Welcome back to our “Meet the Candidates” series, where candidates for the San Francisco Unified School Board of Education respond to questions each week in 100 words or fewer. Answers will be published every Friday.
This electoral season, Mission Local made the decision to only include the answers of candidates who have won a major endorsement or have publicly reported campaign contributions.
That narrows down the candidates for school board from eight to seven: Autumn Brown Garibay, Virginia Cheung, Alida Fisher, Ryan Hazelton, Phil Kim, Laurance Lee and Reina Tello. Candidates may be added to this series if they later meet these criteria.
Each candidate is first ordered alphabetically, then rotated each week.
In 2022, three school board members, Alison Collins, Gabriela López and Faauuga Moliga, lost their positions in a recall election. Not many San Franciscans showed up to vote — about 36 percent — but an overwhelming majority of those voters supported the recall.
A plethora of issues led to the recall. SFUSD’s slowness to resume in-person education during the pandemic played a major role, as did launching a poorly planned and executed attempt to rename multiple schools across the district and abruptly changing the admissions policy at Lowell High School, the city’s most high-performing public high school, from a “merit-based” one based on grades and test scores to a lottery system. (Post-recall, the new board voted in 2022 to restore a merit-based system, though questions remain as to whether it’s legal under state law).
Before the June primary, Mission Local asked the then-candidates in the race about their position on the recall. Now that several new candidates have joined, we’re asking it again: Did you support the 2022 recall?
Mission Local color codes the answers to yes/no questions. A green background means the candidate answered yes, a red background means no, and a yellow background means that the candidate dodged the question.
Virginia Cheung
Job: Chief advancement officer of Open Door Legal
Age: 43
Party: Democratic
Residency: Homeowner in Crocker Amazon, previously lived in the Mission District and the Portola since moving to San Francisco in 2008
Children: Yes, they attend Alice Fong Yu Alternative School and Wah Mei School
SFUSD experience: Treasurer for Parents for Public Schools of San Francisco and served on the Parent Advisory Board of Wah Mei BASE ExCel
Education: Bachelor’s degree in social ecology with a minor in digital art, University of California, Irvine
Languages: English, Cantonese, Mandarin and French
Transportation: Driving
Website: Virginia Cheung for School Board
I generally do not support recalls, particularly when an election is approaching, because they can be costly and divisive. At the same time, I strongly support voters’ democratic right to organize, petition their government, and hold elected officials accountable.
I was not an SFUSD parent during the pandemic or the events that led up to the recall. During the pandemic, I was a senior leader at Wu Yee Children’s Services, where my focus was responding to the immediate needs of children, families, and frontline workers.
As frontline workers ourselves, we kept child care open for essential workers and provided families… read more here.
Endorsed by: United Educators of San Francisco, San Francisco Building and Construction Trades Council, Board of Education Commissioner Matt Alexander; Supervisor Connie Chan… read more here.
Alida Fisher
Job: Executive Director at the Community Alliance for Special Education, incumbent Board of Education member
Age: 51
Party: Democratic
Residency: Homeowner in Lakeview/OMI, lived in the Sunset until 2015
Children: Yes, four adults, ages 18-25. Three have graduated from SFUSD, and the fourth is a senior at Mission High School this year.
SFUSD experience: Current SFUSD Board of Education member. Has served as Chair of the Community Advisory Committee for Special Education, member or past member of SFUSD’s African American Parent Advisory Council, LCAP Task Force, Charter School Oversight Committee, and PIR/CEIS/CCEIS Committee, PTSAs and SSCs at nine school sites
Education: Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Case Western Reserve University
Languages: English, with limited ability to speak and understand Spanish and French
Transportation: Driving, public transit and walking
Website: www.alidafisher.com (Note: will launch this weekend)
I was against the recall. I was worried that a recall would distract us from the urgency of reopening schools safely during the COVID pandemic. Our district was on the brink of insolvency; the California Department of Education was perilously close to placing SFUSD into receivership due to our structural budget deficit, yet the district was slated to absorb the multi-million-dollar cost of the recall. The commissioners were up for reelection in November, mere months away, so why not wait until then instead of wasting resources on a special election? It felt like an end-run around our democratic process.
Endorsements: SF Parents PAC, Supervisor Myrna Melgar, Supervisor Shamann Walton.
Ryan Hazelton
Job: Executive director of Mariposa Kids, a nonprofit for play-based programs for kids ages 1-11
Age: 43
Party: Democratic
Residency: Homeowner in the SoMa, living in San Francisco since 2007
Children: None
SFUSD experience: Chair of San Francisco Child Care & Advisory Council, appointed by SFUSD
Education: Bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of California, San Diego
Languages: English
Transportation: Public transit, walking and biking
Website: Ryan Hazelton for SF School Board
I believe recalls should be reserved for serious crimes or corruption, not for elected officials whose politics we dislike or whose governance has disappointed us. That said, the 2020-21 school board was genuinely dysfunctional, and families were suffering the consequences. I voted to recall one of the three members while questioning the motivations behind the broader effort. The right lesson from 2022 is not that recalls are a legitimate political tool, but that school boards must govern with competence and accountability so recalls never enter the conversation.
