California’s struggle to reopen schools amid the coronavirus pandemic took a surprising turn on Wednesday, when the city of San Francisco became the first in the state, possibly the country, to sue its own school board for failing to follow state guidelines.
City attorney Dennis Herrera sued the San Francisco Board of Education and the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) for refusing to disclose a “meaningful plan on how or when face-to-face learning” will be reopened.
The lawsuit alleges that, since September 2020, more than 110 private schools in the city and 90% of all public and private schools in the neighboring municipality of Marin have reopened – with less than 15 cases of transmission of the virus in schools having been reported.
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Herrera said the SFUSD reopening plan was “terribly inadequate” and did not have the option of “classroom instruction whenever possible”, as determined by state law.
The lawsuit, which seeks to obtain a court order instructing the district to offer classroom teaching in the classroom, noted that studies have shown that distance learning has affected students’ “mental and emotional health”.
“This is not only shameful, it is also illegal,” the lawsuit said.
Herrera said he would file a motion on February 11 asking the court to issue an emergency court order, forcing the school district to put together a comprehensive plan immediately.
“The Education Council and the school district had more than 10 months to launch a concrete plan to put these children back in school,” said Herrera on Wednesday. “So far, they have earned an F.”
“Having a plan to make a plan is not enough,” he added.
But SFUSD superintendent Vincent Matthews called the process “frivolous”.
Matthews said he has been meeting every other day with school officials to find out how to safely reopen schools for face-to-face learning – adding that he should be on a school walk-thru, but instead he was defending himself against charges ” incorrect “from the Public Ministry.
“We are working hard to open our buildings,” said Matthews.
School Council President Gabriela Lopez also condemned the city’s lawsuit on Wednesday, calling it “petty,” said KTVU, Fox-owned station in the bay area.
“Filing a lawsuit is likely to delay us,” Lopez said later on Twitter. “I don’t see how useful this is when we are making progress while the county has failed to provide the support it needs with the tests and vaccines we need.”
“It does not benefit our community when the city continues to divide us,” he added.
The mayor of San Francisco, London Breed, gave his support to the process on Wednesday, saying that it is not “the path we would have chosen, but nothing matters more now than putting our children back in school”.
“This is damaging the mental health of our children and our families,” she added.
This is not the first time Breed has expressed his discontent with SFUSD, condemning his recent decision to prioritize renaming schools with names of historical figures like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, rather than focusing on the immediate needs of the children of San Francisco.
The San Francisco Board of Education approved a plan in October to rename 44 schools with historic names considered offensive – a plan that could cost between $ 400,000 and $ 1 million to exchange uniforms, plaques, badges and other school equipment with the name from school.
Breed, San Francisco’s first black mayor, described SFUSD’s decision to prioritize school names over early childhood education as “offensive”.
“It is offensive to parents who are juggling their children’s daily learning schedules at home, doing their own work and maintaining their sanity,” she said last fall. “It is offensive to me as someone who has studied in our public schools, who loves our public schools and knows how those years in the classroom were what lifted me out of poverty and brought me to college. It is offensive to our children who are looking to the screens day after day, instead of learning and growing with your colleagues and friends. “
But California Republicans say they are not surprised by the name change of schools instead of focusing on reopening them.
Harmeet Dhillon, the CEO of the Center for American Liberty, told Fox News on Wednesday that San Francisco has a “long history of prioritizing meaningless ideas”. Adding that “it is totally within character” for them to “hijack the children’s education agenda”.
“This process is welcome, but it has been delayed for six months,” continued Dhillon, who is also the former vice president of the California Republican Party. “Students in San Francisco, as well as all of California, were prevented from studying last year.”
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“I think it’s good for county leaders who have imposed an oppressive blockade … wake up and recognize how the blockade is destroying children’s education,” she continued. “I think it’s fine, but a little too late.”
The San Francisco Board of Education could not be reached immediately by Fox News for comment.
Brie Stimson contributed to this report.