>> in the special education budget we just voted on, there were $300,000 in there, but that was different from this contract. is that correct? >> that is correct. the amount of money is for litigation costs, and for the special education, it is for special costs. >> the user fees paid as part of litigation? >> our lawyers are paid out of this budget. >> you told us this is a longer list.

is this comparable? can we reasonably hope it might not be more than that? >> last year it was a little higher. we have an amount in case an issue comes up where we cannot handle about, and we will not use that money unless we have approval. we have tried to create a bench of law firms. we found that lets us not only to compare the quality, but it allows us to compare the

outcomes. we significantly reduced what we used to be charged for. we have to preapproved the attorneys, and we also require a budget, and this gives us the ability to control costs superior -- control costs. >> you have 1.5 million plus $500,000 for special ed. >> yes, it is through the county superior -- through the county. >> you're asking for asa and -- permission to spend 300,000 out

of the 500,000. >> that is correct. >> i want to say i appreciate the way you are approaching the contracts with outside law firms compared to what you used to do, and i ask this question earlier and was not going to question it, but i do appreciate the fact that you have a bench. i keep thinking interests -- jurists, but i think that is a good approach. we can pick and choose, and

depending on some of front contract, it feels like you almost have to use amounthem, so thank you. >> i also want to thank you for your approach and how you are going to undertake the work they need, and also i'd appreciate her you have really taken the view on how we can get things done, but i wanted to ask, if

you have any information you can share with us, and in the past we have had negotiated services, and i would like to know what our relationship looks like now with the city attorney. i am happy to hear them now, what ever you have. >> we have $350,000 but was given -- that was given, but they have significant expertise they still rely on. in our litigation, and they continue to be our counsel, and we do utilize their assistance when we get inquiries about

where the office has a lot of expertise or on issues related to employment, and we still rely on their expertise quite a little bit. >> just on how you land on this number, $986,000, it is not like you take 17 and survived it by however much you are looking at, but how do you get your numbers? >> i rely on our manager superior -- our manager. she did an analysis and tried to

anticipate the allocation of the money, but i do not know the exact formula. we wanted to stay below 1 million to have for ourselves. >> are there any other questions? roll-call please. [calling votes] >> seven ayes. >> our next item is -- getting close. item q. i need a motion and a second. thank you.

we are going to refer this to curriculum and to budget. >> within the timeline, we will not have a curriculum meeting, so i would like to do this as a memo, and we will discuss it at second reading. >> our budget committee will not meet before this will be voted on. it is a new charter to us. we should scrutinize this much more, so i am reluctant to have a it because they are new.

it is a brand new charter schools, and i know very little about them, so i would request staff to have an extension on this, to do and who do diligence -- to have due diligence. >> do they get this approved for the upcoming school year? i do not see why we need to rush through this. >> this has been oddly submitted to us late in june. >> they said no, but we are not going to hear it in to lie, and

it is not tununtil the following school year. >> if we do not hear it, my understanding is it is automatically granted. >> if there is a throw in conversation, i am reluctant to approve it. >> can we work with staff? it would be in their best interest to try to give support for so i cannot see them making too much of the faa's -- too much of rome = = -- too much of

a fuss. item r, there are none. item f are board members report stereo -- board member report said. goo>> i know we also reviewed te budget once again within the city, and i thought to review our budget. i know i have already mentioned half of the report. >> in the second half, we were hearing about candlestick waynpt agreement, and part of the was

paying the zip code if they attended now, paying them a stipend, and also, there are jobs for those residing in nia 92124 zip code. >> they also included the valley community as well, we were able to facilitate some of those conversations with folks. providers from the traditional age youth. and get them the employment program. >> thank you. report from augmented ad hoc. we did that already. >> i wanted to report that we're not having a meeting in july. we had scheduled that.

