here today. we also thank our audience here for those listening and viewing. now, this meeting of the commonwealth club of california commemorating its 108th year of discussion is adjourned. [applause]

captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org--

>> good evening, everyone. welcome to the first school board meeting for the 2011-2012 school year. welcome back, everyone. [applause] so i have been challenged with a -- to have this meeting done before the quickest meeting that's been done, last year, which was 45 minutes. so, starting now. so this is a regular board meeting of the board of education of san francisco unified school district for august 9, 2011. roll call, please. >> ms. fewer. >> here. >> ms. maufas. dr. murase. present. ms. norton. ms. wynns. here. mr. yee. >> here, he's here. >> ms. mendoza.

president mendoza: here. and ms. tom. here. >> join me for the pledge of allegiance. item a, approval of the board minutes, we have none. item be, presentations to the board of education by the superintendent. superintendent, welcome back. >> for those of us who -- superintendent garcia: for those of us who stayed around -- no, that's not true. i was gone, but we got a lot done. starting the school year today, last week, we've been looking at a lot of training, professional development going on in the schools, it's fabulous. it's great to see the entire district talking about special

education, talking about how kids learn to read, how kids do math, how we can improve in those areas. i don't know, i kind of feel like a kid going back to their first day of school all over again. it's exciting time. so i want to thank all our administrators, teachers, staff, everybody who works in this wonderful school district. i welcome you back. i know the teachers start technically on friday. we'll have a lot of different things going on. i want to remind all the students, i hope you all had a great summer, but a friendly reminder that believe it or not, monday we start school. this coming monday, august 15. we want everybody there, bright eyed and ready to learn a lot and i'm going to recommend to all the parents and young people that we need you to be at school. you need to be present. you need to have great attendance. you can't get a great education unless you're there. we want to make sure that the parent community out there helps us out. if they do their part, i can

assure you that our teachers will do their part. it's a good partnership that needs everybody's help. also i want to just, we feel somewhat relieved that we are opening schools with a staffing based on a little bit better of the two budget scenarios we had last year. we're recalling back most of the people, hopefully almost all of the teachers out there, they're coming back. just down to a few that we're trying to get back. we're still in the process, schools are interviewing, we're excited about that. but the state budget cut, we're a little cautious, especially after seeing what's going on nationally as you saw the economic crunch these last few days. so we're worried that might have a huge impact because the state legislature put this trigger into the funding of k-8 schools for this year and if the revenues fall short of what they thought it would be, we would have to make further cuts.

and that's not a real good note to begin the school board on. let's hope the economy gets back on track. in fact, put it in its proper perspective for you, there's 143 school districts right now in california that have a negative or qualified fiscal certification which means they're officially named as in danger of not meeting their financial obligations. thankfully, knock on wood, we're not one of them. we've been pretty tight with our budgets but i think at the end, that's how we're able to rehire all those folks who got pink slips because we have been very good stewards. i want to commend the board for passing some tough budgets but keeping us there so we're not in that list. also, a big reminder to everybody, the t-dap, the whooping cough is a big issue. last year, the state passed a bill that requires all seventh through 12th graders, they have

to show proof that they have their booster for this. recently, the legislature agreed to extend that for 30 days from the period that, you know, the law was passed. so the new deadline is september 14. that's for 7th through 12th graders, by then you must have proof that you've had the shot. schools by wednesday, september 14, have to bring that in and show the proof. by law if you don't have this in place, you're not going to be able to attend school. we want to encourage everybody. i know the city, county, everybody is working closely with the department of health and they're providing tdap clinics throughout the city and so please make sure you look out for any announcements and just keep in mind that every day that kids, if they don't have their shots and missing school, they're missing 350 minutes of instruction each day. and we don't want that to

happen, especially since this year, like last year, we have four fewer school days and we need kids there. just to give you previews of coming attractions, i can't really brag about this or let it out yet, because it's kind of, you know, it's embargoed but i'll push it a little bit. i believe maybe our test scores might be pretty good this last year. just a lucky educated guess. i think that, you know, when i look at all the work our teachers, everyone is doing to close the acheement gap and the belief that all children, this is a civil rights issue and we need to stand up to advocate all our children, i'm proud to say that boy, people are really taking it to heart and doing great things. we're hoping that once again this will be the 10th year in a row that we'll show gains on our test scores but we'll see. i can't officially say that. i think the people will be pleasantly surprised, especially in our efforts, the efforts of all the schools out there in our

