things, but thank you for your attention. i appreciate your help. [applause] >> hello, i'm melvin. i'm 17 years old and a senior. i'm on the debate team, and ever since i have joined, i have been having a lot of fun. i got a bunch of my friends to join, we enjoy is. ever since i joined the debate, i noticed my reading skills and my public speaking has become way better. i am able to speak in front of you guys right now. [laughter] reading in class, i was a little shy and hesitant, but now i am able to go to other glasses and talk about programs of the

school is introducing. it goes my confidence. -- it boosts my confidence. [applause] before debate, i did not think about college much and now high want to take into the next level. thanks for listening to me. >> and the coach at the downtown high school on the debate came as well as special education teacher. i was a bit later in high school and gave me access to the

experiences that i never would have had if i did not do debates. i think it is one of the things that is really valuable for students. you can tell them they should care about her political theory, but debate puts them in the competitive situation, please explain to me these political theories. maybe down town high school, and it hasn't any -- it didn't care about all these different ideas.

the students don't see the value of education or higher learning. this is one of the ways to get students to care about those things. that is what is going to affect testing, when students care for themselves about the world and these ideas. for all those reasons, i encourage of the board to secure this. i think is valuable and has that much potential. >> i am a co-feature of the debate as well. we have integrated it as a

class, it started out as an elective with seniors. i just want to share the experiences. i showed up for the debate the first year in the 2010-2011 year. students came at 7:30 on saturday. many of the students were the ones that struggled to come to school, it actually changed my attitude toward a lot of those students there. it kind of opened my eyes. they have so many ways that they can share. the bay kind of has attracted students that want to talk a lot have students that don't talk a

lot but have a couple things that they want to share. it is me speaking a lot more, so the last thing i want to leave his that i feel that debate gives students an authentic and arena, a place where it is not just the teacher's approval, but they are proud of what they have done. they have a chance to have their voice heard. you don't often see that with education. i urge you to support that and i would love to see more san francisco schools. [applause] >> good evening. i'm a special education teacher, i have been educated in san francisco.

[applause] what i have seen, i am just a recent coach. i started with the bay area urban debate lee. what i have seen in the last month at the last three weeks harm my students asking me if i will be on time for debate practice on wednesday. to the point of harassment. [laughter] enthusiasm, eagerness. we don't often have the of hook s totudents -- opportunity to hook students in. downtown, we're int he tren - - in the -- in the trenches. we give students the opportunity to give their high-school

diploma. if we don't take advantage of the opportunities like the bay area urban debate, it is just one or two students or for students that might have found another opportunity to come to school. getting kids in class, in school, excited about academics and learning, getting their confidence up. hopefully, we can continue to spread this out during the day and not just after school. it will be a great opportunity and we hope that you guys support us. >> good evening, everyone, how are you? i am a student mentor at a

downtown high school as well as a former head of a person. they came to my life when i was in high school, so i of that activity a lot because it gave me strength and courage, and great speaking skills in order to navigate the many environmental that are due. i would like to touch upon the fact that when students encountered the bay, they encounter something different, it allows them to go outside of the box and examine what is going on in society. and all the other coaches, you know, teach them an activity that allows for them to be that smart alec they can't be in the classroom. which isbeautiful, and they getk

about things but they are not talking about at home. did they are interested, but they do not get to examine its common and an and that is what is beautiful about flathat activity, but they started taking notes, and they took more notes with this activity than they did all day appear reuter -- than they did all day. it was beautiful to see. please support the update. it is one of the many topless where students get to richard it is one of the many out loolets r students.

you can be any student of any background and join this activity and be successful, and if that is not an investment, and i do not know what is. thank you so much. [applause] >> i want to thank you everyone for coming tonight to erod. this is a question about our curriculum and what we give credit sort, so it used to be there are a lot more english class those for which kids got their english credits.

i hope someday we will have the resources so kids can have a longer instructional, but in light of the drive towards standardizing all instruction, i would be interested in what are curriculum's, and what their discussion is. it is the most obvious place. we have had the discussion. we have gotten to the point where they pretty much have to take a prescribed program, and there is not time to take much of, and if it were only the

standard courses that apply, if we were standardizing so everyone is only taking the same class as, i would hope may be the curriculum committee would take that up. i will not say we will support it when we have no money, but i think we ought to know the different kinds of activities in which kids are engaging, how they meet the standards. >> i believe mr. sanderson has done a lot of work on this to get a course as an electives. is that true. >> that is correct. we did get a course.

gand we have been able to get te course of an elective this year, and we are more than happy to come back. we have monthly meetings, and one of the things we have started talking about is how do we integrate into the curriculum, because it is an important skill set that everyone hives. good -- everyone has. that is part of what we have been able to secure. >> i appreciate that, and that is the first step, but the real

question is is it possible for there to be an integrated debate with other things that actually meets the english requirement? maybe it is not possible in this case of some of the other things kids are able to take. >> the policy allows for up to four college prep english class botes, so if they are approved, they can qualify. are recommended sequence is ninth grade english, a 10th grade english, a weapon, mr. 11, and 12th grade english. if it qualifies, we are fine with that as a graduation requirement. >> that is my thing.

