This afternoon at 1:10 p.m., MBPD received a call of a helicopter crash in the ocean near 10 Street. Police and @MiamiBeachFire responded to the scene along with several partner agencies. Two occupants have been transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital in stable condition.

1/2 pic.twitter.com/heSIqnQtle

— Miami Beach Police (@MiamiBeachPD) February 19, 2022

Dear Commons Community,

A helicopter in trouble crashed very near a crowded Miami City beach.  The crash was caught on video (see above).

Video above shows the helicopter crashing into the water near swimmers and numerous people on the beach.

The Robinson R44 helicopter came down in the water near 10th Street and Ocean Drive at about 1 p.m.

Two passengers sustained trauma injuries and were taken to Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital with broken backs. The pilot was not a trauma event.

According to Miami Beach Fire Rescue Chief Linares, all three survivors are in stable condition and they called the incident a “control crash.”

“We could have been easily hit by it,” tourist Kaela Berger said.

The Miami Beach Fire Department said that “if this crash has happened 50 yards more inland, we would have had a mass casualty event on our hands” and that its “incredible, insane” that no one in the water was injured.

The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the accident.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

The judge who sentenced white former Officer Kim Potter on Friday to two years in prison for killing Black motorist Daunte Wright cited the difficult job that police face — and Potter’s remorse — as justification for giving her a light sentence.

Hennepin County District Judge Regina Chu choked up as she described the difficulty deciding on a sentence for Potter, who said she meant to use her Taser but mistakenly fired her handgun into Wright’s chest as he tried to drive away from a traffic stop in April.

Wright’s family and attorneys angrily condemned Chu, who is Asian American, for going well below prosecutors’ recommendations. They pointed out that a Black former officer convicted of shooting a white woman in 2017 in a different Minnesota case got no such mercy despite his expressions of remorse.  As reported by the Associated Press.

Katie Wright, who is white, told reporters that Potter “murdered my son,” and that, with this sentence, “the justice system murdered him all over again.” She accused Chu of being taken in by a performance she alleged was coached, and wondered why her own tears didn’t get such a sympathetic response.

“This is the problem with our justice system today,” Wright said. “White women tears trump — trump — justice. And I thought my white woman tears would be good enough because they’re true and genuine.”

Stephen Maturen via Getty Images

She joined a small group of protesters later Friday evening chanting and shouting outside a downtown building they believed included Chu’s home.

The phrase “white woman tears” has gained currency amid the national reckoning on race, suggesting that white people weaponize their emotions against people of color to protect their privileged positions.

Potter cried in testimony at her trial in December and sobbed again Friday as she directly addressed Wright’s family in the courtroom.

“Katie, I understand a mother’s love and I am sorry I broke your heart,” Potter said. “My heart is broken for all of you.”

Wright’s family had called for the maximum possible sentence. The state attorney general’s office originally laid out a case for a stiffer-than-normal sentence, then argued Friday for the presumptive sentence of just over seven years recommended by state guidelines.

But Chu said Potter’s conduct over an otherwise exemplary 26-year career “cries out” for a shorter sentence.

Chu has been a judge since her 2002 appointment by then-Gov. Jesse Ventura and previously worked in private practice and the attorney general’s office. Before Potter’s trial, she was the target of a protest by a Minneapolis man who entered a condominium building he thought was hers, then filmed himself making comments meant to pressure her into allowing broadcast coverage of the trial.

Chu took time at Potter’s sentencing to explain her thinking. She said there are four reasons to send someone to prison: “retribution, incapacitation, deterrence and rehabilitation.” But she said Potter doesn’t need to be prevented or deterred from committing future crimes and does not require rehabilitation to become law-abiding. Only retribution to pay for the harm she caused applies, she said.

“In this case, a young man was killed because Officer Potter was reckless,” she said. “There rightfully should be some accountability.”

Chu said “the evidence is undisputed” that Potter didn’t intend to use her firearm, and that made this case less serious than other recent killings by police officers. The judge said Potter’s case is “distinguishable” from the murder conviction of Derek Chauvin last year for killing George Floyd, which led to a 22 1/2 year sentence, or Mohamed Noor’s manslaughter conviction for killing Justine Ruszczyk Damond, which resulted in a five-year sentence.

