Over the last week since the school closures/merger list was released, I’ve spoken to parents, educators and staff, and so many in our City who care deeply about our public schools. What I’ve heard over and over is confusion and concern around the proposed school closures/merger list and how it has been communicated and managed. I’ve heard from parents, students, and educators who are fearful about the futures of their schools. I’ve heard from too many questioning the long-term stability of the School District and whether their children should remain enrolled there.
This cannot continue. Whatever this current proposed school closure process was meant to accomplish, or could have accomplished, is lost. Unfortunately, the only achievement has been to make a precarious time for our public schools even more chaotic. This has become a distraction from the very real work that must be done to balance the budget in the next two months to prevent a state takeover. It is time to immediately stop this school closure process.
Hardworking staff at the District office are doing incredibly difficult work to avoid a state takeover. That work requires balancing the District’s budget by December. The City’s School Stabilization Team is working alongside District staff on critical operational issues, including expediting teacher credentialing, providing oversight to special education budget and programs, and auditing internal procedures to restore system health. All that work must continue. But they cannot do this under the chaos of this mismanaged school closure process.
I have lost confidence in the Superintendent's ability to manage the current process and do not believe this current plan will lead to an outcome that will benefit students and the School District in the long-term. I recognize that discussions around school closures and mergers are difficult and painful, but that only speaks to why any effort to engage in this conversation must be done with care, clarity, and competence. That has not happened here, and I don’t have confidence that it can happen right now under the current conditions.
To be clear: the weeks and months ahead are going to be incredibly difficult. There are painful but necessary decisions that will have to be made, and any school closures or mergers would only be one small piece of the overall effort to balance the budget. We must do everything we can to ensure that San Francisco public schools remain under local control so our School District can deliver the quality education that our students deserve.
###