In the News: S.F. families log on for distance learning outside closed public schools in protest

For the first time in nearly a year, at least some San Francisco public school students went to their school campus Thursday to learn. But it wasn’t to enter their classrooms.

Instead, at 9:30 a.m., students and families sat outside Clarendon Elementary and logged onto their computers and into online classrooms at a park across the street to protest the lack of in-person instruction in the district.

Organizer Decreasing the Distance said families would gather outside a different public school each of the next several days to continue putting pressure on the district to reopen.

The gatherings are the latest in a series of news conferences, protests, lawsuits, political threats and coordinated actions on both sides of the city’s reopening debate. Supporters of reopening say that it can be done safely with proper protocols and that children are suffering from the academic and emotional toll of distance learning, with students of color hit harder. Opponents say that while children may be harmed by distance learning, keeping them, their families and school staff safe must take precedence.

Parent Viviane Safrin brought her two children to Clarendon, west of Twin Peaks near Forest Hill Station, early Thursday, where they were among 25 masked students running around the adjacent city park playground.

“They were so happy to see one another,” Safrin said. “My children couldn’t sleep last night because they were so excited to see their friends.”

The students then settled for classes using neighborhood hot spots to access online learning.

The activity was not meant as criticism of teachers, who are greatly respected and loved, Safrin said, but rather “intended to demonstrate what it is like to learn on a computer all the time — to bring it out of the home and into the community.”

Also Thursday, the district’s teachers union, the United Educators of San Francisco, announced a “virtual day of action calling for the unity we need to fight the virus and not each other!”

Union leaders called on teachers to post on social media or make videos to share “why you stand with educators.”

Just a day before, the school district held a news conference at Sunset Elementary to show the district’s progress in readying schools for reopening. Sunset is among six elementary schools — out of 64 — that meet county health and safety requirements for in-person learning.

It will likely be at least two months before any of the district’s 52,000 students start returning to schools, given ongoing bargaining with the teachers union over what the school day will look like as well as logistical issues related to coronavirus testing of students and staff and vaccine availability.

The tension between the school board and parents over reopening intensified Wednesday evening after board President Gabriela López was expected to attend a virtual public informational meeting, but canceled earlier in the day. López said she was focusing all her time and attention on the reopening effort, but parents on social media said being accountable to constituents was part of her job. Board member Jenny Lam participated in the event, sponsored by community group TogetherSF.More for you

“I’m a SFUSD commissioner, but I’m a mom first,” Lam said Thursday. “As a public school parent of a middle schooler and high schooler, I share the same concerns as the majority of parents in our community. I want schools to reopen safely and I want to know when this can happen.

“We are in a complex deliberation process to ensure that when teachers and students can return to a more traditional school schedule, it will be a safe and fostering environment.”Jill Tucker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: [email protected]

Source: https://www.sfchronicle.com/education/article/S-F-families-log-on-for-distance-learning-from-15961187.php