Wednesday, October 20, 2021

California: San Francisco School Board recall makes the ballot, scheduled for February 15, 2022

The recall effort against San Francisco Board President Gabriela Lopez, former Vice President Alison Collins and member Faauuga Moliga has made the ballot and been scheduled for February 15, 2022.  Petitioners handed in over 81.200 signatures and they needed 51,285 to get on the ballot (it's not clear yet how many valids they got).  Collins also dropped a lawsuit $87 million lawsuit against the board for removing her from the VP position.

The School Board recall is over a few issues, including a push to plan for the reopening of the schools, changing admissions for a high school and an extremely controversial decision to change the names of public schools for political reasons and using some odd history, including removing the name of Abraham Lincoln. Mayor London Breed has been particularly critical of the board, and the City Attorney Dennis Herrera has sued to compel reopening. 

Other board members Jenny Lam, Mark Sanchez and Kevine Boggess and Matt Alexander, will not be able to face a recall until June. 

California has been happy to kick out school board members over the last decade -- 25 have been removed in a recall vote, 7 have resigned, one has been kicked out by the board and only 6 survived a recall vote.

As I note in the Politico story, this may be the most noteworthy school board recall since the Lost Year recall in 1959 in Little Rock, Arkansas. I consider the 1959 event, which helped end the fight to keep the schools segregated in the wake of Brown v. Board of Ed., the recall's finest hour and arguably the most important recall in US history. 

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