I pledge to vote against any parcel taxes for school funding or teacher pay for at least 10 years if the SFUSD School Board does not do the following, and ask the teachers and union to insist the board comply with the following...

1. Keep or restore Lowell and SOTA High Schools to merit based, or selective based on academic and/or artistic merit, and not a random lottery.

2. Reopen the schools as soon as possible or by March 1 at the latest.  16,000 private school kids are in school and most schools in the U.S. and world are open, with very few transmissions of Covid.  We should have been one of the first, not one of the last.  Open the schools as soon as possible, and considering others are open, that time is past.

3. Restore 8th Grade Algebra to anyone who wishes to take it so kids can start high school a year ahead.  The elimination of 8th grade algebra has not resulted in improved test scores for any group and has hurt many students.

4. Stop renaming schools and maintain our traditional names except in egregious cases.  Diane Feinstein was the first woman Mayor of a U.S. City over 500,000 and the first Female Senator of California.  Abraham Lincoln was murdered for ending slavery before most of the world and kept the U.S. one nation which helped us be in a position to defeat the Nazis in World Wary 2.  He saved the union and ended slavery.  Many leaders had faults if judged from the present, but we should honor and discuss our history, not rename schools.

Lowell is open to all kids who sacrifice the many thousands of hours needed to get straight As and top test scores.  The district should provide tutors with half of funding increases for disadvantaged kids and encourage kids to study longer hours and do whatever it takes to get into Lowell.  Lowell is 60% girls and has long been a vehicle for poor (35% free/reduced lunch), and disadvantaged people of all walks of life to work hard and have a great life.  Keep Lowell merit-based.  Making it lottery takes away the responsibility of the board to work harder to motivate all kids to work harder and achieve more to have a better life.  It will cause more kids to advance in life if we keep rewards for kids who sacrifice and work hard.