Supporters kickoff the campaign for Recall School Board election

(SAN FRANCISCO) Department of Elections has certified three recall school board petitions and announced the recall elections to be held on February 15, 2022. A kickoff party was hosted by the organizers of the petitions on November 6 to officially start the next stage of the campaign to get more support from the voters citywide.

There are only three months left for the recall organizers to plan for their campaign to gain the support from the majority of the voters to replace three elected members of the Board of Education, Alison Collins, Gabriela López, and Faauuga Moliga.

“It is more important for us to fix the potholes on the street than to name the street,” Siva Raj, co-organizer of the Recall School Board campaign, said at the kickoff party. Raj made an analogy to refer to the resolution passed by the School Board at the beginning of the pandemic last year to rename 44 public schools in the city.

Autumn Looijen, another co-organizer of the Recall campaign, credited the contribution of the Chinese community to the campaign that made the recall school board petitions a reality on the ballot.

Man Kit Lam, a super parent volunteer in the recall petition campaign to gather almost 5000 signatures, spoke at the party to share his thoughts of getting involved in the petition campaign since early April this year.

“I want to make it clear that my wife and I have nothing against unions. My wife is a union member at CCSF and we always appreciate unions trying to fight for and protecting workers’ right. However, this recall campaign is so unique, and the issues are so pressing that I must take action,” said Lam.

Lam added, “What make me so determined to support this campaign? Two reasons: I saw my kids are struggling academically and emotionally when they attended zoom classes. I saw some students in the district have been missing schools for days and falling further behind. Many families and students are suffering. Yet these commissioners do not listen to parents, but choose to engage in performative actions that do not help with students’ learning.”

“The second reason is about Board Member Alison Collins. Her anti-Asian sentiment and gross generalization of Asians have no place in education and SF government,” said Lam.

Lam said their campaign for the next three months to mobilize the voters to vote to recall three School Board Members would be very grassroot like the petition drives gathering signatures. Lam, who is a first generation immigrant and speaks Chinese language, would again focus on getting support from the Chinese community.