For those of you who don't know, Chris Funk is the superintendent of the East Side Union High School District, the primary public high school district in San Jose. Chris Funk has abysmally managed the district for the past 7 years and because of his decision to not cancel schools amid the global pandemic of COVID-19, Funk is once again putting students, staff, their families, and San Jose communities at risk.

On March 10th, the SJECCD (San Jose City and Evergreen Valley College) announced they would be closing their schools amid concerns of contracting the COVID-19 indefinitely, putting the value of student safety and health over money. A few days ago, the NBA suspended the regular season, potentially missing out on billions in revenue over player safety. Across the nation, thousands of companies have asked employees to work from home to protect them and their families. These are just a few examples of schools, organizations and businesses taking responsible measures to protect people and communities.

So why hasn’t the East Side Union High School District cancelled schools, following the actions of neighboring districts? It's because the district has been poorly managed for years and there is only one culprit: Superintendent Chris Funk.

Chris Funk is ill-equipped to manage the East Side Union High School District. It's clear that his priorities are not in the interests of students or staff. By keeping schools open, he is threatening the health of our students and staff. Sick students and staff in turn pose a risk to their families and to our San Jose communities. 

Chris Funk continually values $$$ over the safety and health of students, faculty, and their families. Last year, during the California Wildfires, when nearby schools, businesses and organizations closed temporarily, Funk refused to close schools. The wellbeing of students, staff and their families should not be the price for utter and complete mismanagement up at the district office.

Why is the district not ready to handle an extended period of time for school closures? Why can't the district take a small financial hit in the interest of student health and safety? It's because for the past 7 years, Chris Funk has managed the district carelessly and blamed his faults on the unions, government and local communities. The fact of the matter is, if the school district cannot manage to close school for a global pandemic, there is very little Chris Funk wouldn’t do to protect the district elites’ and his salary.

Last year, amid teacher strikes, Funk posted an op-ed blaming local communities and unions for his management struggles with teacher contracts. Over the past 21 years, our community has passed 7 bonds supporting the district. Where are the yields for those? He then went on to blame unions for causing financial struggle in the district.

While teachers have to go on strike to get a salary increase, students have to attend hundreds of district meetings to get more student services and families have to raise their own money for school upgrades and improvements, the one thing that is increased year after year without a struggle or question is Chris Funk's salary. 

Chris Funk blames unions, governments, and local communities for budgetary problems. The average salary for superintendents in California is $180,551, Funk made $360,000+ in 2018 (and it is only rising each year). The district has proposed budget cuts this year, and while it has been great to be transparent about which services they plan to cut with the upcoming budgetary cuts, they haven't been clear on why we have cuts to begin with. The reason? Chris Funk and the district elites have mismanaged funds and bonds and continually increased their salaries. On the other hand, Teachers, who were promised no lay-offs, were threatened for over 4 months over job security. 

We can’t let Chris Funk continue to horrendously and recklessly manage our district. If we restructure the district elite's salaries and start to manage the district funds appropriately (i.e. not misuse 7 different bonds), we can at least make an effort to retain the maximum amount of student services and faculty. Unfortunately, Chris Funk just isn't in the right headspace to make these changes and needs to be replaced, or resign immediately. Sign this petition, and let's send a message to the District and Chris Funk: The buck stops here. We won't tolerate district mismanagement and negligence of students, staff and their families' health and safety. 

Read and reshare my Twitter thread here.