SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – The city of San Francisco took a dramatic step Wednesday in its effort to return children to public school classrooms, suing its own school district for trying to open doors amid the coronavirus pandemic .
Demand was the first of its kind in California and possibly in the country, as school systems are under increasing pressure from parents and politicians to end e-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’s 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 following the vaccine line against COVID-19 and some have started receiving shots in rural areas.
“No student at the San Francisco Public School has set foot in the classroom in 347 days,” Herrera said at a news conference, considering it embarrassing and also illegal. “More than 54,000 schoolchildren in San Francisco suffer. The online school makes them Zoom-bies. That’s enough. “
The lawsuit says school administrators violate the state requirement that districts adopt a clear plan “to offer classroom instruction whenever possible” during the pandemic. The state says the plan should be in place, especially for students who have experienced a significant loss of learning due to school closures.
The lawsuit seeks a court order to force schools to prepare to offer face-to-face instruction and present a detailed “appropriate plan to show they are prepared to do so,” Herrera said.
Schools in San Francisco have been able to reopen since September, according to a statement from Herrera, who notes that nearly 90 percent of schools in neighboring Marin County, including public schools, have resumed face-to-face instruction and that 113 Private and parish schools in San Francisco are open.
“This is not the path we would have chosen, but nothing matters more than returning our children to school,” Breed said in the statement. “Our teachers have done an amazing job trying to support our children through distance learning, but that doesn’t work for anyone. And we know we can do it safely. “
Herrera said the district’s current plan “is ambiguous and empty rhetoric. It’s a plan to make one. It’s legally insufficient.”
“So far they have won an F,” Herrera said, referring to the school district and its Board of Education.
He plans to file a motion Feb. 11 asking the San Francisco Superior Court to issue an emergency order. If granted, the order would require the district to formulate a reopening plan. The statement indicates that these emergency orders, also known as preliminary precautionary measures, can only occur after a lawsuit is filed.