closed session, there have been paid for that matter. we do not need to do that on record. all council have agreed to those states along with the officer, so we do not even need to go into closed session. and we are done, so what we need to do now is go to line item #9. >> item #9, adjournment triggered >> second your good >> -- item #9, adjournment. >> second. >> thank you very much.

supervisor mar: good afternoon, everyone. my name is eric mar, the chairman of the committee. to my right is supervisor cohen, to the left is supervisor wiener. we're joined by president chiu. >> completed copies or documents should be submitted to the clerk. items will appear on the may 15 board of supervisors agenda. supervisor mar: i would like to give crops to s -- props to sfgtv.

i believe item no. 4 might be continued at the cult of the sponsor. we will come to that in a moment. >> amending the transportation code to eliminate restrictions on clarifying the -- it is a violation. president chiu: today, i have an ordinance that will hopefully end one of the great mysteries of muni. the question of why there are some doors on buses that can't be used to get onto buses. this amends division 12 allow riders to board the doors as long as they have proof of payment. hopefully this is a proposal that will help speed up muni.

it has to become more efficient for us to have a world-class transportation system. this effort sounds simple, but it has been a long time coming. it is a test that never happened, the rear-door boarding. groups like the san francisco transit riders union pushed toward that, and i hope that it will become a reality. we have one minor amendment that we need to make on page 2 of the ordinance to add of the word cable car. a reliable streetcar, motor coach, charlie, etc.. -- cable car, etc.

>> thank you very much, president chiu. ed riskin, director of transportation. i have a chance -- a presentation here that was given to the mta board a week ago and received a there unanimous consent to recommend this to you, to the board of supervisors. i would be happy to answer any questions the u.s. to the public may raise. we are undertaking a number of things. it is another tool that we are

getting ready to employ. it would make us the first in the country to go to boarding of all vehicles. the reason for doing yet, and maybe it makes sense here is that we have a very high number of boarding at any given time period. we are at the top of there with new york in terms of the frequency of boarding. it has a measurable impact on the speed of the system. it is really the essence of what

we're trying to do. it is to allow people in an organized way to be able to go through the back door and not have to queue up at the front door. there is a change in behavior, and it is legitimizing current behavior, which is commonsensical solutions. it will be a mockup of the site age - - signage. we are looking at universal sides that will change that messaging to the public.

we will be working with the media and through various outreach mechanisms. and really why we are doing this is to make the system work better. while this is not a pilot, it is something that we will be monitoring very closely. we are bringing in any changes,

operational revenue very carefully and we will look at it carefully as needed. it would recommend removing current restrictions and reaffirmed the policy on board. i would be happy to answer any questions. >> i have heard different complaints that the standard scanners sometime malfunction. it looks like to scan and and then transfer.

is the equipment operating function need to make the system work? >> we were an early adopter of the clipper system. people would go on and see that there would be a red light or it would not be functioning. it was a big problem for the potential revenue loss and it also makes inspection very difficult. the responsibility to fix that they did last august. that legacy of the early implementation, by and large,

the reliability of those units is very high. we measure and to monitor those on a daily basis. supervisor wiener: thank you for bringing this forward, i want to complement the agency for making tangible steps to look forward. and the hare inspectors and the other part of it. they have been doing robust community outreach. i think that it is terrific and i thank you for your leadership on this.

>> on the extremely long buses, it seems it will help in the long blocked areas. if there are no other questions -- president chiu: i do have a technical amendment, adding the word of "cable car."

>> can we move this forward? >> item two, approving. as a nation -- >> think you for this opportunity. i came before you last year and you designated for six months of these two spaces off of stockton street. these spaces came about because of the central subway construction that has adversely impacted seven spaces that we have half of stockton.

i am here today to ask you to extend or read designate for another six months the two spaces on post street. and if necessary, i will come back six months from now. but we will see what happens with the central subway construction. supervisor mar: is there anyone from the public that would like to speak? can we move this forward without objection? ms. miller, please call item no. 3. >> resolution approving an agreement for an easement. supervisor mar: the sponsor is supervisor cohen. john updike? supervisor cohen: thank you, mr. updike. >> thank you, supervisor cohen.

acting director of real estate. i'm joined by the mayor's office of housing that will give you the overview of the project. i will speak to you about the technical aspects of the item before you today. the location here is tat 1 kashmire, an overall shot of the location. a more particular look and the area impacted by this proposed easement runs right here on the edge of the cul de sac. simply put, what we have about 850 square feet of these men to be granted. it is determined as part of the resolution before you today is granting -- if it furthers the public interest and therefore,

there is no cost involved in the transfer. it is a perpetual easement, but it includes the right to terminate has the terms of conditions are brief in some way. so that, in a nutshell, is the real estate item, and i think john can give you some contact has to why this is before you today. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i am the project manager, and most of you are probably familiar with hunters view, a redevelopment of an existing hubble housing project. the easement 04 you will provide a long-term access to a maintenance of kashmire connection, there will be

landscaping and lighting that will cut back the stocks in two different neighborhoods. kind of eliminating the isolation that currently exists. it connects hunters a view to the other area. it can act in three ways. it seeks a greater level of social interconnectedness. that leverage is non-city funding sources by 2.5 to 1. the city provided about $200,000, the state $500,000. and it provides connections were people can learn where to go. supervisor mar: is there anyone from the public that would like to speak? public comment is closed.

