with us this afternoon but i am really pleased to introduce the deputy superintendent richard caranza. [applause] >> what a wonderful day and what a wonderful event. i say that with a heavy heart because our ultimate goal is when we don't have to celebrate inclusive schools week, when we celebrate every day where every child is fully included in a meaningful and positive way in every aspect of education. when our school board took the monumental step in saying that we believe that every child can learn, we believe that every

child will learn in our community, special education is not a place or program, this is what we do every single day. this is the beginning of many many more celebrations about including every one of our children in the full array of educational programs. with that, we cannot do it alone. we need your help. what we need is your help and your creativity and your support in making this a reality in every single one of our schools.

thank you for being part of our school system. next year, bigger and better. [applause] >> one of our elementary schools did and excel of -- an excellent job of celebrating inclusive schools week and many are here this afternoon. [applause] >> we have decided to use this as a kickoff for really improving our inclusive educational practices in the district. with that, i just wanted to tell you that i am excited to introduce commissioner mendoza who is the mayor is educational

adviser and who is here to share a proclamation on behalf of the mayor. the mayor understands the stresses that we have had a san francisco unified. i am really proud to be here to read this proclamation from the city and county of san francisco to honor inclusive schools. since 2001, this has been celebrated during the first full week of december to honor the full diversity of our school and youth.

today, the san francisco school district is establishing the first annual san francisco inclusive schools week to join the tens of thousands of students and educators around the country celebrating inclusive schools week each year. whereas the san francisco unified school district is dedicated to the students with disabilities in education's needs. in keeping with the tenants of the students with disabilities act and the san francisco unified school district is dedicated to transforming the schools for striving for inclusiveness at all levels of our programs. whereas today's students are the

future leaders of our communities, each and every student is given every opportunity to train, learn, the curious, achieve, xl, inspire our future generations. geffen -- gavin newsom declares december 6th-12 as san francisco inclusive schools week in san francisco. congratulations and great job. [applause] >> thank you so much, everyone who is here. there are many people that i failed to mention. i see many parents and staff.

i just want to ek you -- echo the deputies words that this will be something that is every day and not just one time of year. thank you very much. [applause]

>> i am this assistance superintendent for special indication at san francisco unified. we have with us the supervisor from district 8. we have a supervisor from district 9.

we have many parents, many staff, and some children. i would like to introduce one of the san francisco unified parents that have worked so hard all week long. [applause] >> i am very happy to be here and celebrating it inclusive school week and i hope that we came momentum and do this every year better and that this blossoms to the state level. children of all abilities are welcome everywhere. [applause]

>> now it is mine pleasure to introduce rachel norton from the san francisco unified school board. >> thank you, everyone. it is exciting to be here today. we have been building up a bigger celebration of inclusive schools in san francisco. i really want to thank katherine for all the work that she did, the support for families, all of our administration, richard, carlos. we could not do this without this. >> our superintendent cannot be with us this afternoon but i am

really pleased to introduce the deputy superintendent richard caranza. [applause] >> what a wonderful day and what a wonderful event. i say that with a heavy heart because our ultimate goal is when we don't have to celebrate inclusive schools week, when we celebrate every day where every child is fully included in a meaningful and positive way in every aspect of education. when our school board took the monumental step in saying that we believe that every child can learn, we believe that every child will learn in our community, special education is

not a place or program, this is what we do every single day. this is the beginning of many many more celebrations about including every one of our children in the full array of educational programs. with that, we cannot do it alone. we need your help. what we need is your help and your creativity and your support in making this a reality in every single one of our schools.

thank you for being part of our school system. next year, bigger and better. [applause] >> one of our elementary schools did and excel of -- an excellent job of celebrating inclusive schools week and many are here this afternoon. [applause] >> we have decided to use this as a kickoff for really improving our inclusive educational practices in the district. with that, i just wanted to tell you that i am excited to introduce commissioner mendoza who is the mayor is educational adviser and who is here to share

a proclamation on behalf of the mayor. the mayor understands the stresses that we have had a san francisco unified. i am really proud to be here to read this proclamation from the city and county of san francisco to honor inclusive schools. since 2001, this has been celebrated during the first full week of december to honor the full diversity of our school and youth. today, the san francisco school

district is establishing the first annual san francisco inclusive schools week to join the tens of thousands of students and educators around the country celebrating inclusive schools week each year. whereas the san francisco unified school district is dedicated to the students with disabilities in education's needs. in keeping with the tenants of the students with disabilities act and the san francisco unified school district is dedicated to transforming the schools for striving for inclusiveness at all levels of our programs. whereas today's students are the future leaders of our communities, each and every

student is given every opportunity to train, learn, the curious, achieve, xl, inspire our future generations. geffen -- gavin newsom declares december 6th-12 as san francisco inclusive schools week in san francisco. congratulations and great job. [applause] >> thank you so much, everyone who is here. there are many people that i failed to mention. i see many parents and staff. i just want to ek you -- echo

the deputies words that this will be something that is every day and not just one time of year. thank you very much. [applause]

