schools. this is a problem and it has happened for a very long time. i am reluctant to approve any policy that i would be reluctant to enforce.

reluctant to approve any policy that i would be reluctant to enforce and again, it's with the graduating seniors. i feel that my goal of aggravating students for college in a college culture sort of trumps oureranciy -- our residency policy for seniors. every other grade, i completely agree, but with seniors, it is

completely different. i thank staff for all the work and thought they put into this and meeting with me to amend language and the work at b.p.c. to work with our attorneys to draft this. >> roll call please? >> since this affects a lot of students, i was wondering if a representative from your staff could come by the student advisory committee to present this issue. the next meeting would be monday, april 11, 2011, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., so the students can get a direct understanding of what the issue is, what's going on, and what they can do, thank you. >> don't you love our students. commissioner maufas? commissioner maufas: -- [applause] commissioner maufas: really bleelve and i wanted to make certain and i reiterated this

when i spoke at the rules committee, that it was imperative that this policy is not a surprise to incoming families and our families remaining here. i know when my daughter was enrolled in school, even though there wasn't the policy, i understood there was an issue about where i live and where i wanted my daughter to go to school. it wasn't a mystery to me because i asked and i wanted her to get into a school and i had to find out. it wasn't mysterious and i don't think it has really truly been mysterious. i believe folks generally know. i'm grateful we have this policy and we can advertise it at every opportunity so it's as general knowledge about the feeder system and everything else that we have, nutrition policies we, have what no sodas, just commonplace and across the board, translated in all the languages we have and i know you took notes on that and will do that and i really believe it

will be imperative and i also saw you taking down notes when i was requesting that when we have to send out these messages to families, it's not a punitive message, but a clear and serious message. we're not trying to say, ah-hah already, but please come forward, if you know, and by the way, just don't do it, because the ramifications on your family when you least expect it can just be horrendous so i appreciate that you took notes on that and we'll follow through with that and for the listening audience, yes, this is our policy, i believe, and it's clear. it's not mysterious, and it's very direct, and it puts into writing what i already knew existed. it wasn't a mystery to me. as a parent, when my daughter was going to school and as a board member of the so thank you very, very much, and i thanker legal staff for all of the diligence and nuancing to make

certain we have covered every letter of the law as possible. so i appreciate your work on this. thank you. president mendoza: thank you. so parents, think about the consequences for the student when you're doing application. roll call please. madam clerk: ms. fan? delegate fan: yes. madam clerk: microsoft fewer? commissioner fewer: no [maufas, aye, commissioner mar: aye. madam clerk: six aye's. president mendoza: item j is requests to speak regarding general matters and i apologize to the public sitting here waiting for this for public speaking to -- public comment to come up. we've had, as you have heard, a very -- a lot of items on our agenda. we have quite a few speakers on

a number of different topics, and i will call your name and have you come up. there are several of you that are coming from groupings and so if you hear something already commented on, if you could just say something different or ditto and move on. we'll try to get as many of the folks through here as possible. do you have students? do you have students? yes. absolutely. so we'll have our students speak first. i'm going to call your name so you're prepared and have you start getting ready to come up and speak. so, did you -- do you have cards for them? did you give me cards? these are all brett hart?

so, rakwan murray, acres alicia richardson, michelle escobar, demere hill, benjamin claus, jonathan wong, katy bask and we have families from carver, linda and tony, eman robinson harris, monifra turner. why don't we start there and we'll go into the next grouping. you have one minute. sweetheart, when you come up, say your name and you can go ahead and start. come on up, babe. >> my name is raquan murray.

