comprehensive reengagement center in san francisco. there are a whole bunch of folks that have been pushed out that need to be re-engaged in school to also succeed and be ready for a job. thank you. >> thank you very much. next speaker. >> good afternoon. my name is catherine and i'm with the college connect program with mission graduates. and i am here to speak off and on behalf of the importance of credit recovery. in our program in particular we school to [pha-eubgs/] sure that the counselors have support that they need to help

the students that aren't passing these classes. there are cyberhigh and afterschool programs to help them succeed. we have students that are able to succeed through our program, but there are so many more that have to go elsewhere. i just wanted to have this publication comment to say that i'm really in support of getting more supports to the counselors in these schools. >> thank you very much. is there any other member of the public? >> hello my name is michelle kong, a junior at gal galileo high school and intern at the san francisco youth commissioner and i would like to say it's very hard for some of us high school students to

complete the a-g courses. as a chinese immersion program i would have to take cyberhigh or night school orcy college to complete the two courses or else i cannot graduate. that is extra pressure for high school students because we try to get the most out of our high school education by taking ap classes. and by taking these supplemental courses, we have to take extra time and extra concentration to these classes. and that adds onto our stress. i don't feel that benefits our health very much. i really hope that you guys will continue to support these students with funding and different community-based organizations and help them out. >> if i may say, i am proud to

say that mish michelle has been an intern in our office and has done a tremendous job and i'm very proud of her. commissioner fewer, did you have a question? >> i also wanted to mention that michelle is quite fabulous, but brings up a good point. michelle, would you like into those two requirements at galileo high school and see how they can fit it sequentially into their programs? thank you michelle. >> thank you. is there any member of the public who has not spoken and would like to speak on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed and again, we want to thank all of our community members who have come out. i especially want to thank the young people who have come out to testify, becaused it a of the day, we're here because of them. so colleagues, commissioner mendoza?

>> thank you. thank you so much and i appreciate the continued conversations that we have around a-g. i have to say when the board voted on this unanimously, it really made so much sense for all of us. because we were graduating our students without having options for them in terms of going on to college. and i think for me, this is more than just making sure that the kids get their a-g, but it's also spending time training our counselors, and our teachers, to ensure that they get the support that they need in order to really think about all of this. i know that we have had some fits and starts in implementing a-g, it's not an easy process to go through. we had to peel away some classs that kids really liked and had to get some class approved to

be a-g. so i want to thank the efforts of school district as they have gone down this path. we're one of very few of handful of school districts that actually require a-g as a graduation requirement and i think it speaks to the board's desire to do better for all of our kids. and we're very committed to ensuring that that happens. i do feel the same frustration, i think that we all do, that this isn't fall into place the way that it should have and the way that we want to. so i really want to appreciate the efforts that commissioner fewer has been putting forward, because she really holds everyone's feet to the fire and she is a reminder that we made a commitment to our kids and families and we're going to stick to it and do everything possible for that. and along with the summer programming, we have also

talked about doing intervention in the meanwhile and not having summer school just be the default place that our kid goes at the end of the year, but really thinking about how do we get to them during the year? so that they don't have to go to summer school. >> thank you. >> thank you commissioner. commissioner fewer. >> thank you, supervisor. thank you commissioner mendoza. in case folks are listening and don't understand what an a-g sequence it is, it's the minimum requirement to be accepted to an csu or uc. it doesn't mean that you will be accepted, but it's the minimum requirement. one, it gives all kids access to those classes which we were not doing before and another thing if we do it really well, it gives them access to greater opportunities in the 21st century. so we have done the

first part giving access to the classes. the second part has been very difficult under the budget constraints also. i want to emphasize it's not really lack of will from the school district, but lack of funding resources. let's just face it, d or better is a lie to our students. if we say that we are graduating a-g because you have greater opportunity for college entrance, but also to take an exam to perhaps get into a union job. it is really a lie to our students a d or better. if we have students that graduate only d's or better that is not giving them more opportunity. that is actually not coming through with our promise to these students. so just to let folks knowing that we're doing d or better now, but why we need the numbers for c or

