my brother is here. he came from fairfield and he called today and said that i will be there. he is here this evening. he brought the other family members with him. my sister in law is here. the wife of my oldest brother that is deceased. my son is here. in the oldest son who is in the d.c. area was unable to be here because he had a little surgery. he will be coming home as soon as he can. he lives back there, but he wanted to be here. he said i must call what i get home tonight.

there is a 3 hour difference. i will call them. i want to thank everyone who came for this particular purpose. there are others who called, and i appreciate that. i appreciate them coming. it wasn't easy. i hate to call just one name, her but i can't afford to call any other names. you have given me so much time. you have continue to bless me. thank you very much. [applause]

>> i was getting a little emotional before, but the wanted to recognize and thank all of a retired san francisco unified school district administrators and teachers is. so much, you honor us with your presence. we tried to honor your legacy with our work. president mendoza: this is a good time to break. we are going into -- and i am

just letting you know. we are going into item j, speakers regarding general matters and i have a whole list. as you exit, i am going to start calling names. if you could please exit quietly and quickly, we can continue with the board meeting. we would appreciate it. thank you. we have quite a few speakers this evening on a number of different items. how are you? good. ok. i will call your name, please start lining up. i apologize for botching your

name if i do. [reading names]

as you can see, how did you guys give me a card? did you not hear your name? what is the matter? that's fine. this is the time to speak about what is on the agenda. i also have a list. i will go through them again. [reading names]

andrea i already called. [reading names] that's you? ok, great. could i have kaitlin and victor? are you guys here? can you guys go first, please?

so that was the list. as you can see, we have a bajillion people speaking tonight. we're going to give you a minute each. i will go through the names again if you thought you did not hear your name in the list. young man, you are starting it off. press the red button and state your name. >> my name is victor. president mendoza: sorry, mr. hampton. d u mind closing the doors? -- do you mind closing the doors? >> i am a freshman at george washington high school.

i chose george washington high school because i heard it was a good school. there might be as many as 10 teachers cut from our school next year. i am asking you to keep washington a grade school. this program gives me extra help with math and other subjects. i am planning to go to college. please don't let budget cuts affect my education at washington. [applause] >> my name is kaitlin. even though we have a large number of students, my teacher gives us one-on-one attention. they make sure we understand the curriculum. if our class's get bigger, it will become more difficult to

understand the material. this will result in lowering grades and test scores. i heard that washington might have 200 fewer students at schools next year. this will really hurt our school budget. i don't think it is fair to deny a sentence to washington if a student wants to come to our school. i am a good example of that. there are more applicants than openings. if i was to apply to high school next year, i might be one of those that are denied. in the short run, it affects my education and in the long run, it affects my district. [beeping] thank you. [applause] >> good evening, united educators of san francisco. i will ask you to look ahead to your next meeting when you're

going to look at the budget again. you will look at the ending balance the you carry and you will see that it is fairly significant. you have the edu jobs money and rainy day fund in hand. now is the time to allay fears and start the sending layoff. you have a parent and teacher professionals that are out there worried about whether or not they have a chance to come back. you have the jobs money that has to be spent by next september. you have the rainy day funds that are brought back in order to avoid layoffs and keep things going as well as we can. while the superintendent motivated us at the beginning with the words about the impending doom, you have this money that is going to be there at least for next year.

commissioner wynns made a reference to what the teachers are planning during a 9-13. and we expect to have rolling demonstrations throughout the district in california. we expect to have a very specific action taking place during that period. -- during that. i energy you looking forward to changing and starting to rescind those left out. -- layoffs now. president mendoza:than thank you, mr. kelly. >> hello, i am very sorry i am not as eloquent has reverend

brown. i never will be. i am speaking regarding the move of the principal school, the move to the laguna honda side. currently, the school district spends $4,800 of instructional dollars per student. my understanding is that the new school has a 1-15 student to teacher ratio and a one to three students and faculty member ratio. i did not go to the san francisco schools, but to me, those numbers don't work. also the superintendent said that those numbers will soon be down to $4,300 per student. i believe i understood him correctly. although the locations for the

students probably isn't -- [beeping] isn't as bad as the forty third avenue location, it is still on the northwest side of the city. a considerable bus ride for most of the students. i will cut this short period the inner sunset is in great need for elementary school. i find the concept of this questionable. it is expensive. it is a bad location for the school and a facility that is needed for other purposes. thank you. >> i am here to speak to you about the proposed move of the

school. the principal center to the new location of what seems to be a very broken decision making process. without the information needed to make a sound decision. as he mentioned earlier, it is critical to have a plan. i was very stunned and upset at the lack of information, planning, and candor that was recently exhibited at the meeting to announce the move. for example, for different administrators claim to have no knowledge of crime committed by students at the school. i was victimized by students of the program. secondly, i cannot fathom why the district would want to put a school with kids with alcohol and drug problems somewhere where they can have easy access to drugs anytime they want after school. [beeping]

the decision process, i ask the provide transparency to the activities and decisions made today. we have yet to see one. i would of ululate this decision and to make this process right. >> i have kids attending, i am a public schoolteacher. i also who wish to express concern about the is that this meant of 150 students, most of whom will be referred to by the juvenile justice system. it will require close supervision and this is incoherently plans so far. this is just another school. the principal center is not even listed at the san francisco unified web site. there is no school accountability report card posted her any other data. i am disturbed by the lack of

transparency that has characterized this new use of schools. much more consultation is needed before san francisco unified make the mistake that we all requests. >> my name is often via smith, and i am here to ask the board to reconsider the decision to change what was let go the honda grammar school, my grammar school to a principle high school. we hear the budget shortfall, and we see that this principle high-school will be three times as expensive as any other high school. the inner sunset has endured the use of the school property and by newcomers and gateway high

school. the neighbors that had increased graffiti, trash, and other problems with the students. we are now told that a principal school is a done deal with no input from the neighborhoods. we are given the statistics of the current school relocated at forty third. we are told the students are at risk. we are an easy 15 minute walk from the lake ha which every day you read their are drug-dealing of arrests. we are not told that this campus will be a closed campus, to make sure that the student gets to stay there. we are faced with many more problems with the high-school.

