San Francisco Unified School District Board pauses its plan to rename 44 of its schools to focus on reopening
Abraham
Lincoln High School is one of dozens of school that San Francisco
Unified School District officials voted to rename in January.
(CNN)The head of San Francisco's public school system said the plan to rename dozens of its schools after controversial public figures will be pushed to the backburner as the district focuses solely on school reopening.
"There
have been many distracting public debates as we've been working to
reopen our schools," San Francisco Unified School District Board
President Gabriela López wrote in a letter, published in the San Francisco Chronicle and shared to her Twitter account on Sunday. "School renaming has been one of them."
López said the renaming process "begun in 2018 with a timeline that didn't anticipate a pandemic."
"I acknowledge and take responsibility that mistakes were made in the renaming process," she wrote.
Sunday's statement, López said, will be her last time commenting publicly on renaming schools, "until schools are reopened."
"We
will not be taking valuable time from our board agendas to further
discuss this, as we need to prioritize reopening," López wrote.
"I
want us to focus our time and actions where they matter most. On the
safety of our children, and on safely getting them back into schools."
The
news comes about one month after the school board voted 6-1 to rename
44 campuses linked to controversial public figures including former
Presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, and current US Sen.
Dianne Feinstein.
It was the latest school district to make such a decision -- in recent years, city councils and school districts nationwide have renamed buildings and removed monuments dedicated to Confederate leaders who fought to preserve slavery and White supremacy in America.
In
January, following the school board's vote, San Francisco Mayor London
Breed said she supported the board's decision to rename the schools.
However, she also expressed frustration that the board had not yet
created a plan for reopening schools.
"What
I cannot understand is why the School Board is advancing a plan to have
all these schools renamed by April, when there isn't a plan to have our
kids back in the classroom by then," Breed said last month.
"Our
students are suffering, and we should be talking about getting them in
classrooms, getting them mental health support, and getting them the
resources they need in this challenging time. Our families are
frustrated about a lack of a plan, and they are especially frustrated
with the fact that the discussion of these plans weren't even on the
agenda for last night's School Board meeting."
The
district, which comprises of 140 pre-kindergarten through 12th grade
public schools, is among the many nationwide that has implemented
distance learning due to the pandemic.
Earlier
this month, the San Francisco City Attorney filed an emergency court
order to open schools soon after city leaders announced a lawsuit
against its own school system for "failing to come up with a reopening
plan" for the students the district serves.
On Saturday, the SFUSD posted its proposal for
hybrid learning this spring. The district said it is committed to
prioritizing students for full-day in-person learning, which is
determined by physical space, enrollment, staffing and family interest.
The SFUSD did not provide further details regarding the plan, and directed CNN to the letter in the Chronicle.
No comments