may be between one member and another member. they do not occur at the same time, they do not occur in the same place. the simplest is when they occur by telephone, when member calls member b, and them member b decides she wants to hear what member c has to say about that, and then member c calls member d. those are unlawful, and they do occur mostly through technology, telephones, facts, email, text messaging. they also can occur through human intermediaries, a member of your staff talking to one board member, find out what one board member things about a particular issue and goes to another board member and says, "well, board member a tells me

this. what do you think?" and that process goes on until it includes a majority of the members, and then you have an unlawful seriatim meeting. one thing we have cautioned board members a lot is that it is very easy to have email exchanges turned into an unlawful meeting. someone sends an email addresses it to all board members, and the members start replying. they hit reply all, and then it becomes a discussion among a majority of members about an item that is within the board jurisdiction. that discussion is not taking place in public. the public does not know. today, we're not talking about public records, but i also wanted to remind you that when

you use technology to communicate by email or by text or other means, even if you are using your own, personal device, if you are communicating about the public business, it is at least possible -- the lot is not very well developed on this issue, there have been a couple of cases, but we have not been given enough guidance yet, but it is possible that that could be subject to disclosure. i want to make sure you are all aware of that. ok, so now we know what a meeting is. we can go on to public notice. of course, all of your public meetings have to be noticed, and your secretary is an expert in that in making sure that is done properly, and that notice includes your agenda, and you

cannot act on any matter or discuss any matter that is not on your agenda. i think you all are well aware of this issue, and just a reminder, it includes discussion. an item that is not on your agenda. director: can i ask for a clarification of the process? >> sure. director: for an item to be on the agenda. >> the way that that works is that your agendas are sent by the director of transportation and the president or the chairman of your board, who sets the agenda and decides when items will come before the board, so an individual board member does not have the

authority to command that a certain item appeared on the agenda at a certain time. that is how the process works. president nolan: but as often happens, and during comments, as director brinkman did, that is -- >> that is ok, because you are hearing from the board, know what items the individual members went on, and you are discussing it with the director, especially if it requires some kind of staff action or staff report. you are making sure. you are doing that in your function as a chair as administrative matter to make sure that everything can come before the board in due course. and there is no problem with individual board members stating what they would like to have on the agenda, telling the executive director, that they would like to have something on

the agenda, asking the chair to place it on the agenda. that is perfectly fine. that is what you do. there are some exceptions to the rule about not discussing items on the agenda. they are extremely rare, but there are some in emergencies. you sometimes will be able to discuss matters that are not on the agenda. of course, our office would be giving you advice about this. i have been in this office for 22 years, and i think the only time i have ever seen this happen was after loma prieta. and this goes back to your question, about not discussing items on the agenda. it does not prevent people from asking to put something on a future agenda, from a board member following up on public

comment, for asking for clarification about what their concern is, a public common with the reference to staff or other resources or asking staff to report back on something that a member of the public is commenting about. so one of the other tenants for public meetings is that the public has a right to comment at all public meetings. they have the right to comment anonymously. your secretary asks for people to provide a speaker card, and that is fine, but if the speaker does not want to fill a speaker card, they have a right to address you. they have the right to criticize the policy body, criticize members of the policy body, to criticize staff. again, they need to keep on

topic. and they do not have the right to discriminate against members of staff, make discriminatory comments. that, again, is a matter that the deputy who is present would be advising about if you got into a situation like that. speakers have a right to equal time. you must give speakers equal time on the particular item, and speakers have the right to translation. the members of the public that do not speak english have a right to have their comments translated, and one more point of clarification because we have had that come up a bit, our understanding is, for example, if we are giving three minutes of public comment, and the person needs translation, it is three minutes for their comments and three minutes from the transmitter, but if they are

translating their own comments, it is a total of three minutes. >> i think that is right, click. >> madam chair, three minutes for the speaker, and then i do not time and all the translator. >> the limits on public comment, speakers have up to three minutes on an item. i know you are all familiar with this. sometimes you get less for everybody. they do not have the right to speak off topic or to discuss other meetings. they do not have the right to a response from the board or staff members. that is absolutely discretionary. and they do not have the right to discriminate against city staff. >> can i? so the no right to speak off topic, sometimes in a meeting we have some guy talking about steve jobs, just going off, and

