to know how this board of san francisco figured -- of would like to see why our block is included in the shaded area where i live. basically, you are taking an area for drew elementary, and half of it is shaded and half of it is not. half of the students who live in this area get to choose a different school. the other half has to stick with their neighborhood school. that does not make any sense to me. i think spencer -- if you look at the five maps, they do not correspond. i would like to know who i can talk to about that particular issue. president mendoza: thank you. i do not know if darleen -- we are going to have to speak with

darleen lim, the director of our educational placement center. thank you for being so polite. >> just one second. congratulations, commissioner yee. i never meant to slur you. vice president yee: thank you. president mendoza: next speaker, please. >> good evening, board members. i am in eighth grade at hoover middle school. i am concerned for my education and my future. my history class, my science education, and the temperature in the building. but i myself coming home restricted every day. a history teacher is part of the spanish immersion program. if not a program since january 3. we do not have a replacement pitcher yet. with the substitute, we do five minutes of work and nothing for the rest 30-minute class.

very little learning is taking place. i do not know when it at all we are going to get a teacher again. i am concerned that the lack of teachers for to affect my grades. it is one of my favorite subjects. science teaching rarely goes on. the teacher read the book to us and asks us to answer questions from the book, which i can do by myself. he asks us why we are not asking questions. i am in class to learn and be shown experiments, to be taught in a group, and to be excited about learning the subject. if a lot to learn anything, i have to do it on my own. the school is very cold. when i asked my teachers if we can turn on the heat, i was told that the only person in the district to could turn on the boiler was on vacation. it has been a cold winter and it is as cold inside as it is outside. superintendent, please tell me were going to do something about this. thank you.

[applause] >> i have asked jeannie pond, who is in charge of the middle schools -- i would like you do have a discussion with her. david goldman as well. we will get them involved in making sure your heating works. president mendoza: thank you for coming out. we are very sorry you have been called. we will take care of it. thank you. >> my name is ted mawskle. i just returned to my home town with my 2 your children, aged 12 and 10. they attended marina and clarendon. i am a graduate of san francisco public schools as well and love the job they do of teaching children here. the problem seems to be i have to get them both to school on time. i am the only driver in the household at the moment.

i notice there is a bus that goes to clarendon. my daughter goes to marina. my son goes to clarendon. in the evenings, 15 minutes between times they get out. in the morning, it was 25 minutes between the time the start. what is frustrating is the school bus to clarendon -- the perceived threat of the street where we refer -- where reside, roosevelt. there is a huge plus for it could pull over. i am sure this is not the most ideal forum to address this point, but i think there is always room for an exception when it comes to making things run a little smoother in the city. since the bus goes right by the house, if it can't stop at mckinley -- i see there is a place for it to pull over there -- it can certainly stop at one of the muni bus stops in our neighborhood.

maybe it would help me get my employment back, because i have to work as well. thank you for your time. >> you might leave your name here with susan. i will tell you -- it is only going to get worse in the future. i would be lying to europe by did not say that. one of our discussions in terms of budget cuts is a reduction of bus services in the school district. but we would like for you to give -- if it is something that we can do easily, we will see what we can do. >> thank you. >> i have two more speakers. jeff kaminski and warren foster. they are not there. item k is advisory committee reports. are there any appointments by the board? seeing none, item l -- no

special orders of business. item m is discussion of other educational issues. superintendent? >> i would like to call on matt martin, general manager. come on up. >> then you all for coming this evening to talk about -- i think you all for coming this evening to talk about kalw and the work we have been doing. you are in the middle of a lot of challenges.

