tv [untitled] April 6, 2011 4:00am-4:30am PDT
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-- it is clearly outlined in our -- with our charter schools. we have oversight responsibility that is best described through state -- working through charter schools, what is the responsibility as a district. we have a variety of -- measures that we put in place for review. a lot of those are in the financial house. we do a lot of reconciliation and oversight around the financial -- we also have running at an annual basis. we do an annual verification.
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the charter schools submit to us annual verification reports 25 different reports that we put into a binder that -- so it is actually a school profile. >> is that our -- the school's like c.a.t. that are contracted with el dorado. >> absolutely. because the only thing they do outside of our district, they are locally authorized charter school is under special education sports and services. in the section -- with them around that is el dorado county's -- we get very clear -- what their reports and services are at their school. we know that. >> reports from -- like c.e.e. on compliance issues. like if they have had complaints filed against them. >> only if they would be available for public notice.
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el dorado county is the county for city and art and tech. >> the argument that i'm making is that we as the chartering district have an obligation to monitor that as well. i understand they have the responsibility of degree the -- but i still think what i don't want to see us do if we have charters that are signing up with el dorado. i don't want us to be like we don't have to monitor that anymore and we don't have to worry about compliance. it is their problem. what i'm saying is if we're going to this way and we're not going to draw a line in the sand and we don't want -- we are not going to do that, we're going to have to step up and take more -- we have to take more oversight of those charts. >> i want to say that i appreciate your concern for san francisco schools generally and i appreciate the accountability
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and the questions that they are asking and just to clarify some things about the -- we have a director of special education and program specialists right here in the bay area that work with all the envisioned schools so families don't have to travel really far if they ever a complaint. and we use the -- we implement a very specific program. we hire our own learning specialist. rer running response to -- that is very unique to our school. that's why we chose to do it. we heard from the learning specialist. i said this at the criminal lunchtime meeting that i just wanted to share that with anyone who did -- >> i want to be clear too. i haven't had any complaints and a lot of our happy parents came up both at the curriculum meeting and here. in having this discussion i certainly don't want to leave you with the impression that i
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think you're doing something wrong at c.a.t. i'm just saying there is a larger issue here as far as compliance and oversight. unfortunately your renewal kind of brought it to a head. >> ki just follow on the comment that you -- can i just follow on the comment that you made? it doesn't provide that specific kind of service that you're talking about that you get from el dorado? >> i think it is just different. yes, it didn't that specific kind of service. we have more choices in the way that we run the special education program at our school through the -- so it really matches the learning that we do at our school. >> other questions or comments? yeah, i just would like to say i went out and spent a morning at c.a.t. and went into many, many classrooms and observed the class work and teaching and had an opportunity to speak to many students and
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had an opportunity to view a student's -- final -- what is it that you call it? >> and every student that i spoke to there is so engaged and really interested and was able to tell me exactly what they were working on with complete comprehension and liked everything that i saw. i liked the project-based learning and the fact that teachers were really engaged in the classroom too. but really the students too. it had a nice feeling to it. i think also the thing i liked about cat is it is very independent row expective. -- intro expective. the director said we're looking at our math. we want to beef up our math scores. i can really appreciate that in the school. i have spoken since to parents of c.a.t. and also i've known students from c.a.t. and i know a ninth grader who has chosen to
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go into c.a.t. and i think also all of them, the reason that they chose c.a.t. was that it was such a tight community that it has a proven record of success of graduating everyone ready for college which quite frankly is a goal that we have in our district too. so i just want to say that i am in favor of renewing this charter and i want to thank you for offering this opportunity to some of our students on project-based learning. a critical eye also on -- in your -- presentation of -- just because when i heard that dissertation that the student gave it was also looking at it through a very critical but constructive perception of the subject that she was presenting and i thought that was a great
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preparation for college. >> so the one question that i have, i want to go lack to what the commissioner was talking about. this is a very important topic now, this is your student population. you say there is a small percentage of students coming from outside of the city. do you have more applicants than seats available at your school? >> we do. the recruitment process that we use is that starting in the fall, we go out and talk to middle school students with the san francisco unified drict district school enrollment fair. we make sure as many eighth graders and their families know about c.a.t. as possible. we work really hard at that. in the beginning of march, we do a lottery. we select students first from the lottery who are from san francisco and then if there is
