industry. transparency. what we stand for and who we are. we should be very transparent about whether we are reporters, journalists, constitutionalists. what i said earlier, what is really important, we can try to bridge these communities, even if we cannot cover them all individually. why are we not try to cover the different pieces together? we will be starting in the late spring to cover content, and once we start doing it, why not work with other organizations? >> all right, let's take another audience member. >> my name is berlin, but.

-- [unintelligible] the quality of journalism, we feel that all of the people working in poverty, those people are always excluded. especially where corporate mainstream media is concerned. we do this in so many ways and so many forms. the real quality of journalism is the people. even though we are grass roots, always hanging by a thread, we never failed to be heard. i believe that the mayor of oakland said this, for one the government is pretty much run by large media corporations. when you are out there speaking the truth that they do not want

to hear, just to make your media -- especially if you are pointing out your expos -- that you are exposed. we also believe that in media there should come education. the word minority is a derogatory term. believe it or not. thank you. >> we have a little bit of time left. i want to make sure all of the audience members are heard. >> my name is bruce grimes. i am an independent writer and producer of television, going back to "rolling stone." my question will relate to the comment about quality from dr. abraham. specifically about journalists

today. 250 people, ranging in age between 25 and 35, pretty frightening. they were new media folks from a content perspective. what i came away with listening to them talk about their audience, reaching out, being writers, was scared me was how selfish the audience seemed to be. subway breakfasts, your comment about crime and people being tired of reading about it, they were reaching for people like this, this is how they were going to make money. it scares the hell out of me. i brought it back and brought it up, especially in the '60s and '70s, it was a extremely political newspaper magazine that used music to bring in an

audience. so, my question, what about the new journalists today reaching out to the 20-year-old and 30- year-old? your comment about the two schools of journalism and reaching out, getting quality journalism to the public, how will we do that? >> we have a couple of issues here. the old school and the new school. i guess the question would be -- is there a standard? a single standard anymore for journalism? >> i do not know who sets that standard anymore. frightening, sometimes, to hear

the fact that the most trusted name in news is jon stewart. but who can argue that there is not some good quality reporting and information that goes on on a show like that? i think it will be far reaching. we have young people, both in print and on the internet. it is a wide range of opportunity. i do not know that there is any one standard today that anyone could point to that would be the single source. >> what about the chronicle right now? reducing $1 million per week, what does that look like right now? >> thank goodness we are not losing $1 million per week

today. i am happy to say that. to give you an idea, fourth quarter of last year, in the toughest economic times of this country that we have seen since the great depression, it was a record quarter for us for the decade. now, the bar was awfully low, but it was a profitable quarter. started out at the beginning of the year, in this type of environment, not making money today. but we are on our budget and on our plan. the last six months of the year looked to be a strong revenue environment for us. we think we will be fine overall for the year. >> we have gone over our time a little bit. one last question. >> this is for mr. frazier. the panel last night, it looks like there is no after the

chronicle, so congratulations. we were talking about how people to get them to eat their broccoli with their ice-cream. reading city hall coverage with subway breakfasts. can you talk about ways you are experimenting with getting people to eat them both? making it palatable? concrete experiments that you will try? >> that will -- that sounds terrible. [laughter] >> maybe we can have broccoli with cheese? i do not think that there is a simple answer. i think that people come to read various news sources. there will be multiple sources. some for entertainment, some for other resources. the key thing about broccoli and in sustaining a democracy, it tells us what we need to know even if we did not need to know it.

it is about the role that the journalist plays, telling the community what we did that no we needed to know. cheese, ice cream, it does not matter. that means editors. that means transparency. that means education about media. it means membership of junior journalists. without all of those things, there is no broccoli. no one will tell us what we need to know that we did now know we need to know. >> on that note we will have to conclude today's town hall forum. we hope that you enjoyed it. it has been presented by the northern california chapter of professional journalism. they've asked me to express thanks to tonight's panelists. thank you for being here today. [applause] thank you to the audience as well.

give yourself a clap, making it on the tuesday evening from work or whatever. we would also like to thank the san francisco public library from -- for sharing this facility, the crew from sfgtv, thank you for joining us. we wish you good news in everything that you do. [applause] >> thank you very much for joining us tonight. i would appreciate it if folks would move into the lobby for conversation.

