Thursday, March 28

Editorial: No, San Francisco’s school board recall wasn’t a rejection of progressive politics


Despite the best efforts of Twitter pundits and the national media to shoehorn a meta narrative onto San Francisco’s school board recall, Tuesday’s vote was not, in fact, a broader referendum on progressive politics or mask mandates or the ills of a hyper abundance of wokeness.

It’s easy to drool over the story line that the most progressive city in America just ousted three progressive school board members. But disagreements over politics had little to do with San Francisco parents’ decision to push for the first local recall in 39 years. Many, in fact, agreed with the broader goals of the three ousted board members. There were disagreements over methodology, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a recall supporter who didn’t speak openly about wanting to close the racial achievement gaps in academic performance that recalled commissioners Alison Collins, Gabriela López and Faauuga Moliga said they prioritized. In their endorsement interview with The Chronicle, Yes on Recall organizers Siva Raj and Autumn Looijen even spoke about the benefits of school renamings when executed with care and thoughtfulness.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *