before the item comes up. item g is a consent calendar. i need a motion and second. >> move the consent calendar. >> second. president mendoza: any items removed or corrected? >> we have one item to be corrected the amened dates of service should read july 1, 2011, through june 30, 2012. >> any items removed for screening for the board? my items severed by the board or superintendent for discussion or vote tonight? i actually -- commissioner wynns. commissioner wynns:: items on page 102 and 114. president mendoza: k-12 was the item i wanted to pull as well. roll call will take place. item h, the superintendent's proposals.

item 116-28sp1, an authorization to gran or deny the petition for rocketship san francisco charter school. >> i'll call on mary richards. just when she thought the got away from doing all this. >> happy to help. good evening. superintendent, commissioners. members of the public. before i read the amended language of the resolution into the record, i just want to make a couple of brief comments. the board members, you should have all received staff's written factual findings concerning this matter, just to explain to the process, it was not a typical review process, only because of the summer schedule and schedule of staff

actually here during the summer. when speaking to the petitioner group from rocketship, i conveyed this several months ago before the summer recess so i clearly laid out the schedule, the potential schedule. we did make a request for an extension of that schedule for review and the petitioner group felt it was necessary for us to come to a decision within the required timeline. that would end this evening. so a decision needs to be made. so we did diligence around our review of this petition. getting all the submission of the comments from our staff and then combining it into the factual findings and coming up with a recommendation. several staff members that reviewed portions of the petition are here tonight to answer questions, based on your review of those. those factual findings. i gave you another copy of that, too, in case it stirs further information. without further ado, and

obviously i'll be here to answer questions you might have and other staff members are here too, i request permission from the board to read the amended language of the resolution into the record. president mendoza: that would be great. >> i'm going to read the whole thing only because this is different from our past thing but i'll read it as quickly as i possibly can. thank you. you do have a copy of that amended language, too, which has been submitted to ms. casco. superintendent's recommendation regarding rocketship san francisco and -- i'm sorry, ms. casco, on this sheet, i don't have the actual resolution number. >> we've already read it in. >> thank you, ok. resolution number 116-28sp1 and on the amended resolution, authorization, thank you, susan, authorization to deny the new petition for rocketship san

francisco charter school. whereas pursuant to education code 47605, rocketship education submitted on june 10, 2011, to san francisco unified school district a new charter petition for rocketship san francisco and whereas rocketship education is requesting that the board of education make a final decision regarding the charter by august 9, 2011, rocketship education makes its request to allow for sufficient planning time for opening of rocketship san francisco. grades k-5, for the 2013-2014 school year. whereas, the district shall comply with all time lines for review and action on the new petition as required by law and whereas the board of education shall consider the level of public support for the charter school and shall review the new petition and all information received with respect to the new petition, including supporting documentation, and whereas in

reviewing the new petition, the board of education shall be guided by the intent of the california legislature that charter schools are and should become a integrated part of the san francisco school system and establishment of charter schools should be encouraged and whereas the district superintendent and staff has completed a review of the petition and issued a recommendation recommending denial, therefore, be it resolved that the board of education hereby denies the new petition, be it further resolved that the board of education hereby finds that the charter school represents an unsound educational program, the petitioners are demonstrably unlikely to implement they plan set forth in the petition and the petition does not contain reasonably comprehensive descriptions of certain aspects

of its code. just in your written findings if you go to the final page, page 12, at the back of the front to back copy you have, there's sort of a condensed, compressed citing of all the report elements. thank you. any questions? president mendoza: so i have two people speaking -- >> so i have two people speaking on this matter, evan collins and preston smith. come on down. i have two minutes. >> hi, evan cohen, manager for rocketship, we're here tonight to answer any questions the board of superintendent may have. thank you.