we are facing some as well at kalw. i want to talk about our plans for continuing to serve the san francisco and the bay area as a good representative of the school district in the community. kalw is a public radio station, listeners supported, that has been licensed -- of course. i should know microphone technique. that is one thing i should bring with me. we have been licensed to the school district since 1941. in 2011, we will be celebrating 70 years on the air. it is an opportunity for us to look back at the legacy of the station, the role it has played in the development -- president mendoza: if i could have the audience take your conversation outside or be respectful of the presenter, i would appreciated. >> to look back at the work the station has done, to assess

where we are now. right now, kalw is making a big difference for this community in terms of providing real news and information, providing an outlet for arts and culture, as it ever has in the seven years it has been on the air. -- in the 70 years it has been on the air. we are going to be reaching out to the community and using it as an opportunity to raise the profile of the station and to bring more resources into the station. every year, i give you a state of the station report, which you all should have at this point. i try to let you know what is going on at the station and give you an honest appraisal of what is happening so you can understand the value of the work we are doing and the role the station plays in the educational mission of the district. in this particular state of the station report, i want to invite you all for some increase in data with the station. i understand you have a lot on your plate. i invite you to accept

information from me and hold my leadership at the station accountable in the coming months. i think the station is making a big difference right now. we have grown in recent years. the local news room is an example for community-supported journalism that is winning awards for local journalism organizations and is being recognized around the world of public radio. i said that not just to say people know what we are doing, but to let you know that has allowed us to bring resources into the station. we have national public radio, the corporate -- the corporation for public broadcasting, and other funding organizations. we have able to in -- we have been able to increase our service while maintaining a budget that is relatively steady. we have arts and cultural programming making a difference at a time when outlets for that kind of program is narrowing elsewhere. certainly, the commercial media and non-commercial media as

well. we are using local partnerships to allow us to build connections to the community to provide more excellent programming with limited use of resources in the station. i think that in our 70th year, employees can tell you a powerful story about the surface kalw is providing, particularly in the area of development in a transitional period. because of issues i will talk about later in this report, we are realizing we have to diversify our fund-raising. we have a longer term plan for bringing resources into the station. the books may not know, when we are licensed -- folks may not know, when we are licensed to the school district, that we do not receive funding from the school district. i love burton and i love the area around it. we want to remain supported by

our listeners, by our community, and to not draw on the financial resources of the district over time. that said, you know that also on tonight's agenda there is a request for a short-term loan to the station for the next 18 months to allow us to continue to cover our costs of operation. as i say, we are in the process of a change in our development leadership. we think there is real opportunities, which i'm going to talk about, for getting us back to a place where 18 months from now i will be saying to you we have a surplus on hand and are no longer in a position of having to ask for a short-term loan from the district. i am going to point out a couple of highlights in the report that do with programming and the work we are doing for the community. then i want to drill down on finances and development. that is where you are going to

have questions this evening. obviously, this is a long report. in your own time, you conduct a. i would point out the role we are playing in the educational mission of the district, special freckly -- specifically on reporting of education in the bay area we have a daily -- in the bay area. we are part of the discussion of public education in the bay area and the state of california. that is a valuable contribution the station is making to the district educational message. also, i would like to point out the work we have done in our election coverage this past year. i think this district can be proud of the fact that when it comes to creating an educated citizenry going to the polls, we are playing an important role in doing, doing more than we have ever done, including

broadcasting the board candidate forum that took place in the fall. we are trying to be part of that mix and provide information so that all the decisions of the city and the community can be informed as citizens go to the polls. those are a couple of things i would highlight for you. in looking at where we talk about -- i wrote about identity programming and outreach. you see the partnerships we are building with community organizations, but also with public radio and public media organizations that are allowing us to do more important and programming that serves the bay area. national public radio is currently funding two reporters to do reporting on police, courts, and communities in the bay area. the corporation for public broadcasting has supported our economic reporting. we have also gotten support from

wnyc, which has a national transport reporting project. they are supporting a reporter on transportation issues. because we have something dynamic happening at the station, that is bringing resources in that allow us to leverage what we are doing without increasing our budget. i just want to point out those things before i go into what i want to make sure you all are well informed about that is specifically questions of finances and development at the station. i think the next 18 months are really critical for us. we have an opportunity to capitalize on the dynamism of the work the station has been doing on the side of programming and public service. we have a real story to tell to funders on this community. i think the work we are doing in

