direction to get me help and i have taken it and i have gotten it. he is in an i.p. program. he was at the boys and girls club. they now have an afterschool program which he is excelling in and doing very well. i am very proud that my son is attending bryant elementary and that he is getting a good education. thank you. >> thank you, mr. cunningham. >> good evening. just briefly i just want to give you the perspective of our data. when two years ago, bryant elementary was 29 proficient in english language arts and 71% of our students were below proficient levels, that was quite staggering and alarming at that time. i'm happy to announce that last

year we increased our language arts scores and our math scores in double diplomats. at the end of last year, we -- double digits. at the ent end of last year we made an effort to look at staffing and put a lot of effort into modeling, coaching and you know, just really focusing on moving those kids where we know that's the slump and we want to increase our numbers. i'm happy to announce that third, fourth and fifth grade, all of them, we have model coached and just modeling and all of our students are reading in literature circles and our students are moving in that direction because of the vision who believes in this. she does not use me as an administrative assistant of any kinet.

my job is to work in coaching and modeling 100%. all of those students are our students. she is committed to their academic achievement. we are working through maps. we do quarterly analysis of the data. we look at second through fifth grade at the last p.d., we took part of our p.d. time and we did backwards mapping with the power standards. we set a 10-week plan. we set objectives. i have those copies if we need them. we have those for kindergarten and first grade who are not generally tested and i just wanted to give you the perspective from the academic success of our students. thank you for your time. >> thank you, ms. torres. next speaker? >> hi, my name is lee anne and

teach at buena vista elementary school. every year we have unique challenges. this year our challenge has been getting through a retro fitting construction project. there are some teachers at our school have who have moved three times during the course of this year to accommodate the builders. i think we have done a great job keeping our morale up. knowing that in the end we will have a beautiful school. we received a special offer. the district was offering us the intent of becominging the first spanish emergent school in san francisco. we were told we had to decide if we wanted this before the winter break and if we decided not to go through with it it would go to another school. we had an emergency meeting and the majority of the staff gave a thumb's up. when word of the plan got out to the majority of our community,

everyone seemed quite excited although there were many unanswered questions. some people went to take a look at the campus and introduced themselves to mark sanchez and said they knew nothing of this plan and that the staff had been asked to write a proposal for next year and then having them be the first spanish emergent plan in san francisco was not one of their plans. this was my first inkling of the lack of communication that has been rampant throughout this process. she scame to a meeting and stated after taking into consideration that the new plan will not take effect until the 2012-2013 school year, the powers decided it would be much more prudent to wait a year. she assured us that yes, the move was going to happen but in a year but then a couple of weeks later, you, superintendent garcia came to our school. you had important news for us.

the plan had changed. the move was to take mebt in the fall. it was going to become an emergent program. just who was to be in charge of what was not mentioned. the three people involved in running two two schools would be the leadership team for the school. >> i'm sorry, lee anne. can you wrap up, please? >> i need you to know that our community feels betrayed. we have been told several things that are not true. some of us have come to the point where we're not interested in the situation anymore and that we really need to know who our leadership is going to be by the end of march so that we can plan accordingly if we choose not to go with the new plan and hope that you carefully consider any further decisions you make for an already disspirited school community. thank you. >> hello, my name is betsy

sagara. i'm a fifth grade parent at buena vista. i drafted a letter that was signed by 45 parents in one day about this supposed k.a. continuation versus merger with horseman. i amended by application to the district to attend this buena vista horseman model that the district described based on the meetings with veronica chavez and now we were told recently by hydra who attended a meeting that it is not really a continuation. it is a merger. it is a marriage. while the marriage, we didn't know until we got to the altar and we have made our decision and we didn't know who we were marrying and i find it really,

really disdain -- that the communication could have been this bad. we at this meeting that hydra attended, a majority of the parents there suddenly became aware that oh, well, we're going to delay it. we're going to save 22 general ed seats for horseman. and which meant basically we're not continuing your emersion for three for years and that this isn't really a continuation of buena vista. a k.a. in the mission, which was how it was touted is really a merger. a lot have said that the parents are accusing buena vista parents of trying to gentryify their school. i don't know what that is. is it rich people trying to move out poor people? if that is the case, buena vista

