>> abc7 this is. news. -- this is abc7news. kristen: getting answers for you in real time. a enta heal aress.koueed. aha t c 8 effective against a specif lea l correspondent who has major news of his own he wants to share with us. the unified school district is

set to introduce resolutions tackling one of the most controversial issues, the admissions policy for the elite high school. the superintendent is expected to ask the board to extend the current admissions process through the 2023 school year and establish a process to engage the public in deciding how admissions should be done for the 2024-2025 school year. the pandemic happened and the district could not administered standardized tests. the board made the decision of admissions by lottery permanent but they said that a do over was necessary at a properly noticed meeting. the district decided it was too late to change things for the entering class for so what is on the table is what happens to next fall's entering class and beyond.

that started a heated debate with rallies planned for tomorrow. sharing differing views on this topic is virginia marshall, a retired teacher of galileo high school and wrecks ridgeway, interim chair of the citizens on oversight committee and the incoming executive vice president of the lincoln high school pd essay. thank you both for being here today. >> you are welcome. >> i want to be clear, nothing will be decided tomorrow. the introductions will renew the debate. let me know if i did not some of the positions accurately. virginia you are for continuing the lottery admissions policy? >> i am, yes. >> wrecks, you are back -- rex, er for bringing back other admissions?

>> lottery admissions gives every student a chance to attend. level high school should be open for every student in the district, not a select few. this past year what the lottery-based admission, we saw an increase enrollment in every ethnic group including african-americans. that is the way it should be. kristen: why does the district need to go back to merit-based admissions? >> we have several high schools like george washington and galileo where she is at. these are schools that also bring in students who are ready to go. the problem or opportunity with lowell is 25% of the kids that enter the ninth grade this year are receiving an f or an d.

what we have found out is that the kids who are getting into a foul by lottery, most are not prepared to receive the rigorous course saying that the high school brings. if we approve the other schools, parents would be less anxious of lincoln like where my granddaughter goes or george washington. lowell will be the elite school that it is. i have no problem with the admission, but we to make sure that the kids entering it are prepared and we have found out that this year many of them are not prepared for this rigorous, elite school which should be remain there. kristen: we have to move quickly. i wanted to ask you, you had a personal story connection in that you are -- your

granddaughter, you think her admissions chances at lowell were impacted negatively by the lottery process? >> yes. we basically programmed her to go to lowell from the time she was in the fourth grade. her test scores were always higher than the average school's and state. when they changed the moderate and up to put a lottery base she was no longer really set to actually be chosen by lowell. kristen: i want to mention that i can hear from what you are saying that your granddaughter had high numbers and stats but i want to assure the desert sent us a message responding say that given the ratio of applicants to see no one can say whether or not a student would have got it into lowell based on previous criteria. there are no certainties when it comes to admissions. i hear what you are saying.

i want to give virginia a chance to comment. diversity, equity, a big issue for a lot of people. there are different views on how to get there. rex seems to be saying that his granddaughter of latina and black background did not get into lowell. how does -- how does that improve diversity to have the lottery? >> this past semester, followed 21 -- fall of 2021 shows how diverse lowell is now. every school in the district should be great, not just lowell . every elementary school should be great. every high school should be like lowell. parents would have a choice. parents need to have a choice. i do not know about programming a child, i want my child to

do well in every school they go to. have a welcome environment. the key for me when i heard the stats not too long ago is that the students, the first quarter, the first marking period when the staff saw that students are not doing well, those students, the parents should have been called and encouraged and inquired to go to tutoring. lowell is not just for one group, it is for every student in san francisco. kristen: what do you think about that? >> what she said, every school, i agree with what she said the first part of what you just said. all of the high schools should be those where we have no problem going there. desire their visit to go there. whether it is mission, lincoln, it goes. the question is if they go to

lowell, it is not going to dumb it down. my concern is how do we get the kids that go to lowell or washington or lincoln prepared academically? that is the main problem that we are seeing with kids who are going to lowell. they are not ready. i do not have a problem with the diversity, the numbers should not just be the main driver. we should make sure that they are ready. it will change your life. going into the elite colleges. we cannot have kids go to lowell just because of diversity. we must pair that with academic preparation that they are not getting. kristen: he'll both feel like at the lower levels and lower schools like the elementary and middle schools, students need to be supported better. do you share that goal?

