An Open Letter from San Francisco Teachers

As educators, each year, we wear so many invisible hats in addition to the ones in our official job description. Based on each moment's demand, we habitually shape-shift. We are nurses, food servers, counselors, friends, and even parents to needy students. This year, the hats have multiplied. We’ve had to become broadcasters, IT consultants, talk-show hosts, and tech support gurus. As many parents have shared, the connection to their teachers is the harness that has sustained children in the free-fall that the pandemic has been.

Yet, "epidemiologist" should not be a job title to adopt at this confusing time. Our jobs are hard enough, we should not be the ones deciding when to return to in-person instruction. We must trust our esteemed professional counterparts in medicine and the public health community. We should count on SFDPH to evaluate the district's plans and buildings and not allow any site to open before all the evidence-based precautions are in place.  After all, we now have data to show that these precautions have proven successful at other schools and venues open to children for many months now.  Bargaining for multiple additional demands sends the wrong message of not trusting the science. Isn’t that what we hope our students will learn, to trust science?

When a fire alarm at a school site goes on, we calmly guide our students to safety until the firefighters arrive, analyze the situation, and announce that it is safe for all of us to return to the building. When there is a lock-down (another scary harbinger of the unhealthy times we live in), we let the police make the call, based on their professional judgment, when to lift it and return to the ever-elusive "normal." We do not argue with these specialists based on our own personal opinions and fears about when it is "safe to return." This is a medical emergency, and we must let the Department of Public Health decide when each of our schools should re-open.  Let us return to the classrooms to perform the essential public service of teaching. The data shows that too many of our students are failing to thrive in the virtual environment, and that schools can re-open with very little risk. It is time to make that happen.

We hope others will consider joining us by signing this letter.

UESF Members:

Julia Nemchuk

Speech Language Pathologist

Commodore Sloat Elementary

Daniel Webster Elementary 

David Moisl

Kindergarten Teacher

West Portal Elementary 

Renee Moyer

School Psychologist

Daniel Webster Elementary

New Traditions Elementary 

Jessica Wallack-Cohen

Paraeducator

Sunnyside Elementary

Lynn Hatamiya

English Language Development Teacher

Commodore Sloat Elementary 

Sofia Gonzalez-Dyer

RSP Teacher

Daniel Webster Elementary 

Laura Crahan Girvin

Special Education Teacher

Buena Vista Horace Mann K-8 

Reyna Benbow

Teacher

Roosevelt Middle School 

James H Cunningham

Science Teacher

Visitacion Valley MS 

Pres Benbow

Special Education Teacher

Marina Middle School 

Iris Weiss

Special Education Teacher

Balboa High School

Cicily Ennix

Resource Specialist

Independence High School 

Jack Doyle

Teacher

Lincoln High School 

Mira Raykova

Science Teacher

Independence High School 

Daniel Frost

Teacher on Special Assignment

Digital Learning Facilitator

Department of Technology

Christy Coelho Gagan

Special Education Teacher

Miraloma Elementary

Beth Davenport Lucey

Early Literacy Teacher

Miraloma Elementary

Grace Beaver

Social Worker 

Commodore Sloat Elementary

Junko Tanaka

4th Grade Japanese Bilingual Bicultural Program

Clarendon Elementary

Daniel Lao

Special Education Teacher

Lincoln High School

Kevin P. Doherty

Teacher

Lincoln High School

Alyson Lao

ELD Teacher

Ulloa Elementary

Phan Furman

ELD Teacher 

West Portal Elementary

Sara Chalk

School District Nurse

Lincoln High School

J. Monty Worth

Teacher

Lowell High School

Kevin Robertson

Guest/Substitute Teacher

Districtwide

Dottie Beck

Board Certified Behavior Analyst, BCBA

Multiple Schools

Ann Marie Jesse
Speech and Language Pathologist 

Miraloma Elementary School