SFUSD ‘Staircase of Imagination’ a ‘game-changer’ for neurodivergent students

The San Francisco Unified School District faces a number of challenges as the school year comes to a close: declining enrollment across all campuses, aging facilities in need of repair, and a shortage of resources in special education.

One San Francisco public school is addressing all three with a simple but impactful approach by partnering with local technology and design companies.

Sherman Elementary School administrators tasked companies with reimaging its century-old building in the Marina to address the needs of its neurodivergent students, or those with learning disabilities, and they hope projects like it will attract more families to the district.

SFUSD partnered with San Francisco-based interior design company VIVAS, and Roland DGA — the Irvine-based U.S. arm of a Japanese manufacturer of inkjet printers — to create “Staircase of Imagination,” a graphic sensory mural along a main corridor in the building, complete with a mix of textured, sensory-friendly elements aimed specifically at students who process information differently.

Adria De Stefano, a project coordinator at Sherman Elementary, said the end result is a “game-changer” for students and their parents.

“It’s all anyone can talk about lately,” she told The Examiner. “Parents have been coming up to [teachers] at pick-up and raving about how they’re blown away after seeing the space in person.”

The installation, which spans 2,900 square feet, includes digitally printed graphics and 3D elements inspired by the students’ ideas, produced on Roland printers and installed over seven days by VIVAS.

It’s more than just a mural, said Dan Wilson, Roland DGA’s vice president of marketing.

“We’re especially proud of the 3D textures and dimensional elements our technology makes possible, which transform the walls into more than just a surface, and helps the students feel at ease and more connected to their school,” he said.

The project was completed in time for Mental Health Awareness Month — and the district’s annual report from SFUSD’s Community Advisory Committee for Special Education, which showed that autism is increasingly common among students.

The vast majority of children with autism experience some form of sensory hypersensitivity , which has been shown to be one of the main causes of disruptive behavior in school. Autistic children can be overwhelmed by bright lights in a classroom, for example, or certain textures or loud sounds.

“These sensitivities can be really tough for our kiddos to handle in a traditional classroom setting,” de Stefano said.

Teachers and special-needs educators reduce sensory overload by making simple adjustments to learning spaces, she said,“such as incorporating tactile resources, quiet spots, and noise-canceling tools.”

The staircase offers a visually engaging spot to decompress, according to Sherman Elementary Principal Helen Parker Leigh, who said she imagines students will grow with the project.

“As kindergartners, kids can only reach the kelp of the staircase’s ‘ocean floor’ and count the crabs and numbers they see,” she said. “[But] by the time they are fifth graders, they will be able to reach for the stars on the top floor and interact with all the exciting 3D elements.”

De Stefano, who has worked at Sherman Elementary for nearly 10 years, said any updates to a nearly 100-year-old school building are few and far between. SFUSD has some of the oldest public-school buildings west of the Mississippi, and many are in desperate need of repair.

That’s why the district is moving forward with a $790 million bond measure being prepared for placement on the Nov. 5 ballot, which district leadership said is still not enough to address all needed repairs.

But de Stefano said small projects such as “Staircase of Imagination” and public-private partnerships, can have a huge effect on the overall school community. That, in turn, could attract more families to SFUSD.

“We hope that by showing families that our schools are eager to adapt, grow and provide intentional inclusion opportunities to students, it will encourage families to enroll in SFUSD schools,” she said.

The staircase also represents how a technology company can make a difference in public schools in a “not-so-obvious way,” de Stefano said.

“Beyond this project, I could see the district collaborating with tech companies to integrate things into the classroom like educational apps, coding, STEM, digital literacy and more,” she said.