‘Big, big relief ’: Learning hubs open to offer support for parents, kids
Single mom Shashona Holmon couldn’t stop smiling as she dropped off her daughter Brooklynn at the Merced Heights Playground on Monday morning.
For the first time in six months, Brooklynn Holmon, 9 — and 800 other San Francisco students — got dressed, pulled on a backpack and left home to learn.
They didn’t go to school. Instead they headed to their first day at a learning hub, a safe space for families struggling without child care since schools shut down in midMarch because of the coronavirus. The hub means Holmon, who lives in public housing, can go back to work.
At the city’s 45 learning hubs at parks, libraries and recreation centers across the city, kids had access Monday to WiFi, academic support, three meals, play time with friends — and something close
to normalcy from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. An additional 55 hubs are scheduled to open in the coming weeks, eventually serving up to 3,000 students, with capacity depending on evolving health guidelines.
The impact of school closures on many students and families has been devastating, resulting in significant learning loss and financial desperation given the lack of child care options, officials said.
The free program, for kindergarten through sixthgrade students, was a lifeline when she needed it most, said Holmon.
“It’s been really, really hard,” she said. In the spring, she used up her vacation and sick leave from her home health aide job to be at home with her daughter. When those days were used up, Brooklynn lived in Vallejo with her uncle during the week so Holmon could work.
When school started again, Holmon was out of child care options and quit her job.
“I had to,” she said. A few days later she heard about the hubs, submitted an application to get Brooklynn a spot and started sending out her resume for work.
On Monday morning, Brooklynn was sitting at her desk working on a lesson about metaphors when her mom learned she had gotten the job she wanted at a youth services agency.
“It’s a big, big relief,” Holmon said, watching her daughter, who had used birthday cash to buy new sneakers and a colorful sweatshirt to wear on her first day at the hub, money her mom later put back into her daughter’s piggy bank. “The kids are tired of being home, online.”
The 800 kids at hubs on Monday were just a fraction of the 53,000 students enrolled in San Francisco’s public schools, who are all still learning remotely. Nearly 70 private and charter schools in the city have applied to public health officials to reopen in the coming weeks, but it’s unlikely that the city’s public schools will bring their students back to classrooms anytime soon, possibly not for months.
In the meantime, the city has budgeted $64 million to pay for the hubs, with another $10 million in expected donations to cover food, technology and other supplies, enough to cover the entire school year if necessary.
Officials hope that’s not necessary.
“Our greatest wish is that the school district puts us out of business,” said Phil Ginsburg, general manager of the city’s Recreation & Parks Department.
The cityfunded hubs will primarily serve children with the greatest needs, including those living in public housing, English learners, homeless students and foster children, among others, officials said.
The logistics required to open hubs across the city were “mindboggling,” said Maria Su, executive director of the city’s Department of Children, Youth and Their Families.
Nonprofit agencies are running many of the hubs, with funding and protective equipment and supplies provided by
“Play is serious business. Kids also need imagination right now, a way to escape in a pretty cruddy world.”
Phil Ginsburg, general manager, S.F. Recreation & Parks Department
the city.
The students are assigned to groups of up to 14 children, with no interaction with other groups. If staff members or students test positive for the coronavirus, the site will follow Department of Public Health protocols, Su said.
Staff members will get tested before a site opens and then at least every two months.
With most schools closed for the foreseeable future, families desperately needed another option, said Mayor London Breed.
“We knew it would take a village to get our young people the support and education they need, and city departments and our community partners have stepped up and worked together to turn our vision for the Community Hubs into reality,” she said in a statement.
On Monday morning, several city officials gathered at the Merced Heights hub, their wide smiles mostly hidden behind masks.
Ginsburg left the official huddle to run around with a couple of students, demonstrating how to get a roundabout platform to spin before taking a turn down the slide.
“Play is serious business,” Ginsburg said as he stopped to rest, adding play requires creativity, risk and teamwork. “Kids also need imagination right now, a way to escape in a pretty cruddy world.”
Inside the makeshift classroom next to the playground, students wearing masks and headphones sat at tables, with small desksize cardboard dividers separating them from others. Most stared at a computer screen as their teachers offered instruction.
Isaiah Howard, 9, worked on a lesson about rounding large numbers. School was school, but the fourthgrader was thrilled to be at the hub.
“It’s great,” he said. “because I finally have a reason to get out of the house.”
The organization Youth 1st, which typically provides afterschool and summer programs, is running the Merced Heights hub.
“We’ve been waiting for this day,” said Renard Monroe, director of the program. “A lot of our kids have fallen behind. We need to catch them up and provide stability for them.”
But more than that, perhaps, every child needed “to be a kid again and play.”
Just before 11 a.m., Shermar Noriega left his computer on as he sprinted outside to the playground for his 10minute school break, jumping on big rocks and playing chase with a friend before slipping down a spiral tube slide.
The 10yearold emerged at the bottom, laughing and breathing hard.
“It feels good,” he said. “I haven’t done this in six months.”