Image Credit:
Canva
The vote wasn’t even close. When all the ballots were counted this past week in the San Francisco School Board recall election, voters overwhelmingly voted to remove three controversial school board members from office. Even in the Democratic stronghold of the Bay Area, parents are rising up to oppose extreme curriculum and demand elected officials fix failing schools.
The lopsided vote suggests parents of all political persuasions are rising up to seek change in how school districts are being run.
Carl DeMaio, chairman of Reform California, explained the concerns parents are feeling.
“Parents are fed up for a number of reasons — and contrary to what you read about in the liberal media, it’s not just over schools being locked down for 18 months in California while the rest of the schools across the country were open or the divisiveness of mask and vaccine mandates,” DeMaio explained.
“Parents from all political backgrounds are shocked by the extreme and divisive curriculum being taught in the classroom and by the disrespectful treatment of parents by school officials and board members,” DeMaio continued.
“On top of that, parents see that student academic achievement is plummeting, but school officials seem focused on divisive political topics rather than doing what is best for the children,” DeMaio noted.
DeMaio’s organization, Reform California, is helping parents statewide to organize and demand change. By partnering with local groups and policy think tanks, Reform California seeks to improve collaboration and coordination among various stakeholders who should work together to force changes in schools.
In addition to coalition building to put pressure on existing school board members to enact reforms on their own, Reform California is prepared to take the issue of school reform to the ballot box in the 2022 elections.
That’s why Reform California is actively working to recruit, train and support candidates for school boards across the state.
“We’re working to win school board seats and elect common-sense school board leaders who will actually listen to parents and run our schools with professionalism and with a laser-focus on doing what is best for students,” DeMaio explained.
One of those candidates is Becca Williams, who is running for San Diego Unified School Board District C. Williams, a mother of two and former teacher, says that school mandates, extreme curriculum, and learning loss from remote schooling spurred her to run for office.
“I feel strongly that every family deserves to have a tuition-free public school option that they can trust, and I think trust is the biggest thing that’s been eroded,” said Williams. “There are just so many things that have really alienated families and they don’t feel that they can trust sending their kids to schools anymore.”
Williams pledged to be a voice for parents and blasted the current San Diego Unified School Board for not following the science, calling them a “hot bed” of everything that could go wrong.
“It turns out feelings are not a strategy for budget or for ensuring students get a quality education — they’re also not a strategy for complicated challenges like Covid,” said Williams.
DeMaio encouraged parents and concerned citizens to get involved in the fight to reform school districts in 2022.
“We cannot wage this battle alone — we rely on the support of grassroots contributors and volunteers, so this is a fight that everyone needs to join today — our children are depending on us to act,” DeMaio concluded.
Join the Fight: Reform California Campaign to Elect New School Board Members
.jpg)
.jpg)
