Summer is officially over, at least for the more than 50,000 public school students in San Francisco. On Monday, students and parents woke up bright and early for the first day back.
Kaylee, a 6-year-old at Monroe Elementary School, showed up half an hour early with a color-coordinated outfit from head to toe: A purple mesh skirt, diamond earrings, black leather loafers, a denim jacket and her black hair braided with purple highlights.
“She spent a lot of time picking out her outfit,” her mother, Ahui, said in Mandarin, with a big smile. This past summer, Ahui said proudly, apart from dancing and swimming, Kaylee painted a lot. “Her teacher said she has a good way with colors.”
Kaylee transferred to Monroe from Little Footprints Oceanview, a Mandarin-immersion preschool on Randolph Street. The move was necessary, Ahui said. Before Monroe, the two had to take the bus to Oceanview with a transfer. Now, they simply walk a couple blocks.
“I’m very excited,” Kaylee, who was a little shy, finally said. “I’m excited to be at a new school!”
—Xueer Lu
Big decisions ahead for SFUSD
The San Francisco Unified School District had a turbulent 2025-2026 year, from a historic teachers strike that lasted a week to litigation regarding the controversial ethnic studies curriculum.
For the school district, big decisions lie ahead, including changing the student assignment system and working toward a plan for school closures, a decision that was pushed back to fall 2030.
The proposal for the school assignment system is slated to come to the school board for a vote in April 2027, said Superintendent Maria Su at last Tuesday’s school board meeting. By moving away from the lottery system, Su said she hopes to “address the reality of 14,000 empty seats” in San Francisco public-school classrooms.
As for the decision on school closures and mergers, Su hasn’t shared a timeline with the board, and said it will be “a very organic process” as the district works on the student assignment system.
“As we start looking at the data … and trying to make decisions on how we will assign students to schools, we’re going to start very quickly to see that perhaps there are some neighborhoods in our city that won’t have enough students for the number of schools we currently have,” Su said.
Despite the big decisions ahead, the district just celebrated the opening of a new elementary school in Mission Bay, which marks the first public school to open in the city in over 10 years.
On Monday morning, parents at the Mission Bay school wept as children fought hard to stay still through multiple pictures. Nearby, kindergartner Zara was surrounded by her parents and both sets of grandparents, who flew out from Maryland for the big day.
“This is a really exciting day for our family,” her father Rhett Burden said. “The school has been a long time coming for the neighborhood and community. We’re all excited to see Zara shine.”
Her grandmother, squeezing Zara tightly, added: “This is a testament to a grandma’s love for her grandbaby.”
—Junyao Yang
Lowell High School
At Lowell High School, many students begrudgingly agreed to a selfie with their parents or a photo in front of the Cardinals sign. Students rushed inside after a long goodbye from their parents, with stuffed-animal keychains dangling from their backpacks.
But Lucy, a senior at Lowell sporting a black top, didn’t rush away from her mom, Angie. With coffee in hand, Angie took several photos of Lucy before she entered the school around 7:40 a.m. for her last first day.
This year, Lucy is looking forward to senior-year activities like Senior Sunrise — an early-morning tradition at Lowell to celebrate the start of the school year with songs and friends, bundled up in blankets and fleece jackets.
Lucy transferred to Lowell at the beginning of her sophomore year from Abraham Lincoln High School in the Sunset. While transferring was difficult, Lucy feels prepared to go to college thanks to, in part, lots and lots of homework.
“I’m happy that she was able to switch,” said Angie. “She’s happy here, and she is challenging herself because it is a tough school.”
—Rosina Boehm
Mission Bay School
At the newly opened Mission Bay School, bike bells could be heard every few minutes as families parked their cycles and unloaded their children.
Hello Kitty, Pokemon, Spider-Man, and Marvel backpacks trickled in. Dozens of pictures were taken. Some held chalkboard signs with their grades, age, and future career aspirations.
Kenneth, an incoming kindergartener, was most excited to “make friends,” amongst other things like recess and playing outside. Hiding behind his chalkboard, he said he wanted to be a police officer when he grew up.
