• Office: School Board
• Election Date: November 5, 2024
• Candidate: Lefteris Eleftheriou
• Due Date: May 31, 2024
• Printable Version

Thank you for seeking GrowSF's endorsement for the November 5, 2024 election! GrowSF believes in a growing, beautiful, vibrant, healthy, safe, and prosperous city delivered via common sense solutions and effective government. Our work includes running public opinion polls to understand what voters want, advocating for those changes, and ensuring that the SF government represents the people.

The GrowSF endorsement committee will review all completed questionnaires and seek consensus on which candidates best align with our vision for San Francisco.

This questionnaire will be published on growsf.org, and so we hope that you use this opportunity to communicate with voters.

Please complete this questionnaire by May 31, 2024 so we have enough time to adequately review and discuss your answers.

Note: This questionnaire will use the initialism "SFUSD" when referring to the San Francisco Unified School District.

• Your Goals
• Executive experience
• The Issues
  • Budget
  • Curriculum
  • Bullying & violence
  • Teachers
  • School assignment system
  • General information
• Personal

Your Goals

We'd like to get some details about your high-level goals and how you intend to use your elected office to achieve them.

Why are you running for School Board?

There is an early childhood literacy correlation that I often hear quoted in political and social circles. Essentially, if a child cannot read by the age of 8, then the odds of that child being incarcerated or on welfare by the age of 18 is exponentially greater. I find this deeply concerning. The reason is, as a city, we seem to spend most of our attention and resources on addressing the aftermath of drug addiction, mental illness, homelessness, etc., when it's equally important, if not more so, to address the child to prevent these things from occurring in the first place. In other words, it is not enough to simply react to drug addiction and homelessness in adulthood, because by then it's often too late, as the illness becomes deeply rooted and extremely difficult to treat, requiring billions of dollars in taxes and resources with questionable results. Instead, how do we begin to redirect these resources and take a small percentage of our tax dollars and invest it in our children? How do we begin to pay more attention to the red flags and warning signs early in childhood? After we catch these signs, how do we turn the child around quickly and effectively? How can we ensure that every child in our unified school district can read by third grade? Answering these questions is why I am running for School Board.

What is your #1 policy goal?

To ensure every child in our public schools has a solid foundation in the basics of reading, writing, and math by the age of 8.

How will you build the coalition and political capital to enact your #1 goal?

1. By engaging every parent, friend, relative, neighbor, etc. of a child as soon as we are able, preferably when the child is newly born, and building a loving support team around that child. The earlier we can do this the better, so that by the time the child enters kindergarten the child's support team is in place.

2. By working with the mayor and board of supervisors (BOS) to redirect a portion of our tax dollars from treatment of our drug and mental health crisis to prevention.

3. By reaching out to all the homeless and mental health coalitions and non-profits and asking for funding and resources. Healthy children (and ultimately healthy adults) come from healthy homes, and the financial responsibility should not lay solely on the shoulders of taxpayers.

Will the power of the office of School Board be enough to achieve this goal?

No, this will take the combined energy and effort of the entire school district, mayor's office, BOS, and homeless, mental health, and drug commissions and non-profits. Of course, this will not happen overnight. This is a long term project of 10-15 years, but we can begin to plant the seeds now. It took us decades to get us into the situation we are in, and so it will take patience and determination and focus to get us out.

What are your #2 and #3 policy goals?

My #2 goal is to balance the SF USD budget and my #3 goal is to introduce social-emotional-ethical (SEE) learning, such as meditation and mindfulness, into the curriculum.

Will the power of the office of School Board be enough to achieve these goals?

Yes.

What is an existing Board of Education policy you would like to reform?

Funding for schools is primarily tied into enrollment levels and comes from the state. Instead of focusing on the number of children enrolled in our schools, I would like to instead focus on the number of parents and care providers available to the child; i.e. the child's support system, which I outlined earlier. I suggest redirecting funding to helping the parents and care providers, again from the time the children are newly born, to ensuring the children have the best possible care and nurturing between the ages of 0 and 5. There is already a California organization in place that is doing this type of work, https://www.first5california.com/en-us/, and so we just need to make sure the children of San Francisco are benefitting from these programs. Again, healthy children (and ultimately healthy adults) come from healthy homes. So, in the short run we are not only making sure our children are given the best start in life, but we are also ensuring our city's mental health, drug, and homelessness crisis is also addressed as our children grow into adulthood. That is why this effort is long-term, comprehensive, and requires the support of all levels of our government.

