Press Release: Fri., Aug. 23, 2024
Contact: Amanda Hart, ahart@uesf.org, 510-631-4437
New SFUSD Board of Education Commissioner Appointed with No Educator Input
The focus must be our public school communities
SAN FRANCISCO— SF Board of Education President Lainie Motamedi has stepped down at a very critical time in our school district. Commissioner Motamedi, originally an appointee of Mayor Breed, showed her support to the educators of San Francisco on her first night in office. She visited the educators occupying SFUSD’s third floor to demand that district management immediately address the thousands of unpaid educators due to the negligent implementation of the new payroll system Empower. United Educators of San Francisco, the union representing over 6,000 educators, has appreciated Commissioner Motamedi and the Board Education’s commitment to collaborating with educators. This collaboration has led to the end of the Empower crisis, the hiring of capable and accountable management and finalizing an historic contract that sets us on the course to stabilizing staffing.
In the week prior to the resignation and appointment, that apparent commitment to including educators in the decisions affecting the students, families and educators of San Francisco Unified School District is nowhere to be found. The Mayor’s office did not reach out to the union representing educators directly. Mayor Breed has appointed Phil Kim to replace Commissioner Motamedi.
Phil Kim was recently hired by SFUSD to lead the District’s “Resource Alignment Initiative.” At the most critical point in the process to potentially close schools and rearrange programs, Phil Kim will abandon that position to be appointed to the Board of Education. Phil Kim is not new to education. He ran as a pro-charter school candidate for the Board of Education previously and worked at KIPP Academy, a chain of charter schools, from 2012-2023. UESF had expressed concerns to the Superintendent when Phil Kim was hired to work for the public school district, and we continue to express our concerns on his appointment at a time where the focus should be entirely on stabilizing, not further dismantling, our public schools.
Educators have made it clear to all leaders that there are many more things that unite us when we focus on our students. The San Francisco Public Education pledge is our standard for elected and appointed education, city and state officials. The absolute red line for any future collaboration is the privatization of our public schools. There can be no intention, no action towards privatization of our precious public institution. Undermining public education for our communities is an act that will ultimately harm the most vulnerable and marginalized students, and will be met by the full organizing force of our union.
The educators of San Francisco will continue organizing alongside our families and communities to fight for and win the schools our students deserve. At this critical moment, hundreds of educator vacancies means students without teachers, paraeducators and critical support staff because the positions are being held up by CDE advisors. On Tuesday, August 27th, educators will be holding a press conference and rally at 555 Franklin at 5:30pm to demand that the Department of Education of the State of California approve critical staff to support our students.
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