as the meeting goes on. i was waning back there. i have gone through the presentation three or four times now in different versions. i am delighted to be high with you. the san francisco african-american historical and cultural society was founded back in 1955. it was founded for the purpose of providing a forum or vehicle to educate the general public in the african-american culture with the history of african-americans, with an emphasis on the city and county of san francisco. other than -- over that period of time we have had a good relationship with the district. a couple of years ago we worked a curriculum person, and we had a joint history reading program. the teachers met on occasions

and read books on cultures. we are very excited about that relationship and look forward to continuing it. we have a short video on the kinsey collection, an interview that was done we would like to show that would give you -- hopefully it will work and give you a little bit of background and insight into what the kinsey collection is all about. >> there we go. why is it not going?

>> well, maybe we should just go ahead without it. >> ok. [laughter] >> we will just all have too come down and see it for ourselves. >> and in fact, that is the bottom line. what we are really here about -- and tying into the presentation that was just made about the work that you all are doing, and the question was posed when you talk about closing the achievement gap, and one of the primary questions is are the kids ready from different stages and as they move through? bernard kinsey and his wife, shirley, who pulled this

collection together, residents of southern california, have a very extensive collection of historic materials and artifacts that go back to the 1600's. they document the presence of africans and people of african decent in new york america from 1604, coming forward to current events. one of the things bernard likes to say in his presentations, he does a talk about what they didn't teach you in school. what he talks about is the history that was not presented in school. this exhibit brings forth a loot of information -- a lot of information that is not currently available. the kinsey collection has been added to the crick column of the state of florida, a portion of it, to helpful fill the requirements in their multicultural education programs. when we ask the questions are our students ready, we believe

that a fundamental part of their readiness is to have a clear sense of themselves and the world around them. that has to start early. we think that while we had a very successful presentation of the kinsey exhibit and adults coming to our gallery at the african-american art and culture complex, what we really want to achieve over the next couple of months is to work out a relationship with the district to get students to come in and observe this and to go through the program. we have guided tours of the exhibit. i had a conversation with -- ok. [inaudible] >> ok, now.

>> i didn't mean that. >> i think it is thinking. >> as it is thinking, i had a conversation -- as we were trying to develop some resources to support the exhibit, i had a conversation with a gentleman, an engineer, and said to him we need some sponsorship. we need some help to cover the costs of bringing this exhibit in. he said to me i don't want to give you any money to support something that i don't know where the money is going. i said well, what would you give us money to do. he said well, if you had a program going where you went to the school district, and you could work out relationships with the district to bring groups of students in, and you would provide them lunch, and as they came to the district, then i would be willing to

support -- to threes -- to at least -- let's just let it go. >> i mean can we stop it? we will just stop it. let's just turn it off and let it go. >> ok, sorry. >> no problem. thank you. in any event, his point to me was he would be willing to provide some funds to support a classroom of students coming in to spend the day on a field trip, and he recognized that to some degree the district is limited in its resources. he said he would be willing to help find other people in his industry who would provide resources to do that. commissioner maufas and i were talking about this, and i said to her, who do i need to talk

to in the district? what do we need to do to build the relationship to work with the district? you provide the students and the connection for us. we have the exhibit. we will help develop some resources to help bring students in. it's a win-win all the way around. that is fundamentally what we wanted to come and present today. we wanted to show you what the product is because we think it is very exciting and get you excited, and we would love to have you all come and see it as well. fundamentally as well, we are focused on trying to get some of the kids in from some of the schools. we will have the exhibit through the end of april. so we only have it for a couple of months. this is really a rare opportunity. the kinsey collection, the main collection is on exhibit at the smithsonian, where it will be until may. we have a subset of that collection. we have items in our collection in our exhibit that are not at the smithsonian. so if you went to the smithsonian, you still wouldn't see a lot of the things we have

here. we have tied the exhibit here into the theme for black history month, which is blacks in the civil war. so you have in your materials there the cards we handed out. the card you have is an actual poster that was recruiting african-americans for the union army in the civil war. we also have an example of an african-american who served in the confederacy, which is also a part of the exhibit you have there. it is a broad-ranging exhibit of african-american art and historic documents that span one of the key elements of the exhibit of the kinsey, and they had trouble leaving it with us, is a schedule of slaves that was part of a family that filed for bankruptcy, and they had to document. it was so big, a listing of 500 slaves that were being put on the market for sale. it is the original document. so we have documents there.