>> the report from the augmented growth policy and legislative committee. >> the item was a legislative overview. they did not take any positions under that action item. we discussed the request for proposal requirements for state advocacy for the coming school year. we talked about the scale and scope of the country. this item is subject to a major budget cuts. so it means that we will not be able to do as much as we had previously asked the advocate to do. i know that nancy has asked board members if we intend to introduce legislation, that will be difficult given the size. the size of that budget. i do think we could leave the door open for legislation like if we decide to do legislation, we would need to find additional money to do that. finally, i want to thank susan

wong, she was in the audience earlier. she retires at the end of this month and she worked hard in support of the rules committee and i want to wish her best wishes. >> [gavel] >> president chiu: good afternoon, welcome to the san francisco board of supervisors meeting fthe stuff would conduc. >> the chair o will sit in on the interview process. >> the report from the augmented budget. there was an information item. can you give us a quick update? >> there is not much to tell on that. >> thank you. the report from the buildings and grounds. the only thing is the development of 1950. in 30 days there will be

prepared within rfp. and so the next 30 or 60 days will come away after it ihas ben reviewed. i want to thank the chair for being so open to hearing on going continuous board input into the conversation. i know you have heard many generations of commissioners over the years. i want to appreciate you in being open to having that. thank you. >> thank you. the report of close session actions. -- close session actions. >-- closed session actions. i wanted to thank them for their it and on saturday and sunday, our region to the chinese language committee on educational opportunities. mcdonald's was the sponsor for

that and i would like to include the district who participated in that event. that is the fourth year they have had it were they bring hundreds of folks to one of our high schools to brief them on scholarship opportunities, their educational opportunities. it is a great opportunity for us to outrage. secondly, there will be an international grain schoolyard conference in the san francisco bay area in september 16 through 18. many of our schools will be featured in that important event. that information is available at greenschoolyard.org. this is the last school board meeting for the year and want to thank my colleagues for training made to getting me up to speed as a member of the school board. i have to say one of the best events i attended this past year was the african-american honor

roll celebration during black history month. and that the event was amazing. 1200 african-american students with a 3.0 gpa or better, including two dozen 4.0 students. that event needs funding so i'm hoping that colleagues or listeners, people who are interested in supporting the honor roll event will get in touch with myself or the va marshall. i would like to see that continue strongly. >> thank you. >> i just came back from memphis and i wanted to highlight two sessions that are germane to the sessions we're doing. it is important information for us to have. i have the background information. the first was a great presentation on labor law development in wisconsin and in

new jersey, which was very interesting to me. i think that it was really great information. second was a wonderful session that was called, diversity, dead or different? about student responses in seattle and louisville and other member districts and that was really good. so in our ongoing discussions and interest in educating ourselves about this which is on our plate every minute, i hope that others will be interested in the information and materials are brought back. thank you. >> thank you. i want to make two announcements. congratulations to the students who participated in pride. there was a strong focus around bullying to the lgbt community. they came out in force and marched with the mayor so that was a wonderful sight to see.

i wanted to announce that we received a foreign language grant from united way bay area. to start a filipino language program at balboa high school which is being developed and will be adopted at balboa working over the summer. and so we're going to offer filipino i and ii and we are working with city college to do filipino iii and iv. so thank you, united way. we have -- thank you for during that period any more announcements? the report on a closed session actions. this is the closed session from june 28, 2011. the board vote dd and maufas

approved. item -- other items in the agend a are the following staff reports. acceptance of gifts for the month of may, 2011. our adjournment is in memory of a couple of folks that have been part of san francisco unified high school district. in memory of korea gonzales -- gloria gonzales. she was buried at sea. she was a mother, grandmother, and friend. working 26 years in various roles. as a homebound teacher with a special ed services department. the principal at the center. she was born during the depression as one of 12

children to mexican laborers and farmers. she spent her life working toward achieving a better education and educating the next generation. she was a graduate of pomona college and the university of california, berkeley. she valued for work and education and had a special passion for helping disadvantaged children pursuing an education regardless of their race, gender, or religion. she dedicated herself to education and the benefit of society. also we're closing in memory of david westin. >> thank you. what i have here is not an official memorial. i wanted to share a few thoughts from some teachers and students of mr. david westin's. he went into teaching later in life and that is an interesting perspective when someone starts

teaching after 35. they have done a lot of living and decided they want to teach now and that is david westin's road and he spent 12 years as a teacher at their good marshall perfecting -- thurgood marshall in mathematics and science. in my time in 2000 through 2004, he rode his bike through the city before was fashionable. this is an example that grownups can ride their bike to school and not guzzle gas as adults and i get a lot of disinformation also in here from a former thurgood marshall teacher. he lost his quiet battle to leukemia.