Do/Did you have children in SFUSD? If so, what have you learned about SFUSD that other parents would benefit from? If not, why not?

I do/did not have children in SF USD.

Executive experience

Please describe your experience running or governing large organizations, managing teams (including hiring, firing, and performance management), driving cultural change and clear communication throughout all levels, effective financial management (budgets, reporting, audit, etc.), and any other relevant experience.

I have worked for large, medium, and small corporations my entire career, mostly in the tech sector. During that time, I managed cross-functional teams across multiple countries to service the needs of Fortune 500 Companies, such as Apple, Google, Amazon, Cisco, Coherent, Molex, Microsoft, HP, and Xerox. Although I was not responsible for hiring, firing, and performance management of these teams, I was responsible for communicating the goals and objectives of the projects and managing the budgets. I speak multiple languages, including Greek & Japanese, and so understand the cultural differences between North America, Europe, and Asia, and how to work effectively internationally with people from these regions, who possess different customs, ways of thinking, or ways of doing business.

At the same time, I also owned and operated a year-round, after-school academy, which offered a wide breadth of classes and camps for all age levels, such as drawing, painting, sculpting, pottery, foreign languages, coding, weaving, cooking, crafts, dancing, music, and more. I managed a staff of around 12-15 employees, including admin and teachers, and was responsible for hiring, firing, and performance management. We had enrollment levels of 70-90 students from age 3 to adult, and I successfully managed the budget year after year with no deficits. We had strong reviews and ratings on Yelp, Google, and ActivityHero. The reason for our success was an unwavering commitment to transparency, honesty, and continuous engagement among our stakeholders: the parents, teachers, and students. We were, for the most part, on the same page and had the same goals in mind, whether we were discussing lesson plans, incomes and expenditures, or materials and supplies.

Please describe a time when you had an underperforming subordinate and how you handled the situation, including (and especially) how you were able to increase their performance.

Note: Please remember that this questionnaire will be public, so do not include any personally identifiable information.

I had a staff member who struggled with English, which was her second language. As a result, she could not communicate effectively in class or to her parents, which often left them frustrated. Otherwise, she was a gifted and talented artist and instructor, and cared deeply about her students. So I worked with her one-on-one to improve her English skills and had her enroll in online classes. While she was practicing to improve her English, I limited her classes to younger age groups until she became confident enough in her speaking skills to teach older children and even adults.

Please describe a time when your organization faced an extreme challenge and how you got the organization through it.

By far, the largest challenge we faced was the forced shutdown of our school in March of 2020 due to Covid. As with all schools across our state and country, we had to quickly pivot to an online format. This was not easy as all of our classes were conducted in-person and virtually no one had any experience teaching online. I went through a very steep learning curve of figuring out how to use Zoom, set up accounts for my staff, train my staff on how to use the video conferencing platform, while at the same time working closely with all of my parents to ensure their children had the supplies, materials, and technical support necessary to participate remotely from their homes. For parents who did not have adequate supplies, I drove to their homes and delivered them. I even drove to the homes of my staff members who could not set up Zoom for themselves, and helped them do so. In addition to the logistical challenges, I set up bi-weekly and monthly Zoom meetings with my staff to offer emotional and psychological support during this unprecedented time.

The Issues

Next, we will cover the issues that voters tell us they care about. We hope to gain a better understanding of your policy positions, and we hope that you use this opportunity to communicate with voters.

Budget

SFUSD faces an existential crisis in its budget deficit. In your view, what factors have led to this crisis?

I have not attended any school board meetings yet and plan to do so starting next month. This will allow me to better understand the specific reasons for the deficit. But, in my experience, and speaking in broad terms, poor management and lack of accountability are the root cause of the crisis. There is really no excuse to have over a billion dollar operating budget and not make ends meet. There is obviously a great deal of money going wasted or not being accounted for or simply being spent on programs that are not effective.

