Amidst a heated debate turned legal battle on the issue of reopening schools in the city, the San Francisco Unified School District teacher's union has presented their conditions for returning to the classroom, but they haven’t proposed any specific dates for when this might happen.
United Educators of San Francisco President Susan Solomon told KCBS Radio that the conditions brought forward by the unions are tied to the state’s color-coded tier system measuring risk levels.
Solomon said that teachers would be comfortable returning to in person instruction when the area is in the red tier, "if vaccines are made available to all staff who will working in school district buildings."
Without vaccines for teachers, San Francisco would have to be in the moderate "orange tier" to reopen according to union conditions.
Currently, San Francisco remains in the purple tier, as does most of the state, which means that even if teachers were vaccinated, schools could not return to in person instruction under these union guidelines. However, state guidelines do currently allow K-6 schools to apply to reopen even if they are in the purple tier.
"What we really is need is updated ventilation systems, PPE, robust and reliable testing and contact tracing for staff and students, small stable cohorts of students and classrooms, and vaccinations," said Solomon.
Mayor London Breed said the city has offered resources to prepare schools and support testing.
But School Board President Gabriela Lopez has said the district has been left to go through a competitive bidding process to find a testing provider.
"At this point, we think we are not very far apart," said Solomon. "Many of our proposals align with state and county guidelines."
Teachers unions have meeting Friday to discuss their terms.
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