and the way the graduation requirements are now, and the number of periods a school is able to offer, that leaves only 2 we will years of one course each year where a student truly has a broad course of what they would like to take in an area that interests them. i know schools would like to move forward with that. supervisor campos: i would hope that you explore the possibility, because i do not minimize the importance of summer school. but to the extent that the achievement gap is something happening during the regular school year, and a key focus of the strategy is on summer school, that is the only time during the year that you are dealing with this. unless you are doing something during the regular school year, you may have a situation where the achievement gap is actually increasing during that time.

>> i cannot agree with you more in the fact that summer school is only one option in a huge portfolio of credit-earning options that we should be offering students. there are a multitude of other ways, including a seven-period day, including online learning -- many other ways we should be moving forward, not only to give students opportunities, but to prepare our students for the 21st century. we have to be able to do that. summer school is really only one option in what should be a huge portfolio of credit-churning options. supervisor campos: commissioner? commissioner fewer: thank you. i also wanted to add it is much easier to have students attend a seven-period day than summer

school. this is why we could probably serve more studit is just diffid them up again. they have to come. many students may expect the school is out. if they are in school already, it is so much easier to get into this last class. i think on our part, we should ensure that all our classes that we offer meet the requirements. we are working hard to do that, so that every class a student text during the school day counts toward graduation. if it is not accredited, it does not count toward graduation, unless it is a state-mandated class, such as physical education. i think that a seven-period day is something we have looked at seriously. it is very expensive. would it help our students in graduation? absolutely.

you are seeing ninth and 10th graders. in august, we have a new set of ninth graders. sequentially, the work becomes much more rigorous in 11th grade. they will have to take their second year of laboratory science. other school districts have shown that is a gatekeeper to fulfilling the requirements. this is just the tip of the iceberg of how many students we expect may not graduate. also, i think graduating is an important factor in this. we wanted everyone to graduate college-ready, with the opportunity to go to college. but when you graduate students just with d's, that is a false opportunity, when we tell our students, "you have this diploma, but guess what? you will not be eligible for csu."

i think this seven- period day is something we have discussed as a factor the will help us overcome this. students that need an extra period, just because of the way the numbers or courses line up, will have to double up on english to me those. that is not failing any class. that is simply because they are english language learners. csu will only accept one year of that type of english. we really appreciate the help of the city, i have to say. the city jumped in last-minute for summer school last year. it was a lifeline for our students. of course, we really appreciate it. we feel like we are going into a

really horrible other fiscal year. education has been cut consistently by the governor, every year. even if the governor's proposal does not pass, we are still under budgeted. we know every supervisor has schools in the district and wants us to do well. >> one last thing, before turning over to mr. stevens. i said in the beginning that this is a project. this is my 10th year in san francisco. this is my fourth or fifth year working on the new graduation requirements and a change of the graduation requirements. to say the least, i have invested a lot of time in this.

over that number of years, i have been able to develop a relationship with young ladies i need to say thank-you to. that is a woman from coleman advocates. we have been friends and enemies, i think, at times. i want to say thank you. we have cochaired the new graduation retirements task force, and been involved in this work since days of community meetings. i just want to say thank you. supervisor campos: before we move on, a commissioner wanted to ask a question. commissioner maufas: i just wanted to make a quick comment, through the chair, and really to the other supervisors here, that this issue is probably has, from my perspective, and even going forward, from the past, going forward -- one of the largest issues around equity and access,

if we ever even imagined we wanted a student to graduate and move forward in the world. in the world, no matter what they choose to do. this is the ground where they must really fight to have access to these courses. we need to facilitate that process. what i would like to request of the chair around this issue is that the requirements to be brought back. you really, as mentioned, the very tip of the iceberg for us to understand. at sfusd, the incredible work to make it for every single student, every single red joining student has this in their diploma course understanding. it is so important and complex.

not just one ninth and 10th graders, but you hear about the other grade levels, and what they are doing. we want to make sure all schools have this, all across san francisco. thank you. supervisor campos: thank you, commissioner. i think we have an obligation to make sure we keep an eye on this. at some point, it might be helpful for us to get some of the numbers, in terms of the costs associated with the schools that might need it. we have our own budgetary concerns. but i think it is good to have that information out there. supervisor olague: i was wondering -- i support what i have heard from the members here today. i was wondering, in your

conversations with students, who are the ones representing the f's and the d's -- what have they said? what has their input been, as far as what they need to succeed? why do they feel like they are failing? >> it is interesting that you would ask this question, because this is indeed a question we are asking right now, literally this week. there is a group of us participating in a group project with sanford. not only with students, but with parents, community members, teachers, administrators. we literally have been conducting interviews. we chose a single school. i would rather not call out the name. as our research project, and that we would look at all facets

