Press Release Details
Donations of Goods and Services Support Students During School Closures
San Francisco (April 10, 2020) - The San Francisco Unified School District has received and deployed dozens of in-kind donations to support students and families during extended school closures.
When SFUSD closed schools in mid-March in response to growing concerns related to the coronavirus, the district was already bracing for massive budget cuts due to ongoing structural underfunding of services for students. Given its budget shortfall and millions in new unanticipated costs associated with serving students during school closures, SFUSD has been actively working with donors to support services to students, including providing students with meals and continuity of learning, during closures.
“The district has had to make massive changes in a short period of time to serve our students while schools are closed and this has come with numerous new expenses,” said Superintendent Dr. Vincent Matthews. “The generosity of the community during this time, in donating both funding and services, has made a tremendous difference in our ability to pivot quickly and thoughtfully. These resources we’ve already received, and more that are coming in every day, are relieving some of the burden our families and staff feel at this time to maintain continuity of learning for our City’s children and youth while also ensuring basic needs are met.”
Over two dozen organizations have provided in-kind donations to support SFUSD in providing students with a comprehensive distance learning program by mid-April. In-kind donations from organizations such as Adobe, BrainPOP, Imagine Learning, Innive, MIND Research Institute, Learning A-Z, and Screencastify include complimentary access to learning tools and lessons that cover a range of subjects and grade levels.
National nonprofit organizations EducationSuperHighway and the 1Million Project Foundation have also partnered with SFUSD to provide connectivity support for thousands of students in San Francisco who lack home internet access, including the deployment of up to 25 WiFi “SuperSpots” with the City and County of San Francisco.
Uber is offering a 25% discount (up to $10) for trips to or from SFUSD meal pickup sites. In addition to the ride discounts, Uber donated $50,000 to the San Francisco Unified School District’s response through the district’s non-profit Spark* SF Public Schools.
The Golden State Warriors, Whole Foods, and Census2020 have provided bags to support distribution of Chromebook laptops to students in need of access to technology to engage in distance learning. SFUSD has distributed over 6,800 devices in bags to students in grades 3-12 who need access to technology to support continued learning at home while schools are closed.
Since closing schools on March 16, SFUSD has been rapidly implementing a phased-in plan to provide equitable learning opportunities for each and every student for as long as schools remain closed. Teachers are preparing both non-digital and digital learning options for distance learning to begin for all students districtwide on April 13.
SFUSD was already facing an ongoing structural deficit before this crisis and had begun planning for how to reduce $60 million in services from its operating budget. With the onset of school closures, the district projects millions in new unfunded costs associated with providing meals and equipping students with digital devices and WiFi. Spark* SF Public Schools continues to seek donations to support SFUSD in delivering distance learning to a diverse student population. Donate here to support the district’s services to students during the extended school closures.
Below are some of the in-kind donations (services or goods provided free of charge) that are currently being put to use by SFUSD during school closures:
- Adobe - Home access for Creative Cloud
- Amplified IT - Expedited 500 Google Voice licenses; supporting Google platform expansion
- Arey Jones - Rapid response in identifying, configuring, and deploying SFUSD’s fleet of new Chromebooks
- AT&T - Hotspots for students
- BrainPOP - Free multi-subject learning
- Census 2020 - Bags for families to use for meal and laptop pickup
- Clever - Assistance with deploying learning tools and connecting SFUSD to free resources
- Dreambox - Adaptive STEAM lessons
- EducationSuperHighway - SuperSpot WiFi hotspots for internet connectivity
- Golden State Warriors - Bags for safe meal distribution
- Google - SFUSD is the only K-12 district in the country piloting a chatbot for student/family help
- Greenfield Learning - Access to the Lexia ELA program
- Imagine Learning - Access to learning tools
- Innive - Building a digital distance learning management dashboard
- Learning A-Z - Access to Raz Kids and other ELL and ELA resources
- McGraw Hill - Full access to their digital resources in English and Spanish
- MIND Research Institute - Access to ST Math
- Nearpod/Flocabulary - Engaging students with its teaching platform
- Newsela - Providing complimentary access to learning tools
- NoRedInk - Dynamic training for composition
- Salesforce - Access to its Nonprofit Success Pack
- Screencastify - Complimentary access to advance video capture, captioning, and editing features
- Securly - Access to COPPA-compliant internet filtering for take-home devices
- Sprint/1Million Project - Free internet service through wifi hotspots distributed to students in need
- Sonic - Providing 3 months of free internet for K12 students in San Francisco
- Telbon - Rapid response to support district telecommunications needs
- Texthelp - Assisting reading and writing via browser extension
- Tom Steyer Campaign - 300 Asus CT434TA Chromebooks
- Uber - 25% discount (up to $10) for trips to or from the SFUSD meal pickup sites
- WeVideo - Free video editing for Chromebooks
- Whole Foods - Bags for families to use for laptop pickup
- Zendesk - Rapid and expanded technical support for a new family resource link
- Zoom - Connecting teachers and students and providing advanced management features at no cost
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