>> hi, my name is nikolas. i am currently a student at abraham lincoln high school, and i was a first sergeant in the jrotc. when i first joined it, i was behind credits and but i was better than everyone else. it took no more than one semester for the colonel to set me in the right path. he gave me the option of independent studies, which allowed me to make up credits. he also did something you never see in any pe class. he taught me the meaning of respect and have to become a leader. one year later, i became a first sergeant, and i am currently in command of 56 students.

one thing i would say about the part of independent studies is that you can work on your own time. and most of the individuals that participate in independent studies take part of some form of sport. it helps them to make of their credits and graduate from high school on time. thank you. [applause] >> again, my name is i have been. i would like to start by thanking the board for giving me this opportunity to speak. i have been in jrotc for two years, and i am now considering to be part of the branches of the military. those five credits of independent study can turn my future of graduating or flunking, so i am not saying i

and going to consider dropping out if i do not graduate, because i will graduate, but those of credits would make a difference or any other senior and can hope for rejoin a branch of the military. also, it has taught me discipline, independent study, because i had a bicycle and rode for a little while, but then i put it away. but when i had independent study, i need to have activities and exercise, so now i changed it up and cleaned up, and i am writing it for at least three hours. that is another way of showing that they have helped me. [applause] >> hi. i am a is an education teacher at lincoln high school. i have been there for over 10 years, and i think clinton has one of the best physical education and jrotc programs.

i teach physical education because i think it is important. i think exercise is the best way to stay alert and healthy. our kids involved motor skills, learn how to be fit, and learn how to make it part of their daily lives. two years ago, they stopped giving credit fort pierce it bothers me that the district gave. instructors two years to get their teaching credentials, and not one of them did, and now, you want to give them another two years. what kind of standard is that? is this being allowed because this is only the physical education? it makes me worry about what is next. are we going to let anyone who wants to take physical education

and do it because it works better for their program? i feel and hope that you will agree with me that after giving pe independent programs, it does not work. this should remain an elective with no physical education credits allowed. thank you. >> good evening. my name is janet clark, and i am a physical education teacher at lincoln high school. after the jrotc article in "the san francisco chronicle" a few weeks ago, a few of us tried to set up an appointment with the superintendent, and when that did not work, we try to meet

with board members. we found out there was a june 9 board meeting, and two of us were able to come here and speak. all of this was done in the hopes to address to all of you our significant concerns about how the pe independent studies program was affecting our program, and we believed a look and how it is not working was warranted before voting to extend the deadline. unfortunately, pe does not get the recognition it deserves. we have an excellent position here in the san francisco unified school district. however, each year it gets a little harder to stand up with all of the cuts that our program gets. >> you know, we are credentialed teachers. if i was not credentials, i would not have a job. we gave rotc two years to get a

credential, and not one of them did. thank you. >> hello, my name in marilyn. i am a certified board national credentialed teacher at a middle school, and i have been teaching pe for 32 years, and in the people that spoke before me, i have been taking notes, and i have noticed some flawed logic. in response to the "san francisco quanis," article, the student went on to describe the activities that would be in the physical education class. the students and of spoken tonight have made a number of comments about only having to do activities i am capable of

doing, not being the person i would be without jrotc. how do you know? how do you know you are not the person you would have been? again, we are talking flawed logic. the difference between graduating and flunking out, that speaks to motivation. its students are motivated to get an education, they will, so i think they need to get the education that the state of california set down for them. thank you. >> good evening. i am a physical educator with the san francisco unified school district. i am here because i and many of my colleagues are greatly concerned about giving pe credit for jrotc.

it does not fulfill the state requirement. unfortunately, the contract set forth with independent study. most schools is not being followed. these students are not hitting all of the content standards that they are supposed to, and they should not be getting physical education credit for doingrotc. now more than ever comepe wrote -- more than ever, pe has changed. we have tests that students need to pass, just like in the academic classes. i believe in a physical education, but i do not believe that these should be combined. they are different curriculums. now more than ever, with childhood obesity, diabetes, all

sorts of adult, adult diseases that are happening, 30% of our children are facing supposedly adult diseases, lifestyle diseases. it is important for children to be visibly agitated. thank you. a comprehensive education they can get by credentialed as education teachers. thank you. >> good afternoon, everyone. i was a master sergeant. i have been doing this for 25 years. flawed logic is not giving the students a choice. that is flawed logic. we all got together today in first thing did the pledge of allegiance. they do meet the requirements. i am students and of not stepped into a physical education program, and yet some are graduating this year.