this location was originally built as a grammar school. our demographics and our neighborhood has changed. i have gone from two children to a small and children, all of which have to leave to go to a grammar school. i would request that instead of a high school, whose location really needs a grammar school. >> i am a family resource coordinator. i am here advocating for parents that attend the after-school program that have had problems with tutoring in the after- school program. we had some parents come to the center to ask us to navigate the system to a maintain tutoring her based on letters they receive. we went through one of the

schools and we are told that of the 500 students that were eligible, only 30 actually applied and only 17 were granted tutoring. i'm here tonight to request, obviously it is too late in the year. in the next year, if we can find ways to make a process more transparent, a lot of parents were unsure why they received the to bring that they were told they were going to receive. the students and their children can receive the tutoring that is important for them. president mendoza: is this note child left behind tutoring? >> i am not sure what the title of it is. it is students eligible based on their test scores.

>> [speaking spanish] >> my kids attend betsy carmichael. i am here to talk about the tutoring services that have had a little bit of conflict. >> [speaking spanish] >> i have requested the services on time. i said in my form, and they have

not given the information. i have asked for information, and they have not told me what to do. >> speaking spanish. >> it so i am here to ask why. we do not get provided for those tutoring services. >> [speaking foreign language] >> i would like in the future not only for my child but for every kid for them to be more specific about this issue.

>> grasias. >> think. -- thanks. >> could you have her give your information re-gifter information? and then we will follow up with her. >> the integrity of the neighborhood. what is so disturbing is that so little information regarding very crucial and sensitive matters has been forthcoming. i lived four houses down with a question ringing in my years. sadly, the current version of the school has failed to

demonstrate korea oversight of the student body. if this is their track record, what happens at the stated goal capacity of 150? furthermore, there are many special needs children in the san francisco school system which are already underserved and which are emerging. the budget crisis, we have been talking about all evening. what about these children? and finally, the school is across the street from a preschool and a senior center. >> my name is d'arcy. i lived four houses from the laguna honda school. i am very concerned about the proposed treatment program

because of zero communication and a lack from the school district, the board, and the affiliate's dealing with this program. my question, where is the tangible data regarding operations, curriculum, and measured outcomes of this experimental program for juvenile justice offenders? what other options have you looked at for this site? if none, why? why have you not communicated or sought input from our neighborhood before making this decision? why have you not studied the impact of this program on our safe, family-oriented neighborhoods in terms of traffic, crime, and security? it sounds to me like another instance of a very vaguely conceived on research plan for the site foisted upon all of us in the inner sunset, and a few points that you did propose, the success of your proposal for

nine juvenile offenders is dubious. i offer a quote from a president. when you ask parents what they want, they want to make sure that when they drop their kids off at school, their kids are going to be in a safe, secure, environment. and i also quote another who was kind enough to respond to my letter. isolating and warehousing these kids in one school, and she said newcomers students who went directly into a traditional high schools are doing much better academically than their peers who have spent one year in newcomer high. that is why we closed the school. so if somebody teaches a wonderfully mixed student body, i can tell you diversity is a major factor in enhanced learning, and i hope you will consider that and also the fact that after this first year, the budget access is going to fall, in your program is going to have to change dramatically. thank you.

[applause] >> good evening, commissioners. i am an educator in san francisco. i wanted to talk briefly about the difference between rhetoric and reality. we talk about sacrifice, sending the notices to teachers, administrators, but you send out notices to 17 administrators and more than 200 of our members. i understand this is in some respected way to get money from the rainy day fund, but there is a difference in what you talk and what you do. the most recent issue, montessori. every single probationary teacher before any of them were evaluated. on top of the, the school

district made an announcement. there was a point. there is a reason you made that kind of school, and then you just to yank it away from it. what i am concerned about is that this will be another one of those situations where this will be a montessori school -- is the same way that you do this. you need to be more rigorous about what you are doing. if you are serious about involving parents, then you need to go about it in a very different way. president mendosa: >> i am a teacher at the sentence is a montessori school. this was too close to a detention gap and provide children access to this education. i am very sad that most of you have never visited our school and have never seen the experience offered to the children. but i'm even more sad and disappointed in the lack of accountability the districts

have demonstrated to the children, parents, and the teachers at our school. to us, it means we adhere to the highest standards of teacher training and standards across the classrooms and levels. the teacher training is recognized as the gold standard for montessori trading. we provide an approach to restore to justice that is truly in line korea for seven years, we have been a national model. we have been part of the blueprint and part of the standard, and then we found that yesterday this is no longer going to be a part of our curriculum. what does this mean for our children? my question for you is who will insure that? how is this approach going to be upheld? as far as montessori is concerned, this is the standard.

president mendosa: thank you. >> i am a teacher, and i would like to continue. we have maintained a high standard. any extra funding was always fund-raise by the community. what is it that is preventing us from continuing these best practices? this board has repeatedly assured us that the san francisco program montessori will continue to be an ami school. remaining ami was one of the number one things demanded by our community. removing it from public montessori shows a lack of accountability and