South San Francisco, CA April 17, 2023 Submitted by Peter Fong, SSFUSD PIO

The South San Francisco Unified School District (SSFUSD) could start selling general obligation bonds to investors as early as late April 2023.

That’s according to SSFUSD’s Assistant Superintendent of Business Services, Ted O, who broke the news to the school board during its March 23, 2023 meeting.

O said the district will sell bonds to investors in three separate series over the next few years as part of the “Measure T” bond program:

• $150 million in 2023;

• $150 million in 2026; And

• $136 million in 2029.

“Depending on how quickly the projects are completed and the funds are used up, these years can also be adjusted,” said O.

SSFUSD Facilities Advisor Bill Savidge said the district will focus on the construction priorities outlined in its Facilities Master Plan.

This includes sewer lines, drainage and electrical systems, roofs, windows, lighting, floors and heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems.

Meanwhile, Facility Director Wazi Chowdhury said SSFUSD’s construction requirements have become increasingly complex over time due to years of delayed maintenance.

“Ironically, if you don’t touch a building, you don’t have to upgrade a building to the newer codes,” Chowdhury said, “so we’ve been living with inferior systems, so we have to be very clear and transparent when explaining to people, that we have things to do that might not just show up – they can be underground – they can be behind the walls, but they have to be done.”

Savidge added that the district would need to hire additional staff to oversee the new construction.

“To manage a program of this size. . .We need to increase internal staff as well as hire some consulting teams like program and project management and construction management firms to help us manage these programs.”

Passed by voters in the November 2022 midterm elections, Measure T allows SSFUSD to issue up to $436 million in general commitment bonds to fund repairs and renovations of schools and buildings across the district, improve security systems, and Build affordable housing for district workers.

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SAN FRANCISCO, CA – The San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) recently unveiled a 10-year plan to repair and renovate its schools and facilities after an assessment found many schools needed maintenance and upgrading. The plan comes after an assessment of SFUSD’s facilities revealed a need for $1.7 billion in 2022 to fund improvements and repairs.

The plan includes recommendations for all aspects of SFUSD’s more than 140 structures, from upgrading classroom technology and outdoor learning spaces to ensuring schools have secure water supplies and classroom security locks. In addition, affordable housing for educators is to be created and transitional kindergarten classes are to be expanded across the board.

The report highlighted numerous issues, including problems with HVAC and electrical systems, roofs, windows, furniture, plumbing, etc. For example, in December, the district discovered lead in some faucets at the Buena Vista Horace Mann K-8 Community School. Shortly thereafter, “unacceptable levels” of lead and arsenic were found in the school’s garden soil.

According to SFUSD Superintendent Dr. Matt Wayne, the plan aims to provide “comfortable and state-of-the-art learning spaces” for district students. However, he emphasized that modernization must meet the needs of students so that the whole child can come to school feeling supported, engaged and challenged.

SFUSD has a significant cluster of campuses in Mission/SoMa areas with high poverty rates. According to The San Francisco Standard’s analysis of United States Census Bureau data, 18.1% of SoMa households live below the poverty line, and 11.1% of Mission households live below the poverty line.

The district’s facilities department presented the plan to the board of education last week, which will continue to seek public feedback. The school authorities will receive the final draft plan on April 25th.

To fund a significant portion of the project, San Francisco voters must first approve a general commitment bond, most likely in 2024. This bond would help fund the repairs and renovations needed to provide students with modern, state-of-the-art learning spaces to provide .

Investing in school facilities is critical to providing students with a safe and comfortable learning environment. It also helps attract and retain qualified educators who want to work in schools with modernized facilities. The SFUSD plan is critical to ensuring all students have access to the resources and facilities needed to succeed.

SFUSD’s 10-year plan to repair and refurbish its schools and facilities is critical to providing students with comfortable and modern learning spaces. The plan addresses numerous issues, including issues with HVAC and electrical systems, roofing, windows, furniture, plumbing, etc. Although the plan will require significant funding, it is an investment in the future of San Francisco’s students and educators.

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South San Francisco Unified School District schools will be closed Thursday due to the major storm expected to hit the state today.

“According to the National Weather Service, a major storm will hit the Bay Area at 3 pm on Wednesday, Jan. 4,” said Superintendent Shawnterra Moore. “Based on this information and out of an abundance of caution, our district is planning to cancel classes on Thursday, Jan. 5.”

