Superintendent

South San Francisco Unified School District (SSFUSD) has published a guide to the district's reopening plans in English and Spanish.

South San Francisco Unified School District (SSFUSD) Superintendent Dr. Shawnterra Moore delivered an impassioned welcome back address to teachers and staff on August 11, exhorting educators to find their inner super hero and to do their best for students during a time in which concerns about the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and police brutality and racism were at the forefront of everyone's mind.

Welcome back South San Francisco families and students! Although the reopening of our schools occurs amidst the continuing challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is my hope that our district can help to provide some sense of stability in these uncertain times.

I am writing to inform you that we will be taking a recommendation to our school board to delay the start of school from August 12 to August 17, 2020. In collaborating with our teacher’s union, we have agreed that delaying the start of the school year will help our families acclimate to our plans for a phased reopening and provide our teachers and staff with more time to prepare. This is a proposal that still needs to be voted on by our teachers’ union, but we are confident that such an arrangement will benefit everyone.

The school board approved the district’s proposal to reopen SSFUSD in phases. In phase 1, all students would start the school year in 100% distance learning. This phase would last for a minimum of three weeks and as long as necessary (could be up to six weeks or longer) depending upon the trends in the San Mateo County health data.

Please find below links to a list of frequently asked questions (FAQs) about our process for reopening our schools as well as more specific information pertaining to distance learning and hybrid learning and other related topics.

On July 8, 2020, our Educational Services Department sent out a survey and information on proposed instructional schedules for the fall. Unfortunately, we received feedback that it did not reach all of our families. After looking into this matter more closely, we identified an issue with the communications platform we have been using. We are working on resolving this issue with the company and are so sorry for this inconvenience.

We are diligently working toward establishing the safest and most effective way to provide a high quality and meaningful experience for our learning community. Identified staff, parents, and students are currently participating in three task force teams to establish safe operations and procedures for the possible re-opening of schools including the possibility of continuing at-home distance learning or combining at-home learning with limited in-person classes at school.

The recent killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer has shown a spotlight on the discrimination that still plagues our society and launched a series of protests across the nation and around the world. All of this has occurred in the midst of a pandemic that has also served to highlight many of these same disparities. The pain and the suffering is real, not only in the African-American community but the larger community as well.

As we bring the year to a close, we congratulate our graduates and those being promoted! Our school sites continue to work toward honoring and recognizing our 5th, 8th, and 12th grade students as they complete transition milestones. We understand the importance of graduation and promotion exercises and our school leaders will continue to plan for alternative activities that are feasible and within the guidelines of county health orders. Please keep an eye out for updated information pertaining to recognition activities from your school staff.