>> yes. unfortunately for us in san francisco, we had the school district under the creed. people were fighting about mlk and because it has strong academic standards. we know that our students can thrive if given the opportunity. we need to go back to those days of the decree. i want to correct the record, i am no longer working at galileo. i am recently retired. every school needs to be a great school in this district. every student needs i could -- every student needs opportunities. everyone needs an opportunity. >> these test scores, i agree with you. we are on the same side of the table. look at the test scores, red

heart, 8% of kids can read at grade level. el dorado, 11% read at grade level. 19%. carver, 16%. we cannot have these kids leave elementary school get into middle school, and enter lowell high! i am agree with you. we are on the same page. we have to start early to make sure that they kid who is going to red heart or el dorado, if their parent wants them to go to lowell, they are ready to go. if we do not nip it in the bud, they are not going to be ready at the elite schools. i would agree with that. >> three years ago at red heart we had a young woman from stanford university teaching math. she got laid off. there was no reason for that.

the district did not have enough money, we should have been able to keep her there. what a loss for those students. every child deserves a high-quality education. every child deserves to teach in an area. especially language arts. kristen: we are out of time for today's discussion. i hear commonalities there. i want to get into whether each thought there was a way to do a lottery while considering a student's motivation and preparedness and if there was a way to do merit and diversity but we have to save that for another conversation. this will be introduced tomorrow, a lot more time to debate there. thank you both for sharing their perspectives -- your perspectives. >> thank you. kristen: may is mental health awareness month and we are helping you need. we checked

when a truck hit my car, the insurance company wasn't fair. i didn't know what my case was worth. so i called the barnes firm. i was hit by a car and needed help. i called the barnes firm, that was the best call i could've made. i'm rich barnes. it's hard for people to know how much their accident case is worth. let our injury attorneys help you get the best result possible. ♪ the barnes firm injury attorneys ♪ ♪ call one eight hundred, eight million ♪

awareness month and part of our effort to build a better bay area, we are committed to getting you the answers that you need and deserve. we talk to express to get insights on mental health so that you can take action -- experts to get insights on mental health so that you can take action. she is an author, to effort joining us here, katie, i do an estimate on how many americans are struggling with mental health? >> i would argue due to the pandemic and things happening in our world, have all been affected. everyone has mental health, mental illness is much more common than we realize. kristen: more than others right

now? >> barton? -- pardon? kristen: are certain demographic groups struggling more right now? >> yes, the people, front-line workers have been affected significantly due to the pandemic. we were all traumatized by what took place. the people who had to go in to help others, not only take care of us healthwise but also truck drivers, people at the grocery store. they were much more affected and are having a tougher time. our children, pulling children after mesh out of school has -- out of school has had a detrimental effect. my age group has young children and being at home and not have any childcare, think of the ripple effects. it has been incredibly difficult. more people to not have been affected.

those groups significantly. kristen: we get physicals to check on our health, we do not get mental health checkups. do we need them? >> yes. we wait too long to go in to see a therapist. i have been in and out of therapy since i was 12. i wait longer than i should to get back in to see my therapist. we should all see a therapist, get checkups, tell them how we are doing. get some insights and tools and techniques. it reminds us we are not alone, it gives us some actionable items to empower us. we wait too long. we think we need to be really suffering to get help. we do not. like you go to the doctor when you have a cold that does not go away. kristen: especially with the depression, it can feel so big people go, that is not me. it is not that bad for me.

what are the signs that you think people should take note of? maybe i do need some help? >> if anything is off. a lot of mental health diagnoses always have us noticing changes in appetite or sleep. those are things we should notice. am i sleeping more? are we seeing any significant changes in that? or another one i think a lot of us can recognize is are we feeling extra irritable? is it hard to be at work or school or are we feeling on edge a lot? are we not able to do the things we need to do each day? is it exhausting? those are the key components that i have people pay attention to. another what i want to throw out there is are you standing a lot of time on social media and set up engaging with people in real life? pay attention to those things. kristen: how do you help people

help themselves with mental health issues? what are resources? >> there is a ton we can do right now. halt is a great anachronism. hungry, angry, lonely, tired. that can really improve our mood, one that is important is the connection, the loneliness component. a head of research if you want to get nerdy with it, go into theory, but the connection was -- we get with people who truly know us and can really improve our mood in the moment. >> k.d., a licensed marriage and family therapist. our discussion on mental health continues all week. the regional medical director for mental health programs will join us, tune in for that and keep it here for marketing answers after they break. a kristen: pfizer has released w

