The Exploratorium is no stranger to students visiting during the weekday — albeit mostly thanks to school field trips.
But due to the ongoing San Francisco teachers strike — the first such walkout in almost half a century — the hands-on science museum on the city’s Embarcadero was flooded with children on a Wednesday afternoon.
Nashat Moyn was at the Exploratorium with her two children — one in pre-K, the other in second grade — and watched them dial the knobs of a light display.
Like many caregivers of the roughly 50,000 students enrolled within the San Francisco Unified School District system, Moyn has scrambled to occupy her children’s time during this uncertain week. She said that she and her fellow caregivers have stepped up for each other, scheduling playdates and outings for other people’s kids.
Moyn came to the Exploratorium, she said, because of the deal the museum was offering during the strike — free admission for SFUSD students plus a discount for accompanying adults.
“We love to come here anyways,” she said. “We’re not in school, but they’re gonna learn so much just by being here.”
“It’s been hard — it’s day by day,” said SFUSD parent Hang Vu at the museum on Wednesday. “Every evening we sit around like, ‘What can we do the next day to keep them occupied, without them just sitting on the computers or screens all day?”
According to Megan Taylor, chief teaching and learning officer at the Exploratorium, over 200 students and caregivers took advantage of the promotion on Tuesday. The Exploratorium’s communications manager, Lyndsey Roach, said nearly 50 of these people were a group from a local YMCA. She also saw many caregroups formed by parents, who also seemed to be multitasking with their laptops as well.
“The Exploratorium takes its responsibility supporting educators very seriously and supporting the young people that are currently displaced in schools very seriously,” Taylor said.
Moyn said she supports the educators during the strike, and said she’s saddened by what she called “a fight, like ‘district versus the teachers.’”
“We live in a very expensive city with high earners, high taxes,” she said. “My dream would be — San Francisco being the city that it is — that we have the best-funded public schools … Wouldn’t that be amazing?”
The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the De Young Museum and the Legion of Honor have always allowed young people under the age of 17 to attend the museum for free. But during the SFUSD strike, the museums are also allowing accompanying adults to temporarily enter for free as well.
In the De Young in Golden Gate Park, Manash Das’s four-year-old son led his father by the hand through the galleries, eagerly looking at the lowriders, sculptures and pottery.
“We love our art, and we love going to the museum – and we’ve never been to this one before,” Das said.
“And cardboard arts and crafts!” his son said.
“We support our teachers, and we want them to get what they need,” Das said. “Fair wages and coverage for the dependents. Like, that’s crazy that they don’t have those things.”
“We wanted to make sure that the parents [or] the caregivers here with the kids are also welcomed,” De Young’s director of visitor experience, Anna Present, said. “So that they know they have a place to go where they can continue education, be out of the rain, be safe, and have some really interesting and fun dialogue about our work.”
Keep reading for a list of the museums, galleries, libraries and other locations offering a space for SFUSD families who are able to attend during the strike, and which ones are offering discounts at this time.
And if you’re looking for where students can find free meals while schools are closed, take a look at our list of free and low-cost food assistance during the SFUSD strike.
These museums across the city are expanding their hours or providing free admission for students during the strike. (Bear in mind that many Bay Area museums always had free or discounted admission for visitors under 18.)
Be sure to check the scheduling and see if the museum is open that day,= before heading out.
Most San Francisco public library branches are open during normal school hours, and a SFPL spokesperson said that their spaces remain a resource for students. Some libraries within the city have play spaces inside for younger children.
Children older than eight can spend time in the city’s public libraries without a parent or guardian. Find a library branch near you in San Francisco.
San Francisco publication McSweeney’s also runs The International Library of Young Authors on Valencia Street in the Mission District. It is free to enter, and is open Tuesday to Saturday from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.
The library offers activities for students, as well as an array of books written by young people ages 6 to 18.
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