Voters in San Francisco successfully recalled three members of the city’s school board Tuesday, capping a campaign led by city parents upset the board had prioritized renaming schools instead of resuming in-person classes last year.
Board members Faauuga Moliga, Alison Collins, and board president Gabriela López were all recalled from their positions after a successful campaign by city parents upset by what they deemed misplaced priorities. Initial results, reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, showed each one received more than 70% of the vote share favoring a recall.
The board had sought to rename a number of district schools in 2020 whose names were deemed offensive, while making little effort to reopen classrooms to in-person instruction following pandemic-induced closures, infuriating parents who said the board should have been focused on re-opening schools.
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The recall campaign counted San Francisco Mayor London Breed among its supporters, who in November said the “school Board’s priorities have often been severely misplaced” and that parents felt the board was ignoring them.
“It was clear from the start that this recall effort was a grassroots effort led by parents; that’s who got out there and collected the signatures,” Breed said at the time. “I am supporting the parents’ call for change.”
The three recalled board members were generally seen as significantly more liberal than many other California elected officials. Among the schools the board had sought to rename was one named after sitting Democrat senator and former San Francisco mayor Dianne Feinstein.
Other schools the board tried to rename bore the names of Abraham Lincoln and George Washington.
With the successful recall, Breed will now have the opportunity to name the replacements for the three recalled board members, as the recall does not include replacement candidates.
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The last time San Francisco attempted to recall an elected official was in 1983, when a bid to unseat Feinstein as mayor was unsuccessful.
