The San Francisco Board of Education plans to rename schools after historic figures such as Abraham Lincoln and George Washington until students and teachers are able to return to the classroom, council commissioner Gabriela Lopez said Sunday night.
“I acknowledge and also take responsibility for mistakes made during the renaming process of the building. We need to slow down and provide more opportunities for community input – this can only happen after our schools are personal again,” Lopez writes. Twitter.
San Francisco’s education leaders have been hit hard because they have focused on renaming schools amid the coronavirus pandemic. The San Francisco Chronicle reports Lopez’s announcement comes days after parents began recalling a petition calling for Lopez, Vice President Alison Collins and Commissioner Faauuga Moliga to politicize education.
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“We are parents, not politicians, and intend to stay that way,” organizer Siva Raj told the San Francisco Chronicle. “We are determined to ensure that San Francisco’s public schools provide a quality education for every child in the city.”
They are hoping to get 70,000 signatures to get a recall of the vote.
A plaque for Roosevelt Middle School will be seen outside the school in San Francisco on Wednesday, January 27, 2021. (AP Photo / Haven Daley)
“While talking to parents, I heard how difficult it is to worry about your child going to stand still and their struggle to stay motivated in distance education,” Lopez said in a statement. “We are in negotiations to get the job back to personal learning, and I am committed to working with city partners to get vaccinations, tests and other resources we need.”
Lopez said she was “very grateful” for the “anti-racist” work of the naming committee.
“The renaming of the school … was a process that began in 2018 with a timeline that did not anticipate a pandemic,” she said in a statement.
The governor of California, hopeful Kevin Faulconer, made use of San Francisco’s school last week to rename the fiasco.
Faulconer made the reopening of schools an important part of his campaign. On Wednesday, Faulconer held a press conference outside Abraham Lincoln High School, one of the 44 San Francisco schools renamed over the past few months due to alleged links with White supremacy. Schools named after Presidents George Washington, William McKinley, James Garfield, James Monroe and Herbert Hoover also made the cut block.
“San Francisco’s school board has preferred the removal of the name outside this school, over the education that must take place inside this school. President Lincoln should be celebrated, not canceled. To get rid of Lincoln and Washington’s name, is outrageous, “Faulconer said.
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Faulconer’s press conference took place a day after the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) postponed scheduled talks on how to safely reopen classrooms.
Fox News’ Bradford Betz and Peter Aitken contributed to this report.