Rosalyn Koo, a force in our community

The last time I saw Roz, she had invited me to lunch at the Peninsula Regent, I was no longer a councilmember. She wanted to share with me her greatest love, a project in China to help educate young women. In 1990, Koo launched the Spring Bud Program to educate 1,000 impoverished girls in rural Shaanxi province from primary school through university. After the Sichuan earthquake in 2008, when the school was damaged, Koo asked Jennifer Devlin-Hart, the architect who designed San Mateo’s new main library and her firm EHDD to design a new school. It had to a be deeply sustainable green school and built to California’s seismic standards.

Devlin-Hart wrote on learning of Roz’s death, “She was a hero to thousands of girls in Shaanxi. It was her tenacity, deep cultural understanding, passion for supporting girls education and her belief in cross cultural benefits that has made a deep and lasting impact.”

***

But it was not until I Googled Koo did I discover her amazing background. Born in Shanghai in 1929, she moved to California in 1947 to attend Mills College. She then transferred to the University of California, Berkeley where she received a degree in economics. She joined an architecture firm, MBT, in 1958, became CFO and was the only member of the firm who was not an architect. In 1986, she joined Self Help for the Elderly and in 2007 was inducted into the county’s Women’s Hall of Fame.

***

Sad news about prestigious Lowell High School in San Francisco now becoming a traditional high school. Admission was based not on who you were but on academic metrics. This admission process afforded some, but not enough, low-income students, usually students of immigrants, an entry into elite colleges, too often the domain of children of privilege despite their academic abilities. The San Francisco Unified School District board made the controversial decision to move to a lottery admission model, in part to diversify Lowell’s student body. That’s a noble goal.

And there’s no question that the achievement gap is absolutely unacceptable. But all students would be better served in the long run by better preparation at their elementary and middle schools for the academic standards of any high school, particularly one like Lowell. And the schools can’t do it alone. These students need a mentor, a parent, family or community member, a teacher or coach to help them meet the goals that work for them.

***

The second impeachment trial of Donald Trump recorded historic events. The proceedings were also history in the making. I hope all high school students were watching and this becomes part of the regular curriculum. And the senators’ votes will become history too, way beyond their tenure, observed by their children and grandchildren and future generations.

Sue Lempert is the former mayor of San Mateo. Her column runs every Monday, but is appearing Tuesday because of the holiday. She can be reached at sue@smdailyjournal.com.