San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Vincent Matthews announced Wednesday that he is retiring at the end of June.
Matthews, who started as superintendent in May 2017, has overseen a tumultuous time in the district, which is still in the process of planning to reopen schools that closed in March 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
While SFUSD students have done distance learning for the past year, the district has come under criticism for its lack of progress in reopening plans, even being sued last month by City Attorney Dennis Herrera who alleged the district's plans to reopen were inadequate and didn't meet state guidelines.
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"For the remainder of my time as superintendent I remain committed to the critical work in front of us: Bringing students back to in-person learning, continuing to provide distance learning and planning for the summer and fall," Matthews said.
He said he was not going to discuss his decision to retire in more detail because he wants "to support our sustained focus on this challenging task."
San Francisco Board of Education president Gabriela Lopez said the board will work with the superintendent to create a transition plan.
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"We are fortunate to have worked with an educator who is a native of San Francisco and proud alumni of our public schools," Lopez said. "We will have more information to share about hiring Dr. Matthews' replacement shortly. In the meantime we know we will continue to build on the work we have done together."
