Reelect Sala Udin to Pittsburgh School Board
September 21, 2021
Dear Friends:
First, I want to thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for the years of support I have received from you, to pursue various challenges in public service, some of you going all the way back 28 years ago to our 1993 campaign to occupy the City Council seat left vacant by the untimely death of our friend, Dr. Jake Milliones.
Now, in my final political campaign for public office, to be reelected to the District 3 seat of the Pittsburgh School Board, I must reach out once again to ask for your help to raise funds to pay off debts created in the 2021 Primary Election. Although we won the Primary Election and we have no opposition in the General Election this November, I must still raise funds to pay off campaign debts.
During my first term on the school board, we had to fight long and hard to correct a huge mistake the school board made in 2016 when it adopted a seriously flawed search process, which produced an equally flawed selection of an inexperienced Superintendent. And recently we have received a scathing report of the Pennsylvania State Ethics Commission, of serious ethical violations. This process culminated in the Superintendent’s resignation and the necessity of the 2022 School Board to engage in another national search and selection of a new School Superintendent.
Who would have thought the Pittsburgh School Board race would become among the most important in the nation? During an infectious disease pandemic, of a deadly virus that has become politicized and weaponized, we must fight for our very lives and the lives of our children. And as the face of our democracy continues to become more diverse, we must continue the fight to secure the right to vote for all Americans (as you can imagine, for me, this fight seems like time-travel since I first traveled to Mississippi to work for that same right in 1965!).
As you know, school boards all over the country are being besieged by right wing political forces opposing mask-wearing and demanding that the blemishes in the history of this great country be revised and bleached out in their attacks against “Critical Race Theory” being taught in public school.
So, I’m running for reelection, not because I’m a glutton for punishment, but because these are really important issues. This new search for a Superintendent replacement also gives the board a much-needed opportunity to look in the mirror and correct flaws in the way we govern the school district, and it gives us anew, an opportunity to rededicate ourselves to our mission to create a high-quality school district in the City of Pittsburgh.
Please do what you can to contribute, by making a contribution right on this CrowdPac website. Again, thank you so very much.
Yours truly,
Sala Udin
School Board Director – District 3