Endorsed by: United Educators of San Francisco, Supervisor Connie Chan, Board of Education Commissioner Matt Alexander, former Supervisor Gordon Mar… read more here.
Phil Kim
Job: Deputy Director at San Francisco Agency for Human Rights, incumbent Board of Education president
Age: 36
Party: Democratic
Residency: Renter in the Castro
Children: None
SFUSD experience: School board president
Education: Bachelor’s degree in neuroscience from Bucknell University; master’s in education policy and administration from Loyola Marymount University; Pursuing EdD at the University of California, Berkeley
Languages: English and Korean
Transportation: Public transit, Walking
Website: Phil Kim for School Board
Five years ago, the school board was focused on the wrong things. Instead of planning to reopen schools after COVID, they were mired in distractions like renaming schools.
They stopped focusing on the only mission that matters: ensuring San Francisco’s kids are offered the best education.
This is a completely different board. I’m proud that our efforts have led to greater stability and a focus on student outcomes.
We’ve gone from negative fiscal certification to positive, re-introduced 8th grade algebra, given teachers historic raises, and are tackling our most pressing challenges: enrollment and portfolio planning.
Endorsed by: Mayor Daniel Lurie, State Senator Scott Wiener, Assemblymember Matt Haney, Assemblymember Catherine Stefani, Supervisor Rafael Mandelman… read more here.
Laurance Lee
Job: Volunteer at schools and licensed general contractor
Age: 56
Party: Democratic
Residency: Homeowner in Noe Valley, born in the Richmond District
Children: Yes, but did not attend SFUSD
SFUSD experience: Current vice chair SFUSD Citizens Bond Oversight Committee (Appointed in 2022)
Education: Bachelor’s degrees in chemistry and history & science from Harvard University
Languages: English (learning Cantonese, Mandarin, Spanish and French)
Transportation: Driving, public transit and walking
Website: Laurance Lee for School Board
Yes, I was all in on the 2022 recall. Families had lost trust in a district that had stopped listening. When the protest signs came down, I stayed to do the quieter work. Today, I read with Bayview kindergartners every week, and I see myself in some of those students. I also serve on the Bond Oversight Committee, bringing a contractor’s eye to keeping costs honest on hundreds of millions of dollars in school facilities projects. I’m an SFUSD graduate. Our schools opened doors for me, and I want to help make sure every family can trust their schools and… read more here.
Endorsed by: State Senator Scott Wiener … read more here.
Reina Tello
Job: Community organizer
Age: 44
Party: Democratic
Residency: Renter, born and raised in San Francisco
Children: Two children: 14, rising eighth grader at James Lick; 18, recently graduated from June Jordan School for Equity
SFUSD experience: None
Education: Current CCSF student studying Labor and Community Studies
Languages: English and Spanish
Transportation: Driving
Website: Reina for School Board
I opposed the February 2022 recall because it was backed by over $2 million from billionaires and venture capitalists. In contrast the regular November 2022 elections, where the three winning candidates collectively spent less than $150,000. Billionaires should not be the ones making decisions about our public schools.
At the same time, I understand and respect that many SFUSD parents supported the recall for good reasons having nothing to do with big money.
Endorsed by: United Educators of San Francisco, Teamsters Local 853, Board of Education Commissioner Matt Alexander; Supervisor Connie Chan, Supervisor Jackie Fielder… read more here.
Autumn Brown Garibay
Job: Senior customer success manager at Sprout Social, Inc.
Age: 41
Party: Democratic
Residency: Renter in the Mission District
Children: Three in SFUSD schools
SFUSD experience: PTA at kids’ school, served on the Parent Leadership Council of the San Francisco Parent Coalition
Education: Bachelor’s degree in public relations and marketing from Long Beach State University and Sacramento State University
Languages: English
Transportation: Public transit, walking and biking
Website: Autumn Brown Garibay for School Board
I am not a fan of recalls. They take time, money, and attention away from the work elected officials should be doing. After years of attending Board meetings, I had lost faith in the board’s leadership. Achievement gaps persisted without a clear plan to improve outcomes, despite stated commitments to our highest-need students. Financial problems continued without a credible plan to change course and avoid overspending. I wanted urgency, accountability, and a focus on whether district decisions were improving students’ education. Commissioner Collins’s lawsuit against SFUSD deeply troubled me. Taken together, these concerns ultimately led me to vote to recall.
Answers may be lightly edited for formatting, spelling, and grammar. If you have questions for the candidates, please let us know at rosina@missionlocal.com.
You can register to vote via the sf.gov website.