San Francisco school officials unanimously approved a health and safety agreement with labor unions that would allow schools to reopen before the end of the academic year.
The deal, approved during a school board meeting on Tuesday, is the first hurdle in bringing students back to classrooms for personal learning, although unions and districts disagree on what the school day will look like when classrooms reopen.
Any compensation in the personal notice – which is not certain – is exempt for at least two months.
There has been growing pressure from parents and city officials by the district and board to reopen schools – including lawsuits and possible recalls – and students faced a number of hurdles before returning to the classroom. They are now struggling to reach an agreement with teachers ’union officials, who have expressed concerns about the loss of teaching as well as a possible outbreak in the staff and community when the student returns.
The main component of the agreement approved Tuesday allows a return to class once the city reaches the red level, the second most restricted level of California’s reopening blueprint, if the coronavirus vaccination site is made available to school staff. San Francisco is expected to reach Red Tire within the next week.
If the city progresses to the orange level, the less restrictive category of “moderate” virus outbreaks, teachers and other staff will return without demanding vaccinations.
Now the question is what the school day will look like when schools reopen. The daily schedule for students and teachers is still pending, which requires an agreement between the district and the teacher union. While bargaining on those issues continues, labor leaders and district officials expressed frustration over ongoing talks over disagreements over how often students will be in the classroom.
At a news conference on Tuesday, district officials used a pre-board meeting proposal for the youngest students.
Superintendent Vince Mathews, detailing the proposal to reopen the district for children in transitional kindergarten in the second grade, including students with disabilities, said the district has been fighting for more hours and days than the teachers’ union.
The district wants low-demand schools, and pre-K and special education students to return to individual demand for five hours a day, five days a week. In those cases, children will be in school 25 hours a week.
The superintendent said the union proposal would provide only 12 hours of personal instruction in those schools, including three hours for four days per week and one day of distance education.
Under the union’s plan, “students and families will also spend most of the day going home and back to school,” Matthew said.
“We just don’t want to fur offer for half a day,” he added. “We want to provide consistency.”
In response, United Educators of San Francisco released a statement that did not directly address the differences between the proposals but said it was seeking help from outside the union, arguing at the bargaining table about how schools should reopen five days before June. .
“At this point, we believe there needs to be a reliable mediator for the intervention, as we have lost the trust of the superintendent to conduct the process,” said union president Susan Solomon.
Solomon said teachers believe the “most appropriate and practical” schedule is for students to come to school “at least four days a week, even if they are half-day and families who choose not to return will not be left behind.”
The statement added that students should stay with the teacher all year round.
Some teachers said during a public comment on Tuesday that students who need to give importance to relationships already formed in times of violence stay with their current teacher.
“I urge the board to trust and value specialized teachers,” said teacher Betty Estrada.
The district’s fierce pressure for its plan was the latest in a growing battle over the reopening of schools. The city attorney, with the support of Mayor London Breed, sued the district in early February, arguing that there were no concrete plans to bring the students back.
Students from both district and union schemes are meant to sit below 6 feet, meaning only 14 students can be in the same classroom.
Both schemes divide primary schools into two categories: those with more requests for individual instruction and those with fewer requests.
Matthew said more than 80% of schools will be able to stick to the 14-person limit.
Under the district plan, children in the school attended classes all day twice a week, with further requests for personal instruction, and learned at home the other three days. Overall, there will be 16 hours of live instruction per week, Matthews said.
In contrast, he said the union’s proposal for similar schools would provide 14 hours of live instruction in the classroom each week. The children were doing distance learning at home once a week.
District officials said during the resumption update before the school board that given the uncertainty about the vaccine and when the city would enter the red or orange level, no date has yet been set to bring the students back.
In addition, all elementary schools must be cleared for reopening by the Department of Public Health, but only 6 of the 64 primary schools have completed applications for individual instruction.
There are no plans to bring back middle and high school students.
Matthew said the district has heard from many families who are eager for more information, and school officials are trying to provide it.
“I know many families are waiting for the clarification of concern,” he said.
Nanette Asimov and Jill Tucker are San Francisco Chronicle staff authors. Email: [email protected] [email protected] Twitter: nanetteasimov jilltucker
