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A handful of San Francisco elementary school principals facing an urgent need to fill positions for the fall have hired Teach for America recruits despite the school board’s vocal opposition to the organization.

In May, the board severed the district’s partnership with Teach for America, which supplies enthusiastic if inexperienced teachers to thousands of schools in lower-income communities across the country.

The principals, including those at Bret Harte, Lakeshore and Flynn elementary schools, knew the board’s position. But with a big teacher shortage weighing on them, they said politics mattered less than finding the best teachers to put in front of children.

The principals, who have so far taken on eight candidates from Teach for America, didn’t break any rules.

The hires are intern-credentialed teachers, among several dozen such interns who will be teaching in city schools this year while enrolled at a university to earn a full credential. What makes them unique is they are still with Teach for America, often called TFA, and will be supported throughout the year by the organization.

The hiring of Teach For America members, though, clearly was in opposition to the school board’s will. Board Vice President Shamann Walton was “livid.”

To read the full story in the San Francisco Chronicle, click here.