better is because we need know what we need to do to get those students ready to graduate c or better. it is our intention, i think, to deliver on our promise to our students, that will give them great opportunity and that greater opportunity is a c or better. i especially want to thank the youth commissioner for coming out in support of this funding for credit recovery for the students and actually asking really, really thoughtful questions. i appreciate their support and also their greater interest in this. because they realize and know students who are struggling to meet these high requirements. thank you. >> thank you, commissioner. one thing that i would like to discuss at some point and i don't know that today is necessarily the day to do this, but as we're looking at the objective of giving every student the opportunity to go

to college by allowing them to meet these requirements. the focus isn't necessarily on what the school district is doing, but i would like to say more and have more of a discussion about what else the city can do to help the school district reach that objective? and i know that there is additional supportal funding that supervisor kim has introduced. and a number of us are supportive of that. but i would like to have an even greater discussion that goes beyond the specific amount of money. but what else is it that we can do to collectively reach that objective? because to the extent that resources are a big problem here, is there -- are there additional things that the city can do with the resources that we do have to

help in this effort? and to me, that discussion will also involve a discussion about what different city agencies, what role they can play in this effort? you know, what is it -- what kind of support system is needed to help a student achieve academic success? and academic success doesn't just happen in the classroom. it's something that requires an entire community school district has the responsibility to make it happen. so i would like to figure out how we as a

city and county can be even more helpful? because i think that we're all in it together. president chiu. >> thank you, mr. chair. i was going to make a similar point and certainly in the context of november 6th and we don't know what is going to happen at the state level and what is going to happen with funding, but we're all the wayed with baited breath to see what would happen in the beginning of november and to ask if school district officials can help us think through. we need to think on the city and what we can do to be the type of partner that the city and county ought to be with vis-a-vis the san francisco unified school district. so i'm very interested in this conversation as well. i want to make a moment and thank all of you for being part of this conversation, particularly the young folks who are here. because your voices, a-g for a lot of folks, people can

intellectualize it, but it is helpful to hear how it impacts the lives of students and your future. so thank you for being here. x thank you very much. and again, i think it's important for us to continue this conversation. i don't know that we have to do it within the context of this item and i think there are different ways of structuring the discussion. so i would ask that we file this item, if we could have a motion by commissioner fewer. seconded by commissioner mendoza. if we can do that without objection. i will certainly bring this issue back and i think it makes sense for us to do so after -- sometime after the november election when we have a better sense of where things are. but i think that even if the measures pass, i think there is a lot more that the city has to do. and, by the way, one of the

things that i am interested in doing and will be doing in the next couple of weeks is introducing a motion to expand the make-up of this committee or least to consider including city college. because i don't think we can have a full picture of how we're educating young people in the city without having city college at the table. so i look forward to that conversation. the last point that i will make is that i do want to acknowledge mr. hoover lydell, who is in the audience and the reason i want to acknowledge him because he has been an institution in the school district for many, many years. when i started as a lawyer working on the consent decree, hoover served as an expert in the court and i'm glad that the school district continues to use his efforts.

he has benefited thousands and thousands of young people over the years. so i'm glad to see that. so mr. clerk, is there any other business before the committee? >> that completes the agenda. >> that completes the agenda and the meeting is adjourned and two words go giants!

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>> we love our parks, but we love... >> and the community who is really the core of it all, came together and said what we need is a place for our teenager to play, not just play grounds for the kids and soccer fields but we need a skate park that will keep the kids home in the neighborhood so they can play where they live. >> the children in the neighborhood and it will be a major boone. and we have generations, the youth generations that will be able to use this park in different places. >> the best park in san francisco right here. >> creating place where people can be active and lead, active, healthy life styles that are going to just stay with them

for life. ♪

>> hi, i'm jane konig, a member of the league of women voters. along with the league and sfgovtv, i'm here to discuss proposition a, a ballot measure that will be before the voters on november 6th. city college of san francisco has 9 campuses in the city and serves approximately 100,000 students each year. the state has reduced funding to ccsf by