What I am familiar with is a city-wide effort to make our neighborhoods less conducive or friendly to children or families who want to have and raise children. For example, my neighbors and I diligently fought a cannabis dispensary from opening in our area, because it was located directly across the street from a daycare center and within blocks of at least ten other child-related schools and businesses. We lost our case before the planning department and again before the board of supervisors upon our appeal. We were unsuccessful despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of neighbors, including residents and businesses, were against the dispensary. How do you explain this? Our district supervisor backed the dispensary and opposed the neighborhood, because the owners of the dispensary were connected to the trade unions, supporters of our supervisor. In other words, our supervisor wanted the dispensary owners to support her re-election, while disregarding the voice of her own constituents. This is happening in neighborhoods all over our city, where dispensaries are opening adjacent to preschools, because decisions regarding the health and well-being of our children are not being made by the people of San Francisco, but by special interest groups who have bought our politicians.

SFUSD was deemed to be "no longer a going concern" and to be at risk of insolvency by the 2025-26 fiscal year unless it restructures and corrects its budget deficit. Please explain the current budget situation.

I am not sure what is meant by "no longer a going concern." This may be a typo? At any rate, the state and city budget crisis is not dissimilar from the USD's crisis. They all suffer from rampant corruption, mismanagement, and lack of accountability. It will require leaders who are not afraid to take an objective and honest look at the budget situation and make changes, such as cutting unnecessary jobs, departments, and programs, holding people accountable, and exposing corruption. This is a daunting task that most politicians cannot or are simply unwilling to undertake.

How does the role of the CDE's Fiscal Advisor to SFUSD inform your perspective and priorities on the responsibilities of a Board of Ed commissioner?

I don't see how the state of California is in any position to advise the SFUSD on fiscal health or responsibility, when the state itself faces its own budget crisis. We are all on the same sinking ship, and whether you are the captain or a crewman, you will suffer the same fate. Having said that, as a BOE commissioner, we have the responsibility to look at the USD's financials, such as bank statements, tax filings, P/L reports, audit results, etc. We must go through these figures with a fine tooth comb in order to understand where and how the hemorrhaging is occurring. Only then can we begin to stop it.

Please summarize the recommended solutions in the SFUSD Fiscal Health Risk Analysis report, and tell us how you would prioritize them.

I glanced through the report and, unfortunately, do not see any of the figures or numbers I describe above that will allow us to accurately assess where, why, or how we are bleeding money. Therefore, I cannot comment.

The budget deficit will require hard and unpopular decisions, like closing schools, laying off teachers, reducing or changing available courses, and renegotiating the teachers' union contract. Regardless of your stance on those specific issues, what credentials or work experience do you have in handling those sorts of challenges?

Closing schools and laying off teachers is not a wise precedent to set for any school district. It's also not the answer to a financial crisis. We are only addressing the symptoms and not the root cause of the crisis. To address the root cause, we need to look at the numbers and figures I outlined above. I am not a financial or accounting expert, and therefore suggest we find someone with this expertise or the credential to help us.

How do you approach making difficult decisions that you deem necessary even if unpopular? Please share a relevant example, if applicable.

What I propose above is difficult and unpopular or else it would have already been done. Again, there is no excuse to have over a billion dollar budget and not make ends meet.

SFUSD facilities are in poor condition, with reports of some bathrooms being so dirty that students refuse to use them. What will you do to remedy this situation, especially given the budget constraints you will have to operate under?

I am willing to roll up my sleeves and go in and clean bathrooms. I did it regularly for the school I owned and am happy to do it for SF USD. More importantly, if we identify where we are wasting money we can redirect it toward more vital and necessary services, such as hiring janitors.

One reason for the budget deficit is declining enrollment. Approximately 30% of children attend private schools, and that percentage is growing. Each student not in SFUSD takes away nearly $15,000 in State funding. How will you make SFUSD more attractive to prospective students and parents?

