grade. that was 5% of the writers we heard back from. in terms of a racial/ethnic breakdown, 22% are african american. 24% chinese. 24% latino. 11% white. 19% other. that is just to give an initial sense of who is using our services. we will continue to get the data from the rest of the schools. that will allow us to send direct communication to families about any changes that are going to occur. it will also allow us to capture more information in terms of why families use services and stuff like that. the next part of the agenda is designed to give the board a sense of how stuff is actually going to create the transportation service plan under the new board policy. the handout that i gave you,

which talks about transportation will not be the same -- it is the word document. on pages four and five of that, you can see the kinds of questions that we are asking to help us determine the routes. and we know that we are looking at a 57% reduction. this is a slide we have seen before. that is by 2013. we are looking at phasing out stops over a 23 year. so it will not all happen immediately. that would give of families more time to have information and plan. this is to show you how we are using data and questions to guide development for information for schools. one goal in the policy is to provide equitable access to the range of opportunities to students. some of the questions we are looking at our our language programs for english learners.

are they available in areas of the city where high-density english lerner's live? our new programs available in areas of the city where the students live? does every area have reasonable access to citywide schools and programs? the next few slides show some information, tell a story as we are exploring those questions. the first shows were all the cantonese by literacy pathways -- biliteracy and immersion programs are in the city. it also shows the ctip 1 areas. that are shaded. it also shows where the cantonese student lives. this shows for the cantonese english -- where the cantonese english learners live and where the programs are located. we did the same for mandarin, for spanish. we did the same for the

filipino newcomers, spanish newcomers. the next slide shows the ctip1 areas and where the city-wide schools and programs are located. the first few slides included the citywide programs that are newcomer programs and biliteracy programs. the english learner space does not include them even though they are supplied -- even though they are citywide. they are in another part of the analysis. the board policy framework which we are hoping will be approved tomorrow night -- once that is approved, that gives us the certainty that we should go ahead and build routes using that framework. by mid-january, we would have dropped routes available. >> i am sorry. i am looking at the city-wide schools and programs map.

why is bright -- breet hart eighth citywide program? >> they are building a spanish emergen-- immersion program. the key question -- we have been having community conversations over the last month and a half with different city and parent organizations sharing the policy from work and getting feedback. one of the key questions we get is when will people know about the routes for 2011-2012. our goal is to have by mid- january the vision for 2013-2014 school year developed. the approach we are taking is the board policy framework, the questions, the data will help us develop a sense of which schools from which areas of the city should have services. from that, we will be able to

map backwards to figure out -- if that is where we are going to be in 2013, what should the changes for 11-12 look like? we are proposing that most changes would occur in year two, which is 2012-2013, with incremental change happening in the first year. that is designed to maximize the lead time for families to have an understanding of what transportation services will be available. the graph showed earlier -- you can see we are anticipating a greater jump in the changes and services. i will just remind folks of the slide. it is like 11. -- is slide 11. the blue bar -- this is theoretical to illustrate. we are looking at phasing out some current routes, but also adding new routes to support the policy goals and objectives. we are imagining that the

biggest change will begin to happen in your 2012-2013 -- the year 2012-2013. in terms of how families will find out about the changes, we are looking at capturing information about who is riding the bus. we will be able to send direct mail to families currently riding the bus. we will be able to have materials at each school site that will have more detail about the changes. through the school sites, we would have discussions with families. rather than doing what we did with the middle school feeder programs and other community engagement processes over the last few years, where we have had town hall meetings and used the board ad hoc committee meetings as a forum, which will work more directly with the principles -- principals and at the school sites with a focus on any schools that might no longer receive service under the new plan. we do anticipate there will be

