Beyond all expectations: over 80,000 signatures for Recall School Board

(SAN FRANCISCO) The recall school board petition deadline has arrived on September 7. The latest numbers have gone well beyond the expectations gathering over 80,000 signatures for two of the three school board members.

The new numbers shown on the eve of the petition deadline have surprised everyone including the insiders like Kit Man Lam, the "super" parent volunteer in the recall school board campaign.

As of the eve of the deadline on September 6, 8,1300 signatures have been gathered to support recalling School Board President Gabriela Lopez, 81,200 signatures to recall School Board Member Alison Collins, and 77,700 signatures to recall School Board Vice President Faauuga Moliga.

According to the law, 51,325 valid signatures are required in San Francisco to recall each School Board Member. The Department of Elections would check all the signatures before three School Board Members can be put on the ballot of a special recall election.

A month prior to the petition deadline, there was still a lack of 30,000 signatures of their 70,000 goal. But signatures were pouring in during the final few weeks.

10,000 more signatures were gathered within a week before the deadline, according to Lam.

Lam was one of the first parent volunteers to join in the recall campaign. He organized a petition table at the corner of Clement Street and Third Avenue in the Richmond Farmers Market on all Sundays since April 4. On September 5, the Labor Day long weekend Sunday, it was his final petition drive at that location. Lam never missed any of the Sundays at the same corner seeking signatures from the people passing by.

During Lam’s last petition drive on Sunday, a large number of supporters came by to thank him and celebrate the success of the campaign. Lily Ho and Angie Yap were among the supporters. They were also two of the very early volunteers in the campaign.

Ho is an US born Chinese American and started to organize the signature gatherings in Chinatown for the recall petitions since early April. "I have no children. I am not a parent. But all children have the right to receive a good public education. The sitting school board members fail to do their jobs. I worry the middle class families will move out of San Francisco . This is the impact of the school board decisions," said Ho.

Yap is a Chinese American immigrant from Malaysia. She lives in Richmond District near New Chinatown on Clement Street.

Yap is a good friend of Ho and started to volunteer at Lam's petition table from the beginning.

"I have no children either. It is not right for the School Board to make educational decisions based on the color of the skin. All children deserve a good quality of public education," Yap said. "Education is priceless."

Lam is excited to see the results of his hard work of gathering signatures around the city day and night for the past five months. "This is a grass root movement supported by SF citizens who care about public education and for changes," said Lam who personally has collected over 4000 signatures. "It is also a parents' movement. I am not alone. Many parents gathered over 1000 signatures from each of them."

Wind Newspaper reached out to all three School Board Members who are on the recall list on the eve of the petition deadline. They have not responded by press time.

Lopez responded to Wind Newspaper a week ago and commented, "We were all duly elected by the voters of San Francisco, including immigrant voters who are parents of SFUSD students and had the ability to vote for the first time through Prop N. I worry this will strip immigrant communities of their voice and their choice."

Lopez said the recall elections would hurt the school district’s financial situation by putting over 7 million dollars to run an additional election. “I don't believe it is helpful for our school district to have to focus on this recall, especially during a time when many people are still hurting and suffering."

Moliga responded a week ago that he would be waiting for the signature gathering process to be completed before commenting on the recall.

Collins, who posted a series of controversial tweets in 2016 against Asian Americans, has not responded to the requests in both weeks. .