El Tecolote Vol. 51 Issue 4

Page 1

FREE//GRATUITO

PUBLISHED BY ACCIÓN LATINA

Vol. 51 No. 04

February 25-March 10, 2021

SFUSD ADDS A COURTROOM BATTLE TO THEIR LENGTHY LIST OF REOPENING HURDLES SUMA SFUSD UNA QUERELLA LEGAL A SU LARGA LISTA DE OBSTÁCULOS PARA LA REAPERTURA Maura Corkery

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El Tecolote

n what has deemed quite an unusual move, San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera announced on Feb. 3, that he had filed a lawsuit against the San Francisco United School District (SFUSD) and the San Francisco Board of Education (BOE) on the grounds that their plans to reopen the city’s public schools were “woefully inadequate and [didn’t] meet the basic requirements set by the state” to offer in-person, classroom instruction whenever possible. Mayor London Breed publicly voiced her full support for the lawsuit at the same time, adding that “the City has offered resources and staff to get our school facilities ready and to support testing for our educators… We’ve offered the guidance and expertise of the Department of Public Health…We need to get our schools open.” But despite the claims made by Herrera and Breed, it should be noted that the SFUSD’s website has had fairly detailed reopening guidelines posted since at least the beginning of December, months before Herrera filed the suit. And while Breed is not wrong for wanting schools to reopen, many educators want to be back in the classroom as well. When looking at the number of mechanisms that need to Un vehículo se alista para sumarse a la caravana encabezada el 10 de febrero por profesores del Distrito Escolar de San Francisco organizados para be aligned with each other in order to demandar un regreso seguro de las escuelas a la educación presencial. A car prepares to join a caravan on Feb. 10, led by SFUSD educators and community achieve a successful and safe reopenmembers demanding a safe return to schools. Photo: Sean Reyes ing, it becomes understandable why the schools have yet to do so. According to Frank Lara, a San Maura Corkery El Tecolote Francisco public school teacher and union leader, reopening the schools n lo que se ha considerado un is a complex, multi-layered process acontecimiento bastante inthat must somehow appease the usual, Dennis Herrera, fiscal members of the United Educators of San Francisco (UESF, the teacher’s de San Francisco, anunció el pasado union), the Service Employees Inter- 3 de febrero haber presentado una national Union (SEIU, school staff), demanda contra el Distrito Escolar the SFUSD, and the BOE while co- Unido de San Francisco (SFUSD) y ordinating with various other City el Consejo de Educación (BOE) por departments to make sure that the considerar que su estrategia de rearequisite safety measures are in place pertura de las escuelas públicas de la to keep both the student and adult ciudad son “sumamente inadecuadas populations safe. It requires balanc- y no cumplen los requisitos básicos ing “all the various needs [that]… establecidos por el Estado” para, many times are split down the mid- siempre que sea posible, impartir clases presenciales. dle,” Lara said. La alcaldesa London Breed exEven the undisputed, cut-anddried basics are difficult to fill. One presó públicamente su apoyo a dicha of the conditions for reopening demanda y añadió que “la ciudad ha schools, for example, is that the Dis- ofrecido recursos y personal para trict contracts with a private compa- preparar las instalaciones escolares ny, or companies, that can deliver y apoyar las evaluaciones a nuesand process regular COVID-19 tests, tros profesores... Hemos ofrecido la every two weeks, for roughly 10,000 asesoría y la experiencia del Departeachers and staff members, and tamento de Salud Pública... Tenemos 50,000 students. The scale of coor- que conseguir que nuestras escuelas dinating and implementing this sin- abran”. A pesar de las declaraciones he- La profesora y bibliotecaria del SFUSD, Nathalie Hrizi, expresa su preocupación sobre la demanda entablada por gle provision is massive and would chas por Herrera y Breed, cabe se- la ciudad en contra su distrito escolar. SFUSD Teacher Librarian Nathalie Hrizi addresses her concerns regarding the normally take about a year, but the District must figure out how to do it ñalar que el sitio web del SFUSD ha city’s lawsuit against its own school district on Feb. 10. Photo: Sean Reyes in mere weeks despite being under- hecho públicas indicaciones bastante

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See SCHOOLS, page 9

Vea DEMANDA, página 10


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