have traditionally had. it is not working in hotels and parking lots and things that have been a great part of our economy in the past. it is now the technology leadership that the city has to offer. the innovation in the medical research field, the innovation in the clean text field -- the clean tech field. all the jobs in the mission bay and the bayview -- it will be about the foundation of talent we can provide. they know that. they have your future at stake when they say, "we will invest and work with the city together, collaborate in every possible way, whether it is summer school, cleaning up the neighborhood, supporting the principals in all the things they have to do, whether it is giving the resources to the teachers so they can make sure they have the tools to help you." altman, it is thanking the

parents of our kids -- ultimately, it is thanking the parents of our kids. the parent/teacher relationships are probably the most important thing we have in the city. as long as i keep the great communication levels on, talk to everybody, make sure the parents feel investing in their kid and making sure you are not distracted by things that will not keep you in school, those are the things that we invest in. i want to thank the students here, and i want to thank the board members that are here today, the parent/teacher advisers that are here. i want to thank the school administrators. you and i -- it is our jobs, but i think we enjoy success. we enjoy seeing this improvement. every week we have a chance to identify something else we can do for our district improvement, i will be there for you. thank you very much. [applause]

>> good afternoon. i am deputy superintendent for instructional information and social justice. mr. mayer, thank you for your words -- mr. mayor, thank you for your words. in 2008, this community made a very bold statement, and the ripple effect went across the country. we are not going to stand for the same old thing. the status quo is not good enough. as long as we have an achievement gap -- our educational system, if it is not good enough for those achieving at the lowest end, it is not good enough for anyone. it was a very inspirational, very aspirational stake in the ground that said we are not going to do things the same old way. i am proud to say to you that from the aspiration, we have gotten to the nuts and bolts. one of the things i want to talk about is how we have seen this kind of growth over the last five years continuing to put us

on the trajectory to close and eliminate achievement gaps. it is simple when you think about it. it is engaging our parents to understand not only what schooling is about but what their role is in the process. if we fundamentally believe -- which we do -- that the most critical element of any school improvement is the teacher in the classroom, and that is where the magic happens. when the door opens and students and teachers come in, there's a magic that happens in the interaction that budget cuts and obstacles cannot get in the way up. what we have been able to do and what we are striving to do is to give teachers tools so they are effective in the classroom. we have focused on standard structures, the notion that all students know where they are and at what time and where they are in mastering standards. this past year, we implemented a system of benchmark assessments, which give teachers real-time data to understand what

standards students have mastered and which ones they have not quite mastered. the basic premise of what we have done to really build these kinds of communities is to empower all stakeholders -- parents, teachers, professionals -- in using data effectively so that no student is just an enrollment statistic. every student has a name, a story, and their plan. when we talk about the groups of students we have identified -- african-american, latino, pacific islander, and students with disabilities -- we are not leaving any student to be anonymous. they have names, stories, and a learning plan. regardless of what happens as we go through the next few years, and budget times may continue to be rough, but i will tell you -- we have great people in these classrooms. it would be easy to say that

these types of games have been made because we are becoming more selective about who takes algebra, for select -- for example. a few years ago, we have very few students at the eighth grade level taking algebra, and we have blown the doors open in terms of access. we have tripled the number of students taking algebra in the eighth grade and being successful in algebra in eighth grade. that means when they go to ninth grade, they are taking geometry. when they get the 10th grade, they are taking algebra ii. they have completed their requirements their sophomore year. it is very powerful that we have invested in this notion. the other thing i want to say, and i would invite you -- in the press release, you have a list of schools that have shown tremendous gains. i invite you to talk to the teachers and staff members and ask what they did that made such a big difference. another step the district took was to identify 15 schools that

historical have not -- historically have not performed well. the things i have just talked about -- using data effectively, instructional practice, standards-based construction -- you will see that many of those schools made tremendous growth this year -- using data effectively, instructional practice, standards-based instruction. no student is anonymous. all students have names and stories. that is what we are here to do, to meet the needs of our students. as the chief instructional officer of our district, i am very proud that our parents, teachers, administrators -- everyone has gotten us to this point, but we are not done yet. we have a long way to go. probably most importantly, as a parent of two children in san francisco unified, i am proud to say that we are san francisco unified parents.

