San Francisco school board member under fire for "racist" comments towards Black, Latino students households

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BAY AREA//SAN FRANCISCO

S.F. teachers union, more officials call on school board member Ann Hsu to resign in wake of racist comments

Jill Tucker
Updated: July 22, 2022 8:15 p.m.
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San Francisco school board member Ann Hsu has apologized for her words and says she remains dedicated to all students.

San Francisco school board member Ann Hsu has apologized for her words and says she remains dedicated to all students.
Stephen Lam / The Chronicle
Calls grew louder for a San Francisco school board member to resign over racist comments that cited “unstable family environments” and “lack of parental encouragement to focus on learning” as one of the biggest challenges in educating Black and brown students.
At the same time, other officials and community members jumped to Ann Hsu’s defense, saying she made a mistake, apologized and remains dedicated to all students

As of Friday, the city’s teachers union, three San Francisco supervisors, the Asian Pacific Islander Council, the San Francisco Latinx Democratic Club as American Parents Advisory Council have all called on Hsu to step down over the comments.

Hsu, who is running to remain in her seat this year alongside Breed's two other school board appointees, filled out a candidate questionnaire for SF Parent Action in which she made comments that reinforced racists stereotypes about Black and brown families. Hsu responded to a question about what San Francisco schools can do to improve outcomes for marginalized students by saying a "lack of family support" among those students is a big challenge for educators.

"From my very limited exposure in the past four months to the challenges of educating marginalized students especially in the black and brown community, I see one of the biggest challenges as being the lack of family support for those students," she wrote. "Unstable family environments caused by housing and food insecurity along with lack of parental encouragement to focus on learning cause children to not be able to focus on or value learning."

The United Educators of San Francisco previously condemned Hsu’s words, but late Thursday, it asked her to resign and withdraw from the November election.

“It is sad and stunning that someone who is supposed to represent the interests of all San Francisco public school students responded in a written candidate survey with racist and offensive comments,” said Cassondra Curiel, the union’s president. “Ann Hsu has no place in the education of our children and must resign and get out of the school board race.”

Late Friday, Hsu responded to requests for comment saying that while she didn’t intend to cause harm, her words did that and she has apologized.

“I hold myself accountable for my words and will continue to listen, learn, and grow,” she said in an email to The Chronicle. “What’s important now is that I follow through on what I have vowed to do, which is to meet with and listen to people in the community, especially those families that were most affected by my comments. I’m not going to repeatedly speak out on this subject until I’ve had the opportunity to put in that work

She added that she remains committed to all children in the district. She did not address the calls for her to resign



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