meeting in december. watch for that on the web. are we posting be presentations on all the information that we got last night? we have to oppose that because throughout the process, as you all know, we have been supportive and we discussed the importance of these proposals being publicized to everybody. changes in transportation and changes of the student assignment system will affect everybody in the system and we need to know that. the last item, we have gotten the beginnings of a proposal about the special education assignment process. i would urge the commissioners to read the presentation and the report that we have and give feedback. there will be other opportunities to discuss this.

the staff is proposing to ask that we set aside places in the student assignment process for transitional grades for inclusion, students that have inclusion of iep's at every school. this is sort of a conclusion, but it became clear that the board is going to have to be supportive of holding places at schools when we have pressure from people when their students cannot have -- do not have iep's. we want to -- this is the beginning of our tryin gg to meet the commitment of having

the special education assignment process be like the regular student assignment process. and our commitment to changing the nature of our special education program, particularly an inclusion as was noted in the audit from a program based to a service based process. i will finish by saying that we definitely want all the members of the board to pay attention to the materials. as we have all along, there were members of the board and i thank them for their time and attention and attendants who were at the meeting. i know everybody is really interested in this. it is essential for us getting the kind of implementation that we are committed to. i would just make another pitch that as much as possible, it

will be good if members of the board are at the attendance on saturday because there will be a lot of questions about the new process. thank you. president kim: item t is a report of the closed session actions. commissioner fewer: -- commissioner maufas: bill meets starting at 5:00. is it wednesday? pardon me. i would not have been here. wednesday, starting at 5:00, it is just three topics. i know that we will try to get to that meeting relatively quickly because the other commissioners have time constraints. we will start promptly at 5:00 tomorrow in a board meeting

room. commissioner fewer: i would like to report back on a visit today that commissioner norton and the deputy superintendent and miss dodge, we went to visit the school and this is a school we have a collaboration with. to serve students who are ill and must be hospitalized. and they can continue the education while there -- while they are in school. there are also students all over the country that come here. some come with their whole families with their siblings. i have to say personally, this school makes me especially proud of our school system in an effort to serve all students.

i just wanted to report on that. president kim: thank you. item t is the report of the closed session actions. the board of education approved one assistant principal and one supervisor. item u is posted in the agenda under informational notice of classified personnel transactions. tonight, we had turned in the memory of three individuals. -- adjourn in the memory of three individuals. one student was an innocent victim of gun violence and one of our gateway to college students. another student passed awway due to an unfortunate chronic

medical situation. it to the mother of our superintendent -- and to the mother of our superintendent. our deepest sympathy goes out to the families and the superintendent and his family for the loss of his mother. she was born in mexico in 1927 and she was a wise mother and grandmother. she was a loving homemaker and raised her family and loss angeles. she returned to spend her sunset years back in mexico where she passed away on sunday, november 7, 2010. the superintendent said she was a kind and a beautiful person that touched many lives. she raised an amazing family. meeting adjourned.

>> thank you all for coming. i'm dr. mitch caps -- katz, director of the san francisco health department. we are very proud of san francisco general hospital. [applause] thank you. for 125 years on this side, this

hospital has taken care of people, regardless of their ability to pay, no matter what their ethnicity was, whether they were a man or woman or transgendered -- would never came fourth, we took care of, and we are so proud to be here -- what ever came force -- whatever came forth, we took care of. we are so appreciative to all of you who helped us on this campaign. san francisco general hospital, when it went before the voters, received 84.3% of the vote. [applause] now, what i want you to think about is when did 84.3% of san franciscos agree about anything, that we got that high level of votes? we did not get that because of the campaign we ran, although we ran a very good campaign, and

i'm very appreciative to all of the people here, from the labor unions -- especially 1021 -- who helped us -- [applause] thank you. through the business community, we were supported by democrats, republicans, and greens. we got great support from the other hospital. many people from ucsf are here today, our sister institution, all of home relief help us, but that was not why we got 84.3% of the vote. we got it because the people who work here, the care that is provided, and what people know about san francisco general for over 100 years. [applause] that is something that we can be very proud of, just walking around today. and i'm sure that many of you have noticed that, that it is, for us, like a homecoming of all sorts. my first day in san francisco

general hospital was as a medical intern. i still remember the exact date -- june 21, 1986. right here in the mission emergency room. and at the same time with pat carr, who is here, who was starting as a nurse in the emergency room at about the same time that i was. we are all family. jane o'connell is here on the end, our long-term ceo. [applause] . we talked about family relations and my first encounter in san francisco general hospital was as an medical intern with a bomb bringing her children here for care. i want to know where else but in the public sector would somebody go from being a mother bringing her two children, work her way through nursing school and ultimately become ceo of the finest public hospital in the

united states. no place else but san francisco general. [applause] she deserves so much credit, folks, for the rebuild and for the reason why people want the rebuild. now, it is my great pleasure to introduce the mayor. i would only say as a way of introduction that during that election year, what made me most proud was that at every event that he went to, what he said was there are many things on this election ballot, and you may have your different opinions about the different things. some of them may pass, some of b'nai sale, but the one thing that i'd ask you all to support is the rebuild of san francisco general hospital -- some of them make a pass, some of them may fail, but the one thing i ask you all to support is the rebuild of sentences could general hospital. thank you, mr. mayor.