some schools that currently do not have service that would get it, and other schools that do have service that will not get it, and other schools that have service where the routes will change in order to be aligned with the policy framework. we will want to work closely via the school sites with that. our next steps are to complete the analysis and develop the transportation service plan. again, having the overall vision for full implementation by 2013-14 and a phase-out and phase-in of services for 2011- 12, we are hoping to have that available for mid january, so we can start gathering feedback from current writers in school communities. -- riders and school communities. that concludes our presentation for this evening and we are happy to answer any questions the board might have. chairperson wynns: i have one question. can you tell me where this is available and how it is being

distributed? presumably, there are pieces of other documents and information are available. i just want to know what kind of outreach we are doing institutionally. >> thank you. all of this information is posted on the web. it has been since the beginning of november, including all prior board presentations and discussion documents. they are all under sfusd \enroll we have disseminated them at all of the conversations we are having. we had them at the enrollment fair. we have kind of been trying to use multiple avenues to get that information out. chairperson wynns: on the -- when you go to the district home page, maybe we need a "do you have questions about

transportation changes," or something like that, as well as a link for the new student assignment process policy. maybe you should not have to go to the general site. you could go directly to transportation. people who are still in the same schools are going to have questions about transportation too. commissioner maufas is in the room. commissioner norton: i see in both the policy and the faq that we are saying our new transportation policy will provide transportation to after- school programs in limited situations. our new policy will support the district vision for after school. i am curious. what are we saying? is there anywhere inviting -- what are we saying to families

who will either use their yellow bus transportation at their schools entirely, for morning and afternoon, or lose their after-school transportation? what are we saying to them that we will offer them, or what their options are? >> we have not actually started those conversations yet, because we do not know what the schools are, who the individuals are. we are doing the analysis to develop the vision for the future and to get a sense of what the impact of the new infrastructure would be and who would be impacted. we are then going to have direct communication with families. through this information we have gathered from school sites, we will be able to let them know very specific information. that is what we understand families need. they want to know how the service they are using now -- will it be available in the long term? if not, when will it be phased out? we will be able to share with them why. the information that is here in terms of why we are changing

services, how we are changing them -- commissioner norton: i see we have done a good job of starting to sketch that out while we are making these decisions. but i am still pushing on this. because as soon as it announced in mid-january which routes are going away, there is going to be a lot of people down here, telling us about how horrible this is a joy to be for them and how impacted that are going to be -- how horrible this is going to be for them and how impacted they are going to be. how do we say you are losing this bus? are we going to offer a place at another school where they can get transportation? we need to have some kind of guarantee or some kind of solution. otherwise, it is going to come back to us. we are going to be sitting here at board meetings saying "sorry." from the perspective of a family, it is not good enough to say these are tough decisions and it is hard.

we need to offer them, when we announce the cuts in routes -- we need to be able to offer at that same time what options we are going to give them. i am still not hearing it. i am not hearing what we are going to guarantee families that are losing transportation they depend on. we know some families are going to lose transportation next year that they have been depending on, whether it is morning or afternoon transportation. i am still not hearing anything clear or in writing of any of this documentation about what we are going to tell them and give them. >> some of the information is in here on page 5 that talks about alternatives to yellow bus transportation. we have been talking with other agencies in the city that provide alternatives to yellow bus transportation. we're going to have that information available for them. there are a lot of parent- initiated resources that we are going to let parents know about. for example, there is the 511

school matching system run by the state that parents can use. there is also the safe route to school information. there are walking school buses and by trains and various other resources. then there are many services available. -- muni services available. in order for families to be able to choose another school, we will also share information about that. this is an unpleasant situation where because of the budget crisis we need to cut services. it is also realigning services, because some of the resources now are being dedicated to -- there is a limit to the resources available. current transportation infrastructure is not aligned with the board's current commitments. even if we weren't reducing the amount of money we were spending on transportation, we would have to shift away certain services