—Aaliyah Español-Rivas
Jose Ortega Elementary School
Mayor Daniel Lurie and a handful of other local politicians waited with smiles around 7:30 a.m. at the top of the hill by Jose Ortega Elementary School in Oceanview as kids and their parents hiked up the gentle hill for a ceremony hailing SFUSD’s student literacy gains and teacher hiring rates.
Students ranged from jumpy to bleary-eyed, and some were clearly out-enthused by the grownups, digging their faces into their parents’ sleeves.
“We’re going to work so hard to make sure you have the best you can get, that you are safe coming to and from school and we look forward to watching you all grow,” Lurie told the crowd as kids unlatched from their parents and lined up with their classes. “Be nice to your teachers. Be nice to your parents.”
And, of course: “Let’s go, San Francisco.”
But few kids paid much attention to what the politicians were saying.
Rajni Banthia, an Oceanview resident, walked to school with her fourth grader, Alina Banthia-Chokshi, just a couple of blocks from their home.
“This is our neighborhood school. It’s great to really have that experience in this city,” said Banthia. “We love this school. We’ve been a part of it since kindergarten.”
Alina takes part in the school’s Mandarin immersion program; her favorite subject is self-explanatory. “Mandarin,” she bluntly replied when asked.
First grader Yixuan Liu was a man of even fewer words in the quad, clearly miffed at the 7 o’clock hour.
“He woke up super early. He’s always like that in the morning,” said his mother, Shanshan Liu, who said she drove 18 minutes to school from Noe Valley. “He’s very excited. It’s a big step for him. “
–Brandon Pho
Tenderloin Community School
Just after 8 a.m., small groups of Tenderloin Community School students arrived with their parents along the brightly-painted Elm Street. The alley is closed off to the public during the school year, and its bright decorations serve as a faux yellow brick road, leading students to the transitional-kindergarten-through-fifth-grade school.
Principal Mai-Tien Nguyen greeted nearly every student by name. “How are you? You ready? You look ready!”
While some of the most eager students followed Nguyen straight into the school, the returning, older students spent the first 30 minutes before the bell playing soccer on Elm Street.
Each morning, school volunteers set up small soccer goals and bring out a cart full of basketballs, soccer balls and hula hoops. Giving students an outlet to get some of their nervous energy out has become a key aspect of the first day of school, said volunteer Scott Bravmann.
“It’s been a long time getting here,” Bravmann said.
The school received funding for the back alley renovation through the Tenderloin Community Action Plan. This school year, they will get one of the final installations put in: a gate to keep rogue soccer balls in check.
–Adriana Gutierrez
Lafayette Elementary School
Down the street from Lafayette Elementary School under the thick Outer Richmond fog, retiree and crossing guard of nine years Marty Poeschel greeted parents and children alike, making sure to ask, “What grade are you starting?” to as many students as possible.
In Poeschel’s opinion: “It’s gonna be a good year.”
On the schoolyard, parents seemed to agree. Today’s back-to-school festivities were as much for them as for their children: They waved hello, hugged and huddled around a hot coffee dispenser, as their children, now under the supervision of teachers, did the same.
“It’s nice to be back in this community,” said Adrian Herbez, parent to a second grader, as the last of the children filtered in to the yard, on foot and cargo bikes.
–Nicholas David
Cesar Chavez Elementary School
Twins Emily and Amy Serillo, alongside their friend Chloe Moreno, walked to Cesar Chavez Elementary School on Monday morning with their mothers, looking forward to what’s to come this school year.
“Excited to meet new people and learn new things,” said Chloe with a smile.
For Chloe, who is in seventh grade, her favorite subject is math, no doubt.
“She was placed in advanced math,” added Chloe’s mother, Cecilia Moreno, with pride.
As for the Serillo twins, the expectations are to have a good year and to get good grades.
“We’re hoping that everything goes well this year. We feel very optimistic,” said Veronica Delgado, the twins’ mother.