feels like we were literally year just during the kickoff of the campaign. -- mayor newsom: seals like we were literally here just during the kickoff of the campaign, but now, we are finally here during the groundbreaking. now, in 2015, with this extraordinary new hospital will be built, 380 new beds, 32 more new beds than the existing facility, we will take this remarkable building behind us and keep it in operation throughout the entire process of rebuilding a new hospital, and we will basically convert the operation behind us into a new operation and maintain a lot of these facilities so we are not necessarily tearing everything down and just painting something over. this has been an exercise that has been advanced over the course of the commitment to this rebuild at least two decades. it was fast track by a senate bill in 1953 that required all

public hospitals to meet seismic safety retrofit standards. there was a lot of consternation when that bill passed because people said -- how do we pay for it? we have these remarkable hospitals, but we cannot meet that mandate without the support. nonetheless, we fashioned a bond with a lot of trepidation because we were asking for more money than we have ever ask the taxpayers in our history for a general obligation bonds. i remember when i first became mayor, we were kind of fast tracking. everyone was excited. it was a presidential election the year after i was elected, and said we had to go forward with this bond. dr. katz and jean o'connell and others worked very hard on this. i ask how much it would cost, and they said that it was about

-- and i asked what it was about. the estimates? we realized we needed to slow down because you only have one chance to make this task of the people in san francisco, and we made a tough decision, and people were none too pleased when i said i cannot support going forward in november 2004 with a bond until we do our due diligence, until we know how much this thinks cost and we can make a compelling case to the people of san francisco, one that would not meet with the critique and opposition of so many of our bonds are afforded in this city. we spent the last number of years, and we put up general fund money -- we have never done this in san francisco. we said we were going to do a lot of the pre development work. we would do our general funds to make sure we get this right, to figure out the medications, the traffic issues, to figure out exactly the design needs and

actually make sure that we are providing the kind of institutions that could be cared not five years from now, 10 years from now, but 5100 years from now, and i'm glad we did that. -- 50 or 100 years from now. the big idea was this -- we actually came up with a real number. have you ever seen a bond on the ballot with a decimal point? $887.4 million. we did not rounded up -- we did not round up. we did not around it down because it pulls better. we said to the taxpayers, support us, but we will also support you. we are going to do the right thing. we are going to make sure we spend your money wisely, and this is what it will cost. all the experts agree this is what it will cost. not anymore. we do not necessarily know how

to make it any less, but here is an actual number, and the results speak for themselves. 84% of the people supported the biggest general obligation bond in our city's history because they thought, i think, respected. they felt like city government was telling them the truth. there was no opposition to this bond because you could not oppose it unless you did not want to spend any more money. but you could not argue against the analysis. you could not argue against the due diligence, and i think that is an important lesson. i think this day represents an important statement of fact and commitment to the people of san francisco, that they will support things we could never have imagined supporting as long as we tell them the truth, as long as we are honest with people, as long as we are transparent, as long as we owned up, so i am extraordinarily proud to be year because i think we have formed a new partnership with the people of san

francisco. we are not just building a new hospital, but i think we have built a new relationship with the taxpayers, and i think that will bode extraordinarily well the next time we go back and say, "here is what we need because we think it is in the best interest of all san franciscos." i want to congratulate all of you for your stewardship of this process, for our celebrity doctor who was in every single ad for being willing to get out front. to the incredible leadership -- and i mean this. this guy was supposed to retire years ago. he is not going to be allowed to, at least as far as i am around -- dr. mitch katz, who deserves so much credit for getting us here. i think the commission behind me

for their stewardship, and to all the men and women at work in this remarkable place that change people's lives each and every day. 100,000 direct lives are changed, but every time i come here, i realize you are not just saving patients. you are taking care of families, mothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, mothers, brothers. i have seen it too many times, the faces of those parents. i cannot even keep a straight face because it is so difficult to see someone in pain, but to see the pride on their face because of the job you have done. i'm just happy we are here to extent that magic, to share our values in a most meaningful and substantive way. i'm glad to kick off this remarkable institution that combines the best of san francisco. congratulations to all of us for being here today. thank you, mr. mayor.