of not only their understanding of the new graduation requirements, but also what were roadblocks in those graduation requirements. those interviews literally took place this week. i would be glad to share after we finished compiling that. i would be asking that question. >> sometimes come and meet with students and they are working. they are taking care of their younger siblings. they are cooking, cleaning house, doing all of the above. i do not know how they do it. i am not saying this characterizes people who are failing. but i wonder what we can do. is it peer pressure? what is it they see? i would love to hear the results of this. >> i would be more than happy to share. commissioner fewer: i just

wanted to answer your question. i think it is approximately $4 million to give a seventh period to every public high school in san francisco. supervisor campos: that is good to know. >> mr. stevens? >> good afternoon, members of the board of supervisors. i am the executive director for elementary areas. along with my colleague, i am responsible for the coordination of all the summer programming in san francisco. i came prepared today to offer a broader overview of the extent of summer programming in the district. we have been listening now for a while to an extended conversation on secondary programming. however, secondary programming does not represent all of what we have going on. i would like to share with you a little bit about what is going on. let me switch out our slides,

and then we will continue. here we are. you have heard already that the school district continues to face budget shortfalls. this has led, over the course of a number of years, in a reduction of the summer programming we have been able to offer all of our youngsters. however, we have been able to target course programming that would assist the students that are in most need. i want to introduce you to the 54 categories. supervisor campos: -- to the five broad categories. supervisor campos: are you talking about item number two on

the agenda? we are not talking about that yet. we are still on item one. is the presentation on item one concluded? before we move on, i have a question, and then we will take public comment on item one, before we go to number two. i have a question. i used to represent the school district around the consent degree case, where the achievement gap was central to the work being done. we used to have a lot of collaboration among the different players and partners in the school district family, if you will. i am wondering if you can talk a little bit about you. -- about that. specifically, i know you cannot talk about the achievement gap without talking about the important role that teachers' plan, and all of that, how you are involved in your labor

partners, and making sure you are working with them so that together you can address these issues. >> the work around the new graduation requirement has really been driven by taskforce that was developed after the policy was passed by the board of education. they were very specific in the policy that the work of implementation would be driven by this task force. we meet monthly. our labor partners have representatives on that task force with us. i do not want you to think that is the only task force that is working on this. the implementation of this policy has almost been like peeling apart and onion, because there is layer after layer. we have had to develop working groups throughout the district. for example, we have a task force with rep members from across the district, a community

that looks specifically at student transcripts and what we need to do to change student transcripts. to be specific inch drill down on that, the process of granting a student credit for an algebra class in a grade is not as easy as saying it will be done. we actually had to develop an electronic process and a course numbering system for those courses in our middle schools, and then have them electronically transfer over. this is how we have continued to involve different groups. we have another task force that literally looks at the specific areas that cause us in society. we literally call it the anti- anxiety task force. again, they have representatives. this is internal to the school district. a lot of the areas that concern

you concern us greatly. that is how we have had to continually involved different community groups and members of the community in the new graduation requirement task force with the district. supervisor campos: a thank-you. before we go to public comment, commissioner mendoza? commissioner mendoza: thank you for all of this, mr. sanderson. one of the things i do not want to lose as we talk about summer school is this idea -- i know that funding is a challenge. but this idea of having more than just the academic piece of it, and having kids come to a side just to do academics, spending half a day doing just that, and then going away, but really wanting at some point to build an entire comprehensive summer school program that would include some extracurricular activities also for our youth,

so it is engaging our youth in some of the other enrichment that they can really thrive on. i just do not want to lose that idea. and i know we are already doing that with some of our sites, because there is some after- school programming components that fulfill that piece of it. the more we can do with the sites we are going to have summers ago, the better. >> thank you for bringing that up. we do want to engage joyful learners, so thank you. supervisor campos: what we open it up to public comment? i have a number of speaker cards. if any member of the public would like to speak, feel free to come up. i see we have some representatives from uasf as well. any member of the public who would like to speak on this item, please come forward.

