San Francisco school board members facing recall for prioritizing 'wokeness' over education
Recall petition organizers Leslie Huang and Rob Kutner on the San Francisco school board members facing a recall vote over allegations of being too woke and not
A San Francisco school board is facing a recall election as parents and petition organizers claim that the public education system is a "dumpster fire" prioritizing "woke" politics over quality learning.
"They’re using kids as subjects for their social experiments without facing any consequences themselves," parent and recall petition organizer Rob Kutner told "Fox & Friends First." "It’s a nightmare. I don’t know anyone who supports the actions of the school board."
The special election takes aim at three board members, all Democrats, who've served long enough to be eligible to be recalled: Alison Collins, Gabriela Lopez, and Faauuga Moliga. Voters will head to the polls on Tuesday to vote for or against the San Francisco Unified School District board.
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San Francisco, one of the wealthiest cities in the country, currently holds one of the worst average reading levels among students in the state of California, falling at the bottom 7%. But, this lapse in education is not the result of sparse resources or limited funds, but rather mismanaged priorities, Kutner told co-host Carley Shimkus.
"The school board has not been prioritizing our childrens’ education, instead focusing on renaming schools and closing merit-based admissions," said another petition organizer, Leslie Huang.
The recall effort began more than a year ago while public schools remained closed even as city officials deemed it was safe for all kids to return to in-person classes. Parents grew angry after the school board focused on renaming 44 school sites deemed to be offensive, including high schools named after Abraham Lincoln and George Washington, while private schools opened safely and there schools remained closed.
Members of San Francisco's community were further enraged by what they called a series of racist tweets by Collins, who is Black. Before she was on the board and became its vice president, she tweeted, among other things that Asian Americans had used "white supremacist thinking to assimilate and get ahead." When Collins was subsequently demoted, she sued the district and her colleagues for $87 million, instigating another controversy within the community.
Roosevelt Middle School in San Francisco, named after President Theodore Roosevelt, was among dozens slated to be renamed before the school board's decision was reversed. (AP Photo/Haven Daley)
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Meanwhile, board member and commissioner Moliga put out a campaign statement on February 12, calling arguments against him "false" and asserting that attempts to recall him were "unjustified."
The final results of the election are expected to be tallied next week.
"This is a small town. There's only about 800,000 people in San Francisco, so everybody knows somebody with kids in public school. And it's a dumpster fire," said Kutner.
Fox News' Claudia Cowan contributed to this report.