>> we met in closed session to discuss pending claims and litigation. i understand that the committee will amend item six, line 19. it will have stipulation for entry of judgment. and then i understand the committee will provide items 4, 5, 6, and seven ford, with

recommendations. and you have done the amendment. >> no objections. >> and in order now is a motion regarding disclosure. >> second that. >> thank you. >> thank you very much.

it is 6:15. miss cosco, can you note the commissioners that are here. thank you so much. we have two -- two items to be heard tonight. so i'm going to have to monitor how we use our time on this. we're going to try to keep each each top pick to an hour, so by the time we get to the second one we're not exhausted. two top picks are around quality school pathway and general education transportation. each -- each one of these top ticks -- top picking. weers going to have a staff presentation that shouldn't last more than 20 minutes. 15 minutes is better.

who will present. >> we'll start off with the deputy superintendent. >> good evening, commissioners. with me are assistant superintendent, genie paun and christina wang. executive director keefe and we have a couple of other superintendents that will be available. as promised, we're here this evening to bring quality school pattern that the work that staff has been condid -- has been conducting over the majority of the school year. we're going to show a powerpoint presentation, but to remind you about the outcomes of the presentation, we want to review the purpose of the middle school project. we want it answer key questions

that the board members raised since the last meeting. we want to discuss a pathway and a pattern of the pathway, approximate -- the prompt -- the proximity pathway. we want to agree on community engagement and analysis for a quality middle school plan. just as a matter of review, the charge of the group that has been working on the quality middle school pathway is developing a quality middle school pathway and to implement a man to insure that quality middle schools and options at all schools including the extending of language pathways and other academic programs from elementary school to middle school, allow for a a policy that meeds all of needs of all

middle school students and recognizes -- addresses a growth in the middle school population over the next three to five years. the quality middle school invettory, we talked about. we're now on slide four. we talked about that the purpose is to identify what are the components of a quality middle school. that's first and foremost as part of the group's work. we identified through the wrench key -- key categories that -- key categories, they include academic performance, staff composition and program quality and the range of programs, student support services and family engagement and support. safety and school climate and the physical environment as well. we will be coming back to the board in -- if subsequent months with -- with an inventory of our current middle school portfolio along these categories as well. now the benefits of a k pathway and building high quality middle

schools are that, given the projected growth of middle school enrollment, we think it is imperative that the community work hand this hand with the school district to insure that all middle schools are of high quality. we have heard that loud and clear from every facet of our community in every stakeholder group. we have also heard that k-8 pathways need support of building high quality middle schools. we think this could be accomplished through increased planning through curriculum and academic programs. the development of a strong sense of community among a smaller and more predictable core group who this this paradigm will move together through middle school, contributing to a climate and more effective transition. especially for traditionally underserved students. also the expansion of pathways by students in the emerging programs in the elementary schools. i also like to remind the board

that these are commitments the board has made and that we -- we memorialized in the agreements under the plan. in terms of quality middle schools, the creation of a quality middle school requires a stronger program and pathways in a number of areas. and the board has expressed to us in the past that -- and we have as staff heard from our community and we heard a lot of discussion about the language path wes but language pathways are not the only com pony -- component of a quality school. we have to take into consideration gate classes, special education is a huge consideration. and -- in the development of strong special education programs. also the visual and performing arts. the san francisco -- the san francisco community has made it clear these are components they want to see addressed in a quality middle school pathway development. now i'm here this evening to --

to -- to inform the board that -- we moved forward as -- as a district. and after -- extensive meetings with both the bin that vista community and the moreries man middle school community, for the 11-12 school year, the mission district will have a k-8 middle school or k-8 schools. the buena vista program will have a strong base for a fuel dual language program and will create a k school for the mission neighborhood. the buena vista spits overall transformation -- submits overall transformation. one of the requirements is that we take bold action to strengthen the academic programs in the identified six schools. we feel confident that this will not only satisfy that requirement but that it is a win-win for both communities. in terms of student assignment, e.p.c. will honor requests that

have been submitted for the 11-12 school year for -- for horace-mann for general education and the language pathways. for the 2012-2013 school year, horace mann will be a city wide choice language program. we'll talk about that in detail about that later on in the presentation. at this point, what i like to do is ask my koll league christina wang to take us through the next few slides. >> the district historically had a strong commitment to language pathways. it is one piece of cretting a high quality middle school program in k through eight middle schools as well. just to remind the commission, that the english learners clearly states to polled pathways, that the board's policy provides opportunity for every child to become bilingual and bicultural.

