San Francisco, CA
Where did it go wrong? Here's how San Francisco Unified's issues led to school closures
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — The San Francisco Unified School District announced Tuesday which schools will have to close due to budget concerns. Now, many are asking at what point did things begin to unravel for a district that was once financially stable.
To understand the chaos throughout San Francisco’s School District, let’s start with the central office, the people who run the day-to-day business operation. At a recent Board of Supervisors meeting information was given on how things are not functioning efficiently.
SFUSD releases list of schools that will potentially close
“All of those systems, they are right now unfortunately run by one or two senior people. They don’t have enough staff there,” said Maria Su, who is on the School Stabilization Team. Su was recently appointed by Mayor London Breed to lead a city team that would help stabilize things at the district.
What we do know is that during the pandemic, some senior staff left or retired.
Susan Saunders, a principal who retired in June 202, told us some of the district’s problems stem from what many refer to as a disconnect between the schools and the central office.
“I think it’s just trust and I think it’s still there, that lack of trust is still there. I think what people at the school sites are asking for is, make us part of the conversation too. Let’s be solution-oriented and work together,” said Saunders.
An example is the lack of information when the district chose to delay the announcement of school closures.
“I think we need to do a better job of explaining our budget crisis and then why school closures fit into our picture of addressing the budget crisis,” said SFUSD Superintendent Dr. Matt Wayne.
This budget crisis is due, in part, by some families deciding to leave San Francisco Public Schools through the years, meaning schools continue to miss out on millions of dollars from the state.
“We wouldn’t be in this financial crisis if we hadn’t lost so many students. Now, I think a lot of that has to do, as a parent who went through this process, with how long it took to reopen schools after COVID,” said San Francisco Supervisor Hillary Ronen during a recent meeting.
Current Superintendent Matt Wayne was not there at the time, Vincent Matthews was.
Instead of getting schools to reopen safely, some on the school board were focused on other matters they considered important like trying unsuccessfully to rename schools and tearing down historic murals that some deemed insensitive.
Former school board commissioner Gabriela Lopez was one of the school board members eventfully recalled.
SF mayor’s office steps in to help as school district faces $400M budget deficit, closures
“If I could have done anything to make that faster to improve the timeline so that we could ensure schools are safe, I would have but because it was the pandemic and there’s such a bureaucratic process, it’s difficult to make those moves and then we balanced that with the other discussions that were top of mind for a lot of people,” said Lopez.
That delay also hurt the recruitment of teachers, adding to the shortage that already existed.
A San Francisco civil grand jury found that according to 2020-2021 data, “SFUSD does not employ an adequate number of credentialed teachers to afford a quality education to all San Francisco students.” Only 77 percent were credentialed.
Karen Kennard was the foreperson of that grand jury.
“We compared it with all of the Bay Area school districts and the Bay Area district generally have about 82 percent, clean credentialed teachers so San Francisco was lagging behind all of the other school district in the Bay Area except for Alameda,” said Kennard.
Another major revelation, SFUSD administrators were initially tight lipped.
“Their administrators dodged us, refused to return phone calls, refused to return emails and we finally had to go to get the city attorney involved,” said Kennard.
Then came a flawed payroll system that cost the district $35 million and another $20 million to implement a new one which should be up and running by July 2025.
And now the latest example of a mismanaged system is an additional $30 million that was needed to hire more special education teachers for this year. $30 million that was not initially in the budget.
A crisis, that even the district admits, was created by the central office.
“Principals were trying to hire these positions and the budget money was not there,” said School Board President Matt Alexander.
As a result, when schools started last August, the district could not hire the extra special education teachers needed because the funds were not in the budget.
“We failed our students at the beginning of the year,” said Superintendent Wayne to member of the Board of Supervisors.
SFUSD facing 120 teacher vacancies amid looming school closures
The district has since found the money to hire some special education teachers using one time funds, but there are still vacant positions.
Supervisor Ahsha Safai has asked the city controller to investigate the matter.
“We need to know who made that decision and who broke the law on behalf of the school district because there needs to be accountability,” said Safai.
Now, also unsettling is the city’s proposal to use $8.4 million left over from the Student Success Fund, to begin stabilizing the district.
That did not sit well with some members of the Board of Supervisors.
“That money is supposed to be used to get students achieving academically and healthy in their minds, body and spirit and the precedent that that is setting, is scaring the life out of me,” said Supervisor Ronen.
But Su suggested that that money would go toward hiring much-needed paraprofessionals and helping families whose schools will be closing.
“Could we use some of these dollars to support schools and young people, children and families who are going to transition from a closed school to a welcoming school. I feel all of these things fall within the scope of the student success fund,” said Su.
The question now is how can families ever trust the district to finally get things right?
“We’re working incredibly hard to rebuild the trust with our community. So I think we’re doing what we can to lay out, here is the situation we’re facing and let’s work through it together,” said Dr. Wayne.
“And more importantly how do we never get to this place ever again,” said Su.
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The San Francisco 49ers today announced they have signed DL Gracen Halton to a four-year deal. With the signing, the 49ers now have all eight of the team’s 2026 draft picks under contract.
