Over 100 educators, parents and supporters chanting “We are the union! The mighty, mighty union! Fighting for our students and public education!” gathered outside George Washington High School this morning. 

Picket lines completely blocked the entrance of one of San Francisco’s largest high schools as people marched and held signs in support of the United Educators of San Francisco.

Today’s strike came after the UESF and San Francisco United School District failed to come to a final agreement this past week following a majority vote from teachers in favor of striking.

“We have over 100 members representing folks from every single worksite across the city,” said Jodie Sheffels, a math teacher at George Washington High School and a member of the UESF bargaining team. “We make sure all of our educators’ voices can be represented in negotiations.” 

According to Sheffels, the meeting between the two groups on Saturday was 11 hours long, yet the district refused to agree to a “serious” deal.

“Despite the movement we’ve seen from the district, they are still asking us to pay for our own benefits and raises out of our contracts,” Sheffels said. “They are asking us to give up things that prior educators have won through their battles.”

UESF and SFUSD met again today to continue discussing negotiations amidst current strikes and rallies. 

During a press conference on Friday, SFUSD Superintendent Dr. Maria Su spoke about the impending strike, declaring the possible need for staffing plans and directions. 

“If UESF proceeds with a strike on Monday, schools will be closed,” Su said. “As a result, we are having conversations with our city partners every day to activate our city’s safety nets and ensure our underserved students and those with the greatest needs have access to food, care and support.” 

Despite Su’s public statement, SFUSD did not meet the needs UESF asked for during either of the weekend meetings. 

“You cannot cut your way to stability,” said John Logan, professor and program director of the labor and employment studies department at San Francisco State University.

Logan also spoke on the challenging way that the school district is handling enrollment and budget cuts. 

 “It’s a doom loop,” Logan said. “You have a budget shortfall, declining enrollments, you need to make cuts. The cuts make the school district less attractive to parents, fewer parents send their children there, you have even lower enrollments, you have to make more cuts.”

Sheffels shared the concern for the future of SFUSD public schools with decreasing enrollments, yet SFUSD and UESF seem to be approaching the issue differently. 

“If we leave our schools in this horrible state, we will continue to lose talented educators and children and families to private schools,” Sheffels said. “These folks are all out here today because the status quo cannot continue.”

Individual schools held their own strikes Monday morning, but by noon, all educators and supporters gathered in Civic Center to rally together.

GWHS teacher and SFSU alum Anna Karney spoke about the 6% increase over three years that SFSU offered, compared to the 9% that the UESF demanded.  

“We have not gotten one cost of living raise in three years,” Karney said. “Every other occupation gets an annual raise for cost of living, but not only do we not get that, what they’re offering is below what it has been for the last three years.”

Nina Mayer, director of the dance program at GWHS, also attended the Civic Center rally. Mayer has been a longtime educator with the SFUSD.

“This is my 30th year in SFUSD as a teacher,” Mayer said. “I have experienced many superintendents…  it continues for decades, the problems and the people making decisions that don’t have the students, families and teachers at heart.”

Mayer brought up real-life experiences that she has faced in the teaching industry, such as the expectations of bringing extra work home without additional pay and taking away prep periods from department chairs. 

“If you’re an English teacher, you’re grading essays,” Karney said. “If you take away the one period they have to do that, they’re gonna do it for free, at home, every night. How many people do you know that will do overtime for free?”

On top of asking for their annual cost of living compensation, educators are asking for better healthcare benefits, improvements in special education and respect. 

“The even bigger problem with San Francisco is the way the healthcare benefits work,” Logan said. “The moment you have more than one dependent, under this new contract, you’re paying up to $1,500 a month in healthcare, whereas, in other school districts, it’s fully funded.”

Now that the strike has begun and the issues have been laid out, it is up to the district to respond next. The strike will continue until SFUSD and UESF can come to an agreement. 

“Bring us a deal offering full compensation, fully funded family healthcare and special education reform,” Sheffels said. 

The strike will continue tomorrow at noon at Mission Dolores Park.