good afternoon and members of board -- well, really, it's good afternoon, ms. garcia, since she's not here, and members of the board. my name is raquan murray and i attend brar heart elementary. i've been a part of this community for five years. when i first got to this school, it was hard for me. i didn't know anybody. it was like a new life so my teachers and parents made me feel comfortable. they told me to keep my head up. it was like a home. i had fair share of saying too much and often. when i started to go into second grade, i met a hero who helped me. she helped me with my anger. she was like another mom. as i started to get older, i met my teacher, mr. grant, in third grade. i started to see bah teest my

mentor and coach duke. they share a love with me. they help me have high expectation. i learned i can reach my goal. the point is, i am worried about my younger brothers and their experience with school with all these changes. i fear that my brothers won't have teachers who take the time to get to know them and our community. i ask you, mr. garcia, and board members, to please ensure that people who are higher in the bay view will invest and care about the children as much as my teachers care about me. please make sure the programs will of about all students thank you. president mendoza: thank you, raquan, good job. honey. [applause] >> good evening, i'm alicia

richardson and i'm a fifth grader. education is important to me and my family. although there has been a major budget cuts in california that focus primarily on education, i do believe that there is still a teacher for me and my classmates. in the community i live in, there's a lot of fights and i don't always feel safe. the place i feel safest is at home with my family and at school. at school i feel safe because i'm surrounded by teachers that support and care for me. after a conversation with my mom, i learned about budget cuts and a lot of people would lose their jobs. i learned 140 teachers got pink slips. this worries me a lot because there won't be as many teachers to help me. they will have a lot of things to worry about. my success in school has been because of the teachers who help me have high expectations and they pushed me. i think about my cousins growing up and middle school.

i hope you will make changes and will support and help me and all children in my community because i hope to go to college to become a pediatrician. thank you and have a very nice day. [applause] president mendoza: thank you, alicia. nice job. >> good evening, ladies and gentlemen. my name is michelle escobar. i'm a fifth grade student at brar heart elementary school. i am having about my education because when i will go to school next year it will take me an hour both ways on the bus because i am going to a.p.g. there aren't any schools with great test scores around my neighborhood. there are many issues with me to take the public bus. this is concerning me because there are safety issues on the

bus and i will be arriving alone after dark in winter. i must take the bus because my parents have to go to work. why do i have to take a bus for over an hour. other kids in other parts of the city walk to school. i ask that you take the time to make changes so that one day i will have the opportunity to walk to school, to a great school in my neighborhood. i know that the work i do now will lead me to college. my goals is to go to college and become a doctor. i depend on you to make the changes to achieve my goals. [applause] [applause] president mendoza: thank you, michelle. nice job, honey. >> good afternoon, mr. garcia and members of the board, my name is demere hill. i am a student that attends brar heart elementary since

preschool. i have been with the bay view community all my life. i had teachers that believed in me and helped me to achieve my dream and help my community. my only principal was mrs. frankin. she was a courageous person in my opinion. ms. franklin gave african-americans a chance to have a quality education. i had a p.e. teacher named coach duke. he taught me how to be a man. my teacher didn't see behavioral problems with me, they saw a boy whose potential was encouraging. they gave me a chance to excel and have higher expectations for me. i hope that the changes you make in my community, that you make sure that teaches and principals, they are careful about our students and push them forward to achieve academic excellence. thank you for your time and i am

counting on you to make the right choices. [applause] president mendoza: thank you, demere. >> good evening, board. i'm benjamin claus, fifth grade teacher at brett heart elementary school. after numerous invites and as of today, there hasn't been anybody from the board to visit any of our schools and speak with anybody in the grandma to baby zone. i know i'm not alone in the effort to get you to come to the baby zone. my question is, why have you chosen this type of action? there's no quantifiable data that can support this action. the collective action of nonaction is sending a strong message to the baby community. the first concern lies with an email threat passed out in standards to the state of affairs of lily brown in a

conversation of dr. gray and an individual, commissioner norton. my concern lies in that this conversation was not c.c.'d amongst all board members and brings me to the issue of accountability. so as a publicly elected group of commissioners, i feel it's responsible to have everybody be tied in with what's going on in the conversations. also, to only check in with -- the only check in is by the board or dr. gray and that's not surprising that she absolves herself of any responsibility. do you want to ask qaddafi about affairs in libya, he would say i'm doing everything i can to people complaining are in the way of progress. so check in with the people on the ground and you'll receive overwhelming different perspective. the other thing is i passed around data. the reason why this is important is that all decisions being made in bay view is based on the idea