Halton (6-3, 293) was the first of two fourth-round draft picks (107th overall) selected by the 49ers in this year’s draft out of Oklahoma. He appeared in 47 games (10 starts) over four seasons at Oklahoma (2022-25) and finished with 84 tackles, 17.5 tackles for loss, 8.5 sacks, three forced fumbles and two passes defensed. In 2025, he appeared in 13 games (seven starts) and tallied 33 tackles, 7.0 tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks, two passes defensed and one forced fumble (returned for a TD), earning Second-Team All-SEC honors. In 2024, he appeared in 13 games (three starts) and recorded 30 tackles, 6.0 tackles for loss, 5.0 sacks and two forced fumbles. In 2023, he appeared in 11 games and tallied 11 tackles and 3.5 tackles for loss. As a true freshman in 2022, Halton appeared in 10 games and recorded 10 tackles and 1.0 tackle for loss.
A 22-year-old native of San Diego, CA, Halton attended St. Augustine (San Diego, CA) High School.
San Francisco, CA
Multiple people lose eyes, hands in illegal fireworks-related injuries in San Francisco
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — San Francisco emergency departments and first responders experienced a sharp increase in serious injuries over the Fourth of July weekend, with illegal fireworks and electric scooter crashes contributing to some of the busiest days in recent years.
At Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center, medical teams treated a wave of patients suffering severe trauma. In one incident, bystanders rushed to help a person who was bleeding heavily after a hand injury. A 911 dispatcher described the call as “Extreme Trauma. Hand injury.”
Dr. Christopher Colwell, chief of emergency medicine at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, said surgeons worked to treat patients with devastating injuries.
“We are able to do a lot with and sometimes save the function of the hand and eye. Unfortunately, there are injuries that exist every year where we are not able to do that even with the expertise that we have,” Colwell said.
MORE: SF police in riot gear crack down on 4th of July illegal fireworks shows: ‘It was crazy’
According to Dr. Colwell, four people lost eyes, five lost hands and at least 15 people suffered serious injuries related to electric scooters over the weekend.
“We saw a lot of electric scooter accidents. And I think part of it was that their traffic was such that that was a more efficient way of getting around town. But we also learned very clearly that the combination of electric scooters and how fast you can go in San Francisco, particularly going downhill along with not wearing a helmet and adding alcohol on board, is a really bad combination,” Colwell said.
ABC7’s data team reviewed San Francisco EMT data and found that medical incidents on July 4 and July 5 were about double the number reported during the same period in 2025.
Lt. Mariano Elias of the San Francisco Fire Department said emergency crews handled significantly more calls than usual.
“We had almost 200 more calls than we normally have so we had roughly 576 calls in a 24-hour period,” Elias said.
MORE: Over 400 people arrested during chaos at Newport Beach July 4th celebrations, police say
Illegal fireworks activity also sparked fires across the city. Firefighters responded to Telegraph Hill, where crews quickly contained a blaze.
“We did have two house fires that night on the 4th of July, due to fireworks activities,” Elias said.
City officials estimated that more than 100,000 people were in San Francisco to watch Fourth of July fireworks, creating traffic congestion that complicated ambulance response efforts.
“All the gridlock between, people coming and going from, the Golden Gate Bridge. The city was very impacted on the streets. So that was an issue. The one particular ambulance did, involve themselves in an accident. So, someone hit the ambulance. So that patient had to be transported and moved to a different ambulance,” Elias said.
First responders warned that illegal fireworks activity typically continues for days after the Fourth of July and urged the public not to take unnecessary risks.
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San Francisco, CA
Terrified passengers film Waymo autonomous vehicle driving into live fireworks in San Francisco
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Passengers in a Waymo vehicle were terrified as the car drove into lit fireworks in the middle of a San Francisco street during Independence Day celebrations over the weekend.
Video footage of the incident shows a group of passengers who were shocked as the driverless car seemingly approaches lit fireworks in the middle of a street as the explosives are about to launch.
As the car gets closer, someone on the street appears to warn the vehicle to stop by waving their hand.
DELTA FLIGHT STRUCK BY FIREWORKS WHILE LANDING IN CHICAGO ON FOURTH OF JULY, FAA INVESTIGATES
Passengers in a Waymo vehicle were terrified as the autonomous car drove into lit fireworks in the middle of a San Francisco street during Independence Day celebrations. (Rose Peterson via Storyful)
“No, no, no, don’t go, don’t go, don’t go,” one of the passengers is heard saying off-camera.
The autonomous vehicle then passes over the colorful flames and sparks.
“Our Waymo just drove into a firework,” a passenger says in the clip.
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A Waymo vehicle sits idling at an intersection with no operating traffic lights due to power outages, in San Francisco, Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025. (Jeff Chiu/AP Photo)
“Are we on fire, dude?” a fellow passenger asks.
A Waymo spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the company “is committed to keeping our riders safe and earning the trust of the communities where we operate.”
“We take situations like this seriously and are committed to evaluating and learning from these events,” the statement continued.
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No injuries were reported to either the passengers or the vehicle, and the company reached out to the riders after their trip. The possession of fireworks, even “Safe and Sane” explosives, is illegal in San Francisco, the city’s fire department said.
One woman was killed and two other adults and a child were injured Saturday in a separate fireworks explosion, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Elsewhere in San Francisco, some Waymo vehicles were towed when their batteries died after vehicles became stuck in traffic for hours.
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“Our priority is keeping San Francisco moving safely, especially during major city celebrations,” the Waymo spokesperson said. “On the Fourth of July, extreme traffic congestion in northern San Francisco disrupted normal operations for several Waymo vehicles.”
“In coordination with local authorities and emergency services, our roadside assistance team worked quickly to clear our vehicles from the area,” the statement continued.
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