Family non-negotiables if schools close:

By meredith | September 15, 2024

In preparation for the school closures announcement, we’re wanting to lift up your non-negotiables right away to SFUSD. If your school was on the list to be closed, what would be some of your non-negotiables? What are your non-negotiables for your child, your family?

  • Proximity of school to previous school (and while considering hills, walkability, and bussing/transportation)
  • Keep siblings together
  • Keep friends together
  • Keep communities together – families want to maintain connections with other families, as well as beloved teachers and staff
  • First choice of new school, and priority if re-entering lottery
  • Guaranteed, high-quality before-care and aftercare (not more expensive than previous school)
  • Support teachers and staff with what they need
  • Commit to keeping teacher morale up
  • Significant extra resources at the school we get sent to (counselors, math tutors, reading specialists, new playground)
  • Clear, articulated plan of how the closures will lead to a brighter future for all SFUSD students
  • Family toolkit from SFUSD with sample messaging (age-appropriate communication to children)
  • A timeline that allows parents to share the information to kids at home before kids hear from teachers or friends (“I want the opportunity to have a family discussion first so that I can assist with reducing anxiety.”)
  • Bussing and transportation
  • FT social worker at all closing and all welcoming schools immediately in place
  • Welcoming new schools, with an admin dedicated to the role of welcoming new families, kids, and teachers in
  • Excellent, fully resourced new schools, with same or better enrichment options (e.g. arts, music, etc.) – “If a school is closing because it lacks certain things, then the newly assigned school should have those things in place.”
  • Same language track guarantee, and nearby, with their friends/community
  • PTAs and SSCs from connecting schools are connected with each other well in advance, in intentional way
  • Having a chance to meet the principal, staff, families and students at the welcoming school to ensure it’s a strong fit
  • Welcoming schools need to be set up for success with a certified teacher in every classroom, a social worker, family liaison, support for students with IEPs, and art, music, library, PE and dance.
  • Focal populations need guarantee of extra supports – Special education, Foster youth, unhoused students
  • Fully-staffed support programs including: Family liaison; Mental health consultant; Mentoring; Social worker; SPED supports; Student advisors
  • Must have a better physical facility if the school you are leaving has a poor rating
  • Same start time
  • Special considerations for rising 5th, 8th, and 12th graders for disruption for just one year
  • Keep middle school feeder
  • Receiving school has TK if closing school had TK
  • Excellent, cohesive special education team with strong culture of inclusion and support for children with special needs
  • later start to make up for increased distance (if increased distance)
  • extra oversight making sure IEP transitions happen smoothly
  • tours during year + summer to get used to the new school
  • Family support line phone number staffed properly with multilingual staff to help navigate this information
  • Help with enrollment questions

ADDITIONAL HIGH SCHOOL COMMENTS:

  • Extra help with letters of recommendation and college admissions (this would happen during my sons senior year)
  • Later start to make up for increased distance
  • Extra oversight making sure IEP transitions happen smoothly
  • Tours during summer to get used to the new school
  • Create school summaries for colleges that explain the before and after for kids who moved and update it for four years. So that when your kid applies, the college sees the 3 yrs old and 1 new all on one summary. And classmates are clearly presented as having had different opportunities the past four years, so they don’t judge a student for not taking a class that wasn’t offered at their school.
  • Anyone affected by a high-school closure should get a highest-behind-siblings-ranked tiebreaker
  • Same or better course offerings/enrichment. Same clubs and sports teams.
  • Don’t disrupt the self-selected courses, activities, and options that give kids joy

ADDITIONAL MIDDLE SCHOOL COMMENTS:

  • stay with class / friends, maintaining peer relationships
  • school needs to have similar size and programming (clubs, extracurriculars, community vibe).
  • proximity

ADDITIONAL GENERAL QUESTIONS, IF MY SCHOOL CLOSES:

  • What do next steps look like?
  • Can we transfer now?
  • Will we celebrate our school through the rest of the year?
  • How can we bring some of our traditions and norms with us to our new community?
  • Does this new school have room for all of us?
  • Is the new school excited to welcome us?

AND, IF I’M AT A RECEIVING SCHOOL:

  • How do we as parents reach out to the parents at the other school?
  • Can we invite them to our functions and also opt-in to attend their events so that we can get a sense of their community?
  • Do we have too many teachers now and where will any extra staff go? Do we have a say in who we keep?
  • We have a big library and rooms for dance and other arts, as well as therapy spaces now. Will these all become classrooms to accommodate more children?
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