The board cited the need to avoid “distraction” and costly litigation but vowed to revive the school renaming process after in-person classes are available to all public school students.
The San Francisco Board of Education voted to rescind its prior decision to rename 44 public schools during a virtual meeting on April 6, 2021. (Screenshot)
SAN FRANCISCO (CN) The San Francisco school board on Tuesday rescinded its prior vote to rename 44 public schools as it faces litigation claiming it used a flawed and unfair process to push through the changes.
In a 6-0 vote, the board approved a resolution undoing its Jan. 26 decision to redub schools named after George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and others perceived to have played a role in slavery, genocide, colonial conquest and other forms of oppression.
San Francisco school board REVERSES its cancel culture decision to rename 44 schools that were named after historic figures including Lincoln, Washington and Jefferson
The city s Board of Education voted unanimously Tuesday to formally suspend its plan to strip the names of a third of San Francisco s public schools
Board said names honored figures linked to racism, sexism and other injustices
Among them were schools named for presidents Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson and longtime Sen. Dianne Feinstein
The board now said it was reversing the vote to avoid frivolous litigation after being sued for violating the state’s open meeting law with its initial decision
AP Photo/Jeff Chiu
A few months ago, the San Francisco school board voted to rename of a bunch of schools because they were named after dead white racists such as, um… Abraham Lincoln. Yes,
that Abraham Lincoln. It was like they said, “Thanks, Abe, but what have you done for us lately?” I know I’m supposed to get incensed by this sort of culture-war crap, but when I heard about it I just rolled my eyes. I mean, it’s San Francisco. That town was woke before anybody had ever heard of “woke.” That’s what they’re all about. Of course they’re gonna cancel Lincoln for being a racist. Of course they’ll interpret the whole of human history through the lens of whichever trend started prevailing in the last five minutes. If they want to do dumb crap like this, it’s their community and they can decide on their own standards. And I will continue to help them out by never, ever living there.
Jocelyn Gecker
The Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO America’s founding fathers got a reprieve Tuesday in San Francisco, when the city’s scandal-plagued school board formally suspended a plan to rename 44 schools as part of a racial reckoning that critics said went too far.
The city’s Board of Education, which convened on Zoom, voted unanimously to reverse its much-criticized decision to strip the names of a third of San Francisco’s public schools, which it said honored figures linked to racism, sexism and other injustices. Among them were schools named for presidents Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, writer Robert Louis Stevenson and Revolutionary War hero Paul Revere. A school named for longtime Sen. Dianne Feinstein was on the list as well.
The district has said it would reopen middle schools and high schools on April 26, but only for special day classes and the district s focal populations, like foster youth, students who live in public housing and homeless students, among others. A broader plan to return most high school and middle school students hadn t previously been announced. This past year has been full of uncertainty and I hope this unanimous resolution makes it clear that we are united in our commitment to provide full-time in-person school, Lam said in a statement. The work of getting all of our students back by next fall is our number one priority.