“This is not a cop found guilty of murder for using his knee to pin down a person for 9 1/2 minutes as he gasped for air,” Chu said. “This is not a cop found guilty of manslaughter for intentionally drawing his firearm and shooting across his partner and killing an unarmed woman who approached his squad. This is a cop who made a tragic mistake. She drew her firearm thinking it was a Taser and ended up killing a young man.”

And Potter’s need to make a split-second decision amid a “chaotic, tense and rapidly evolving” situation constitutes a compelling mitigating circumstance, the judge said.

“To those who disagree and feel a longer prison sentence is appropriate, as difficult as it may be, please try to empathize with Ms. Potter’s situation. As President Barack Obama once said, learning to stand in somebody else’s shoes, to see through their eyes, that’s how peace begins,” the judge said.

“Officer Kimberly Potter was trying to do the right thing,” Chu continued. “Of all the jobs in public service, police officers have the most difficult one. They must make snap decisions under tense, evolving and ever-changing circumstances. They risk their lives every single day in public service. Officer Potter made a mistake that ended tragically. She never intended to hurt anyone.”

On its face, it does not look good that a white woman got a break while Wright’s family and a Black officer — Noor — did not, said John Baker, a criminal justice studies professor at St. Cloud State University. Chu seemed more concerned about Potter than Wright and his family, he said, agreeing that Chu seemed to only pay lip service to the Wright family’s expressions of pain.

Baker didn’t know if Chu was trying to appease all sides on an extremely polarized issue, but said: “When you try to appease both sides, you appease nobody.”

Justice was not served for the Wright family!

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

My long-time colleague, Bob Ubell, has a column in EdSurge, entitled “Triumphs and Troubles in Online Learning Abroad” that covers a lot of territory in a short space.  If you would like to catch up on the world of online outside the United States, Bob’s piece is worth a read.

Good info!

Tony

Eteri Tutberidze with Alexandra Trusova after the skater had an emotional meltdown for not winning the gold medal on Thursday.

Dear Commons Community,

If all eyes weren’t on Eteri Tutberidze in the aftermath of the Kamila Valieva’s disastrous free skate program, they are now.

International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach called out Valieva’s “entourage” at a news conference Friday, saying “I was very, very disturbed yesterday when I watched the competition on TV.”

Bach did not name a specific individual, but said it was “chilling” to see how she was received by her camp.

On Thursday, Tutberidze was seen on the broadcast admonishing Valieva as she sat in the kiss-and-cry after her long program.

“Why did you let it go? Explain it to me, why? Why did you stop fighting completely?” Tutberidze said. “Somewhere after the axel you let it go.”

Valieva ended the short program in first place – not without judging questions – but her free skate, punctuated by two falls and overall a shaky showing, placed her fourth.

Earlier in the Games, Tutberidze defended Valieva after the results of a positive drug test from December were revealed. The news came the day after Valieva helped Russia secure the figure skating team gold.

“I want to say that we are absolutely sure that Kamila is innocent and pure,” Tutberidze told Channel One Russia, according to TASS, a Russian news agency. “And for us this is not a theorem, but an axiom. It does not need to be proven.”

Tutberidze rarely gives interviews to media outside of Russian-controlled news agencies. Here is what we know about the controversial coach as reported by USA Today.

Tutberidze’s path to becoming a coach is a standard one. A back injury prematurely ended her figure skating career and she transitioned to performing. She wound up in the United States as part of a Russian contingent doing ice ballet shows, according to Russia Beyond.

Fast forward 25 years, and Tutberidze has now coached the last three Olympic champions. After success on the junior circuit, she received international fame at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, where she coached then-15-year-old Julia Lipnitskaia, “the girl in the red coat.”

Four years later, she brought two contenders to Pyeongchang – then-18-year-old and favorite Evgenia Medvedeva, who took silver behind teammate Alina Zagitova, who was 15.

Tutberidze arrived in Beijing with a trio – Valieva, Alexandra Trusova and Anna Shcherbakova – primed to sweep the podium. Shcherbakova won gold, Trusova claimed silver and Valieva finished fourth.

In 2020, Tutberidze won the inaugural International Skating Union “Coach of the Year” award.

“She’s given so much strength and dedication to her athletes this season, and now it’s time for this talented coach to take centre (sic) stage,” the organization wrote on Twitter.