there was another person who came up and sang a song in the past, and i am wondering -- i understand that they do not have the right to do that so to speak, but i am just curious as to how we should be handling those things in the future because i also want to encourage a sense of discipline from within this room, and i am wondering -- >> president nolan: the singer, i understand that he addresses the board, and it is topical. i had someone injected it from the room by sheriff's because he just would not stop. it was a very tense situation. in the event that it was kind of widespread and people would not

respect that, we have the ability as in the chair to ask for a recess and actually clear the room, but you have to allow them back in, is my understanding, there may be only a few at a time. >> yes, and i have definitely seen that happen. it can be quite effective. it can be really effective to recess the room, to allow people to calm down, to tell people that you want to go on to the meeting and that you want to hear from them and that you do not want them to shots of the people can be heard. i have seen that on more than a few occasions. i have never seen a chair just let a few people back in at a time, but our office has advised that you can do that if it is absolutely necessary.

president nolan: there is something that takes their 2 billion minutes, and they are speaking about something that is fairly jermaine, it is sometimes easier to let them finish. director: maybe some directors do not like that so much. >> that is what i have seen cheers do, interrupt the speaker and say this is the topic, or we are on this item. you can comment on this item, or we are in general public comment. do you have something to say about things that are under our jurisdiction, and generally that leads to it. you do have a situation sometimes where people for whatever reason, maybe because of a mental disability, really cannot stay on topic, and i

think years handle it in different ways. director: i have been thinking that you have done a good job so far , so the thank you. president nolan: we had a meeting before the was almost seven hours long. >> the policy body has to meet in public, and you are allowed to meet in closed sessions in very limited circumstances. personnel matters, pending litigation, labor negotiations, realistic negotiations.

there are a few others that occur from time to time. in terms of closed session, one of the most important things to know is that although some actions that you have taken must be disclosed when you return to open session, and, of course, the board votes after every closed session about whether it wants to disclose the closed session. in general, the closed session is confidential, and if the board has voted to not disclose, then the material, what was said, is confidential, and it is a violation of state law for individual board members to disclose the closed session discussion. president nolan: have you ever seen in 22 years someone disclose it? >> no, i had never seen the city

go after someone. director: what is it that allows us to all go to something like the recent streetcar presentation? >> if it is open to the public, maybe a public meeting, but it is not your public meeting. it is the meeting of a state board or a federal board, it is a ceremonial gathering or other gatherings, or even a social gathering that is not put on by you, that is not, for example, a christmas party.

it happened to be in your circle, and more than a majority showed up. the important thing to remember there is not using that gathering as an opportunity without thinking about it to talk about things that are under your jurisdiction. thank you. president nolan: not coming to my house for christmas. secretary boomer: some members of the public that when it to discuss with you, but seeing we have no closed session. president nolan: do we need a motion to adjourn? so moved.

we are adjourned. us and have a seat. roll call, please. [roll call] >> thank you. if you would like, please join us for the pledge of allegiance. thank you.

the approval of board minutes, i need a motion and a second. a second? thank you. [roll call vote] >> thank you. >> the presentation from the superintendent. superintendent garcia is not with us this evening, but we have the pleasure of the presence of the peace superintendent -- deputy superintendent. >> that is getting better and better every time you say it. the superintendent is in boston at a meeting of the council of

the great city schools and can't be here this evening. in his absence, i would like to provide this report. her 2011-2012 priorities are creating a strong structural and corps for our students. the executive team that met in retreat to discuss priorities for the school year. we agreed that creating instructional core is by far the most critical and important work this year. reading a strong instructional corps is the most important work this year. toward that goal, thanks to the foundation grant and the hard work of the academic and professional department in close collaboration with the san francisco school alliance and the data center at the university of texas at austin, we help trainees to study the matter common core standards.

there will be a reality for us in a few years. these standards outlined the most important essential skills and knowledge that every student needs to master to succeed in college and couriers. being able to fully describe how a math problem can be solved and why will be as much a priority as having the right answer. the standards have been developed to support a deep understanding of math concepts. i wish that we could capture the energy and the excitement within the team as they discuss the alignment and the implications for teaching and learning. it was powerful being they're sitting with the ministers -- and the teachers, there was an energy that was certainly help level. you can read more about the common core standards in the latest issue of school times that was recently published by the san francisco examiner.

