In San Francisco, Virus is Contained but Schools Are Still Closed

[David Lockmiller]

Well, Gene, the legal costs are increasing for the San Francisco School District.

A Superior Court judge on Wednesday ordered the district to pay $60,000 to cover legal fees of plaintiffs who sued to block the renaming of school sites bearing names of historical figures said to be linked to racism and oppression. The legal firm that filed the suit said the $60,000 reflected a discount in acknowledgment of the district’s budget crisis. The firm halved the 200 hours it spent on the case and then reduced the hourly rate by more than half, leaving the district to pay less than a quarter of actual costs exceeding $240,000, plaintiffs’ attorney Paul Scott said.

[David Lockmiller]

San Francisco School Board Violated California Environmental Law
San Francisco Superior Court Orders School Board to Void Illegal Actions to Destroy or Cover Historic Arnautoff Murals

September 28, 2021, For Immediate Release. On September 24, 2021, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Anne-Christine Massullo entered Judgment in favor of the George Washington High School Alumni Association after hard-fought litigation spanning two years. Judge Massullo ruled that the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) and the San Francisco School Board violated California environmental laws. The judge ordered issuance of a Peremptory Writ of Mandamus requiring that the SFUSD and the School Board void their unlawful actions to destroy or cover the historic Arnautoff Murals at George Washington High School.

[David Lockmiller]

S.F. school board faces more legal costs with appeal of lawsuit over controversial mural decision

The San Francisco school board will appeal a Superior Court judge’s ruling involving the district’s effort to cover a controversial mural depicting the life of George Washington, continuing to pay outside counsel to fight the legal battle despite the school system’s perilous financial situation.

The board voted 6-1 to appeal the case, a decision made in closed session late Tuesday after a nearly three-hour public discussion on the district’s overspending and its predicted $116 million shortfall next school year, which has resulted in state intervention.

Board member Jenny Lam was the sole vote against pursuing an appeal in the mural case, which concerns Depression-era paintings lining the hallways of George Washington High School.

[Gene C]

What would Lincoln do?
Send Lafayette Baker after the parents who complain and threaten to take action over the school board policy?
Tell Salmon Chase to crank up the Treasury Departments printing press?
Remind McClellan that appearances are more important than success?
Raise taxes, and force all the school children to wear a mask when drinking from the school water fountains. (helps prevent the spread of typhoid)

[David Lockmiller]

(10-08-2021 11:36 AM)Gene C Wrote:  What would Lincoln do?

Here's what the voters of San Francisco did yesterday according to the San Francisco Chronicle:

San Francisco voters overwhelmingly supported the ouster of three school board members Tuesday in the city’s first recall election in nearly 40 years.

The landslide decision means board President Gabriela López and members Alison Collins and Faauuga Moliga will officially be removed from office and replaced by mayoral appointments 10 days after the election is officially accepted by the Board of Supervisors.

The new board members are likely to take office in mid-March. The three were the only school board members who had served long enough to be eligible for a recall.

The recall divided the city for the past year, with a grassroots effort of frustrated parents and community members pushing for the trustees’ removal over the slow reopening of schools during the pandemic and the board’s focus on controversial issues like renaming 44 school sites and ending the merit-based admission system at Lowell High School.

Supervisor Hillary Ronen said she wasn’t surprised by the results.

“We faced the hardest time of our entire lives as parents and as students in public schools and this Board of Education focused on issues that weren’t about dealing with the immediate crisis of the day, and they didn’t show the leadership that that was necessary and that parents needed to hear, and that kids needed to hear,” said Ronen.

Alison Collins
Yes, recall
79% - 100,592
No
21% - 27,485

Gabriela López
Yes, recall
75% - 95,656
No
25% - 32,067

Faauuga Moliga
Yes, recall
72% - 91,892
No
28% - 35,671

The problem is that there are still "woke" San Francisco School Board members who voted to remove the name of Abraham Lincoln High School for just cause.

What would Lincoln do?

President Abraham Lincoln would make them take a course in American Civil War history. And, they must pass a test at the end of course or take the course over.

[David Lockmiller]

The Washington Post reports today with the headline:

"San Francisco recalls school board members seen as too focused on racial justice"

It spent months deliberating how to rename 44 schools after a committee found their namesakes had connections to slavery, oppression and racism, though many of the alleged ties were thin or, in some cases, historically questionable or inaccurate.

These "woke" San Francisco School Board members were going to rename Abraham Lincoln High School for just cause.

President Abraham Lincoln first issued the Emancipation Proclamation and in 1865 achieved passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which he described himself as the "King's cure" to the end of slavery in the United States of America.

Amendment XIII

Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

This Amendment to the Constitution makes the title of the Washington Post story on School Board Recall Election a bit ironic:

"San Francisco recalls school board members seen as too focused on racial justice"

[Rob Wick]

David, you never fail to miss the point. Most people who voted to recall the board members did so because of the failure to reopen during the pandemic, not because they think renaming the schools is a bad idea. Some may very well think that, but that isn't what moved them to the polls. It was a boneheaded move at a time when other things were more important. Had there not been a pandemic it's likely that this would not have happened.