Financially struggling as a performer, Tutberidze and her troop temporarily lived at a YMCA in Oklahoma City. Tutberidze was getting ready to start her day on April 19, 1995, when anti-government terrorist Timothy McVeigh set off bombs at the federal building across the street, killing 168. At the time, it was the most significant terrorist attack on American soil.

Tutberidze, whose name is on the survivors’ wall, received $1,200 as compensation for being considered a victim of the attack. She used the money to purchase a “beat-up” car and drove around the country for four years, eventually settling in San Antonio, Texas, where she began coaching.

In the U.S., Tutberidze gave birth to her daughter, Diana Davis, who is competing as a member of the Russian ice dance team and refused to answer questions about her mother after her event.

Eventually, Tutberidze returned to Russia.

Tutberidze coaches Olympians out of what has become a notable rink in Moscow called Sambo-70. The last seven Russian national champions have trained out of the facility. None of them have had long careers.

The figure skating community considers Tutberidze’s athletes to be “one-and-done” Olympians. Zagitova stepped away in December 2019 at age 17. Medvedeva’s second-place finish in 2018 likely had to do with the cracked bone in her foot. Lipnitskaya retired when she was 19.

Tutberidze also works with controversial sports doctor Filipp Shvetsky, who was barred from the Russian rowing team in 2007 after a doping investigation. Shvetsky was alongside Valieva at her first senior international competition last October.

Russia Beyond reported that Tutberidze galvanizes success from her skaters by pitting them against each other.

On Thursday, Trusova, the silver medalist, became emotional upon learning that her teammate Shcherbakova won gold.

“Everyone has a medal, everyone has, but I don’t!” Trusova said in Russian during the broadcast, according to a USA TODAY translation. Asked if she’ll ever skate again, Trusova replied in Russian, “we’ll see.”

Valieva never should have been allowed to skate after testing positive for a doping drug.  Eteri also should have understood the emotional drain on Valieva and should have prevented her from competing.

In my opinion, Eteri Tutberidze should be banned from coaching in figure skating and the Olympics.

Tony

Kamila Valieva’s dream-turned nightmare Olympics came to an end last nigth with her finishing fourth in the women’s individual figure skating event. (Photo by Jean Catuffe/Getty Images)

Dear Commons Community,

International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach criticized  Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva’s entourage for their “tremendous coldness” toward the 15-year-old skater after her mistake-filled free skate at the Beijing Olympics last night.

Bach says it was “chilling” to see on television. Valieva, who has been at the center of a controversy over a positive doping test, finished fourth overall despite placing first in the women’s short program earlier in the week.

The IOC president did not name Valieva’s coach, Eteri Tutberidze, who was seen on camera telling a visibly upset Valieva “Why did you let it go? Why did you stop fighting?”

Bach says “you could feel this chilling atmosphere, this distance.”

Tutberidze and other members of Valieva’s entourage will be investigated over the teenager’s positive test for a heart medication ahead of the Olympics.

Bach says the pressure on Valieva was “beyond my imagination.”

Dan Wetzel of Yahoo sports also had a blistering take on the evening commenting that Valieva was failed by the Russian system.  He commented that “Valieva was heaving. Not simply crying. Heaving. This was pain, full-on, full-emotion, pain. This was humiliation. This was devastation. This was everything.”

She came to Beijing at 15 years old to win the hearts of skating fans around the world and win a gold medal in women’s individual figure skating. She wound up the villain of the Olympics, the poster girl for doping, cheating and Russian moral bankruptcy.

And then, finally, she was a floundering failure on ice.

The girl who never lost, who never fell, who never did anything but soar higher and spin straighter than any skater ever, came in fourth. Her teammates, Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova, took gold and silver, respectively. Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto won bronze.

Now the bill was coming due, an open wound on international television. Anguish pouring out through gasps and screams and tears that rolled down her cheeks to the side of an Olympic rink.

Her coach appeared cold and distant. Her teammates behind her were of little help. Trusova was having her own meltdown for not winning gold. “I hate this sport,” she shouted at the side of the rink. “I won’t go onto the ice again.”  Shcherbakova, who had just won first place, sat alone on a couch holding a stuffed animal. No one seemed to care about her either.

Anna Shcherbakova Sitting by Herself with a Teddy Bear after Winning the Gold Medal

The Russians, who pride themselves on steely nerves and emotionless reactions, were in chaos.