is 50% or more on free lunch programs so that is not the case. or is it white people trying to displace people of color? buena vista is 25% white. that's not the case. one last issue i would like to bring up is the leadership. the fact that he was stated unanimously to be the principal and that is not the case at the moment. >> thank you. [applause] >> good evening. my name is roberto vargas and i am a parent of a third grader at buena vista and a fifth grader. i anticipate my third grader will be -- i'm not sure yet about my fifth grader. depending on how things go in the next couple of months. my father, my aunt and my sisters went to horace man.

i've done a lot of work there. at that point, as some of my colleagues have mentioned, promises have been made. we commit to the process and then decisions are changed. so at this point our trust is damaged. as a -- resident and a long-time advocate for educational equity, several know i have come to you about advocating on behalf of bayview kids in the past. i am concerned in about general educational options. however i'm not convinced that by keeping a quarter of the student population, general ed and the rest, i'm not convinced that that is equity. i'm concerned that might be further alienation. we need to be more -- we need to have more representation at the table making decisions in this

process so i would like to recommend that you increase the parent representation on the panel that is making decisions in order to try to recapture the trust of both of our school communities. so in order to try and reengage parents, try to rebuild trust, i would like you all to consider increasing the parent representation from both schools on this panel making decisions about this process as we move forward. thank you. >> thank you. >> good evening. my name is judy diaz. i'm the school secretariat and a parent of a -- secretary and a parent of a sixth grader and a second grader at another school now. i am concerned that there has been mistrust by our families because of the lack of communication and because we were told one thing and now we're being told something else,

and as staff member and as a parent, i beg you that you please help us regain the trust. i really don't want to start a school year with our communities being divided. thank you. >> thank you. >> [speaking spanish] >> good evening. my name is -- hernandez and i am the president of -- at -- >> [speaking spanish] >> i just wanted to ask for two things that are very important for us as parents at buena vista. >> [speaking spanish] >> the first thing i want to ask

is for you to leave our principal with us. when the proposal was made, that was one of the main things we asked that we get to keep our principal. when the move wugs was taken. that we all move together. i'm sorry. >> [speaking spanish] >> because our principal is part of our family. through the years, we have, you know, had a -- we like -- we care for him immensely because he cares for us as well. and everything that goes on. >> [speaking spanish] >> i find unfair that he is not going with us and that we are, you know, on the air without answer for this. >> [speaking spanish]

>> so again, that our principal should go with us. it was one of the requests with the superintendent's visit that we all go together as a group. >> [speaking spanish] >> and then well, the last thing is that our emersion program really continues. >> [speaking spanish] >> so it will be a great achievement for the mission for us to get a k.a. that is fully emersion.

>> [speaking spanish] >> so please keep the emersion program at buena vista. that's what we want. the emersion program at buena vista. >> greetings. superintendent garcia, and president mendoza and all the board members. my name is -- smith, the parent of deangelo who attends and will be graduating from buena vista. my daughter is also a graduate of buena vista. we the parents want to say that it is unfair to say that horace man will be an emergent school and that you want to make a change.

we want our principal to be our principal and not a vice principal at horace man. we like to know who the principal and vice principal will be before june. we would like to know by march or april. we know, we understand the emergent k through 8 is a long time coming. we know politics are playing a role in this or who we know. thank you and have a pleasant evening. >> thank you. >> hi, my name is tracy. i have a fifth grader at buena vista elementary. i just have two important points that i would like to address. one is the principal next year at the horaceman. the district has asked him to apply for the position of principal. they will not let us know who'll be principal until july. we want to know that he will be

principal before the school year is finished, is not in summer. the district wants 22 general ed students and 66 spanish students only at horace man. the fifth grade parents were told all emergent for sixth grade next year. we question the reasoning behind these 22 students. some feel it is for april reasons and others feel it is unfair to these 22 students and wonder if the parents who put horace man as their first choice knew about the situation when they signed up and also wonder if this district has told these parents now after the fact and if they plan on telling these parents before they receive these acceptance letters about this new situation at horaceman. i would not want my child to be one of 22 kids in general ed in sixth grade when the other sixth grade kids were all in emersion.