with that, i want to introduce someone i think is absolutely wonderful because she is the principal of washington high school, which has a long and very storied story. how's that for alliteration? la washington high school really did not have a reason to look deeply at what they were doing -- washington high school really did not have a reason to look deeply at what they were doing. but they lived our strategic plan and said, "who are the students who are succeeding? more importantly, who are the students who are not succeeding ?" they took a good look at what and who and how, and i will let her describe to you what has made a difference in the lives of our children, especially the children we have identified as part of our achievement gap, so it is with great honor and great

humility that i present her to you. [applause] >> welcome to washington high school. i want to welcome the board members and the mayor and the superintendent and our union representatives. we are very happy to have you here. i just want to continue with the team we have been talking about. the graduation rate -- i was just given this information for washington high school -- is 90%. it is unheard of. our dropout rate in comparison to the state at 18%, is 4%. [applause] hour suspension rate has decreased across all grade levels and all ethnicities this past year. our cst data in english for the last two years, 2/3 of our students have increased at least one performance level or maintained, so we are extremely

proud of that. [applause] i want to key in on what richard said. i cannot remember your title. i am sorry. it is way too long. are african-american, latino, an english language students -- we really work hard on the students -- our african-american, latino, and english language students. it is not always about tests. it is really about what is happening in the classroom with the teachers. we tried to, as the administrative team, give the support to the teachers. the most important work that goes on here is not in my office. it is in the classroom. that is over and over. it is with great pleasure -- the african-american performance rate -- i have been jumping up and down since i saw it -- is at 24.8% this year. latinos went up 5.9%.

in our mass, we have moved incredible numbers of students from the algebra in to the geometry and advanced algebra, and this comes as a team approach. it is the parents, the teachers, the students, our beacon support from the rest -- richmond district neighborhood. it is from the league office. it is from the benchmark assessments we have been given. at the end run, we have seen that 82% of our parents, when asked if they love this school, say yes, they love this school. [applause] i want to invite some of our students up. these are the real deal. these are the ones that you hog as they walk down the hall because they have done such good work.

we were very strategic in this. we made sure we pulled together groups of students, and we found a name and a face with them. we put together a special form. their pictures, test scores, grades, what they did work on it, and we took the information and gave it to the district, and they change their formats so that we can know and get closer to the students. this is jordan wilson, and he will speak for the students. tell us how it changed. >> how it changed? well, first of all, good afternoon. we have the star performer, which is very important to me because they came in, mentored me, help me -- helped me and taught me everything i needed to know. that is how it improved all my

scores. i would like to thank them first. they also just give you all the support you need to succeed, and they just want to help you. that is all they want to do. then, we also have the beacon, which is an after-school program, but they also provide tutoring, which really helps. they provide help on your homework, on your class work, and they help you and mentor you. they want the best for you just like the staff and teachers. they always prepare you for everything you need to know, everything you need to do for the test. they want the best for you. they want to help you a lot. they just want to see you succeed. they've not ever want to see you fail. they always want you to keep on going and for you to succeed during the test, during their test, during -- doing the class work and doing your homework. they will do everything to get you to that level. they always want you to be at

the top so you can perform the best. all the staff and the teachers and all the extra activities that they have around washington -- i hope we can always have this every single year. i hope star performer will be there for me next year because i need it. i will keep on going to the beacon, which is a great thing, and keep on going to my teachers and staff for help. [applause] >> i would be remiss if i did not mention that last year, our sports teams also did well. we won the quadrifecta for football, baseball, basketball, and track. one of the things we did was we looked at our high-school exit exam rate, which is very high here. one of the highest within the district.