Delgado warned the twins to have everything ready for the morning last night, including their lunch. No dilly-dallying on the first day of school.
Thanks to that, the twins woke up so early that even after breakfast, there was still time to spare to scroll on their phone for a few minutes, Delgado said.
“We’re just hoping that everything goes smoothly,” said Delgado.
—Oscar Palma
San Francisco Community School
Lindzy Bivings, a volunteer at San Francisco Community School, was already at the school gate even before her kid, Freida, arrived.
Bivings’ husband, Davido Crow, also went to the school when he was a kid.
“And this one here is a second-generation!” Crow said, pointing to Freida, now a third grader.
It was not at all hard to get Freida out of the house this morning, Crow said. After a summer of camping at Pine Crest with family, going to work with mom, and summer camps, Freida is ready to go back to school. Most importantly, there was something else exciting to wake up to: The family of three stuck to their first-day-of-school tradition: Mickey Mouse pancakes.
—Xueer Lu
Willie Brown Middle School
A cheer line formed bright and early at the corner of Rankin and Revere in Bayview as a coterie of educators, politicians and a good chunk of the command staff of the teachers union greeted students on day one at Willie Brown Middle School.
They rang bells, they blew whistles and they made a hell of a lot of noise. Sheepish students couldn’t help but smile as they passed this friendly gauntlet.
It was day one for incoming sixth grader Tru, who said he was excited to learn. Willie Brown is one of the most sought-after schools in the city, and that goes especially so for Tru. His big cousin goes here, and he wanted to as well.
It was also a momentous day for sixth-grade mom Diana Scales. It was her daughter‘s first day at middle school: “A new adventure.”
The lifelong Bayview resident watched as Willie Brown sputtered out of the gate as a problem school for years before turning around into one of the city’s best.
“With support from our families and the administration,” she said, “hopefully we’ll succeed.”
As the 9:30 start time drew near, the gauntlet grew louder. “One minute, one minute!” the greeters shouted. “Don’t be late!”
It was difficult to tell if the 11-year-olds walked faster. But the adults definitely got louder. There was shouting, there was cheering and there were whistles.
—Joe Eskenazi
Bessie Carmichael Middle School
Students at Bessie Carmichael Middle School showed up on Monday morning with Starbucks frappuccinos in hand, holding out their phones and Facetiming their slower friends.
“When are you getting here?” one said. “Please hurry up. I don’t know anyone,” said another.
At 8:50 a.m., 10 minutes before doors open, seventh graders Renae and Jheremy stood beside the gate and pleaded with their eyes to be let in.
Bessie Carmichael is SoMa’s only middle school, and both students agreed that it needed improvements to its enrollment size and school lunches.
“A lot of things could be better about the school,” Jheremy said. “Last year was pretty easy for me, but I still got crappy grades.”
When 9 a.m. finally hit, Jheremy immediately started yelling: “Abra la puerta, please! It’s 9 o’clock.” Two minutes later, the side gates opened as middle schoolers ran in before their parents could embarrass them — or say goodbye to them.
—Aaliyah Español-Rivas
Bessie Carmichael Elementary School
Three blocks away, families at Bessie Carmichael Elementary School were welcomed in around 9:20 a.m., as Michael Jackson’s “Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough” played on a loud speaker.
“Y’all, we back to school, thank God,” a parent yelled as she walked into the building, clapping her hands.
Across the street, Moniquica watched from afar as her son Amari looked for his fourth grade classroom on the bulletin board with his older cousin. Moniquica was newly transferred from Tenderloin Community Elementary School, and his mom was hopeful.
“He dealt with some bullying at the last school,” Moniquica said. “I’m just hoping that this is more of a supportive environment for him. I think it’ll be a good change.”
As students were escorted to their new classrooms, parents trickled out of the school.
“Blessings on blessings, my daughter is in the third grade,” a father said as he raised his hands to the sky. “God is good.”
—Aaliyah Español-Rivas
This is a truly beautiful article, thank you.