City to SFUSD: Open school or face court case
San Francisco’s elementary schools can and should reopen immediately based on county health guidelines and irrespective of labor agreements with the school district, City Attorney Dennis Herrera said in a letter to the school district’s contracted attorney Thursday.
Herrera put the school district on notice in the emailed communication, saying that vaccination demands or other requirements that exceed health regulations and delay the reopening of schools violate state law and will be challenged in court.
District officials and the union reached a tentative agreement last week on health and safety requirements required to reopen schools. The school board is expected to vote on the agreement on Tuesday, which would allow schools to reopen in the state’s secondmostrestrictive red tier if staff is fully vaccinated. A return in the lessrestrictive orange tier would not require vaccinations. The San Francisco Department of
Public Health allows schools to reopen with a waiver in the state’s most restrictive purple tier, which the city is currently in.
The letter is the latest twist in an ongoing fight over reopening schools. Supporters say research shows that with the right protocols, classrooms can safely welcome children back and that students are suffering academically and emotionally. Opponents acknowledge the harm from distance learning but argue that keeping students, their families and school staff safe from the virus is paramount.
In the letter, Herrera argues that the recent tentative agreement that requires vaccinations for teachers and staff before a return to school in the state’s red tier is not legal, and indicates he will argue that in a March 22 court hearing.
“Be advised that any reopening plan that fails to offer inperson instruction ‘to the greatest extent possible’ would be unlawful,” Herrera said in the letter. “In short, it is ‘possible’ to offer significant amounts of inperson instruction now to elementary students and vulnerable students in the purple tier at San Francisco’s current level of COVID-19 transmission, without waiting for staff to be fully vaccinated.”
Union and district officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The teachers union and district continue to negotiate on the educational aspects of a return to inperson learning, including how many hours or days a week each student will be in class.
Herrera’s notice to the district adds to claims he made in a lawsuit against the school district, saying state law requires public schools reopen to the maximum extent possible.
The lawsuit also alleges the district is violating the state Constitution and equal rights laws by not providing inperson instruction.
Herrera also said in the letter that the health department doesn’t limit “the number of children who can be in a classroom to a specific number.” While health officials recommend spacing desks 6 feet apart, they do not cap the number of students in a classroom, he said.
He also noted that health officials don’t “limit the number of days or hours the students and staff can safely be on campus.”
“My goal in reaching out to you now,” Herrera said, “is to help ensure that any plan the school district puts in place is legally sound, avoids the need for court intervention, and achieves our shared goal of getting children back to inperson instruction.”