San Francisco is suing its own school board and school district over their failure to reopen schools for in-person learning, City Attorney Dennis Herrera announced Tuesday.
The city is seeking a court order directing San Francisco Unified School District to prepare for bringing students back into classrooms “now that it is possible to do so safely,” the city attorney’s office said in a press release.
“We’re asking the court to order the school board and the school district to put in place a plan, a viable plan, to reopen safely,” Herrera said at a news conference. “If that plan is followed, schools will reopen.”
Herrera ticked off reasons for SFUSD to invite its 54,000 students back into the classroom.:
The assessment by city and state health departments, as well the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that schools can reopen safely. The reopening of 113 private and parochial schools in the city over the last several months. “Almost 16,000 students have returned to in-person school, and less than five cases of in-school transmission have been reported,” Herrera said. The reopening of some public schools in San Mateo, Santa Clara and Napa counties, which have a similarly low transmission rate, according to Herrera. Data showing a widening achievement gap in the student population under distance learning. “Black, Latino and other students of color in San Francisco, as well as those from low- income families, have lost significant academic ground compared with wealthier and white students during the pandemic,” Herrera said. Research showing declining emotional and mental health of children during the pandemic
“The undisputed scientific consensus is that schools can reopen safely for teachers, staff and students with proper precautions, and that in-person instruction is not causing spikes in COVID-19 infections,” he summarized.
Mayor London Breed also appeared at the press conference to lend her support to the suit. She has been sharply critical of the failure of SFUSD to reinstitute in-person learning after nearly a year of educating students online only.
“We don’t have control over this decision, which is really frustrating,” she said, alluding to the necessity for coming to an agreement with the teachers’ union before schools can physically reopen.
Breed acknowledged the “legitimate” health concerns of teachers, but said they “can’t stand in the way of starting to get some of our kids back in the classroom.”
“Families right now aren’t able to plan for their futures, they can’t decide whether to accept a job offer because they don’t know when they’re going to be able to once again have their kids returned to the classroom,” she said. “This is paralyzing our city and our residents, and I know that this is a drastic step, but I feel we are out of options at this point.”
San Francisco School Board President Gabriela Lopez responded to the lawsuit Tuesday by saying, “This is an embarrassing day for San Francisco.”
For more on the story, read the San Francisco Chronicle, which first reported the lawsuit.
âJon Brooks
Copyright 2021 KQED