Parents in limbo as San Francisco school district grapples with ongoing problems
SAN FRANCISCO -- For some San Francisco Unified School District families, it feels like never-ending bad news.
On Friday a review by district officials found that about 350 teachers do not have active teaching credentials.
This is after the district missed a deadline to announce impending school closures back on Sept. 18.
"It's more about the thrashing I suppose than any one thing," said parent Gerald Kanapathy about the situation.
Kanapathy has two children at San Francisco Public Montessori. He was waiting for the school closure list that was supposed to be released on the 18th.
"If I'm looking at it objectively, I'd say it's probably one of the first on the list to be closed and we kind of knew that a year ago," Kanapathy said.
Kanapathy says the school has always been on the small side and, lately, resources have continued to shrink.
"Classrooms are more full, we have fewer days on support," said Kanapathy. "We've lost some of the days for enrichment programs and things like that. I'm a little aprehensive about that trend continuing."
He says now he's stuck in limbo and enrollment fairs start in October. He is usually one who helps educate prospective parents.
"Now the question is: 'Is it going to be this year? Is it going to be dragging it out another year? What's going to happen?'"
Kanapathy would prefer the district announce the closure than have to wait in anticipation of it. He's concerned that district leaders are losing focus with so much going on.
"I've had a lot less confidence in the competence of the district's execution of basic functions like this," Kanapathy said.
As for the 350 teachers who lack required teaching credentials, he thinks that may be a result of the pandemic and certain requirements being waved because of staffing shortage.
"I do remember that the district was bringing on teachers then allowing them to get their certifications later," he said. "I'm assuming that these are people who came aboard during that program and have not completed or reached that level."
He's not outraged by the issue but he's still disappointed.
"I have the sense that the day-to-day operations are worse and more impactful than I had thought," Kanpathy said.
Kanapathy says he knows other parents are concerned about the future of SFUSD. He is too. He's trying to stay hopeful they'll get some resolution soon.