As the sun rose on Monday, many thousands of San Francisco public school teachers and students were anywhere but in a classroom.
After a lengthy stalemate, teachers today commenced the district’s first educator walkout since 1979. Teachers, along with principals and administrators and other unionized district employees, are walking picket lines outside their schools. A 1 p.m. rally is slated for Civic Center Plaza.
Mission Local has reporters across the city covering today’s actions. Check back for updates all day.
War Memorial Building, site of bargaining sessions
“We cannot afford for this to continue,” said Superintendent Maria Su at a 9:30 a.m. press conference at the War Memorial Building, where the union and district staff will continue bargaining at noon. “I am ready to sit back down and I will stay here all night — as long as it takes to get to a full agreement.”
The union is expected to present its counter proposal to the district this afternoon. When asked what the district intends to do if the union does not concede to a lower salary increase than its longstanding demand and the district’s offer of only partially funded family health care, Su would only reply, “I look forward to seeing the counter proposal today.” — Marina Newman
Tenderloin Community Elementary School
In front of the school, 40 people held signs that read “On Strike” and “We can’t wait.” They paced Turk and Van Ness streets as drivers honked in support.
Deirdre Fitzgerald, a third grade teacher at Tenderloin Community Elementary School, said the main reason she’s striking is the “disarray” of the special education department, which she said impacts all students. She also highlighted the low wages, which she said have not been enough to keep up with recent increases in the cost of living in the city.
“What we’re asking for is what every worker in the city should be getting,” she said. “We should be getting a livable wage, we should be getting an organization that is well organized and efficient. We’re just not seeing that right now, and we’re not seeing them come to the table with anything that we can really accept moving forward.” — Béatrice Vallière
Jefferson Elementary School
At Jefferson Elementary School on 19th Avenue and Irving Street, teachers started setting up for the strike at 6:15 a.m.
At 8:50 a.m., almost nonstop, cars, buses, big rigs and fire trucks honked in support as they drive down the thoroughfare. With “Dynamite” by Taio Cruz playing in the background, some 40 teachers walked the picket line with signs reading “on strike for our students” in English, Chinese and Spanish.
“The energy is so high, we have so many students and parents here with us,” said Kirsten Surber, a kindergarten teacher and site captain at Jefferson. “We thoughts it’s only gonna be teachers, but no. That feels so great.”
One teacher told his student there maybe substitute teachers, and the response was, “Mr. Peterson if you’re not here I’m not here.”
“I’m just disappointed they haven’t been serious. They are dragging their feet,” said Steven O’Reilly, a special education teacher at Jefferson.
Josseline and Johanna, who are in fourth and first grade, were walking the picket line with their parents, who are both nurses. Josseline’s favorite subject is social studies, she said, and she just learned about how missionaries would christianize Native American people.
“I can’t teach her that!” said her mom, Justine Sibuyan. The latest knowledge she came home and shared with her parents was that some turtles can breathe through their butts, Sibuyan recalled.
“I just can’t relive Covid again. Zero quality of teaching. And maybe why they’re so addicted to their iPad,” Sibuyan said. “Our caretakers need to be taken care of.” — Junyao Yang
Mission High School
At Mission High on Monday morning, parents and educators were joined by a handful of young students who sleepily raised signs reading “On Strike!” One union member wearing an inflatable bear costume with dangling camo pants bopped up and down as his partner chanted into a megaphone, “We need a fair contract!”
The roughly 50 students and staff were joined by union president Cassondra Curiel and school board member Matt Alexander.
“I am so proud of these educators for standing up for what is right,” said Alexander. “This fight is righteous and necessary.”
Over the weekend, the union and the district came to a tentative agreement on the district’s sanctuary school policy, but not on any of the unions other demands, which include a 9 percent wage increase and fully funded family health care. In just hours, the union and the district are scheduled to meet again. Both Mayor Daniel Lurie and Rep. Nancy Pelosi have beseeched the union and district to come to an agreement.
Standing on the steps of Mission High, Curiel said that she had frequent talks with the mayor. “He supports our demands,” she said. — Marina Newman
Sanchez Elementary School
Cameron Korving and Mariana Fuentes, paraprofessionals for special education classes, were picketing in front of Sanchez Elementary School on Sanchez between 16th and 17th on Monday morning.
“We’re shortstaffed in my classroom,” Korving said.
Teachers have been fighting for higher salaries so that children with special needs can get additional support, she added. “It’s hard for us to make sure each of them is getting a quality education.”
“We just need to be able to survive in this city,” Fuentes said. “I’ve been living here for my whole life, and the rent is going really high.”
