Wanted: An APA Superintendent

Wanted: An APA Superintendent
The Search For Schools Chief

Superintendent Bill Rojas is poised to move to Dallas, meaning that San Francisco must quickly put in place not only a replacement but one equipped to handle unprecedented crises in one of the state’s five largest school districts, and the most Asian American.

The biggest of these challenges is, of course, coming up with the $37 million that the state and federal governments had been sending San Francisco’s way each year so it could enforce race caps put in place 16 years ago. This February’s settlement of the discrimination suit filed by Chinese American parents meant the gutting of the 1983 consent decree that put those quotas in place. This means that those caps officially do not exist, and hence, the funding may not either.

No one is doing much talking about how to fix this problem. And when faced with a dour dress rehearsal in the state’s threat to not reimburse the district for some $18 million it had already spent, San Francisco school officials drafted a schedule of draconian cuts that quickly elicited alarm among the city’s residents, even those who don’t closely follow school issues.

The two threats—that from the state and the salvo from the district —now hang over San Francisco and its 61,000 schoolchildren. Of them, Asian Americans have the most to lose, being that they make up fully half of the district and the majority of the 20,000 kids who speak little or no English. Their fate, from 1997 until this year, was in the hands of a board that had no Asian Americans on it. Though Eddie Chin’s and Frank Chong’s victories at the polls in November changed that, it’s time to take progress one step further. It’s time to at least seriously consider putting an Asian American in charge of one of the state’s most Asian American school districts.

Supervisor Leland Yee strikes many people as the obvious choice. A child psychologist by training who spent eight years on the school board before being elected a city lawmaker in 1996, Yee has built up credibility and a reputation for pushing for what he believes in. That’s why we have to believe him when he says he isn’t interested in the job, because he believes in term limits and "constantly allowing for new generations to assume power."

Yet surely there are other Asian Americans who should at least be considered, aren’t there? Especially since the district itself is half Asian American?

Evidently not in San Francisco, and not in Oakland, both of which reportedly have no APAs now under consideration.Given the dozens of Asian American school board members nationwide and hundreds more teachers and administrators, it’s worth questioning not only why no Asian Americans are among the leaders of California’s 10 largest school districts but also why no Asian American sits on the short list in either city.

We’re not grousing here about token representation. We’re talking about the lack of even that tidbit- which speaks volumes to what Asian American children might be missing in terms of understanding.