"It's almost predictable that students who have a lot of unpredictability in their lives will suffer for this," Sanchez told us. "It will be destabilizing for them. Teachers will get disrupted as well. A lot of what you do in schools has so much to do with outside the classroom, and it takes a lot of time to get acclimated." At a tough school like Horace Mann, he says, "there's been a lot of professional development and new programs."

Borowski stresses the sentiment forcefully. "It'll be devastating if the pink slips go through. It'll be a huge mess."

Both teachers participated in the massive statewide protests against the cuts on March 4. But other than letting Sacramento know how public educators feel, nothing concrete has come out of it. Sanchez suggested that it might be possible to sue the state for violating its statute on the minimum number of school days. Even SFUSD, at the last Board of Education meeting on March 23, didn't rule out the possibility of suing the state for lack of adequate funding.

Negotiations are ongoing between the district and the United Educators of San Francisco teachers union about final layoffs. Those will be finalized May 15. Meanwhile, teachers at Horace Mann and across the district will continue to do their jobs despite how grim the outlook may be. As Eigl puts it, "It's like out of a book from a bad future."