SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – The city of San Francisco took a dramatic step on Wednesday in its effort to get children back into public classrooms, and is suing its own school district for trying to force its doors amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The lawsuit was the first of its kind in California and possibly in the state, as school systems came under increasing pressure from parents and politicians to end virtual learning. Teachers’ unions in many large school districts, including San Francisco, say they will not return to classrooms until they are vaccinated.
City Attorney Dennis Herrera, with the support of Mayor London Breed, announced that he had sued the San Francisco Board of Education and the San Francisco Unified School District as a last resort to save what was left of the academic year. They say it is safe to reopen schools.
The school district did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Teachers are next in line for the COVID-19 vaccine, and some have started firing in rural areas.
“Not a single public San Francisco student has set foot in their classroom in 347 days,” Herrera told a news conference, calling it shameful and illegal. ‘More than 54,000 San Francisco schoolchildren suffer. They are being turned into Zoom-bies by online school. Enough is enough.”
The lawsuit says school administrators are violating a state requirement that districts adopt a clear plan during the pandemic to ‘provide classroom instruction where possible’. The state says the plan must be in place, especially for students who have experienced a significant learning loss due to school closure.
The lawsuit is a court order that requires schools to prepare to offer personalized instruction and submit a detailed “appropriate plan to show that they are ready to do so,” Herrera said.
San Francisco schools have been able to reopen since September, according to a statement from Herrera, noting that nearly 90% of schools in neighboring Marin County, including public schools, have resumed their own education and that 113 private and parochial schools in San Francisco is also open.
“This is not the path we would have chosen, but nothing is more important at the moment than getting our children back to school,” Breed said in the statement. “Our teachers have done incredible work to support our children through distance education, but it does not work for anyone. And we know we can do it safely. ”
Herrera said the district’s current plan is’ ambiguous, empty rhetoric. It’s a plan to make a plan. This is legally inadequate. ”
“So far, they have earned an F,” Herrera said, referring to the school district and its Board of Education.
He plans to file a motion Feb. 11 in which he asks the San Francisco Superior Court to issue an emergency order. If the order is granted, the district must formulate a reopening plan. The statement said such emergency orders, also known as interim orders, could only come after a case had been filed.