By the way, when will you hear from Mayor Breed that you've been appointed to save the children of San Francisco?

Best
Rob

[David Lockmiller]

(02-16-2022 07:22 PM)Rob Wick Wrote:  David, you never fail to miss the point. Most people who voted to recall the board members did so because of the failure to reopen during the pandemic, not because they think renaming the schools is a bad idea.

Best
Rob

I thought that I had made that point clear in one of my two previous posts on this subject:

"The recall divided the city for the past year, with a grassroots effort of frustrated parents and community members pushing for the trustees’ removal over the slow reopening of schools during the pandemic and the board’s focus on controversial issues like renaming 44 school sites and ending the merit-based admission system at Lowell High School."

Did you miss that point, Rob?

[Rob Wick]

I didn't miss anything. I'm talking about your reaction.

Best
Rob

[David Lockmiller]

The New York Times - The Morning reads today (2-17-2022):

But the recall election this week that ousted three board members wasn’t about only local politics. It also reflected a trend: Many Americans, even in liberal places, seem frustrated by what they consider a leftward lurch from parts of the Democratic Party and its allies.

The San Francisco school-board recall joins this list. There, three separate issues drove the campaign.

First, the school board had attempted to rename 44 schools, so that they no longer honored anybody deemed reactionary. Among the apparent reactionaries were Paul Revere, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Senator Dianne Feinstein and John Muir, the environmentalist.

Second, the board tried to scrap an admissions system, based on grades and test scores, for Lowell High School, which Mark Barabak of The Los Angeles Times calls “one of the city’s most sacred institutions.” A lottery would have replaced it.

Third, the board kept schools closed for months during the pandemic and showed little concern for the damage. One of the since-recalled board members waved away the ineffectiveness of remote classes, saying that children were “just having different learning experiences.”

[David Lockmiller]

Four posts from San Francisco - Richmond district on Nextdoor regarding Ouster of School Board members:

Janos Gereben:

I voted them out because they spent months debating the "need" to rename such schools as Lincoln and Washington... while schools were closed by the pandemic, and children and parents were left to fend for themselves.

wayne lee:

To rename schools just because certain presidents weren't 100% bonafide saints is turning a blind eye to their crucial contributions to our nation. Would we even have a country without Washington's and Lincoln's leadership?

Jason Standiford:

Unless you actually lived in San Francisco, and had kids at a public school, it's hard to really grasp the level of insanity that was going on. The national media doesn't get it. It felt like being gaslighted on a weekly basis.

Maureen Gray:

And, the post with the most "hearts" in support of comment (12) reads simply:

"Good riddance."

[David Lockmiller]

Paul Scott — who has successfully sued the school district in the past for violating the Brown Act, California’s open meeting law, in its efforts to rename schools — demanded the school board rescind the resolution recognizing Eid Al Fitr and Eid Al Adha in a letter to school board president Jenny Lam on Thursday.

Santiago Mejia/The San Francisco Chronicle, August 19, 2022

The lawyer that already sued the San Francisco school district over its renaming of schools is now threatening another lawsuit after the school board voted to make two Muslim holy days into school holidays.

Paul Scott demanded the school board rescind the resolution recognizing Eid Al Fitr and Eid Al Adha in a letter to school board president Jenny Lam on Thursday.

San Francisco’s embattled school board has faced numerous lawsuits over the last two years. The district has been caught up in legal action over efforts to rename 44 schools, plans to cover up a historic mural, and its slow-moving plan to reopen schools. The litigation hasn’t helped the district’s difficult financial situation. As a result, officials have been forced to cover legal costs by dipping into funds intended for facility improvement. That spending is now under review by an official oversight committee.

Scott’s letter acknowledges the board’s “laudable objective of reducing discrimination against members of the Muslim community,” but argues the resolution violated the Brown Act because the notice did not make clear that the purpose of the August 9 hearing was to authorize two new school holidays based on their religious significance.

[David Lockmiller]

San Francisco Richmond Review
Sep 4, 2022

Commentary: Quentin L. Kopp (former San Francisco supervisor, state senator, member of the SF Ethics Commission and retired judge)

Paul Scott, esquire, a public school parent from Telegraph Hill, by letter dated Aug. 18, demanded the Board repeal its Aug. 9 resolution, adopted by a 5-1 vote, for non-compliance with Brown Act notice (to the public) and agenda requirements and violation of the United States Constitution Establishment Clause and Article I, Section 4 of the California Constitution (establishment of religion). At press time, the School District hasn’t complied. I predict a suit this month by the San Francisco Taxpayers Association (of which I’m president) to protect taxpayer funds from dispensation to holiday-enjoying teachers and administrators, plus costs incurred by parents who would need care for their children on such unexpected holidays.

Quentin Kopp added a form of "Lincoln" humor at the end of his commentary:

Concerned that his son was spending too much time on video games, a father told him: “When Abraham Lincoln was your age, he was studying books by the light of the fireplace.” “Oh yeah,” replied the son. “Well, when Abe Lincoln was your age, he was president of the United States.”