are we exploring both of those? >> requirements describe a set of performance standards in listening, speaking, and right thing, so the list of to be magnified and expanded, so we should seek elective course thoss. >> thank you. i think everybody knows my daughter participated in debate when she was in high school. she debated in high school. she was a student who had a lot to say, and the debate really

taught her the art of argument. after she became a vegetarian, she was investigating an animal rights, and she was a vegetarian for six years arthur about the reagan and -- after that. i was a great supporter. this type os developing a passion for society and about what is going on in the world and digging deeper and working as a team, and i also appreciate team's zeroth year ago -- team spirit.

i have seen members on her team quiet and shy turn into a really robust speakers, being very articulate. my daughter went to berkeley. she is a labor organizer, and she has a lot to say, and she has perfected the art of argument, and it is hard to win any argument with her. i applaud commissioner winds for being forced to question how we can do this. i took lassoes in creative writing. those are things that -- i took classes in creative writing. those are things that are not just an electoive, but i think

we can use funds to support what is in the classroom. this is a great place to support our students who are taking the bait, and thank you to all the teachers who came out. there you go. thanks a lot. >> i have the privilege of watching you debate. i really think standing your ground and having not just an argument for the sake of argument but talking about how this affects you.

i am extremely supportive of the work you do, and i want to thank you. it is a great exercise, and i hope all of our kids get the opportunity to participate. >> i just want to oust the urban debate lead to invite the members of other board and to invite members of the community

who are interested in learning more to play a part as judges, because i know it is tough to recruit. prices have to do it after school, and you managed to do about. -- to do that. i am pleased to hear about our programs in the school day. it is helpful to know they exist. i cannot begin to express my gratitude. i am impressed, and i continue to be impressed. i was one of those students who was painfully shy, and i can look back on my livesfe, and hei

sit, a painfully shy and lots of circumstances and managed to speak when called upon. there is nothing like taking a topic and debating on it if you have never believed did before, so it is something to behold when a student is presented with the challenge, and to hear they are doing it well speaks for the instructors, so congratulations for keeping the momentum going. that is an effort, and i applaud you on that, so congratulations on the effort so far, and i look forward to the discussion.

congratulations. >> i want to also thank the teachers and the student for coming out. i needed some debate classes. if i had taken a debate class, i probably would do a lot better with arguing with my colleagues on the school board, but i want to thank you for coming out, and i would be more of them have bee -- more than happy if you ae short of judges. thank you 3 much. -- very much. we are going to move on to our

next item, superintendents proposal. 122-2hsp2, amendment of the board policies 6109, an acceptable use of technology. it has already been moved and seconded on february 28. commissioner wynns: i did want to report, i was impressed by the fact that we were talking about -- this item was just to put into our rules the practice and we have of calling our

student members student delegates. isn't that right? this is technology. the committee recommended is to put this tracback in keeping wih the law that has changed, so the committee recommended we approved. >> is this agreed term? >> why don't we have our reading of the resolution? >> i would like to call on our chief information technology officer. goo>> i am the chief technology

officer. it is my pleasure to read the superintendents' proposal, amendment of the board policy, and student of acceptable use of technology, but the board approved the amendment of foreign policy 6109, an acceptable use of technologies and the attached version and. >> there is no public speaker for this, so any comments from the board? >> i just have one question. have we developed a policy it around cellphone use? trucks there is an existing

policy. i am not up to date, but there is the policy. >> it is school by school. the policy is fairly broad, and these are moving targets. goomy own opinion is that we pry much let the schools and administer the very general policy we have. i have discussed it with a number of principles in high schools. >> that is direct. there is a general consensus of what the policy is. you can only use it steering passing or during school, but

there is a broader discussion around the use of self phones. there is quite a movement about how but since with the technology plan, so we will bring about in a. >> i want to make sure my colleagues understand. to qualify, school districts are required to change their policy, but it requires school districts to educate students on literacy and cyber bullying, and giving our students internet access is like letting them drive a car.

you can get into bad accidents and serious injury and even death, so when there rules committee did discuss this, we ask, which students do we need to educate about this? it is actually all students in our school district, so i want to make sure we have that commitment but is very clear, and i want to thank the pta for connecting the school district with common sense media, which helps school districts meet this requirement, and it has all sorts of resources for teachers and staff and parents, so i would really like to ask this

curriculum be addressed, because i want to make sure we are meeting the obligations of this resolution. goocommissioner norton: i just wanted to add a question about what social policies we have put in place, because i listened to an interesting policy where teachers were talking about a higher standard being applied to teachers in participating on social media sites and how about is a treacherous situation for teachers. . my bias is i would not want a policy that is more restrictive, but i also think it can bee such a great learning tool, and