forming the community has gotten ahead of our development efforts. that strategic position of the workstation is doing to the philanthropic community in this area is where we need to focus now. we have a lot to build on. we can show there is support for this work. in this past year, we have taken some important steps toward doing that. one of the most important, i can tell you, is that we are changing leadership. i was involved in the interviews for a new head of development at the station. we are looking to have that higher completed by the end of the month. that is going to be a big plus. during this past year, we have participated in something called the leadership project. it is funded by the corporation for public broadcasting, which is the umbrella of federal

organization to support local stations as the try to build their major giving capacity and community engagement. we have had the benefit of consulting services that have allowed us to build a court of leadership volunteers at the station, active community members to help us reach out to major donors, who helped us making our story -- making our case for support stronger. that has been really valuable. i think what we need is to tap into community enthusiasm and have that go to work in development efforts at the station. we have also -- let me step back a second. that is what i get for talking off the cuff. we have also really begun research into our current big donors so we know who the people are who support the station and

know where there is room for increased capacity and giving. i do not know if you have worked with nonprofits, but one of the most important things is to know who your supporters are. we have over 11,000 supporters in this community, people who in the last 15 months have made contributions to the station. some of those folks need -- some of those folks can do more. we need to learn more about who those are. over the last 2.5 years, we have faced the same challenges that nonprofits across the country have. it has been a challenging time for fund-raising. in the report, a talk about the fact that if you look at fiscal year 2009, we had a 50% drop in individual support, which is three-quarters of our operating budget. we went up 5% last year and are at about the same point this year. we have been running a deficit for those three years. that is why we are in a position right now that we are coming and

asking for this short-term line of credit. it will allow us to turn around development efforts and take advantage of the initiative we have and the story we have to tell to funders. we have held the line on costs. we are doing a great deal with the resources we have to work with. i am also, in this next year -- there will be changes to programming. we are looking at some specific -- i talk about in the audit that you all got, specifically talking about streaming services. we are going to try to consolidate contracts to cut costs. i am very focused on pushing the revenue side. i think we have great opportunities. i am also looking at everything we can squeeze in the budget. given what we are doing, i think the future is to talk to the philanthropic community in this area about how we can do more on

the revenue side. that is where i am focused now. what we are asking you to do tonight is a bridge to that. we can be in that place where we have that really strong strategic development effort that brings in resources that make sense given the service we are providing. i will leave that there. i am sure you have questions for me. thank you so much for the support you have given to kalw. i hope we can continue a dialogue about these issues. i have a great relationship with the cfo and our liaison here in the district. the art in conversation with me. -- they are in conversation with me. when it comes to implementing a longer-term plan, i will be talking with them. i will do interim reports with the budget committee or other relevant committees to keep you

informed. i see this about me being accountable to you all, and also making sure you know where we stand as an enterprise unit of the district. we will make sure you know what we are planning and the plan that we have. commissioner murase: i have four points. in your material, you talk about being the oldest non-commercial fm signal west of the mississippi. that is something you can be very proud of. what is your overall operating budget? secondly, in terms of governance, do you have and the advisory board that you work with? is there a strategic plan in place in which the development director plays a role? to what degree our students

involved in generating content? i would be very interested in seeing the degree to which students are involved in the operation of the station, but also student-generated content. the terms of a loan -- how should we think about a loan? are we thinking about taking money away from the classroom to offer this loan? how should we be thinking about the loan? that is an important question. >> the budget is $1.70 million. we do not have an advisory board. part of what we are working on in our leadership for philanthropy program that i talk about in the report is specifically recruiting leadership volunteers. that could be the basis of an advisory board. i think some kind of -- given that you all have a lot to do and a lot of things to attend

