And I'm just here to honestly ask the Board of Education to pull it together.

On April 6th, 2021, high school senior Zoe Zimotas called into the public comment period of her

school board Zoom meeting. I would really ask all of you to examine why you're here and think back

on why you chose to run for

the Board of Education. And the only answer to that question is to fight for students.

She was speaking to the San Francisco Board of Education. The seven-member elected body

responsible for overseeing the city's 119 public schools, 54,000 plus students, and a nearly $1.2 billion budget

for the current school year. It's a body that neither answers to the mayor nor the board of supervisors.

Like, I feel very lucky to be a senior. I think there's like 57 or something days until graduation,

but I have a little brother who's entering sixth grade in SFUSD next year. So please pull

yourselves together, refocus, and think about why you are truly here. Zoe was far from the only

one upset with her school board. And in a moment, you'll find out why. This is Robbie Gupta, and you're listening to The Regressives, a narrative series from The Lost Debate that examines progressive policies, ideas, and leaders of practice.

As a veteran of progressive campaigns, I've long felt that liberals professed values and practices are out of sync.

And this podcast is dedicated to shining a light on those discrepancies in the hopes of eliminating them.

On today's episode, a very first in this series, we're diving into the recall efforts being launched against school boards throughout the country, with the focus on one of the earliest recall efforts of the pandemic, the campaign against the San Francisco Unified School Board, or SFUSD.

You're going to hear from a group of parents who help spearhead the recall campaign, as well

as those who took matters into their own hands by opening up learning hubs in direct opposition

to the school board's efforts.

Honestly, we don't have a good explanation of the school district as to why there was this

level of failure.

You also hear from Gabriela Lopez, who's the president of the San Francisco Unified

school district and a target of the recall effort.

...