The San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) plans to reopen schools starting April 12, announced the city’s Board of Education Friday.
After being under the national eye for months due to the school board's decision to prioritize renaming public schools over reopening them, the city’s school officials have reached a deal with the teachers unions to get kids back in the classroom.
"We know students and families are suffering. Whether it be parents/caregivers trying their best to support their children, or teachers working nonstop to support learning during a pandemic," San Francisco’s school board president Gabriela López said in a tweet Friday. "We hear you and we see you, and we remain committed to staying unified during this time."
Lopez received fierce backlash from angry parents who were frustrated by the board’s inability to establish a reopening plan, 10 months after students had been sent home for virtual learning.
In a last ditch effort to push the SFUSD and Board of Education into action, the city of San Francisco launched a lawsuit that alleged school officials were violating students constitutional rights under California law to attend public school, and were discriminating against students on the basis of wealth, as only the city's more than 110 private schools had reopened for in-person teaching.
Following an additional legal battle launched in connection with the school board’s determination to rename 44 schools they deemed racially offensive, the board put a pause on the controversial plan until kids were back for in-person learning.
SAN FRANCISCO SCHOOL BOARD REACHES AGREEMENT ON REOPENING, BUT NO DATE IN SIGHT
"Reopening will be our only focus until our children and young people are back in schools," she said in a statement late last month. "We’re canceling renaming committee meetings for the time being."
Only six elementary schools are set to reopen in mid-April, with maximum class sizes of 22 students, reported local NBC news outlet.
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Additional schools are expected to begin opening later in the month, but only 12 of the city’s 130 schools have been set aside in the city’s "wave 1" reopening plan.
The city has not said when it anticipates all of its 57,000 public school students will be able to return to the classroom.