we will be going to all of the schools in three languages next week. we also want to take this opportunity to remind our community of the enrollment affair for the 2012-2013 school year. we'll be holding the annual enrollment fair on saturday, november 5 at the concourse exhibition center from 10:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m.. all schools will be represented. there is also more information on the fare on our web site. we strongly want to recommend that our families and our students come out to that there were great information and a good time. thank you. >> recognition of the

resolutions and commendations. it is ok, i would like to move of the presentation to the academy of arts, a scholarship program from the president of the academy of art university. i like to ask janet to come up. >> it is an honor to give this recognition to dr. stevens. when we had to make the difficult budgetary decisions to eliminate summer school, i got a call from the academy of art university and said that you have eliminated summer school, as a private institution, we would like to hell at offer summer scholarships for a number of your students, full scholarships for the big college program at the academy of art

university, including all of the materials. we have had over 130 students participate successfully in the summer program with the academy which is just fantastic. i have a few of them with me tonight. i think it is much better to hear from them so that you can hear the direct opportunity that this is had on them. >> i am a junior at the high school. during my freshman year, the academy of art at a presentation and i are class. my mom actually had me join in, she got me out of the house. i am very grateful that i did. i got to explore a lot more subjects that i did not know of the might want to take up in the

future. the year after, i took summer class's and learn even more. i am really grateful. think you. -- thank you. [applause] >> i am a senior at downtown high school. i was really interested in the academy of art university class's. rapid design, video games and the character design. they taught me how to enhance my work, my details and art. it was hard. it was one of the hardest class's ito. one thing that it taught me, if this is a dream that you want to pursue, you just go and get it.

that is what i have always respected about the academy of art when i first looked at it on television. the second thing that i like about it was that, what it taught me, it gave me a better outlook of house school really is. it doesn't matter how hard the work is. if you get out and do it, you won't make no type of excuses. you just get out and do it. no excuses at all. that is why i think my principal for recommending me to go to that school. i am always looking at that school is one of my first choices in college. >> my name is jacob from john carver high school. i have taken two years of summer college class is at the academy

of arts. originally, it was a plan to kill some time during summer. i was originally going to switch to play football at washington. it was my big interest. but i've got introduced to this program, because of her and dr. stevens, i have found my passion in life. the academy of art is my absolute first choice of for my college. >> i am from texas and i am now on my second year at the academy of art university. the way i chose my college was through them offering me the chance to apply for this program. at the time i was new to sentences go, i moved here before i finished high school and this program helps me

realize that my major would be illustration. this program helps students that maybe would not otherwise know what they are doing with their life or be on the streets trying to show their creativity in ways that are not legal. i see a lot of students like this. they present their work in a way that his professional and learned essays environment had to be told that it is ok to create. i was also very onerous to be awarded the presidential scholarship that pays for my tuition, and i have to say thank you, dr. stevens, for that honor. that helped me get through a lot, especially with my family situation. thank you for allowing the students this opportunity.

>> as you can see and hear from the students, it has been a fantastic experience. it started years ago of the partnership, they have expanded in. the summer program is open to all students which is a great experience for many of them. i would like to have dr. stevens, and properly recognized. >> before dr. stevens, we give you your certificate and asked you to say a few words, i just wanted to add my 2 cents to this because i have a lot of personal attachment to use your never city -- to your university. he was supposed to pursue a dental career. he went to the university and had the best time of his life. he has dabbled -- been at apple

for four years. when you offer the scholarships and open these opportunities, many of the kids do not have access. it they don't have the ability to bring in the arts likely to across the board. for those that love the arts and have not considered pursuing it as a career, this was a really great chance for them to hone and on their quality of work that we can actually produce. my daughter was one of the ones that had the opportunity to take advantage of that. for someone who is as quiet as she is, it brought out incredible life in her. she has love that every single year that she has been able to go. for some many of our kids in school where art doesn't exist as much as we would love for it to, it has been wonderful for you to offer this to our schools. the professors that teach the

kids during the summer are the same professors that teach the class during the regular year. these are not summer interns coming in, these are the same professors that are there during the regular year. they also have a showcase at the end of the year at this year we almost did not have one and we all must have a riot. the showcase is fabulous because -- and we almost had a riot. the showcase is fabulous. because they bring in from kids all over the country, the kids get to meet kids from all over the world. it is remarkable. my daughter be friendly kid from thailand. -- befreinded a kid from thailand. rebecca delgado is phen omenal. she hasbe