Everett Middle School in San Francisco’s Mission District is teaching its students a thing or two about democracy . . . or the lack of it. Parents were informed by Principal Lena Van Haren (left) that the winners of the recent student elections would not be announced (or possibly honored) after the election failed to produce a sufficiently diverse selection. The school is composed of 80 percent students of color and 20 percent white students. The students however appeared to pick their representatives based on their individual qualifications rather than their race and that was a problem for Van Haren who told parents that the results were “concerning to me because as principal I want to make sure all voices are heard from all backgrounds.”
The school is now reportedly moving to changing the make up of the school representatives to satisfy its diversity expectations. Van Haren called a meeting with all the student candidates and administration to talk about the best way to move forward. Here’s one suggestion: honor the results of the election and stop using race to penalize certain students based on the color of their skin. These kids campaigned and received the support of the majority of their classmates, who were not as preoccupied with race and de facto quotas as the school.
However, Van Haren refused to budge on the demand that representatives first and foremost must satisfy a racial quota. Yet, she insisted that “We’re not nullifying the election, we’re not cancelling the election and we’re not saying this didn’t count.” No, you are just refusing to announce the winners and changing the results.
In a truly chilling spin, Van Haren insisted “I’m very hopeful this can be a learning experience and actually be something that embodied our vision which is to help students make positive change.” Well, it is a learning experience . . . just not a good one. You are teaching students that race does matter and that it is not enough to simply secure the trust and support of your fellow students. You are teaching them that the color of their skin is the predominant criteria and, if the student body does not produce a representative body, the school will impose its own selection.
After an outcry, Van Haren back pedaled:
Everett Middle School is honoring the results of the Associated Student Body (ASB) elections. This is our first student council at Everett Middle School in recent history and we started up a student council because we want our students to have several ways to develop their leadership skills and be a part of shaping our school. We want a student leadership body that includes the range of perspectives and experiences of our students and we believe a representative body is an important part of democracy.
When we reviewed the results of our Associated Student Body (ASB) elections on Friday, October 9th, we saw that it was not fully representative of our school population. I made the decision to pause on sharing the results with the students in order to capitalize on a teachable moment. I wanted to have a conversation with all of the candidates and ask for their ideas to make sure that all voices and groups are represented in our ASB. In retrospect, I understand how this decision to pause created concerns. Today I visited classrooms to announce the winners of the elections.
There are many challenges and opportunities that this situation surfaces. Especially now, at a time when our school and community’s population is undergoing demographic change, I believe that we have a responsibility to take these conversations seriously, appreciating both their complexity and their urgency. There are no easy answers, so I am looking forward to talking as a community about how we can grow and get better at this for the rest of the year and into next year.
It is certainly good to see why Van Heran understands now why her decision “create concern” but she clearly does not view her initial action (or the suggestion of dictating representatives on the basis of race) as wrong. Instead, she still wants the students to reexamine their decision (which she continues to view as problematic) based solely on the race of the winners. These is in fact an “easy answer.” Let the children select their representatives and stop imposing race quotas or criteria. Try teaching that students should be seen for their individual worth and not counted on the basis of their skin color. The simple answer to is stop imposing race-based rules or values on students who appear to be voting on the basis of individual merit. They do not need to “grow and get better at this.” The need for growth is clearly found with Van Haren and some of her colleagues in the San Francisco school system.
It now appears that the solution to democracy is that the school intends to simply add more positions that will be given to minority students to meet the de facto quota based on race.
The “teacher” missed her call to picket on the strike line.
Are there any “teachers” actually in school.
The union will be looking for them.
They’re supposed to be picketing on the strike line.
Shame on her for not picketing and actually showing up at a school.
Does the school think that for some reason the African American students would not purposely vote for a Caucasian one? That it is impossible to vote on qualifications, ability, leadership, or any other quality besides basal melanin?
Do they assume the “silent vote” (the non-voters) would have obviously voted for people of the same skin color as they are?
How offensive and racist.
California is a Liberal bastion, and San Francisco a Liberal stronghold. Combine that with Liberal leaning education, and you have a trifecta of Liberalism run amuck and its consequences.
Liberals always seem to want to feel good, and be so proud of being so morally superior to everyone. But, here in California, we get burned by these policies frequently. I’ve seen the harmful results too many times to give Liberals a pass on good intentions anymore.
