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SFUSD outlines safety protocols and rules for limited in-person seats: masks, cohorts, closure triggers
Summary
District staff presented preliminary health protocols — screening, isolation areas, daily cleaning, required face coverings indoors, cohorting — and described state closure criteria and district-level thresholds that would govern any return to in-person instruction.
San Francisco Unified presenters described a preliminary set of health and safety protocols to govern any eventual return to classrooms, and said reopening will be contingent on county- and school-level metrics.
Key protocols: Presenter Mele Lau Smith (safety/coordinated care) told the board the district’s plan includes student screening, designated isolation areas, cohorting to limit contacts, daily cleaning of high-touch surfaces, physical distancing, training in hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette, minimizing nonessential visitors, and requiring face coverings indoors. The district will provide personal protective equipment to staff as required for job duties.
Closure triggers: The presenters cited California Department of Public Health guidance: a county must be off the state monitoring list for 14 consecutive days before in-person instruction may resume. At the school level, closure criteria can include multiple cases across cohorts or at least 5% of total students and staff testing positive within 14 days; at the district level, the superintendent would consider closure if 25% or more of schools close within 14 days.
Prioritization and logistics: Facilities staff said custodial capacity (about 3,200,000 sq. ft. cleaned daily by roughly 300 custodians) and transportation constraints will shape which sites can host in-person learning. The district recommended prioritizing PK–2 at elementary sites (because of fire-safety and sprinkler requirements), special-education moderate/severe day classes, foster and homeless youth, and students who were minimally engaged during spring distance learning.
Quotations: "We will follow the California Department of Public Health guidance on school closure," Mele Lau Smith said; she added, "schools cannot open unless they've been off the monitoring list for 14 consecutive days." Superintendent Matthews and facilities staff repeatedly framed any return as data-driven.
What this means: The protocols set a baseline for planning but many operational details — how cohorts are scheduled, who provides PPE, transportation routing and costs, and labor agreements for staff roles — remain subject to negotiation and local site planning. Staff said they are completing site-by-site assessments and prototyping outdoor learning options where feasible.
Speakers quoted are taken from the official board transcript.