communities to stand up to closing the achievement gap. thanks. i don't know, i'm excited, let's have a great year this year. thank you. >> thank you, superintendent. just a reminder, monday, august 15, is your first day of school. commissioner? >> just a quick request in regards to the whooping cough. is it possible to give us a status report at the next school board meeting as to what -- i have no clue whether we're -- most of the kids are getting it or not getting it and if they're not getting it, it seems we really need to crank it up in terms of what to do to make sure that they get it. >> we'll be sending out a lot of things through the schools of where kids can go get the vaccine. so all of that is going to be, we're going to do a big blast as we start out the school year to

make sure that people are aware of where they can go and have this done. it is something that i think a lot of people put off. but we'll try to bring that data to the next board meeting. >> thank you. item c is recognitions and resolutions of commendation. i need a motion and second. item 118-9sp2 in reng in addition of radio station kalw's 70th broadcast anniversary. >> i move that. >> it is a great pleasure to read out this resolution. in 118-9sp2, in recognition of radio station kalw's 709 anniversary. whereas in march of 1941, the

federal communications commission licensed kalw to the san francisco unified school district as the first educational fm station in the country and the first noncommercial fm station west of the mississippi river and whereas in 1941 they went on the air as san francisco's first fm station and whereas kalw trained generations of broadcast engineers and played an important role in opening that field to women and whereas kalw was a leader in the growth of public radio, introducing national public radio to the san francisco bay area in 1972, and beginning broadcast from the british broadcasting corporation soon transfer. and -- soon thereafter and whereas they have consistently provided a platform for innovative programs in public radio and worked with community partners to develop programs

that reflect the creativity, diversity and ideals of the people of san francisco area, and whereas in a time of consolidation, kalw has maintained its independence and devotion to local news, producing reporting that has received dozens of awards, and whereas kalw celebrates 70 years of broadcast, the station is reaching out to the next generation of public radio listeners and producers, therefore be it resolved that the board of education of the san francisco unified school district salutes radio station kalw 91.7 fm for 70 years of broadcasting in the public interest and reaffirms its support for this pioneering station and its contributions to the civic and cultural life in the bay area and sfusd's mission. >> thank you. do we have any public speakers

on this? i don't have anyone signed up. any comments from the board or superintendent? commissioner wynns. commissioner wynns: i am a longtime listeners to kalw and i think we should be proud that we maintain the station. i wanted to thank the board and the district, i'm trying to think about whether any of you -- any of you were here for the commitment we made a few years ago when the license was in jeopardy, the district invested a fairly large amount of money in the legal challenge defending the station against a legal challenge for the license and it's one of those times that investment in a resource and an asset is really, clearly the right thing to do and so i think we all should be proud that we did that and that was this

station, as the resolution said and also other times when we've done things with the station, we've had the opportunity to interact with listeners and supporters of kalw, they are remarkably supportive and steadfast. for things on this station that no other media outlet does or has and so it's a very good thing for our community. i'm proud that the district is able to sustain and support that even though, when i first got on this board, we actually used to put money into the station every year as part of our budget but fiscal and economic realities have made that impossible, i'm sorry to say, i think we should and maximize and do more to use it as a training asset for our students. i hope in the future we'll be able to do that. i just wand to remind people of the courage of the board and district administration at that

time too, in standing up for this asset. >> madam president? i was excited to hear the news about kalw's partnership with youth radio and there will be opportunities for students to engage with the radio station, i want to be sure people are aware of that. president mendoza: before we call up -- i'd like to do a roll call vote. >> a quick comment. vice president yee: i want to let people know that -- >> i want to let people know that i am a fan of the radio station, so i'm putting a punch in there if you don't know this yet, you could contribute to the radio station. president mendoza: thank you. roll call, please.

