SAN FRANCISCO—On August 11, 2020, Dr. Shawnterra Moore, South San Francisco Unified School District (SSFUSD) Superintendent, gave a welcome back speech to appreciate teachers and staff, who have been trying to provide solutions for their students since the COVID-19 pandemic started.
Dr. Moore compared teachers and staff members to heroes, mentioning, “We are all superheroes,” in her speech. “Yes, we are in the middle of a global pandemic, but we are also in the midst of a social justice crisis as well,” said Dr. Moore. According to SSFUSD’s official press release statement, teachers and staff are working to cope with continuing coronavirus concerns, police brutality, and racial discrimination. Dr. Moore believes that teachers and staff have a responsibility to offer children equal educational opportunities and safe places to study.
“It’s time that we work together to disrupt the predictability of which students will perform well on assessments and which students won’t. It is time for us to disrupt the predictability of which students will be offered and placed in advanced courses and which ones will be noticeably absent. It is time for us to disrupt the predictability of failure rates and inconsistent grading practices across our district that our inequitable for some of our kiddos,” according to Dr. Moore.
At the end of her speech, Dr. Moore concluded, “Remember, as superhero educators, we work in deference to children. We got into this position to serve others.”
Check out the full speech by clicking this link.
