For SF school board: Wynns, Norton, Murase and a pick to be named later

October 10, 4:24 PMSF Education ExaminerCaroline Grannan

Previous Next

43 comments Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the SF Education Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

San Francisco voters elect four Board of Education members in November. After seeing those candidates who came to a recent forum at Lincoln High -- and following SFUSD issues for years -- I'm up to three. I've supported Jill Wynns and Rachel Norton from the beginning. And yes, my editor says I can make endorsements.

Fellow candidate Emily Murase could use "What's Not to Like?" as a campaign slogan, and now that I've seen her this evening, she's definitely my third pick unless she chooses Sarah Palin as vice president or something similarly startling..

I'm still up in the air on my fourth. I was fairly impressed with Marigrace Cohen. I was dubious about Omar Khalif when he ran last time; he seems much better informed this time, and I was disarmed by his response to one question (I'm paraphrasing): Assuming a similar state budget crisis next year, SFUSD will face a significant budget gap -- what would you do about it? He answered cheerily that of course he'd consult with Jill Wynns, since nobody knows more than she does about school funding and budget issues.

Full disclosure time. I consider both Wynns -- a veteran incumbent -- and Norton friends. But then, I became friends with Wynns after watching her in action on the Board of Ed; admiring her savvy, courage, ethics and relentless advocacy for kids and schools; and making a point of meeting her. I originally know Norton through her sister, who was a fellow Miraloma Co-op Preschool and Lakeshore Elementary parent and whose musician son plays in the Community Music Center Teen Jazz Band with my kids.  (But I never heard of Murase until this election and never saw her until the Lincoln High forum.) Norton and Murase are both SFUSD parents with extensive involvement in school and community issues, and both voice thoughtful, sensible, nuanced views on the issues I view as important (details in further posts).

There has been a strikingly ugly tone to some of the public discussion of this school board race, and I've decided not to contribute to that further by making any negative comments about any candidates, though I reserve the right to describe their positions in context of my opinions on the issues.

The hot topic at the Lincoln High forum was JROTC, which has been a popular program there. I support reinstating JROTC in our schools. At this evening's candidates' forum, of those who were present, Kimberly Wicoff and H. Brown were the only ones who oppose reinstating it.

The following candidates were not at the forum: Sandra Fewer (who opposes JROTC), Bobbi Lee (who opposes JROTC), Norman Yee (co-sponsor of the resolution that put the final nail in JROTC's coffin, though he says he supports JROTC), and Alexander Young Lee (positions unknown; it's not clear whether he's still in the race).

Wynns has consistently been the Board of Ed's JROTC champion and was the lone vote against the resolution that effectively killed it (by making JROTC ineligible for PE credit). Norton and Murase both expressed support for reinstating it.

A big issue to me is the future of Lowell High School and School of the Arts (which both my kids attend). Both schools have selective admissions processes -- Lowell by academic criteria and SOTA by artistic audition or judging. It has been the party line among the city's Green/Progressive faction that the admissions criteria for Lowell and SOTA are elitist and should be dropped, which would turn both into run-of-the-mill general education schools.

I want to hear where the candidates are on that, and it hasn't been discussed much yet. Time ran out this evening before the question I submitted on it came up. 

Wynns has been a Lowell parent and the guardian of a SOTA student and is a strong supporter of both schools (she points out that she's the only board member who has been a working artist herself). I actually haven't specifically asked Norton and am assuming that she supports both; her sensible views and commitment to meeting the needs of all students would indicate that to me (I guess I'd better confirm this; I'll post the response). Murase is a member of the Lowell Alumni Association Board of Directors, so it seems like a safe bet that she's a supporter.

I urge readers to please inform yourselves before you vote. I assume anyone reading this commentary is already interested in school issues. For years now I've seen other parents experience what I did: Once they have school-age kids, they suddenly realize how important the school board is and are appalled at how lightly they decided how to vote on it in the past. (What I hear over and over is: "I always used to just vote the Bay Guardian's 'Clean Slate'! What was i thinking?" -- sorry, SFBG staff. Oddly,  I've never heard anyone say that about the mainstream local press. I'm not sure if that means they never followed its recommendations to begin with.)