The district serves the communities of Daly City, South San Francisco and San Bruno.

The storm is expected to bring heavy rain and high winds that could result in flooding and power outages that impact roads and make driving difficult, according to a press release from the district. Consequently, all extracurricular and athletic activities scheduled for today and Thursday have been canceled.

“Jan. 4 is a minimum day, and we highly encourage families to pick up their children from school as soon as possible and to be off the roads and home by 3 pm on that day,” Moore said.

After school care will be available this afternoon for essential workers who are unable to take time off, but there will be no extended care services on Thursday.

Latest update:

Wednesday, January 4, 2023, 3:57 pm

Pasadena Unified South by Latino civil rights group over school closures

Wednesday, January 4, 2023, 11:24 am

South San Francisco Unified schools closed Thursday due to storm

Wednesday, January 4, 2023, 11:14 am

Castro sworn into as new Alameda County superintendent

Tuesday, January 3, 2023, 10:32 am

Federal spending bill increases maximum Pell Grant by $500

Tuesday, January 3, 2023, 10:32 am

No charges filed following sexual abuse allegations at Ojai prep school

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South San Francisco Unified School District schools will be closed Thursday due to the major storm expected to hit the state today.

“According to the National Weather Service, a major storm will hit the Bay Area at 3 pm on Wednesday, Jan. 4,” said Superintendent Shawnterra Moore. “Based on this information and out of an abundance of caution, our district is planning to cancel classes on Thursday, Jan. 5.”

The district serves the communities of Daly City, South San Francisco and San Bruno.

The storm is expected to bring heavy rain and high winds that could result in flooding and power outages that impact roads and make driving difficult, according to a press release from the district. Consequently, all extracurricular and athletic activities scheduled for today and Thursday have been canceled.

“Jan. 4 is a minimum day, and we highly encourage families to pick up their children from school as soon as possible and to be off the roads and home by 3 pm on that day,” Moore said.

After school care will be available this afternoon for essential workers who are unable to take time off, but there will be no extended care services on Thursday.

Latest update:

Wednesday, January 4, 2023, 11:24 am

South San Francisco Unified schools closed Thursday due to storm

Wednesday, January 4, 2023, 11:14 am

Castro sworn into as new Alameda County superintendent

Tuesday, January 3, 2023, 10:32 am

Federal spending bill increases maximum Pell Grant by $500

Tuesday, January 3, 2023, 10:32 am

No charges filed following sexual abuse allegations at Ojai prep school

Thursday, December 29, 2022, 11:04 am

Grim forecast for public pension funds in California and elsewhere

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Here’s what the $162 million bond measure promised to do in 2010: “enhance safety, fire detection and security systems, improve energy efficiency, replace outdated electrical, plumbing and heating systems.”

So, in another eight to 10 years they’ll be back to solve the same issues … again?

They always include “tech” in the bond measures. Tech is usually obsolete in five to six years, but bonds last 25 to 30 years.

Ever buy a computer and take out a loan for 25 to 30 years to pay for it?

nuts, right? But that’s exactly what the district wants to do. Nuts!

With the loss of 697 students since the 2016-17 school year, you’d expect to see fewer teachers, but the district added eight teachers (2018-19 school year according to the latest figures).

And the number of administrators is up from 28 in 2016-17 to 35 in 2018-19 (latest figures).

The ADA spending for the district is 109% of the statewide average at $16,962. The district is above average in cost, but below average in academics … by a lot.

Around 53% of students are below grade level in English. Around 62% of students are below grade level in math. And bond money can’t be spent on hiring teachers that are more qualified/better trained.

With the $430 million bond measure, per student, comes to $52,554 plus 30 to 40 years of interest payments.

Parent are voting with their feet and removing their children from this failure of a school district.

Just say no to higher taxes.

The letter writer is the president of the Silicon Valley Taxpayers Association.

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As the Denver Nuggets gathered inside Ball Arena in front of a TV to rewatch the film of their horrendous Game 2 loss to the Golden State Warriors, they saw what everyone else who witnessed that game saw.

“We just had a look over that film and it was pretty ugly watching that,” Austin Rivers said after practice on Wednesday afternoon.

To anyone watching or participating in the series so far, it is obvious that very little has gone well for the Nuggets. That is why their odds of winning the series is +1040 according to FanDuel Sportsbook. Denver’s head coach Michael Malone was quick to point out a few very specific figures as to why the series against Golden State has gone so awry for Denver in the first two matchups.