colleagues, let's move this forward without objection. any objection? with recommendation, yes. thank you. the last item on our agenda is item 4. please call item 4. >> hearing on the municipal transit agency's progress on improving taxi service. supervisor wiener: we, at the request of the mta, would like to move to continue this item to june 11. that is the motion that i make. supervisor mar: left open this up for public comment before acting on that motion. is there anyone that would like to speak? supervisor wiener: sorr yoy you

had to come out. supervisor mar: can we continue this until june 11 at the urging of the supervisor? is there any other business before us? >> no. supervisor mar: meeting adjourned.

good afternoon and welcome to the april 26, 2012 meeting of the joint committee, select committee of the city and county of san francisco in the san francisco unified school district. my name is david campos. i represent the board of supervisors on this committee. and i'm the chair of the committee. we will be joined shortly by christina olague who is en route. we also have been joined by board of supervisors president david chiu and we have been joined by commissioners sandra lee fewer, kim-shree maufas and hydra mendoza who are members of this committee. we also have been joined by supervisor jane kim.

the clerk of the committee is gil johnson and ester casco. and we also would like to thank charles cremenak and john rios from the sfgtv staff who are helping to cover this meeting. we also want to thank the members of the audience who are here and watching this hearing. i know that this is something that is very important to so many families and so many parents in the city. madam clerk, if you can please >> thank you. it's file number 110527 and a hearing on the a-g request requirements for high school as sponsored by supervisor chiu. >> thank you. madam secretary. this is an item that was introduced a while back by supervisor carmen chu. and it is my pleasure to now hold this hearing today.

let me begin by noting that the issue of a-g requirements is something that i know the board of supervisors and board of education in particular have been paying attention to. and it's been a very important issue at the school district. the purpose of this hearing today is to have a better understanding of our progress. and specifically our progress when it comes to closing the achievement gap. i know from my own experience, having worked at the school district, that the achievement gap has been something that the district has been tackling for many years. and even though we have a lot to be proud of, and we are the highest performing urban school district in the state of california and one of the top ones in the country, the fact is that our african-american kids are -- our latino kids, our english language learner kids, they're still not performing at the level that

they need to. so we want to understand today how our kids are doing in terms of meeting the a-g graduation requirements. we know that the class of 2014 will be the first graduating class under these requirements. so i think it's important for us today in 2012 to understand the progress that we have made. it's also important for us to understand the challenges and some of the difficulties that the district has faced in dealing with this very important issue. and we also want to take this opportunity to discuss strategies and solutions to address those challenges. i know that in district nine, my district, there are many families that are deeply concerned about this issue. and within district nine, you have about six of the 10 lowest performing schools in the district that are in san francisco unified school district that are in my district. so this is definitely a big

priority and has been the impetus behind initiatives like the promised neighborhood initiative that the school district, the mayor's office, my office and other community members have been working on. so with that context, if i may call bill sanderson who is the executive director of curriculum and instruction at san francisco unified. mr. sanderson, the floor is yours. thank you for being here. >> thank you, commissioners. and members of the board of supervisors. i think that for the past five years, this has been an integral part of my work as both member of the community of san francisco and a member of the work force in san francisco unified school district. so sometimes i believe i can say this stuff in my sleep. and i talk a-g all the time. and so it is really a pleasure to bring this to your attention today.

at the heart of this is access, access for all students to a curriculum that would lead them to successful entrance into the u.c.c. issue system. the strategic plan of the school district specifically called out for all students to graduate not only ready for college but also ready for career in the work force. sfusd recognizes that many students were graduating with an sfusd diploma, but they were not necessarily ready to matriculate into the c.s.u. or u.c. system. last year the unified school district board of education required all students that beginning with the class of 2014 to meet the u.c. a-g criteria. and i'm going to go over that in just one moment.

data shows that there is a significant need for us to address the skill level for many of our students that are entering high school before they actually can be ready to meet these requirements. and i'm going to show you some of that data today. but first of all, let's look at what is a-g. because these are simply letters, and i want to bring a clear definition to what those letters are. and i'm talking about this from the perspective of the u.c.c. issue system. the u.c.c. issue system requires a course sequence of courses in these areas. history, 30 credits, english, 40 credits, mathematics, 30 credits, laboratory science, 20, language other than english, 20, performing arts,

10, and 10 of an elective. these courses are submitted by schools across the state annually for approval by the u. c.c. issue system. with that said, last summer, after we had the first class of 2014 in ninth grade, we looked at what was happening with that group of students. we were looking at students that failed a la and why we looked at those, newcomer students who needed additional english language development to advance to english classes that actually met the a-g requirements. and eighth grade students who were most in danger of transitioning to the ninth grade. this was a group of students in eighth grade.

they may not have transitioned to ninth grade for one reason or another. and we focused on that group of students. you may ask why we focused on that group of students. a leading national indicator actually tells us that in high school, failure of two or more classes in english, math, social studies, and science in the ninth grade actually tells us something about whether or not that student will graduate from high school and be successful. over the past three years, sfusd, we've had an average of approximately 17% of our entire ninth grade failing two or more courses. so this is why we are concerned about these particular areas. last summer, we were able to not only take a look at these students but to actually present a way for us helping

these students continue to -- continue on in high school and be successful and actually beat the odds. because we did not want students to continue on in 10th grade behind courses as the research said that tells us something about their success. so we looked at students specifically in the ninth grade and how they had done in the fall semester of their ninth grade year. approximately, we have 4,200 students per grade level or per ninth grade class in san francisco unified at this time. when we looked at the ninth grade first semester grades for last academic year, 481 students in english had an f. and those students i have divided them out by the subgroups that you see