One Elite High School’s Struggle Over Admissions

[0] From New York Times, I'm Michael Barrow.

[1] This is a daily.

[2] You're just going to kind of put a number on me, and then that's going to determine my future.

[3] I don't think is serving every student as well as it needs to.

[4] In recent months, we've seen a meaningful re -examination of this country's education system and the tests that often sit at the heart of admissions to the nation's top schools.

[5] We have these very elite public schools that kids test into.

[6] in this city.

[7] In the wake of George Floyd's murder, hard questions have been asked about who these admissions systems benefit.

[8] And last year, even though the public school system is made up 70 % of black and Hispanic children, only 10 black students got into Stuyveson.

[9] And who they leave out.

[10] The numbers by and large have not changed in recent years at the competitive high schools, which remain highly racially segregated, or I guess to be specific, of excluding black and Latino And after decades of resistance.

[11] Well, the SAT has been a target of equity -minded reformers for a long time.

[12] Real changes are being made.

[13] The SAT, the ACT standardized tests are out at UC.

[14] Harvard announced it will not require ACT or SAT scores for admission for the next four years.

[15] And elite public high schools around the country that use so -called merit -based admissions systems.

[16] Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology has been rated the number one public high school in America.

[17] It has shifted its standards after accusations they were exclusionary to some minorities.

[18] Have finally begun to bend to pressure to replace those systems.

[19] Boston this week, they also unanimously, their school committee voted to change their entrance exam.

[20] It was interesting because they talked about it.

[21] But amid the reforms, an uncomfortable reality has begun to emerge.

[22] Parents of Asian American students are battling against the new standards in court.

[23] That in trying to give better resources to black students, many Asian Americans have come to feel that something is being taken away.

[24] And that in a conversation so often framed in terms of white and black, they are being left out of the conversation altogether.

[25] We are so diverse, but we were the wrong kind of diverse for the school board and the superintendent.

[26] Today, my colleagues Jay Caspian Kang and daily producer Jessica Chung have the story of one high school in San Francisco, where all these tensions have been playing out, a high school that Jessica herself attended.

[27] It's Friday, June 24th.

[28] How's it going?

[29] Good.

[30] It's bringing back memories.

[31] A little bit.

[32] Everything looks the same.

[33] Yeah.

[34] When were you here?

[35] So earlier this year on a foggy San Francisco morning, Jess and I arranged to meet up on the street outside of Lowell.

[36] How's it feel to be at Lowell High School?

[37] I don't know.

[38] I've thought about this school a lot, you know, over the past few years just because of what I generally write about and what this school means within this community.

[39] You know, I live here in the Bay Area, and it is a little bit surreal to actually be here.

[40] The first thing you need to understand about Lowell, To understand why we sound like this standing outside of a high school is that it's not just any high school.

[41] All right, so I guess we'll put on our masks to go inside.

[42] Lowell is kind of a famous school, one of the highest performing public schools in the state of California.

[43] America's best high school is 2016, 2019, and frequently ranked among the best public schools in the country.

[44] Is this it?

[45] Yeah, this is it.

[46] A Lowell tradition, and there's a number of distinguished people who have graduated.

[47] situated from wool.

[48] Okay, let's check this out.

[49] Uh, yeah, Stephen Breyer.

[50] Is he the most distinguished alumni that people talk about?

[51] I think so.

[52] I think so.

[53] Let's see here.

[54] Oh, and Alexander Calder.

[55] Alexander Calder, a 1916 kinetic artist.

[56] Yeah, the mobile guy.

[57] I wonder what level of success you'd have to cross to end up here.

[58] You should petition.

[59] You should be like, producer of, the hit podcast the daily.

[60] This board would have to get way big to accommodate that.

[61] So a lot of big names have come out of Lowell.

[62] But if you live outside of San Francisco and you've heard about the school, it's probably because of its admission system.

[63] Students are admitted based on grades and test scores.

[64] And just like other merit -based public schools in places like Virginia and New York City, there's been a lot of controversy here over who gets in and who doesn't.

[65] I will say, walking around.

[66] This is a very Asian school.

[67] Yeah.

[68] It's like a ton of Asian kids.

[69] There's just so many.

[70] What percentage would you say Asian it looks like just walking around?

[71] Right now it feels like 90.

[72] I know that's not the actual number, but it just feels that way, right?

[73] Yeah.

[74] And like, uh...

[75] Lowell plays a very specific role in the San Francisco.

[76] school system.

[77] A lot of white, upper middle class families send their kids to the city's private schools.

[78] So while Lowell might have a kind of elite status in the city, I can't get over how many signs there are about how good the school is.

[79] That's only within the context of the types of kids in San Francisco who actually go to public school.

[80] That's mostly working class and middle class kids of color.

[81] You know, despite all that, it doesn't feel like one of these storied places that you go to.