This, this whole thing, this entire figure skating competition was a disaster, a disgrace, a dishonor to a once-great competition. It was a disservice to everyone involved, especially these teens trained and taught to perform.

“Irreparable harm,” is what the Court of Arbitration for Sport used as justification for bending logic and the rules to allow Valieva to skate despite a positive drug test hanging over her head.

Well, here was the irreparable harm.

To the sport. To the Olympics.

To Valieva, you’d imagine, this kid who, no matter the laughable defense of Russian lawyers, didn’t get hopped up on heart pills by accident via her grandpa’s stash. And she sure didn’t, all by her sheltered self, acquire, concoct and then ingest a sophisticated cardiac cocktail of three separate medications — one of them banned by the World Anti Doping Agency.

Russian coaches. Russian doctors. Russian officials. That’s who put this kind of stuff together. That’s who administers it, not some naive teen who’s lived nearly her entire life inside the cocoon of the Figure Skating Federation of Russia, built, by all means necessary, to be a champion.

Yet now she was not a champion. She was a punchline. A cautionary tale. The moral of a story about morals. She was a heaping dose of global schadenfreude, her failure celebrated. Fifteen? That’s a high school sophomore, the age when the slightest of slights on social media inside a small peer group can deliver unimaginable negative reactions.

How is it on the global stage?

Now she was alone bawling. Failed by her coaches. Failed by her federation. Failed by the IOC and CAS and everyone else who was supposed to protect her, but instead propped her up for profit and tainted glory.

A press agent at the figure skating facility was trying to tell her she didn’t have to stop for the media, that she could just keep walking. “I won’t make you stop,” the woman said. Valieva nodded. It might have been the first person who generally cared about Valieva that she had met in years. The first one to offer free will.

Whether Valieva knew what was going into her system or not, is still unknown.

She may have. Maybe all the elite skaters do. But even if she did, she was under the control — physical, mental and emotional — of this Russian skating machine that’s now churned out five medals and three individual champions across three Olympics. It was either do this, or we find another. It’s the same mind control that’s allowed pedophiles and abusers to operate throughout sport for generations.

She hailed from a country that was technically banned from the Olympics because of its comprehensive state-run doping operation. These are people who didn’t just cheat the 2014 Olympics, but the 2014 Paralympics too. A country where, after the scandal broke, saw two of the main architects turn up dead.

What chance did this girl have? What choice? Same for Shcherbakova and Trusova, both of whom come from the same system, the same coaches, the same doctors, and neither of which looked happy after. They won, but for how long? Suspicions are everywhere.

The Russians don’t care and the IOC has never made them care. Cheat without punishment and you’re encouraged to just cheat more and more and more until this carnage, the truth, this ugly truth, is playing out for all to see.

This is figure skating? This is the Olympics? This is what a court had to spare from irreparable harm?

The Court of Arbitration for Sport wants to talk about “irreparable harm?” How about the irreparable harm of 15-year-old Kamila Valieva being let down by both her performance and the corrupt Russian figure skating machine on a stage for all the world to see?

The system calls Valieva a “Protected Person” — incapable of being responsible for what is going into her body. Yet rather than protect this person, this child, the decision-makers just sent her back into a cauldron of pressure and politics to serve her sporting masters.

Skate. Spin. Quad. Smile. Win. She must win.

Only she couldn’t. The one thing she does best, the thing she does better than anyone ever, stood no chance against such impossible torment and tension.

The shame here should spread far beyond the Russians, who likely will feel none and just find another skinny kid from Samara or Saint Petersburg or who can twirl on ice. No, this should extend to the entire sport, the entire Olympics, the entire absurd anti-doping operation that not only failed to protect anyone, but set them up and sent them out for worse.

Kamila Valieva is a victim of child abuse in real time. Yet the Olympics not only kept her with her captives, they emboldened and empowered them.

The IOC is proud that it outsourced all discipline, doping or otherwise. It would rather just wash its hands and cash the checks. What is left behind is left behind, like some useless, dilapidated bobsled track in Sarajevo. It’s just the cost of the Games, the cost of doing business.

In this case it was a heaving, bawling, broken 15-year-old, a singular example of a far greater evil.

And it was all avoidable. Every last bit of it.

For shame to the Russian figure skating coaches for letting this young woman emotionally crash on a world stage.  She and others will be scarred for life!