We will make SF USD more attractive to students and parents by adopting the strategies I described above, such as an early support team for 0-5 year-olds, an honest, detailed, and thorough analysis of our income and expenditures, and exposing corruption wherever we see it, whether at the city or state level, such as the example of the cannabis dispensary that was approved in my neighborhood, despite overwhelming opposition.

What is your perspective on SFUSD's school closures and approach to pandemic recovery?

Again, school closures are not a long term solution and should only be used as a last resort. If we face another pandemic, then every effort possible should be made to keep children and teachers in school without endangering their health and safety.

Curriculum

What changes are coming to the SFUSD curriculum over the next few years?

I do not know enough about the curriculum to answer this question at this time, but am doing my due diligence to learn as much as I can.

SFUSD student performance is low, with some of the widest achievement gaps among student populations in the state, with many students being left unprepared for high school and college. How and why are we failing our students?

We are failing our students because we have not made our youth a priority in either our city or state. For example, if we do nothing else except ensure that every 3rd grader can read, then we also ensure that our 18 year olds do not end up in jail or on welfare. So instead of spending our tax dollars on prisons, courts, and incarceration, a revolving door with diminishing returns, our money will go toward our children, where we get the greater return on investment.

SFUSD will be reintroducing 8th grade algebra over the next couple school years. Do you support this change?

Yes.

How should SFUSD balance instructional minutes for core curriculum subjects with access to electives?

I do not know enough about this topic to comment at this time.

Many of SFUSD's language pathways have difficulty hiring and retaining qualified educators and classrooms are under-enrolled as early as grade 4, how would you address this?

What is the reason qualified educators cannot be retained? Why are they leaving? I would need to know more about this topic to answer effectively.

What is your position on supporting lottery-based access to language immersion programs for some versus access to second language instruction for all as part of general education instruction?

I support second language instruction as part of a general education.

What is the current state of advanced education at SFUSD?

I do not know enough about this topic to answer at this time.

What should SFUSD be doing to ensure more students have access to more advanced education, including classes above their grade level, accelerated courses, and advanced subjects including those currently only offered by outside institutions such as community colleges?

The same things we should be doing to ensure every 3rd grader can read, can also be done for those students who require advanced education. It is a matter of prioritizing how our budget is used and tax dollars are spent.

What is the current state of special or remedial education at SFUSD?

I do not know enough about this topic to answer at this time.

What should SFUSD be doing to ensure students who need special education (either due to disability or academic performance) have access and the support they need to thrive?

I am noticing a pattern to the questions here. Let me be clear: there is nothing SF USD cannot do with the support of the stakeholders, our parents, teachers, and students. The job of the BOE is to ensure the stakeholders are aligned and to give them what they need, whether it is more advanced education, second language immersion, or special education.

Bullying & violence

Last school year SFUSD was beset by reports of rampant bullying and both in-school and after-school violence. Has the School Board done enough to fix and prevent these issues? And what more should be done, if anything?

It's a sad reality that bullying and violence in schools has become as widespread as it has. Much more can be done to fix these problems. First, healthy children come from healthy homes, and so redirecting our tax dollars to support our children in the early formative years, by supporting both parents or legal guardians, so they are active and attentive in their children's lives will help. There are already resources and organizations in place that are doing this, such as the one below.

https://www.first5california.com/en-us/

Second, it is important to integrate social-emotional-ethical (SEE) learning into the K-12 curriculum. Again, there are existing programs that can be mimicked or adopted such as the one below from Emory University.

https://101.seelearning.emory.edu/#:~:text=Social%2C%20Emotional%2C%20and%20Ethical%20(,intelligence%20for%20students%20and%20themselves.

Third, reinstating the MOU between the SFPD and the SF USD. Why hasn't this been done already? This is a question for the existing BOE.

The resources are there and available, and so again, our youth need to be made a priority in both our city and state, if we want to effectively address violence in our schools.

What failures in administration allowed such violence to happen in our schools?

As a city, we have not made our children's safety a priority. Instead, we have allowed special interest groups to dictate to our politicians what is good for our children. This is a mistake. As taxpayers, residents, teachers, and parents, it's time we take control and hold our administration and politicians accountable.

What is your opinion about the new "Say Something Anonymous System"? Are other interventions warranted, as well?

