Parent Guide to Applying to SFUSD
SFUSD Guide for New Families
My kid is enrolled, now what? (before first day of school)
- Sign up for ParentVue (you have likely already done this during enrolling but if you haven’t now is a good time)
- Once you create your account it’s 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. It varies by school. We are here to help!
- Enroll in before/after care. See here.
- Vaccination records – plan to visit your pediatrician before school starts to get the necessary shots if your kid needs any.
- Navigating Special Education services
- 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 process is started by the principal. We recommend that parents have these resources below for support in cases where they find they aren’t getting everything they need from their particular school.
- https://www.sfusd.edu/sped – is the best place to start
- Also useful are
- Orientation
- Look up your school’s page to get to know a little more about it here: https://www.sfusd.edu/schools/directory
- Schools have their own website with contact information listed.
- Look up the PTA, mailing lists and calendars to find out if there are any new family orientations or play dates that you could attend
- If no in-person orientation visit the school and walk around outside so your kid has some context.
- Look up your school’s page to get to know a little more about it here: https://www.sfusd.edu/schools/directory
- Plan drop-off for the first day of school. More here.
- Things kids need
- A backpack and water bottle are all you need
- 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.
- 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. See more later.
- 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!
- Become familiar with how your teacher will want to communicate with you. The most common are phone apps or email and are specific to school. See all options here.
- 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. See additional child care resources here. Important dates to look up in the first session
- Labor Day, Indigenous People’s Day, and Veterans Day are ones you’ll need to plan for.
- Fill in the gaps in any parent forums you’d like to be in
- Did we mention joining SF Parents already?
- Become familiar with how your teacher will want to communicate with you. The most common are phone apps or email and are specific to school. See all options here.
- 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. See additional child care resources here. Important dates to look up in the first session
- Labor Day, Indigenous People’s Day, and Veterans Day are ones you’ll need to plan for.
- Fill in the gaps in any parent forums you’d like to be in
- Did we mention joining SF Parents already?
- Look for the announcement for the 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 are able to donate 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 paste.
- 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
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.)
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.)