>> thank you. so comments from the board? superintendent? commissioner wynns? commissioner wynns: i wanted to thank the staff for this. this is a good, cogent, clear analysis and i don't in any way mean to imply -- let's just say that ones we have had in the past have been more just hitting points without the context being explained, so i really appreciate this. i think it's an excellent document that explains to us in the community. >> commissioner fewer. furefure so ms. richards, just -- fewer fewer -- commissioner fewer: so ms. richards, for context, this was brought to us for first reading, we were going to take it to committee, we wouldn't have been within the timeline, we went

back to the petitioners and said it's the desire of the board to hear it in committee and then they decided not to accept that and now we are before us to make this decision yes or no, is that correct? >> that's exactly correct. few few i wanted to be -- commissioner fewer: i wanted to be sure because it's been several months. i'd also like to thank staff for this in depth and very lucid and easy to comprehend the document on this, on all your findings. thank you very much. >> thank you. other comments? commissioner yee. vice president yee: i want to thank the staffers and -- for the analysis and i really appreciate the practice of analysis for an english language

learner piece of this which really gives me a lot of concern about this proposal, or this petition, so just, thank you. president mendoza: other comments? >> i want to thank -- mr. cohen, i actually wanted to thank you guys also for this. i don't have any questions, i just have a comment for you. this is one of those things where, i actually spent time with preston to talk through this. i was disappointed that my other board members have not been reached out to or didn't have the same find of information i had. i think it's aen -- it's an interesting concept, but i was disappointed not to have a deeper conversation either in committee, both in curriculum as well as in budget, because i really would have liked to have supported this and been a little more open to hearing more about what you're doing in other parts

of northern california. so it's unfortunate that we couldn't find a place to actually have a longer dialogue on this but i do appreciate the efforts that the -- that our staff made to help us clarify some of those questions, it was a little disappointing that the outreach didn't happen pe the way i would have liked to have seen it happen. superintendent? superintendent garcia: i think this board and all of us worked diligently to work closely with charters. i just didn't get it in terms of the timeline. this isn't happening this school year. i was -- i have to be honest with you, i was completely disappointed in the lack of having the initiative to work with us to develop this instead of basically trying to ramrod it down our throats and i don't like that. i think that we don't need to have a relationship like that. i hope that we will not have a relationship like that. it takes two to try to develop a

relationship and i, quite frankly, feel that you folks fell short of your side of that relationship in this case. >> thank you. roll call, please. >> on the recommendation, ms. sams. >> yes. >> ms. tom. delegate tom: yes. ms. fewer. few few yes. ms. norton. ms. wynns. those in favor say aye. ms. mendoza. those in favor say aye. >> six ayes. president mendoza: item i, board member's proposals, none tonight. item j a request to speak regarding general matters. i have a list of folks who wanted to speak. come on up as your name is called. r.t. choice. jerry, we're going to hold you. pam rah rouse, elaine meriwether, sharon kennedy,

elizabeth conley, chantae rogers, betty robinson harris, and alyssa, do you want to speak at this point? ok, come up. >> my name is archie choice. i live here in san francisco for about 50 years and i've been having a problem with you -- your lottery system for placing kids in schools from junior high, elementary, and it just seems like it's not a fair system and doesn't seem like it's really effective, relying on somebody to wait on a lottery system. it's like going to the store and buying a ticket to see if you're going to win some money for your kid to get an education. i filled out a form and it had six different schools for my kid to pick to go to. i filled out three. you didn't give him any one of those, you know. it's like, why have this form if you're going to have a lottery

system and i'm filling out a form, you know. the school that was picked for my son was on the other side of town. i live in richmond you gave him a school over by bay shore and silver. a lot of people don't have cars to be taking kids to where the school district is sending their kids. you have single parents, people with different siblings going to different grade level of schools and we're relying on a lottery system? that doesn't seem fair. my son was given a social security card when he was 2 days old in the hospital. he's already in the system. you should know if i'm staying at a house for 20 or 30 years he's going to be going to school in that area. there should be room for him in that area until he goes to high school or college, not relying on no lottery system. it's not working. all the schools that closed over the years, i don't know what

