that's why i think the school should be renewed for five more years. [applause] president yee: good evening, president yee and commissioner. president yee: hold on a second. if we can't put it off. unplug it. [loud noise] president yee: go ahead. >> hi, my name is celia magtoda. and i am a parent of two students of leadership high school. i have eight years experience

with leadership. my first daughter was among the first graduating class, so we saw many things happen through the beginning of leadership's existence. my second daughter started the following year. my daughter graduated. so eight years of experience of watching leadership grow and all the students grow. leadership, i know exactly what it's about. i saw ninth grade students grow sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly, sometimes with ease, and sometimes with tears, into 12th grade leaders. leadership staff and teachers provided my daughters and their classmates not only with the academics they needed but with life skills, leadership skills and the kind of passion that it takes to carry on after on to college. both of my daughters took what they gained from being a leader and used it all to be leaders in college. they are both now in the field of education. one daughter is a leadership high school teacher, the other

works for san francisco unified school district. [applause] the drive and excitement that my daughters still carry from their days at leadership is incredible and they give it to me. i am also an educator. i'm a fifth grade teacher in san francisco unified school district. i have many students whose parents call me and come to me and ask me for advice on where to send their children. some of my students are students that could flourish at lowell, at lincoln, at washington, but there are many that could use the kind of nurturing they would get at leadership high school and so with that, i'm asking you, as a parent, and have products of leadership high school, and as an educator, to please make sure that you consider what leadership has to offer to all of our children. thank you. president yee: thank you.

[applause] >> sorry. i'm short, too, here. let's see here. i wrote it down because i get nervous speaking. leadership is not a school where children are numbers. the teachers are mentors and counselors in every child's life. my son is a freshman and was lost in the system a long time ago. he hated going to school due to how low his self-esteem had become from teachers not helping him move up in his studies and with trauma that our family had gone through. the care and motivation he has received at leadership has made him a student again. he loves going to school. he's even talking about stepping up his game to go to college. for children like mine, i ask you to look beyond test scores and look on how many of our students are staying in school and graduating because of the wonderful job the staff does on knowing each and every student

individually. they make every child feel worthwhile and prepare them for life after high school. this is something other schools in the district aren't doing and the children fall behind. please renew the school's charter and continue to give the children like mine who were left behind an opportunity to prove they, too, can succeed, if given the right motivation. thank you. [applause] >> hello, commissioners, my name is marco acosta and i'm a senior at leadership high school. out of respect for the board, i will keep the speech short. leadership hash

supporting this recommendation. president yee: commissioner maufas? commissioner maufas: we went over together to see leadership and it knocked my socks off. i always ask when i'm going to visit a school, please don't dress it up, let me come quietly, please, please, please, i just want to see you as you

are and i truly believe i saw leadership just as you are and it was wonderful. it was just wonderful. i can't tell you how impressed i was with your a.p. classes. i'm sorry, they were just kids of color in there doing a level of work that i saw was college level and i was blown away. i was like, oh, my gosh, thank goodness i graduated high school when i did and college when i did because i don't think i could do this work now. it was so impressive. it was impressive. and to think that you were doing that for our students, that may not do well in a traditional

setting and i said it to elizabeth then, i wish more of our families knew about leadership and what it offers to kids who aren't a great match for some of our schools. my daughter wasn't a great match for three of our high schools and then she dropped out. she came back to finish, but i sure wish i had known about leadership. i think about it all the time for so many of our students and i'm, like, you know, if families knew more about schools that are just not run-of-the-mill, but are doing something specific and give students specialized attention because you know how to do it right and it's not fake , it's so genuine and deeply emotional and connects on a level that i'm sorry, some of our schools can't do. they have too many kids, they've got a whole different mindset, but the fact that you combine

the rigor with all the other social stuff that connects in kids lives, i can't tell you, i'm so, so thrilled that you exist in san francisco. thank you. thank you, thank you, thank you. and i will be supporting your renewal. [applause] president yee: does that make it seven out of seven or what? thanks for coming. i'm glad you're here. i see that i've met two of the students that spoke today and that was great. i actually went to visit leadership also a few weeks ago by myself, i didn't have somebody going with me, and it was really nice because i actually missed -- i walked into -- and i mentioned this at the committee of a whole so it's a repeat for some people, but i walked in during their lunch time and i missed the morning

snetion -- session in terms of their portfolio defense. and elizabeth just says, hey, any student want to just spend lunch time with president yee here and i go, oh, no, nobody's going to want to -- as soon as she said that, a bunch of students raised their hands and she said, stop, stop, that's enough. so there were eight students. we went into a small classroom. they were eating their lunch and they were describing to me the portfolio defense, what they had to do and so forth and the three concepts and so forth and i was so impressed with what they said, how they said it, how they explained the process, how they bought into it. and as you heard today, some of the students talk about how this gave them focus and some direction and that's what i heard from each of the eight students i sat with, and without

going into -- i don't know what the association that's supposed to be supporting your charter schools are saying, maybe they need to go visit your school, because i don't get it. your school is doing excellent work with these students and these were not students that were set up to impress anybody. they impressed me, but they just spontaneously said, yeah, i'll talk to him, you know. and it was a good range of students. so, yes, that's going to be seven out of seven so i'm going to be supporting it also, thank you. [applause] roll call please. >> thank you. [roll call vote was taken] [the measure massed -- passed