[82] This is still like a very much like a city public school, you know, that just has a few more banners than normal ones.

[83] It just doesn't feel that different.

[84] And it doesn't feel exclusive in a way.

[85] It feels actually, you know, just like a public school.

[86] Yeah.

[87] The reality, obviously, is somewhat different.

[88] And so because of that status, Lowell has become a school that represents something very important to a lot of families in San Francisco.

[89] It's thought of as this supercharger of class mobility.

[90] So if a kid works hard and gets admitted, it's recognition that the country is rewarding that work, regardless of where they come from.

[91] But that admission system has resulted in a student body that looks very different from the rest of the district.

[92] Last year, for example, 57 % of students at Lowell were Asian compared to 34 % in the district.

[93] And when it comes to Latino, and black students, it's the other way around.

[94] Last year, less than 2 % of students at Lowell identified as black, even though 6 % of the district did.

[95] And critics say, that's created a discriminatory hostile environment for black students in particular.

[96] Hi.

[97] Hey, are you Aubrey?

[98] Hi.

[99] How's it going?

[100] Good, I guess.

[101] Yeah.

[102] We met up with Aubrey Chickory and a friend of hers at the front of the school during a lunch break.

[103] Aubrey is a junior at Lowell, and this year she was one of just 44 black students at the school in a student body of more than 2 ,700.

[104] You know, like, just from being here the last two days, it's just my observation.

[105] It seems like socially things are very segregated in a way that's actually kind of surprising to me because I grew up in North Carolina, it wasn't like this.

[106] You just tell, like, is the, what's the social life like here in terms of race to kids?

[107] Is it pretty segregated?

[108] I mean, I know, like, the black and brown kids, we hang with each other more because we are the minority at the school.

[109] But I get, like, if there were a lot more black and brown students at the school, you would see more diverse groups of people.

[110] Aubrey's parents wanted her to go to Lowell because a cousin had gone there, and they saw the opportunities the school provided.

[111] So Aubrey applied and got in.

[112] What did your cousin tell you about, Lowell?

[113] She said it was very intense and that a lot of things would happen regarding racism.

[114] And, I mean, I was very much nervous because I didn't see a lot of kids who looked like me. I was often the only black kid in my class.

[115] So, yeah.

[116] You mentioned to me over the phone an incident that happened.

[117] I think freshman year, can you tell me about that, what happened there?

[118] So I had a friend in freshman year, ex -friend now.

[119] He would use the N -word around me and joke about African -Americans.

[120] And one day he posted a story of how to ask a black girl out to prom with a picture of someone holding a bouquet of cotton.

[121] And I didn't know how to report that to admin at that moment, so I, like, held it on.

[122] Like, I had to keep it to myself for days, and I, like, didn't know who to tell until the Padlet Incident.

[123] The Padlet Incident is a term you hear a lot when you talk to students at Lowell.

[124] And this is the thing that happened last year, that Jaya told me, helps explain the whole school board recall.

[125] And it happened against this backdrop at Lowell, a controversial admission system, and a widespread feeling among black students that being black at Lowell was not a comfortable experience.

[126] Everyone on campus can tell their own version of the Padlet story.

[127] We've been talking to students, and one thing that keeps coming up is the thing called the Padlet incident.

[128] I was wondering if you could, from your perspective, tell me how you found out about that incident.

[129] Where were you when you found out?

[130] Yeah, so it was, I think it wasn't, I think it was in February.

[131] It was late January, 2021, heading into February and Black History Month.

[132] It was just an average day, it was like a Wednesday.

[133] I'm pretty sure this was over -distance learning.

[134] This was during distance learning.

[135] That morning, students logged on to their homeroom classes to attend an anti -racism lesson.

[136] And as part of this lesson, students clicked on a link that took them to an online brainstorming board called Padlet.

[137] There is this thing called Padlet where you could post anonymous messages to answer questions of, like, how do you be less racist?

[138] How can students be anti -racist at Lowell?

[139] On this particular day, students were being asked to engage with the question of how the phrase, all lives matter, could be hurtful and undermine Black Lives Matter.

[140] But when students opened up the Padlet Board...

[141] At that point, I saw just very graphic images, inappropriate slurface.

[142] very racist, like, sentiments.

[143] It had essentially been vandalized and was just covered in racist, hateful images.

[144] One post was an image of a black man giving himself oral sex, with a caption, Black Lives Matter.

[145] I was horrified.

[146] I mean, I thought I was on some wrong website.

[147] I felt like no way this is happening on a school -sanctioned activity.

[148] And within a few hours, images from the message board circulate around the whole school.

[149] All of a sudden, you see on Instagram, everyone's like, oh, this is unacceptable.

[150] Very quickly, the school administration announced that the board had been hacked and that it was investigating the matter.

