By Jacob Kamaras
LA JOLLA, California — Fourth-generation San Diegan Shana Hazan, in her candidacy for the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) Board of Education District B, says her quest for a school board seat is guided in part by Jewish values.
“Tzedek (justice) and tikkun olam (repairing the world) really guided my great-grandparents, grandparents, parents, and now me in working to strengthen our community,” Hazan says in an interview with the San Diego Jewish World, citing the issue of refugee resettlement.
A graduate of Scripps Ranch High and former public-school teacher, Hazan also served as the chief philanthropy officer at Jewish Family Service of San Diego (JFS) from 2017 to 2020. She subsequently launched Hazan Strategies, a strategic consultancy for nonprofits. She is currently serving as the managing consultant for 2023 San Diego Jewish Community Study, a demographic study led by the Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego, JFS, the Jewish Federation of San Diego County, the Lawrence Family JCC, and the Leichtag Foundation.
Hazan and her husband Marc live in Kensington, where they are raising their two daughters in SDUSD schools. She has three opponents in the District B race — but she is the only mother in the race, and if elected, she would be the only school board member with a child in San Diego public schools. She is the great-granddaughter of Abe and Anne Ratner, namesakes of the Ratner Children’s Eye Center at UC San Diego; granddaughter of Stan and Pauline Foster, who both served as president of the Jewish Federation of San Diego County; and daughter of David and Marcia Hazan (a longtime JFS board member and a JFS Mitzvah Honoree).
Shana Hazan says she is running for school board to ensure that “every single child in our community has the ability to reach their God-given potential,” and also to “improve outcomes for historically underserved students, including refugees, to ensure they can reach their full potential.”
“Education can really be a game-changer when it comes to the trajectory of our lives,” she says. “For so many members of our Jewish community, when we think of where we were in the past and where we are today, a lot of us would attribute our advancement to education.”
During her time at JFS, Hazan’s first job encompassed designing youth leadership programs for high school students — initiatives to engage them in leadership development through service learning, educate them about longstanding social issues such as hunger and food insecurity, and empower them effect change. She later moved into the realm of fundraising, revenue generation, and strategic planning.
“I learned how to thoughtfully and strategically lead at a large organization, including how important it is to build consensus and work collaboratively, not just with staff but with board members and community leaders,” Hazan says.
She says that if elected to the school board, this experience could help her “build meaningful partnerships between parents, teachers, school leaders, and our school board, and really improve communication.”
Hazan takes pride in the fact that when it came to her older daughter, she opted into the family’s neighborhood school (Franklin Elementary School), rather than enrolling outside of the neighborhood as many San Diego families choose to do.
“Instead of saying ‘I’ll look somewhere else,’ I decided to get involved,” she says. “Instead of walking away, I worked to build partnerships with parents, school leaders, and business leaders to really strengthen our neighborhood school. I’m always about leaning into the problem instead of covering my eyes.”
Regarding Jewish community members’ choice between private and public schools, Hazan says, “Every parent knows what is right for their child, so I’m the last person to tell you what type of school your child should attend. All of them are great options and all of them are the right decisions for that family.”
She adds, “We have to provide a good, viable option for those families who opt into their neighborhood school. As a system, we have to make sure that we are making every single school a good option.”
The primary election for school board will be held on June 7. Hazan’s endorsements from officials who represent SDUSD District B include San Diego County Board of Supervisors Chair Nathan Fletcher, Senate President pro Tempore Toni Atkins, Assemblymember Chris Ward, Council President Sean Elo-Rivera, Councilmember Raul Campillo, and U.S. Rep. Sara Jacobs.
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Jacob Kamaras is Editor and Publisher of the San Diego Jewish World