that it worked to bob burrell, it will work in bay view. dr. gray is explicit in principles that they need to recruit asian students. president mendoza: thank you. next speaker, please. [applause] >> my name is tommy harper. i came for tommy harper and lirnd. linda. my son will be in college this year. he's going to college this year. i'm not here to talk about thompson. i'm here to say my son is from bay view hunes point. i have a principal that told my son to defend himself. i have an issue. i wrote a letter, i know it means nothing because every time you're a parent and say stuff, it goes in the garbage. but what kind of leader is going to tell my son that is brought

up with guns and people dieing in front of him to defend himself. we had an incident where my son was bullied and beat up. i come up to the school, when i come up to the school to give up money to give to my child for a track, i find my child had been jumped on. i approach the principal, confide in my soon to make him comfortable first because he's got tears in his eyes. i'm confused. i go to the principal. when i get to the principal's office, the secretary, can you go get the principal? by the time i get in the principal's office he's making a face like i don't want to be bothered with her, here she comes again. first of all, we get in the principal's office and he tells me as a parent, o.k., we're going to talk to you, tommy, let me see what's going on. i'm going to let you talk to tommy. when he talks to tommy and tells tommy, tommy tells him what

happened. after tommy tell him what happened, this is his response, "why didn't you defend yourself?" hello! why didn't you defend yourself! my child, my baby is brought up with this every day. this is not working anymore. i have sent the letter. you seen the letter. it means nothing. it's bye-bye. but you know what, he just labeled my child to fight back. his name is tommy harper, if he ever defends himself, i want everybody to know here that his principal gave him the reference to do it. he was in karate. he was told he has to obey by adult first, he was told listen to his mother first, take action, go to the teacher. he goes to the principal, the principal is running after me saying, come back, and i say, i don't want to talk to you anymore. i'm going to your boss up there at gloria davis he said, no, no, linda, come back, don't you go

talk to this child and i said never would i step up in a child's face and tell a child, look, i am bringing my baby back to safety because if i can't trust in you, where am i going? and i'm hurt because i live in bay view hunter's point where i seen numerous killings and for a principal to tell my child. my child is traumatized because he's confused, who do i listen to? his peers that he lives around, this is what it's about, and the principal to tell him this, this principal -- something needs to be shout to him. something needs to be done, quick. >> ma'am, what school? >> he's at carver. and my son is very hurt about it. this is why he's here today, he's saying, mommy, what's going to happen to him and we get to -- i ask him, if he would have fought back, what would you have, did you would have suspended him.

and he goes, no, he's defending himself. he said, oh, yeah, i would have suspended him. president mendoza: thank you. we appreciate you coming down. [applause] >> good morning, boarding. good evening, board of education. my name is -- i go to dr. george washington carver. last year, we were told that our principal was going to be fired but now -- 50% of our teachers. why are we getting rid of 50% of our teachers but you save our principal? thank you.

[applause] >> good evening. my name is imman robinson harris. i have plenty of hats but my hat tonight is carver, volunteering there since she's been in kindergarten. this is my niece. early 2010, maybe around this time, i was told that carver would be a transmission -- transformation school and we'd be getting rid of our principal. got news before the school started that we became a turnaround school. i was very surprised because here at this board meeting me, my niece right here, and my mother were the last ones here and i was told we were going to be a transformational model, not a turnaround model. i'm very confused about that still. our current principal has made a

lot of promises. and i have yet to see him live up to any of them. can i trust the sfusd board to come out to carver and examine our struggle, including our teachers need resources and yet i don't see him bringing any more resources to our teachers. i really want the board to come out and do an investigation. thank you. [applause] >> good evening, board. i am monifa turner and i am the proud parent of damoney and damion good. i am up here today in regards to carver elementary school and the only thing that concerns me is that next year we'll have a whole new staff of teachers. we have, i believe, like 80% of our teachers leaving next year. out of 14, i think maybe two or

three are staying. my reason for being up here right now is because i have one teacher in particular that i would like to talk about who is mr. stewart. mr. stewart is not only a father to some, he's an uncle, he's a mentor, a big brother. he looks like a deacon every day, comes dressed for success. i've never been to a school to whereas the children for halloween dress up like mr. stewart instead of their favorite rapper, actor, basketball, football player. mr. stewart has been accepted to u.c. berkeley for a principal's program and there is going to be some type of conflict with his schedule for that, and being a teacher, but he's willing to make those sacrifices and put his family on the back burner for 18 months and be a teacher to our kids and we're told that that's not good enough.