[151] And if it turned out to have been a student, they would take disciplinary action.

[152] You know, the administration didn't really react to it in the most effective way.

[153] Oh, we got this under control, guys.

[154] But many students said they thought the response was inadequate, that in talking about the board being hacked, Maybe by a student, maybe by an outsider, the school was characterizing it as a kind of cybersecurity issue, rather than as a larger issue of racism within the school.

[155] I would define that as the moment where things really were set in motion.

[156] A few days later, on January 26th, is now called to order.

[157] Roll call, please.

[158] The school board for the San Francisco Unified School District, SFUSD, met virtually for the first time census incident.

[159] students can speak to any item on the agenda.

[160] So please raise your hand if you're here to speak right now.

[161] And during the meeting, Micah, can you hear me?

[162] We can.

[163] Go ahead.

[164] Hi, my name is Micah.

[165] I'm a Lowell sophomore, and I want to talk about the Lowell Padlet incident.

[166] A number of students from Lowell called in.

[167] Hello, my name is Alia Hunter.

[168] I am a sophomore and BSU treasurer at Lowell High School.

[169] Hi, I'm Nancy Garcia from Lowell High School.

[170] I'm a senior.

[171] And what started to pour out were stories, like Aubrey's, of what it felt like to be among the small number of black and brown students at Lowell.

[172] We really need to see something from administration.

[173] We really need to see something done about the racist acts that have gone on for years and years on end.

[174] And then alumni and parents start to weigh in.

[175] Hello, caller, are you there?

[176] 415 -297.

[177] Hi, my name is Sarah Brandt.

[178] I really appreciate so much the emotional and physical labor of Black students and families and adults sharing out today, I went to Lull.

[179] It has not changed.

[180] Lowell's culture on so many levels continues to amplify anti -Black racism.

[181] So I just want to add that as an SFUS teacher, I continue to ask why Lull as an institution is allowed to exist.

[182] And what you heard was years, a built -up frustration.

[183] We should not have to keep coming back time after time after time with the same issue.

[184] How long?

[185] is low going to be allowed to be this racist powerhouse and s if usd is escalating i apologize but we have to make a change i just hope and i pray that by the time my three -month -old is ready to go to high school that law will be changed do we have to wait that long when are we going to demand change when are we going to make it out ask yourself, how long does it have to happen?

[186] Thank you.

[187] Thank you.

[188] This goes on for a really long time.

[189] And throughout the meeting, a student delegate on the board and president of Lowell's Black Student Union, Chavon Heinz Foster, speaks up repeatedly.

[190] How much longer?

[191] I mean, it's truly a question.

[192] How much longer?

[193] And she's among the strongest voices that day, calling on the school board to do something about what their hearing.

[194] Y 'all sit up here with your SFUSD centered student center posters, anti -racist lessons that are hell of janky and just let this school do whatever they want.

[195] You need to fix it.

[196] Why do I have to go to school to be traumatized to get my credits to graduate?

[197] It's not just me. Alumni.

[198] Alumni before alumni.

[199] It's ghetto.

[200] It's ghetto.

[201] It's.

[202] It's raggedy, and it's your fault.

[203] And what you hear in response from the largely black and Latino school board members.

[204] Thank you.

[205] Thank you.

[206] And I really want to emphasize that there is so much burden our students taking on that they've been sharing this over and over again.

[207] Is a number of board members really affirming the people coming forward that day.

[208] I'm not surprised because at some point, the board's vice president, Alison Collins, who is black and had, criticized Lowell for race issues in the past, connects these accounts of pervasive racism that they're hearing to the schools and missions policy and the efforts by the city to protect it.

[209] Racism is political officials speaking up on behalf of a selective enrollment system that perpetuates segregation.

[210] A number of ward members jump on that, including Matt Sanchez.

[211] Lowell has been a festering pool of racism for so long.

[212] It's been one of the main reasons why I I've wanted a change for so long in the admissions policy.

[213] Who explicitly calls for a change.

[214] And it has to stop.

[215] We have to commit ourselves, colleagues.

[216] We have to commit ourselves to ending the admissions process.

[217] We have to make that verbal commitment.

[218] And he's saying this has to end now.

[219] And then we have to do it.

[220] And just over a week later, the BSU led by Chauvin releases a list of 23 demands.

[221] And number one on that list is to change the admissions policy at Loll, from a merit -based system, to a lottery -based one, the system used by the other public schools in the district in admitting their students.

[222] Resolution number 212 -2 -2 -2A1 in response to ongoing systemic racism at Lowell High School.

[223] And on February 9th, 2021, just three weeks after the Padlet incident at Lowell High School, the school board reconvened to consider a resolution.

[224] Commissioner Allison M. Collins, Gabriella Lopez, Matt Alexander and student delegates Chavon Heinz Foster in Katia Correa Almanza.

