West Portal parent jumps
into School Board RaceLee Hsu, candidate for School Board

Lee Hsu, a well known West Portal community leader and resident, has entered the race for the San Francisco School Board. The current President of the Greater West Portal Neighborhood Association, and parliamentarian for the West Of Twin Peaks Central Council, he believes in public education and that he can make a difference. “My parents emigrated to the United States in search of a better life and I am a product of public education. The schools in San Francisco do a good job, but I think we can make improvements to bring more effective, quality education to all communities in the city,” said Hsu.

Imagine what the city will look like when every neighborhood has a quality school that children can walk to. It’s better for the environment and for each of our communities. I hope to have the chance to make it happen.”

“One of the biggest problems that we have in San Francisco is the overly complex and problematic assignment of children into the school system. Our system has become a “commuter school system” as the concept of children attending their neighborhood schools has all but disappeared. The key isn’t to send high learning students across town to good performing schools, it is to bring quality education and programs to all schools within San Francisco,” he explained, citing as an example that the schools in the Southeastern part of the city have not seen the type of investment that is needed to bring quality programs into those classrooms.

His goal, if elected, is to have as many students attend schools in their own community, as neighborhood schools should be an anchor within the community, and the candidate feels that San Francisco has lost some of that over the years. By having students in school close to their homes, it would also take thousands of cars off of the roads each school day, but can only be successful if quality programming and facilities are brought to all neighborhood schools.

Hsu says he is results driven, and thinks that underperforming schools can be turned around. As an example, Hsu described an after school enrichment program that he started and managed at one of the city’s elementary schools. Starting with two subjects an after school enrichment program with two subjects, chess and language immersion, and it grew to include soccer, art math, theatre and other classes. As the involvement of the students and parents grew, the school also performed better as a whole.

With a background in finance, technology and the law, Hsu feels he is well prepared to help the district work with companies to integrate technology into school sites and the curriculum across the entire city.

Married, with two children in the SF public school system, Hsu would, if elected, be the only school board member with children currently in the public elementary school system. When I asked what has motivated him to run he replied, “I have volunteered and worked at a single school site and have seen what can be done. There is no reason we cannot improve the schools in every neighborhood. It is important that we maintain our diversity and help both our high achieving and high needs students. Instead of telling a child in a lower-income neighborhood that she has to leave her community to get a quality education, let’s bring the quality education to her. Let’s place high demand language, arts and technology programs into schools that need the most help. That attracts families and brings resources into underserved communities instead of encouraging families to leave the city or send their children to private schools. Imagine what the city will look like when every neighborhood has a quality school that children can walk to. It’s better for the environment and for each of our communities. I hope to have the chance to make it happen.”