>> ms. tom. delegate tom: yes. >> ms. maufas. commissioner maufas: aye. ms. wynns. commissioner wynns: aye. ms. mr.ee. vice president yee: aye. ms. mendoza. president mendoza: aye. >> we'd -- president mendoza: we'd like to invite mr. martin up to accept your commendation and say a few words. >> i don't want to stand in the way of commissioner mendoza, having the shortest meeting ever, but i do want to thank the board, leading this station at

this time, which is not only the 70th anniversary a great time to think about the role the station has played in the community but also what had been a challenging time for the station, obviously people around this community in so many ways, i want to thank the board for your support and thank you for your work as liaison and the superintendent for his support, it has meant a lot to us to know that the district wants to continue supporting this station as a community resource. with a visionary educators who began the station in 1941 when believe me, no one was listening to fm radio they didn't know what was going to happen in the future. we're in a time of changing technology that will be at least as challenging but i think the commitment to community service to public interest journalism to bringing new voices forward, is going to continue to guide kalw and i thank you for your support in this year and over the

long-term. and i look forward to continuing a dialogue with you about where we go from here. of course the board meetings are broadcast on kalw and i know we have many listeners who tune in to stay abreast of what's happening in the school district. it's this community that comes together to make this resource grow and become more, so thanks to all of you and i look forward to continuing to work with your support and partnership. president mendoza: thank you. the student delegate's report. we have a new stunt delegate, karissa tom. delegate tom: i'll be the interim student delegate until we have our student elections and -- >> i'll be the interim student delegate until we have our student elections. this is karissa tom.

delegate tom: i'm a senior, i'm the student delegate for the 2011-2012 academic school year. i'm excited to be a delegate, i want to be part of my community and be part of the bigger picture of my education and on top of that, we have a few announcements, the first being that our first s.a.c. meeting will be on august 22. >> and also we'll be having a retreat with the youth commission, it's going to be on august 27 and 28, where we're basically going to have training and get more knowledge about different programs, leadership, and our role as youth policy leaders and it will also be led by mario yadida from the youth commission, and justin steele from the advisory council.

president mendoza: welcome. did you guys have a good sum her >> yes. >> school starts next week, so -- president mendoza: sorry. welcome back. item e, our parent advisory council report, we don't have one. item f, public comment on consent items. on our speaker cards, we have one speaker on this, mr. kelly, come on down. >> i'm from the united educators of san francisco. i'd like you to look for a moment at a couple of pages specifically and these are page 7, where you have the authorization to accept funds, and if you look there on 7 and at the top of page 8, you'll see you're taking in $27 million for early childhood education. if you look at page 100, you'll

see that you're spending half a million dollars for arts and other related activities for the artists who serve in the schools. but if you look over on page 66 and following, you'll see there are still a number of childhood development personnel listed as being separated and so the question we have before you is, taking in $27 million, discretionary spending of -- not exactly discretionary but spending of half a million on arts, what's happening with the childhood development program? why do we still have the confusion that we have here? if you look here, you'll see that people who were originally separated as of the first of july are extended through only until august 12.

we don't know yet whether they'll continue in employment or whether or not their employment is terminated. we understand that paraprofessionals working in the childhood development are being brought back and only two people who went through layoffs who are still not brought back. i want you to think just for a moment about layoffs. you voted for layoffs on the prognosis of what kind of budget we were going to have and you put people through all of that that you put them through, you went to the expense, the legal expense of everything you did around layoffs, we went to the legal expense, and now you've brought back all but two people. that's an awful lot of time, money and activity for what comes out to be basically a shadow puppet show. i'd like you to look carefully at what you have here. you have a child development program where you have a great deal of confusion about who is going to return, who is going to remain, and you've got that codified in this particular

agenda, you've got all kinds of money that's coming in to support that and we still have the continuing and ongoing confusion about who is actually going to be working in the program. i would ask you to try to find out what the answers are to that before you go ahead and vote for all of this. thank you. >> thank you, mr. kelly. our next item is -- president mendoza: our next item is to remind the public that in accordance with 11.2 of the public policy, an individual wishing to address the board on agenda items can call the board office by 4:30 on the day of the meeting or completing a speaker card on the day of the meeting. cards being turned in at the same time the item is being discussed, will not be accepted. if you done have your cards in