core academic courses, provide work force training, provide an education that prepares students for 4 year universities, keep city college libraries and student support services open, keep technology and instructional support up to date, and offset state budget cuts. i'm here with alyssa messer, an english teacher at city college of san francisco. she's the ppt of aft2121, the

faculty union, and a proponent of proposition a. also joining us is starchild, a local activist with the libertarian party of san francisco and a former candidate for the san francisco school board. he's an opponent of the measure. thank you both for taking the time to be with us today. >> thank you. >> alyssa, i'd like to give you the opportunity it share the thoughts of your position. >> so proposition a is a temporary 8-year, $79 parcel tax on properties in san francisco. and that money would go directly to supporting city college of san francisco. city college is the largest work force training center in san francisco. we train students. we also help students learn english as a second language and then of course one of our primary missions is to help students, particularly low income and underserved students, move on

to 4 year institutions. we serve nearly 100,000 students in san francisco and are a tremendous resource, we think, for san francisco. the last couple years the state budget cuts we faced, $53 million in the last 3 years alone, have really made it a challenge for us to keep our doors open for san francisco students and this proposition a would make a tremendous difference in addressing our fiscal problems right now. >> understood. thank you. starchild, can you present some of the thoughts around the opposition? >> sure. we all believe in people getting an education and having those opportunities be affordable and accessible to them, but city college's financial problems, we believe, are not due to state budget cuts primarily but due to fiscal mismanagement. the accreditation report that came out recently found city college to be one of the 3 worst-performing schools in the

112 community colleges in california and as evidenced by the $276,000 salary of the head of city college, we blaefrb there's plenty of money they can find without going to the taxpayers. >> i understand there were 700 classes, a reduction in 700 classes, which from the reporting indicates that people have to be on longer wait lists. can you speak to that and how this would facilitate, if this proposition was passed, how that would be facilitated? >> well, it's true. we faced tremendous budget cuts in the last several years. in fact, for the last several years running all of the employees of city college, even our chancellor, have taken pay cuts in order to keep the college open. but we've also seen closure of classes, we lost 700 classes this year, we canceled summer school a couple years ago, and these are measures we have had to take that have caused students to suffer and have

caused all of city college to suffer. so that's why we're looking for an opportunity to bring in some funding from the city that we think san francisco taxpayers will support and that the state can't take away so that we can continue to serve san franciscoans. >> understood. i know there's a relationship with proposition 30 as well, of course, from the tax base and it's all connected and --. >> that's right. >> the tax is $79 per household. can you talk about that and how that would be an impact in your view? it's an 8-year tax. it's a finite tax. >> well, you know they say the only things permanent are death and taxes. once a new tax is implemented we often find even though it's called temporary when it gets passed, it ends up bking permanent or longer term than was discussed. i would

love for my colleague here to tell us that she won't support extending that tax beyond the 8 years if it were to pass, but i believe that there's other ways that city college can stay afloat and continue to serve a declining student population. they might close some of the new campuses they've opened recently and consolidate facilities. >> thank you. do you want to offer comments to starchild's opposition? >> i think the, one of the primary things we need to remember is that city college of san francisco, which is an institution that san francisco really counts on, i think, for both our economy and for all of the community, has been operating under duress for a number of years. we can and we will make the smart reforms, we already are making the smart reforms that need to be made

around scheduling, around addressing the needs of our various communities and of our students and i think that's already well underway. we'll meet our accreditation and work to make the college more fiscally sound. but proposition a is really a component of that. it's not everything that needs to happen at san francisco city college right now, but it is a huge component and it will make a tremendous difference in ensuring that city college is here for san franciscoans in the future. >> thank you. is there any further response you have, starchild? >> every time we take more money from the taxpayers remember that's cutting into the budgets of families and individuals of san francisco who have to pay for their own education. outside city college they have to pay for housing and health care and food and other family needs, so it's a little bit misleading when we talk in terms of, well, what's going to happen to city college? we also need to think about what's going to happen to the people, hundreds of thousands