reason, the budget or what, but those teachers in those schools, they lost their jobs. you know, i don't know what for but those teachers wanted to be teachers and those schools should be filled. all schools are good schools, all teachers are good teachers. it's not the schools or the teachers, it's the kids that are going there. you have to start figuring out how to get the kids out of the school if they don't want an education. if they ged f's or d's, or getting expelled, don't give them two or three chances, just like the federal law, three strikes, same with the school. if they don't want to go to school to get an education, this is not a day care, leave the room for the kids who want an education. president mendoza: thank you, mr. choice. >> good evening, commissioners and superintendent. i'm pamela rose, i'm in the u.e. assist and i'm addressing the child development program

layoffs that are proposed. during the early years of almost a quarter of century of substituting, i spent a great deal of time in children's centers and they're now known as child development centers, teaching both preschool and after school groups. and one of the challenge in the centers and one of the challenge teachers and paraprofessionals developed was coordinating overlapping shifts so that every educator was part of a team. and people worked at being part of a team. so to change those components causes problems. at the same time, especially with young children, the continuing relationships between educators and children became very important. young children do not understand when an adult in their life

leaves and their level of trust in adults is sometimes harmed and the result is insecurity that affects their education. while some change in a faculty is inevitable, that should be kept to a minimum and at the same time, it is not only unfair to the educators to be abruptly removed from the positions, but it is also detrimental to the students and one thing i will say about kalw is that i have listened a great deal during my retirement and they are unique in presenting a very balanced -- presenting very balanced programs about learning, the brain, educational politics and they have had interviews and programs with participation by

the audience and i would like to especially recommend your call by rose aguilar. thank you. president mendoza: thank you. >> good evening, superintendent, school board members. as you know, many of you know i wear many hats but tonight i am here as uesf and i am the treasurer of uesf. but i'm also the child development representative. so i've been in this district for 27 years and so i know a lot about the ins and outs but tonight i'm here to talk about what's happening in our department right now. our early education department philosophy states that we believe that all children have a right to be treated with dignity and respect. and to play and learn in a safe and healthy environment. we strongly believe that families and school staff are

partners in building this -- in building the children's social and emotional well being to ensure a successful school experience for them. but right now, this philosophy has been shattered. if you remember the board approved layoffs back in march, and so now, k-12 has been called back, they got a letter, in fact, some of our people got letters too, saying congratulations all the layoffs have been called off, but that's not the reail -- reality for us. our teachers and parents are not being treated with dignity and respect. how can we believe that our children who we say we should treat with dignity and respect if we're not treating the adults that way? so we have layoffs going on in our department and we have been trying to work with the district for the last four or five

months, trying to find some real members. how many people are going to -- real numbers. how many people are going to be laid off. in our department, it's detrimental. families are enrolling their children right now. they're having new children come into our program and on friday, people are going to be leaving. so the young children are starting with one teacher and next week, they're having another teacher. that is a terrible experience for our families and our children in this program. president mendoza: for the record, can you state your name? >> elaine meriwether. president mendoza: thank you. >> good evening, superintendent, commissioners, i'm elizabeth conley, vice president for substitutes at eu -- at uesf. at 12:00 noon today i discover that a small but vital core of substitutes were on the

separation list under your consideration this evening. by 3:00 this afternoon i was told they would be reporting to -- for professional development tomorrow morning. at the present time they have no contracts. they are still on the separation list and i am seriously concerned as some of the previous speakers have mentioned, substitutes are vital also to our school district and this group of 14 core, some of whom have 20 years of seniority in the district, play a vital part in keeping our schools together when other teachers are ill or gone for one reason or another. i would like to be reassured that these people will have contracts in hand and that their names will not be on the separation list. thank you. president mendoza: thank you.

>> good evening, my name is chantae roberts, i have four children, and my concern is in reference to the layoff, i see that teachers who have been there for 10 years, who have seniority, are being laid over teachers who have been there two or three years. they are laying off teachers who care about their families and parents but you're keeping the teachers who are yelling and screaming at the kids and have no desire to be in the educational field, they're there as a job and not a career. then you have teachers who are only there because there's nothing else to do. they pick who they want in their classrooms and those they don't want, they send them out to the hallways or to another class. you're laying off teachers who are getting the students off the school bus. one of my children is severely