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still space we'll select students from outside of san francisco. wurntly we have students on our waiting list and -- currently we have students on our waiting list. they might get in off the waiting list. the ninth grade class. the majority of students often that we get from outside of san francisco are students who transfer in later. >> that's majority of them. >> uh-huh. then do you guys do a formal interdistrict transfer? >> we don't have to. >> you don't? >> no. >> any other quorse comments? commissioner maufas? >> thank you. thank you for sending over the fact sheet and it is very helpful and contains information that i was looking for at the curriculum meeting. i just have to really express my
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sincerest congratulations for this community being able to tackle the issues of students coming in, maybe not best suited for college life but by the time they leave your school, they are well-suited for college life. and what happens with them during that time that they spend at c.a.t. is really just transformational. it is. and i would like to say after looking and seeing 100% of c.a.t. graduates are u.c. ready plus they have their portfolios and can describe it with confidence and as commissioner fure has indicated, complete comprehension, i would beg to say that we need to check in with c.a.t. to understand better how you accomplish that task and
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borrow some of those techniques to better serve our community because clearly we are struggling in that endeavor. and i'm not embarrassed. [applause] i'm not embarrassed to admit that we need help. and i'm grateful that you there doing that work. i'm going to be clear that i know director rollins from my time as thurgood marshall as a parent and to see her in that environment so long ago, as a teacher and now really leading this community and really the values that i knew she had back then. i can again not tell you and lend my sincerest congratulations to you. you were doing exactly what you want to do and your students and
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families and staff are better for being in your presence. i congratulate you, allison. thank you so very much. [applause] >> i want to say thank you so much. it is a team that really makes this school happen and they are all right here in the room. thank you. thank you very much. i didn't hear -- roll call? >> thank you. [roll call vote] >> that's six ayes. >> congratulations.
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so it is a c.a.t. families move out of the board room, which i imagine you're going to do, because this is a good time to do it, because i will bust you if you are walking out in the middle of a presentation. would like the next group, the next charter to come up? this is item 112-22 sp 2. authorization grant or deny the renewal petition for the adult school. it has already been moved and seconded on february 2. commissioner norton, do you want to give us a quick report from the curriculum committee? >> yes, the curriculum committee heard both of these petitions on monday, march 7 and by ack makings had a positive recommendation. the feeling of the committee is that what they are doing is really unique and really wonderful for a group of students that have really very
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few chances left for them. so we were very, very pleased to -- >> thank you. >> i'm just going to wait a moment as our families settle and make their way out. so we have a reading of recommendation by mary richards? >> thank you, president mendoza. also i would like to follow the same process. to do a brief budget presentation and what we have done in the past for some reason, these things merge naturally. we have the five key schools. i gave you a few packets so you a pink and a purple. the purple is the adult and the pink is the independence high school and there is also two white packets that are the
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amended resolutions plus a fact sheet. that gives you -- i did a quick run to distinguish -- >> sorry. you're going to have to hold on for one second. i'm sorry. ok. i'm sorry miss richards. go ahead, please. >> ok. that dwishes five key's original charters that were established in 2003. five keys adult school and independent high school. that's in the white packets at the back and discusses some of their performance results but also their special education delivery of supports and services too. for the financial reports and again going back to, you don't have to look at both of them. if you just look at the purple packet, i'll walk you through it. there were really not any areas of insufficiency. it was really just a question again about -- and clarification around the complexity around the
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special education program of support and services mostly because, which is really important to note is the average age of a student at any of the five key schools is 23 years old. at that point in time they would not be eligible for special education supports and services through a regular public school system. but knowing the population at five keys in an average year, all of their schools served in excess of potentially 4,000 students, i have listed the actual numbers who complete programs with them and that they capture revenue for but they are touching that many lives through their unique and vared programs. but out of all of those students it clearly understands the needs of these students and many come in with severe learning needs and five keys has taken it upon themselveses to actually hire staff that is trained to address
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those special needs but also a specialist in special education support and to develop that level of curriculum for those students to get them up to speed and get them to their goal, which is essentially a high school diploma. they offer g.e.d. and also a scholar's track now. so again going back to the budget, sorry i'm jumping all over the place. i'm trying to cover this altogether. a few of the items in the budget report and based on nancy's review again, one of her comments was around the revenue assumptions and she just wants to make sure that the charter was aware that the budget has not been finalized or adopted. if they are prepared to change their budget as well, which they are, they did submit a letter stating that after makings. the teachers salary and commissioner -- it was -- it
