S.F. board details plan to bring youngest students back to classrooms.
San Francisco school officials, after being pounded by parents, teachers and the city for failing to explain how they will return children to inperson instruction, touted a proposal Tuesday for the youngest students.
Superintendent Vince Matthews detailed the district’s reopening proposal for children in transitional kindergarten through second grade, including students with disabilities, at a news conference highlighting that the district is fighting for longer hours and days than the teachers’ union.
The district wants five hours a day, five days a week at schools with low demand for a return to inperson learning, and for preK and special education students.
In those cases, children would be in school for 25 hours a week.
The superintendent said the union’s proposal would provide just 12 hours of inperson in
struction at those schools, with three hours a day for four days each week, and one day of distance learning.
Under the union’s plan, “students and families would also spend much of the day transitioning” from home to school and back, Matthews said.
“We don’t want to just offer half days,” he added. “We want to offer consistency.”
In response, the United Educators of San Francisco issued a statement that did not directly address the difference between the proposals but said that after five days at the bargaining table arguing about how to reopen the schools before June, the union wants to bring in outside help.
“At this point, we believe there needs to be a trusted mediator to intervene, as we have lost confidence in the Superintendent to manage this process,” Susan Solomon, the union’s president, said.
Solomon said teachers believe the “most equitable and workable” schedule is for students to attend school “at least four days a week, even if they are half days and that families who choose not to return won’t be left out.”
The statement added that students should remain with the same teacher they’ve had all year.
The district’s hard push for its plan was the latest in an escalating battle over reopening schools. The city attorney, with backing from Mayor London Breed, sued the district in early February, arguing it didn’t have a concrete plan to bring students back.
The district and unions have been negotiating over details. The school board is expected to approve a health and safety plan Tuesday night that would allow schools to reopen when the city reaches the red tier on the state’s scale if teachers are vaccinated, and in the orange tier without vaccinations.
But no schools would reopen until the sides reach a deal over the number of hours and days for inperson instruction.
Unions have said they are concerned about learning loss and the emotional distress that distance instruction is causing, but are fearful that a return to classrooms would lead to outbreaks among staff and in the community.
Both the district’s and union’s plans require students to sit 6 feet apart, meaning that only 14 students could be in a single classroom.
Both plans divide elementary schools into two categories: those with more requests for inperson instruction and those with fewer requests.
Matthews didn’t identify what schools fell into which category but said that more than 80% of schools would be able to stick to the 14person limit.
Under the district’s plan, children at schools with more requests for inperson instruction would attend class twice a week all day, and learn at home for two hours of live instruction on the three other days. In all, there would be 16 hours of live instruction each week, Matthews said.
By contrast, he said the union’s proposal for the same schools would provide 14 hours of live instruction with four halfdays in the classroom each week. Children would be at home doing distance learning once a week.
In this scenario, the union’s proposal offers more inperson instruction — 12 hours — than the district’s 10 hours.
But the district argued that the union’s plan would mean families need to spend more time getting kids to and from school.
Matthews declined to say when students might go back, since the district and unions need to agree on the hours and days and the agreement needs to be approved by the school board before a reopening date can be set.
In addition, all elementary schools must be cleared by the public health department for reopening.
Deputy Superintendent Enikia FordMorthel said that six of the district’s 64 elementary schools have completed applications for inperson instruction, which the city’s Department of Public Health will need to approve.
There are no plans to bring back middle and high school students, and the district has not shared any detailed plans to bring back older elementary students.
Matthews said the district has heard from many families that are eager for more information, and school officials are trying to provide that.
“I know many families are anxiously awaiting clarity,” he said.