emotionally disturbed and needs help getting off the bus and into the classroom. it's dependent on parents an kids to got their kids into the classroom or if a teacher can come out of their classroom to substitute -- to supervise kids who belong to another classroom. something needs to be done, it needs to be taken into consideration when -- how the parents are going to feel when you're sending out pink slips to teachers who really want their jobs versus teachers who are just there. there are kids there not learning anything because they're with the wrong teacher, the teachers who just don't want to teach them. it's a difference when a child go into a classroom and doesn't want to learn and when they go into a classroom with a teach whore doesn't want to teach them. i don't think it was taken into consideration when pink slips are sent out. i have one teacher who was there for 10 years, when i had my

third child, we were pregnant together, and she came back right after her baby was born. i'm upset and devastated that these decisions were made. but i'm taking into consideration how the parents will feel. >> thank you. >> good evening, commissioner. commissioners and superintendent. i am betty robertson harris, i'm the chair of the child development committee. i share a lot of the same feelings that several people have spoken about. one thing that i really would like to bring to your attention is that our department has been experiencing major changes for the past five years and change in itself can be extremely challenging and difficult but

change that is not meaningful, thoughtful, is not including all participants, is change that is led to destruction. transparency, social justice, building trust in relationships and building relationships are key and critical parts of a child development education. it's particularly important for young children. i'm here to talk about specifically over 94 of my peers have gotten either consolidation notices or layoff notices. to date, none of those staff members have gotten written verification of where they're going to be on monday. now that's immoral. we're talking about people, as chantae indicated, she is one of my family members, one of my

parents, who have been on site for 10 or more years. they have developed long-term relationships with families and you, representing our district, expect for someone who has been at a site for 10 years to all of a sudden disappear from children's lives on friday. and reappear on monday. or not even know where they're going to be until friday. we can do better than this. we talked about social justice, we're talking about meaningful relationships with our families and children and right now, we're doing the opposite. in the past, we've had a collaboration where the teachers and the district has worked together cooperatively but that's not happening today. we are operating in a cloud of dark dust. thank you.

president mendoza: thank you. >> good evening, superintendent and commissioners. my name is alyssa may, i'm manager of youth services at the american red cross bay area chapter. i'm here in reference to the readiness agreement that you have on your agenda, on page 9, and i just would like to begin by saying that hearing from all these people is quite moving and i appreciate their thoughts and listening to them, what i have heard and i know is a reality for many of these teachers that are losing their jobs, i'm here to talk about how to keep the children safe. so with this reduction in staff, it's a little more challenging in the event of a disaster to keep the children safe in the schools. so i would encourage you to vote

to renew the agreement for the next two years. i would like to thank you all for voting to have the agreement in this previous year. we actually signed up 30 of your schools, around 30 of your schools, to be members of this program, it's a free program that the red cross offers, and i hope that when you all are in the schools, this school year, you encourage the schools that have not become members to do so. it helps them to increase their preparedness level and keep the children safe in the schools. as well as the young adults in the high school. thank you for allowing me to speak and thank you. >> thank you. one final speaker, sharon kennedy. >> i don't have permission to speak but can i ask for 30 seconds? i didn't follow protocol, i didn't know.

i spoke here before but never handed one of these in. >> you always have to have one of these in order to speak. go ahead. >> i've been here lots of times. thank you. appreciate it. my name is china carter, i have a boy going into sixth grade, he doesn't have a school assigned yet, so he has no place to go on monday. it's great everybody is excited about monday being the first day back at school but we're not. we're assigned a school across town, it's physically impossible to get there, i'm not sending him on a bus, thank you for your time. president mendoza: thank you.

>> good evening, everybody. my name is sharon kennedy, you probably recognize me, i've been here about four times this year. i figured i might as well come again because it seems no one is listening to me. i just sent in, you know, the round three forms with 11 schools on them, including my attendance area, and still, nothing. so i'm getting very frustrated. i was assigned a school over five miles awhat from -- away from the house, you guys have heard my sob story here. it's really far away, i've got a kindergartener, i don't know how you expect me, with the time it would take to get and the cost, i can't send my kid on a bus. i think that's a lot for the district to ask of a family to make them go so far away. i sent an email to ms. wynns because the last time i was ,