Raising Our Kids in San Francisco

Moving to San Francisco and living there for a year left a huge dent in our memories, not in a positive way.

We had to relocate to San Francisco in 2019 when the company my husband and I co-founded was acquired by Twitter. This deal required us to move from Seattle to San Francisco and become part of Twitter’s headquarters, which was in the South of Market (SOMA) of San Francisco. At that time, our two kids were 5 and 7. Anticipated as an exciting and triumphant move for my husband and me, it turned out to be the beginning of a horrifying year for our children.

Proof of Residency

We relocated to San Francisco in June 2019, and our primary concern was ensuring that my kids could attend school in the city by fall. However, for new families, this process is extremely challenging.

In other parts of the US, enrolling children in school is relatively straightforward. You establish a permanent address by either signing a lease or purchasing a home. Then you register your kids within the school district, and typically, the elementary school they attend is the closest one to your home.

In San Francisco, the entire city operates under a single expansive school district known as the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD). School assignments are determined through a lottery…