SFUSD is back in the headlines — not for improving test scores or solving its enrollment crisis, but for good old-fashioned institutional dysfunction. Superintendent Maria Su reportedly rolled out a new plan for school closures that caught several school board members completely off guard. Sources say the blindside has sharpened already-strained tensions between Su and the board, which raises a pretty basic question: how does the governing body of a public school district get surprised by one of the most consequential decisions that district can make?

Let's be clear about the underlying reality. SFUSD has been hemorrhaging students for years. Enrollment has plummeted as families flee the city — priced out by housing costs, fed up with bureaucratic chaos, or simply unconvinced that the district can deliver a quality education. School closures aren't inherently wrong. In fact, consolidating underenrolled campuses is one of the most fiscally responsible moves a shrinking district can make. You can't keep the lights on in half-empty buildings forever and pretend you're serving kids well.

But process matters. If we're going to close schools — disrupting families, reshuffling communities, potentially selling off public assets — the elected board members who answer to voters need to be part of that conversation from day one, not briefed after the fact like junior staffers. Governance by surprise isn't governance at all. It's administration by fiat, and in a district that has already burned through enormous amounts of public trust, it's a particularly bad look.

As one SF resident put it, Noe Valley may be "the most family-oriented neighborhood in the city" right now — but even family-friendly neighborhoods can't prop up a district that can't get its own leadership on the same page.

Superintendent Su may have the right instincts on closures. The enrollment math doesn't lie. But if you can't bring your own board along, you're not leading — you're just making announcements. SFUSD families deserve a transparent process with real public input, not backroom planning that leaves their elected representatives scrambling to catch up.

The district's credibility is already on life support. This isn't how you resuscitate it.