The city of San Francisco says the number of suicidal children has hit record highs as public schools remain closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Last week the city had an unprecedented one step and sued its own school district over the ongoing closings that have kept San Francisco’s more than 54,000 public school students out of the classroom since March 2020.

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City Attorney Dennis Herrera argued in the lawsuit that the reopening is safe and that the San Francisco Unified School District is hurting the mental health of students by keeping the facilities closed. The lawsuit also states that school officials are not yet required to come up with a detailed plan for the statutory reopening.

In a motion filed Thursday in the San Francisco Superior Court, Herrera provided testimony from hospitals and parents about the psychological effects of the closings on children The Associated Press (AP).

The lawsuit alleges that UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital saw a 66 percent increase in the number of suicidal children attending emergency rooms and a 75 percent increase in children hospitalized for mental health problems, AP reports . The UCSF Children’s Emergency Department in Mission Bay also saw a record number of suicidal children last month, according to legal records.

The city also quotes statements from parents. One mother said her 15-year-old daughter often cried in the middle of the day in frustration, and she recently found her “curled up in a fetal position and crying next to her laptop at 11 a.m.,” according to the AP.

Another parent said their 7-year-old son had “uncontrollable meltdowns” and their 10-year-old daughter had “depression and anger”. She said she believed her daughter’s mental health would continue to suffer until schools reopen.

Schools in San Francisco have been allowed to reopen by law since September. However, the teacher unions have announced that they will not return to face-to-face learning until they are vaccinated, and the district has yet to finalize a deal to reopen.

“We wholeheartedly agree that in-person learning serves students better,” Laura Dudnick, the school district spokeswoman, told AP. “We want the city to provide vaccines to our employees.”

On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released guidelines on safely reopening schools, stating that while COVID-19 vaccination should be a priority for teachers, it is not viewed as a condition for classroom reopening should be.

The agency’s recommendations focus on the wearing of universal masks by students, staff and teachers, as well as social distancing. The CDC said schools can customize whether they offer full face-to-face tuition or hybrid learning based on their level of community penetration.

“Science has shown that schools can be safely reopened before all teachers are vaccinated,” said CDC director Rochelle Walensky on Friday.

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