unanimously] >> thank you, it's unanimous. president yee: i'm going to move on to the next agenda item and if you're going to be leaving the room, please leave quietly so we can continue the meeting. ok, so, the next one will be item 1112 -- >> president yee, can i make a request that perhaps we move general public comment up ahead of the board rules, since there are -- i don't know about the rest of the board -- since it's past 7:30. president yee: we only have one item before that so i'm just

going to move on. that's the next thing. ok. so it's 1112-13-sp2, adoption of california school board association series 9000, board policies and administrative regulations to replace current board of education policies and regulations related to board rules and procedures of p120. it's already been moved and seconded on december 13, 2011. and let me have a report from the committee of the whole. commissioner norton? vice president norton: yes. it was a long slog in an empty room but we did manage to mark up our board rules at the committee of the whole and the results are what you see in your agendas, the red-lined version.

president yee: so if we could have a reading of the resolution by superintendent or designee, casey coleman? yes, and if we could just have the short version, thank you. i don't want you to read every single 50 pages of rules. >> this -- as the board president stated, it's 1112-13sp2, the full title is "the adoption of california school board association c.s.p.a. series 9000, board policies and administrative regulations to replace articles 1, 2, 4, 5, definitions and exhibits a and b of current board policies and regulations p120.

the requested action is that the board of education of the san francisco unified school district adopt the california school board association cfba series 9,000 board rules and procedures as revised by sfusd to replace current articles 1, 2, 4, 5, definitions and exhibits a and b of board policies and regulations p120 with the exception of article 3, advisory committees of p120, which will remain in effect. the above changes, if adopted, will be effective as of the adjournment of this meeting of the board of education convened on this 14th of february, 2012. president yee: thank you very much. are there any comments? there's no public speakers that signed up for this topic and basically comments from the board and superintendent. i want to also note that not only did we have a very long,

long, long, long meeting at the committee of the whole about this topic, but we've had also two committees at the rules committee, long, long, long, long meetings so if we could get through this real quickly, i would appreciate it. commissioner norton. vice president norton: i just have a few lines -- i'm just kidding. president yee: commissioner wynns? commissioner wynns: i have one question which i found so interesting. on page 116 that are handwritten, the numbers, it says, the board may by -- next to the last paragraph, i'm looking at miss wilson, the board may by 2/3 vote limit or close its vote provided the maker of the motion and opponent of the motion are granted equal time for closing comments. i've never heard that before and as per your training, i have

always operated by and told people that motions to end debate are not debatable. so i'm presuming that roberts rules makes a distinction between closing comments and debate? i don't really know, but -- and while she's finding that, i just want to say this in the interest of time, i think for the public, the most important thing is that this is going to be online now. you will not -- in order to be able to do that and to -- and to use the online policy services that allows to be kept up to date with changes in the law and regulations, we have to go through this process so i'm happy we're doing it. i personally am happy from both sides since we're using the services of the association that i'm the president of but also it's really going to be much more accessible to us and everybody else, that's the important thing.

president yee: ms. wilson? commissioner wynns: on page 116, says it, the board, may, by a 2/3 vote, limit or close its debate provided that the maker of the motion and opponent of the motion are granted equal time for closing comments. have you not taught me that motions to end debate are not debatable? >> put on your mic. >> you're correct. but if this is their rule, it supersedes roberts, which says that there's no debate. commissioner wynns: so the question is do we want to adopt something other school school ss use that allow closing comments or just follow roberts rules as we have in the past and not allow debate on ending debate. i don't care. president yee: commissioner wynns, you can make an amendment

or recommendation? >> if i may, this is from p120, not from csba. commissioner wynns: so this is ours? we've never followed our rules. this is the only area where that's rules. in that case, since we've not followed this and always operated the other way, i just say we should say the board by 2/3 vote should limit or end debate, period. >> i second that. >> i triple it. president yee: general consensus and commissioner murase? commissioner murase: i want to move the recommendation. >> second. commissioner wynns: it's been moved and seconded a million times. >> this is a gigantic step for transparency and accountability so i want to acknowledge folks in this endeavor. deputy counsel kathie coleman put countless hours into this work. susan wong, who is now retired,

also put countless hours into this work. mike davis of csba and i want to recognize ms. casco who was a great adviser throughout the process. president yee: commissioner maufas? commissioner maufas: i'm so glad we're to the end of this process. i feel like i've vivid -- visited the rules committee meetings just to participate and was able to skip the committee as a whole because i knew so much. i want to thank commissioner murase because, really, as a new board member, being asked to do this task, which we had been avoiding for so many years, thank you very much and it was your naivete that helped us to get through this because you kept plugging along and telling us that we could get through this and it will be a much better day for folks within

sfusd and also the public. thank you for leading the way. president yee: that was her initiation present. roll call, please. >> thank you. [roll call vote was taken] [the measure passed unanimously] president yee: motion passes. ok, item i, board members, proposals, speaker cards or actions, no one tonight. item j, request to speak regarding general matters. we have lots of speakers. i will call the first set of speakers that's called in and this is in regards to transitional kindergarten so as i call you, come up to the podium and state your name and let's