will elaborate that in a second, to assign students to their highest available choice. if they do not get one of their choices, they would be offered placement at the closest middle school that has openings once the choice process has completed. that is what we are recommending. this is an illustration to show what policy tie-breakers are. there would be an initial assignment, then a young girl siblings, then test areas, then attendance areas, at dense population areas, and others. if we do not have the theater patterns and do not have the attendance area -- we do not have the feeder patterns or attendance area, we would not have those as tiebreakers yet. once those are done, we would implement the policy as outlined -- use an allocation

method as outlined in the policy that was approved by the board in march. this would be a temporary process. commissioner wynns: i am guessing that a lot of you are here to comment on the feeder pattern proposal. first, the substitute motion incorporates this new proposal. it is substantially different because it incorporates a phase in of middle school teacher patterns. second, i want -- middle school feeder patterns. we are not proposing that we will begin at comment on the feeder patterns. that is not what we would begin to do. our idea is that the proposed

patterns will be entirely gone, and the principles we have outlined here are what we want to talk about, both how we achieve the goals -- the board's commitment has to do with the desire to support the school community and those continuing into the middle school year. would you like to comment on that? >> absolutely. what we want to do is step back and focus now on the school improvement initiatives for middle schools. once that work has been done and we understand what we are doing and what is happening with grants and special education redesign, the magnet grants, what we want to do for the emerging commissioner fewer: --

for the emerging feeder pattern s, then we will move forward. tonight, we want to focus on what we have heard from the community -- quality opportunities at middle school. once we have developed those, then we can talk about feeder patterns and bring recommendations to the board. [applause] commissioner wynns: before we begin to take testimony on this subject, i want to ask four questions first. commissioner norton: if i am hearing you correctly, it is likely are erasing all of the feeder patterns from august 18. we may use them as a basis for redrawing feeder patterns, but we are starting with a blank slate? >> definitely, there were some things we discovered from the

draft we put out and the conversation from the community. a lot of the evaluation and analysis we did, we will bring back into the conversation once it restarts. it is a positive step back and focus on the quality of schools initiative and then revisit the feeders. the draft feeder patterns were just a draft. commissioner wynns: there are still conversations up here, so could you please organize yourselves quietly? thank you. >> thank you, commissioner. we are taking that draft. it was always a draft. the only thing we knew for sure was there was something wrong with it and that we would have to come back with recommended changes. we can say with confidence we think that any new proposal would not be the same as the draft presented to the board. commissioner norton: what are we proposing to do to make sure that does not happen again?

[applause] i do not want to have us put out a whole new proposal and have its start over again. we did not understand that, or did not see that -- what are we going to do differently this time? >> what we are going to do differently is what we heard loud and clear -- that people want to see outstanding programs. the main emphasis of middle schools will be to really work on developing -- making sure that every one of our schools ends up having that type of program at each of their schools. also, when we look at the language programs, we are going to build everything around instruction, not necessarily algorithms. let us figure out what are the types of programs that best suit our community, our curriculum, and the school district, and bill everything

around that instead of the other way around. that is going to be the big difference. commissioner norton: i am wondering if you have a proposed timeline for when you are going to be able to release a new draft plan to the community. commissioner wynns: i would like to postpone discussion. we are not up to that yet. vice president mendoza: i have a couple of clarifying questions. part of the delay is really focusing on building the program in wanted to make sure the programs are in place prior to families going to the school. to the program placement process, when will you be able to share that with families? >> we are working on developing what that plan might look like, but as i mentioned earlier there

are some major pieces we have not even had any understanding of, not least of which is one of the philosophical points that we alluded to. this is based on instruction having to do with our special education program. we have not had the report presented to us, with the recommendations in the report. we have not had the opportunity to engage the community and our own staff with those recommendations yet. that is one example of major pieces of information we do not yet possess and that we feel are critically important to be able to determine what the process is going to look like. i do not want to sound ambiguous, it is our goal to take that information, to engage the community, and then develop what that time when would look like.

i think what is very germane is what superintendent garcia has shared, which is that it must be based on the instructional program rather than the drawing of boundaries. vice president mendoza: how does that look with the schools that have sig, when you want to have community input on the family's fed into those schools? >> those are all interrelated. i believe i used the word braiding. . i am going to use the special education recommendations. the recommendations we are anticipating from our special education audit are going to be extensive and far reaching in every school. you are going to take those recommendations along with the process of each of the school improvement grants to determine what the reform will look like

in the schools. will it look like a different instructional focus, a longer day? will the after-school look like? -- what will the after-school look like? some of our schools are magnet schools. how do you implement and develop a magnet strand along with the special education redesign and possible language pathways? we really do not even know what is on the table yet. they are all interconnected. vice president mendoza: remember that some of these program developments may affect

capacity. we are presuming schools and programs. commissioner norton: on hoover, for example, where we are going to save the spanish immersion program -- is that back on the table? are those kind of decisions going to be definite that we are phasing that out? are we going to start by not accepting any more sixth graders the coming year, or will we accept sixth graders next year with the new temporary plan? >> my understanding is we are not expecting any change at the middle school level of peter pattern. -- the middle school level feeder pattern. [applause] >> i do want to remind everyone

that one of the reasons -- i heard what commissioner norton said it and do not necessarily agree or disagree. but the fact of the matter is that whether we like this process or not, this process is very helpful for us because it opens up a huge dialogue. we have been talking about the assignment process for over two years in this district. the rubber met the road to have genuine, great discussions that needed to take place. it was just the last couple of months, the best discussions we have had. i do not see that as something -- i thought that was a good thing for us to do. we said to the community that we would throw out something. we could all be talking philosophically about what it ought to look like, but the reality is until you have something to shoot darts at you do not know what to aim at. we give everybody something to