data on the covid vaccine for children under five. the three dose vaccine with 80% effective against symptomatic omicron affection -- infection, although the car was not big enough to predict coverage against severe disease. here to discuss it is our special correspondent. doctor, good to see you. news of your own? >> people out there may hear that my voice sounds a bit different. this is why. i am positive. it is not surprising, first of all given the fact of how incredibly contagious and widespread it is. i feel a little deflated because i have done so well to protect

myself and my family. i feel like garbage! there is a bit of solace knowing that because i am vaccinated and i am boosted that i am more than likely doing much better than i would have been. i have been doing everything i can to keep this voice working. fever, body aches, i am on day three. it is getting better now. it is not just any other flu because it could have been a lot worse. honey lemon tea is the jam. 3 you are in kristen: -- you are in good spirits. we are actually more worried about baby laura? your one-year-old. she lives in the same household. does she get it? >> unfortunately, yes. that was a good punch to be honest -- gut punch.

when we felt symptomatic, we went to take a rapid test. my rapid test turned positive before we had even tested. laura felt fine. i wore a mask, i stayed away from her. i was in the small chance that we could keep her away. we have an air purifier, opened up her window. she had a fever and we tested her and she is doing better. 3 does she have a --kristen: does she have a fever too? >> she is 13 months old and she is on day two of fever. her appetite was down yesterday. my fingers are crossed that she is going to continue to do better. this is my pediatric brain versus my idealistic father protective side of me.

i am like thank god she is not doing worse. part of me does worry about long covid. it does affects them. i am still worried. kristen: chances are small but when you are a parent and that is your kid, you worry. this is why i want to bring it back to today's news of pfizer, the data on the vaccine that it has put before the fda for six months-five-year-old. she would have qualified. what is it showing, the 80% efficacy? >> very welcoming. allow parents saw this this morning. preliminary data from pfizer has not been reviewed by an independent vaccine committee. the 80% efficacy is reported on 10 symptomatic children.

that is not enough to make a statement. they need 21 for that. the end points enables them to go ahead and go forward with this emergency use authorization. the antibody level that these kids got from the three dose vaccine series. the immuno bridging was there. even in february when the in-depth audit report was not sufficient, the safety data was there. there has never been a safety issue with this vaccine. between the fact it has a good safety profile, antibody level, and preliminary data representing efficacy, that is more than enough. you have that debate with the fda and cdc to get shots into arms by june or july. kristen: you do not see any red flag in the data? >> i do not see a red flag in the safety data.

the safety data or the immuno bridging. i would not call it a red flag, i think it is too early to say it is 80%. it is preliminary data and a smaller number. it is why we have follow-up meetings with the fda and cdc. parents do not trust the vaccine or want to see more data. so do we. before i give my shot to my daughter. kristen: what percentage of parents do you think will opt for it? the numbers are low for the next age group up. >> we cannot lose sight of that. that group is only 30% fully vaccinated. according to polls it is 20%-30% of parents who will get to shop for their kids. -- get the shop for their kids. that might change given how

widespread this is. we are in a phase between omicron and ba.2. people say omicron is a more milder. and we are no longer worried. in a totally, the ba.2 is hitting -- anecdotally, ba two is hitting people. it only as a matter of time before it heads towards you. hedge your bets. kristen: thank you for your insight on the pfizer vaccine for kids. you are getting a lot of vaccine comments.

for us! >> i will.

kristen: thank you for joining us on getting answers. we will see you back here. tonight, several developing stories as we come on the air. on covid and children. the news millions of parents have been waiting for. also, news on monkeypox tonight. the confirmed and suspected cases now here in the u.s. first, covid, and tonight, pfizer now saying its new vaccine for children 5 and under is 80% effective against symptomatic omicron. how soon could this be available? it comes as more than 100,000 children in the u.s. test positive in just the last week. also, that news on monkeypox tonight. two new suspected cases under investigation in utah. potentially two cases in florida, after a confirmed case in massachusetts, a suspected case in new york. where did this start, how is it transmitted? what authorities are now saying tonight. the deadly attack on a new york city subway. a