one is going to berkeley, went to stanford, one to uc-davis. i would just want to come and look and our curriculum. it is outright silly to think that we could get a credential in the time frame that you authorized us. i do not think any single instructor would do -- asked if we get -- would not do what you ask if we got the assistance and help. rotc is part of the solution, not the problem. everyone of these instructors are minority. i think we set a prime example for the school district, so all we're asking is to get an option, like everyone else. thank you. [applause]

>> good evening. thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak. i am jerry, the director of the program in the city. i had a bunch of things to say, but they have already been said, but i am going to roll into a remedial hand writing class, and i will be back with a sample of my handwriting. -- i am going to enroll in one. a community has a need. we are doing what you have asked us to do as far as implementing the independent study program. nobody respects the physical education department more than i do. up until just a few years ago, we had a great relationship with the physical education department across this district. we support the kids. we support the physical

education department as well. this serves the students that require an option. this gives kids a choice. it gives administrators an option. what is wrong with that? thank you. uh-uh, and i have some petitions and a letter from one of the students but was unable to be here, and i would like to present it to you. president mendoza: all right, thank you. thank you all for sharing your thoughts. i want to open up the comments from the board. commissioner yee? commissioner yess -- yee: i went

to make sure we stay focused. i am not here to discuss about the merits of jrotc. a few years ago, there were enough people on the board you wanted to support the program and find a creative way to do that, and we came up with a creative way to offer the physical education for independent study, knowing that we also needed a credentialed teacher in pe, and there was agreed at the time that this sounded like a great way to go, and people meaning the adults here seemed to agree that, ok, if this is the only way we can get this done at this point, because of the restrictions that are put upon us by the state in terms of them not giving us a straight answer for anything, my

assumption, maybe i made the wrong assumption, is that what that meant was that the adult instructors who needed to get the credential in agreeing that they would actually pursue it, because this program for me is about the kids. it is not about the adults. and that is why i am supporting it, so here we are. and i was the author of that resolution to create that possibility. i feel like i am not too sure what the adults are tellingly, that, by the way, just make the resolution and i will laugh in your face, left in the board face because we passed it. why should we even bother extending this? because the purpose of this is not about whether jrotc is good

or not. it is about providing a creative way. until something changes, we have to continue providing that creative mechanism to offer that to students, so talking about the program with kids coming up, i would not support this. this gives it away for me. i do not want the adults to come here and say, well, sure, but do what ever you need to do so i can keep my job, it and it is not about that. it is about keeping the program. if you do not want to work on keeping this program, then go find something else to do. we need to find people who are willing to play by our rules, so

i am sorry i feel that way, so i am very mixed with this. i want to offer an amendment to this, an amendment would read, and i do not know where to put it, but one of the further resolve's, any new instructor of jrotc to the district, that the district hires, will have the necessary certification and/or credential to provide general supervision of independence steadyin pe. -- independent study in pe. president mendoza: we need a second? i will second. commissioner v -- yee; we need

to be able to do this without doing this every couple of years. president mendoza: i need a roll call. commissioner: i wanted to make a comment. the person he said that nobody is going to go and get the credential, which i think is what was issued here, there was not adequate time. we just made up the two-year time, and people were working on their degrees and making progress, but there was not time to do it. i think that is what is being said, and that is what i was told. i do not think that we are shooting the requirement that we do that. it has been difficult, and they

have limited resources to try to offer the support that is needed. commissioner yee: i want to make it, after the roll call in response to commissioner wynns. separate:. -- secretary: [reading roll] that is five eyes. president mendoza: did you want to finish your comment? commissioner yee: what i was looking for was any attempt to

even get there. i could be wrong. my own knowledge, because nobody stepped forward to tell me anything, from my understanding, there was no attempt to even take any courses, so that is what makes the difference for me. if they had said to me, "oh, yes, we have really tried and took these courses." mysak -- my daughter is going to school for her master's. she is taking time to have courses after work, but she is not going to finish in two years, her master's program. i know that. "i have taken courses a, b, and see, and i need more time." i am hoping people will make an effort to honor a resolution.