“The points off turnovers – 23 (points) a game – 18 transition points per game, 44 (points) from the 3-point line and we are putting them on the foul line 27 times a game,” Malone stated after practice on Wednesday afternoon. “Taking all of that to the side, the intangibles; we have to play a lot harder and we have to be a lot more physical when we are out there.”

“They are just the aggressors and we are just laying down,” JaMychal Green said when reflecting on the Nuggets two losses to begin the series.

The frustration of so much going wrong for Denver in the first two games of the first round bubbled to the surface and boiled over in Game 2. The reigning Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic was ejected from the game for getting two technical fouls assessed to him and there was a verbal altercation between DeMarcus Cousins ​​and Will Barton III on the bench that grabbed the attention of many.

Still, despite the emotional loss in Game 2, the Nuggets did not splinter. They stayed together and refocused. When asked about the frustration of the first two games and the infighting on the bench in Game 2, all three of Austin Rivers, JaMychal Green, and Malone were in lock-step with their answers.

“That shit happens. It is part of basketball,” Green said. “We are competitive, but at the end of the day we are a unit, we are a team, and we are brothers. So we are going to go out there and fight to win at home.”

“Sometimes that happens,” Rivers said. “Guys play with passion, the game is not going our way and we are losing badly, and some guys are frustrated. Everybody means well so sometimes when things are said, it is all in the heat of the moment so sometimes it happens. It lasted five minutes and guys were over it. It was all just out of frustration and wanting to do better. That is kind of what the first two games were like for us; it just did not go our way and there are things we have to clean up as players.”

“That was out of the system before we got on the plane in Golden State,” Malone said. “No one likes to lose and no one likes to get embarrassed. The frustration came from a good place. We handled that internally and we are moving forward.

“We are together, we are fine, we have moved past that, and we will go into the game tomorrow night as one unified team. There is no hangover from what happened in that game.”

With that out of the way, the Nuggets headed into a day of rest and recovery after the loss before practicing on Wednesday morning and into the afternoon.

“The mood was frustration, but it was good energy,” Malone said when asked about how the mood of the practice was. “We got something out of it.”

“I think guys understand we are down 2-0. My message is simply that they did what they were supposed to do. They won two at home and now we are coming home and we have a chance to get back in the series by protecting our home court. We are only going to do that if we change how we are playing.”

One of the biggest adjustments Malone wants to see from his team is limiting the Warriors avalanche-like runs. Denver has been obliterated by just a run or two in each game that has left them completely disoriented and discombobulated.

“The games have been decided in two second-quarter runs; 44-12 if you combine the ends of the second quarters from Games 1 and 2,” Malone said. “We just have a hard time recovering from that.”

That is why Malone made sure to set aside time at practice to specifically key in on diagnosing how and why these runs are occurring. Denver has made mistakes to stimulate these runs and dissecting exactly what those mistakes are could dramatically improve Denver’s chances of avoiding those runs by the Warriors.

“We watched some of the runs they have had against us to look at why we are allowing those big runs,” Malone said. “We are compounding it; they are scoring, we are coming down not getting organized and not executing and not getting the best shot we can get, and now you are fueling a scary team offensively. We have seen that in the first two games and hopefully we can find a way to be a lot more effective and efficient come Game 3.”

In Green’s eyes, he thinks Denver is also trying to play at the Warriors ideal pace of play; not the nuggets. Focusing on playing at the speed Denver wants to play at should help minimize how effortlessly these Warriors runs have felt.

“Once they get on a run, we cannot play almost like they do. We have to slow it down, run some sets and get back into the game,” he said. “We have to crawl our way back in and sometimes I feel we try to play their game and that is not our game.”

Still, while stopping those seemingly unstoppable rushes is only part of the equation. Denver also needs to find a way to help Jokic on the offensive end of the floor.

“Other guys have to step up. Draymond Green is literally not guarding anybody,” Malone pointed out. “He is playing free safety out there and so we have to, and players he is guarding, have to find a way to be effective and make them pay for doing that. Until we do, it is going to be hard for Nikola to go off when he has three guys around him and they are saying we are going to make one of your other guys beat us. That is going to be a big, big key for us getting back into the series is having that next player step up and have that big game.”

