Four Commissioners Sworn in to SF Board of Education

San Francisco (January 4, 2021) - Four commissioners, including two who were first elected November 2020, have been sworn in to serve on the San Francisco Board of Education. Matt Alexander, Kevine Boggess, Jenny Lam, and Mark Sanchez took the oath of office on January 4, 2021.

Matt Alexander has lived in San Francisco for 25 years and raised his children here. He has two decades of experience as a teacher and principal in SFUSD. Alexander is co-founder of June Jordan School for Equity (JJSE), a small public high school focused on inquiry-based learning, strong social-emotional supports, and building student leadership to create positive change. Alexander currently works as the San Francisco Lead Organizer at Faith in Action Bay Area, a network of more than 100 congregations and schools in San Francisco and San Mateo counties.

Kevine Boggess grew up in San Francisco, attending public schools K-12, including Thurgood Marshall Academic High School. For almost 10 years Boggess has served as the Education Policy Director at Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth, working to transform the schools through policy change at a local, state and national level. Boggess is a resident of the Richmond District, and is also the father of a future San Francisco public school student. 

Jenny Lam is a member of the San Francisco Board of Education and serves as Mayor London Breed’s Education Advisor. After being appointed, Lam was elected in 2019 and re-elected in 2020, to continue serving as Commissioner on the SF Board of Education. Prior to joining the Mayor’s Office, she was State Engagement Manager at the national organization Education Superhighway – bringing high speed internet, technology infrastructure to public schools across the country. She lives in the Diamond Heights neighborhood with her husband and two children, both of whom attend San Francisco public schools.

Mark Sanchez currently serves as Board President, and held a seat on the San Francisco Board of Education from 2001-2009, serving as President from 2007-2009. He was re-elected to the Board in 2016 and again in 2020. Sanchez taught fourth and fifth grades in SFUSD from 1993-2000, and eighth grade science in Redwood City from 2001-2008. He served as principal at SFUSD's Horace Mann Middle School (2009-2011) and Cleveland Elementary School (2011-2017). In the late 1990s, Sanchez co-founded Teachers 4 Change and Teachers 4 Social Justice. Sanchez is a long-time resident of the Mission District and currently teaches third grade in Daly City.

About the SF Board of Education

The Board of Education is comprised of seven members, elected at large to serve four-year terms. The Board determines policy for all public schools, from preschool through 12th grade, in the San Francisco Unified School District, City and County of San Francisco. The Board of Education is responsible for establishing educational goals and standards; approving curriculum; setting the district budget, which is independent of the city's budget; confirming appointment of personnel; and approving purchases of equipment, supplies, services, leases, renovation, construction, and union contracts.

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