the district made a substantial investment in building language pathways for over 35 years with many successful programs that require further articulation into the secondary level. the last time -- the last time that the board discussed this issue, there were questions around the -- the transition between the elementary programs into secondary, what do we have currently? so this chart helps illustrate that we're in the process of strengthening pathways. historically at the elementary level, prior to 2010, we had an early access, k through three program where primary language is really used as support but not substantial primary language instruction is being provided. we also have a late exit program that is k-through five bilung wull and we have dual emergent. for the early exit and late exit, we're working with school

sights especially -- sites, especially at kindergarten and preschool level, to be in the plan. it would be a clearly articulated program k through five. we're starting at kindergarten. as each grade goes up, we work with those cohorts. the dual immersion would have time spent in buildings and continue to move through the elementary level. at the middle school level, to create more opportunities for all students both -- both in the hit raese program and dual i o-lit rassey and immersion, they would be americaned into secondary programs. at the secondary level, it is stated this the plan, they receive two periods of primary language instruction. >> this is just a sample master schedule. if we were to have full

imlimitation of a middle scol dual language program, there were concerns about how english learners would be receiving services through an immersion program but when it is combined dual language, you could see the master schedule, they would receive the core curriculum and in addition they would have the social science in the target language, also the language arts and the target language and english language development. this is building -- that's why -- at the last meeting, we talked about having some type of -- some period or extra extended time so that we can have this as an optimal model for -- for english learners. for the english only students or students who have become profirant in the program, you could see on the right column that would be a sample schedule that they would have. this is similar to what we presented last time. we just made some adjustments to the right-hand column with the

-- with buena vista going to horace mann. this current year, just a recap for the 2011, we'll be moving from -- from three languages and in 2016, we'll have seven languages at 12 middle schools and five k- schools. -- five k-8 schools. because we're working with the kidnapper garten level and we know -- kindergarten level and we know not everybody is at language prove fishcy. we can develop the program. this shows a time hein year by year of what we would be expanding and what would be new and where it would be placed. so, this is very similar to what we presented last time, the only chaming we made and we'll provide additional -- we'll -- only change we made and we'll provide additional details,

instead of just mand daryn and spanish, they would have the spanish dual language in 2015-2016. this matrix shows by middle school, the casses at sixth grade level and the numbers and just to give you an idea of the spread of the different language programs that will be at each of the sites and also the percentage for the language pathway. this is another visual that represents the same information. a question around the language programs was brought up around the last meeting. there's been outreach -- in the end of your pact, there's charts that show the activities that have been happening. in terms of ethnicity and within the language programs, we also

have pie charts. just to pull out information that we gleaned from the charts, the percentage of african-american students -- if dual emersion programs averages 3-4%, except the bicultural programs which has more than 10%. the percentage of english learners ranges from 41-58%. the percentage that qualify for free an reduced lunch is close to 64%. there's some schools we learned, a std -- study stanford, like buena vista and paul rive veer, we have student that is reflect the diversity of the district. those are models that we can learn from. this goes into the -- into the highlights of the recruitment and retention efforts of african-americans. we have had some recruitment fight, collaboration with t.t.s.

through the african-american think tank and meetings with principles. we also really tried again to do professional development for teachers because it is not just about recruitment. we really want to make sure there's retention for african-americans tuents so their needs are met within these programs. there's community engagement. we have actually started a now pathway at the bay view hunter's point neighborhood at bret harte. soee there are some other school sites that are interested in developing additional pathways as well. we have also highlighted here some of the recruitment and retention efforts for yale students as well. through the site support, we have done a number of presentations with d-lack and began to look at the alignment with the child development program.

so assuming that -- that we have full classes, the cost of -- we wanted to take a look at the cost of all middle school students if they were to have a seventh class or period. it would be approximately 5.57 million annually. this number can be phased in, as language programs where built. so i think there are ways -- there's way that is we can begin to phase it in. even given the fact that we're in a budget crisis. we're exploring our approaches. perhaps prioritizing english learners and dual language programs. there's a critical need for that. in the middle schools, when we did place the programs of particular sites, one heavy consideration was that we have a critical mass of at least 66 students, two full classrooms at any strength so we could build a