[225] Allison Collins and two other school board members joined Chavon and another student in introducing a proposal that would eliminate Lowell's merit -based admission system.

[226] Which perpetuates the culture of white supremacy and racial abuse towards black and Latin -neck students.

[227] What followed was another hours -long meeting.

[228] This one, 10 hours.

[229] And toward the end, of the night.

[230] Then we will move to roll call vote.

[231] The board called its vote.

[232] Roll call, Ms. Costco.

[233] Thank you, Commissioner.

[234] Mr. Alexander?

[235] Yes.

[236] Mr. Bogus?

[237] No. Ms. Collins?

[238] Yes.

[239] Ms. Lamb?

[240] No. Mr. Maliga?

[241] Yes.

[242] Mr. Sanchez?

[243] Yes.

[244] Ms. Lopez?

[245] Yes.

[246] Of the seven board members...

[247] That's five eyes.

[248] Thank you.

[249] Five voted in favor of the resolution.

[250] The two other members, including the only Asian member of the board, voted against it.

[251] And after decades of controversy and debate, thank you, everyone, for tonight's discussion.

[252] That'll work to be it.

[253] Yes, it does.

[254] Lowell's merit -based admission system was eliminated with a 5 -2 vote, meaning that overnight, the city's premier public school would function like every other school in the city.

[255] The next year's freshman class would not be considered based on their grades and test scores, but rather through a lottery system, where any student who applied would have equal chance of being randomly selected for admission.

[256] And so a year after the school board beating, with Lowell's merit -based admission system now done away with, we wanted to talk to students at the school about where things stood.

[257] And from what we'd heard, that all depended on who you talked to.

[258] Yeah, stereotyping us like...

[259] Aubrey, the student whose cousin had warned her about coming to Lowell, says that she had been part of the push to change the system.

[260] She thought it would help.

[261] My experiences, going walking down through the halls, feeling like an imposter, like having imposter syndrome at this school, I feel like merit system really fueled that.

[262] And in terms of how the school looks, it has made a difference.

[263] This year's freshman class was the first to be admitted through the lottery process.

[264] The percentage of black students in the freshman class doubled to four percent.

[265] Latino students rose from 13 % to 21%.

[266] And those increases meant that the percentage of white and Asian students fell.

[267] And how do you personally feel a year in a lottery system?

[268] How's it going?

[269] Like, are things better for you?

[270] Personally, I...

[271] Well, in terms of seeing kids around the hallway who look like me, I do feel better in that sense because there are more...

[272] kids who look like me in the hallways.

[273] So, I mean, it's better in terms of not being lonely anymore in my classes.

[274] Everything else is just regular to me. There's still problems at the school that need to be solved.

[275] Yeah, you didn't have to sit all the way over there.

[276] As we've been talking, Aubrey's friend Ariana Grice has been just sort of quietly sitting a few feet away, listening and occasionally nodding.

[277] But when the conversation turns to what it's been like at the school since the change in the mission system, she starts to lean in a little bit, and she looks like she wants to say something.

[278] Yeah, what needs to change is also like parents and how alumni speak to us, I guess.

[279] I was there at 2024 is like Big Cell.

[280] The alumni came up to Aubrey and said, are you a freshman?

[281] So they automatically try to like put us in a box of, okay, we got here through lottery.

[282] or like we didn't earn it, we didn't deserve it, we don't want to learn.

[283] So I think changing that perspective, I guess.

[284] Because whatever the parents are saying to their kids, they're reflecting it back at us here at school.

[285] And so like the lottery kids, they're called that here, which is basically the freshman class.

[286] A lot of them want to learn, and I feel like that's, they aren't reflected well, I guess.

[287] Students call them, actually call them lottery kids.

[288] there's a term called the lots specifically used for black and brown students coming in with lottery that I've heard white and Asian students use who also came in with lottery towards black and brown students so it's like they're targeting them they call them the lots the lots in the hallway okay a lot of the kids like passing period just saying hello to your friends in the hallways and they'll be like lottery kids get out the way You're always in the way.

[289] Oh, you don't do nothing.

[290] So I feel like it's this environment, and it's causing these kids not to want to come to school.

[291] They're ultimately getting bullied, and it's underlooked.

[292] So despite the fact that there are more black and brown students at the school this year.

[293] I think, no, I think it got worse because of how many black and brown students came here.

[294] Both Ariana and Aubrey say that they think that the change to the admission system has actually increased the racial tensions at the school.

[295] They say that they can feel it on campus, that some of the students there who want the old system to come back, who don't like the new system, actually blame black and brown students for the change.

[296] Well, thank you guys so much.

[297] So during another lunch break, we walked around campus to hear how other students, Asian American kids in particular, were talking about it.

[298] We're talking to students about the admissions change and wonder if you guys would be willing to share your thoughts on it.

