Old School, New School: The SFist School Board Interviews

Are you a parent? If so, are you sending your children to public school in San Francisco, and why did you make that choice?
I have been an SFUSD parent for 21 years and was an active volunteer and parent leader for 6 years before being elected to the Board of Education.

My three children are now adults (27, 22 & 19yo). My connection to SFUSD began when my oldest started K in 1984. My youngest graduated from an SFUSD HS in 2005.

Rank the following in order of importance to the SFUSD. Explain why you ranked your number 1 choice number 1. And if your most important priority for the SF schools isn't listed below, tell us what that priority is.
__neighborhood school assignments
__school closings
__better union relations with teachers and school staff
_1_racial and economic diversity in school admissions
__cordiality among SFUSD board members
__improving test scores across the district
__increasing enrollment

Public schools exist to even the playing field for all children; they are the primary mechanism by which we make the promise of opportunity and equality available to future generations. In its famous 1954 ruling, Brown v Topeka Board of Education, the Supreme Court cited ample evidence and research confirming that segregated schools were inherently unequal. That is just as true now as it was then, and we can see it with our own eyes anywhere that children are isolated by ethnicity or poverty. Even in our famously multi-cultural city, this disadvantage is visited upon African American, Latino, Asian-Pacific Islander and other students as well. Middle class students, in reversely isolated schools with “high test scores” are also harmed because they are learning that other groups are stereotypically inferior, if not threatening. Our society is harmed because segregated schools perpetuate social isolation, economic disadvantage and inter-group suspicion.

Test scores are an imperfect measure of school quality, since they are so narrowly focused and do not account for language and cultural differences between students.

Mandatory or automatic school assignment violates each family’s opportunity to request the best schools for their children’s education, and re-inforces the inequity associated with housing segregation. Only about 20% of SF families request their designated ‘neighborhood school’ as their first choice.

How do you feel about former superintendent Arlene Ackerman's (in)famous "platinum parachute" contract?

This is a widely misunderstood transaction that was deliberately trumpeted for political gain by a variety of local officials. Urban School Superintendents serve at the whim of their Board of Education and may lose their Board's support at any time, often by the change of a single vote, as occurred in this case. Superintendents usually have no vested pension rights in the district they serve because they have been recruited from elsewhere to bring new skills and perspective. National data show that urban superintendents have an average tenure of about three years, not very good for consistent improvement.

Dr. Ackerman's employment was terminated without a finding of fault, when she had approximately 42 months left on her contract. She had every right to assert that the terms of her contract be honored in full. Instead, she agreed to accept the standard buy out under California Law: 18 months salary. If the Board tried to deny that buy out, we would have incurred an expensive lawsuit, lost the lawsuit and been required to pay Dr. Ackerman treble damages.

Given that Dr. Ackerman is widely recognized as one of the very top School Administrators in the country because of the pioneering and successful work she did in San Francisco, (in spite of constant sabotage and character assassination by Board members), I think we got off cheaply.

Man, we've listened to some school board meetings on the radio and they're certainly very contentious, what with the angry parents, the angry students, the angry staff, the angry administrators, the angry members of the public, and the angry board members. How do you see yourself balancing all these various interests? Are you a shouter?

No.
Our meetings are well attended and people feel very strongly about the issues they bring to us, and meetings are therefore vulnerable to disruption and grandstanding. If any Board member chooses to take sides early and promote anger, the meeting can become disrupted and disorderly because we have no real control over the conduct of individual members. Board members should understand that our conduct affects public perceptions of our competence and responsiveness. We were elected to find solutions, not incite riots and anger.

It might be coincidence, but since our meetings have been televised, Board members seem to be dressing more neatly and following Robert’s Rules somewhat better.

On a similar note, what do you think is going to be the biggest source of conflict for the school board in the next few years? What do you think we should do about that?

No matter what I think, events will usually prove me wrong, so I prefer to take it as it comes. We have been dodging the need to deal with segregation in our schools and programs though, and this will be very difficult to address if the Board does not learn how to conduct debate in a civil manner.

How can we encourage San Franciscans (both with children and without) to commit to the public schools?

Encourage them to visit schools before they judge them. Behave like responsible and caring adults, not demagogues.

And hey, you're representing the kids of San Francisco! What was your favorite pop song of the summer?

I have to confess: if it wasn’t on KALW, KQED, or KPFA, I didn’t hear it.

And a selection of Dr. Kelly's answers to our standard SFist interview questions:

Favorite mode of transportation/favorite MUNI line
N-Judah to the beach

Favorite local hangout
Tennessee Grill

You've never lived in SF until you've
Marched in both the Chinese New Year and Gay Pride Parades.

Favorite Bay area politician of past or present
Emperor Norton is the easy answer, but Tom Ammiano and Joe Alioto both really put their stamp on the city in modern times.

Now that Mayor Gavin is single, who are you going to set him up with?
I hear that he has an active social life and knows most of the eligible singles already, but I think he’d do well to settle down.

SF would be soooo much better if only
it had fall color.

Best Burrito
The Expresso Burrito at El Burrito Express on Taraval Street.

Best movie scene filmed in or about SF
The opening sequence in D.O.A. (1950) in which the protaganist/victim, Bigelow, goes to the Police Station to report a crime

Bigelow: “I want to report a murder”
Cop: “oh yeah? Who was the victim?
Bigelow: “I was”

Tell us a San Francisco Story

When Mayor Brown had to find an appointee to replace Kevin Shelley on the Board of Supervisors, The Chronicle did an article [we found the article! -- ed.] suggesting that I was the leading candidate, even though I wasn’t seeking the job. The story was based upon political chatter, and the headline was along these lines:
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School Board member likely appointee
to Board of Supervisors

Kelly is a heterosexual white male
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Kevin was the only SWM on his Board, and I’ve been the only SWM to serve on the School Board since at least the mid 80s, so the observation was actually somewhat newsworthy. I bought extra copies to send to my mom and other relatives outside of California. They were not necessarily reassured.