A mere five cases of in-school COVID transmission have been recorded since San Francisco schools reopened last month, and as of now, SF schools are avoiding the Delta variant nightmare being seen elsewhere across the country.

President Biden just went on national TV to announce new vaccination mandates for all employers with more than 100 employees. This comes after a brutal August of COVID comeback, and the nation is back to seeing about 1,500 Americans every day from the virus. The return to school has largely been disastrous on this front; CNN reports that child COVID-19 hospitalizations hit an all-time high Wednesday, and in Florida (of course), NPR points out that 13 school employees have died in Miami-Dade County since the first day of school.

No such remorse here in San Francisco, though, as the Chronicle reports that no outbreaks have occurred in SF schools, now that we’re nearly a month into the school year. In fact, cases among kids have gone down, which is consistent with the decline in cases we’re seeing broadly across the city.

“To date, our data demonstrate that cases among San Francisco residents under age 18 have remained low and stable throughout the pandemic and that schools are low-risk settings when the proper safety protocols are followed,” the Department of Public Health says in an analysis released Thursday morning. “Since March 2020, there have been a total of 13 pediatric hospitalizations among San Francisco residents at San Francisco hospitals. There are currently no San Francisco children who are hospitalized for COVID-19.”

Mayor Breed is taking to Twitter to crow about this, unsurprising, given her damn-the-torpedoes, sue-the-school-board zeal for reopening schools as quickly as possible.

But we certainly did not know “all along” that this would go smoothly, and the notion that “kids can safely return to in-person learning” is Ron DeSantis-level overconfidence that is easily disproven by outbreaks in other districts. The low case counts are likely thanks to the entire city’s exceptional vaccination rate, and Breed does deserve credit for that.  

The above graphic shows that cases have actually gone down in all of the age groups since the first day of school. And with the standard of an “outbreak” being three or more cases contracted at a school, DPH says that “No COVID-19 outbreaks have been verified as having occurred at San Francisco schools (as of September 8).”

The situation is not entirely rosy. There’s an (unofficial) Twitter account called SFUSD Covid Cases and Data that uses the DPH’s COVID-19 dashboard to track cases among SFUSD staff and students. And we do have 227 total positive cases. But according to the DPH’s contact tracing data, “The vast majority of these infections are occurring outside of schools.”

Similarly, Marin County recently reported this week that it had logged 71 total cases among schoolkids, but said that the vast majority of these transmission were happening outside of school and in extra-curricular activities like sports.

I’m a “Let’s wait til two weeks after Labor Day before we celebrate anything” kind of guy, but this data is very encouraging. San Francisco has certainly done something right to get these numbers. It helps that we don't have a crazy governor determined to keep masks and mandates out of school. And Jesus, let’s hope that’s still the case after Tuesday’s recall election.

Related: One Unvaccinated Teacher In Marin School Seeded COVID Outbreak That Infected Over a Dozen Students, Their Siblings, and Parents [SFist]

Image: Bahn Mi via Wikimedia Commons

Residents near San Francisco's Civic Center were ordered to shelter in place Tuesday morning, after an area school received a bomb threat.

Police say that a preschool located at 50 Fell Street, which is between Polk Street and Van Ness Avenue, received a bomb threat via voice mail. They reported the threat at 9 a.m., and responding officers with the San Francisco Police Department evacuated the building and closed that block of Fell Street in both directions.

A location of LePort Montessori School is located at 50 Fell. According to its website, it serves "infants, toddlers, and preschoolers" at that location.

The area was deemed "safe" as of 10 a.m. and was reopened, but .police say that the school will definitely remain closed for the remainder of Tuesday.

Oakland High School released disturbing video capturing the moments where a freshman with cerebral palsy, handcuffed to a wheelchair, was brutally beaten by a security guard. This student's offense? Moving too slowly to class. Marchell Mitchell, 23, was fired and charged with child abuse for cuffing, punching and dumping Francisco Martinez, 17, out of his wheelchair on Monday May 19.

The Chronicle has more:

Mitchell ordered the student to move toward his next class, but the student "either refused to comply or was slow to do so," Principal Matin Abdel-Qawi wrote in a letter to parents.

Mitchell then took the handles of Martinez's wheelchair and pushed him toward class, prompting Martinez to object and try to slap away the guard's hands, officials said. Mitchell then handcuffed Martinez and continued to roll him, and the student turned around in his wheelchair and spat in Mitchell's face, authorities said.

