San Francisco city attorneys on Monday asked a Superior Court judge to require the San Francisco Unified School District to offer in-person learning to all students, in all grades, by the end of April.
The request is the latest attempt by San Francisco officials to use the legal and political levers at their disposal to speed up the pace of school reopenings in the city, where public school students have been in distance learning since the outset of the pandemic.
The hearing came on the heels of a decision by a judge in San Diego last week to block state restrictions on school openings in areas of the state with the highest rates of coronavirus infections.
But it is unclear whether the courts in San Francisco will be willing to take the reins of the city's complex and contentious school reopening debate.
The hearing on Monday concerned a lawsuit filed by City Attorney Dennis Herrera against the district in early February.
At issue is language in California's 2020-2021 state budget, directing schools to "offer classroom-based instruction whenever possible."
Since Herrera filed the suit, the district and its teachers union have agreed to bring back preschool and elementary school students in April – but not for five full days a week.