The San Francisco Unified School District (SSFUSD) school board will now have final approval over a proposal to rename the Community Learning Center (CLC) at 520 Tamarack Lane in honor of former South City High teacher Gene Mullin, after a citizens advisory committee endorsed the idea during an October 20 meeting.
The committee made its decision after hearing public comments from meeting attendees and viewing a presentation by South San Francisco Public Library Director Valerie Sommer about Mullin’s background and connection to the CLC.
South San Francisco Vice Mayor Mark Nagales, who attended the virtual meeting as a private citizen, said that Mullin was his teacher in high school, and that it was his mentorship that inspired him to run for public office.
“I think Gene personifies what’s best of South San Francisco: that if you work hard, and you care about your community, you can make a difference,” said Nagales, “so I wholeheartedly support this effort, and I’m looking forward to the day when we rename it [the CLC] after Gene.”
Maurice Goodman, a former SSFUSD school board member who now serves as a trustee of the San Mateo County Community College District, also shared personal stories about how Mullin had impacted his life including the time Mullin in his official capacity as mayor of the City of South San Francisco invited Goodman’s brother to speak at a black history celebration.
“It shook me to my core that he gave my brother an opportunity to have a voice, to feel acknowledged in such a way,” said Goodman. “It was that sense of hope that Gene gave him, and it was something that I carried with me all my life.”
CLC Program Manager Karla Bourdon, another former student who referenced the fact that she did not speak English when she moved to California in seventh grade, said she believes the CLC is an extension of Mullin’s capacity to foster a sense of inclusion among his students.
“He thought about the community and who needed to be a part of it, and he made sure that all of us were a part of that,” Bourdon said.
The advisory committee’s decision to support the renaming of the CLC in honor of Gene Mullin was unanimous.
According to committee member Edith Arias, a South San Francisco Racial and Social Equity commissioner, the CLC represents Mullin’s values.
“Every time I enter the center it’s this place where you can feel people wanting to learn, people wanting to make a difference, and children really having that opportunity of exploring or learning,” she said.
Meanwhile, fellow committee member Hector Camacho, who also studied under Mullin at South City High and who is currently a SMCOE board member, reflected on how Mullin consistently spoke up for students, particularly those who had been historically marginalized.
“As students of color traversing the world, to have someone of such stature, such influence, speak about us and to promote us and to see us and hear us, it changed our lives,” Camacho said.
Susan Kennedy, communications director for the Office of California State Speaker pro Tempore Kevin Mullin, was also present as a non-voting committee member.
She said it would be a tremendous honor to rename the CLC after Mullin.
“There’s no question in my mind this facility that we’re contemplating naming for him in his honor would not exist, if it were not for his relentless effort and his passion and his vision that we needed, that South San Francisco needed a facility that would promote community involvement, would promote community engagement, would provide a place for students and families and parents to be able to come and avail themselves of services that they might not have been able to obtain otherwise.”
The remaining committee members consisting of SSFUSD Communications Officer Peter Feng, South San Francisco High School Principal Kevin Asbra, and Nicole Fernandez, the district director for the Office of California State Senator Josh Becker, concurred.
“I have found that this is a topic that everyone agrees upon,” observed Sommer.
A beloved figure in South San Francisco, Mullin died on April 5, 2021. He taught history at South San Francisco High School for 32 years and was elected to the California State Assembly in 2002, where he served three terms.
Prior to that, Mullin served on the South San Francisco city council from 1995 to 2002, serving as mayor from 1998 to 2002.