"The security officer then struck the student several times before dumping him from his wheelchair onto the floor, at which time another security officer intervened to restrain his partner," Abdel-Qawi wrote.

Martinez was admitted to Children's Hospital on Thursday to be treated for non-life-threatening injuries. "He slapped me. He hit me so hard, it threw me out of my chair. I hit the floor with my chin first. I had a scar right here," Martinez told KTVU Thursday night. Martinez also claims that, though not seen in the video, the guard beat and threw him to the ground in the elevator ride beforehand, telling him, "I hope you don't walk for another two or three weeks."

When asked to explain why he spat at the officer, Martinez said, "I was handcuffed. I had no way to defend myself except for my mouth."

Mitchell, who was hired by the school district after an "extensive background check," will appear in court on June 16th for a pretrial hearing.

[Chron]
[KTVU]
[CBS SF]

Down in San Mateo, police say that a school employee allegedly kissed and fondled a young student in his care. Michael Renz, 20, of Millbrae was arrested Friday for sexually abusing a young girl attending Horrall Elementary School's after school program.

"Eric made a very bad choice to engage in inappropriate contact with a student and was caught - was actually noticed because our processes are in place,” Molly Barton, assistant superintendent of student services for the San Mateo-Foster City School District, explained to KTVU.

A worker reportedly spotted the young victim sitting on Renz''s lap on October 18 and claims to have seen inappropriate contact between the two, according to Mercury News.

Renz was booked but later released on bail. He is currently on administrative leave.

[KTVU]
[Mercury News]

An officer-involved shooting at St. Paul's Elementary School in San Francisco's Noe Valley neighborhood resulted in a temporary lockdown. A cell phone robbery, it seems, started the entire mess.

It all started after two men allegedly stole a woman's cellphone by gunpoint. According to KRON 4 Morning News,t he cell phone was later traced by police near the elementary school. As the suspects climbed a fence to evade cops, one of the suspects reached into their pockets, which then prompted an officer to pull out and shoot their gun in defense. Said officer didn't hit the victim.

At least four people were arrests were made. Police believe this to be part of a cellphone-theft ring. The school is no longer on lockdown

Three weeks after disgruntled student One Goh allegedly shot 10 people (killing 7), Oikos University will reopen today. "English teacher Lucas Garcia was the first instructor to arrive at the campus on Edgewater Drive. Garcia had been in the building during the shootings and said he was emotional about returning," reports Oakland Tribune. " 'I'm just hoping everybody's OK. I think it's going to be hard to go into the classroom.' "

Some students who witnessed the shooting refused to attend classes at the campus, so the school will hold some classes at nearby Unitek College in Fremont.

Goh stands accused of killing Tshering Rinzing Bhutia, 38, of San Francisco; Katleen Ping, 24, of Oakland; Judith Seymour, 53, of San Jose; Lydia Sim, 21, of Hayward; Sonam Choedon, 33, of El Cerrito; Grace Eunhea Kim, 23, of Union City; and Doris Chibuko, 40, of San Leandro.

During an interview with KQED's Michael Krasny on Monday, SFPD Captain Al Casciato mentioned that the city will launch a traffic school for cyclists — classes that you can take if you're cited while riding a bike, just like you can do if you're cited while driving. This program, according to Casciato, is similar to one in Sausalito. Casciato says, "within the next couple weeks [SFPD will work on] a bicycle training course and also a pedestrian training course for those who are citied for pedestrian violations and also for bicycling violations."

According to SF Examiner, "Bert Hill, chairman of The City’s Bicycle Advisory Committee, said a program is being developed by his group, police and the District Attorney’s Office to give first-time bicycling violators a dose of information instead of — or in addition to — a normal moving-violation citation. More details of the program, which could be rolled out by the fall, are still being determined."

The idea, according, to Hill, will be to make the classes "less punitive and more of a community outreach effort." Which makes little to no sense, really, but... there you have it. This all comes on the heels of Bucchere-gate, the noted incident where a cyclist accidentally killed a pedestrian after plowing through a Castro crosswalk.

No word yet if a comedy cyclist traffic school will be available, but one can dream, can't they?

Listen to the interview below:

Several people were shot at Oikos University, a Christian school, this morning at around 10:40 a.m. According to reports, authorities received frantic calls about "people running out of the building and screaming." Police and SWAT team members are on the scene, and paramedics were seen taking people out on stretchers.

