Parent Guide to Applying to SFUSD
SFUSD Guide for New Families
My kid is enrolled, now what? (before the first day of school)
- Sign up for ParentVue (you likely did this during enrollment, but if not, now is a good time!)
- ParentVue is one of the primary ways the district will keep in touch with you.
- But do not worry if you aren’t getting a lot of information before school starts – it varies by school.
- Enroll in before/after care. Before care is not offered at all schools. After care is offered but through a variety of programs, and each school is different. When you enroll your school should send you information about how to sign up for these programs. If you don’t hear from them by May, we encourage you to reach out to a parent representative or the front office for information on available programs.
- Vaccination records – plan to visit your pediatrician before school starts to get the immunizations. Medical forms can be found in parentvue and must be signed by your doctor and submitted before school starts.
- Navigating Special Education services
- The early education special education department will typically facilitate help for families before kindergarten. Once a student is in kindergarten the process is typically managed by the individual schools/sites and the is started by the principal. We recommend that parents use these resources below for support when they aren’t getting everything they need from their school site:
- https://www.sfusd.edu/sped – is the best place to start
- Also useful are:
- Orientation
- Look up your school’s website to find updated information for families: https://www.sfusd.edu/schools/directory
- Some schools have their own, non-SFUSD websites run by PTAs. You may have to do a google search to find them, although sometimes the district will list them for you.
- Schools will reach out via email, and also post meet-ups and play dates in some of the SFUSD-related facebook forums. Our forum, SFUSD Families Forum, is one place where parents often post about these types of events.
- If there is no in-person orientation, we recommend you visit the school and walk around the outside so your kid has some context for their first day.
- Look up your school’s website to find updated information for families: https://www.sfusd.edu/schools/directory
- Plan drop-off for the first day of school. Each school has it’s own process for dropping students off. Most schools allow parents on campus for the first few days of school, to help kindergarteners find the right place to go. Many schools offer a drive through drop-off line in the morning. Your school site will send you information about drop-off and pick-up, so look out for that before the first day!
- Things kids need:
- A backpack and water bottle are all you need. If you don’t have access to one, there are many organizations in the city that will supply them for you. We recommend asking at your school site for the easiest resources for you.
- Send a jacket (make sure it is marked!)
- Uniforms – Some schools in SFUSD have uniforms and the school will share information about this. Schools are usually flexible on this for the first few days.
- Lunch if you decide to send it – but school lunch is free for all students!
- Label your kids’ stuff.
- You don’t need to send school supplies in elementary school since the school will provide these. Teachers may ask for help with donations, and will send info about that home with students.
- Toys aren’t allowed at school.
Pro Tips!
- SFUSD has a very helpful list of resources
- Join SF Parents and our Facebook group – we would love to continue to help answer your questions there
- Make sure your student gets a good night’s sleep and breakfast before the big day.
- Give yourself plenty of time to get to school. Parking is often challenging, so if you are driving, plan for 15 minutes to find a spot and plenty of time to walk to the school from your car.
- Become familiar with how your teacher will want to communicate with you. The most common ways are via apps like Class Dojo or Parent Square, or email, and are specific to each school and sometimes to each teacher.
- Learn where the lost & found is at school, and check it often.
- Look up the academic calendar and plan for child care for days you need coverage. Important dates to look up in the first session are:
- Labor Day, Indigenous People’s Day, and Veterans Day.
- Look for the announcement for your school’s Back to School night in September. This is an important time for parents to be welcomed into the school community, meet your kids’ new teachers, and hear from other school leadership like principals and PTAs. Here are some questions we’ve devised to get the most out of your back-to-school night:
- To your PTA or SSC Leader: What is the most important thing I can do as a parent to support teaching and learning at our school?
- To the Principal: There are so many issues affecting SF public schools in general right now. What are your priorities for our students this school year?
- To your kids’ teacher: Tell me more about the curriculum you will be using for English language arts, math, social science, etc.
- Sign up for the PTA/PTO and attend their meetings and/volunteer if you can.
- Learn about the birthday celebration policy and holidays at your school, since they vary.
- Check in with your teacher or the classroom parent representative(s) to see if there are supplies they need that you or if you can volunteer your time
- You made it through the first month!
- Tip – Print out labels for field trip forms after you get the first few so you don’t have to do it for each new form. If your school does these electronically, keep a sticky or electronic note so you can copy and past
Schools communicate with students in different ways. Here are a few that you might encounter in SFUSD.
- Parentvue
- Phone
- Various apps – Bloomz, Parentsquare, Kontstella
- Sometimes messaging groups e.g. WhatAapp
- SFUSD offers limited transportation services for some schools. More here.
- MUNI is free for 18 years and younger
- If you plan to drive, plan ahead for parking since some schools are in busy neighborhoods with limited street parking. Also look up street cleaning days for nearby streets since they often overlap with school drop-off times. Once your child is comfortable with it, your school may offer a drop-off zone where you can drop them off without parking.
- SFUSD has a list by school but you need to apply to the program you need separately.
- https://www.sfusd.edu/schools/enroll/resources/and-after-school-programs
- A subset are also available here https://www.ymcasf.org/after-school
- SFUSD resources for summer programs
- https://sfrecpark.org/406/Recreation-Programs – Summer Day Camp Registration Dates: March 10th (priority) March 15th (general) for 2025
- https://www.ymcasf.org/summer
- Volunteer maintained spreadsheet (maintained/sourced by Sherrie Howe – contact info in the spreadsheet)
- Many private enrichment programs (athletics, academic, science, cooking, arts, music) will also run day camps during school breaks and summer
- The calendar for 2025-2026 year can be found here.
- This is usually finalized by March/April but the process has improved and may happen sooner in some cases.
If you’re moving to San Francisco, or transferring from a private or charter school, you can receive an assignment to a district school as soon as you have documentation of a San Francisco address (and not before, although the district may be able to give you information about what schools in what programs are likely to have open seats ahead of time). Depending on the time of year and your personal timeline, you may additionally be able to participate in the school lottery, which may give you more choices of assignments. Contact the SFUSD Enrollment Center (EC) for details.
Every elementary school has a “feeder” middle school; students still have to apply via the lottery, but they have a very high chance of being assigned to their feeder middle school. (Although as with the lottery at every other level, families can apply for any middle school, regardless of what their feeder school is.)
SFUSD high schools are all an open lottery with two exceptions. Lowell requires you to test into the school, and Ruth Asawa School of the Arts requires an audition.
Glossary of terms