SF School Board reinstating grades-based admissions a win for ideological “normalcy”
In last week’s historic school board meeting, San Francisco voted 4-3 to discard their controversial, so-called equitable lottery admission process. Beginning in 2023, the district’s schools (including the prestigious Lowell High School) will resume admitting students based on grades. SFUSD’s decision—along with a green light to display a previously-condemned George Washington mural—shows that even ideologically extreme cities can voluntarily return to common sense, writes Evan Symon of the California Globe.
With a new board, and all eyes on them and Mayor Breed, things started off quietly after the fanfare of the announcement, but quickly ramped up in the last few months. With the majority of the public still incensed over the mural and and Lowell admissions decisions, the new board began the summer by reversing both decisions. Following Wednesday’s vote, the mural is expected to be seen in full once again, while merit-based admissions are expected to return to Lowell beginning in the 2023-2024 school year. While lawsuits may be brought up, the boards decision still marks a remarkable change in policy after only a few months.
“Progressive policies can now been said to have hit a peak in San Francisco in the late 2010’s,” explained San Francisco-based policy advisor Sharon Burke to the Globe on Thursday. “If you aren’t in San Francisco, may be this doesn’t seem like a big deal, but it is. Lowell and the mural were just two of many things seen as wrong, and prior to the recall, no one thought they would be changed outside of legal action. Even the school renaming plan was only stopped due to public pressure and that recall campaign really starting to hit home for many on the board.”
“But this is big. It’s showing that San Francisco, while still a very liberal city, does have its limits on just how far it is willing to go. Between this, Mayor [London] Breed inching more to the center on things, and DA Chesa Boudin being recalled a few weeks ago, San Francisco is baby-stepping back to normalcy, or at least as normal as San Francisco gets. For Lowell, it’s just one high school, but it’s academics winning out against a system that derided merit. For the mural, it is having accurate history winning out against those who wanted to censor it because they simply didn’t like to see an accurate history.”
“San Franciscans are beginning to see and even correct some of the errors leaders have been making for quite some time. The board vote is just another indication that we are on the right track.”
This article originally appeared in the California Globe. Read the whole thing here:
Follow Opportunity Now on Twitter @svopportunity