president mendoza: thank you. commissioner norton? commissioner norton: i can only speak for myself, but i do not think at the time i support this resolution that i was clear on what credential they would need to acquire, plans and as our public -- as an education department has said, a pe credentialing is one thing, a california credential is another. if we have required them to take a multiple subject credential, they could have done that without doing some of the other student teaching and other things that would have been required under a pe credential, so i do not think we were clear enough or specific enough about

what we were requiring people to do, and i think in addition, i do not think that, in retrospect, that staff was particularly helpful at first in laying out for the instructors what they needed to do to obtain the necessary credentials for the board. i think that in retrospect the two years was unrealistic. in addition, all of this has been because of the changes to the physical education framework that were done by the board and at the state level. prior to 2009, we were perfectly in compliance by offering rotc as an alternative in the ninth and 10th grades. it had nothing to do with rotc at all. if this board wants to continue to support this program, it

seems to me we should be putting the pressure where it belongs, which is at the state level to allow this board to give, to have rotc to have this before the requirement, because that was our policy. i am a little disconcerted by this proposal. as commissioner yee said, we have not been able to get a straight word out of several entities. what does that mean? does that have to come back to the board again? does everyone still need to have a physical education credential if we decide not to do independent study? it seems to me it raises a lot of questions for the future, and i think i can speak for everyone on the board that we would not rather come up every two or

three years because i think all of us are tired of talking about it and fighting about it. i do not know if staff, and i do not know if anyone can clarify what aipac might be for the board in light of the amendment we just passed, because it seems to me the superintendent laid out in his recommendations some options on how we might proceed in allowing teachers to supervise the independent study, because that seems to have been the issue, because the physical education department feels that it is an undue burden to supervise this independent study on top of meat -- the rotc program. president mendoza: commissioner? commissioner: the

administration, our jobs are to follow whenever the decisions the board makes, so if the board made this decision, which it did, that in two years it ended, so we had to come and figure out a way to bring it to you and say, "ok, what do you want to do now?" i will tell you we have had discussions with the teaching credentialing. we have the discussions with a lot of people in sacramento. so far, that decision has to be made by the teaching credentialing office. it is not a decision that anyone else really makes. it is made by them. if, indeed, they changed that, then we would probably be coming back to the board to say they had changed their credentialing requirements, and then we bring their consideration to the board. that is pretty much what we would have to do since the amendment is already passed. we would come back, if, indeed,

it changed. having this discussion for four years, and whether it changes is anybody's guess, ok? >> can i asked our attorney? i do not know what it would say, but if this changes, that if the state rules change, and suddenly it does not require a pe credential for the board to a lowrotc to meet the pec -- pe requirements, can we propose some language to do that? >> the answer is yes. you can include as part of the motion that should be c either thetc or any other state lot --

that either the ctc or any other state law will change that that would be considered as an amendment. commissioner: i would like to hear what my colleagues think. i do not think any of us think that the independent study is the perfect solution. to my mind, it was a main purpose solution to the problem. if this board does support rotc and generally supports the principle that we should allow the course to substitute for the pe requirement, we could revert our policy back without us having to take this up and do this charade every time.

president mendoza: i think we understand what you're saying. commissioner maufas: there are a couple of things that i wanted to voice. first of all, i appreciate vice president yee's amendment. it is just needed. the issue, myself being a board member that did not support this resolution that we have before us that we are trying to extend, the issue was not -- it was about physical education and what we understand being part of the education system here in san francisco is that within the jrotc instructors, it is not

equivalent, and to get them to go and get credentialed and to continue with an ongoing professional development, so that is an expectation that we have your. that has not changed from four years to now, and even the insinuation that for some reason, we were confused, it was too vague . we didn't understand, the instructors do not know, they could not figure it out, not even an attempt to find some way to participate in further education does not make any sense to me, so i was not confused. i did not even support it. i would see somebody moving and shaking to try to get further

agitated to become a teacher. yes, it was an ongoing issue. i clearly understood the expectation, and i want to make sure it does not get out there and starts running on its own. there was no confusion. we expected and still expect that if you are working with students in the school district, you are expected to not only get your education but to continue that, because that is what education is about. it is an ongoing process, and if we work with kids, that