it is a copy of brown versus the board of education signed by all the justices of the supreme court. it is a way of making it real for all of us. opening comments. commissioner maufas: thank you. i appreciate the board listening.

over my shoulder, indeed the desmond it seems quite interested -- dee dee desmond seemed quite interested. maybe some folks listening and watching participate. as i visited the collection, my breath was caught. i cannot begin to tell you. there are often times when i look at my own history to reflect. to see a tangible on paper and see it is in our history books, but to really understand that folks with african history mixed with other folks and came to america. it was not always in servitude.

with that awareness, i am so much more renewed, and why do it. in my own family lineage, i am supposed to be here doing this right now. talking with the folks i have talked to come on purpose, because they need to know they can't have that awareness -- i feel i am late to the game. young people need to get that understanding as quickly as possible. you do not have to read it in a history book that is bound. you can actually see something that really is rare for an individual to look at. it is in the smithsonian, one of

our national archives that is renowned all over the world, and how grateful i am to the kinseys for even keeping track and keeping the flame. they have taken up that task for many generations beyond them. i encourage all of you to bring your family and friends. i brought a friend, and we were both in retched. she is from latino heritage. she saw some pieces there that were meaningful to her. the more i know about myself, the more i am interested in other cultures and how we blend to come together to create societies. are not always in servitude or

in service of others. we are building and have been building a dynamic community as folks of african descent. thank you so much for coming. i know there are people in the room want to speak with you. president mendoza: vice president yee, and then commissioner fewer. vice president yee: hanks for coming. -- thanks for coming. one of the things people understand from any culture is how important it is to connect to the past. whenever i meet an indian, they will always talk about their past before the talk about the

present. there will spend a lot of time talking about the past. what has happened in our society is that people here get disconnected. i am hoping that one of the things that you mentioned -- i wanted to get your attention, because i wanted to make an observation. maybe things could be worked out. there are some people willing to support this effort. you mentioned lunches. if i had any say so in this, if you had people that would be supporting this, i would tell them the school would provide the lunches, unless you want to

provide a banquet or something. what is missing for us is that we are so in debt, so poor here, that we cannot provide buses for our kids to go to a lot of field trips. schools line up to get one bus a year for their kids. that may be wrong, but this is from when i talk to teachers and ask them why they don't go there. they can never get a hold of a bus. we only have so many per school. if somehow we could find a way for the kids of felton street to be able to get there, i think that would be a lot more helpful

in terms of getting more kids to be there. from my own experience, whether i was a teacher there -- we see the same thing every year. >> maybe i'm is characterized or was not clear what the offer was. the offer was to provide resources for a field trip, including the lunch. that was only part of it. they come for the day. it is a whole package. vice president yee: with the bus, you are not going to see as many as you would like. commissioner fewer: thank you

for coming and telling us about this. i think this is a fabulous opportunity for all san franciscans to see this history. for our listeners at home, would you mind giving the exact location, hours of operation, and is there a cost? i think this is a wonderful thing for families to come to and spend an afternoon looking at this together. if you would not mind giving this information for listeners at home. >> certainly, commissioner. thanks, commissioner maufas. you were going to remind me to do that stuff. you are on the same wavelength. hours of operation are tuesday through saturday from 1:00 to 5:00. that said, we can for groups of people who want to come in -- we can make special arrangements to

have access at other hours. the location is 762 fulton street. we are in the african and american art and culture complex, on the second floor. as far as commission is concerned, the exhibit is open to the public. we do ask for donations, but it is free to the public. there is no set free -- set fee to come in. president mendoza: any other comments? commissioner norton: thank you for the presentation, and thanks for coming to let us know about this. my question is for staff. if there is a teacher or principal, or somebody connected with the school tonight who would like to take advantage of this offer, who should the contact?

