Guest Opinion: SFUSD management seeks to fire beloved queer mentor and math teacher
The national teacher shortage has not spared San Francisco, which is seeing extreme difficulty filling teaching positions. "Hard to fill" subject areas, including math, face greater challenges still.
It therefore surprised me to learn that a math colleague and queer mentor who teaches with me at Francisco Middle School, Penny Loftesness, had been informed by management that they will recommend to the school board that she be "non-reelected," that is, prohibited from working in SFUSD for two years.
This process has nothing to do with budgetary constraints or layoffs due to lack of funding; the Education Code lets districts "non-reelect" (that is, fire) first- and second-year teachers without giving cause.
Only public pressure on the Board of Education can put the brakes on this anti-math, anti-student, anti-LGBTQ recommendation by district management.Loftesness is a warm and supportive colleague, and parents have mentioned her impactful teaching to me in meetings about our shared students.
