>> good afternoon and welcome to this special meeting of the city and school district select committee. we are joined by alioto-pier, daly, fewer, mendoza. i ask if we can excuse alioto-pier and kim, and thank our liason from the school district and the committee

clerk. i want to thank the staff of sfgtv, who make it possible to see the city government at work today. >> in number one, to consider the sentences go unified school district. >> the item before eyesore -- is for the new student assignment system that was approved by the board of education in march of this year. the board has been developing a new transportation policy, and we will consider how changes in transportation are necessary to achieve the goals and objectives with the different factors that are being taken into account. this is for the city in terms of our work. and i'd like to welcome the special assistant -- and

congratulate her on an excellent project in working on the new school assignment at a very exciting time for the school district. especially for those of us who are in the hunt for great schools for the children. >> joining me here today is the executive director -- and hopefully you have a copy of what i am going to go through as well as some of the at rich material and the enrollment guide. i have prepared a brief presentation which will give an interview -- which would give an overview of the assignment system, and the development of the new transportation policy. and then i'll be happy to answer any questions.

we have approved the new policy in march of 2010, and there are different processes for the different high schools. one of the features of this is a series of tiebreakers in terms of how the students will be assigned to school. this is the first tie-breaker and then the children in the attendance area. and then, children who live in the areas of the city with the lowest average test scores, and then the attendance areas, and all the others. this is a system of choice. this is the most important thing to note about this. and families can list as many choices as they want in whatever order that is appropriate for

their child. a number of several different elementary schools. this is going to be the younger siblings and the test scores. we will consider element to move with your patterns and they will be folded into the process for the 2012-2013 school year. the boundaries were approved of in 2010. and there is an address, under the enrollment resources tab. this is what the map looks like. there are maps available for the supervisors and the commissioners. you can actually put in the address and get information about the attendance area of the school and if they live in the area with the lowest average

test scores. supporting the families of the multiple options available, in the school district was kicked off last saturday. there are three distinct stages to unrolling a child in school. submitting the application form and then going through the enrollment process. the application deadline is february 18. between november 13 and february 13, they will complete an application form and then all of the requests will be processed at the same time. and this will go out on march 18. at that time, the families will go to school to enroll, and this is the final stage in this process. this was a very high level

overview. and i can go into more detail if the commissioners have questions. but i also wanted to direct you to the application placement and roman handbook, and just to let you know that there is a lot more detail with the student assignment system. with these documents that are required. >> if people see this, where will they be able to get copies of this document? >> copies of this document are available at the education center, 555 franklin street and the child development center is at the school. and much of this information is already on the internet for the families to refer to, to use this as a medium for getting information. and there are a series of workshops for enrollment in the district is going to do a lot

with the education centers. this is for the outreach activities and working with parent organizations, public schools and there is a lot of focus on the child development program. and there is a mobile + that is something that is new this year, and they have not had high participation. we are going with this so that families can actually just bring the documents to that, and there is also going to be a walk in the different neighborhoods to raise awareness. there are many different out -- strategies that will be used to make certain that everyone is aware of the deadline. the next major thing associated with this is rethinking transportation. the big thing we want to get out as to raise awareness that this

is not going to be the same next year. in terms of what is changing, we are looking at changing the yellow bus service to general education, and this means that students with special education services, with individual education plans, that require transformation -- this is not the purpose of the new policy. the policy is focusing on children who are using this service for general education. and we have about 3300 children at the elementary level who are using this service, and this is about 13% of all of the children from kindergarten to fifth grade. this is a significant number for these services. and we are imagining that not only will we -- we have many of these buses that are used for the yellow bus service.

we believe this will go below 4025. we will see a reduction in services and a change in what we do. the reason that we are changing as because what is in place right now was designed in the early 1980's. under the consent to create, when the district had a very different method for a signing this. we rolled out a different student assignment system in early 2000 and 2001, and at that time, the district had not changed the transportation policy. what has happened over the last 20 years, is that these original routes have changed in response to the lack of demand, in some cases and that the line of -- decline of children using the yellow bus services.

and we have also seen in some cases, schools or families requesting a stop and it did not take any more and at that moment in time it got added. this happened organically, rather than strategically. and we want to make certain that these routes have changed so that they reflect the strategic plans commitment. the other thing is that we want to reduce, in these difficult budget times, the amount of general funds and budget contributions, that we are changing with transportation. we expect that things will change in 2011, and august of 2011, that they be phased in over several years. this is not going to happen overnight. we will have the gradual process of phasing out the services.

in terms of how this is going to change, what will be guiding the change. on december 14, the board is going to take action on a new transportation -- to outline several different goals, and the objectives as well. and once this is approved we will have enough of a framework to be redesigning this and have something to share with the board and the community in january. the framework that would guide the development will have limited the strategic transportation, to support the choice in school assignments as a tactic for creating a learning environment. this is still a choice and the goal is to create a moratorium of learning. and more choice may be a possibility for all communities. we have to make certain that transportation is available.

and these resources for muni or any other modes of transportation. we want to make certain that we are supporting the low income families and giving them voices to participate in these programs. and we also want to make certain that the english learner's have access -- access to the programs to serve the newcomers. we will be looking into whether those programs are located in areas where children who were learning english are living. also wanting to make certain that there is reasonable access to attendance area schools. we were trying to avoid the major highways, but there is one area in particular that is very large.

