It's still unclear when San Francisco students will return to the classroom, but the school district on Wednesday showed the work it has done to make sure children are safe when they do return.
At Sunset Elementary School, there is a new setup ready. The school is one of the first six elementary schools to have been inspected by the department of public health, which must sign off on any school before it reopens.
"Desks that are again socially distanced — apart 6 feet each," San Francisco Unified School District's Chief Facilities Officer Dawn Kamalanathan said. "You'll see a teacher's desk that is set up with a tri-fold partition face shield and all the other types of typical PPE that we're providing: tissues, hand sanitizer, wipes."
There will be reduced capacity in classrooms and bathrooms. Also, water fountains will be taped off.
The city's public school leaders have faced criticism from several parents and politicians over their plans and efforts to reopen schools. As of Wednesday, there still wasn't a firm date.
"The difficulty there is that we don’t have a date for when vaccines are going to be here," SFUSD Superintendent Dr. Vincent Matthews said. "As you know, we’re still in the purple [tier]."
Negotiations are still ongoing about what the school day will look like, but remote learning will still be an option.
The school district said additional sites are being prepped for inspection. When the schools do open, it will happen in waves.