>> thank you so much. i am a are newsom's -- i am mayor newsom's education adviser. it is an interesting seat at an interesting time. it is my pleasure to do these events. it is a fantastic moment for so many of our principals and teachers. it gives us an opportunity to thank them for all they do for our children, our community, and our parents. it is a wonderful thing. we were sitting around and wondering why we never did this, so we are really glad this is the fourth year doing our teacher of the month and our third year doing our teacher of the year. i wanted to thank a few folks

really quickly. we have had some fantastic donations to all of our teachers and our principles. they have no idea what we are getting -- what they are getting today. i am excited to be able to rattle off the price list. we have so many prizes to give. i want to thank linda from comcast and tony from chase. they have been our monetary sponsors. we are really thankful to them for supporting this endeavor we have done. we have so many other sponsors, which are all on the back of your programs and displayed. i saw sammy in the back. if you'd donated -- if you donated to this cause, would you please raise your hand or stand up for us so we can thank you from the bottom of our hearts? [applause]

we do this program in partnership with several folks. the united educators of san francisco, the united administrators of san francisco, the san francisco school alliance, and the san francisco ed fund. ed fund has been our fiscal sponsor. i do not know if terry richardson is here from the school alliance. we want to thank her as well. i wanted to start by introducing jim, who has been the president of united administrators of san francisco. he has been instrumental in helping us pull this off every year. [applause] >> good afternoon. 162 years ago, the first school

opened its doors in san francisco. ever since then, we have had wonderful teachers and great administrators. this year is no exception. over the next hour or so, we are going to hear stories about all these wonderful people sitting up here. i would just like to add my congratulations to all of them on behalf of the 162 members of the united administrators of san francisco. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, jim. another partner of ours is united educators of sentences go. i want to welcome mr. dennis kelly, the president. [applause] >> thank you all for being here. it is a great honor and a great privilege to be able to recognize the work that all of

these good people have done. some of these -- even the administrators. we have known to the since she was a tiny teacher. it is good to see her pass through and come to this point. it is a wonderful time to be able to celebrate the great work these teachers have done and these principles have done, and know it is emblematic of the work everyone else is doing. it was just 162 years ago. jim and i are the only ones in the room who remember it. [laughter] there were seven teachers, seven schools, and seven school board members in san francisco. we have come a long way. james was one of those first people. it is a name we have kept in the district ever since. thank you very much for coming. congratulations to all of you. just think how much longer this could all go on. thank you. [applause] >> i found my notes. now you are in trouble.

i want to acknowledge my colleagues, such as norman yi. thank you for joining us. i also saw mark sanchez, a former school board member and now a principal at horace middle school. where did you go? thank you. we have been under the amazing leadership of a superintendent who has partnered with the city in so many ways that it has been extremely magical to be able to do the things we have done. please join me in welcoming our superintendent of schools, mr. carlos garcia. [applause] >> you know, one of the highlights for me as a superintendent and as a teacher who happens to be the superintendent is that when we go through graduation and watch our young people get a diploma and have -- the call at a

commencement ceremony. really, their lives are just guarding that day. i kind of feel like that when we get a chance to recognize our rock stars of our school district, the real stars. american idol has nothing on any of you. you really have talent. when you look at the things these folks do in their classrooms -- in our strategic plan, we talked a lot about joyful learners. what you see in front of you are people who have figured out how to make learning so exciting that it is joyful and that kids kind of do not even recognize that they are being taught, that they are actually learning, because it is fun and exciting and new for them. that is the caliber of teachers and principals we have up here. some of these principles, as you know -- if you do not have a great principle, sometimes it is just going to work. it is not fun. these people up here make their

schools a fun place to go, where teachers, parents, students, and everybody comes together and actually enjoys being there with the same common mission of making all kids successful. we are blessed to today to be able to acknowledge the type of caliber of teacher that is here in san francisco. when you look at our test scores -- eight years in a row, the highest performing urban district in california. these are the people who make that happen. on behalf of our district, thank you. [applause] >> thank you, carlos. i want to share with everyone what our awardees will be receiving. we are overwhelmed by the the nation's everybody gave. everybody will get symphony tickets. you will also get academy of science tickets. you also get aquarium of the bay

tickets. you get a free pair of jeans from the gap. you will get a one country tour for two with gray line sightseeing, worth 200 callers -- $200. our principles will receive -- our principals will receive $700 from the mayor's office and $100 gift certificate from genevieve hotels. you'll get two tickets to the whale tour. you'll get two tickets to the rocket boat high-speed ride in the san francisco bay. teachers will get $500 from the mayor's office. [applause] i know there is a little bit of a discrepancy from what the principals are receding and the teachers are receiving.

the teachers are also getting tickets from virgin airlines wherever they fly in the united states. [applause] so this is a little game that we play. the mayor will come up. he is going to give you each your bag of goodies. we also have from tiffany's a beautiful crystal apple that is engraved. everybody that came into my office today saw the tip of the bag and instantly knew what it was. the tiffany symbol is a comic. you may not ever get a crystal tiffany anything. we have a beautiful award for you. in addition to that, what we do is the principals will get their awards and we have four extra prizes for each of you. they are all very different. there will either be for clubbable tickets to the giants