>> we will figure out a way to give all schools and opportunity, and to have a little bit of a conversation in terms of how much -- be careful what you ask for. free is an awfully nice price for our teachers. we would like to work out a process quickly, because we are running out of time. president mendoza: thank you very much. i just wanted to thank you for coming. i have a seventh grade son. this past weekend, we were in the car listening to the commentary on our first african- american that attended ole miss. it is 100 years later, and we

are accepting the first and african-american into a public college. 100 years is a long time before we are starting to see changes. it was one of those moments where he was listening very intently. it was a commentary on the riots and the way the guards took over. it was really startling for him to hear that activity. i think it will allow him to see where we came from and where we are now. thank you for sharing this with us. >> one final comment, and then i will go. mr. bernard, when he makes his presentations, likes to talk about the fact --

differentiation between the notion of being slaves and being enslaved. but people were enslaved. we were not slaves. he talks about the notion of this being a celebration of the history of african-americans and of peoples in america. there are clearly-down sides to this. there are a lot of triumphs that emerged through this entire process. that is the story is it really tells about the strength and the triumphs of the people, in spite of the negatives that were there. thank you very much. we look forward to working with you. president mendoza: that is a great celebration for us to come to. commissioner wynns: you happen to know where in the smithsonian

exhibit is? >> it is in the african american. president mendoza: thank you again for joining us. we appreciate it. [laughter] our next item is the consent calendar resolutions. there are nine tonight. the vote on the consent calendar was moved and seconded under section f. roll call? commissioner fewer: yes. commissioner maufas: yes. commissioner murase,: yes. commissioner norton: yes. commissioner wynns: yes. vice president yee: yes. president mendoza: yes. there is a superintendent's proposal for first reading. i have a couple of speakers i will bring up after each motion

and second. >> i want to vote yes on the consent calendar, except for items on page 51. i am sorry. >> it is the items that are public secrets? >> f8. i apologize. president mendoza: the superintendent proposal for first reading. we will take each of these individually, which will get referred to committees. we have a speaker on two of the four. the first is the authorization to grant or deny the renewal

petition for city arts and technology high school. i need a motion and a second. thank you. this is going to get referred to curriculum-budget. i have one speaker, alison maryland -- alison rowland. >> good evening, commissioners and superintendent garcia. i am the principal at city arts and -- >> school, and i am happy to be representing our school -- i am the principal at city arts and tech high school, and i started out as a teacher. we have built a really strong school that is sending students to college, in particular those who were the first in their family. that is our mission. in the past seven years, we have

had a really positive, productive relationship with the district. we have really appreciated your support. i am looking forward to working with you in the charter renewal process and speaking with you about any questions or thoughts you want to share. please feel free to be in touch in the next couple of weeks. i will be seeing you a lot. president mendoza: thank you. i would like to welcome our student delegate, elvina fan. elvina fan: hi. president mendoza: it is late, but we appreciate you coming in this evening. the next item is the authorization to grant or deny the renewal petition for a five keys adult school. i need a motion and a second. this will get referred to curriculum and budget as well. we have one speaker, linda platt.

>> i am the executive vice president of the united educators of san francisco. i want you to know that uasf supports the renewal of the charter for the adult school and the high school. we think that 5 keys charter school is exactly what a charter school should be. it is an exemplary example of what the charter school should look like. they are doing what they originally were designed to do. they are serving an underserved population. it is a credit to our community and our vision of social justice and equity. we are proud to represent its teachers. i would like to show you our t- shirt that we have designed for

the five keys school. they are super. we hope the board will vote to extend the charter. president mendoza: if we can all get t-shirts. [laughter] thank you. the next item is authorization to grant or deny the renewal petition for five keys independence high school. i need a motion and a second. this will get referred to curriculum and budget. is there any public comment on this? seeing none, thank you. this is the last superintendent's proposal, san francisco unified school district and san francisco county office of education residency policy. i need a motion and a second. thank you. this would get referred to

rules. this will get referred to the rules committee. item r is the board members' proposals first reading. there is been a request to remove rules, in support of placing a revenue extension measure. roll-call on the suspension. commissioner wynns: so moved. >> commissioner wynns is

president-elect of the california school boards association, in which the san francisco unified school district is a member. she assisted us with the wording in this. as the president-elect, i ask my colleague to please honor us with the reading of this into the record. commissioner wynns: thank you. i do want to make the point the a -- that we hope as many school boards as possible will pass the resolution. it is a no-brainer. please help us support the revenue initiative that would keep our schools from falling further behind than they are today. but thank you, commissioner fewer. this is in support of placing a revenue extension movement on the june 2011 ballot. governor brown's budget proposal is a balanced approach between revenues and new cuts to solving the deficit and provides for