[299] I'm okay.

[300] I'm good, thank you.

[301] You want to ask that?

[302] Yeah, yeah.

[303] Hey, we're from the Daily.

[304] We're talking to students about the admissions change and I wonder what your thoughts on it.

[305] Are you guys pro?

[306] No thoughts on it.

[307] Oh, okay.

[308] No, thoughts on it.

[309] No, sorry.

[310] Okay.

[311] You could definitely feel the hesitation from students to talk openly about the change.

[312] Is there like a fear of speaking out of or even having a public opinion about this one issue?

[313] I think so, actually, yeah.

[314] But amongst the students who did open up, what we heard overwhelmingly was students agreeing that there are racial issues at the school.

[315] Ler's being said at this school and other students not wanting to talk to like black or listening.

[316] Latino students, like, I have seen, like, those clicks and in -groups, yeah.

[317] Of course we want more of those students.

[318] We want more equity.

[319] I want more equity.

[320] But they had concerns that changing the emission system had been the right solution.

[321] I just don't think this is the way to go about it.

[322] And many of them seem confused about what exactly the connection was between the padlet incident and this change.

[323] I didn't feel like the padlet incident directly correlated to, okay, now we have to, you have to go lottery.

[324] I think it's a politically expedient solution.

[325] I don't even think it's a solution at all.

[326] And among the biggest concern for these students seem to be a sense of pride and protectiveness over what they think makes Loll so distinctive.

[327] It's just like Lull's known for the whole grades and test scores and stuff like that.

[328] And now that it's a lottery, it's like, we're just like every other school.

[329] And everyone's like, oh, you guys step off of your high horse, whatever.

[330] But at the same time, you work to go to a better school, right?

[331] And I think to myself, you know, would I want the college admissions process to be totally lottery?

[332] And what do I gain by going to a Yale versus as a state?

[333] And there's a very stark contrast, I would say, between the academic caliber of the kids.

[334] There are the caliber of the professors there and the caliber of the material that you receive.

[335] I think the same concept is true for Lull.

[336] We have this intrinsically motivated student body that props up this school as one of the most excelling schools in the country.

[337] And one of the things that kept coming up was a sense of frustration with equating the school's merit -based admission system with a racist school or administration.

[338] I just don't think characterizing the entire school as an institutionally racist place is the right way to go about it.

[339] Have you guys talked to your parents about the merit system changing at Lowell and how do they feel?

[340] Well, for my parents, they're very against the lottery system.

[341] Are any of your parents for the lottery system?

[342] A lot of head shakes.

[343] Are they madder about it than you guys are, would you say?

[344] Probably.

[345] Probably is kind of an understatement.

[346] Because the school boards changed to the admissions system.

[347] That was really just the beginning of this story.

[348] Days after the admissions changed, two parents in particular, one was white, one was Asian.

[349] launched an actual campaign to recall three of the school board members who had supported the resolution, including Allison Collins.

[350] And as angry parents across the city began to look a little bit closer into who they had actually elected in the school board, someone found a set of old tweets that Collins had written.

[351] In 2016, Collins, who is African -American, had numerous tweets directed at Asian -Americans, in one saying that Asian -Americans, in her words, used white supremac.

[352] premises thinking to assimilate and get ahead.

[353] Tweet surfaced from before her election suggesting Asian Americans benefit by white supremacy and a stereotype of being the model minority.

[354] She tweeted many Asian Americans believe they benefit from the model minority BS.

[355] She wrote, where are the vocal Asians speaking up against Trump?

[356] Don't Asian Americans know they're on his list as well?

[357] Do they think they won't be deported?

[358] Profiled, beaten.

[359] And then she used a racial slur.

[360] She actually called Asians, quote, the House N -word.

[361] That term has a pretty long history.

[362] It was used during slavery for enslaved black people who worked in white households and not in the fields.

[363] And the implication here is that Asians, in essence, are kissing up to white people, that they're distancing themselves from their fellow minorities and that they're trying to reap the benefits of basically buying into a white supremacist system.

[364] And for a lot of the Asians in San Francisco who saw these tweets, Beyond just being offended by them, those tweets look like evidence that the board was not just prioritizing black and brown students, but that the board was actually targeting Asian ones.

[365] We'll be right back.

[366] We're in Petrero Hill.

[367] This neighborhood when I lived around here 15 years ago was pretty industrial, and now it's been overtaken by these new housing that I imagine is mostly filled with.

[368] Tech workers.

[369] Looks like a really nice building on the corner.

[370] You can lease studios at three bedrooms.

[371] A place to flourish.

[372] A new collection of California modern residences.

[373] So the Padlet incident and the resulting change to Lowell's admission system had led to this moment where many Asian American families in San Francisco were feeling that they were being targeted and unfairly represented.

