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SF provides free food, extends care for students during teachers strike.
The City of San Francisco and non-profits are trying to provide for the districts 50,000 children and their families impacted by the SFUSD teachers strike which shut down all schools Monday.
SAN FRANCISCO - The first day of the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) teachers strike left thousands of families searching for childcare options on Monday. Many non-profits were also scrambling to find locations, as the school buildings where they usually conduct after-school programs were shut down.
"As soon as we found out the schools were closed, we started reaching out to our partners," Eddie Kaufman, CEO of Mission Graduates, said.
Non-profits, SF Parks offer full-day care
Kaufman said Mission Graduates and other non-profits decided to expand to a full-day program, to try and support families with working parents.
"If they're not able to have their kids in programs, they have to take the day off work. And many of them can't afford to take the day off work," Kaufman said.
The Community Music Center in the Mission District and other sites in the city offered free space to Mission Graduates, but the program could only find capacity for 200 of the 1,500 kids in their program.
The San Francisco Recreation And Park Department also opened 19 recreation sites, extending hours to full-day care for some 500 children already enrolled in after-school programs.
"So that parents can drop their children off when school normally starts and then pick them up when they normally do at 5 o'clock. We were also providing food distribution access. DCYF is leading that," Tamara Barak Aparton, a SF Recreation and Park spokesperson, said.
DCYF is the city's Department of Children Youth and their Families.
Temporary Child Care Assistance:
The Children's Council of San Francisco is also offering assistance for families in need of temporary emergency child care for children ages 0-5 years of age. Families can get assistance by calling 415-343-3300 or emailing rr@childrenscouncil.org.
Free meals for SFUSD students
Many children depend on free meals during the school year, so the city's (DCYF) set up 27 free breakfast and lunch sites for students to pick up meals on Monday, and plan to expand to 36 free meal sites on Tuesday.
Free meals: A list of the free meal sites can be found on their DCYF website.
Taking off work, or bringing kids to work
Some parents joined teachers at the picket lines... Bringing their children.
For families with both parents working, juggling schedules for childcare was a challenge. Some people said they took off work, others took their children with them to work.
"It's been hard to find plans. My wife is a nurse at UCSF. I work at the opera house down the street. I'm a policy director doing consulting work and so a lot of it is just shifting and juggling schedules," Theo Ellington, a parent of a first-grade student in the Bayview neighborhood, said. "I worry about many parents who live in this neighborhood and live in the southeast side of San Francisco who have limited options."
Schools to remain closed through Tuesday amid SF teachers strike
Classes will remain canceled through at least Tuesday for 50,000 students in San Francisco as teachers went on strike this week for the first time in nearly 50 years.