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

Gifts to community colleges and historically Black colleges and universities rose last year, thanks largely to big gifts from MacKenzie Scott and Michael Bloomberg, according to the annual survey by the Voluntary Support of Education program at the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.

Giving to community colleges rose 53 percent while historically Black colleges and universities that participated in the study reported a 322 percent increase in giving in 2021.

Over all, giving to higher education rose 6.9 percent to $52.9 billion in the fiscal year ending June 10, or an inflation-adjusted 5.1 percent. Inflation was 7 percent in calendar year 2021, but the survey notes that most of the increase in giving occurred before inflation started to increase sharply.

The results were drawn from 864 participating institutions representing about a quarter of the colleges and universities in the United States. Those institutions raised 84 percent of total voluntary support of U.S. higher education institutions in the 2020–21 academic fiscal year, according to the report.

Familiar names continue hold the top fundraising honors, with Stanford University, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, and Yale University heading the list.

Other results from the survey:

• Giving by alumni rose 8.9 percent after inflation. It accounts for 23 percent of all giving.
• Giving by foundations rose 4.7 percent after inflation. It accounts for 33 percent of all giving.
• Gifts with no restrictions surged 30 percent but remain a small share of the total at 7 percent.

Let’s hope this continues.  Our community colleges and HBCUs can use the financial assistance.

Tony

Karen Chen, Alysa Liu and Mariah Bell

Dear Commons Community,

The U.S. figure skaters who placed second in the team event last week will receive Olympic torches as holdover gifts for their medals while the doping scandal surrounding Russian Kamila Valieva is sorted out, the Associated Press reported yesterday.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach made the offering in a private meeting with skaters in Beijing, per the AP. Bach reportedly reiterated to the team the IOC’s stance that there will be no medal ceremonies held for events in which the 15-year-old Valieva made the podium.

The torches used during the traditional Olympic flame relay have already been given to Team USA staff to present to the athletes, per the report.

The Russian team, labeled the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) as punishment for the country’s high-level doping scheme at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, finished in first place in the team event. Valieva is in the middle of the doping scandal at the 2022 Beijing Olympics

Valieva led the Russians to victory with 74 points.  The U.S. placed second with 65 and Japan came in at third with 63. Canada had 53 points for fourth.

Shortly after the event, the medal ceremony was postponed and reports of Valieva’s failed drug test surfaced. The Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) ruled a day before the women’s event this week that Valieva was able to compete while her case makes its way through the system.

The CAS cited Valieva’s status as a “Protected Person” because she is under the age of 16, which has the figure skating world considering the topic of age limits on senior competition. It also said not allowing her to compete “would cause her irreparable harm,” though there was no such consideration for other medalists who are not able to have their moment.

Valieva tested positive for a banned drug called trimetazidine. A document submitted by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) at her hearing showed that the skater admitted to taking two other similar substances similar to it, though neither is banned. The use of them has raised questions, particularly about the validity of her reasoning for testing positive.

The IOC made the decision to delay any medal ceremonies if Valieva were to make the podium — she’s a favorite to win gold in the women’s event — and it expanded the qualifying number by one.

“In the interest of fairness to all athletes and the (nations) concerned, it would not be appropriate to hold the medal ceremony for the figure skating team event during the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022,” the IOC said in a statement, “as it would include an athlete who on the one hand has a positive A-sample, but whose violation of the anti-doping rules has not yet been established on the other hand.”

U.S. Olympic and Paralympic CEO Sarah Hirshland pushed back on the decision and said in a statement they are “disappointed by the message this decision sends.”

“This appears to be another chapter in the systematic and pervasive disregard for clean sport by Russia,” Hirshland said in a statement. “We know this case is not yet closed, and we call on everyone in the Olympic Movement to continue to fight for clean sport on behalf of athletes around the world.”

Fight for clean-sport indeed!

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

In a rare recall election fueled by pandemic anger, San Francisco voters ousted three members of the Board of Education on Tuesday, closing a bitter chapter in the city’s politics that was rife with infighting, accusations of racism and a flurry of lawsuits.

More than 70 percent of voters supported the recall of each member when initial results were released just before 9 p.m. Pacific time, and one of the board members conceded defeat. Those votes made up about one-quarter of registered voters in the city, and turnout was not expected to be considerably higher.

The vote stripped the members, Alison Collins, Gabriela López and Faauuga Moliga, of their positions on the seven-person board, which Ms. Lopez served as president. They will be replaced by members chosen by Mayor London Breed.  As reported by The New York Times and the San Francisco Chronicle.

