School Board Recall Launches! Reform Update 4

Welcome to my special newsletter about actions to change the school board. This is update 4.

This update includes:

• Recall Campaign Launched

• How You Can Help the Recall

• Who’s Behind the Recall?

• Beyond Recall: What Other Groups Are Doing

• Communication Links

The goal of this newsletter is to bring people together, provide information on all the options to reform the school board, and give direction on how you can get involved. More than 1,200 parents and residents have signed up so far. 

Do you have friends who would like this newsletter? Ask them to sign up here.

Thanks for your support,
Joel Engardio 

RECALL CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED
A group of public school parents filed paperwork with the Secretary of State on February 19 to launch the Committee to Support the Recall of Board of Education Commissioners López, Collins, and Moliga.

For weeks, a number of loosely formed groups of frustrated parents and outraged residents have been talking about wanting to recall the school board. Now, one group has emerged as the vehicle to channel all that recall energy into action.

Sign up on the recall website.  

The website’s cover photo of a child in Zoom meltdown perfectly explains why parents are pursuing a recall. Their children are in this position because of a school board that continues to support a deeply flawed process to rename schools, the dismantling of one the nation’s best high schools, and the view that a gay dad is not diverse enough to serve on a volunteer parent committee — all while refusing to prioritize the safe reopening of schools.

HOW YOU CAN HELP THE RECALL

• Be one of the 30 people whose name will appear on the Notice of Intention that will be delivered to each school board member facing recall. This is not simply signing a petition. The law requires that a recall have 30 San Francisco voters serve as official sponsors on public record. Your name and address will be on file at City Hall and your name will appear on every petition that is signed. This is a role for residents who feel strongly about the recall and want to have their name prominently affixed to the declaration. Organizers are seeking a diverse range of signatories. If you want play this role, send an email to: recallsfschoolboard@gmail.com

• Be one of 70,000 people to sign each recall petition. You will be asked to sign three petitions because there must be a separate petition for each school board member facing recall. Commissioners Lopez, Collins, and Moliga are the three school board members currently eligible for recall. Sign up here to get information on when and how to sign a petition. 

• Be a donor to the effort. Organizers plan to limit individual donations to $99 to ensure no single external voice dominates. Sign up here to get information on when and how to donate.

WHO’S BEHIND THE RECALL?
Autumn Looijen and Siva Raj are the recall organizers and leaders with the stated goal “to get politics out of education.”

Autumn and Siva are a couple in a blended family. They are a veritable “Brady Bunch” with five kids between them (three of hers and two of his). They are not affiliated with any political machine in San Francisco. “We are parents, not politicians, and intend to stay that way,” Siva said. “We are determined to ensure San Francisco’s public schools provide a quality education for every kid in the city.”

Autumn Looijen and Siva Raj

Autumn has been both a stay at home parent and a working mom. Siva is an immigrant from India. They both work in tech and built an app to help their kids stay on track of their school assignments while distance learning in the pandemic. Now, they are going to make the app open source so they can focus full-time on the school board recall.

Autumn and Siva know that recalls are hard. It’s been nearly 40 years since a recall obtained enough signatures to qualify for the ballot in San Francisco — and that recall of then-Mayor Dianne Feinstein failed. See my earlier blog post that outlines all the hurdles of a recall.

Autumn and Siva aren’t daunted. They both have startup experience and want to bring that mindset to a recall campaign. They want to use innovation to overcome the hurdles past recall efforts faced. They have the extra burden of collecting 70,000 signatures times three school board members that must be pen-on-paper during a pandemic. Yet they have some creative ideas to make it happen. 

“We want to model the behaviors we are asking of the board, so this campaign will be run with transparency,” Autumn said. “We intend to keep the community informed of our plans and progress.”

Both will be blogging about the campaign. Watch an inspiring profile video about Autumn and Siva.

BEYOND RECALL: WHAT OTHER GROUPS ARE DOING
You’ve probably heard about other groups doing various things related to changing or reforming the school board. Here they are:

• First, it’s important to note that the filing of a recall committee reported by local journalist Joe Eskenazi is not related to Autumn and Siva’s parent-led recall committee. The committee Eskenazi highlighted in his news report is not active. It was filed by one person as a placeholder in search of a group wanting to use it. Autumn and Siva have filed their own committee, which is not connected to any political figure, party, or machine.

• Families for San Francisco announced last week the formation of a PAC called Better Public Schools. This is not a recall-focused PAC. It’s mission is to “demand equity and excellence” while “mobilizing and organizing for better public schools.” They are looking at long term structural change and solutions based on data and analysis. Since a recall may not succeed, they want to look at options such as a charter amendment to change how the school board is formed. If all else fails, they also want to support a slate of candidates to replace the incumbents in the November 2022 election. Learn more here. 

• Decreasing the Distance is a group of parents focused on the immediate need of safely reopening schools. Join their robust Facebook group here. 

COMMUNICATION LINKS
It’s important that we can find and share information in a central place on social media.

• If you are on Nextdoor, please join the citywide group “How to Change the School Board.” Click here to join.

• If you are Facebook, join the recall-focused group “SF Parents” run by Autumn and Siva. Click here to join. 

Let me know if there are any other relevant social media groups I can share in the next newsletter.

Do you have friends who would like this newsletter? Ask them to sign up here.

NOTE: This newsletter and previous updates are also published as blog posts. Click to read and share on social media:
Update 4
Update 3
Update 2
Update 1