By Beth Lederer

AccessSFUSD: The Arc’s annual Holiday Sing Along was hosted at a new venue this year; the prestigious modern art museum, SF MoMA in downtown San Francisco. 

“This is our first year being hosted by SF MoMA and was a great way to highlight our long-term partnership and collaboration,” said Heidi Seretan, head of the Special Education Department at AccessSFUSD. 

The Holiday Sing Along has been a labor of love for Seretan for the last 14 years. On Dec. 8, students with disabilities from The Arc performed at Wattis Theater hosted by the SF MoMA educational team. For the sold-out performance there was plenty of holiday spirit with dazzling costumes, Christmas lights and festive decorations. The AccessSFUSD students and staff sang along to many traditional holiday favorites as the audience was invited to sing along and join in the festivities. 

Jean Robertson, assistant superintendent of Special Education Services SFUSD and Sunset resident, was delighted to participate with her colleagues and felt very fortunate to sit next to the young son of one of the AccessSFUSD teachers. They wore their red noses and rang their jingle bells throughout the sing along. 

“This event has a real community feel where parents and extended family are welcome,” Robertson said. “It becomes a bit of a homecoming event where the special education community comes together to celebrate the winter holidays.” 

According to Seretan, planning for the event starts when the students return from summer break in August. First, she plans the show’s date and the venue. An annual tradition for AccessSFUSD is inviting the SFUSD superintendent, so collaborating on a date that works is of foremost importance. 

Some highlights of sing along were former State Senator Mark Leno who has been a regular at introducing AccessSFUSD for 10 out of their 14 years. Rob Daniels, former Visual and Performing Arts director returns each year. Various superintendents have also played different instruments throughout the years. According to Seretan, “We’ve had superintendents play guitar (Carranza), violin (Guerrero), bongos (Matthews) and this year guitar (Wayne).” 

Robertson said the opening number by Wayne wearing his pajamas and a Santa Claus hat was a huge hit. 

Planning the sing along is an arduous process. Seretan says there is so much to prepare for behind the scenes. 

“I probably put in around 100 hours to do all the necessary planning, preparation and rehearsals for the show,” Seretan said. 

Some of the planning activities behind the scenes are creating invitations for save-the-date, creating a mass email for community partners, inviting public relations and outreach, media, arts and special education supervisors, planning meetings with the venue and keeping track of ADA needs. Planning included creating accessible seating charts, checking props, creating PDFs for slides of lyrics, technology checks, packing and unpacking supplies for the performance. 

In the fall semester, the students start learning the rhythms in music class and in November rehearsals start for the performance. The students also practice using a microphone, enhancing their public speaking skills and entering and exiting the stage. 

“We have always taken pride in having the students be center stage at this event and highlighting them through student hosting and emceeing,” Seretan said. 

All this hard work paid off when the students of AccessSFUSD:The Arc performed and brought smiles and holiday cheer to a full house of families, friends, other AccessSFUSD students, SFUSD special education personnel, Leno, Wayne and Jean Robertson, superintendent of Special Education Services. 

The AccessSFUSD students gain a lot, especially in self-confidence, from participating in the sing along. The whole process is both educational and enjoyable from rehearsals to performing in the actual show. 

“They enjoy seeing their friends from other Access programs, family and community members in the audience” Seretan said. “It creates a great sense of connection. Students also feel proud to see their progress on learning the lyrics, keeping up with the rhythm and being on stage.” 

The holiday sing along has evolved throughout the years, starting in 2009 as a small production in the Ruth Asawa library where Seretan was a community-based transition teacher. In 2012, it transitioned to their present school location in the Arc (South of Market) where they performed a much grander performance in their large multipurpose room. During COVID, the sing along had to transition once again, performing virtually online. Returning last year to The Arc was a scaled-down performance. In 2023, they had a brand-new venue, hosted at SF MoMA. 

Performing at the SF MoMA’s theater is quite an accomplishment and honor for AccessSFUSD: The Arc. 

“San Francisco is the campus” is the school’s motto, and having partnerships within the community fulfills their mission. 

“We use the community as our classroom, and having community partners like SF MoMA host our events really highlights that which is in line with San Francisco Arts Master Plan,” Seretan said. 

Learn more at https://www.sfusd.edu/school/accesssfusd-arc.