Following the February teachers’ strike, Marko Kosta, the founder of SK8 Gym — which holds skate camps at three parks across the city — was watching closely to see what San Francisco Unified School District would do to make up for five days of lost instructional time.
When the SFUSD Board voted Tuesday to extend the school year by a week — with the last day of school now set for Wednesday, June 10, instead of June 3 — Kosta fielded calls from campers’ parents. The majority requested refunds for the first week of camp, which begins Monday, June 8.
“This is really unfair — not a family-friendly or small-business-friendly decision,” Kosta said late last week.
The small business owner estimates the change will cost him at least $7,000 in revenue from that week alone. He’s not the only one frustrated by how SFUSD is extending the school year.
With many families having already paid for vacations and summer camps — and with finals schedules for high school students unchanged — several SFUSD parents and students said they don’t plan to attend school during the added week beginning June 8.
“I’m sticking to the first end of year days,” wrote Daniella Perez, a SFUSD parent, in response to a Nextdoor post. “The school district wants to make up the money they lost, because they weren’t willing to come to an agreement. Not my problem, we have activities, camping plans and more.”
At Stonestown Mall on Friday, the first day of SFUSD’s spring break, high school students with otherwise strong attendance records said they were unlikely to return that week.
“When finals wrap up, no one’s going to go to school,” said John, a sophomore at Lincoln High. “No one wants to go to school for no reason.”
Haley, a freshman at Washington High, said she would likely attend because her attendance is “low-key bad.” But her friend Carmen said she plans on “calling in sick or something” starting June 8.
“I don’t care,” she said.
Luca and Judah, two freshmen at Lincoln High, said they wished the district had spread the additional days into next year. At first, they thought they wouldn’t attend at all. Then they reconsidered.
“It’d be kind of sick to have the whole school to ourselves,” Judah said.
“Maybe I’d go for one or two days,” Luca added, “just to have somewhere to hang out.”
Similarly, Ryan Hazelton, of Mariposa Kids, is miffed too. His nonprofit has already canceled its first week of camp in order to continue running its after-school program for SFUSD students.
“I would have liked to see more of a rebalance and perhaps quicker action,” he said.
SFUSD labor and district leaders said they proposed the weeklong extension to give families predictability, ensure students receive the state-mandated 180 days of instruction, and recoup revenue tied to average daily attendance.
While six of seven commissioners voted in favor, those who spoke at Tuesday’s meeting expressed consternation over what they described as a Catch-22. Alternatives, like shortening spring break or adding days to the 2026–27 calendar, were not presented for a vote.
Commissioner Supryia Ray wondered what “message that this sends” both to students and families.
“Making a shift like this, at this stage, there’s a lot of concern students won’t even show up, and what instruction will be provided during this time,” said Ray, the lone no vote.
Board Vice President Jaime Huling said that although she would support the proposal, she had reservations.
“I am very disappointed for our students, for many of our educators and staff, for our families that are in this situation,” she said.