A vote confirming the health and safety protocols required to reopen schools in San Francisco was postponed on Tuesday after school board members said they needed to meet behind closed doors to address a legal issue.
It is not clear, however, why the board could not do both, as permitted, during special meetings.
A week ago, district and labor leaders enthusiastically announced the interim agreement on the reopening of schools, which addresses the frequency of testing and vaccines for staff, among other requirements.
The deal was heralded as a major step towards bringing public school students back to classrooms after months and several school board meetings lasting late into the night with reopening near the end of the schedule, irritating many families.
School council president Gabriela López and vice president Alison Collins addressed the delay in a letter published by The Examiner on Monday.
“We were supposed to meet this Tuesday to vote on part of the reopening plan,” they wrote, “but now, we have to hold a closed session to discuss disputes filed by people who claim to have the best interests of our students at heart. “
The vote would not mean an immediate return to school for the more than 52,000 students in the district.
It allows return to classrooms when the city reaches the red level, the second most restrictive level of the California reopening plan, if vaccines are available to school staff on site. If the city progresses to the orange level, a less restrictive category with “moderate” spread of the virus, teachers and other staff would return without requiring vaccines.
San Francisco remains in the most restricted purple layer, although it may reach red in the next few weeks or two. Teachers and staff are eligible to receive vaccines from February 24, but with the vaccine shortage temporarily shutting down two mass vaccination sites in San Francisco, it is unclear when they will be widely available.
In addition, district authorities have yet to reach an agreement with the teachers’ union on what a pandemic face-to-face school day would like, including class size, daily schedule and face-to-face hours, with part-time students on campus, possibly a a few hours, two days a week.
Even with an agreement in place, it can still take up to five weeks to notify families and put daily tests and schedules into effect, district officials said.
The health and safety agreement, however, gave parents hope that there would be a solid move towards reopening.
Father Kwesi Edwards, who has two children at Sunnyside Elementary, said he feels “general frustration” at the lack of progress in reopening.
“They are boys, so their attention span is not here in distance learning,” he said. “I know that your teachers care, but they can’t feel that care. They can’t feel the emotional support of their attentive teachers through a zoom screen, so they don’t feel good about taking risks, being wrong, learning a new skill. “
The delay in voting frustrated Sandy Wong’s mother, who has two children in the district’s high schools.
“Once again, the BOE is not doing its job,” she said. “Blaming current lawsuits for delaying the vote on an interim agreement to reopen looks like a smokescreen … Our elementary and high school students are suffering.”
Tuesday’s agenda cited only one legal issue as the topic of the closed session, but it could be about possible open meeting violations during the council’s vote earlier this year to rename 44 schools.
The district and the school council, however, also face legal challenge from city attorney Dennis Herrera, who filed a lawsuit alleging violations of the state constitution and equal rights laws for failing to provide personal instruction, although he may do so. it. The suit also alleges that the district has failed to create a specific reopening plan, as required by state law.
López did not explain why the council was unable to vote on the labor agreement before or after the legal discussion behind closed doors.
The board is now expected to vote on the deal on February 23.
“We remain committed to reopening our schools safely,” she said. “We hope that this agreement will be ratified by the board and that the district team is preparing for it.”
Jill Tucker is a writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @jilltucker