The fight in San Francisco to reopen public schools is heating up.
City Attorney Dennis Herrera announced Wednesday he is filing a lawsuit aimed at forcing schools to get kids back into classrooms.
Herrera claims the San Francisco Board of Education and the San Francisco Unified School District are violating a state law that requires them to have a clear plan to offer in-classroom instruction whenever possible.
“The city is seeking a court order that, among other things, requires San Francisco Unified School District to fulfil their obligation under state law to ‘prepare to offer in person instruction’ now that it is possible to do so safely."
The law also requires districts to have plans to help students who may be particularly struggling with virtual education. District data show students of color, low income and homeless students, those with disabilities and English language learners may be especially hard hit.
In San Francisco, no public school students have returned to a classroom since last spring.
Mayor London Breed has frequently criticized the district’s slow action in reopening classrooms and has given her support to the lawsuit.
“This is not the route I would have chosen five months ago but I don’t see any other options," she said. "We’re ready to help, but the school district needs a plan to reopen and they need it now."
Breed added that she is hearing from frustrated families every day about how distance learning is hurting both students and parents.
The lawsuit is a first step; Herrera will next file a motion asking the San Francisco Superior Court to issue an emergency order to force the district to come up with a reopening plan.
District officials called the lawsuit "frivolous" and said that open fighting among city officials does not benefit the community.
“Mr. Herrera has said that the plan has been canceled, which is absolutely incorrect," said SFUSD Superintendent Dr. Vince Matthews. "What we have said is we are reassessing different parts of the plan but the plan is still there, it’s publicly available."
The school district had planned to reopen schools in a phased approach in January, but that plan was delayed after they failed to reach an agreement with the teacher's union.
The union wants to delay reopening until San Francisco is in the state's orange tier, a far stricter requirement than the state's.
Teachers are legitimately worried about the risks to their safety if classrooms were to reopen. Union officials say the city is still emerging from a dire winter surge and leaders are sending mixed messages by telling the community to stay home as much as possible while urging teachers to return to work.
The CDC has advised that it is safe for schools to reopen as long as basic safety protocols including masking, distancing and hand hygiene are followed.
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