Parents and children also joined the strike to show support for their teachers. — Alice Finno
A.P. Giannini Middle School
At around 11 a.m., some 80 teachers from A.P. Giannini Middle School and Sunset Elementary School walked from campus to Sunset Boulevard and Rivera to picket alongside other Sunset public schools.
“Education is a right,” the organizer chanted. “That is why we gotta fight!” The crowd responded.
As teachers walked along Sunset Boulevard, construction workers perched atop a half finished building on the campus St. Ignatius College Preparatory, chanted across the six-lane road — first only with their voices and then with a bullhorn — “El pueblo unido jamás será vencido” (the people united will never be defeated) to cheers from the teachers.
By 11:10 a.m., teachers occupied all four corners of Sunset Boulevard and Rivera Street in the Outer Sunset. Protesters hailed from Lincoln High School, Dianne Feinstein Elementary School and Ulloa Elementary School among others.
“When teachers are under attack what do we do? Stand up fight back!” — Junyao Yang
John O’Connell High School
At John O’Connell High in the Mission, around 50 educators chanted on the picket line: “Union power! Union power!”
Michelle Cody, a regional strike captain and teacher at Bessie Carmichael Elementary School in SoMa, chatted with around five staff members who were planning on crossing the picket line. “I was educating the people that were tempted to cross the line, and let them know what we’re fighting for.”
Cody successfully convinced at least one woman not to cross, but later, when district staff opened the gate to the school, a group of women, some paraeducators, others “noon monitors” hurriedly crossed through the picketers and onto school grounds, to which they were met with boos by educators.
“They were being threatened by their supervisors over the phone,” Cody said, adding that she was told the workers’ supervisors told them they would be fired if they didn’t report for duty on Monday.
Elena Royale, department head of special education at O’Connell, said she is on strike to fight for “safe and stable” schools for her students.
Royale said special education classes are overcrowded, with up to 25 students in classrooms that should only have around 12. “Our kids with the highest needs are being packed in the classrooms,” she said, “and not provided the right amount of educators.” — Mariana Garcia
District Headquarters, 555 Franklin St.
Earlier this morning outside the administrative offices of the San Francisco Unified School District, the atmosphere was festive. About 50 demonstrators chanted and marched on the street, accompanied by music and percussions. A group of protesters painted the phrase “We can’t wait” in yellow, red and black on the floor right at the building’s entrance.
“The energy today has been very high,” said Yajaira Cuapio, a social worker and member of the executive board of the United Educators of San Francisco teachers union. “I’ve also been hearing and getting videos from school sites all across San Francisco where students are out, where parents are out. The community is out.”
The rally also featured representatives of other labor unions that came out to show solidarity with UESF, including SEIU 1021, the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 39, and the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE) Local 21.
“We feel it’s super important to let UESF know, and also to let the public know, that as labor unions, we all stand together with each other and no matter what happens, we’re here to help them and support them,” said Dave Pankenier, a member of the SFUSD chapter of IFPTE Local 21.
Local 21 is currently conducting its own contract negotiations with SFUSD.
“It’s been challenging, I gotta say,” Pankenier said. “When we meet for contract negotiations, I feel as though the district isn’t giving us their full attention, and this is because there are obviously other contract negotiations going on with bigger unions.”
For now, he said, it doesn’t look as though Local 21 is headed for a strike of its own. “Our contract negotiations are ongoing, and we hope to resolve those in a way that makes everyone feel good.” — Béatrice Vallières
Everett Middle School
In the Mission District, about 70 people – including teachers, social workers, students, and parents from Sanchez Elementary School and Everett Middle School – gathered to picket outside Everett. The group marched and chanted on the sidewalk, cheering each time a passing car honked to show support.
Annie Bartkowski, who teaches English to immigrant students at Everett Middle School, said she was glad the teachers secured sanctuary protections against ICE in their contract. Still, she said she hopes the district will do more to support unhoused students.
Bartkowski said she was unsure how long the strike would last. “We don’t want it to go on for a while, but we’re really serious in fighting for what our students deserve.”
Ellie Early King, 10, joined the picket line in front of Everett with her mom, a social worker at the school.
Early King said she likes going to school, but she understands the importance of the strike. “It’s good that we’re going on strike because teachers deserve to have the things that they want, and the district isn’t giving them that,” she said. — Alice Finno
Curiel is either dilusional or just not very bright if she thinks all her demands can be met without some concessions. The California Department of Education isn’t going to allow it. But sure, try to get blood from a stone, drag it out for weeks, all at the expense of our ninos. And then bitch and moan when more families leave for Pacifica, Alameda, Marin, and other places where things actually work.
Nah, families already just send their kids to private schools if they don’t get into a small, small group of public schools. No one is leaving over this.