How S.F. schools will finally start to open
District reveals details; first kids return April 12
San Francisco school officials on Monday released more details about their plans to get some of the city’s more than 52,000 schoolchildren back into classrooms this spring after a year of distance learning that left many families struggling and sparked a lawsuit over reopening schools.
Under the plan, starting April 12, some students in lower grades would return for four full days and one partial day each week while others would return two full days a week and spend three days in distance learning, depending on the level of demand for inperson learning at each school. The plan brings back preschool through fifthgraders, and special education students and other vulnerable groups through high school, by the end of April. Families can also choose to remain in distance learning.
The detailed plan came after district officials late Friday announced a deal with the teachers union following months of tense negotiations. The union has long expressed concern over the potential of unvaccinated educators returning to the classroom, but last week the state set aside enough vaccines for the majority of teachers to get their first doses immediately.
The deal comes almost exactly a year after schools in the city were shut down, and amid rising concerns about the academic fallout from and emotional isolation of distance learning. Some parents staged rallies, pushed a recall of the school
board and held “Zoomins” outside shuttered schools to demand a reopening as other large urban districts in New York, Washington, D.C., and Chicago welcomed some students back.
During a Monday news conference, Superintendent Vince Matthews said the first group of schools will open April 12, followed by another group on April 19 and a third group on April 26. Preschool through secondgraders will return April 12 and 19. Thirdthrough fifthgraders and vulnerable older students will start to return on April 26.
For third through fifthgrade students, the hybrid plan is likely what instruction will look like through the rest of the school year, officials said.
The plan would be subject to a vote by the school board, likely on Thursday.
Officials acknowledged on Monday that the new plans will not make everybody happy, with Matthews saying he knows that “some students and families who want to return at this time will not be able to.”
Matthews also acknowledged that the district’s plan would fall behind a timeline set by the state for schools to offer some inperson instruction by March 31, meaning San Francisco’s school district may not be eligible for all of the money set aside by the state for schools that resume inperson instruction.
Officials have said that most middle and high school students — except for those at risk or with disabilities —will not see the inside of a classroom before the year ends June 2.
Parents reacted over the weekend to Friday’s announcement with a mix of excitement about the possibilities, confusion about the details and disappointment that older students won’t be going back to classrooms.
While parents and parent organizations on Monday applauded the move to begin reopening, some questioned why it hadn’t happened sooner.
“These are great steps, but I think a lot of people want to be running now, instead of taking steps,” said Yvette Edwards, the mother of two SFUSD children — one in the fourth grade, one in second grade — and a parent organizer for Decreasing the Distance, which has advocated for a return to school.
Edwards said she remains confused about how the new model will work for parents like her, with one child in the door for returning to inperson learning and another child in a more murky situation.
The plan outlined by the school district would have made sense back in November, Edwards said. But now, she’s not sure whether it’s moving as quickly as it should be, especially for children in grades three through five.
“There’s a lot of things in there that are absolutely wonderful,” Edwards said. “But I feel like this plan could be more robust. It could bring back more children, it could bring back more grades — and it could do it faster, to be honest with you.”
In December, the school district sent surveys to thousands of families who would be among the first to return to inperson instruction. Of the 11,645 who responded, 57% said they plan to send their children back for inperson learning, the district reported.
Mayor London Breed expressed optimism over the weekend about the reopening, although she said she’d like to see all students return.
City Attorney Dennis Herrera, who filed the lawsuit to force the district to reopen, said through a spokesman Monday that the suit wouldn’t be withdrawn.
“We have not seen a written agreement,” said spokesman John Coté. “We are concerned that the school district’s statements do not provide all of the information necessary for parents to know when their children will be offered inperson instruction.”