SF mayor swears in 3 women to school board
Mayor London Breed on Friday swore in three women as the newest commissioners on the San Francisco Board of Education, replacing the members who were ousted in last month's historic recall.None of the women is LGBTQ, but all are parents of students attending public schools in the district.
Ann Hsu, Lainie Motamedi, and Lisa Weissman-Ward each pledged to work hard with the four other board members to have the San Francisco Unified School District "turn a page," as Hsu said during her remarks.Breed made the announcement and swore in the new commissioners on the football field of Galileo Academy of Science and Technology, which Breed attended when it was known as Galileo High School.
She said deciding who to appoint to the school board was difficult."It's probably the hardest decision I've made as mayor," she told an audience of assembled officials and others. "I think about my time at Galileo and can't help but think about what kids went through during the pandemic."Gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, who attended the announcement ceremony, told the Bay Area Reporter he thinks Breed made good appointments."Looking forward to getting to know them but they seem like excellent choices," he wrote in a text message.The three women must run in November to keep their seats.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported that all said they would seek election.The COVID-19 pandemic and the closure of schools for over a year was a driving force behind the recall, as parents became fed up with the previous board's actions on other matters like renaming 44 schools with little accurate research (a decision it later rescinded) while students were stuck at home doing remote learning.