we look at how come our rate on the cst's was not as high. we had to talk to the students about why it was important to them. it was a little bit of marketing, a lot of understanding and mentor ship, which jordan mentioned, and really working the program, closing the achievement gap and having the whole entire school focusing on that. thank you. thank you for being here. [applause] >> thank you. i get to close it out, which is really sweet for me because i am a washingtonian. it was 27 years ago that i graduated from washington high school, and the library actually looks a lot smaller now that i am older. i cannot say that i contributed to the proficiency rate back then, but i am is so proud of our students and teachers and how wonderful they have done. i am the president of the board

of education and also mayor lee 's education adviser, but my most important job has been as a parent. i am pleased and proud to be a parent here in san francisco unified and to join my colleagues who also have kids in our public school system either now or have had them graduate, as well as our mayor, who had his kids in our public schools. he was telling me they are now graduating from graduate school. they have moved on to that next level, and it is a real wonderful place to be as a parent and to have somebody at the helm who has also sent his kids to public schools all these years. we continue to struggle with the challenges of our school system, and to see this kind of growth over the last several years has just been tremendous. especially with our targeted students. we really wanted to put a lot of our energy and resources in the

places that needed it the most, but we did not lose sight of all of our students. i think that the growth really indicates that we as a district have grown substantially, and it has been an honor to be on the school board during this time to see how well our kids have done. i really want to thank my colleagues. our vice-president is here as well, who has been on the board for several years. our school board has been really focused, and we have been purposely thinking about what our priorities are and making sure that the work we do in our schools falls under one of these priorities. we cannot be distracted any longer. our kids are our biggest concern, and i think over the last several years, we have release said -- really said, "enough is enough." we have fought with parents about what they think is good

and we think is good. we have really had to think about what kinds of tools and support we need to give it our teachers and principals as well as the tools and what jordan was talking about that we need to give to our students and ask them what they need and want in order to achieve. we're taking a very different approach to the way we are educating our kids, and it is not just about test scores. these look beautiful and wonderful, and i am really proud of them, but it is also about educating kids holistic lead. how are we making sure their families are safe and secure and employed? how we are working with our unions and supporting our teachers? it is a holistic approach in the way in which we want to serve our kids. we have been in schools all morning, and it has been terrific to hear some of the services that the city has been able to provide that enables us to make sure that you as students are succeeding, whether it is the wellness centers,

which we are beautifully equipped to bring in our kids to talk about the challenges they are having. the after-school programs. we have had a lot of adults in our schools, and during times when we have had to unfortunately sent pink slips out to some of our adults, we've had many back in our schools. we were thanking them for showing up, thanking them for being our round. the mayor has been reminding kids to thank their parents when they get home. this is a really big responsibility for us as parents, to insure that our kids are actually showing up to school. the absenteeism and truancy peace is something that both the school district and city are supporting, making sure you guys are not only in schools, but that what we have to offer you once you are here is something you want to learn and be part up. we will continue to look to you to tell us what it is that you need. because we need to keep you here. i think our responsibility is to set those policies that will matter in the long run.

we will be looking once again to our administrators union and our teachers union to help us direct our resources and figure out what it is we can do to keep all of the cuts as far away from the classroom as possible. richard, you have been integral to helping us understand this in layman's terms. we appreciate all you have done. to the teachers and students and parents, congratulations. this has been a wonderful thing for us to see. there's a lot of senior staff here also, and without the senior staff, we would not have been able to support you in any way we have been. congratulations, erica. great job. bill, eagles -- go, eagles. my daughter would not appreciate that since she is elsewhere. it is really great to see. we want to be able to raise the standards. we want to be able to offer more aid the glasses.

we want to see our kids graduate. we're also looking at it from early childhood education to 20. we want to make sure that once you graduate from here, we get you through college and you graduate college. we have a lot of mechanisms in place, many things we are doing collectively and collaboratively to make sure our kids are doing well. starting in preschool because we want to make sure it does not start. as we start to narrow it on the high levels, we want to make sure it does not start on our lower levels. this is a great time to be able to say that 10 years in a row, we have been seeing high achievement, and i am is so proud, as we all are. congratulations to the teachers and students. [applause] them a week ca questions, and then hopefully, a few of you who spoke and maybe some students could stick around

a little bit in case any members of the media want to interview you individually -- >> we can take a few quick questions. there's a lot of pressure to ask in front of the group. we will disperse. thank you for coming and had a great day. because we have a great waste water system here in san francisco, we do about 80 million gallons of waste water here in san francisco, which means we basically fill up 120 olympic sized swimming pools each and every day here in the