>> thank you for taking the time to be here, especially on short notice. we are here to celebrate an important milestone, which began here at city hall behind me with mr. ellison. the america's cup made its way back to the city and county of san francisco. what we are celebrating is a host city agreement that we will sign a bid to hold the america's cup defense here, in 2013. as i said, we started this process in february, recognizing that it was, by no stretch of the imagination predetermined that the city and county of san

francisco would be able to host an event such as the america's cup. we were going to be asked, and we had some confidence that we would be formally asked to present a bit. it turned out, we were the only american city formally requested to submit a bid. nonetheless, we were competing with cities around the world, and eventually it came out that rome, italy, valencia, spain were potential suitors. we went through a process unlike any other process in the united states. we even brought our own music that we are celebrating here today. who's adiradio is that? i am going to get you a new song for itunes.

let me know when you are done. and there you go. we went through a long and very public process, as is appropriate for the city and county of san francisco. we heard from people who live in the city, region, state, people around the country about the importance of the america's cup, what it has meant to their personal lives, experiences, experiences with the love of sailing and the sea. we recognize this trophy is unique, the oldest international trophy in the world. in fact, it was established at

about the same time the city and county of san francisco was established. we heard stories about larry ellison's youth where he discovered that passion for sailing here in san francisco proper as well. as we went through the process, more and more people enthusiastically organized around this effort, to support this race. it was remarkable to listen to some of the public comment. i do not recall one comment in any of these committee meetings, any of the meetings at city hall, or at the port commission that were inherently negative. people had constructed criticism, but nobody said, forget it, you are wasting time. it was rather extraordinary. i know it has become a cliche,

the cute line to throw away, that unanimous consent being, not necessarily a lost art, but an anomaly, but i have never been a part of something that has brought so many diverse people and public and private sector support to go that it was involved in this bid. we expressed that to mr. ellis said. i think there is a tremendous amount of spirit and pride around being able to compete on the world stage. when san francisco is afforded that opportunity to do something that celebrates those unique values that defines this great city, people really do come together. that is what i wanted to share with everybody. we came together. unanimous support by the board of supervisors. 11-0.

amendments made up to the last minute, long negotiations through last night and this morning brought us to this point where we feel we have an extraordinary bid. a bid, we believe, will allow us to secure the cup. however, we recognize this process is by no means over. we will submit that bid. three days in advance of the stated deadline by the events committee. we will do so again with unanimous support. i want to recognize briefly the incredible work of the city family and staff. it was remarkable to see. if we all had more energy, just think about what we could be doing for other things in the city.

first, let me thank the office of workforce development, jennifer, for all her work. [applause] i do not know where she went. she is probably asleep. let me thank keary mcclellan. [applause] steve cava, but close your, in city government. -- the closer in city government. to the entire city staff. monique, how wonderful it is to have a hard-headed, pragmatic negotiator. thank you for your work. you are only as good as your staff.

what an outstanding staff she has. brent, thank you for everything that you did. what an extraordinary job you did. [applause] dennis and the city attorney's office, thank you for all the hard work he put into this, your entire team behind the scenes. and again, to the board of supervisors, in particular, president david chu and ross mirkarimi, who early on encouraged this process, that they would be there throughout, would ask tough questions, would not roll over, and were committed. they demonstrated that privately and publicly. they held strong throughout. they were great conduits' to their other colleagues and created a framework where people were created fairly and this process was made better because of their leadership and stewardship. they supported all of their

colleagues to make constructive improvements in this process. all of us are better off because of that. to each member of the board of supervisors, all of you present as well, thank you for your contribution to this effort. before i conclude, i also want to thank our host committee. we were blessed to have some early supporters, civic leaders who said they wanted to step up. they made some pretty bold commitments about personal efforts that they were going to engage in to raise private money to offset any potential general fund cost. in particular, that effort was led by mark buhl. you are right next to me! thank you for your leadership

and stewardship. everybody on that committee for their great work, the great martha colon as well, -- cohen, the event planner, we are grateful to you. the sailing community, disability community, youth sailing community that has committed themselves, all the federal and state partners, the environmental community for their partnership to fast track the ceqa process. all the folks in sacramento. now i can hold them accountable. folks in the media that were fair-minded about this, and also good critics wonder need to be tougher questions asked. we appreciate your support as well. i know i forgot others but this has gone on too long.

again, i just want to thank all of those that i have left out. here are my final thoughts. we will know by friday whether or not san francisco has secured this bid. we do not believe there is a better city for racing in the world. we talk about a natural amphitheater. valencia is wonderful, but the race is four miles off the coast. in san francisco, you cannot miss it. we will be 40, 50 feet off of our shoreline. you have christie field, fort mason, the golden gate bridge, 20 piers, high-rise commercial buildings, high-rise apartments, angel island, alcatraz, you have the entire bay area to enjoy this race.

this is a world-class city that has an of entrepreneurial spirit that we believe will bring the race here in the 21st century. this is a technologically savvy region. technology will play, that we believe, to bring the america's cup to a whole new level. reliable readings in terms of the wind, speed and direction. we will be inviting more people than ever have been invited to gauge. 7.2 million people in this region. that is three times more than the any of the three places where the race has been held. i know people always looking for a little bit more. we stretched. we believe this bid is not only

competitive but will also preserve the legacy of the america's cup. we could not be more honored by being able to bid. i want to thank larry ellison personally for that privilege. i extend our absolute support and commitment to follow through on this bid. i think the unanimous support of this court should give them great hope and expectation, that after some of us have moved on to new roles, the folks that have taken our place will be equally committed to making sure we follow through and showcase the city and this race on an international and world scene. thank you, everyone. now it is my honor to invite president david chiu to share some words with all of us. mr. president? [applause]