can ask the president. >> all other reports, the events? commissioners. >> thank you. i would like to mention that on saturday, may 19 i attended the superintendent gascón pre-k-12 perfect attendance celebration in the boardroom. they had 70 awardees. it was a very nice family affair. we also had lunch for the families. thank you to the foundation for helping to organize that. i attended the graduation of trainings held by parents of our public school system.

all chinese speakers. it was a five day series of training. every saturday for five weeks. they are now empowered it to be active participants in education. thank you. >> thank you. i wanted to acknowledge the 2011, 2012 teacher of the month award winners. we had 10 winners. i also wanted to thank the teachers' union for their support. all of the work they did to help support us. debra from the alternative school, mrs. rogers, jason thomas,laura from spring valley,

marisa martinas, and robert. congratulations to the award winners. the principle of the year awards are going to be announced in the next day or so. one was already announced. it was announced at his retirement dinner by the mayor. he is our middle school president of the -- principle of the year award winner. we had the pleasure of attending a reception with a woman could talk about all of the deep- rooted issues that we continue. -- continue to have. it was another wonderful discussion. i want to congratulate all of the scholars who received scholarships a couple of weeks ago. i want to congratulate the

successful launch and. they abolished the work they were doing with the school district -- they acknowledged the work they were doing with this school district. they did not acknowledge the school board members at the luncheon. they mentioned at random commissioners. we do have a great partnership. the mayor is going to be the commencement speaker for galileo academy. i think it is really great. all of our graduates. the community schools forum, it was really wonderful to see so many people engaged in that. we also hosted -- we ran at a next generation luncheon, it was to celebrate and make a call to a new education champions.

we are looking for the next generation of philanthropists that will step up. it was a good way to share what we were doing. last friday, the commissioner and i got to attend the filipino honorable and on a quite a few of our students. -- and honor quite a few of our filipino students. we were able to give scholarships to 20 of them. it was wonderful. they were $500 scholarships and $250 scholarships. i attend in the state commencement which was the last one for the doctor. i want to do a thanks to doctor corrigan for his 24 years of service to san francisco. he is an amazingly there. they have brought on a new president of the school. doctor wong.

he is coming from michigan. there he is. our very own, he was honored at the board of supervisors for his tremendous work of the redistricting task force. thank you for reayour public service. on a personal note, i want to congratulate my son will be graduating from middle school tomorrow and his best buddies. we are really persia of the boys. --proud of you boys. >> i do not know who is next. >> just to add in the order, -- i just wanted to add one more event attended, it is worth mentioning. i went to the kit with a college

graduation. it was inspired scene. -- i went to the gateway to college graduation. it was inspiring. it was for students who have not been successful in our schools. they are now at city college. it took a while to get off the ground. i wanted to let you know. i think there were 14 graduates. i wanted to report, i attended the united administrators of sentences the celebration. it is really something. students would not believe what their principles are capable of. really, wild and crazy. i also attended the sfusd quiet time program where are

superintendent was honored for his commitment to this concept. i want to congratulate the spring valley science school. we attended the sixth annual public service and education retirement celebration. i want to recognize one woman who puts a lot of time into plane that altogether. on march 14, i attended the ptsa meeting. some active parents who help to make that school great. on may 16, the first ever gullah fund-raiser to support programs. i attended the spring competition along with commissioner yee. i wanted to congratulate the hilltop school, they graduated

earlier today. tomorrow will be the mission high-school graduation. finally, i want to invite committee members, particularly young women, media producers, we have partnered with the former first lady to do is screening of her documentary, "mr. presentationisrepresentation." the screening will be followed by a table discussion. i think the commissioner will be able to be there to help facilitate a discussion about the impact of negative images of women on young women and their aspirations. >> thank you. also, the commissioner was our

emcee at the asian heritage school awards that are given annually in partnership with many schools. we had six finalist. i do not remember their names. they are all wonderful. i also want to thank the sponsor, a target. thank you for sponsoring that. the asian art museum. having the museum open all day. all of that area, little saigon, of being opened. celebrating asian heritage month. i was able to participate. had an announcement. i will have to remember it later. >> i am going to do some announcement. i am going to e-mail you to

limit how many things we are going to announce. just because we want to. i want to say that i went to the african scholarship thing over at fulton street. it was cool. many of you know this guy, he is somebody who we really should do some honors to. he has been doing this for years in terms of promoting and encouraging and helping young african-american males. he was the keynote speaker for the high-school graduation which was nice to see that he had some recognition. i also went to a graduation, isa.

i only mention this because of what they said. the graduation rate was 95% over all. african american, 94.6%. i felt like that was pretty impressive. other than that, there were a whole bunch of other things i will not bother telling you about. i am glad. we have to go to the next one. >> i do remember my one announcement. i wanted to announce the celebrations forucsf vice president. it is this thursday. at ilw headquarters. it starts at 5:30. it is celebrating her retirement.

it is thursday, beginning at 5:30. tons of celebrations for her. congratulations. >> reports of closed session action. this is a closed session reed up for may 15, 2012. the vote to approve the contracts for five principles, assistant principal. six items, one absent office. they approved contracts. in existing litigation matter, case number 2012040622, we authorized a settlement of $30,000 plus transportation costs it in a matter they

authorized a settlement of 15 doesn't dollars. closed session reduct for may 22, -- read out for may 22, the board approved a contract of one assistant principal. in existing litigation matters, gw vs. sfusd, case 2012030858. we authorized a settlement of one doesn't $560 -- $1,560. to provide two 30 minute sessions per month.

in a matter, the board by a vote 7 of -- 5 ayes and 2 absents latourette is an amount of $3,102.70. meeting adjourned. >> 01 more. >> i am side to end on an unhappy note. i would like to the knowledge the passing of a louis perez, a close friend of mine. i served with her. the first latina president of csba. she served on the sacramento city school board. she was the founder of the community resources project. a major multi service agency serving for immigrant and

farmworker families. she died last week. we will miss her. i will. >> thank you. meeting adjourned.

