Friends of Lowell Foundation prepares to litigate “Grading for Equity” and applauds mayor for rejecting new scheme
Crisis averted for next year, but plan is only on pause
SAN FRANCISCO, May 28, 2025 - Today, the Friends of Lowell Foundation
requested documentation from the San Francisco Unified School District to
investigate the circumstances surrounding the SFUSD’s May 27 announcement
that it was intending to adopt an ill-conceived “Grading for Equity” plan for 14
district high schools.
The proposed policy, which Superintendent Maria Su today put on “pause” for next
year, would radically replace merit-based grading with a system that eliminates
deadlines, devalues homework and relies solely on test retakes — thereby
representing yet another effort to lower academic expectations for San Francisco
students under the false pretense of “equity.”
“This proposal is not education reform — it is educational malpractice,” said
FOLF board member Frank Cheung. “We should be lifting all students up, not
taking the floor out from under them.”
The FOLF applauds San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie, who is correct to reject
this failed ideology and to demand a world-class public education system that
prepares our youth for the real world. FOLF board members are grateful for his
swift condemnation of this reckless initiative.
“We suspect that this scheme was paused so quickly due to Lurie’s decisive
leadership, for which the community should be cheering,” stated FOLF Legal
Committee chair Lee Cheng. “For the first time in many years, we have a mayor
who has swiftly acted to demand accountability from the school district and
questioned the use of an outside consultant who appears to be charging an arm and
a leg to upend tried and true methods of setting basic merit-based standards for
grading and assessment.”
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The FOLF also thanks Board of Education member Supryia Ray for uncovering the
plan and Lowell Alumni Association Board of Directors member John Trasviña for
writing about it in The Voice of San Francisco yesterday, thereby bringing it to the
public’s attention.
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“There’s a reason why we endorsed John Trasviña when he was running in the
Lowell Alumni Association election,” said FOLF board member Alisa Farenzena.
“He always has his ears to the ground about any trouble brewing in the SFUSD and
he certainly got the information out this time.”
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LITIGATION PREPARATION
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Cheng, co-founder of the FOLF, is no stranger to successfully filing suit against the
SFUSD. He led the fight against anti-Asian quotas at Lowell in the 1990s in Ho v.
SFUSD. “This equity grading initiative is just the latest chapter in a long pattern of
failed experiments that undermine excellence and disproportionately hurt the very
students they claim to help,” Cheng warned. “In 1994, we fought to stop
race-based caps that discriminated against Asian students. Today, we are still
fighting the same battle — against policies that ignore ability, effort and mastery.
Every child deserves to be challenged, not patronized.”
Cheng explained further, “If evidence emerges that this initiative is rooted in
discriminatory practices or violates the civil rights of students, we are prepared to
raise funds and initiate litigation to stop it.”
The FOLF was formed to preserve merit-based education and defend
common-sense policies in our public schools. “We successfully filed suit to restore
merit-based admissions at Lowell High School and we were part of the litigation
that helped restore Algebra I to 8th grade,” explained Friends of Lowell president
Christine Linnenbach. Linnenbach was the lead attorney who filed the action to
reverse the SFUSD’s “unlawful, midnight” adoption of “lottery admissions.” The
action ultimately led to the restoration of merit-based Lowell admissions.
“The community has successfully litigated against the SFUSD and opposed its
2020 proposal to rename 44 schools, and the ludicrous proposal to paint over the
Victor Arnautoff frescoes at Washington High School,” Linnenbach noted. “While
we applaud the ‘pause’ created by the broad community outrage and the mayor’s
swift action, we’ve been down this road with the SFUSD before and we are not resting. We hope that our litigation plan is not necessary, yet given SFUSD’s past
practices and policies, we cannot help but be ready.”
“To be clear, all findings will be submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice, with
a formal request that it investigate the SFUSD and “Equity Grading” practices to
ensure they do not violate federal anti-discrimination laws or suppress academic
achievement based on race or background,” stated Linnenbach.
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A PAUSE IS NOT ENOUGH
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In the coming days, the FOLF will be issuing a clear call to the superintendent and
SFUSD leadership: a pause is not enough — real accountability is needed. “This
latest proposal is a breach of public trust.”
“We had high hopes for Maria Su,” Linnenbach stated. “However, if
Superintendent Su cannot uphold the basic principle that students should be
expected to meet high standards, she should not be leading a public school system
— our institutions must be held accountable for ensuring equal opportunity, not
equal outcomes manufactured through lowered expectations. When we expect
more, we get more. That is how students grow, and that is what the public school
system must deliver.”
The FOLF urges the mayor and the Board of Supervisors to continue to work
together with SFUSD leadership to restore a culture of excellence and common
sense in the San Francisco public school system.
“Ideology has no place in the classroom when it stands in the way of students’
success,” Cheng said. It is time for Democratic leadership — locally, statewide and
nationally — to chart a new course for education. Pragmatic, student-centered
policies must replace the political dogma that has contributed to declining
academic performance across the district and the United States.”
ABOUT THE FRIENDS OF LOWELL FOUNDATION
The Friends of Lowell Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization formed in 2021 to make
academic merit-based public education available to as many children in San Francisco as
possible. More information and donation opportunities can be found at
www.friendsoflowell.org and www.facebook.com/friendsoflowell.
Media Contact: contact@friendsoflowell.org