master schedule. we have -- we do that -- we done that. there are outliars that we weren't able to do that. there was -- that was given in consideration. there were unique programs we would have to phase in without the 66 ko horts. we do -- cohorts. we have challenges in terms of the complex requirements at middle school. staff teaching in dual language will have to have a b class certification in language as well as other subject area certification. currently in terms of staffing, recruiting and retaining b class teachers in the languages, there's strategies that are -- being employed, proposition a provides financial incentives for b class teachers. there's strong district and collaborations with the institutes of higher learning to promote the programs. there's also prepared professional training programs to support aspiring teachers, in

the last cohort, 85% were people of color. and over 50% were by lingual and mostly canton ease. there has been -- active deeper recruitment and a variety -- a focus on bilingual teachers. there's an -- there are -- they're also sexhrg teacher exchange programs for mandarin speaking multiple subject teachers. >> commissioners, building, what do these programs look like? there are some assumptions that staff kept in mind when building the middle school feeder patterns. first and foremost that the language pathways and a plan for our english language plan will require a certain number of middle school seats to be reseerved at sites after dual language programs where built over the next five years. we showed you the figures the last presentation that we brought to you. also very much in our -- in our

thinking that the special education redesign project also calls for setting aside a certain number of general education seats for students with disabilities to facilitate inclusion at all schools, not just some schools and all grade levels over the next few years will have inclusion students. we also need to keep in mind that the growth of middle school students will reduce the current range of choice options and may in fact create a de facto assignment pattern based on the reduced flexibility over time. so with that said, let's look at a map. the colored map that we're -- we're showing you this evening is what the middle scol feeder patterns ko look -- middle school feeder patterns could look like. they're in fact clustered together. there's noncontiguous configurations. but in this particular map, as you study the -- you study the

map, i like to review what three options are, in terms of the analysis that staff has done. one of the choices is to a full choice option. so, we do not create middle school feeder patterns at this time. i -- identify alternative ways to address impact of growing middle school enrollment. there are pros and cons to this approach. the pros, it allows more time to find alternative ways to address the complexity of the growing student enrollment, inclusion and other variables impacting milled school assignment in the quality, not least of which is the new assignment policy. the cons are the inevitable growth in the middle school grades and the reduced choice many parents face over the next three years. the district will not realize the benefits of our -- of an articulated pathway for building a virtual k- pathway. if we go down this choice path.

a second option -- excuse me could be a k-8 feeder pattern, to implement this k-8 feeder pattern that you saw the map of for the 2012, 2013 school year. now the pros of implementing this feeder pattern at once are that you realize many of the advantages of the k-8 pathways. so for example the ko heernings, the cohort of families and students. it resolves challenges for implements a feeder pattern over the next 12, 18 months. if all candor and to be honest with the board, this is going to stretch staff. we're talking about a massive undertaking. we think we can do this with a reprioritization of our priorities. the cons are again, we're moving rapidly towards the implementation of feeder pattern that is may result in a lack of understanding and support from

families. this will abshock. it may result in the rejection of the feeder patterns which may result in the loss of enrollment and undermine the benefits of k-8 pathways. the third approach that -- that staff has developed and the approach that is actually the staff's recommendation is a phase-in pattern. this would mean that the thirble tiebreaker would start in the 2012-2013 school year. the pros to this -- to this approach are that it encourages voluntary parent participation in building virtual k-8 and allows for more time for capacity planning and issue resolution. the cons are that extra time may not be used for planning due to other competing priorities. again with all of the proposed -- patterns and -- proposals, it is going to be a discussion about what are the priorities of the district as we move down the

path. there are competing priorities as the board well knows. now in terms of the middle school feeder participate option, we created a grid that -- that shows what these patterns look like, side by side. you notice in the bottom, the development of pathways is constant in all three options. the left-hand column are characteristics, initial middle school offer, middle school feeder participates, choice process and then what the tie-breakers will be. so for the -- for the second column, the choice option that we presented, there would be no -- for initial middle school offer. there would be no middle school feeder pattern. there would be a choice process and the tie-breakers in order would be younger siblings

followed by test score areas and then other characteristics that would be defined by the board. the k-8 feeder pattern option would be yes to all three. initial middle school offers, students get that. the middle school feeder patterns established and a choice process and the tiebreaker is the initial assignment to the milled school feeder. then followed by younger siblings, test score areas and attendance areas and dense population and other characteristics. the third approach, the phase in of the feeder pattern, no middle school offer. there would be a choice process and then also similar to the pattern, there would be a middle school feeder followed by younger siblings and attendance dense population and of course others. >> as i mentioned the recommendation of staff is for a phase-in k-8 feeder pattern. our r