“It’s the people rising up in revolt in San Francisco and saying it’s unacceptable to abandon your responsibility to educate our children,” said Siva Raj, a San Francisco parent of public school students who helped lead the signature campaign to put the recall election on the ballot.

The recall was a victory for parents who were angered that the district spent time deciding whether to rename a third of its schools last year instead of focusing on reopening them. It also appeared to be a demonstration of Asian American electoral power, a galvanizing moment for Chinese American voters in particular who turned out in unusually large numbers for the election.

In echoes of debates in other cities, many Chinese American voters were incensed when the school board introduced a lottery admission system for Lowell High School, the district’s most prestigious institution, abolishing requirements primarily based on grades and test scores. A judge last year ruled that the board had violated procedures in making the change.

“The voters of this city have delivered a clear message,” Ms. Breed, who supported the recall, said in a statement on Tuesday night.

The landslide result is already being analyzed for its implications for the city’s upcoming elections.

District Attorney Chesa Boudin, a progressive prosecutor, faces a recall election in June fueled by moderate San Franciscans worried about a spike in property crimes and hate crimes during the coronavirus pandemic. Ms. Breed is running for re-election next year.

On Tuesday, one of the ousted board members, Mr. Moliga, posted on social media that it had been an honor to serve the city. “It appears we were unsuccessful at defeating my recall,” he wrote. “We fought hard and ran a great campaign.”

“There are many more fights ahead of us,” he added.

In a city with more dogs than children, school board elections in San Francisco have for decades been obscure sideshows to the more high-profile political contests.

That changed with the pandemic — data released by the district suggests that remote learning increased racial achievement gaps — and the profusion of controversies that plagued the board.

The district captured national headlines last year for its botched and in some cases historically inaccurate effort to rename 44 public schools.

The targeted schools carry the names of a range of historical figures including Abraham Lincoln and the three other presidents chiseled into Mount Rushmore; Spanish conquerors such as Vasco Núñez de Balboa; John Muir, the naturalist and author; and Paul Revere, the Revolutionary War figure.

After a barrage of criticism, including from Ms. Breed, the board put the renaming process on hold. A judge ruled that the board had violated a California law on open meetings in its proceedings.

Criticism of the board grew stronger, while signature gathering for the recall effort was already underway, when controversial tweets written by Ms. Collins, the board’s vice president, were discovered. In them, she said Asian Americans were like slaves who benefited from working inside a slave owner’s house — a comparison that Asian American groups and many city leaders called racist.

The board voted to strip Ms. Collins of her vice presidency, which prompted her to sue members of the board and the district for $87 million. A judge dismissed the case.

David Lee, a political science lecturer at San Francisco State University, said the combination of the tweets and the changes to the admission policies at Lowell had empowered Asian American voters.

“It’s been an opportunity for the Chinese community to flex its muscles,” Mr. Lee said. “The community is reasserting itself.”

Asian American voters had punched below their weight in San Francisco in recent years, making up about 18 percent of active voters in recent elections — well below their 34 percent share in the city overall. But supporters of Tuesday’s recall election say Asian Americans played an outsize role.

Mr. Raj, the San Francisco parent, pointed to strong turnout in neighborhoods with large Asian American populations as well as a relatively high return rate among people who requested a Chinese-language ballot.

Ann Hsu, a San Francisco resident with two high school students in the public school system, helped register more than 500 Chinese American residents in the months before the election. Education, she said, was a powerful issue.

“That’s been ingrained in Chinese culture for thousands and thousands of years,” she said.

Ms. Hsu said she had observed some of the inner workings of the district in her role as a P.T.A. president of a high school as well as the chair of a Citizens’ Bond Oversight Committee, a body that oversees the district’s use of money raised through bonds. The oversight committee was formed last year after a whistle-blower notified the city attorney’s office that the school district had failed to create the board, which is required by law.

“The board is incompetent,” Ms. Hsu said.

Meredith W. Dodson, the executive director of the San Francisco Parent Coalition, a group formed during the pandemic to pressure the district to reopen schools, called the recall campaign a powerful demonstration of parental activism.

“We can never go back to the previous world where parents weren’t organized and weren’t lifting up their concerns together,” she said.

Democracy works best when citizens are active!

Tony