game, and overnight stay and dinner, an overnight stay and breakfast, or an ipad. when you are called up, you will receive your bag from the mayor and the superintendent. i will have for envelopes. you choose one, ok? the teachers -- we have a variety of other goodies which include a bike rental, muir woods, beach blanket babylon, tickets to the opera -- we had so many gifts. a special thank-you to the world community benefit district and pier 39. they solicited for us and got a lot of wonderful things. without further ado, the awards are named after somebody who has really care about public education, somebody who has stepped up to the plate, who has made public education a priority and makes it easy for me to work for him. i want to introduce our mayor of san francisco, mayor gavin

newsom. [applause] >> thank you, hydra. the guests get bigger and bigger every year, and more exciting. remember, last year we did this as kind of a pick and choose. some folks were left very happy. some were left wanting. that was not lost on us. we tried to have a stronger base line of gifts this year, which is appropriate because you deserve them. we are very grateful. that is the spirit that brings us together -- gratitude, the spirit that defines excellence. the work that you do continues l beyond your tenure and stewardship. you have an impact that endures, impact that becomes indelible, that manifest not only through the course of someone's educational experience but well

beyond in the course of their lives. like anything, the narrative of our lives is a narrative of impact, an impact in other people's lives, and it continues next-generation for kids that are here with us, kids that will be joining us in years to come. the impact is extraordinary and why i'm so pleased that you are here, why your colleagues are here, your friends and family are here, and that is why i'm so pleased that a number of years ago people came into my office and said it was about time we say thank you in a formal way. the country has been doing it for years. it goes back president to president to president. the governor's office has been doing it years and years. here in san francisco, we realize up until 2006, the city

never formally said thank you to our teachers, and then, we realize this and as we said thank you to our teachers, the next year, we said, what about the principles? we quickly rectified that in 2007. the challenge is that gets more challenging each and every year that we get so many good candidates that it gets harder and harder to make the final decision. what has happened in the past is that it has been made much easier. they give me 14, and i have just got to pick 10, so there's only four that i feel really guilty about. this year, we had two high school principals.

my point is they are starting to pass the buck a little bit, putting too much pressure on me because they do not want to make the tough choice because there are so many worthy and worthwhile candidates. i guess there may be recognized winners today, but there are no losers, either, so let me thank all of you, all the people that were nominated for your outstanding leadership and stewardship. let me thank all of those that were not nominated for their great work as well. just because you were not nominated this year does not mean you are not doing great work. it is just that we had to limit to this group of folks, and next year, the chances are you are going to be out here. all i can say is it has been challenging, obviously, for our teachers and friends of those. has been challenging for our parents, challenging for all of you in the city, but i much

prefer to be here facing these challenges in san francisco event, candidly, any other county in this state. at the end of the day, we step up and we step in. this is the city with strong partnerships, and we recognize we are all in this together. with a much better off if we put aside at the end of the day our differences and work more collaborative like to get it. this year, like so many previous years, we've demonstrated that. it is not easy. sometimes, you read the paper and believe it cannot be done, but nonetheless, at the end of the day, as was the case with our teachers' union and carlos and the school board, that in spite of all that, they came together, and i'm thankful and appreciative that they did that, and i'm thankful that the city will come together with a budget i will submit in a few weeks that will recognize our contributions to the rainy day reserve, though depleting, that will be there again and to

support ec's for our after- school programs, which will be even more robust next year than they were this year. the support we're getting preschool programs, arts school programs, while the centers, a sports school programs, library programs that we will continue to do our part to help support and birds those budget gaps being expanded and extended by the state cuts that we are facing, and of course, the national challenges that continue to dominate. it is in that spirit of recognition, but that spirit of reward that we are here, and it is in that spirit that i will ask hydra to come out and to begin the process of announcing this year's winners and then talking about them a little bit more, and we will hear from them. why don't we start, then?

>> we recognize what early childhood education means to us. we wanted to make sure that we recognize our site managers at our child development sites, so our first letter is raul chavez. he finds inspiration in the learning and billions of all our children. he says it we are comfortable, we're not doing enough, and if we are content, it is not enough. if you would please join us. [applause] >> she is going to start to get teary eyes. last year's winner was a great

mentor, and for that, i have to thank the board for naming this award after her. [applause] i think i have been lucky enough that she mentored me centered all of her decision making around our cities. she shared why she plan the way she planned and why she executed some of the decisions that she made, and in doing so, i was able to step up into the same system. but i cannot take that credit. it does not only belong to me. it belongs to our staff. it is to our family advocates and mentor consultants. it is to our families for stepping out and supporting us and working with us. it is only there that we are able to be successful in hopes that our children will be successful in the future. i cannot take all that credit.

that credit belongs to all of them. i have to thank my mother and father. [applause] for not being soft when i was growing up because, boy, they were not. [laughter] but here i am, and because of them, i am here. i also have to thank my wife because she puts all -- puts up with all of the professional development we have here, for all the began professional develop we have, and sometimes, is letting her know that we love her. thank you very much for inspiring me to be a better man. thank you. [applause] >> he's