The one player who Denver needs significantly more production from is Aaron Gordon, who is averaging just 7.5 points per game on 31.6% shooting from the field. Malone is aware the Nuggets need to find a way to get him going and he also made sure to prioritize time on Wednesday at practice to get with his coaching Staff and Gordon to find ways to get him into an offensive rhythm.

“We talked with Aaron today about different ways we can counter how they are guarding him and how he can not only help himself, but if they are not going to guard him, he can also help his teammates a lot as well,” Malone said . “Obviously we are not going to get into what those things are but for me I think it starts with an aggression level. Be aggressive.”

While getting Jamal Murray back from his ACL tear would be a massive boost, it does not appear to be imminent. When Malone was asked about Murray after practice, this is what he had to say.

“It’s killing him,” Malone said about Murray having to watch from the bench. “Once again, you go back to the 19 playoff games in the bubble – his last playoff experience – and he averaged 27 points a game, six or seven assists, five or six rebounds, and he did so shooting 50% from the field and Damn near 50% from three. Yes, it is killing him to not be out there and help us. If you look at their team, they have a three-headed monster in Poole, Curry and Klay. Right now, obviously, Jamal would be a welcomed addition with his playoff experience and how well he plays in the playoffs. He mentioned to me how it is really kind of driving him crazy that he is not able to go out there and help his teammates out.”

When Malone was asked if Murray went through practice today, he said, “yeah, but we didn’t do anything live.

“He was out there helping us out, but he is not going to be playing tomorrow night.”

So with no Murray in Game 3, what can the Nuggets do to control the game in a way they have failed to in Games 1 and 2? The consensus opinion among the Nuggets roster and coaching staff comes down to Denver’s willingness to be physical and aggressive.

“I think when you have two talented teams…the most aggressive team is going to win,” Malone said. “They have been the most aggressive team. They have been the more physical team.

“Until that changes, we have no chance in hell of winning a game in this series.”

Green echoed Malone’s sentiment as well.

“We need everybody to set a tone,” Green said. “We need everybody to go out there, be physical, and hit somebody. We cannot be the ones getting hit. We cannot be the ones crying and asking for fouls. We need to go and play through all of that.”

The Nuggets fully believe they can still win this series and that it just comes down to their own level of execution and urgency. Everyone on the roster knows this and is prepared for what is ahead because they know what the outcome will be if they do not play with the requisite desperation.

“Are we desperate? Well, we better play desperate,” Malone said. “We have to have a desperation and urgency about us tomorrow night or we will be down 3-0.”

Both Green and Rivers believe the team is ready for this challenge and that the Nuggets are embracing it.

“We got fighters and we are not quitters so until it is over with, we won’t stop fighting,” Green said.

“No one is down right now,” Rivers said. “I have been down 0-2 plenty of times in my career and came back but you have to win Game 3. This is a must-win for us. We know that. We cannot go down 3-0 so we are not going to sugarcoat it either. We do not want to be in this situation, but we are here, you know what I mean?

“You win one game and it is a series. That is all you can do. We have home court next game, we play tomorrow and we need to go get that ‘W’.”

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San Francisco students will soon be able to remove their masks on campus as San Francisco Unified School District and teachers’ union officials announced plans Friday to lift in-school mask requirements.

Mask requirements will be lifted for central district offices as well as middle and high schools in the city on March 12, when the state will also lift its indoor mask mandate for K-12 schools.

The district will then lift mask requirements at all other schools and worksites on April 2. At all district schools and worksites, the use of masks will still be recommended.

The district jointly announced the plan to lift its mask mandate with officials from labor unions representing its workers, including the United Administrators of San Francisco and the United Educators of San Francisco.

“We are committed to following public health guidance, and our health officials have stated that masks in schools are no longer required but still recommended,” SFUSD Superintendent Vincent Matthews said. “We are starting with middle and high schools, where there are higher vaccination rates, in order to give more time for families of younger students to get their children vaccinated.”

State officials announced Monday that mask requirements for students would be lifted March 11 at 11:59 pm but said individual school districts would have carte blanche to continue requiring the use of masks indoors.

SFUSD officials initially said the district would not change its masking policy on March 12, arguing that health officials still strongly recommended the use of masks and that masking is “one of the least burdensome” ways schools can reduce the virus’ spread.

