Yep. What a month.

But shifting mindsets… HAPPY 100 DAY!! We can’t believe how different *this* 100 Day feels compared to last year’s. Do you remember our “100 Days and Counting” email campaign? Hundreds of your emails flooded the inboxes of SFUSD leadership and school board, with stories of desperation and pleas to get our classrooms reopened for struggling students. We’re grateful to be in a better place, on this 100 Day. 

• Declining COVID case positivity across SFUSD and continued minimal in-school transmission. Something else to celebrate!: Cases have been declining across the city and SFUSD for the last two weeks, and things are feeling a bit less stressful for families and educators, alike.
• SFUSD updates quarantine policy for fully vaccinated students. Has anyone else’s fully vaccinated kid gotten quarantined after being identified as a close contact? They shouldn’t be. Thankfully, SFUSD just updated their policy. There was some confusion between DPH and SFUSD this week but all seems sorted now. In the spirit of patience with our school administrators, remember that health guidance has been changing weekly and sometimes daily during January, and the chain of information (CADPH→ SFDPH→ SFUSD→ School/classroom) requires some time to adopt and implement. From the updated guidance:

• Learning recovery efforts in progress. SFUSD is spending some of its COVID recovery dollars by partnering with Springboard Collaborative to help accelerate students’ reading and writing skills during after-school time. All 41 Title 1 schools serving K-3 students were invited to participate; tentatively this will serve 960 of our students showing greatest need. SFUSD partners SF Ed Fund and BookNook are also offering literacy-based tutoring support to 2,700 students in grades 3-5 across 27 Tier 2 and 3 schools throughout this spring semester. We’re happy to see SFUSD begin to increase support for students exhibiting the greatest learning recovery needs, and, we anxiously await the release (any day now🤞) of student assessment data–data that will shed light on how students have been doing since they returned to the classroom.
• Literacy update. The New Teacher Project (TNTP) is conducting an audit of SFUSD literacy instruction to better understand how our K-5 students are experiencing ELA instruction. The first phase reviewed written curriculum (TNTP will be reporting those findings to SFUSD within the next few weeks), and next up, taught curriculum will be observed at 15 schools using a stratified random sampling approach. The review of the written, taught, and learned curriculum will be compiled into a final audit report, including strengths, programs gaps, and suggestions for program improvement. SFUSD will share the final audit report with the public once it has been internally reviewed (timeline TBD but sounds like later this spring).

• Board approves contract to bring more testing to staff and students through partnership with SaferTogether, who will administer a comprehensive testing program including antigen and PCR tests including asymptomatic (voluntary), symptomatic, following COVID exposure, and before return-to-site. This is a wonderful testing resource for our students and staff when they want or need it! Commissioner Alison Collins was the only ‘no’ vote.
• Spicy report from firm conducting SFUSD superintendent search. At Tuesday’s Board of Education meeting, Hazard Young Attea Associates (the search firm helping SFUSD find its next superintendent) shared that, compared to other large urban districts with satisfaction scores in the 40-60% range, SFUSD is hovering much lower in the 20%-40% range. They also noted it quite unusual that SFUSD and board focuses much of their discussion around the challenges of meeting adult needs, as compared to having more of a focus on student needs. And, while Vision 2025 is applauded for the goals it outlines for our students, HYA shared concerns from the SFUSD community that implementation and progress is unclear. Snippet from HYA’s report:

“Return to normal” or “return to better”? With omicron already starting to wane from its peak, an increasing number of children 5+ getting vaccinated, and hope on the horizon, some medical professionals and epidemiologists are starting to raise questions about what the future holds for an eventual return to normal–or in the case of SFUSD, hopefully a return to better. Because let’s face it; normal hasn’t been great here in San Francisco for our students: We have among the lowest literacy rates in the state, a stubborn and persistent opportunity and achievement gap, and a district that doesn’t prioritize its student outcomes enough. SF Parent Coalition is starting to think through what a Return to Better for SFUSD might look like; stay tuned for an opportunity for your input!

• Monthly meetings are coming back! Between the holidays and omicron, we’ve taken a bit of a break with our usual monthly member meetings. We miss you!! We’re aiming to restart these in February, and are tentatively planning our next one for Tuesday February 15th at 7 pm.🎉There’s an election that day, the results of which some of you may be paying attention to! Bring your popcorn! Stay tuned for more details, and in the meantime please mark your calendars.
• SF Ed Fund and TogetherSF hosted two roundtable discussions related to SFUSD. Today’s roundtable was on SFUSD Budget and Funding Complexities (video to be uploaded soon!), and last week’s was: School Segregation and Educational Equity in San Francisco

• What to expect from the new school assignment system. -SFChronicle
• With omicron fading fast in San Francisco, city suggests policy pivot. – SFGate
• What happens when a pandemic becomes endemic? S.F.’s top health official weighs in – SFExaminer
• COVID is now an ‘endemic,’ not a ‘pandemic,’ San Francisco doctors say – KRON
• SFChronicle endorses the school board recall of Collins, López, and Moliga. -SF Chronicle
• How to prepare for the pandemic’s next phase. – Ezra Klein Show, NYTimes
• Read it and cheer: David Banks’ wise words about literacy instruction in NYC schools – NY Daily News

It’s special election season. Don’t forget to vote!

SF Parent Coalition, a fiscally-sponsored project of Community Initiatives, centers the needs of children and youth in San Francisco public schools by bringing together a diverse network of parents and caregivers to advocate for a thriving, equitable school system. Enjoy these emails? Forward to a friend! Want to do something more? Join as a member, or donate to support our work!