School assignments delayed for thousands of San Francisco students

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Parents are growing impatient wondering where their kids will be going to school after San Francisco officials delayed issuing school assignments for at least 14, 000 students.

The school assignments were supposed to go out last week and that didn't happen. SFUSD officials told ABC7 News the letters are expected to go out Monday and said staffing emergencies have delayed the process.

The deadline clock is ticking loudly for thousands of anxious Bay Area families waiting on pins and needles to hear if their kids will get the school of their choice.

Nocolette Phan-Udoh can't think about anything else, but where her 5-year old daughter will start school in the fall.

She was hoping to hear by now, but first round school assignments have been delayed by the San Francisco Unified School District. "It's been a long process and this has been really, really hard for us because touring the schools, it's heart wrenching, a lot of time put into it and we just need to know," Phan-Udoh said.

"It makes our family very nervous and a little concerned," parent Jessica Closson said.

Closson told ABC7 News her son Luke wants to play baseball at Lowell High School, a public school. However, he's already been accepted by two private high schools and deadlines are looming. "They have dates coming up just this week. We have to accept or decline," Closson said. "It's very hard to not know yet from the school district, but he has an assignment within the SFUSD."

Parents can choose from 130 schools in the district. This year, there's 14,000 applications, and that number is average.

However, staffing emergencies have delayed the process. A notice was posted on the district's website assignments would be late. "Our computer us working fine, it's just taking a little longer to go through all of the checks to mare sure everything is accurate," SFUSD spokesperson Gentle Blythe said.

There's no guarantee families will get their school of choice, even if that school is in your neighborhood.

As far as other options go, Phan-Udoh said: "Private school or moving out of the city."