aim at. we did that intentionally so we could come up with something better. thank you. commissioner wynns: any other comments or clarifying questions? we are going to try to do one minute and not say the things you said before. >> i am a parent in sunset. i am not in favor of the substitute motion, but in favor of the current program and would like it implemented immediately and so our fifth graders can't benefit from it. [applause] -- so our fifth graders can ben efit from it. i have 245 signatures in favor of the current feeder pattern. the mistake you might make is you are listening to the minority and putting them about

the wishes of the majority, who are silent. there are people in the communities that are happy with this program. >> there are children in here. i think we ought to model what we expect them to be. [applause] >> anyway, i think you are doing a fabulous job. i know it is a lot of hard work. let us do it now. if we do not do it now, we will be in the same position next year that we are in next year. we can implement it now and fine-tune it along the way. thank you. [applause] >> as a fifth grade parent, distillate to feeder patterns directly affect me. -- this delay to feeder patterns

directly affect me. it is not just about my kid. it is about the whole district. [applause] commissioner wynns: i appreciate everybody's enthusiasm, but we are having a lot of trouble hearing.

a lot of families have more than one kid. if we cannot go to our neighborhood schools, we are going to move out of san francisco. >> my name is susie. i am a parent on the west side. i have three kids in san francisco. i implore the feeder -- i am for the feeder pattern. if they move in clusters, they have their friends. they have the security of the community. i am sure you spend a lot of money and time on the study. they can be so isolated. if my kid does not go to the school in the presidio, where will you send my kid?

across town? some kids do not have the luxury of a car. that does not make any sense. i am for the feeder pattern. think you for your time. >> my name is michael wong. i am a parent at francis scott key. i would like to echo some statements that i would like the feeder pattern to remain as it is. i think we are in danger of postponing the system. i appreciate all the work you have done to study the proposal. i think it is something that really makes sense and should be implemented. thank you. >> my name is david robinson. i am a parent.

our school community prepared a statement in which we request a pause in the implementation of the middle school feeder program, specifically to deal with spinach capacity -- spahish nish capacity and also the issue of choice. we have, since the release of the draft map, opened the conversation with all of the spanish immersion elementary schools. we continue to work with them and partner with the district to turn this into a very positive experience for the whole district. i personally am always inspired in working on these issues by how much we all share a commitment to the values we hold for our kids.

[applause] >> [speaking spanish] >> i have two children, one in kindergarten and one in fourth grade. i am a little upset about the change.

i find unfair you're taking away from our children the learning of languages. the best thing would be to have the program ready and then put our children there. [applause] >> i am a teacher at buena vista. i have heard you say you are taking our opinions. that is great. the only thing is our opinions were not taken into account prior to this. our school does not really fit in. we need to make sure all the schools are equitable. immersion programs are not yet ready. like the parents have said, it takes many years to implement a successful program. when that is done, we can look that different options. at this moment, we are wasting years for kids were there is no program available for them. it should be a community thing. there are parents that just

learned about this recently. the community that is affected should be involved. i hope that happens from now on. >> good evening. my name is marilyn garcia. i am the spanish teacher at hoover middle school. i know i just sent a letter to the board, to the superintendent, about this recommendation. i just want to reiterate it does take years to develop a quality program. i was a teacher at buena vista up for 14 to 18 years before i moved to hoover to develop it more. this is my seventh year at hoover. i am also part of the school council. last year, we voted as a school to expand the spanish immersion program. this year, we have to sixth grade class is -- we have 2 you

a sixth grade -- we have two sixth-grade classes. i hope you will keep hoover as a citywide program. my own doctors were graduates of both programs -- whenever it -- my own daughters were graduates of buena vista and hoover. please do not shut it down. >> good evening, members of the board, superintendent's staff, and community. i am a parent at buena vista elementary school. i have a couple of concerns. i am really happy that you have reconsidered pushing the proposal forward and are taking time to work with the community and incorporate input. i am glad to hear tonight that you all are willing to engage the community.

i consider myself an active parent at my school and i still just learned about this very recently. i do not know that my community had enough time to provide input for what we would like to see. we do have a serious concern about not having a middle school with an immersion program being available for our sixth grader when he goes off to middle school. that was part of the original proposal. i am not sure it is being addressed. the status quo will stand for next year, but i am not sure what it means for my child. research shows -- i am sure you want to follow the evidence- based best practices. research shows that any language immersion program is more successful if the entire school is language immersion, not just one program within a mono- lingual school. and we want you to consider that and make sure it is available for all students in language

immersion. it is unfortunate to see the fear folks have about sending their children to the east side. and the fear of east side folks keeping their children on the east side. hopefully, we can work for equity for all. help us do that, particularly by keeping in mind what you do with your plan. [applause] >> [speaking spanish]

>> good evening. i am a mother and a representative of monroe elementary. we are concerned about the immersion. we want you to analyze and see it could affect us the fleet if that program is not implemented correctly. >> [speaking spanish]

[applause] >> good evening. my name is from a cup. i have two children at monroe. five years is not enough, if after that you are not going to keep up with the program and everything is going to go to waste. it is not fair that she is doing english and spanish exams. for what? that effort is not going to be taken into account if you take

away the immersion programs at the middle schools. >> [speaking spanish]

>> i have children in monroe. i represent many voices. we had a meeting on friday. we do not want to get our kids into a one-year immersion. that is not strong enough. it is mainly a spanish class.

also,