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SFUSD posts school-reopening dashboard; parents and staff differ on timing and testing
Summary
Superintendent Matthews unveiled a dashboard that breaks reopening into safety milestones. Community speakers urged faster reopening and offered to help with testing and outdoor options; others, including APAC and union leaders, urged caution and stronger supports for vulnerable families and staff.
Superintendent Matthews presented a new public dashboard on Oct. 20 designed to track progress against a decision tree the district will use to reopen school buildings in phases. The dashboard breaks reopening into safety-focused work streams: identifying small priority cohorts, general safety measures, staff training, testing and surveillance, data collection and labor agreements.
Matthews said the most difficult requirement is a robust testing and tracing system. The dashboard uses a color-coded progress scale (pink/orange/yellow/green) and staff briefed the board on which milestones are complete, in progress, or still to start. Matthews cautioned that the district does not expect to bring students back before the end of the calendar year because the testing and surveillance systems remain under development.
Public comment reflected deep divisions. Many parents and private-school advocates urged the board and staff to set aggressive reopening dates, use outdoor space and enlist wealthy local donors and medical institutions to pay for large-scale testing to speed reopening. Othersincluding union representatives, APAC leaders and many parents in neighborhoods with high COVID ratesurged patience, stronger city partnerships, and explicit plans to protect vulnerable families. Several speakers recommended that the district adopt mobile or city-run testing sites and tap existing public-health capacity.
APAC (the African American Parent Advisory Council) presented a separate report titled "The Gift of Black Family Partnerships," asking the district to prioritize culturally responsive supports, tracked implementation of prior APAC recommendations and a wellness study for the Black community. APAC leaders asked for a seat on advisory teams for curriculum and reopening and described significant voluntary parent labor that has sustained district partnerships.
Board members asked for more detailed cost modeling and for staff to return with budget estimates for surveillance testing, PPE and building upgrades. Staff said early estimates for testing range widely ($100$300 per test) and that detailed cost estimates were being developed with DPH and UCSF epidemiologists. Commissioners asked staff to post dashboard percentages and regular updates and to make reopening a standing agenda item.
What happens next: The dashboard will be published publicly and updated weekly; staff will continue to work with the Department of Public Health and city partners on testing options and with labor partners on MOUs. The board asked for a fiscal analysis of reopening costs and for improved two-way communications with families about specific needs and opportunities to help.