to, some kind of role where there is community advice coming in. to provide that would be valuable. there is not a strategic plan for the station as a whole. students involved in generating content -- we have done some special projects with students. we brought a group of students to work on a specific story or a specific documentary. we do not have an ongoing presence of students as a regular element in creating programming. your last question about how we think of the loan -- >> as it relates to the loan, i have spent a lot of time with matt. we basically met with a couple of my own staff, probably either every two months. we've been doing that for at

least three years. we know at least the financial part of a pretty well. the last couple of years, as he mentioned, have been difficult as it relates to the donations. the expenses on the expense side -- it has been pretty flat, somewhere between $1.40 million and $1.50 million. we also have an outside auditor that comes in every -- that comes in and reports to public broadcasting where this radio station is. the difficulty formats group has been the fact that the last two years but have been running in a negative position as it relates to revenue over expenses. prior to the year 2000 08 -- 2008-2009, they had a

significant balance. what put them in the position was the amount of restricted programs. my discussion started at the end of last year to ask for credit. unlike a couple of our other programs, where we make contributions, i recommend that should not be the case. to get to the cash flow issues, the recommendation was to do a line of credit. the other recommendation you could look at is we have people on our salaries, we have contracts, and we just don't pay bills until we have cash to pay them. i do not think that is the proper way of doing things, when you have a station that is really working hard to get

somewhere. what we are requesting is a line of credit up to $200,000 to be paid as we go along the up to the june 2012, getting over the hump. i do not see any risk in this. we are not taking money from children. we are basically taking a loan. we would be paid interest on that loan. quite honestly, we own the station. we have collateral. as far as everything else we do, this is pretty safe, as far as i am concerned. we also, as you might see in the audit, which puts a little more pressure on that, is the discussion as relates to a going concern. they are spending more than they take in. therefore, he does have some pressure on him to break even this year. just having a loan is not going

to help him. he needs to have work. based on his comments tonight and what he has been telling us for six months or longer, he is committed. i think we should support him. commissioner norton: thank you for the presentation. i want to follow up for a minute on what you just talked about. you mentioned that the loan would be paid back with interest, but in the requested action it does not say anything about it. it just says it will be repaid -- will be reimbursed to the district. i do not know if we need to amend that. >> if you like, you can amend that. it was always understood would pay interest based on the amount of money received from the city pool. commissioner norton: what is the source of the funds we would be

using for the credit? >> it would be the general fund. commissioner norton: the unrestricted general fund? we do not anticipate that are going to be drawing down that hole $200,000 at one time -- whole $200,000 a one time. does that put pressure on our own cash flow? >> it does not right now, but they could run up to $800,000. not at one time. commissioner norton: so you anticipate that the way he would use this is by making withdrawals, essentially. >> we would do withdrawals. basically, we pay the bills. we control kalw. we will give them money when they need it. commissioner norton: it is either pay the bills or do not pay the bills, essentially? >> they did $178,000 in the

month of december. they spent 110,000 a month. -- i am sorry. $148,000 a month. the had a negative position of somewhere -- let us say $120,000 right now, with my understanding to fund-raisers coming up over the next six months. commissioner norton: mr. martin, a kind of wanted to get your response -- i kind of wanted to get your response. i am looking at the auditors' report. the line saying from the auditor that there is substantial doubt about the station's ability to continue is a concern. i wonder if you can respond to that and give your response to that statement.

>> i think we have a great opportunity? this question does come from a couple of years. we have been in a position where we go on the air, we ask listeners for support, and from that have been able to run a very successful operation. the situation has changed to where that is not adequate to do what we need to do to serve this community. in the past year, we have been working on developing relationships with the major donors, at being in a position to identify foundations as their copper's comeback and they are in a position to take on grants. -- as their coffers come back and they are in a position to take on grants. the work we are already doing -- when it comes to funders, we have a good track record. we are drawing the attention of some folks who