SAN FRANCISCO—On July 28, San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) Board of Education presented the latest version of the Fall Distance Learning Plan.
On July 17, the California Department of Public Health Directive (CDPH) released a mandatory directive stating that “schools and school districts may reopen for in-person instruction at any time if they are located in the local health jurisdiction (LHJ) that has not been on the county monitoring list within the prior 14 days.” San Francisco County was placed on the monitoring list on July 17 and for now must conduct distance learning only.
The Fall Distance Learning Plan was presented by Superintendent Dr. Vincent Matthews as a high-level recommendation on moving forward in the midst of the pandemic. The plan was created around safety protocols as determined by guidance from local, state, and government agencies.
“We will only return to in-person operations when science and data says it is safe to do so,” said Mele Lau Smith, Executive Director of San Francisco Unified.
Superintendent Matthews summarized the action stating that, “What has driven us to this place starts with our core values of being student centered, fearless, united, meeting the needs of students, and diversity of our staff and students.”
The first day of the fall semester is scheduled for August 17, 2020. The current plan is a two-prong approach:
- Digital distance learning with Seesaw for grades PK-2 and Google Classroom for grades 3-12
- A non-digital learning approach through which the schools themselves will work to distribute materials
“An obstacle in distance learning is inconsistency with expectations and implementation of synchronous instruction,” one parent reported to the SFUSD.
Next steps include working with labor partners to finalize distance learning plans.
