By Heather O’Neill

After a week of closed campuses, picket lines and hurried schedule changes, San Francisco public schools have reopened following a tentative agreement between the district and teachers, but the effects of the strike are still being felt across the City and on the west side.

“It was obviously a total disruption of their routines,” said Jack Doyle, a health teacher at Abraham Lincoln High School, of the strike’s impact on his students. “We’re all creatures of habit and routine, but kids especially are, and when that is disrupted, it can be difficult.”

The walkout, the first by San Francisco teachers in nearly 50 years, began Monday, Feb. 9 and ended Friday, Feb. 13, when district officials and the United Educators of San Francisco reached a tentative two-year deal. The strike shut down all 120 schools in the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) and affected roughly 50,000 students, with about 6,000 educators participating.

Students returned to classrooms Wednesday, Feb. 18, following the Presidents Day and Lunar New Year holidays.

While negotiations centered on wages, health care and classroom resources, the disruption left families juggling child care, teachers reflecting on the outcome and students adjusting to sudden changes in routine.

Parents Scramble to Fill Child Care Gaps

For many families, the immediate impact of the strike was logistical.

With campuses closed, parents across San Francisco scrambled to arrange last-minute child care, adjust work schedules or stay home altogether. Some families relied on relatives or neighbors, while others found creative solutions for child care.

Meghan Butler, who is currently on sabbatical from her job in tech, said last-minute child care arrangements were top of mind when rumors of the strike began circulating. Butler, president of the Lafayette Elementary School Parent Teacher Association (PTA), said she and other parents immediately began strategizing.

“When we found out this was going to happen, we started talking about how we were going to collaborate and ‘kids-share,’” she said. “I don’t work outside the house, but it is a lot for one person to be in charge of a bunch of kids, so we were able to rotate days and not have to hire outside child care, which was very fortunate.”

The arrangement, however, was not without its share of chaos.

“On the first day of the strike, I actually had 10 first and third graders at my house, and then two middle-school girls that came to help me with them, so it was a little hectic,” Butler said.

The Lafayette PTA also arranged other options for families who needed last-minute child care. The PTA created a sign-up sheet where parents could volunteer for two-hour shifts at a local playground to supervise children, providing rotational child care for families in need.

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Community Concerns

The strike highlighted not just how much families rely on the daily structure of school, but how dependent some at-risk students are on the resources schools provide, according to Butler.

“SFUSD has free breakfast, lunch and supper for kids, so regardless of socioeconomic status, kids can have three free meals a day. That was the group we were most concerned about – those who rely on school for that food for their children,” she said.

To meet the needs of those students, the PTA created an anonymous sign-up form and worked with a local parent who runs a food pantry out of her courtyard to assemble food packages for families in need.

“All things considered, it was a nice feeling to see the community come together,” she said.

Cliff Yee, acting executive director of the Richmond Neighborhood Center, said the closures underscored the essential role schools play beyond academics.

“The closures had a significant impact on students and families, particularly working families who rely on schools not only for learning, but for meals, safety and community,” Yee said. “When schools close, the ripple effects are immediate and deeply felt.”

Yee said community organizations moved quickly to help fill gaps.

“I am incredibly proud of how quickly The Richmond Neighborhood Center team, which operates programming across 11 SFUSD schools, mobilized to provide a safe and welcoming space at the County Fair Building in Golden Gate Park,” he said. “Students spent their days reconnecting with friends, making new ones from other schools, exploring the park and enjoying free admission thanks to our friends at the Exploratorium and the California Academy of Sciences.”

As a community hub and food pantry, the organization also ensured any SFUSD student could access a free lunch, he said.

“In times of uncertainty, basic needs must remain non-negotiable,” Yee said.

Students Navigate

Disrupted Routines

For students, the sudden shift meant more than a few unexpected days off. Some described a break in academic momentum, canceled activities and uncertainty about assignments.

The district offered independent study options for some students, but participation and access varied since striking educators were locked out of SFUSD systems and were unable to answer students’ questions or offer feedback on their work.