what would you want to see? him be a principal and then we have kids wanting to be like mr. stewart, noonly -- not only a teacher, but a principal growing up. i want to know if y'all could come to carver just to hear the concerns. whatever's good for you, we will make you at home there. we are family over there. but that's one teacher that we do need to keep on board because he's about the children. he goes to therapists to speak to therapists. he goes out of his way. i mean, i couldn't tell he was married for a while because he's so involved with carver. so, you know, that's all i want to say. i took up over a minute. thank you for hitting the button but it's something i need to get off my heart. president mendoza: thank you. [applause] >> good evening, board, and good evening, everyone. i'm here today to speak on behalf of the bay view

community. president mendoza: your name? >> nancy faloal. they ran out of cards, so i don't have one. esther, back me up. o.k. i might go over a little bit but i'll try to be quick. in today's world, we are dedicated by lawsuits, complaints and settlements. it seems that it is the only time that we are forced to bring about change. but has change really happened? in the late 1960's, in an effort to desegregate the children of bay view hunters point, black children were bussed out of their neighborhoods to attend schools throughout the city. i was one of those students. in 1978, the national association for the advancement of colored people filed a lawsuit against the san francisco unified school district. the agreement entered into on december 30, 1982, by the naacp,

sfusd, and the california state department of education has as its goal the development and academic excellence as well as full desegregation in every school classroom and program. in 1984, six schools were included in original phase of this decree. burton, king, carver, charles drew, sir frances drake which is now malcolm x, and horseman. there was a special plan in place for the bay view hunters point called the special plan but here we are again. no offense, but why are we here? there is work to be done. the most important concern that i have as a parent and as a parent in the bay view is to close the achievement gap within the targeted population. no offense, people, but the white traditional way of teaching is not working because the teacher is the key to closing the achievement gap, i believe teachers must be well equipped and have the competency to teach our most challenging students of today and a lot of

them do come from the bay view. we must have qualified teachers to educate our children. stop using the bay view as a dumping zone for ineffective teachers and inexperienced staff. stop hiring who you know but rather who can best meet the needs of our children. hire a more caring and dedicated staff respectful of our population. president mendoza: i need you to wrap up, please. >> allow schools including staff, parents, to be more involved with the hiring process. stop laying off teachers and staff. there are good kids, they need protection under the union and their contracts. but i want to bring your attention to the consent decree article 39 of the united educators of san francisco contract that states "only teachers who apply for positions may be selected. those selected shall be the most qualified based upon the plan and the educational program." could this be the special plan for the bay view hunters point, to all employees of the district

i say, just because you are tenured doesn't mean you're experienced and just because you're a minority doesn't make you qualified or effective. we should be committed to ensuring that every child has the opportunity to attend a school in the bay view with effective teachers, teachers who care about their students and -- president mendoza: thank you. >> thank you. president mendoza: thank you. [applause] >> good evening, i'm jonathan woolen, i teach at weely brown in the bay view. in february, the board engaged in an email exchange with an anonymous source concerning my school and heightened state of education emergency. from my perspective, this is due to a lack of leadership at every level. the wheelie brown staff was given copies of what we were told was the entire email exchange involving eileen murphy. the only cry for help was to

believe the word of the administration, not much has changed since principal russ -- this is not true. while mr. russell is our principal, yeah, we were battling low academic expectations but we had enough trust and respect from our staff and most importantly our students and their families that discipline or lack thereof was never a major issue. i will give the district the benefit of the doubt and assume it had valid reason for reassigning mr. russ midway through the year, but the action to replace him without input from the staff of our school and community was reckless and poorly calculated. i recognize action had to be taken but there was critical input from the school community which may have eased the transition and was completely overlooked. more over, to replace mr. russ with karen francois, a first-year administrator in a school where credibility and respect carry enormous weight has led to a