Two Filipina Trailblazers Lead San Francisco’s Two Largest High Schools
Jan Bautista (left) is the principal of Lowell High School. Sharimar Balisi is the principal of Lincoln High School.
The auditorium buzzed with conversation as two women made their way to the front. There was Sharimar Balisi, the principal of Lincoln High School for the past eight years. Beside her walked Jan Bautista, the up-and-coming principal of Lowell High School. As leaders of San Francisco’s two largest high schools, they’re both Filipina trailblazers.
"I really got emotional," Balisi recalls, her voice softening. "To see Jan next to me, another Filipino woman up there. It's great that she can lead this big school. She is the face of it now."
A friendship rooted in shared heritage
This seemingly simple walk down an aisle encapsulates a friendship rooted in shared heritage, mutual understanding, and a vision to transform education in the Sunset District’s two public high schools.
Balisi and Bautista's paths first crossed at a meeting of Kababayan, a group for Filipino educators in San Francisco. What began as a professional connection quickly deepened, nurtured by their shared experiences as women of color in leadership positions.
“There's a shortcut in what you can talk about," Bautista explains, "because you don't have to explain all the cultural baggage on top of your experience."
This unspoken understanding has become a cornerstone of their friendship, providing a safe space to celebrate victories and voice frustrations in a system where they often find themselves the only Filipina voices in the room.
"Knowing that there's already a leader that I can connect with makes it easier for me to take on the pressures of leadership," Bautista admits. "It would be scary if I were the only Filipina or the only leader of color."
Jan Bautista (left) and Sharimar Balisi.
The journey to this point wasn't easy for either of them. Both women speak candidly about their struggles with assimilation and the process of reclaiming their cultural identity.
Bautista, who immigrated to San Francisco from the Philippines, remembers the pressure her family faced. Despite her parents' college degrees, they struggled to find jobs in their fields due to their immigrant status. Her father worked security and fixed computers at night before his engineering skills were finally recognized.
This pressure to fit in left its mark.
"Growing up, I was kind of ashamed, but I wasn't even consciously ashamed," Bautista reflects. "I thought I was just doing well speaking really great English, being really successful in school, fitting in with everyone.”
It wasn’t until she started teaching English language learners that Bautista came to the realization that she had become part of an assimilation machine.
Balisi shares a similar experience, noting that she didn't truly connect with her Filipino identity until college. These experiences of assimilation and eventual reconnection with their heritage have profoundly shaped their approach to education and leadership.
Close the achievement gap, lead with authenticity
Both principals are now tackling the persistent achievement gap affecting students of color, drawing on their own experiences to inform their strategies.
At Lincoln, Balisi is pushing to get more students of color into advanced placement classes. She's working to shift the paradigm of who is considered "ready" for AP classes, pushing to give students from underprivileged backgrounds the opportunity to challenge themselves.
At Lowell, which has consistently ranked among the top 10 high schools in California, Bautista has challenged Lowell's educators to envision the legacy their students and communities can accomplish through collaboration and stewardship of each and every student. She's shifting the educational approach from going beyond grade level content standards to enhancing skill-building, aiming to guide students to tackle real world challenges.
Central to their educational philosophy is the importance of authenticity.
"Be authentic to who you are," Balisi urges. "Being able to articulate that and still stand up for what you believe in."
Bautista adds depth to this concept by emphasizing that students are not empty vessels to be filled by knowledge from the teacher. She references the philosophy of educator Paulo Freire, who advocated for teachers and students to learn from each other — a participatory approach to education.
“I want to value all of the things our students come to us with — their multilingualism, multiculturalism — and celebrate that,” Bautista says, “and identify the strengths that they have to build on and build community together.”
Emotional resilience found in mutual support
The pressures of leadership can be overwhelming, especially at a time when schools are still stabilizing from the constant shuffles brought on by the Covid pandemic.
Balisi had to fill 15 positions last year, which included teachers, counselors, and paraeducators. Bautista is urging teachers to emerge out of isolation and re-establish mechanisms of collaboration.
“The biggest part of that is the emotional labor,” says Balisi. “Kids get tired, teachers get tired. I mean, it's already a triumph to get them going throughout the whole day.”
Balisi emphasizes the importance of journaling and gratitude in coping with these challenges, advising Bautista to focus on positive experiences and accomplishments.
This advice reveals not just a coping strategy, but also a struggle common to many women leaders — the difficulty in celebrating their own success. Despite spending eight years as Lincoln’s principal, Balisi admits it's only recently that she's begun to reflect on her achievements.
Bautista, recognizing this, offers her own words of encouragement.
"Eight years is an accomplishment in and of itself," she tells Balisi. "You are the longest serving principal of your current cohort of leaders."
This exchange exemplifies the support they provide each other, a reminder to acknowledge the impact they made in a system that often overlooks them.
Their friendship stands as a powerful testament to the importance of representation in leadership. Their story is not just about two female educators. It's about the power of cultural understanding and the strength found in shared experiences.
As they continue to lead their respective schools, Bautista and Balisi are not just shaping educational policies — they're reshaping the narrative of what leadership looks like in San Francisco's public schools.
Reported and written by volunteer community journalist Sophie Shao. We encourage residents with journalism experience, retired journalists, and student journalists in high school and college to volunteer as writers for Supervisor Engardio’s newsletter. Interested? Apply here. Do you know a story you would like to see featured in the newsletter? Tell us about it here.