I did nothing in the School Board recall election in San Francisco last week. But I dealt with the same issue in 1961.
The two most powerful political groups in San Francisco, today, are the Chinese Americans who were organized in the 1980s by the late Rose Pak; they elected the mayor before the current mayor. And the Lowell High School Alumni.
Lowell was an issue for both groups in this election. The recalled School Board members destroyed Lowell as a college prep school which had existed for over a century.
I helped organize the Lowell Alumni in 1961 when a new Lowell building was constructed and the appointed school board chose to eliminate it as a college prep school. I say “I;” my role was to help Ruth Kadish, the most powerful person in the public school system(photo on the right). Two years later she made me president of her powerful SCOPE, Service Committee on Public Education.
We had no trouble in 1961, getting the alumni to write tens of thousands of letters to the School Board and the mayor, George Christopher. The alumni are both powerful and made up of dozens of prominent citizens. Today the alumni are heavily Asian Americans. The school is over 50% Asian and has been for half a century.
One addendum; the Lefty press mentions the $2 million raised for the recall as 'shocking.' That is a trivial number for people who are not innumerate. For a billionaire, of which there are many in San Francisco, a $1 million political donation is the same as a $1.00 donation to a person with $1,000 in his pocket.