The first of many pieces likely to appear in the coming days and weeks in the local media have appeared, quoting upset parents, following Tuesday's anouncement of 11 proposed school closures in the SF Unified School District.

We learned Tuesday which San Francisco schools are on the list for potential closure next year, as the SFUSD faces a budget crisis caused by declining student enrollment. The list includes a high school focused on social justice and equity, June Jordan High School in the Excelsior; Yick Wo Alternative Elementary School, which dates back to 1983 in the Chinatown neighborhood; and the nearly 30-year-old Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy, named for the late SF supervisor and LGBTQ activist, which has a specific focus on teaching social studies highlighting global awareness and activism.

KeAna Elzie, a local resident who attended Harvey Milk in the 90s and now sends her daughter there for third grade, spoke about the potential loss of the school Tuesday night to ABC 7.

"Just to have the same people and the same faces [as when I went there], it just feels really good. It feels like home and it feels like family," Elzie tells the station.

Under the proposed closure plan, if it is approved, current students at Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy who are not graduating from fifth grade in the spring will be integrated with students at Sanchez Elementary School several blocks away,

As parent Sharnae Springfield tells ABC 7, she's concerned about the transition for her son. "I think it's going to be a challenge for him to adapt, to go to a new environment, because he's used to staff, the school and his friends and stuff."

One teacher at the school, Elise Reynolds-McCarty, also laments that the equity conversation about school closures hasn't extended to Milk's legacy, and non-racial minorities. "They're talking about equity, equity, but they're not considering the LGBTQ+ community in this equity conversation and it's blowing my mind," Reynolds-McCarty tells ABC 7.

Teachers at Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy are planning to march in protest of the proposed closure on Wednesday in the Castro neighborhood.

Another school where parents were lamenting a possible impending closure Tuesday was San Francisco Community School, a K-8 school in the Excelsior. The SF Standard spoke to Cecilia Ixchop, a parent who's youngest daughter attends the school, like her oldest did previously. "This is a good school," Ixchop tells the Standard.

Aaron Sullivan, another parent at SF Community School, tells the Standard, "This is a great school that has spearheaded many of the programs that are now district-wide, like project-based learning," and he called the decision about closing it, "shortsighted."

And, said one anonymous dad, "We’ve been worried for six months. The communication is fucking horrible. This is fucking horrible."

The Chronicle interviewed parents at multiple schools on the closure list Tuesday, including at 130-year-old Sutro Elementary in the Richmond District. PTA president Abby Davis tells the Chronicle, "I honestly think, if they pick us it’s because they think this Asian community for the most part, will just roll over… is quieter, is not as loud, it’s not true. They’re about to find out."

Supervisor Connie Chan told the paper she was already working with the school, and she said in a message to the community, "School closures must be a last resort — we must explore all other options first."

SFUSD Superintendant Dr. Matt Wayne said Tuesday that upcoming community meetings with stakeholders at each potentially closed school would be focused on explaining the dire straits that the district finds itself in financially. With declining enrollment, and with district funding tied to enrollment numbers, keeping all 132 schools in the district open has become infeasible.

"We’re not going out to ask schools whether they want to close or not," Wayne said bluntly, speaking to the Chronicle Tuesday.

The closures, if enacted, would reportedly amount to around $22 million in annual savings for the district.

But everyone has known for over a year that once closure decisions needed to be made, this was going to mean a fair number of fights — fights that we've already seen play out in Oakland, where closure decisions were made in 2022. SF parents may even take a cue from those in Oakland who staged a sit-in at one closed school, Parker Elementary, in August 2022.

While that protest did not accomplish what the parents had hoped — Parker Elementary remains closed — Oakland Unified did end up reversing course on six out of 11 of its proposed closures.

That reversal likely came as a result of a California Department of Justice inquiry into equity violations made in the closure decisions — something that SF parents may also consider for their playbook.

Superintendent Wayne did signal some openness to dialogue Tuesday, saying that the community meetings would be focused on asking "What did we miss?" when it comes to the closure list.

Previously: SFUSD Proposed School Closure List Is Out: 11 Elementary, K-8 and High Schools May Close or Merge

This article has been updated to include further quotes from additional parents who spoke to the Chronicle.