The SF BoS is holding a special meeting on Tuesday at 10 to vote on a resolution to encourage #SFUSD to have a comprehensive plan for reopening. Agenda https://sfbos.org/sites/default/files/bag122220_agenda.pdf

@MattHaneySF @HillaryRonen @RafaelMandelman we need your leadership now. (1/x)

In July the Supes approved $15M in extra funding for the district in light of the COVID pandemic. https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/amp/San-Francisco-to-float-its-school-district-a-15-15443213.php

The district acknowledged that it wasn’t enough to solvr the Covid-related shortfall, but it helped. There were no conditions placed on this funding.

Afterwards, the union and district signed an MOU that did not address in-person instruction for the entire 20-21 school year. https://www.sfusd.edu/about/news/current-news/sfusd-uesf-announce-tentative-mou

Thus, to open schools, they needed to negotiate again. This took place over months and was a frustratingly opaque process.

The district’s update as of a few weeks ago, in a board meeting, was just that negotiations were “ongoing”. They broke down last week after UESF demanded safety precautions in excess of those recommended by SF’s Dept of Health.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/amp/After-S-F-teachers-union-district-fail-to-meet-15814584.php

It’s too simplistic to just blame the union. I’m hearing that the district was lacking basic plans as part of reopening - what to do when teachers go on lunch break, or if one falls ill, for example.

If true - @SFUSD_Supe, get your act together snd work overtime to plan for all contingencies. You’ve had so much time to do so! But also, @UESF - you can plan too! Why not propose ideas for these sorts of issues based on the vast knowledge of your members?

Now it seems like the only thing they can agree on is that the district needs more funding to assist with pandemic related costs.

Meanwhile, children are leaving SFUSD. Enrollment is down compared to last year by around 5,000 students. Lower enrollment means lower funding, which means staff cuts. https://twitter.com/MeredithWilla/status/1340129931485843457?s=20

If the board considers any more funding, this time it should come with strings. No more funding unless the district has a plan to reopen fully by some date. As it stands, a majority of the ~54K kids won’t see the inside of a classroom for a year.

As an SFUSD parent I want the district to succeed and to keep sending my kids to public school, because it’s a great civic institution. We love Glen Park School and the community there is everything great about SF - diverse, hardworking, kind.

So: @RafaelMandelman and @HillaryRonen and @MattHaneySF ask for more from the district. No more money until they have a plan. And stand up to your union partners and tell them to work together with the district to solve this problem.

Yes, we have a Covid surge now. But let’s not use that as a convenient excuse to avoid PLANNING. Germany is closing its schools now as part of a lockdown...for a few weeks. They have a plan to reopen them after the holidays. In San Francisco, we don’t. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/14/us/german-school-close-coronavirus-lockdown.html?referringSource=articleShare