School officials in San Francisco plan to reopen classrooms for face-to-face learning from April 12, officials announced Friday night, after months of heated debate over how and when students would return to face-to-face classes.
The authorities said they had reached a provisional agreement with the teachers’ union to “return as many students as possible to focus groups for almost a full school day, 5 days a week”. These groups are mainly from preschool to the second grade, which is about 13,000 students.
To see: List of SFUSD schools scheduled to reopen in April
The agreement means that at least some students will see the interior of a classroom before the end of the school year, although it is unclear how many of the district’s 52,000 students will return before the end of the semester on June 2. School district officials on Friday refused to provide more details about the interim agreement, saying officials are planning to share more information on Monday.
“This is an important step on our way to reopening schools. We remain committed to ensuring that all students and families in the San Francisco United School District receive the support they need, ”said council president Gabriela López in a statement. “Whether they are parents and guardians who try their best to support their children or teachers who work around the clock to support learning during a pandemic. We are in this together. “
The deal comes after weeks of increasingly tense negotiations. The district and the board faced increasing pressure from parents and city officials to reopen schools – including a lawsuit, rallies and “Zoom ins” and possible recall – as concerns about loss of learning and increased learning increased. mental health risks.
Mayor London Breed pushed hard to reopen schools, criticizing the school council for renaming the sites instead of focusing on struggling families and students. She also supported the reopening process promoted by City Attorney Dennis Herrera.
The district said that for those who return, “with a few exceptions, elementary school students will stay with the teacher.” Families that choose to stay at EAD can do so.
It is unclear if and when grades 3-5 will return and officials said it is highly unlikely that elementary and high school students will return to classrooms this year. Still, at a board meeting this week, the commissioners expressed an interest in bringing elementary and high school students back for social or athletic activities.
Many teachers feared to return without vaccines, although experts said it was safe to do so with due care. Still, this week the district sent 4,000 employee access codes for vaccinations, paving the way for reopening. San Francisco Unified has about 4,600 teachers, as well as thousands of other school staff, including assistant teachers, counselors, office and cafeteria staff, and janitors.
“Today’s deal is the product of months of adaptation and reimagining what a return to personal education for educators, students and families in a large urban district could look like in a pandemic,” said teacher union president Susan Solomon, in a statement. “Now we need the city and the district to fulfill their commitment to vaccinate school staff as soon as possible.”
Meredith Willa Dodson, a mother who has advocated with other parents for the reopening of schools, told The Chronicle Friday night that families were still trying to understand what the interim agreement means for all students in the school district. Dodson said he was receiving “a million messages” from other parents who were working to decipher the deal, saying he felt “a little disbelieving”.
“There is excitement that this is the biggest progress in a year, and we are also still waiting for information, so it is difficult to be very excited. Like, what does this business mean? ”Said Dodson. “In San Francisco, we are opening restaurants and indoor dinners and we are at the red level. In a few weeks, it looks like we’ll be at the orange level. We know that we did a very good job in the city with the dissemination – we should be absolutely prioritizing the return of our children to school ”.
The district said the health department approved the return of the first group of schools, including five early childhood education sites, six primary schools and a municipal program.
District officials said in a separate statement on Friday night that families in the first group of students to return can update their preference for virtual learning over face-to-face learning next week and that the next group of families with students in line for return will be interviewed on March 9th.
“We are excited to share this progress and we also know that some students and families who wish to return will not be able to do so at this time,” said Superintendent Vince Matthews in a statement. “We recognize that distance learning is not ideal for most students and many families have struggled with an entire year of distance learning. We would really like to be able to reopen schools for everyone. “
This is a last-minute story. Check back for updates.
Lauren Hernandez is a writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @ByLHernandez