{"id":459709,"date":"2026-02-10T07:14:24","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T07:14:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/459709\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T07:14:24","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T07:14:24","slug":"where-have-all-the-children-gone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/459709\/","title":{"rendered":"Where have all the children gone?"},"content":{"rendered":"

To make sure we keep San Francisco updated and families connected to resources, we have removed our paywall from some of our work related to the teachers strike. If you\u2019d like to support our journalism, click here<\/a> to become a subscriber.<\/p>\n

As San Francisco teachers take to the picket lines, parents are scrambling to fill the gaps left by shuttered schools.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While educators say the walkout is necessary to secure better pay and classroom conditions, families are being forced into an immediate rewrite of daily life \u2014 balancing work, child care, and at-home lessons.<\/p>\n

From cramped apartments to community centers to workplaces, education has gone makeshift.<\/p>\n

During a press conference, SFUSD spokesperson Laura Dudnick said on the first day of the strike, the district distributed more than 2,600 independent instruction packets, the Department of Children, Youth and their Families provided meals to 2,350 youth, and 1,000 students took up childcare slots at city provided sites and after-school programs.<\/p>\n

School in an SRO<\/p>\n

An extremely tight living space for a family of four in Chinatown has been transformed into a quasi-classroom.<\/p>\n

The single-room occupancy unit where Lucky Li and David Chen live with their two kids is adorned with dolls, photos, and stickers of cute characters. On Monday, desks were arrayed with workbooks as Li and Chen took on the role of tutors. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want our children\u2019s learning to be affected,\u201d Li said in Mandarin. \u201cIf it\u2019s only a day or two, we can manage. But children need to go to school, because many things can only be taught there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FourLucky Li and David Chen tutor their daughters from their SRO residence in Chinatown. | Source: Han Li\/The Standard<\/p>\n

Their daughters, third grader Linda and first grader Lisa, are students at John Yehall Chin Elementary School and Jean Parker Elementary School, respectively. The kids were working on math and English homework and practicing writing Chinese characters. <\/p>\n

Li said some neighboring families have sent their children to YMCA daytime programs, but she was unable to secure a spot.<\/p>\n

At night, the four family members sleep in two bunk beds. During the day, the lower bed converts into a chair, with two foldable desks where the children study. Li is a stay-at-home mom, while Chen leaves for work in the late morning. They said other neighborhood children might stop by in the afternoon so the kids can play together.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are you two talking about?\u201d Lisa asked her mother as Li discussed the strike with The Standard. \u201cOf course, she doesn\u2019t know what\u2019s going on,\u201d Li said.<\/p>\n

Loading\u2026<\/p>\n

Parachutes in place of science<\/p>\n

The after-school program for the Good Samaritan Family Resource Center is providing space for K-12 students at its off-site location in the Bayview.<\/p>\n

The center is offering a mix of recreational and educational activities for as long as the strike continues. Ed Cheveres, director of youth services, said there were 20 students Monday, and he expects the number to grow if the strike continues.<\/p>\n

The program focuses on \u201cplaying and learning\u201d by linking Common Core standards to play-based activities or lessons. <\/p>\n

For the younger students, a game with a giant parachute doubled as a science lesson on wind resistance and air flow.<\/p>\n

See you at Stonestown<\/p>\n

Two preteens sat snacking on Chipotle tacos and scrolling their phones outside the Peet\u2019s at the Stonestown Galleria.<\/p>\n

The 11- and 12-year-old had the day off from Denman and Aptos middle schools and had just arrived at the mall on an Actbest e-bike and a Hiboy electric scooter. <\/p>\n

Parked barely 50 feet away was a San Francisco Police Department SUV; an officer said he\u2019d seen more youths at the mall than usual.<\/p>\n

Neither kid appeared bothered about the strike. But when shown an announcement from the district about the continued closure of schools Tuesday, the 12-year-old flinched slightly. \u201cI hope it ends soon,\u201d he said. \u201cI kind of miss class.\u201d<\/p>\n

Turning after-school into school<\/p>\n

Family Connections Centers, which provides after-school services for K-5 students, is offering an extended-care program for 56 currently enrolled youth at no additional cost at the 2565 San Bruno Ave. location in Portola Valley, according to lead teacher Susana Mariscal.<\/p>\n

The site moved up its start time from 2 to 12:30 p.m. and hosted 10 students Monday.<\/p>\n

For the kindergarten and first-grade students who participated Monday, staff provided snacks, lunch, enrichment activities, and support for those who brought schoolwork with them.<\/p>\n

Kids hit the picket lines \"PeopleLaila Oboyle and her daughter, center, join the picket line at Lakeshore Alternative Elementary. | Source: Manuel Orbegozo for The Standard<\/p>\n

Kids were in attendance on the picket lines at Cesar Chavez Elementary in the Mission. Armed with chalk, they drew colorful messages on the sidewalk featuring slogans like \u201cInvest in the schools our students deserve\u201d and \u201cWe can\u2019t wait.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Gordon J. Lau Elementary School in Chinatown, a handful of students joined the picket line. Caleb Douville, a fourth grader, stood alongside his mother, an SFUSD educator.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re out here protesting for teachers\u2019 fair rights and fair pay,\u201d he said. \u201cI feel like I can contribute a lot to the protest by being the only kid here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cody Tse, 16, a junior at Washington High School who graduated from Lau, said he planned to visit multiple locations throughout the day to support the strike.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really a group effort,\u201d Tse said. \u201cA lot of students have been going around telling classmates not to go to school even if schools open, just to support teachers, in spirit. If you go to school, it shows the higher-ups that schools can run without teachers, which they really can\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

Food for those in need<\/p>\n

In preparation for the strike, city agencies opened a network of 40 food distribution sites across San Francisco, offering free breakfast and lunch. <\/p>\n

At noon in Chinatown\u2019s Willie \u201cWoo Woo\u201d Wong Playground, community groups were offering lunch bags for SFUSD families, but there were few people lined up. Each bag had a box of milk, an apple, sunflower seeds, carrots, bread, and beef jerky.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan I tell you the truth? I\u2019m not very impressed by the food,\u201d Yvette Dai said in Mandarin as she picked up a bag with her son, a student at Bessie Carmichael Elementary School. \u201cI want more vegetables.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dai said she had to adjust her work schedule to take care of her son.<\/p>\n

\u201cI fully understand the teachers\u2019 needs, but it also has a big impact on us,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

At the Mission Language and Vocational School, the Latino Task Force was caring for about 70 kids from public schools across the district. <\/p>\n

\"TwoYvette Dai looks through a bag of food given to her son as part of a free-lunch program for SFUSD families. | Source: Manuel Orbegozo for The Standard<\/p>\n

Shalom Bandi, the site health coordinator who is running the food distribution and child-care operation, said the district was supposed to provide lunch at 11 a.m. It arrived just after noon.<\/p>\n

Jane Carter, who has a daughter in pre-K, swung by to grab a lunch around 11:45 but found that there were none. Latino Task Force employees provided her with a bag of snacks.<\/p>\n

Bandi said she and her colleagues would distribute 100 bagged lunches, which include an apple, baby carrots, seeds, a beef stick, and a muffin. Each family can grab up to four baggies. <\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"To make sure we keep San Francisco updated and families connected to resources, we have removed our paywall…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":459710,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,526,3,214602,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":{"0":"post-459709","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-education","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-sfusd-strike","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-united-states-of-america","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","16":"tag-us","17":"tag-usa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=459709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459709\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}