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came out in this report, i wasn't able to intercept this report before i came to you directly. i did communicate to the executive director avenue five keys and he clarified to me that on page 16 of the budget page s that areattached in the back, there is 18 pages. 16 are noted on the top and it gave the total number of staff at each of the three five keys as originally as 37.6, it is actually 30.6. as i said before, five keys is actually part of their -- on the same step and column. they are part of our collective bargaining unit. their sal i have commezz rat with ours. -- their salary is kommeserate with ours. the majority of students are
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housed in jail or as part of other program or city agencies, the regular meal service for majority of their students is through the jail. they do not collect revenue from the state for school lunches or meals but at their independent high school one of their locations in the bayview hunters point and maybe steve is going to correct me, the executive director on that, there is a breakfast program that is providing and supporting, again, they do not collect state revenue for that. and that is the budget report complete and so i will read the amended resolutions for the record if that is ok with the board. ok? so for five keys and i'm going to them both. one after the other. so the first resolution is concerning five keys adult school and that's number 112-22
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sp 2, authorization to grant the renewal for five keys adult school. whereas san francisco unified school district is a chartered authorizer for five keys adult school which is set to expire on june 30. 2011. the petitioners subsummit mitted on february 11, a charter renewal petition for the renewal and skipped down to the bottom of the other edits whereas the district superintendent and staff and district staff completed the review of the renewal petition and issued a report and recommendation to the board of education regarding the review of the renewal petition on march 22, 2011 therefore be resolved at the san francisco unified school district, grants the renewal petition set forth
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as the requirement set forth by law. the second resolution concerning five keys independent high school. number 112-22 sp 3 where authorization to grande grant the renewal petition for five key's independent high school whereas san francisco unified school district, independent high school, which is set to expire on june 30, 2011 and pursuant to education code 4067, to the district a charter renewal petition for the renewal of the charter school's petition and skipping again down to last two sections whereas the district superintendent and distribute staff completed the review over the renewal petition and issued a report and recommendation to the board of education regarding the review
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over the renewal petition on march 22 2011 be it resolved the unified school district shall grant to the requirements set forth by law. that's that. >> thank you. i don't have any cards for public comment but i want to welcome our amazing sheriff and the executive director, steve good and i want to give you guys an opportunity to share anything with us. >> thank you. i'm the sheriff. i really appreciate the school board in helping us create the five key charter high school. it has been a tremendous program for the people that we surf. we have over 250 people in custody in the school and we have had over 250 people get their high school degree. it is one of the best run program swress in the jail and we have many programs in the jails and it is also a program which has the best recidivism
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rate or lowest recidivism rate of it. [laughter] of any of our programs. some of which have been in our jail system for almost two decades, so it has been a wonderful program. it is well run. well supported and we cannot do without the support of the school district. we have -- my executive director is here to make a few comments. we have a few students here as well if you can take the time for their comments. it has been a wonderful program and we really appreciate your support. the program really helps us provide classes to prisoners who are not able to go because of their classification level able to go into group settings and also the adult school program helps us run our program 12 months of the year because our jail runs 12 months of the year. so these two charter schools, components are really crucial to the overall program. soy appreciate your support. >> thank you. [applause]
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>> come on you be. mr. good. >> i'm steve good, the executive director of the schools. thank you commissioners. i have two former graduate that can say more about the school than i ever could since they have been through the program. i do just want to say these two charters allow us to move into the community and serve folks -- once they have moved on from jail and have been released and are looking to further continue their education. that is accomplished through our partnerships. so i -- with that, i would like to -- scott take it next. thanks. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, members of the board, my name is scott marshall. i dropped out of the san francisco unified school district in 1975 and after that time proceeded to wrack up an arrest record of over 25
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arrests. while i was in the san francisco sheriff's department facility in san bruno, i came across the five keys program, went through that program and received my high school diploma 2005. after receiving that diploma in 2005, i went on to city college and san francisco state a couple months back i received my bachelors degree in sewsology and psychology. [applause] sociology and psychology. thank you. i'm currently a research assistants at san francisco state and doing research on attitudes with incarcerated populations and applying to grad schools right now. what i can tell you from my studies and what i have learned is that when in rome, we do what the romans do. what five keys has done is provide an environment that replaces the environment of violence and crime that is currently in place in our jails
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