I really did not understand the extent of the impact of my words. If I did, I wouldn’t have said it that way. So they helped me to understand how they felt when they saw my words.
I really did not understand the extent of the impact of my words. If I did, I wouldn’t have said it that way. So they helped me to understand how they felt when they saw my words.
I was approaching it from a very engineering, business way of trying to understand a problem, because I saw some data, whether it’s absenteeism, achievement gaps, or reading literacy rates, there is a dramatic difference between racial groups in SFUSD.
I was trying to understand what is responsible for those. And I mentioned housing insecurity, food insecurity, and the large buckets of what I thought may be responsible. And if those were the reasons, then we could try and solve that problem. That’s where my head was: trying to identify the problem and then think about some potential solutions.
I am not a racist. I know that. Other people, if they just saw my response and they don’t know me, then I can understand why they think that I may be a racist. But I know I’m not.
I want to understand a problem and solve a problem.
I understand how they feel. Just in the last two weeks of conversation, I do understand and I really am sorry for hurting them. I really did not intend to. So it’s going to take some time to heal.
I also believe that I have a lot of value to add to this board and to this whole district.
Since I’ve been on the board, I’ve been able to do a lot of good things with my fellow board members.
We hired a great superintendent who’s very student-focused. We’ve passed a balanced budget. We’ve actually led the effort to restore JROTC. And we’ve authorized the high school task force that’s going to take a look at the high school portfolio across the whole district so that we don’t have a concentration of AP courses all in Lowell High School and not in any other high schools.
And I intend to continue to do that work with my fellow commissioners.
Public officials are held to a higher standard. I think everyone should be treated with respect everywhere. No one should be using racial slurs toward anyone.
I did not use any racial slur or intentionally use anything to harm anyone.
Two weekends ago, the seven board members, plus the superintendent, were talking about setting goals and guardrails for our schools. We settled on three very specific goals for our school district.
For example, one of the goals is likely to be third grade literacy. That is for everybody. So if there’s a gap right now, we need to close that gap in third grade.
The other two goals would be addressing middle school and high school issues.
Maybe I shouldn’t have used those words. By “riff raff” I meant just disturbances, social conflicts when people and kids are together.
I have two sons who are polar opposites. One is more introverted, the other one is part of the group that would disturb other kids. My son could be one of those “riff raffs.” And I actually want my more introverted son to go back to school so that he can handle different social situations. He needs to learn how to deal with social situations.
First of all, I think all three of us are still very committed to doing what’s right for San Francisco kids. That hasn’t changed at all. I’m fully confident that my fellow appointees are as committed as I am to doing what’s right for SFUSD and for our kids.
We’re three very different people. Our lived life experiences are very different. I think it gives us some freedom if we don’t have to show up all together at the same events.
It is what it is and I don’t think it’s necessarily bad. The mayor and the SF Guardians (formerly the school board recall group) are still supporting all of us.
I’m pretty confident that we’ll have the support of a lot of people behind me, whether it’s the Chinese and Asian community, or the recall supporters.
Maybe two things.
One is that people of every culture really need to do more listening to each other. I’ve listened a lot in the last two weeks and I think the Chinese community needs to listen to the others—and vice versa, other communities need to listen to the Chinese community, too.
Second thing is that, actually, we all want the same thing. We all want what’s best for our kids, whether it’s Chinese, or African Americans or Latinos, anybody. And we all want a functioning, great public education.
Han Li can be reached at han@sfstandard.com