I would like to know more about this system or app before I comment. The subheading in the article states that: Year one saw 33 tips in seven months, mostly about bullying, mental health, and planned attacks. SFUSD won't say how many were false alarms.

I am curious to know why SF USD will not disclose the number of false alarms.

Cyberbullying remains a problem. What is SFUSD doing to stop it, and what else should they be doing?

Cyberbullying has many of the same causes and traits as conventional bullying. Therefore, as with conventional bullying, working closely with our children and parents in the early, formative years is the most effective way to address the problem.

Teachers

State regulators have ordered SFUSD to balance its budget by laying off some teachers. What experience do you have with union negotiations, labor disputes, and corporate finance?

I do not have experience with union negotiations, labor disputes, or corporate finance. However, I have ample experience in negotiations in the corporate world and from owning and operating my own school.

Given SFUSD's budget crisis, how will you ensure that we are able to attract and retain the best teachers?

We will attract and retain the best teachers, because we will present them with children who have had the best start in life through the strategies I outlined above.

School assignment system

Please summarize the changes needed for the SFUSD school assignment system. How do you see it working best for preK through high school?

I do not know enough about this topic to comment at length. But I will say that parents should have a say on where to send their kids to school.

Indicate how you will ensure the changes to the assignment system proceed with minimal problems.

Again, I do not know enough to comment on this.

In your opinion, how should any changes to the system balance equity concerns with convenience and the needs of children and parents?

I believe all parents should be given equal opportunity on where to send their kids to school. It's a decision that needs to be made between parents and their children and not between school administrators.

How will you measure if these changes are beneficial for students and parents?

We will see increased enrollment, decreased tardiness, and improved performance, because both students and parents will be engaged and supportive of their selection.

General information

In your view, why were San Francisco Board of Education members Alison Collins, Gabriela López, and Faauuga Moliga recalled?

I was not actively involved in the recall, but from what I understand they were recalled because they placed other, less important items ahead of opening schools during the pandemic. In other words, they prioritized items that were not a priority for parents and teachers.

Did you vote for or against the recalls of Board of Education members Alison Collins, Gabriela López, and Faauuga Moliga?

I supported the recall.

Who are your mentors? Are there current or former Board of Education commissioners you believe have been most effective, and why?

I respect former BOE member Ann Hsu and the work she is doing with Bert Hsu Academy.

In what ways are we succeeding in public education?

We are succeeding by being able to have these types of difficult discussions about our public education. Having open, honest, and frank dialogue is the first step toward fixing the problems described above.

In what ways are we failing in public education?

Children are not being taught the basic skills they need to succeed as adults.

How can the school district use its land to help deliver housing for teachers, school staff, and San Francisco families?

There are many efforts underway by the city and state to build affordable housing for teachers, staff, and families. I'm not sure if the USD's land is being used for this housing. If not, it may be a good idea to use it for teachers and staff.

Personal

Tell us a bit about yourself!

Did you attend SFUSD or public primary schools in other cities? How do our schools differ from when you were a student?

I grew up in the midwest and attended public schools and universities my entire life. The high school I attended, Ypsilanti High School, located in Ypsilanti, MI, a small blue-collar town on the outskirts of Detroit, was not that much different from the public schools here in SF. We, too, suffered from budget & enrollment problems, delinquency, bullying & violence, and eventually my former high school, due to decreasing enrollment, merged with another district's high school to become Ypsilanti Community High School.

How long have you lived in San Francisco? What brought you here and what keeps you here?

With the exception of a few short relocations to Mountain View and Cupertino, I have lived in San Francisco since 2005. My wife is a native San Franciscan so her family and my nieces and nephews keep me here, along with trying to make a difference in our schools.

What do you love most about San Francisco?

I love the diversity and the landscape.

What do you dislike the most about San Francisco?

The corruption.

Tell us about your current involvement in the community (e.g., volunteer groups, neighborhood associations, civic and professional organizations, etc.).

I am an active member or attendee in my neighborhood groups, such as the Greater West Portal Neighborhood Association (GWPNA), West of Twin Peaks Central Council (WTPCC), and People of Parkside Sunset (POPS).