The Whole Child Agenda

Reaching every child's full potential

Our school district is ready to succeed. Sound governance and real accountability can make great schools a reality for families, educators, and children. At the same time, the erosion of family trust in public education is real. The answer is not to abandon public schools or treat them like a market problem to be optimized.

The Whole Child Agenda is built on a simple belief: when families are supported, educators are respected, and every child's full needs are met, each child can reach their full potential. That requires a board that governs with clarity, holds the district accountable, and keeps kids at the center of every decision.

Ryan smiling and talking to a child on a playground with swings and a house in the background.

For Families

Public schools work when families trust them. That trust is built through systems that are simple to navigate, schools that feel like community anchors, and programs that wrap around the school day to support the whole family.

  • Simplified enrollment — a proximity-based assignment system with integration goals built in, designed to reduce anxiety and increase predictability for every family

  • Neighborhood schools — every school in every neighborhood should be a school families actively choose, with equitable resources across all communities

  • Out-of-school time — quality before and after school programs treated as essential infrastructure, not optional extras

  • Community schools — health, mental health, and family services co-located at school sites through the Student Success Fund and Beacon partnerships

  • Newcomer and immigrant families — sanctuary schools enforced in practice, not just in policy, with multilingual engagement that goes beyond translation

  • Housing stability — collaboration with the City to increase family housing and preserve stayover programming for students experiencing homelessness

For Educators

You cannot have excellent schools without excellent, fully supported educators. The SF School Board should govern as a genuine partner to the educators who show up every day for San Francisco’s children.

  • UESF Pledge — all commitments — fully staffed schools, highest-need students prioritized, a streamlined central office that puts resources in classrooms not administration

  • Fair wages and educator housing — protect the 2023 to 2024 raises and use district land and City partnerships to make San Francisco livable for the people who teach here

  • Supported classrooms — instructional coaches, planning time, and materials for  new curricula

  • Science of Reading done right — evidence-based literacy instruction with the professional development to back it up

  • Governance that respects educators — the board sets policy, the superintendent manages, teachers teach

  • Honest budget process — cuts start at the top, in central office administration, never at the school site and never at the expense of the educators and families who depend on those programs

For Children

Every child who walks into an SFUSD school deserves a learning environment that sees them, challenges them, and keeps them safe. 

  • 3rd grade reading — evidence-based literacy instruction with the tutoring, coaching, and family engagement to make it real for every child, not just those whose families can afford outside support

  • Math access for all — algebra pathways in 8th grade with the preparation and intervention structures to make sure all students succeed. 

  • Closing the opportunity gap — targeted, measurable action for Black, Pacific Islander, English learner, and IEP students who are being left behind by a system that has talked about equity longer than it has delivered it

  • Arts, PE, and whole-child programs — protected from budget cuts because engagement, attendance, and academic achievement all depend on children having reasons to come to school

  • Chronic absenteeism — addressed at the root causes of housing instability, health access, and school belonging, not through punitive policies that push families further away

  • Safe and welcoming for every child — LGBTQ+ students, immigrant students, and students with disabilities fully included and actively protected, in policy and in practice

When families are supported, educators are respected, and every child's full needs are met — each child can reach their full potential. That is the commitment. That is the work. That is why I am running.