>> when the new california academy of sciences opened in 2008, it quickly became one of the top tourist magnets in the city. part of the cal academies' astronomical success is the weekly nightlife party. >> i am joined by helen, who is here to school me on all the nocturnal activities that are getting ready to take place here. tell us a little about what we can expect to see at nightlife.

>> we open up the doors every thursday night at the california academy of sciences. there are certain things you can see every week you can go to the museum, visit the planetarium, and we bring in bars and a deejay or band. it is a different feel from during the day, something different every week. tonight , we have beer and music. -- tonight we have great beer and music. it is beer week. we have a dozen local brewers in african hall. we have a deejays to set up throughout the museum and a live performance at 9:00 p.m. tonight. >> what has been your favorite part as a participant or as an observer? >> my favorite part is to walk around the aquarium in to see people with a drink in their hands, getting to know maybe somebody new, may be looking for a day, or chatting with friends. there jellyfish. i mean, they are beautiful. >> the culmination of the

animals. >> it is very impressive. we do not have this at home. >> tell us a little about some of the spider's we see here on display. >> at the california academy of sciences, there is a very large collection of preserved and live specimens, which are the evidence about evolution. we have the assassin spiders, which are spiders that exclusively kill and eat other spiders. they are under the microscope here. research done and the california academy's i rhinology lab suggests that the assassin spiders have been doing this for over 150 million years. this glassed in room is a real scientific laboratory, and the people in that room are

preparing specimens of vertebrate, that is mammals and birds. the way they do this is to remove the skin, sew it together in a relatively lifelike pose, and ensure that it does not decompose. >> i am a really big class actress fan, so i am here to see them, and beer week. >> i wanted to learn something and have fun. >> i always enjoy it. i am not all is well -- always working as i am tonight. sometimes i come to enjoy the music and to dance. ♪ >> culturewire covers the arts in san francisco, and one of my favorite culture artists is here tonight. jason, thank you for being on culturewire. tell us about some of your posters that we have here today. >> most of the posters here are

four specific shows or tours. i am hired by the bands or the venue. >> what is the inspiration behind these posters? >> no, disease of the related to the bay and, of course. music -- it is related to the band, of course the musical content or isn't related to the bed. album covers can come from anywhere. ♪ ♪ >> class actress was great.

we have been having so much fun. i did not realize how beautiful the cal academy looks than that. what other events take place here? >> we do corporate events that night on a regular basis. but nightlife is your best bet to come in as a regular person pharmacy the academy at night, and visit with friends. calacademy.org/nightlife. we have details for the next few weeks. you can get tickets online in advance or at the door. >> thank you so much. thank you for watching culturewire on sf gov tv.

>> i have 2 job titles. i'm manager of the tour program as well as i am the historyian of city hall. this building is multifaceted to say the very least it's a municipal building that operates the city and county of san francisco. this building was a dream that became a reality of a man by the name of james junior elected mayor of san francisco in 1912. he didn't have a city hall because it was destroyed in the earth wake of 1906. construction began in april of 1913. in december 1915, the building was complete.

it opened it's doors in january 1916. >> it's a wonderful experience to come to a building built like this. the building is built as a palace. not for a king or queen. it's built for all people. this building is beautiful art. those are architecture at the time when city hall was built, san francisco had an enormous french population. therefore building a palace in the art tradition is not unusual. >> jimmie was an incredible individual he knew that san francisco had to regain it's place in the world. he decided to have the tallest dome built in the united states.

it's now stands 307 feet 6 inches from the ground 40 feet taller than the united states capital. >> you could spend days going around the building and finding something new. the embellishment, the carvings, it represents commerce, navigation, all of the things that san francisco is famous for. >> the wood you see in the board of supervisor's chambers is oak and all hand carved on site. interesting thing about the oak is there isn't anymore in the entire world.

the floors in china was cleard and never replanted. if you look up at the seceiling you would believe that's hand kof carved out of wood and it is a cast plaster sealing and the only spanish design in an arts building. there are no records about how many people worked on this building. the workman who worked on this building did not all speak the same language. and what happened was the person working next to the other person respected a skill a skill that was so wonderful that we have this masterpiece to show the world today.

>> tonight, we paid for the two teachers, especially those in san francisco public schools who have made san francisco the top- performing urban school district in california. each day, thousands of teachers provide children with the skills to be successful in life, including learning how to analyze problems, appreciate the arts, and become active in sports. we all know how important teachers are. that is why the giants continue to participate in the annual thank a teacher today campaign, a month-long celebration of san francisco public school teachers. it happens each may and is a program of the san francisco education fund, the oldest nonprofit dedicated to supporting san francisco public schools. and now, let's give a warm welcome to mayor ed lee, sanders is a unified school