San Francisco superintendent Maria Su, who was brought into the school district after the school closure controversy last year, will be made the district’s permanent superintendent and stay on the job for at least another two years if voted in on Tuesday, multiple district sources told Mission Local.
Her contract, which was set to expire in June, would be extended next week. The development will be announced this evening, the sources said.
“The three reasons for this were ‘stability, stability and stability,'” said a school district source.
Su was brought in last year to replace Superintendent Matt Wayne after he was pushed out of the district following months of speculation over which schools the district would close. Su postponed that decision as soon as she was appointed.
But she has faced criticism from both the principals’ and teachers’ unions in the past few months as they negotiate new contracts with the district.
The principals’ union reached a tentative agreement last month, avoiding a potential strike and planned walk-out of an administrators’ meeting. The teacher’s union has raised concerns over the renewal of Su’s contract citing her lack of experience, a new payroll system that has led to teachers missing their paycheck, and a budget that the union worries will lead to more issues in the future.
Reached for comment, Su directed Mission Local to a district spokesperson. Calls and messages to the district have not yet been returned.
Cassondra Curiel, the president of the United Educators of San Francisco, was disappointed, but unsurprised that the school board made the decision to extend Su’s contract. “It’s irresponsible for the board to continue in this direction,” Curiel said, who has criticized Su’s lack of experience in education. “The school district is the seventh largest in the state. That is a lot of people’s education on the line.” In the end, Curiel said, the school board will be responsible for any impact Su’s decisions on the district’s budget, which may lead to deep cuts, will have on students and school staff.
Su had been a member of the school stabilization team named by then-Mayor London Breed to aid Wayne in his plan to close and consolidate multiple schools in an effort to balance a budget that faced a $114 million deficit.
Su has since gained the approval of Mayor Daniel Lurie, but members of the teachers’ union say they would rather see a superintendent with more experience in education. Su, who was appointed in 2009 by then-Mayor Gavin Newsom to serve as the executive director of the Department of Children, Youth, and Their Families, has never worked as an educator or in the school system.
She was on loan to the school district from City Hall and had a contract with the city. She will now officially be contracted by the district.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
Find s’more compromising texts, y’all.
She doesn’t yell at people like Porter. She just threatens their livelihoods.
Someone who has never been a teacher in charge of a school district. Teachers should be scared.
Maybe teachers should be more scared? It will keep them on their toes and deter misbehavior.
Yeah, teachers aren’t the problem.
He also said the night before Bella resigned that she was “surely a breath of fresh air” and that he was “looking forward to positive changes” LOL.
I mean his timing is legit.
Now he’s riffing on teachers, so perfect.
Spoken like someone desperate for a quality education.
Why? Like the article said: She has no experience as an educator. Plus, she’s ignoring the problems that Black/Brown students, are having with the school district, in fact the first thing she did, was increase, Mandarin Immersion classes, for her own people. Wonder where Amos Brown, and the NAACP, say about this?
“The three reasons for this were ‘stability, stability and stability,’”
“Stability” like threatening to sue teachers you’re under-paying? What a load.
I’m starting to think you can’t trust spokespeople to tell the truth!
And don’t forget that the principals, were inches away from going on strike,due to lack of pay, and over work. Lurie, is making the same mistake as he did with appointing that supervisor in the Sunset, that turned out not only had no experience but was a crook, to boot!!!