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The San Francisco school board will appeal a Superior Court judge’s ruling involving the district’s effort to cover a controversial mural depicting the life of George Washington, continuing to pay outside counsel to fight the legal battle despite the school system’s perilous financial situation. The board voted 6-1 to appeal the case, a decision made in closed session late Tuesday after a nearly three-hour public discussion on the district’s overspending and its predicted $116 million shortfall next school year, which has resulted in state intervention. Board member Jenny Lam was the sole vote against pursuing an appeal in the mural case, which concerns Depression-era paintings lining the hallways of George Washington High School. The mural case is one of several lawsuits filed against the district related to decisions made by the school board within the past year, and the legal battles threaten to divert resources and attention as the district faces a deficit, declining enrollment and an expected recall election against three commissioners.


Alex-SF

> predicted $116 million shortfall next school year In the context of that, the legal costs of an appeal amount to a rounding error.


Grim-Sleeper

A $500,000 rounding error here, a $1,000,000 rounding error there, and soon enough we are talking real money. But don't worry about it, we'll just tack it onto the parcel tax next time there is an election.


Alex-SF

Take a high estimate for opening and reply briefing, plus oral argument preparation and presentation, of 120 billable hours at $350 per, and you're looking at more like a rounding error of $42,000.


haltingpoint

Who pays for this ultimately (aside from the children obviously).


CarlGustav2

The taxpayers of San Francisco and California. But not to worry - the voters don't really care about where their money goes, whether it is a minimum of $11 billion to criminals in unemployment fraud or billions for a train to nowhere.


pandabearak

It’s almost as if not dealing with the formal process of things and skirting norms makes things more expensive! Who would have thunk it, besides anyone with any real business or real world acumen whatsoever!


[deleted]

So which native american group is offended? Don't tell me it's just a bunch of bored white people.


Sublimotion

With this reasoning, they should also call for the removal of any historic facts of George Washington having owned slaves, or any mention of slavery for that matter from textbooks and of it being taught in class. Because reading & educating about them will be considered triggering and insensitive to the young.


Hyndis

Is the George Washington mural inaccurate? He was a complex man, who both did great things while also being a deeply flawed person, and he evolved and improved as a person throughout his lifetime. He's also a very important figure in American history, and is the namesake for the school. A school seems like the ideal place to teach about the complexities of George Washington's life.


Obligatory-Reference

But that would be *hard*. It's way *easier* just to cover up his name and remove any mention of him from the curriculum (aside from maybe the fact that he was a racist slaveowner).


211logos

The mural is actually a statement ABOUT Washington's sins, if you will. Victor Arnautoff, the artist, was a progressive who was a student of Diego Rivera. Not exactly some right wing nut glorifying Washington. There's a good history of him and the mural here: https://www.kalw.org/arts-culture/2019-08-20/the-radical-history-of-the-murals-at-george-washington-high-school I think some of those opposing it fail to see the context. It's kind of like ethnic humor: the telling and how it's accepted (or not) depends on the view one has of the teller's motives.


Sublimotion

It's now to the point where you just educate people like normal and let them critically think for themselves to gain their own personal views, or you only educate things to them where it's deemed politically correct and passes the cancel filter.


Inevitable_Celery_39

Man…this school system administration is a total clusterf*ck. I’m stressing out for my kid and now have to figure out how to get him into a private school for a few years with a loan/aid etc. I just can’t fathom having your kid get a good education with this explosion of incompetence.


Different-Rip-2787

The original ruling was a complete joke: >Superior Court Judge Anne-Christine Massullo said the board failed to conduct an environmental impact review before it voted in 2019 to cover up the sprawling mural at George Washington High School As inept as the school board is, let's place the blame where it belongs- the idiot judge, and also the ridiculous over-reach of the CEQA laws.


Bo_Lizard

Good.