School district establishing 'learning hubs' around San Francisco to support distance learning
SA FRANCISCO (KTVU) - San Francisco is now releasing new details on how the upcoming academic year will unfold. The district just released details on the academic plan it will be sending to the school board next week, and the city is working to make sure those students most at risk of falling behind have someplace to go.
The district says this year will start with distance learning, and they're creating a system of hubs to reach out to thousands of students who might otherwise get left behind.
With instruction set to get underway in just three weeks, San Francisco Unified School District finalized its plans for distance learning and will submit them to the school board next week. As expected, instruction will begin with distance learning, and the district says it has learned a lot after having to improvise last spring. The district said it has also received feedback from families and will roll that into the plan.
One of the top concerns, families say they want more time for online interactions, not just pulling assignments down from a website.
"So not only that the teachers the students want to connect more with their teachers, they wanted that for sure, but they also wanted opportunities to connect with each other," said Dr. Vincent Matthews, Superintendent of
San Francisco Unified School District. "They wanted opportunities to build relationships. They wanted to make sure that was happening and we totally get that."
San Francisco rolled out the details of its plan on Friday. The district said it will provide 40 hubs throughout the city to make sure that as many as 6,000 students in traditionally underserved communities aren't left behind.
"We know our highest needs children struggled the most," said Maria Su from the Department of Children Youth and their Families.
She said the hubs will be located in nonprofits, libraries, and park properties around San Francisco, and will bring resources directly to the kids who need them the most.
"That means having an academic support staff that is supporting the kids to open up their zooms, checking in their homework. And then providing a healthy meal and then providing all that enrichment and wraparound support."
The city's Recreation and Parks Department said with public parks within a 10-minute walk of any home in the city, it is ready to step up in an unprecedented way.
San Francisco schools have posted details on their plans for this coming academic year on their website. Parents can weigh in at the next board of education meeting planned for next Tuesday.