Joseph Carter has been preparing for his daughter’s first day of kindergarten since last week. On Monday morning, as the new school year started, he was excited.
“My daughter loves going here. She loves our teachers. She loves the principal,” Carter said after dropping his daughter off outside Malcolm X Academy, an elementary school in the Bayview. “This is actually one of the best schools in the area.”
In front of Malcolm X Academy’s gate, staffers laid out a red carpet, hung balloons and prepared snacks to welcome the children back. The event was cheerful, filled with happiness and hope.
But behind the scenes, concerns weighed on many parents in the neighborhood.
The San Francisco Unified School District will make a decision on closing some schools to address the financial crisis at the end of this year, but it’s expected to announce a list of schools to be merged, relocated or closed in mid-September. District leaders have been tight-lipped on which schools and how many will be impacted, leaving parents and even leaders in the teacher’s union scrambling for answers.
“I’m kind of sad that they’re trying to close this school,” Carter said. “I don’t think we should be shutting down schools anyway.”
Carter said his daughter is having an amazing time at this school. Students recite a mantra every morning, which creates “a very positive, uplifting spirit,” Carter said.
“I would hate to see someone try to uproot it and move it somewhere else,” he said.
It’s unclear if the closures will impact Malcolm X Academy, a relatively small, majority Black school with about 120 students across six grades, according to public data. The district will be closing schools based on three factors: equity, excellence and effective use of resources. Independent third-party researchers will create the list by calculating composite scores for each school.
Cassondra Curiel, president of United Educators of San Francisco, the teachers union, acknowledged that the first day of school is typically filled with excitement and positive energy, but they are also “absolutely concerned.”
“Both things can be true at the same time,” Curiel said.
Curiel said many crises are happening simultaneously in the district. The financial shortage may trigger a state takeover, the school year started with about 100 teacher vacancies and the school closures and mergers are happening “without any vision or discussion of what the plan actually is,” Curiel said.
The district is also facing an enrollment crisis. About 48,000 students are attending San Francisco public schools this year, a decline of more than 4,000 compared to a decade ago. Due to declining birth rates, the district expects another 5,000-student drop in the next eight years. Its current school portfolio, which includes more than 100 schools, has the capacity to serve 14,000 more students, according to the district.
District leadership couldn’t be reached for comment Monday morning. Matt Wayne, the district superintendent, said previously that the upcoming changes “are putting SFUSD on the path to long-term fiscal solvency and positioning ourselves to create the best possible learning environments for students.”
At about 8:30 a.m., as she was dropping off her second-grade daughter at Malcolm X Academy, Debra Mika said she was prepared to fight the school’s closure.
“We’re trying to at least keep it open,” Mika said. “It’s very convenient for this community and also for Bayview to have access to this school.”
Shonna Sullivan, another parent at Malcolm X Academy, said she is focusing more on her two kids’ growth at the school.
“I can’t really worry about what I don’t know just yet,” Sullivan said. “I’m just worried about [my children] making it here day to day and getting their daily education.”