these concerns are not directed at the horace man community. just at the school district. i went to horace man on three different occasions. the teachers were dedicated and the students were dedicate and engaged. lastly, we sent a letter home to be signed by all the fifth grade parents last night and we managed to get 44 signatures so i would like to give these to someone on the board. thank you. [applause] >> thank you. >> good evening. my name is frances -- i'm from lakeshore school. i'm a concerned parent. i have been a member of the p.t.a. and vice president and i'm on a psych council. i currently have a son who is in the third grade there. i'm not against feared system but i am concerned about the lack of equity in the feeder

system. i chose lakeshore school because it offered afterschool mandarin and cantonese. it has 10 sessions of mandarin a week and five sessions of cantonese. students at our school are very proud when they become gate students. the school that we have been assigned to which is now denmon, it has no gate program or no language program. i do not find it equitable to be sent to a school that does not have established programs. you are effectively changing lakeshore. the children in the neighborhoods are going to choose the other elementary schools. they are not going to choose lakeshore. so please reconsider and send our kids to a different school that is more local and in their neighborhood. schools that have more equitable and parallel programs. thank you. [applause] >> thank you. >> hi, my name is barbara

mcdowell. i have a fourth grader and a second grader at lakeshore elementary school. and my issue, because we'll be feeding into denmon is the proximity and it will cost us $500 a year gas, which is more than the amount for the two $180 p.t.a. donations at my local school which i might otherwise have funds for and i have not in the past. and i could use that money to make my local school better. and also, i calculated on google maps, it would be about two hours of commute time for me on ocean avenue and the carbon footprint is 5.8 metric tons versus zero riding a bike or walking from our house at 45th and yeloa. the commute time also adds to

obesity for the driver and the passenger. it limits extracurricular activities for both of my children. no buses to denmon. there are none and the city bus ride is 40 minutes of travel time in each direction plus a bus pass costs. $180. it is not safe to have my tween riding the bus after 5:00 p.m. this limits me as a parent time to earn an income with this two hours in addition to what i need to provide for my child and the distance does not promote community, especially when it is forced and not by choice. we should also be showing our children sustainability. busing for all but magnet schools should be eliminated for economical reasons. there should be no reason to bus kids all over the city.

we chose to live in the neighborhoods for whatever reason. no one is denying anyone because of race, religion or sexual preference housing anywhere in the city. those that want to integrate do because they want to. those who do not do by choice. wherever they choose to surround themselves by. we go to the farmer's market and speak mandarin, cantonese, italian, i don't see why we need to be busing children all over the place. >> i'm sorry. need you to wrap up, please. >> being forced to go to a non-local school takes away our empowerment. if you want to go to a specific school, you have to move to that neighborhood. >> i'm sorry, you need to wrap up. your two minutes is up. >> ok. >> thank you. [applause] >> good evening. my name is elizabeth ridny.

i'm a parent of a sixth grader at lakeshore school. i'm here regarding the feeder program to denmon. i want to be able to echo what my other portfolio lakeshore parents are saying tonight. partly the reason i am here is for the fact that denmon is going to cause an economic downturn in my family. just like the school board has problems with their finances, it would cause problems for me. i work from home and rell niche the fact that i can get my child to and from school in five minutes. that allows me to work when i need to. if i need to go to the doctors five minutes away i can take him during lunch not affecting my lunch hour and if i have to drive across town, ps going to cut -- i'm independent. i don't get health care. i have to pay health care on my own. all of those are just going to add to my pocket, my bottom

