>> we are going to change the order of items one and two. because the p.a.c., they want to engage in the discussion. once we saw their outline and questions, we thought it would be more logical to begin with the staff recommendations and the staff presentations, then go to the p.p.s. p.a.c. presentation so that then we can take public comment and engage in discussion. ms. o'keefe, if you want to begin. thank you.

>> first and foremost, i really want to take this opportunity to thank parents for public choice diligently with us to do all this work. and i want to qualify a few things that i'm going to say, but before that, i want to thank them because, you know, they did do a lot of input session.

they went out there and did a lot of great work for us in cooperation with us. that's really a hard item to do. and we want to thank -- that was a great partnership. i also think that from what i've seen out there, sometimes here in our beautiful city when we get input from different groupings, it doesn't always mean that input means that it goes one way or goes to the other way. it just simply means we take it into consideration in making the best recommendation we can. and sometimes that means that we don't follow everything that every group wants us to do. that's the reality of things. we try to tweak things as we work with groups because they give us a lot of insights and great ideas. but that doesn't mean it will always change radically. the board has experienced throughout the years, having advisory groups, and sometimes we go with the recommendation, sometimes we don't.

that's just how it works. but i'm saying that because i want to keep my remarks to really talk about why we're bringing forward the recommendation that some people might disagree with. and i guess -- you know, i remember the saying that says if you continue to do what you've always done, you'll always get what you always got. and that's something i take very seriously, because unfortunately, we can't expect a different outcome if we continue to do the same old things. and to make decisions that are different than what we're accustomed to. sometimes it's a little bit misunderstood, and sometimes, quite frankly, people don't like it. but this evening as we look at the complexity of the issues that we've been working on, i know -- you know, i'm a parent. i know what it's like to have my kids go to a school. i understand completely how parents feel out there because they want their kids to attend a

quality school. i want the same thing for all the children in san francisco. but my job is to strategically develop systems that will correct current problems, and also prepare us for a better future. in addition to the immediate concerns that our current system is failing to address in terms of student success, we are also looking at things out in the horizon that we need to be prepared to address and not wait until they become really huge problems for us. this is proacting rather than always reacting to issues. and those are the concerns for us. and so our proposal, what we're bringing forward, what i've asked staff to work on and bring forward are kind of long-range visions of where we are now, taking into consideration where we are. but also talking about where is it that we want to get to someday, and to be thinking about what's good for all our students and not just for some students. our whole strategic plan was

based upon that, about addressing the needs of all students in san francisco. we are committed to making sure all our schools are quality schools. in fact, our recommendation is not a hasty quick fix. it's the long-range fix. it's going to take us years to get there and we're going to build the capacity to get there so we're not coming with you saying you adopt this and by next year everything will be fixed. no. this is a very strategic way of looking at it and looking at how we're going to fix it in the long run. tonight my staff and i will share with you our recommendations and why we think that it is a good idea to have a k-8 feeder pattern. we'll suggest many of the suggestions raised throughout the entire community. we hope to raise as many. in some cases, we're just going to agree to disagree, and that's ok.

i think that's what makes our city a great place, that we're all able -- and when we started this process, we said whatever system we've come up with wasn't going to be perfect. it was going to be a system that for the moment would be our best thinking look at the issues that are coming our way, dealing with growth, dealing with a lot of different issues. but we also felt that we need to start moving forward. and what we're recommending is to start moving forward, and as we move along in this process, we are going to work on improving the middle schools. we are going to work on improving our entire systems. this plan gives us the capacity and the time to be able to build on that. but at least it's a vision that someday we ought to have a different type of feeder system that we currently have, a little bit more predictability. and quite frankly, an opportunity to give all children a chance to be successful, which

in the past, they have not been put in that situation. so i've asked staff to do some heavy lifting. what, two years now we've been on this issue? and so we bring our recommendation forward, and i'd like to begin the presentation. >> thank you. >> thank you very much, superintendent garcia. before i begin, i want to acknowledge some of the team members. it's actually been a very large multi-department district team that's been working on this initiative. and tonight some co-presenters are christina wong, who is the special assistant to the superintendent. kevin chavez, who's language supervisor with english learner support services. darlene limb, the educational director of the placement center. julie pong. and richard koranz will also be sharing some information

tonight. i also want to thank yong lee. this is the tale presenting tonight. it's actually multiple departments that have been work ing on this. i also want to thank the parent advisory council and the parents for public schools for all the work that they've done in partnering with us to gather feedback from the community. so we can, as the superintendent said, have an understanding of what the feedback is and make modifications to our proposals based on that. and they are modifications. and as we go through our presentation tonight, we will highlight the areas where we've modified based on the feedback and we'll also highlight areas that there might be a divergence in perspective, but there's some shared belief. a lot of shared belief around the work that we're doing here. and so tonight's agenda, we will

go through our staff presentation and then the parent advisory council and parents republic schools will present and have a discussion with the board and there will be public comment. our objectives tonight in addition to the board having more discussion with p.a.c. and p.p.s. are to build an understanding of how the feeders support the board's policy goals that are outlined in p-5101. so there are two handouts that should be available for the public and the board. one is a copy of the power point conversation that we're going to go through. the second is a copy of the board policy p-5101. that's actually the original policy that was unanimously approved by the board in march 2009 and it's a redline version because we've submitted some changes to the policy. and indeed there's even been some changes between first and

second readings. so the top right corner says it's a substitute motion. i think technically that's incredibility. it's an amendment. and we will as a staff make sure we incorporate any other meaments that need -- amendments that need to be included beforee board has an opportunity to give us specific feedback on the recommendations that we are presenting tonight. we have heard from multiple stakeholders, the board and staff reviewed the reports. staff were present at all community forums this year. we also heard from parents and community members through other avenues, not least of which are parents that visit the educational placement center every day. we also had extensive conversations with the middle school principals.

we hear that it is important for parents to have choice. and to have quality schools. we hear concerns about the fact that not every middle school is currency -- currently one that they would send their job and to. they want feeders for better articulation and a small production will set of schools. we heard from l.a. -- many elementary families. we have also heard a lot of questions, and in our presentation tonight, we will highlight some of the key questions we have heard. we have been asked how the proposed feeder patterns achieve the goals for student assignment. we will spend a lot of time discussing that. we hear the parents don't understand the