Police, it seems, are now on the hunt for a gunman described "as a Korean man in his 40s, with a heavy build and wearing khaki clothing," reports the Chronicle.

The school is located at 7850 Edgewater Road.

According to the school's website, "At Oikos University, students are given the opportunity to obtain a Christian education that is based on solid Christian doctrine and ideology. Our main goal is to foster spiritual Christian leaders who abide by God’s intentions and to expand God’s nation through them."

We'll update as soon as we know more.

Update I: Two people have been transported to the hospital and that the shootings have been fatal. The gunman is still at large. An estimated six people have been shot, with one dead, according to KTVU.

Update II: We're hearing that at least five people are dead.

Update III: As of about 12:20 p.m. an Oakland PD spokesperson confirmed that one suspect is currently in custody. OPD has yet to confirm whether that suspect matches the earlier description or what his relationship to the school was. KTVU is reporting that he was apprehended in the parking lot of a Ross store in Alameda.

Update IV: A total of 6 people have been confirmed dead.

Update V: CBS 5 reports that 10 people were shot and 7 died.

Noted private school St. Ignatius College Preparatory canceled classes for the day after an outbreak of the stomach flu struck an estimated 50 students. Ugh. According to SF Examiner, "the campus will be closed and all events, including sports games, are canceled for Wednesday because the Public Health Department advised school officials it would be appropriate to 'thoroughly' sanitize and 'deeply clean' the campus."

The elite school, located at 37th Avenue and Quintara Street in the Sunset, has an enrollment of 1,444. Classes will resume on Thursday. Fingers crossed.

Police are searching for a man who allegedly sexually assaulted a woman inside a vacant classroom at Skyline College on Tuesday night. "The female victim told police she was alone in a classroom when a man entered the room and sexually assaulted her," reports SF Examiner. "The suspect fled the room following the assault."

The attack occurred at around 8:30 p.m.

The stab-worthy suspect is described as a white man, around 5'11", between 25 and 30 years old with an "athletic build and a tattoo or scar on his neck."

Anyone with information on the suspect is urged to call San Bruno Police Department at 650-616-7100.

Sorry, Jenny McCarthy, but San Francisco likes their students vaccinated. On Thursday, an estimated 2,000 city students "who still lacked proof of a whooping cough vaccination one month into the school year" were banned from classroom until they got the shot. According to the Chronicle, a new law asks that all kids in grades seven through 12 in both public and private schools be vaccinated this year, "but districts struggling to get families to comply asked for and received a 30-day extension."

Before the start of the school year yesterday, students lined up outside their schools to get the shot before entering.

"It hurt more to get my tongue (pierced)," said John O'Connell High School senior Joseph Chavez.

Around 9,000 cases of whooping cough in California were reported last year, "including 10 infant deaths, according to the state Department of Public Health."

[Chronicle]

We're not going to claim to know how Australia works, it being the land of theives and tax evaders and all, but their Attorney General is supporting a law that, "exempts private schools from any obligation to enroll or deal fairly with students who are homosexual." Meaning they can just kick those kids right out of their fancy Anglican schools without so much as a "disruption, harassment [or] even the flaunting of sexuality. Being homosexual is enough."

Apparently the Attorney General thinks it's necessary to maintain order at church-backed schools, but the churches themselves are split on whether or not they actually want such a law. Do they not get Glee in Australia yet?

[SydneyMorningHerald] (By way of the tipline.)

Buena Vista Elementary in Walnut Creek (2355 San Juan Avenue Walnut Creek) as been evacuated after a bomb scare or suspicious package was found at the school. We'll update as soon as we know more. Until then, police advise people to stay out of the area. Obviously.

Two UCSC alumni and The University of California at Santa Cruz have set up a scholarship in the name of Gabriel Zimmerman, the former banana slug/congressional staffer who was shot and killed in Arizona on Saturday. According to reports, The fund has had a Facebook page since about noon [on Wednesday] and has already garnered more than $3,000 through Facebook donations."

The two UCSC grads who created the fund - Alex Clemens and Jonathan Klein - "have no relationship to Zimmerman, but they received approval from the shooting victim's family." Regarding Zimmerman, Clemens said, "He embodied the traits you want to see for a person who goes into public service."

The university hopes to raise at least $50,000.

Please visit the Gabriel (Gabe) Zimmerman Scholarship Fund for more information. And, please, if you can, donate.

[SF Appeal]