line. i'm not necessarily against the preassignment of feeder schools but i just think that i feel duped in the fact that i chose lakeshore because it was close and i knew there were other middle schools nearby me that i could potentially go to. three are within five minute's drive. one is within walking distance. i also have a high schooler who i would then have to somehow manage to get two kids on opposite ends of the city at the same time. or have to have him start driving in order to have a ability to get everybody where they need to be on a regular basis. i'm thinking maybe you can consider a compromise. i feel duped. i would not have chosen lakeshore if i knew denmon was going to be my assignment. i probably would have pushed for another school so i could stay in my neighborhood band part

motor vehicle commubt community. i'm -- -- be a part of my community. i'm a fourth generation san franciscoan. allow compromise and allow people who already have a child in lakeshore start with new enrollings. thank you. >> hi, my name is matt. i'm a parent of a fourth grader at lakeshore. i do -- the other parents and also i would like to again underline the gate program issue. my child is a fourth grader and she is part of the gate program and i'm concerned with the feeder assignment because the gate program and the education that they get through the gate program will not be visible and it will not be -- during those -- so also i believe that quality education is a combination for curricular and

extracurricular activities at the same time. i just wanted to underline my concern on that. thank you very much for listening. >> thank you. [applause] >> hi, thank you. my name is ben. i'm also a parent of a child at lakeshore. my personal concerns are similar to the those other parents who spoke already. i'm also chairman of the council currently. i'm hoping to highlight the negative impact that will have on lakeshore. the other parents have already spoken well for my child if you have. it has not been getting adequate attention. the current proposed plan feeds lakeshore and passes to a more distant middle school. by tying lakeshore to a distance ant middle school, we think this is going to attract -- from the

neighborhood, the larger naked. i'm well -- neighborhoods. base simply on student enrollment and not getting the funds for students. therefore it has to afrabt from outside -- it is sparsely pop lates with school-age children. the current proposal, those from the west side, those staying in the middle school, will not choose the middle school. also those more distant families that currently choose lakeshore because they value its programs over their own neighborhood school are unlikely to favor a west side middle school. there are parents, five, who have chosen not to speak, but they are here showing their support. who feel similarly. all of these parents, would not have chosen lakeshore had the

current feeders not been in place. it is currently the most diverse west side school. the feeders need to be modified to allow lakeshore to stay local in middle school. this will serve. >> finish your points. >> this will serve both of those already and lets lakeshore keep keep strong support from the side of town. thank you. >> thank you. [applause] >> do i have any -- so i have a couple of other cards. michael rogers. valerie. james. ash. jean. or gabriella. all right. i close public comment. thank you. item k. i'm sorry.

i wanted to see if the superintendent had any comments. >> yes, i do have one brief comment and that is on the buena vista issue. first of all, i have to tell you that where people have gotten their misinformation was certainly not from me. because i was very clear from the first time i ever met with the horace man staff and when i went to buena vista, i clearly stated that the part that we would keep the people who were already applying for sixth grade in the general ed program that they would be staying, that we would have slots for them and that over a three-year period, we would phase out the general ed program. that was said from the first time we ever even discussed this issue. so i do want to clarify that. second, there was never a commitment for any of the principals to be automatically placed as a principal. we did say we would consider it. i have told larry and i have told them that we wanted the community including parents, everybody will be involved in

hiring the principal. now, for people to think that by march we're going to name a principal, that's not a search. that's a scam. we're not going to do that. we are going to try to rush the -- as quickly as possible but it is not going to be done by the end of march. that is just not going to happen and i'm not going to tell anybody here that it would. we have to advertise the position. we have to give people an opportunity to apply. but if we could move quickly, we'll make do our best to have that decision made obviously before the school year is over, but people will be involved from your community in selecting that principal. i have encouraged larry and mark, if they so choose, to apply. we are planning to have both a principal and an assistant principal at that school, so we have clearly said to them, you know, that position, it is nothing against either one of you, but we think it is fair for -- since we're starting a k.a. school for people to have -- k. 8 school for people have to