San Francisco Mayor London Breed on Sunday said three ousted school board members lost their positions because they were "focusing on other things" and failing to address that "our kids were not in the classroom."
In an interview on NBC News’ “Meet The Press,” the Democrat said the recall, which she supported, came out of “frustration.”
“My take is that it was really about the frustration of the Board of Education doing their fundamental job, and that is to make sure that our children are getting educated, that they get back into the classroom, and that did not occur,” she said.
“They were focusing on other things that were clearly a distraction,” she continued. “Not to say that those other things around renaming schools and conversations around changes to our school district weren't important, but what was most important is the fact that our kids were not in the classroom."
She also lamented that "kids were not in school, and they should have been. Kids were home suffering."
Breed hailed the city's Department of Public Health for being "a leader during this COVID pandemic.
"And in some cases, we have put forth the most conservative policies to ensure the safety [of residents] demonstrate that we are a clear leader," she said. "But parents were upset and the decision to recall board members was a result of that.”
Board President Gabriela López and Commissioners Faauuga Moliga and Alison Collins were voted out of office last week.
Parents were frustrated that their children were still in remote learning, despite county and state approval of a shift back to in-person learning, which resulted in multiple lawsuits against the board to reopen, The Hill reported. The board also wanted to rename 44 schools amid a racial reckoning.
In addition, the district moved to end merit-based admissions at an elite high school where Asian Americans hold the majority after old tweets from Collins were unearthed where she reportedly said Asians Americans used "white supremacist" thinking to get ahead of Black students, The Hill reported.
“I’m going to be looking for people that will focus on the priorities of the school district and not on politics and not on what it means to run for office and stepping stones,” Breed told “Meet The Press.”
“We need people who want to be on the school board to make a difference and who meet those qualifications to do the job.”
Fran Beyer ✉
Fran Beyer is a writer with Newsmax and covers national politics.
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