Thank you and have a great night.