And this is another example of how Affirmative Action facsimiles lower the bar, or create quotas, which directly oppose selection based on competency or fairness.
This school has taught these children that what matters is skin-deep, not what’s inside. That no matter how hard they try, they can never overcome their skin color. And also to possibly resent those of different skin color.
What an excellent example of Liberal bias wrecking our education system. Once again, well meaning Liberal policies have done unintentional harm.
When can we live in a color blind society? When basal melanin concentration and features are just interesting aspects of ancestry? When will we focus on what’s inside, that really matters?
Liberals and conservatives will both equally contribute to our coming fascist state in the US.
I love this quote:
“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely excercised for the good of its victim may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated, but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the aproval of their own conscience.” CS Lewis
I don’t think it matters who voted or how many. As long as all the kids had equal opportunity to vote, those issues are moot. I’m a liberal, and I think this action by the principal is well, unprincipled. And short-sighted, and ridiculous.
Bettykath raises a legitimate question. Did the entire student body vote? It could make a difference in outcomes.
So what if only some of the student body voted. Unless they were prevented from voting, the students made a choice to not vote. Ergo, their votes that they didn’t cast don’t count. If you choose to NOT participate, you don’t get to have a voice. Not voting is a choice and they might have made that choice. You still have to live with the results of your actions or NON actions.
THIS is the lesson that should be hammered home to these kid. Not the lesson that if you don’t do something to create the outcome that is politically correct, some authority figure will come and make sure that the outcome is the “correct” outcome.
When voter turnouts are greater the results can drastically change.
No? Duh? Really? Again, a teachable moment lost because the libtard teachers want to create a Utopian authoritarian outcome.
Teach the children that their actions or LACK of action can have consequences. Teach them that they count and that their votes count. Teach them that elections have consequences.
On the other hand…..who is to say that the students didn’t vote for the people that they really wanted to have in the positions, whether the teachers like it or not.
Bettykath raises a legitimate question. Did the entire student body vote? It could make a difference in outcomes. When voter turnouts are greater the results can drastically change.
Maybe the teacher was holding back to receive money from the kids to illustrate how to buy an election? Showing it’s really about pay-to-play and has little to do with actual voting.
This kind of silly actions can only happen among intolerant liberals. She will be better of spending some time in North Korea where she could learn about her kind of diversity.
The Adams Family knows how to deal with the board of education. You should to.
DBQ, bettykath is a died in the wool liberal. She means well, like many liberals.
bettykath, I wonder if you needed a student ID to vote?
How many kids participated in the election and who counted the votes?
What difference is it how many kids participated? That is democracy. If you vote, you get a voice. If you don’t vote for whatever reason, you don’t get a voice. THAT should be the lesson that the children learn.
How many kids participated in the election and who counted the votes?
This story is a perfect example of why my daughter and her husband decided to move out of SF when they began their family. The schools suck rotten eggs. They want their children to get a good education and be safe in their schools. They want their children to have a normal and happy childhood.
There were other child related issues, such as no outdoor play space available at their home. Distance to parks and the fact that every play activity has to be scheduled.. Safety again. When you have a child many things become quite a chore. In SF those things are much more of a difficult chore. SF is a very child unfriendly environment. But……it was mostly the public schools and the costs of private schooling.
They now live in an area with some of the best public schools in the State and multitudes of other families with children in their neighborhood. They look forward to having a great neighborhood trick or treat event again this year that involves the parents and children in a fun outdoor party event involving all. Can you imagine trying to go trick or treat in SF. Fat chance.
I feel so very sorry for those who are trapped in the system. They don’t have a fighting chance.
Perfect example of how elections are meaningless, except as a tool for the rich and powerful to control the masses and keep them thinking they have some say over the laws they are subjected to. A good lesson if only the kids would be encouraged to evaluate and determine the truth from it.
calypso, I have those same hopes that PC ends up in the ash heap of history. But it is pernicious and part of the liberal bible. It must be stopped by any means necessary. At the core of PC is control, liberals want to control everything. Orwell saw it before just about anyone else. He invented PC language as farcical. Now, it’s mainstream. Hell, most everyone says “gender” instead of sex. Insane.
As the school Principal she failed to recognize that one of the greatest aspects of our form of government is its democratic process of elections. Let the results out and let them stand as a testament to our democratic system.