-- >> thank you, mr. mayor. when i needed for this project to go forward to the voters, i needed first the help of the san francisco family. the vote, 11-0 in favor. that shows a tremendous commitment. several of the members of the board are here, and i think it is not coincidental that they also represent the parts of the city that we care for, the highest number. supervisor maxwell, supervisor daly, supervisor dufty, supervisor campos, thank you so much for being here. thank you for supporting us. we really appreciate it. the city treasurer is year, helping us in making sure our bank accounts have enough money to deliver that excellent care.

we really appreciate it. we are so blessed that we got a direct letter some mrs. pelosi -- from mrs. pelosi. she definitely has other things do intend to, and yet she found time to reach out to all of us to tell us about her deep commitment to general hospital. she herself would be here. we got a beautiful certificate of recognition from the majority whip. also, from assemblyman mark leff. thank you so much for all of that. we really appreciated. you can imagine that all of the many challenges that i faced when i had to accept the idea that jean really was going to retire was how would i ever get

anybody who could do as good a job running this hospital? fortunately, jean, like all very good administrators, had already worked out a succession plan. she nurtured and mentor and counseled and supported soup kern, who has then been able to be a ceo and continued to move the organization forward, so it gives me great pleasure to introduce to you soon current -- sue curren. [applause] >> thank you, dr. katz and mayor newsom, and thank you all of you for helping us come out to celebrate this momentous occasion. we were founded to respond to the public health crisis of tuberculosis that was going on

at the time, and we are still here. we have been here for aids, and we will be here for the swine flu, and we will be here forever next crisis that comes along. we are really grateful to the city and residents who supported the hospital and recognized its value to the community. you showed us that by passing proposition a ways and that 84% record. we are really committed to living up to the state that you have put in all of us. san francisco general hospital has touched many lives, and we heard that throughout the campaign as we went around and talked to people. we have heard many stories about how they were connected or have someone that they knew that they cared about was connected to the hospital. i am one of those people. my first encounter with san francisco general was as a trauma patient. i was brought after i was

injured during a mugging in the city, and i came back as a staff nurse, and then came back as a registered nurse working in critical care, and now, i and the ceo. i am so glad to be here. [applause] i have seen general from all sides, and let me tell you, there is no better team on earth. the entire staff san francisco general, the doctors, nurses, administrators, officials, social workers, pharmacists, housekeepers, is workers, everyone -- there is just so many of you. i cannot say the mall. i want you to stand up, and we should applaud you for all the great work you do. [applause] stand up, please. they really do an amazing job.

and we are all so excited because in this new building, we are even going to be able to do a better job. remember, we are not just here simply to celebrate a new building. we are really celebrating the health-care services that we are going to be able to provide to all san franciscans. as the only trauma center in the city, we will continue to bring life-saving trauma and emergency care. we will also deliver the best geriatric care and award winning maternal child care and so much more. the new building is going to be filled with original art for the entire community to enjoy. we are really trying to create an asset to the neighborhood and be a center for well this and -- wellness and be a healing environment for the patients, staff, and visitors. as we celebrate the beginning of

construction, i am really proud to tell you that the building design has been honored with a design award of excellence by the california council of the society of american registered architects, and there is a model in the hospital lobby that i invite you all to come and take a look at that will show you what our new hospital is going to be. thank you all for coming and helping us to celebrate as we embark on this journey together. thank you. [applause] >> we have a saying about staff at general hospital, that sue and jean have exemplified, and it is stay six months, stay 30 years. i'm beginning to think that may be true for me as well. there's a certain sense that our mission is not for everyone. this is not the easiest hospital to work in. this is not the easiest work to do. but if you are confident with

our mission that we are going to treat everybody with dignity, we are going to offer the highest quality of care to people regardless of their ability to pay -- is that mission reverberates with me, you stay -- if that mission rigorous with you, you stay 30 years because there is no better place to do that mission. another way that i think that we are different -- and i say this as a doctor -- is that we are not a doctor-centric hospital. there is any reason that both the current ceo and prior ceo are registered nurses. there is a reason why -- i noticed the on john's in the audience, that there is a reason why we have always pushed the idea that it is not a doctor.

it is a doctor with a nurse with a social worker with a pharmacist with an id person, with a cook that it is the team that delivers the care. everybody who delivers the care, thank you. that is who is special. also very special is our more than 100-year arrangement with ucsf. certainly, this was a tremendously important to me. when i was looking for where did i want to do my training, where did i want to practice? i wanted to take care of going to people, and i also wanted to make sure that i was the best trained doctor that i could be, and the attraction of this hospital because it was a ucsf teaching hospital, and it has produced great leaders, i would

like to note dr. sandra hernandez, who is in the front, who was my predecessor. she was also in the special way, that many of us who trained here are related to one another, whether or not we were physicians or nurses or other professionals. sandra and i trained a year apart. dr. desmond, who is now the chancellor -- she was a fellow while i was a resident, so there are all of these intense relationships that result in the very best of medical care, and there is nobody who exemplifies that better than dr. su carlisle, who is a ucsf physician, but whose heart is at san francisco general hospital, and she is the one who makes all of our faculty practices and all of the clinical work come true. dr carlyle. >> thank you.

good afternoon. i would like to add my welcome to all of you for this wonderful event that we have worked so long and hard to accomplish. as was just mentioned, ucsf and the city and county of san francisco have had a wonderful partnership for many years. this partnership gets stronger every year, and we now have more than 5000 and police that works for ucsf on this campus. we work side-by-side with city employees in order to deliver seamless care for all of the residents. exemplified by the strength of this partnership is the wonderful leadership that we have at the top, and we have already mentioned our new chancellor. we also have a new dean who is here with us today. we are very appreciative