to make sure that families that are a part of the board's priorities in the strategic plan are receiving access to those resources. so it is very unpleasant. i acknowledge that. if there is anything the board would like us to guarantee, or if there are other resources that are going to be made available from another place, we could share that information. commissioner norton: ideally, what i am requesting is that there be something in writing in the policy that says if you lose your yellow bus transportation we will guarantee a spot at another school where you can either get transportation that you can get to without that, or -- i do not think we are going to do that. i am just saying we need something in writing for families. you are going to make this announcement in a month. i do not know how many schools are going to be affected. i do not know how many parents

are families are going to be affected. what i do not want to happen is what always seems to happen. we make an announcement. principals tell their school communities. people get upset and come down here and give public comment. ideally, we will prepare in advance some kind of resolution, or have some kind of meeting with families at the affected schools so that it is not just gone from the board level them to the schools and that are affected to scurry around in subcommittees and be more effective in organizing. we need to assist families. if we are not going to give them a guarantee -- either space in an off site program or transportation to another program or a space at another school, if you cannot get your child to school because your bus is not there -- if we cannot offer guarantees because of our situation, we need to at least

be really proactive about how we are joined to work with families that are affected by this next year. commissioner fewer: a response to that, i think -- when the board says to cut transportation, the inevitable thing is that people are going to lose transportation. it is a difficult situation. i think parents will come and be mad anyway. i think parents who depend on transportation -- when you are on the board, people yell at you a lot. i think it is just the time we are in. this is a horrible situation. in an ideal situation, we would get transportation to everyone. i do not think anybody wants to get up an hour early and dragged their kids to the bus. i do not think it is feasible to

guarantee parents placement in the school near you after we went through this whole student assignment thing. i just think the ugly fact and truth is that we do not have the money to provide transportation anymore to everybody that we have them. we have to cut it. we are going to try to cut it in the least painful way possible and meet the need of the goals of the board. it is a very difficult situation. i think it is a very hard situation. those of us on the budget committee were briefed a little on next year's budget and what it is going to look like. i would be surprised if we are able -- i am even somewhat surprised we are able to keep any transportation at all, to be honest with you. i do not know how we are going to do it. unless this board is willing to cut something else. i am willing to look at other things we can cut, but some

people on the board are unwilling to do some hard cuts on stuff. i think we together could look at it and start slashing other things in the budget. we could keep some of the transportation that way. but again, this is a really hard situation. we cannot even offer to low income families that we will give you a bus pass. we spent $11,000 on bus passes as it is and cannot even meet the needs of our homeless students. it is what it is. we are underfunded. commissioner mendoza: -- commissioner maufas: i am well prepared for somebody to come to the board of education speaking around this. when we try to shift things that have been in place for so, so long and have done so much for general well-being, there is going to be a wave of push back. and i know that.

this is one of those moments as well. it is and not paid plus situation for families -- it is not a plus situation for families for them to work and get their kids to school -- to interrupt that worked-out regularity that they experience day today and try to devise something that is going to support them. i know what that is like. this is one of those things. we are going to continuously hear the stress it is causing. this is some of the work we have to do. what i would like if possible, ms. o'keefe and mr. gardiner --

i think lots of families are so used to having something that it is necessary to them. how are we going to develop what is necessary versus something that has been in place so long it is part of your everyday -- your child going to school and getting picked up from school. do you fall into the category were that is unnecessary, versus someone in special education who has mental and physical challenges? the bus is necessary. that is a necessary component to their everyday school activity. how are we discerning for families? when i really look at it, it is something i have always had, and i believe it is necessary, but when i start looking at the

criteria, i have come to discern it is not necessary. i fall into that. this is not necessary for me, and i am going to have to figure out another way to get my kid to school. it is not necessary for my child's existence. have we figured out those things that can help families self assess whether they fall into the necessary busing versus unnecessary busing? i desire it reverses i need it -- versus i need it? >> we are developing the framework for that. the policy framework the board is going to vote on tomorrow talks about the goals and objectives for transportation infrastructure. we are using that as the from work and looking at the data and the information to get a better sense of what the best way to design future transportation