[374] And so after a couple days at Lowell, we'd come to Petrero, Hill, this gentrifying neighborhood of San Francisco, to visit the home of one of the Lowell students we'd met.

[375] Hi, Ben.

[376] Hi.

[377] Yes, I am.

[378] Hi.

[379] And you must be Jay.

[380] Hey, how's to meet you?

[381] Hi.

[382] Where should we?

[383] Is there like a meeting?

[384] His name is Ben Chen.

[385] And like Aubrey, he's a junior at Lowell.

[386] Did you just get home from school?

[387] Yeah.

[388] And he greets us near the front of the building we'd been admiring on the corner.

[389] Yeah, what's to deal with this building?

[390] It's a new building that was recently built in San Francisco.

[391] So my family won the lottery for this, and so we've been living here since.

[392] Is it a different type of place from where you're used to living?

[393] Yes, yes.

[394] It's much better.

[395] The old place I used to live in, it was really bad.

[396] It was like ants and rats all over, and it just like the whole building was invested with them.

[397] So it was a really horrible, horrible place to spend the first 13 years of your life.

[398] But for Ben's family, it represented.

[399] progress.

[400] They immigrated here from China in 2007, when Ben was two, and started to build a new life here.

[401] During those early days, none of us spoke English, so they really had trouble to really find a job.

[402] And I remember my parents going to community college classes to get to know some basic English.

[403] As he got older, Ben became the only one in the family who spoke fluent English, and he would often translate for his parents, helping them pay bills, navigate government services, food banks, that sort of thing.

[404] You know, let's just go into some of the schooling part of it.

[405] You know, like, when do you first start thinking about going to Lowell?

[406] You know, like, how old were you and, like, how did you start preparing?

[407] Well, so I first heard about Lowell in a fifth -grade PTA meeting between my fifth -grade teachers and my parents.

[408] And, you know, my parents at the time, I don't believe that they knew.

[409] what Lowell High School was either.

[410] Ben says his dad was skeptical about the long commute across the city.

[411] I believe that my mother really wanted me to go.

[412] But for his mom, the school represented the path to a better life, the reason they'd come here.

[413] I'm going to bear down on this idea that it can provide you with a better life, right?

[414] Or with some form of like even class mobility, right?

[415] Because you're working class kid here in San Francisco and how does it lead to a better life?

[416] um you know let's say that i didn't get to law and i went to a less academically inclined school um i do feel like i would be less motivated um even though like i'm not being pressured by my parents so you get into a good college i feel pressure from my peers to get into a good college and seeing the amount of emphasis that they have on getting into a good college i guess i also do feel some of that pressure.

[417] So I absolutely see that Lowell did offer me a better high school life than if I went to another high school.

[418] You know, like one thing I wanted to ask you is that like you have members of the San Francisco School Board, but also like some activist people, not just here in San Francisco, but around the country.

[419] And like when they talk about places like Lowell, they basically say that the Asian kids at these schools are rich and that they're white adjacent, you know, like how does it make you feel?

[420] It makes me feel completely ignored.

[421] You know, from my, from what I say low, a lot of the Asian kids like me, they aren't rich, right?

[422] They're also just poor immigrant kids like me. And we feel ignored, right?

[423] We feel ignored that these politicians and the media, they're like overlooking the Asians that did come to this country with nothing but their clothes.

[424] It makes me feel really angry, right?

[425] when people say that Asians are enabling white supremacy, because I absolutely do not see that as a case.

[426] You know, I remember in a military school and middle school, you know, people did tell me to go back to my own country.

[427] People did, you know, call me slurs and whatnot.

[428] And that experience with racism and being also called an enabler of white supremacist, that just makes us feel livid, right?

[429] Because we are the victims of white supremacy and they're saying that we somehow enable it.

[430] I just want to clarify something, which is that it sounds like one of the politicians you're referring to is Allison Collins, a board member who accused Asians of using white supremacy to get ahead.

[431] And that was also written in the resolution to change Lowell's emission system.

[432] They said in language that Lowell's merit system had promoted white supremacy.

[433] Right.

[434] Does it feel like there were that kind of language conflates white.

[435] people with Asian people.

[436] Yes.

[437] Given that it's a majority Asian school.

[438] Yes.

[439] Yes, it does.

[440] Absolutely.

[441] If I'm being honest, a lot of people I met they actually forget that people of color includes Asians.

[442] They only think that people of color includes black and brown folks.

[443] And I think that many of these politicians also have that way of thought.

[444] They also think that people of color does not include Asians.

[445] And I just wish that they would be more educated.

[446] This is one of the reasons we wanted to talk to Ben.

[447] From all my time spent covering Asian -American communities, I can tell you, this is the disconnect that comes up time and time again.

[448] Allison Collins is not alone in characterizing Asians as white or white -adjacent.