>> [speaking spanish] supervisor campos: can you stop the clock? do we have someone who can translate for the audience? supervisor olague: can she start from the beginning again? she seemed a little timid, if she can speak a little more forcefully. supervisor campos: [speaking spanish]

supervisor olague: we realize she is nervous. supervisor campos: [speaking spanish] [laughter] >> [speaking spanish]

>> hello. she has two children, kindergarten and fifth grade. what she is asking for is we need a summer program to support the academic part for the children, so they can be ready not only for her children, but for the other students, and

also, because she is a working mom. she needs to know she is in a program where they are taken care of, a program where there will be doing something academic and other kinds of activities. he also mentioned a little bit about the fact that she wants her children to get tutoring, so they are prepared to go to university. supervisor campos: thank you. next speaker, please. >> my name is jessica, and i go to june jordan school for equity. we need credit recovery options. if not now, when? we need opportunities for students to make up classes, so they are not stuck senior year, not knowing if they are going to graduate on stage and on time. as a freshman coming into high school, but did not have the help i need it.

i did not have to drink. i did not have any of that. when i failed a class and there was no summer school, i did not have credit recovery options. i do not know if i could even make of those classes. as a junior today, i am left not knowing if i will have to take more classes next year or pay my way through summer school this summer. thank you. supervisor campos: thank you very much. next speaker. >> i share a similar story to jessica. as a junior this year, i had to make up classes my first and second sodbusters. instead of giving us the support we needed and be able to make of the class is on the spot when we missed them, we have to make them up later, which is not fair. we feel the class of 2014 have a better advantage, because they

have better requirements than we did. if they do not get the support they need, they will be in the same position we are in when they are juniors. that is not fair to them either. we want all the young people and the people who come after us to try to break from high school and college. if you are stuck doing a job you do not like, you feel like you are in prison, but you get paid for it. if you have a career you love, you will not work a day in your life. as a junior, i do not want to work a day in my life. i want to do something that means something. make sure you guys take care of the class of 2014. supervisor campos: thank you very much. next speaker. >> i am the campaign organizer here at coleman. i have the lovely privilege of being able to work with all these lovely parents and

students. and there are many more colman members who were not able to make it today. there is something that is very much needed in san francisco, but is not actually happening. that is the reality that all students have the right and desire to learn in quality schools. right? depending on how you define a quality school, is the schools on our side of the committee -- our side of the city lack resources to be considered high- quality. i participate on the task force as the co-chair. the reality is the agency is not rolling things out as smoothly as we all hope for. there are students that are not on track, even as freshmen and sophomores, because of a lack of access, or because they need to make up for classes there were not able to pass.

the reality is that while we hope we continue to pay attention to this issue, it is not just a district issue. it is a city and county of san francisco in show. it is a collective responsibility to ensure that all students have the opportunity to be successful in these programs. what the implementation lacks is the additional resources that are needed to guarantee success. i sat on the a-g study team. some of the parents have also sat on the team. the summary of recommendations that came out of that study team are right before you. it is clear. we were very clear as we studied many districts across california that additional resources were needed. unfortunately, we are in a state crisis where the arrangements are not matching the needs of

our education system. but that is not an excuse. in high schools and elementary schools, we need all students to be prepared for a 21st century economy. that does not necessarily equal that those students over their need other options. every child needs access to a-g. every child needs access to college. in closing, the district is moving toward aligning their budget priorities, their budget allocations to the priorities set forth by the strategic plan, which also include a-g. as of now, there are serious questions about how that is aligning in this budget cycle. we hope you will continue to pay attention to this. supervisor campos: thank you. next speaker. >> i am a parent leader at coleman advocates. at many meetings, colman members

have set of budget priorities for this fiscal year, which are as follows. to invest in credit recovery during the school day by providing all high schools the funds for a seventh period. to invest in a credit recovery option with a teacher present. the next one is expand the opportunities for lowest performing students, who are overwhelmingly african american, latino, and pacific islanders, to receive high-quality tutoring for academic skills development. expand in school emotional and mental health support for students. sustain current funding for restorative practices. and commit to full implementation of the restorative justice policy.

and sustain current funding for ethnic studies programs. as we have heard from supervisor avalos, we agreed that the number one priority will be access to credit recovery, extending that seventh period. those are the options for the school students who need to make up the courses. we are asking the city and the district to work together to find the resources to support full access, a through g. i was a newcomer. when i came here, my biggest challenge -- from high school, i could not finish english as a second language. i had to go to a community college to finish english as a second language. that handicap to me, because i could not apply for any

university because i was not able to take the english courses. as a parent right now, i have a sixth grader, and i have a ninth grader. my biggest challenge is to bring. my kids need to bring. they need geometry. they need an algebra to bring. i cannot afford it. i am a single mom. i got laid off. i do not have the resources. please invest in resources, so the kids can move on and go to college. supervisor campos: thank you. next speaker, please. i see the president of united educators of san francisco. welcome to city hall. thank you for being here. >> my name is dennis kelly. we come here today to support the idea of providing resources for the completion of a-g. a-g is not only