he was meeting with alumni students about the reunion and even the students about -- could not believe it. they had met with him weeks before. he was adamant about remaining in the classroom. one student says, i had mr. weston for geometry and he was the first teacher to show me the importance of perfection in mathematics. and what it meant. and how it affects my life and other lives. he never hesitated to give up his time to explain questions. he was truly dedicated in making math an important factor in a student's life and just so you understand, even the most difficult students, he helped them get mouth. one student had trouble and all the teachers assumed he would be a truant troublemaker for life came to mr. weston's math class

and came to his class and got it. upon returning to treatment, he asked today how his doing and let him know i am thinking about him. our supervisors noted, and he is a good teacher. the teachers and kids loved him. i want to talk about how incredible he was about making young people understand mouth. a student that i know said that every friday, they would have private time to work on their own mouth projects. she would continuously move her chair out of the road into the sunlight in the classroom. mr. weston asked her, why would she do that? she said sunlight made her think better. when he gave awards to students, he created the photosynthesis mathematics award for her. because if she appreciated the sunlight and it helped her think, he believed that yes, he wanted to support her in that way. his memorial was just on the

23rd and many former teachers, it was good to see sam butcher, all these folks come together to appreciate this man, mr. weston and former students and i was able to share in that celebration. he is celebrated and leaves behind many family and friends but his partner brian fulfilled the end of his life with a wonderful travel around the world. i want to personally appreciate him and know he was a great teacher who took up teaching later in life. thank you. >> thank you. the board of education express their condolences to the families. meeting adjourned. have a great summer, everyone.

>> the san francisco cons tri of flowers in golden gate park is now showing a new exhibit that changes the way we see the plants around us. amy stewart's best-selling book, "wicked plants" is the inspiration behind the new exhibit that takes us to the dark side of the plant world. >> i am amy stewart. i am the arthur of "wicked plants," the weeds that killed lincoln's mother and other botanical atrocities.

with the screens fly trap, that is kind of where everybody went initially, you mean like that? i kind of thought, well, all it does is eat up bugs. that is not very wicked. so what? by wicked, what i mean is that they are poisonous, dangerous, deadly or immoral or maybe illegal or offensive or awful in some way. i am in the profession of going around and interviewing botanists, horticulturalists and plant scientists. they all seem to have some little plant tucked away in the corner of a greenhouse that maybe they weren't supposed to have. i got interested in this idea that maybe there was a dark side to plants. >> the white snake root. people who consumed milk or meat from a cow that fed on white snake root faced severe pain. milk sickness, as it was

culled, resulted in vomiting, tremors, delirium and death. one of the most famous victims of milk sickness was nancy hangs lincoln. she died at the age of 34, leaving behind 9-year-old abraham lincoln. he helped build his mother's casket by carving the woodallen petition douche the wooden petition himself. >> we transformed the gallery to and eerie victorian garden. my name is lowe hodges, and i am the director of operations and exhibitions at the conls tore of -- cons tore of flowers. we decided it needed context.

so we needed a house or a building. the story behind the couple in the window, you can see his wife has just served him a glass of wine, and he is slumped over the table as the poison takes affect. a neat little factold dominion about that house is actually built out of three panels from old james bond movie. we wanted people to feel like i am not supposed to be in this room. this is the one that is supposed to be barred off and locked up. >> the ole andersonner -- oleander. this popular shrub is popular in warm climates. it has been implicated in a surprising number of murders and accidental deaths. children are at risk because it takes only a few leaves to kill them. a southern california woman tried to collect on her tried to collect on her husband's life insurance by