[449] But for a lot of Asians, poor immigrant kids like Ben, whose parents don't speak any English and who have no idea how to steer him through a strange new country, they don't really seem white at all.

[450] Poor kids like Ben of any race don't typically have a lot of options or people looking out for them.

[451] Meanwhile, these families have come to learn that Allison Collins and her family are wealthy and have resources that Ben and his friends don't.

[452] And all this brings up another perennial question in this country.

[453] When we talk about diversity, who are we talking about?

[454] Lowell is 82 % non -white.

[455] A third of its students come from families that are considered socioeconomically disadvantaged.

[456] within the Chinese American students, that percentage is even higher.

[457] So how should we think about terms like diversity and equity?

[458] What do those words mean when the interests of poor immigrant kids might be at odds with the interests of black students who for years have been redlined out of the quote -unquote good schools who do carry a burden of lowered expectations and suspicion?

[459] So how do you resolve that conflict?

[460] There's a reason why this is one of the great debates playing out in America right now.

[461] But for a lot of Asians, they feel like they aren't even being included in that discussion.

[462] I mean, why do you think people weren't listening to you?

[463] Asian Americans were the least represented groups in politics.

[464] So there's just culture also among Asian families to not get politically involved, right?

[465] Because, you know, we're immigrant families.

[466] We came to this country.

[467] And, you know, my parents, right?

[468] My parents, there's this viewpoint that we are in somebody else's country.

[469] Therefore, we shouldn't have a huge say in it.

[470] And I believe that that's the perception among many Asian -American families is to really be quiet on this issue, right?

[471] And that is absolutely hurting Asian -Americans in the process.

[472] Do you think that's changing?

[473] Yeah, I do feel that's changing, right?

[474] You know, for instance, my parents, they don't care politics at all, but on this issue, they at least have some opinions about it, right?

[475] And they oppose this change.

[476] And I do see that there is a future in which Asian Americans have a much larger say in how this country is run compared to now.

[477] Do you know who I was recently talking to who surprised me with their recall vote?

[478] My mom.

[479] At some point in reporting this story, I FaceTime my mom just to check in.

[480] And I was telling her about what I was working on and that I might be coming out to San Francisco soon as part of my reporting.

[481] And her response totally caught me off guard.

[482] Did she vote now?

[483] She voted, yes.

[484] She recalled the school board, but she never votes.

[485] She's always thought that if you voted, you increase your likelihood of being drawn for jury selection.

[486] So she just never voted.

[487] And she's an American citizen?

[488] Yeah, she's an American citizen.

[489] But she went out and voted for the recall?

[490] Yeah, she did.

[491] And I was like, I was on FaceTime with her, just catching up.

[492] You should interview her.

[493] I'm going to try.

[494] Seems like your parents are the ones that we should talk to.

[495] Okay.

[496] I'm in my childhood bedroom with my mom, and I'm going to ask her a few questions about my high school and about the recall race.

[497] Recall race.

[498] Hey, they'd help you.

[499] My family story is a lot like Ben's family story.

[500] They immigrated here with no money and no diplomas.

[501] My dad worked at a printing press, and my mom worked the grade for a shift at the airport.

[502] Neither of them is fluent in English, and neither of them had heard of Lull.

[503] And they were never political.

[504] The idea of getting involved in anything outside of family or work was actually kind of scary to them, like it would get them into trouble.

[505] And so one of the things I was most curious about is how my mom even heard about the story.

[506] When you learn, like, L 'O will be in her, right?

[507] Like, they're going to learn.

[508] Yeah, how did you know.

[509] She says, she heard about the admissions change at Loll, and the recall raised last year, The Chinese language news channel, KTSF, had been reporting on parents who had been protesting over the Lola emissions change.

[510] She says this is how our Chinese friends and co -workers learned about it too, that if it hadn't been for KTSF, they wouldn't have known what was going on.

[511] And what they heard made them feel it wasn't fair, that Asian students who had the merits to get in would be rejected by the more randomized system.

[512] She also talked, the people say, the Tongan people, they told me, they told me, they said, she also talked about learning through KTSF that the three board members who were up for recall had been more focused on renaming schools, in the district, than in getting kids back into school during the pandemic.

[513] Overall, my mom said she felt like the board members weren't doing their jobs.

[514] But I asked her, but you've never been politically engaged before.

[515] What made you actually turn out and vote?

[516] And she said, like, to vote, right?

[517] You're very little to vote, right?

[518] Then why you this this time you've got to vote?

[519] Why do you tell peel?

[520] And she says, again, it wasn't fair.

[521] And when I asked her how many of her friends voted, she said, Oh, it's a lot of people.

[522] Because I, I think they're saying, From what I've heard, everyone went to vote.

[523] She says in the past, Chinese families have been too focused on making a living to care about politics.

