SF school board president resigns amid looming closures, citing health and personal reasons

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- The first week of school wasn't even over yet when San Francisco Unified School Board President Lainie Motamedi resigned Friday morning.

"Due to personal circumstances, my immediate priority needs to be my health and my family," Motamedi said. "And while I believe this to be a temporary setback, I truly am unable to give this role the attention it deserves."

Motamedi leaves office just two years after being appointed by Mayor London Breed, following the recall of three board members in a special election.

Board Vice President Matt Alexander will step in as president.

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Phil Kim was sworn in to fill a key vacancy left behind after the shuffle. He'll be on the board for the remainder of Motamedi's term.

"I'm really clear-eyed on the work that we have ahead of us," Kim said.

But this shakeup comes less than a month before the district is expected to release a list of schools set to permanently close in the spring.

Those closures are coming amid declining enrollment.

MORE: SFUSD facing 120 teacher vacancies amid looming school closures: What students, parents can expect

It is something Kim is all too familiar with after serving in the superintendent's office and working on the school closure plan.

"There's no doubt that we have some tough decisions to make. And what's most important for me as a commissioner and a colleague of other board members as well, that we are centering the experiences of our kids first and foremost," he said.

Breed said they needed someone who was ready to hit the ground on day one, which is why she wasted no time appointing Kim.

"You have to be able to go out and have these conversations with these parents and these students as to what this means, and so we didn't have time to wait," Breed said.

Vanessa Marrero is executive director of Parents for Public Schools of San Francisco.

MORE: How SFUSD will decide what schools to close in 2025 as families push back amid financial crisis

She said she wishes the public had a say in all these moves.

"The main challenge that I'm seeing in this transition is the factor of not allowing the vote for the people, taking away people's right to vote essentially because you're appointing someone and not allowing for an election to happen," Marrero said.

The mayor's office says the seat will open up at the next citywide election after this November.

It could either be a special election or in June of 2026.