Oliver Figueroa-Mast, 15, a sophomore at Lowell High School, explained how the strike affected his routine, schoolwork and activities.

When the strike was first announced, he said his first thought was that a few days off might give him a chance to catch up on schoolwork. However, it became clear that without access to his teachers, he would not get very far.

“The grading period ends on Friday, so I’ve been working hard to turn in my missing work. Because I couldn’t email my teachers for feedback during the strike, now coming back, there is a lot of cramming,” Figueroa-Mast said.

“For example,” he continued, “in my chemistry class you get one retake of a test per semester. I had missed a week of school because I was sick, so I needed to retake a test that I missed, but I wasn’t able to because of the strike. So now I have to talk to my teacher tomorrow and cram it all in at the end of the grading period.”

For Figueroa-Mast, a varsity soccer player, the most disruptive part of the strike was his practice and game schedule.

“The coaches couldn’t cross the picket line, so we couldn’t practice or play games, so we missed two games,” he said. “I did wake up early a few times during the break to work out, so I did find a way to make up for practices by incorporating workouts on public fields.”

Educators Feel Empowered by the Strike

The tentative agreement includes the equivalent of a 5% raise over two years and a significant change to health care benefits, including fully funded dependent coverage beginning Jan. 1, 2027 – a key union priority.

Union leaders have said some educators were paying at least $1,200 per month for family health plans, contributing to retention challenges.

The deal also includes protections for immigrant students, commitments around special education workloads and an agreement that artificial intelligence will not be used to replace teachers.

However, the agreement comes as the district faces a roughly $100 million deficit and ongoing state oversight, underscoring the financial pressures shaping negotiations.

Still, educators like Max Raynard, a fifth-grade teacher at Clarendon Elementary School, said they feel empowered by taking action.

“First of all, if the public’s not aware, (SFUSD educators) had been negotiating with the school district for almost a year before we went on strike, but nothing was settled,” he said. “Also, our contract had expired in July, so for this entire school year, all of us have been working on an expired contract. Basically, our voices weren’t listened to until we went on strike.

“I hope the general public understands that it wasn’t a spontaneous decision – it was a really thoughtful decision,” Raynard said. “It was a step that we felt was necessary after basically being ignored.”

On a personal level, Raynard, who previously lived in Japan with his family, said the situation had become concerning enough that he and his wife had considered moving back to Japan. The cost of living in the Bay Area, combined with low wages and high health care costs, had begun to make staying feel untenable. He said that while the strike felt “at times scary, empowering, nerve-wracking, stressful and exhilarating,” for him it is the outcome that matters.

“This is going to allow me to continue being a teacher here, and that was the goal,” he said. “Of course, not everyone’s going to be happy about everything, but I really felt united both with my colleagues in education and with community members. Overall, I felt a lot of support from the community.”

Amy Foster, whose daughter Charlotte Hassinger, 11, attends Presidio Middle School, approved of the strike despite the disruptions to her family’s routine. Foster and her daughter supported teachers by attending marches and joining the picket line at Presidio Middle School.

“The best way for a city to invest in its future is to invest in public schools,” said Foster. “Supporting public schools supports the working class and prioritizes education. I don’t understand why a city with one of the largest economies in the world can’t or won’t make schools a priority.”

School Issues Are

Not Resolved

Beyond the immediate disruptions, some parents and educators say the strike has sparked broader conversations about school funding, teacher retention and the role public schools play in community stability.

With the agreement still requiring approval from the San Francisco Board of Education and ratification by union members, the district has also announced plans for staffing adjustments tied to declining enrollment and ongoing budget pressures.

In a recent email to families, SFUSD Superintendent Maria Su wrote: “We cannot keep staffing at past levels if we are serving fewer students,” noting that enrollment has dropped about 6% over the past five years.

District officials say preliminary layoff notices required by state law will go out in March, with final decisions expected in May, and emphasize that the notices do not necessarily mean employees will lose their jobs.

Calls to the SFUSD superintendent’s office requesting comment were not returned by press time.