On Friday, union officials said they supported the swift reversal, arguing that existing safety standards like regular testing and improved classroom ventilation will also help reduce the virus’ spread even if students are no longer required to wear a mask.

“With all of those multilayers of mitigation outlined in our ongoing health and safety agreement still in place, we support an ease in the mask mandate that still provides time for our youngest students to get vaccinated,” UESF president Cassondra Curiel said.

The district also announced that it will change its contact tracing policy for students, beginning March 24, allowing them to remain in class if they’ve been exposed to the virus unless they have or develop symptoms.

Students will also be required to test regularly after being exposed to determine if they contract the virus themselves.

According to the district, the policy will allow students to avoid missed school days, as previous policies required students exposed to the virus to stay home even if they did not show symptoms or test positive.

The district plans to distribute rapid COVID tests to students and staff during spring break, scheduled for the last week of March. Students and staff will be expected to use the tests prior to returning to school on April 4, regardless of if they are symptomatic.

“We recognize changes in masking and contact tracing practices will be a transition for our community,” Matthews said. “Throughout this pandemic we have had to constantly change but I trust we are moving in the right direction when we follow the science.”

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Ritu Jha-

Siva Raj, an Indian-American father of two, faced a difficult decision when the pandemic hit in 2020: rebuild his start-up business that fell victim to COVID-19, or face the sudden downfalls of his children to focus on prolonged school closures; he chose the latter.

That decision all these months ago has resulted in Raj, a data scientist by training, taking on the Herculean task today of recalling the board members of the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD).

Only speak to shows, Raj [Above with his children]expressed surprise and concern that the board was more focused on changing school names for political expediency than on ensuring better educational outcomes in a desperate situation.

There’s nothing wrong with changing names, he said, but is this the right time to do so when parents and students are grappling with the pandemic and its impact on education? Furthermore, the process was superficial and flawed without involving the community and parents.

“It wasn’t just the wrong time, it was the wrong way,” he said. “With billions of dollars in the school system in one of the wealthiest cities in the world, we’re fighting to get basic rights.”

Siva Raj with Autumn Looijen.

Raj is joined in his campaign by his partner Autumn Looijen. Both had relocated to San Francisco in December 2020 to join the ecosystem the city offers for startups. Both have now shelved their start-up idea in order to use a grassroots campaign to recall the school board.

Solarium told shows, “Siva and I have seen in our own family what a difference it makes to have open schools. My kids were happily studying personally down on the peninsula while he was stuck at home, depressed and falling behind. It was deeply unfair.

“Siva’s children are my children too and it was heartbreaking to see them fight,” she said.

The voting decision will be made on February 15; Postal ballots begin January 17. Three San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) board members were named in the special election: Gabriela López, Faauuga Moliga, and Alison Collins. According to the city’s elections office, more than 500,000 mail-in ballot packages are on the way and voters should expect them starting this week.

As to why only three are named in the recall election, Looijen said: “When we started recalling, only 3 members were eligible for recall – you have to wait 6 months after they were sworn in (in this case it would have meant waiting until July).”

Both Raj and Looijen believe the recall is important because every kid in San Francisco deserves a top-notch education — and that’s not going to happen with this board.

“This school board is letting kids fall behind during Zoom school and has no plan to help them catch up,” Looijen said. “They didn’t spend the money wisely and evicted families, and now they’ve taken $125 million out of our budgets. They treat parents like enemies when we all want the best for our children.

“It will take more than the recall to get our schools back on track – but getting better guidance is a crucial first step,” she added.

Raj said the deteriorating system at SFUSD was not due to a lack of money or talent, but rather a lack of political will. “For us, it’s been a real learning in terms of understanding why it’s happening. I’ve never bothered with politics in the past and lived here (San Francisco) for work,” he said.

Raj, who came to the US in 2010, initially lived in New York before moving to California to start a business. Before the pandemic hit, he worked in tech healthcare, selling specialty bikes to health clubs and gyms.

He worked with Looijen, a software developer, on another start-up and experimented with some ideas and apps to start a business until they decided to call it back.

Raj believes SFUSD stayed closed because he had no plan to reopen. Private schools reopened in 2020, as did schools in the Bay Area and Los Altos. They were ready because they had done the preliminary work in the summer of 2020.

In San Francisco, the school board was supposed to hire a “reopening consultant,” but declined. Raj said even Superintendent Vincent Matthews was furious with the board, saying it made reopening impossible.