infrastructure is that will support this. i think having transparency around that is going to be really important for families. but commissioner norton was saying about making sure -- when we know what the future is going to look like what it is and why it is, so we are not just saying to a family or a school that they are not getting transformation -- transportation, but provide a full context for why the changes are being made. the families want to request something, we should use a transparent framework and do it consistently. i think that that is the approach we are going to take, to be as transparent as possible, to consistently apply the goals of the policy to any decisions. commissioner yee: could i just add a little bit along the lines

of this discussion? one of the things that we have talked a lot about in staff working group is this point about how to get a better understanding of the impact on the families, especially in the short term for next year, in case it wasn't crystal clear what these efforts would look like on page 11. the direct mail to the families that are currently served by the existing routes -- that is a mechanism for us to try to ascertain. i do not know if that is going to be through a scientific self assessment. chairperson wynns: we do not know who they are. commissioner yee: we are gathering information through --

chairperson wynns: schools. we are trying to get every family who uses the school bus to tell the school. >> 49 of the schools and at 2800 of the 3000 riders. we're almost there. chairperson wynns: you are pretty sure they've got everybody? >> we understand there are teachers who ride the bus. we gave each teacher a classless with the column and they could check off whether the student wrote in the morning, afternoon, or both. commissioner yee: once we do make the determination of the routes for 2011-12, and keep in mind that what we are planning for the time being is a net reduction of six of the existing 44 buses -- that could be a reduction of six buses. it could be a reduction upper -- of more than that in order to

allow some movement towards the final version or the future vision. but that is going to be very detailed information. frankly, dennis, frank, and the teams of the transportation department are going to be using this data from existing families to really see what the impact will be and how to minimize the impact. at the same time, we are trying to make initial steps toward that future vision. once we have that, that is where discussions with the families in schools comes into play. i think that is what commissioner norton was suggesting, that we do work very specifically with the families at the school communities that may be impacted. we do not know exactly what that is going to look like at this point, but the intention is to

take those kind of steps. it is not just getting a letter or coming to the meetings of the school board. it is doing pro-active out which to inform the communities to include it in the discussions, information about the alternatives or whether it involves ways to get to the light or the school, or to enroll in other feasible settings. all of that, i think, will be clearer once we have recommendations on specific routes to keep them to phase out for next year. all of the process steps that we just mentioned, i think, are going to take place so that we can avoid this feeling of a unilateral surprise to the

families that may be impacted. commissioner mendoza: i am glad we are -- i think this is going to be really important. part of the reason why we set out the student assignment policy the way we did was with the idea we were going to be getting rid of transportation. i am comfortable with that. i think families have historically been able to choose schools because transportation was available. this will also kind of change the behavior of how families choose schools. we are also hoping there will stay within their communities or go to schools that -- why do with our high schools. carpooling and find ways to do that. i think we should also see if we can work with mta to do perhaps some individual bus routes, like informational pieces that we can do for families that get from

point a to point b. perhaps we can work with them in some capacity to provide that information as these letters are going out. not all of us can figure out how to get on to muni.com. i know all the high schoolers and middle schoolers can tell me how to get anywhere, but you know. so there are ways we can try to help minimize the stress around that. i was also wondering -- this is something you and i have had multiple conversations about over the years. we will have regular transportation for our a p students. is there a way that any of our general education on the same route can ride the buses? that way we do not have three kids on a bus because they are iep students and not general at

students. i do not know if there is a way we can fit certain criteria, a certain age. but we have had discussions the around siblings that cannot ride the buses when they have a sibling with an iep even though they go to the same school and are related. that is something we should also consider in terms of accommodating families are kids if there is enough capacity on the bus with our special ed students for students with iep. chairperson wynns: i have a couple questions. the first one is i am hoping that as this information goes out and we have these discussions with the community that i know that we are not -- some of this is something that will happen later. i just think we should make people aware of this. this is the implementation of a new student assignment system. there is not any -- in other words, it is not just