this is western. we were wanting to make certain that there was transportation available. and we're also looking at limited transportation to after- school programs as feasible and necessary to support these decisions after school. transportation will not dictate with this will look like. and we will facilitate the changes in the after-school programs. many of these are not operating at full capacity. we have to make certain that these routes are responding to the community and that they have a higher writer ship. many people want to know when the information will be available. this will be late january and early february, to have --

excuse me. i am aside. thank you very much. by late january or early february, to have a run for the school year draft and the community, and then go through the community engagement process. and for the work to do this, we have seen a lot of difference to the organizations, gathering information on some alternative to the yellow bus transportation. and here are some links to some of the parent organizations. and that the state level, we have this school latching system. i think that this is something that the parents and the schools are actually using this resource. and 16 of the schools are part of this program. we also have -- we have been in conversations with the

department of public health, the parents for public schools, the physical activity council, after school for all coalitions. we are going to have a conversation in earlier september, and we have had some conversation with people on treasure island. this is to give you an example of the different organizations that we are speaking to that are providing us with feedback as the work is evolving. and we are very grateful for their willingness to meet with us and share information. and it seems like a great partnership. with someone organizations in the city that are willing to work and have conversations about this. and that steps are the board, as i mentioned on december 14.

we will take action on the policy framework. and then we will have more discussions in january and february and we will keep the web page updated with information. the boy had a conversation in october and november about transportation. and all those presentations are available on the address. i believe that those meetings were televised as well. in august and september, when we were having conversations about the boundaries and these attendance areas, this was devoted to transportation. we're hoping that once the policy framework is done, we will be able to get to the stock level information. this was the content for the presentation by i am happy to answer any questions that you have or share any information that would be helpful.

>> a lot of the work for the committee has been to ensure that there will become cooperative -- cooperation between these departments, and is there anything that you would like to see being done by the city, more aggressively or any ideas along those lines? >> i think that there are a lot of innovative things that are happening around transportation, in all modes of transportation. it is great that everyone who was working on that are so willing to look at the new attendance areas and think through and have a better understanding of what the transportation is that is available with all of these attendance areas, and the routes that are available for the different schools.

all this information will be very helpful. i hope that this can continue and we will continue to elaborate the specific ideas that come up, so that we can share these when we have discussions with a different departments. and this will bring to fruition some of these ideas. and raising awareness with these alternatives, there is the idea that we can scale back because of the budget crisis, given all these alternatives that do exist, this is only going to be helping the community at large, to be aware of what some of the alternatives are. >> and you will reduce 25 buses, -- from 45 to 25 buses. is it possible that you will have greater efficiency between the routes and the numbers will not be dropping?

>> this is a very good question. we have not done this effectively just yet, and wheat to not have the full understanding. we have 3300 people writing these -- and writing a -- riding these 44 buses. much of this depends on the bus routes, and which areas they are going to, from which schools, as well as the enrollment patterns. this is why we tried to get this out in january. >> the last question that i have is around this program that is predominantly focused on high schools and middle schools. if we see a greater utilization of muni and more children on buses or on streetcars, that have not traditionally been on this line, we have good communication.

sfpd, to be mindful of these people, and be mindful of the experience as people change their habits. we would be happy to help connect you with us. i would like to say that carmen chu is interested and has hearings on this matter, and she will take interest in this discussion, with a lot of feedback about the application and the enrollment has been very positive and people are happy to see how this process is unfolding itself. we want to say that this is something that the city has brought up over time, and the school district has and a great job of changing management, to get that to this place. and are there any questions? any questions that you have?

>> thank you, supervisor. i just want to commend the staff. this is the first time i have taken a the look at handbook. i also wanted to mention around transportation, that there are other, since we will be having a direct correlation between this and with the children live, giving preference to those children who were attending a child development center, and decide to attend an elementary school -- that these programs such as safe passages and all of those things that the city funded by actually grade for the community. we have one that is very active, in the tenderloin. people are raving about this program.

we are escorting children from school to home, parents can do this, especially now. most of them are after-school programs and ending at 6:00 and it will be getting dark at 5:30. i think that we will ask the city to help us in this way, to support the safe passage to school and back. this is paramount on the minds of parents. i know that we briefly went over this, so briefly in a couple of minutes. but the efforts and the thought, and everything that went into this is tremendous. and also, the head of the educational placement center, they have coordinated this and they have courted all of this in such a short time line. i want to say, thank you.

>> i would offer the commissioner something to consider, hopefully in a year or two. there is the idea that they were entering the system where they did not know the level of certainty, with the private schools that cater to nervous parents, and the school district, you kind of get in or you do not get in. this is monumentally different. this is a year or so that we will continue to look at this for a model of change. >> and are there any other questions? we will open this up to public comment, if there is anyone who wishes to speak on this item. there will be no public comment. and i would like to again request that we filed this

item, and appreciate the partnership with the school district, to educate the board members and hopefully many people will be watching on this hearing, and they will go into the upcoming events for students and transportation. have we completed the agenda for today? we are concerned. thank you, colleagues.

>> with my artists, eight of them are working in tehran, iran, the capital city, and one is an iranian american based in san francisco. the problem is really a collective exploration in the day and the life in tehran. it is the largest city in the middle east. for the gallery, one of the first pieces you see is one piece which is a laser-cut peace, it taken directly from the map of the city itself -- a laser-cut piece. it represents the geography of the city. it is positioned right next to another work by an artist who

took a 77 taxicab runs and let the potholes and the city turns of tehran dictate how the city would be portrayed. >> [singing] >> one of the other pieces that to experience in the one-day exhibition is from another artist, a recording of state radio from tehran, and is played for four speakers. >> [speaking foreign language] . >> [speaking foreign language] >> [speaking foreign language] >> [speaking foreign language] >> the entire gallery is covered with white vinyl on white walls,

really minimalist, and the kind of the merged -- of emerge as you walk through the room. >> [speaking foreign language] >> [speaking foreign language] >> these are excerpts from the radio broadcast that you are hearing in the space. it is just another visual reference 0.2 hopefully transport you to a different place -- reference to hopefully transport you to a different place about one day in iran.