When asked if she was with Dr. Matthews, he said they didn’t have direct access to the superintendent. In any case, it is not he who decides, but the school board. The Superintendent’s role is limited to executing the decisions of the Board of Directors.

San Francisco has a very diverse school district. Many of the students had little or no support at home. Some families had to go to work and simply giving a laptop was the starting point.

“I was lucky that I was home and able to supervise my kids and make sure they were on Zoom,” Raj said. “There were Wi-Fi issues and a lot of work. It was difficult.” The children, who came from disadvantaged families, were simply left behind, he said.

“We realized they just weren’t interested in the schools reopening, so we thought we should do something,” he explained of the reasons for the recall.

SFUSD elementary schools reopened in April last year, while middle and high schools reopened in the current school year in August 2021.

When asked why the recall election was called after schools reopened, Raj gave a number of reasons. “It was a tremendous learning loss for our children,” he said, “and even today, the board is unwilling to acknowledge the learning loss.

“You have to identify children and put in place a plan to help them catch up with their peers or their future is in jeopardy forever.

“What would they (the students) do when they graduate and have no future to look forward to? We can’t allow that,” he said.

School enrollments have fallen due to the prolonged shutdown, he continued, leading to severe budget cuts that could result in staff and teacher cutbacks.

A third major issue is racism on the board. “In March, we discovered that former San Francisco School Board Vice President Alison Collins made anti-Asian tweets that she refused to acknowledge until asked to resign, and then sued SFUSD schools for $87 million, because she said this violated her first edit rights.

“The level of dysfunction happening here at (the SFUSD) is exorbitant,” exclaimed Raj.

He explained why the three board members were chosen: “The three that we remember made bad decisions at every step. Instead of focusing on the students’ education, they focus on all sorts of shenanigans. They are more interested in advancing their political careers.

“They could have apologized and offered corrections, but they took the opposite approach. The children will be badly affected,” he added.

Getting the recall going wasn’t easy considering how difficult it has been to get signatures during the pandemic. Raj, Looijen and their supporters collected personal signatures from April 1st to September 7th. “In San Francisco, we had to submit 51,325 valid signatures to get the recall on the ballot,” Raj said. “We have almost 80,000.”

Last July, the San Francisco Chronicle published an opinion poll showing that 71 percent of San Francisco residents disapproved of the school board and 69 percent of public school parents supported the recall.

Raj has received a wave of support from Mayor London Breed for former California Democratic Party leader John Burton.

“We’re a grassroots organization run mostly by parents and some teachers and people interested in public education,” he said. “We Are Nonpartisan” Nearly 1,000 people volunteered to collect signatures for the recall petition. “We’ve had people standing in grocery stores and farmers markets all over the place,” he added.

Raj was hopeful for the February 15 result. “We have so many crises that need to be resolved,” he said. “We feel safe and we’re out there every weekend talking to people and educating them.”

If all three members are removed, the mayor of the city appoints three new members in their place.

Possibly the first Indian-American to initiate such civic action and become a catalyst for change, Raj said, “This is very important to us. Education is central to Asian Americans, and that’s why so many come to America because we’re educated.”

“Many of us come from poor backgrounds. We are in San Francisco, we have money because of our education and skills, and we want our next generations to have a similar opportunity.”

The campaign was also supported by the Chinese American Democratic Club. “People are united and they feel very strong in this recall election,” Raj said.

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In line with other Bay Area school districts that have been forced to close schools after facing staff shortages, low test availability and high COVID-19 case rates this week, Milpitas schools will open for most students from Monday through mid-January go back online temporarily.

The Education Committee of the Milpitas Unified School District voted on Thursday evening to send children back to virtual learning healthy to school by January 18.

“This week we had an exorbitant number of positive student and employee cases, which led to even more students and employees being quarantined,” said a letter from the school management to the school community. “In view of the number of cases, the possibility of being in close contact with a positive case has increased.”

The district is also struggling with a lack of teachers and staff. The district had 167 substitute teacher positions and 107 auxiliary positions that week, leaving administrative staff to teach instead of the teachers who stayed at home.

In Oakland, an organized teacher outage Friday caused the Oakland Unified School district to close at least 11 schools for the day. Teachers are calling for better safety measures for students, staff and teachers, and encouraging the district to teach online instead of face-to-face for two weeks.