city. we protect public health and safety and environment because we are discharging into the bay and into the ocean. this is essentially the first treatment here at our waste water treatment facility. what we do is slow down the water so that things either settle to the bottom or float to the top. you see we have a nice selection of things floating around there, things from bubble gum wrappers, toilet paper, whatever you dump down the toilet, whatever gets into our storm drains, that's what gets into our waste water treatment and we have to clean. >> see these chains here, this keeps scum from building up. >> on this end in the liquid end basically we're just trying to produce a good water product that doesn't negatively impact the receiving water so that we have recreation and no bad

impact on fish and aquatic life. solids is what's happening. . >> by sludge, what exactly do you mean? is that the actual technical term? . >> it's a technical term and it's used in a lot of different ways, but this is organic sewage sludge. basically what it is is, oh, maybe things that come out of your garbage disposal, things that are fecal in nature. it's sludge left in the water after the primary treatment, then we blend those two over and send them over to digestion. this building is built to replace tanks here that were so odoriferous they would curl your hair. we built this as an interim process.

>> is there a coagulant introduced somewhere in the middle of this? . >> this coagulant brings solids together and lets the water run through. that gives us more time in the digestion process, more time to reduce the amount of solids. these are the biggest ones in the world, like we always like to do in san francisco. they are 4 meter, there's none like it in the world. >> really? wow. >> three meters, usually. we got the biggest, if not the best. so here we are. look at that baby hum. river of sludge. >> one of the things is we use bacteria that's common in our own guts to create this reduction. it's like an extra digestion. one of the things we have to do to facilitate that is heat that sludge up and keep it at the temperature our body likes,

98.6 degrees. >> so what we have here is the heat exchanger for digester no. 6. these clog up with debris and we're coming in to -- next wet weather season so we always come through here, clean them out, make sure that we get maximum heat exchange during the colder wet weather. sludge season. >> rubber glove. >> right here. >> rubber glove, excellent. all right, guys. >> thank you. >> good luck. >> this is the full on hazmat. . >> residual liquid. we're taking it time to let it drain. we don't want to get sludge on it necessarily. take your time. stand on the side of it.

. >> should we let it release for a while? . >> let it release. >> is that the technical term? . >> this is the most important bolt on the whole thing. this is the locking bolt. it locks this thing right in place. so now. >> take your hammer and what we want to do, we get rag build up right in here. the hot water recirculates right in here, the sludge recirculates in here. the sludge sometimes has rags in it. all we want to do is go around the clean the rags. let me show you how. take the slide hammer, go all the way through the back, go around. >> got you. >> during the real rainy season, how does that change the way dealing with this job?

is it a lot more stuff in there? . >> what we do, charles, we do this quarterly. every four months we go around and clean all the heat exchangers so we don't have a large build up. . >> go around? . >> yeah. (sound of hammering). >> what i'm trying to do, charles, is always pull it out on the low stroke. >> right. so you are not, like, flying out. now talk about clean up.

. >> then where does this stuff get deposited? . >> we're going to dump it in a debris box and it will go back to the plant. >> if you think back, the romans came up with a system of plumbing that allowed us it use water to transport waste away from the hub of civilization, which enabled cities to grow. . >> you have a large bowl, a drive motor and another motor with a planetary gearbox with differential pressure inside there. the large mass up there spinning separating the solids from the liquid. we have to prevent about once a month, we go in there grease those, change the oil, check the vibration levels.

the operators can tell just by the hum of that machine that it's a harmonic noise emitted that it's out of balance and the machine needs to be cleaned. it will start vibrating and we have vibration analysis machines that will come over here and check the levels. so it's kind of an on-going thing that you have to stay on top of on a daily basis. >> handled properly, you take organic residuals, as we call them, that are leftovers of our society and turn them back into some energy. and we have another ability to take that sludge and get a nutrient value for crops there. we actually are running a kind of composting energy recovery system. >> well, this is a dirty job. we try to do it safely and we try to do it without imposing too much on the public.