San Francisco sues its own school district to reopen
SAN FRANCISCO — The number of suicidal children in San Francisco has hit a record high and health experts say it is clear that keeping public schools closed “is catalyzing a mental health crisis among school-aged children,” according to a lawsuit the city filed Thursday to push its school district to reopen classrooms.
San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera announced last week he was taking the dramatic step of suing the city’s own school district, which has kept its classrooms closed nearly a year. In the motion filed Thursday in San Francisco Superior Court, Herrera included alarming testimony from hospitals in the San Francisco Bay Area, doctors and parents on the emotional and mental harms of extended distance learning.
One mother, Allison Arieff, said she had recently found her 15-year-old daughter “curled up in a fetal position, crying, next to her laptop at 11 a.m.”
Another mother, Lindsay Sink, has seen a “major regression” in her 7-yearold son who has “uncontrollable meltdowns that turn (the) whole house upside down.” Sink’s 10-year-old daughter is experiencing “depression and anger.”
UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital has seen a 66% increase in the number of suicidal children in the emergency room, and a 75% increase in youth who required hospitalization for mental health services, the lawsuit said, quoting pediatricians, child psychiatrists and emergency room doctors.
San Francisco’s 52,000 public school students have been out of classes since March. Public health officials have allowed city schools to reopen since September, but the district and teachers unions have not been able to finalize a deal on reopening classrooms.
The lawsuit is the first of its kind in California and possibly the country, as school systems come under increasing pressure from parents and politicians to end virtual learning. It has prompted discussion in other cities including Los Angeles, where a city councilman is urging similar legal action to force schools open.