Parents, teachers air frustration over San Francisco's troubled school district

SAN FRANCISCO - It's been a rocky start to the school year for students, parents and staff at the troubled San Francisco Unified School District. At a rally and school board meeting on Tuesday, many had an opportunity to air their frustrations. 

Tuesday's regularly scheduled meeting was dedicated to the district's progress on meeting student academic goals. During public comment, groups and families were focused on the major budget crisis and looming school closures. They are asking for their voices to be heard going forward as the district looks to balance the budget and decide which schools to close or consolidate.

San Francisco schools are looking to close a $400 million budget shortfall by 2026 and make tough decisions on which schools in the district will be closed in the coming year. 

On Monday, Mayor London Breed provided details about the school stabilization team, department leaders from throughout the San Francisco government lending their expertise to help the school district make and implement those difficult decisions. The mayor stressed that current school Superintendent Matt Wayne is still in charge. 

Superintendent Wayne said he welcomes the support. "We have a lot of work to do between now and December," said Wayne. "Both in terms of what we need to do in terms of school closures. But, just as importantly, the fiscal stabilization plan we need to present to the state to get back on track and make sure we maintain local control."

Educators, parents, students and community advocates rallied outside the San Francisco Unified School District offices Tuesday, demanding that it protect schools from closing or merging, and criticized its leadership. 

"We are one of the most wealthiest cities in California. There's no way that San Francisco Unified School districts students should have to suffer," Malcolm X Academy Family Liasion Lisa Richardson told the crowd.

The group chanted and held signs that read: "Hands off our schools" and "We have a voice." 

"I don't think it's fair that the quality of our education is being affected and we've spent months and months worrying about it," said junior high school student Alan Tello. "I would like to be able to be able to focus on my education and extracurriculars."

16-year-old Tello attends June Jordan School for Equity, a small school he fears will be shut down.

"As a small school, I'm able to know everybody's name, I'm able to interact with everybody, all the teachers," said June Jordan School For Equity teacher Gregory West. "In those other spaces, it won't be the same for them. So that's what I'm really worried about for them."

SFUSD board president Matt Alexander emphasized that the school stabilization team is a district partner.  

The school board held a rare Sunday meeting aimed at kickstarting the budget tightening process and Alexander said he asked the mayor for help. He says the school stabilization team members met on Tuesday and are already beginning to make progress. 

"We're already working with specific ideas that the city folks may help us with and I'm actually feeling in this moment hopeful. I think we have all these challenges, but it feels like this is our moment," said Alexander. 

"We met with the leaders of the team for the first time today," said Alexander. "Maria Su and Phil Ginsberg, and we sat down with them... and so we're in the process of working out the details of how that's going to work, who's going to do what. We already have ideas, we're building a good collaborative relationship."

Wayne had a message for frustrated families at a press conference Tuesday.

"For the long term, we've been making the tough decisions to be able to set this district up for success. So we're asking that they keep faith, as we roll out more decisions," Wayne said.

Families at the rally want more community input and engagement.

"Anxious, I've been up at night about this," said parent Rajni Banthia.

The superintendent said December will be a critical month for the district. That's when it will have to present its updated fiscal stabilization plan to the state, which shows how they will balance the budget. It's also when it will present the school closure plan to the board.  

As of now, there is still no timeline about when the announcement will come about which schools may be closed or consolidated. That decision will likely come next month.

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