SFUSD identifies schools that could merge, close

The San Francisco Unified School District has identified a preliminary list of 13 campuses to close, merge or repurpose.

Superintendent Matt Wayne released the initial list Tuesday, which suggests consolidating, shuttering or finding other uses for a baker’s dozen elementary and high schools. No middle schools were listed.

El Dorado Elementary School would close, merging with Visitacion Valley Elementary on the latter’s campus. Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy would merge with fellow K-5 Sanchez Elementary School, with the former campus becoming an early education center.

Sutro Elementary School would also become an early education center, with its students attending one of Lafayette Elementary, Alamo Elementary, or the Chinese Immersion School at DeAvila Elementary School.

Jean Parker Elementary School in North Beach would close, with students assigned to Gordon J. Lau Elementary School for the Chinese biliteracy program or John Yehall Chin Elementary School for general education.

Malcolm X Academy Elementary School would merge with nearby George Washington Carver Elementary School in Bayview-Hunter’s Point, moving to the latter campus. San Francisco Community School in the Excelsior would close, becoming part of Paul Revere Elementary School in Bernal Heights.

Yick Wo Alternative Elementary School in Russian Hill would close, with its students moving to Sherman Elementary elsewhere in the neighborhood or Redding Elementary in Nob Hill. San Francisco Public Montessori in Pacific Heights would close and merge with Rosa Parks Elementary in the Fillmore, while Spring Valley Elementary in Nob Hill would merge with Hayes Valley’s John Muir Elementary.

The Excelsior’s June Jordan School for Equity would merge with John O’Connell High School and move to its Mission campus, while The Academy San Francisco @ McAteer in Diamond Heights would become part of Wallenberg High School in the Western Addition.

In a statement, Wayne said the schools were chosen because of significant enrollment declines. Each of the elementary schools have fewer than 260 students enrolled, while the high schools have less than 400.

“Our small schools are extremely vulnerable to the impact of pending budget reductions. At the heart of our decision is to support students, families, and staff through these changes,” he said.

No middle schools are slated for closure now because those schools “are enrolled at” 90% of capacity, Wayne said. He said that middle schools “are also going to face budget reductions next year.”

“However, closing middle schools is not a strategy we are considering right now to address our resource limitations,” he said.

The final recommendation will be brought to the Board of Education on Nov. 12 — one week after Election Day — and commissioners are expected to approve a final list of closures and mergers on Dec. 10.

Prior to the previously scheduled Board of Education meeting, Superintendent Matt Wayne on Tuesday night was slated to deliver the news many public-school parents have been waiting for — and dreading — for more than a year . Mission Local first reported on the 13 schools prior to the planned announcement.

Parents and educators have challenged the district on its transparency around the crucial decisions, and the announcement came as a surprise to some.

District officials were set to release the list of affected schools last month, delaying the decision until October to help alleviate its budgeting and hiring woes, which led many to believe that an announcement would be further delayed. Anonymous sources who spoke with Mission Local alleged that district leaders planned to postpone announcing the list until after the November election.

United Educators of San Francisco, the union that represents SFUSD teachers, confirmed that Wayne and his cabinet visited impacted schools on Tuesday prior to his scheduled announcement that night.

The union is against school closures and mergers, and in a statement UESF leaders said “nowhere in the nation have school closures led to better indicators for student success.”

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.