Health inspections at 6 SF elementary schools completed, as district moves forward with reopenings

San Francisco Unified School District officials on Wednesday announced that six elementary schools within the district have been inspected by city health officials and are ready to reopen for in-person learning.

With inspections by the San Francisco Department of Public Health at Alvarado, Dr. William Cobb, Glen Park, Lawton, John Muir and Sunset elementary schools now completed, the district is preparing to reopen the sites as part of the first wave of school reopenings.

The district's announcement comes nearly two weeks after City Attorney Dennis Herrera announced a lawsuit against both the district and the Board of Education, alleging the nearly yearlong closure of schools was in violation of the state constitution.

The district's announcement also follows a tentative agreement recently reached between the district and unions representing teachers and other SFUSD staff over in-person learning health and safety standards. The tentative agreement is set to be ratified at the Board of Education's meeting on Tuesday.

Although the district didn't give a date for when the six schools would reopen, most criteria for reopening has either been completed, is almost done or remains in progress, according to the district's In-Person Learning Readiness Dashboard.

The Board of Education is now calling on the city to support the district's reopening efforts to get students back in classrooms.

"We are asking for help from the City of San Francisco to support work within the purview of city departments, including prioritizing school staff for vaccines; conducting student and staff surveillance testing every two weeks; and providing sufficient public transportation infrastructure for students and staff," Board President Gabriela Lopez said in a statement. "We cannot open school sites without real support from the city. Our children deserve to have us working together now."

"The challenges and complexities of reopening our public schools during the pandemic cannot be overstated and are not unique to SFUSD," Superintendent Vincent Matthews said. "SFUSD is committed to providing in-person learning and to also supporting students in distance learning whose families prefer that option."