Andrew Libson, the Mission High physics teacher who was investigated for teaching students how to make circuits in Dolores Park, was issued a counseling memo on Monday — a measure amounting to little more than a warning.
Though he does not plan to host another in-person event with his students, he’ll be collaborating with a group of Mission parents this weekend to teach more children about circuits.
In a letter to Libson, Mission High principal Pirette McKamey invoked a San Francisco health order against gatherings involving more than three different households, which she said he had violated.
Libson’s March 29 outdoor learning event over spring break involved 11 students and some of their family members; he led them in an activity about circuits, with Covid safety protocols enforced. The event was entirely optional for students, and students were required to get the consent of their parents before attending.
McKamey added that district policy requires teachers to exercise “good judgement” when interacting with the community, and that by hosting an outdoor event, Libson had not modeled safe behavior.
“At a time when it is incumbent upon all of us to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and follow the directives of our public health officials, you have exercised poor judgement in choosing to disregard these directives,” she wrote.
McKamey declined to comment on how the decision to issue the memo was reached.
Libson said he was relieved that the response was on the lighter end of the spectrum and will not be added to his permanent file, though he wished the school district and McKamey would have supported him in his endeavor. He also acknowledged that the event may have technically violated city health directives, though he said such a criticism was “very nitpicky.”
“Look, this wasn’t like we did this as some sort of party,” he said. “This was an event families felt was educationally necessary for their kids in the context of this last year; it’s been a wipeout for them, in terms of feeling isolated and alone.”
Libson said he believes more educators should be reaching out to students, if they feel comfortable doing so.
In fact, he will be running a similar event on circuits for a group of Latinx parents from the Mission and about 12 kids on Saturday, May 1, commemorating International Workers’ Day. He also said he had run his plans by McKamey and said he had gotten a response that he took as a “yes,” given that it would be a private gathering not involving his students.
“In all honesty, I think I would have done it either way,” he added.
McKamey wrote in an email that she does not have the authority to grant nor deny permission for an employee to host a non-student gathering.
Dheyanira Calahorrano, who organizes the group of families gathering in Dolores Park to attend SFUSD Zoom sessions, said she got in contact with Libson after reading the Mission Local article. She’s hoping to run outdoor activities on Saturdays going forward, and Libson will be teaching at the inaugural one, which will be followed by time for the children to play and do arts and crafts.
“My son is completely done with Zoom; he hates it, but he is really, really waiting for Saturday,” she said. “He loves working with his hands.”
Calahorrano is not the only one who has come out in support of Libson: News of the investigation quickly drew widespread blowback on social media from community members. Parents have also reached out to him to propose setting up a GoFundMe and a set of students were ready to draft a petition, according to Libson.
“The work I hope to do with families and teachers is preserving and putting forward the idea of in-person education,” he said. “I’m afraid of what’s happening to education, much more than I’m afraid of this virus.”
Let us get our priorities straight.
The important thing here is 1) the Principal has been voted Pricipal of the Year by her fellow bureaucrats 2) The principal has been published in other venues such as The Atlantic and other prestigious publications during a time when her students have no access to get into their own school.
I always knew mckamey was biased even back when she was a regular English teacher.
IMHO; it’s the principal that could use a memo on how to counsel.
Open high schools SFUSD! Your incompetence has reigned supreme in this city long enough.
Even though he was only slapped on the wrist it is still a bully move by the principal. If she can’t just talk to her teachers then she’s in the wrong profession.I know some of the characters in this story. Mr. Libson is a great teacher and I’m not going to say nearly the same for the principal. The union should have backed Mr. Libson. It’s just wrong that they didn’t.
what I’m most angry about is that SFUSD is wasting valuable time on intimidating a great teacher
Does Mr. Libson believe that this Counseling Memo won’t go on his personal file? It really seems the principal could be trying to gather evidence against him.
Last week I watched a live hearing to take away an SFUSD teacher’s credential. The teacher was from Commodore Sloat. The principal and HR had added a lot of stuff to her file that shouldn’t have been officially added and it appeared the principal added some of it in later and tried to make it look like it had been done at the time.
Principal Abdolcader offered as evidence a narrative that some of the teacher’s students didn’t always use the Hooki Stools properly – this was of course Ms. Abdolcader’s opinion but the court let the principal present it as real evidence without any proof that it was true. SFUSD considers one person’s opinion about how some 6 year-olds sit in a stool as valid evidence to take away a teaching credential.
Based on what I saw last week, I suggest SFUSD teachers be very careful around principals and make sure you keep your own documentation and make notes about any encounter with a principal .That hearing was a modern day witch-hunt, and it was chilling and sobering to see. Had I not seen it myself, I wouldn’t have believed such a spectacle to be allowed to happen in 2021.
I hope Mr. Libson isn’t SFUSD’s next target.
My educated guess is that Mr. Libson knows to be careful around an SFUSD principal.UESF is no help at all and this teacher has been around long enough to know that.
I’m having a concert in 2 weeks at a park where we will social distance. You have given me strength to carry on.
One things this pandemic has shown us is that SFUSD is run by technocrats without souls. Glad there are still a few good teachers like the one in this article.
May there be many more teachers like him!
Andrew Libson must be the first person in San Francisco to be slapped on the wrist (or given any punishment at all) for not observing the shelter-in-place order. I believe we’re officially still in the “educating” phase about the restrictions, some 410 days in.
Glad the teacher is taking it in good spirit. What a clown show.
Does he really have a choice? Standing up to a toxic principal is a fool’s errand.
This principal sounds like a piece of work. Do the SFUSD principals get together and drink arzvile juice and take an oath to tyranize the good teachers into leaving the city?