In Milpitas, parents are required to sign an independent study contract so that their children can virtually go to school while the school is closed. The district also offers parents who have to work or whose household has insufficient internet connection the possibility of sending their children to school, where they can take part in classes virtually on the laptops provided by the district. All students enrolled in the classroom option will be mentored, said Scott Forstner, a district spokesman.

West Contra Costa schools and some private and charter schools are also temporarily closing, and others in the Bay Area are making efforts to keep classrooms open amid testing and staff shortages.

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John Baker

Amid the uncertainty and disruption of police services in the South San Francisco Unified School District, school officials have signed a new agreement with the city and its law enforcement agency detailing how and when officers should be on campus.

“I don’t think it’s perfect, but it’s leaps and bounds beyond what we had before,” said Trustee John Baker during a special meeting of the SSFUSD Board of Trustees Tuesday.

For more than a year now, county and city officials have been drafting a letter of intent to clearly define when or not to involve school liaison officers in disciplinary matters and student programming.

Failing to come to an agreement before the new school year, the SSFUSD trustees decided to suspend the use of SLOs on school grounds this summer until a formal letter of intent could be adopted by both parties.

During Tuesday’s meeting, Superintendent Dr. Shawnterra Moore said the district has had some issues since suspending the use of SLOs on campus. Without a letter of intent, teachers and administrators were “rightly” reluctant to contact the police.

“I think it has created some confusion and challenges across the board because people need clarity,” said Moore, noting that neighbors have also complained about increasing traffic problems.

Dr. Ryan Sebers, director of the student union, said teachers and school administrators had hesitated to call the police even in the cases clearly outlined in the education law. Although the board has suspended the SLO program on campus, school staff are still required and instructed to follow the disciplinary protocol set out in the code, Moore said.

Instead, Sebers said he and other district administrators had received calls asking school staff for instructions on whether a call to law enforcement was acceptable. The calls and hesitation have resulted in delayed responses to issues that require quicker responses, he said.

“While everyone could have different definitions of security and so on, I think it’s pretty clear that the administrators are very interested in the physical and emotional safety of the students and the school staff,” Sebers said. “So we have the question of where administrators would normally exercise their instincts.”

Given that the county and police have had some kind of relationship for decades, vice president of the board Mina Richardson said the community has gotten used to the program and needs time to adjust to the changing partnership.

“We have had the police force in our district for over 40 years. That’s a generation, ”said Richardson. “If we resign, these programs will continue, they will continue.”

Moore said responsiveness and communication between the two agencies are also tense, making district officials wonder if they’ll get a response when services are requested.

In response to the concerns, Baker accused the police department of “metaphorical baton swinging” by senior management. He suggested that the department hadn’t responded quickly to issues like traffic assistance as the role was previously the responsibility of an SLO, adding, “It was very worrying”.

As the trustee who recommended most of the changes to the MOU, he doubled three deal-breaker issues that he needed to see in the document before he could give his approval to the agreement.

To earn his support, agencies must agree to review the document annually without an automatic renewal process, share data demonstrating the effectiveness of the program, and agree that officials would not enter campus for occasional disciplinary action or without an adequate complaint process.

The board supported Baker’s key inquiries but also agreed to a request from Trustee Patricia Murray to remove granular language from the document. Instead, the Board agreed that details regarding the handling of disciplinary matters or officials should be included in an internal manual.

“It’s not the job of the board of directors or the city council to micromanage this process,” said Murray.

Board chairman Daina Lujan and trustee Chialin Hsieh also noted that the district catered for students from kindergarten through adulthood, whose experiences are likely to vary widely, and recommended that data collected across campus be collected in a tier-appropriate manner.

Additional language will be included in the document to further elaborate on protections for undocumented students who may interact with SLOs, as requested by Student Trustee Samantha Avila Gomez.

Murray also suggested the district resume the program after receiving complaints from some parishioners who said they felt unsafe without the officials on campus.

Police presence on campus has been greatly reduced, but officers have been recruited from counselors or local child protection services. Moore said she could count on one hand the number of times that had happened that school year.

Murray’s motion did not find widespread support on the board and left the suspension of the SLO program in effect until both parties could agree on a letter of intent. The latest draft contract will now be presented to the city for review after Moore and the lawyer signed the document.

If the city does not approve of the updated version of the MOU, the revisions will again be sent back to the board for further consideration.

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