SFUSD parents, teachers left unsatisfied after virtual town hall on school closures

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Matt Wayne hosted a virtual town hall Thursday night.

Wayne discussed the financial issues plaguing the district, as well as the recently announced list of potential school closures.

The superintendent stressed something has to happen.

RELATED: SFUSD releases list of 13 schools that will potentially close as it faces $400M budget deficit

"Without taking action we risk a state takeover. It is critical we maintain the ability to make decisions about our schools and our district," Wayne said.

Since being announced Tuesday, the district has received pushback from families and staff over the possible school closures.

Wayne says while he understands the frustration, the district has taken steps to try and make the process as fair as possible.

RELATED: SFUSD students fear 'gang issues' if district transfers them to new school after closures

"So we have put in safeguards into the process to make sure we're keeping in mind educational equity and not disproportionately impacting any one community," Wayne said.

For Derik Dulin who is a teacher at SFUSD, the town hall left him with many unanswered questions.

Dulin says he thinks the district needs to do more to find resources to prevent the upcoming closures.

"There's plenty of ways that SFUSD could find money if they really wanted to I feel," Dulin said.

Dulin tells me he and many of his colleagues worry about what the possible closures will mean for them.

He also says it's the students who will bare most of the impact.

RELATED: Where did it go wrong? Here's how San Francisco Unified's issues led to school closures

"From a humanistic standpoint, you're uprooting families, students, teachers. You're disrupting the whole thing," said Dulin.

Other frustrations were shared by parents like Adam Panzer, who says he wishes the town hall could have been an open forum as opposed to people sending in pre-written questions for Wayne to respond to.

Panzer has a daughter in second grade with learning disabilities. He is worried about what could if his daughter is forced to change schools.

"I'm absolutely terrified. Especially because where's she at right now she gets a lot of pullout time. She gets a lot of support," said Panzer.

Panzer also says that given the district's severe financial problems, he worries the closures might not even help it close its budget deficit.

And for that, he thinks many are to blame.

"I don't lay it entirely at his feet. It is him, it is school districts before and it's an institutional problem," said Panzer.