[524] But if something really feels unfair, they will come out and vote.

[525] And the recall organizers definitely did their work to convince Chinese voters that's something unfair was happening.

[526] And it worked.

[527] Chinese people came out in droves.

[528] San Francisco voters yesterday overwhelmingly recalled three of its seven school board members.

[529] For some Asian American parents, changing the admission policy at Lowell High School from merit -based to a lottery was a tipping point.

[530] It's interesting, everyone got a ballot who is a registered voter for this recall.

[531] But the return of ballots was low.

[532] It was 26%.

[533] For those who requested ballots and ballots Chinese, it was over 10 % higher, 37 % return.

[534] And so, when the three board members were voted out, much of that was attributed to the newfound voting power of people like my mom.

[535] So I asked her if she felt like this moment was different for Chinese voters like her.

[536] And she said yes.

[537] I think this is the beginning of something different.

[538] for Chinese people.

[539] I think from here on out, you're going to see more of Chinese people voting.

[540] Because the student issue has activated the parents, I think Chinese families will be coming out to vote more.

[541] In fact, that people will keep out of the top of people.

[542] You'll meet you.

[543] They'll vote.

[544] On anything, they vote.

[545] In reporting the story over the past few months, we've heard their word fair a lot.

[546] It's a word that the students that Lowell used when they talked about the admission system.

[547] And it's a word that Jess's mom used over and over in talking about what she expects from her government and what motivated her to vote.

[548] And what this signals to me is that a lot of Asian Americans in San Francisco and across the country are asking if progressive politics in the name of diversity and equity, if all of that is actually working for them, and if they're even considered to be part of that story.

[549] What many are asking is if these policies are meant to help them, or are they actually taking something away from them in the name of helping the quote -unquote real people of color?

[550] I think that's why these admissions fights have captivated the country.

[551] It's because they serve as referendums on the country itself.

[552] Is America a meritocracy where even the kids of poor immigrants can make it?

[553] Or is it a place where equal access is necessary to right historical wrongs.

[554] And does it have to be one or the other?

[555] In the time since the school board recall in San Francisco, the three open seats have been filled by a prominent recall activist, Ann Shue, and two other new members appointed by the city's mayor.

[556] Jenny Lamb, who had previously been the sole Asian American on the board, is now the board's president.

[557] On Wednesday evening, the newly constituted San Francisco School Board held a special meeting.

[558] During it, they voted four to three to restore Lowell's merit -based admission system as of next year.

[559] The three new board members, plus Jenny Lamb, were the four decisive votes in favor.

[560] Afterward, one board member who supported the board member, who supported the board.

[561] the vote, said, quote, there are no these kids, those kids.

[562] These are all of our kids.

[563] This should not be a zero -sum game where we pit one against the other.

[564] We'll be right back.

[565] Here's what else you need to Notre Day.

[566] On Thursday, two different branches of the U .S. government took deeply divergent action on guns.

[567] In a major ruling, the Supreme Court's conservative majority struck down a New York law that limited who could carry a gun in public, finding that all Americans have the right to arm themselves in places ranging from subways to grocery stores.

[568] Meanwhile, the Senate voted overwhelmingly to pass the most significant gun safety bill in decades, including funding for red flag laws and mental health programs, in a bipartisan vote that all but assures that the legislation will become law.

[569] And in their fifth televised hearing, the January 6th committee documented a brazen attempt by President Trump to enlist senior officials at the Justice Department in his plan to overturn the results of the election.

[570] The president didn't care about actually investigating the facts.

[571] He just wanted the Department of Justice to put its stamp of approval on the lies.

[572] Senior department officials testified that in the final days of his presidency, Trump sought to install an inexperienced environmental lawyer named Jeffrey Clark as Attorney General to advance the scheme.

[573] That led to a dramatic showdown in the Oval Office, involving Clark, then Attorney General Jeff Rosen, and the acting deputy attorney general, Richard Donahue.

[574] He said, so suppose I do this.

[575] Suppose I replace him, Jeff Rosen, with him, Jeff Clark.

[576] What would you do?

[577] And I said, Mr. President, I would resign immediately.

[578] I'm not working one minute for this guy, who I just declared was completely incompetent.

[579] And so Trump only backed down, after the officials warned that they and their deputies would all resign.

[580] Today's episode was produced and reported by Jessica Chung, with help from Ashtarvedi and Rob Zipko.

[581] It was edited by Lisa Tobin and MJ Davis -Lin, with help from Lisa Chow, and fact -checked by Caitlin Love.

[582] It contains original music by Marion Lazzano and Dan Powell, and was engineered by Chris Wood.

[583] Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Lansberg of Wonderly.

[584] Special thanks to Stella Tan.

[585] That's it for the daily.

[586] I'm Michael Bobaro.

[587] See you on Monday.