supervisor tang for, you know, the commendation. i think really flattered and honored to be standing here today. and obviously we all know that currently the [speaker not understood] school is not really the credit of the principal alone, you know. we could not have done our job without the support from all the constituents in the school communities and the teachers, i think parents, you know, that have always been very supportive in the last 14 years, i really wanted to thank you because without your standing behind me, i don't think i could have accomplished what i've accomplished. and as you all know, that a leader needs followers. we need teacher leaders, parent leaders. i'm very fortunate at francis scott key we have all staff. today i'm actually here to receive an honor on your behalf. i'm really humbled to have you here, to have this commendation

standing here with me. and my work as superintendent is to serve more school communities. i'm hoping that i can continue to, you know, carry what we have done in the sunset district and expand it to other districts. and i look forward to doing this real well. and also i will still be a parent. i will not go away and i want to thank you again, supervisor tang, and i'm sure i will see you around. thank you. (applause) >> mr. wong, i also want to call really quickly dianne lau yee at [speaker not understood], and [speaker not understood], francis scott key parent who -- i know they're surprised, but i have a few words for you. >> my name is susie loftus

[speaker not understood]. my husband and i were doing the tours and anxious to figure out whether or not we could make public schoolwork for our family, exactly what supervisor tang explained. we walked into this tiny school in the outer sunset and met this man, mr. wong, who was sitting in a very modest office. doesn't even have a vice principal, even though there's 500 students. so, he can use that money to actually fund literacy programs. and he took us on a tour. it's only two months in the school year and a little boy didn't have his jacket. he called the boy out by name and walks him back into the classroom and takes his jacket. walks us around the school. and you know, the best thing about mr. wong, there are so many things, but you know how he improved all those api scores and the litany of successes he had? he told my husband and i on that day, you know, it's every child. all i ask is that every child do better than they did the year before. set goals. [speaker not understood]. he didn't have some crazy

testing mentality that stressed out the kids. he lifted every child up. he is such a wonderful educator and visionary. i just want to congratulate the school district for promoting him. and i will say on behalf of the parents, we are devastated,ing but we're so glad that the school district recognizes your leadership and i hope all of you will continue to watch his career. thank you, mr. wong. ~ >> thank you. (applause) >> hi, my name is dianne lau yee and i've had the joy of working with david as a teacher 13 years. in spring of '99 i was a teacher with a promising job offer that involved leaving sfk. however, i was told that a very dynamic leader named david wong was coming to lead our community. so, i made the decision to stay at key to learn from david and that decision proved very well worth it as david is truly a leader worth following. you have been our fearless leader 13 years, fearless because he has courage and

follows his convictions and not just the popular or trendy. [speaker not understood] 21st century learning, gave us the tools to confidently use technology to improve our instruction. he's like a kid in the candy store when it comes to education and technology. look at this, look at this gadget, i want you to try it [speaker not understood]. and his enthusiasm is very contagious. so, thank you for that. and on more than one occasion, i have heard other teachers from other schools say, you work for david wong? you are so lucky, because david has a reputation for being very well organized and well prepared. and not only does he have a keen aye for detail and sharp memory, but he is a talented visionary. ~ he has often volunteered our school to pioneer many new programs in the district. with the support and dedication of our staff, the community has lich, changed and grown over

the years. i can talk about countless accounts of how he's been [speaker not understood], but let me just end with this. david, we're so grateful and proud of you. we know that you will continue to uphold excellence wherever you are and that you will advocate for the best interests of san francisco's students and our leaders of tomorrow. thank you for all you've done and all that you will do. thank you. (applause)

>> and the next person i would like to bring up is deborah lee davis. so, as mrs. davis is making her way up, shes what the principal of lawton alternative school for 12 years. and she is actually now retiring from the san francisco unified school district. and we know she has several

family members in attendance today. thank you for taking the time to come out and support her. mrs. douglass has dedicate her life to working with the community, students, and parents [speaker not understood]. prior to serving as principal at lawton, mrs. douglass spent 23 years as a science teacher in daly city and pa city of ka and five years as vice principal at [speaker not understood] daly city. mrs. douglass actually grew up and attended all public schools here in san francisco. she has headed washington irving elementary, presidio and george washington high school. under mrs. douglass''s leadership at lawton, the school has attained the california distinguished school award from the california department of education, attained the science technology engineering and mathematics honor roll school award from the california business school of education hetionv ofexcellence and sustained high academic performing public school status. mrs. douglass truly believes that for students to excel the high performing scholar and

athlete exhibit like habits mind and behavior, that is why she implemented a lawton first tee golf and character development program. through this program students not only learn golf skills and etiquette. they learn and practice character traits such as respect, courtesy, perseverance, sportsmanship and confidence. lawton mrs. douglass cultivated annual lawton tokyo [speaker not understood] visit, expanded middle school leak to include baseball and soccer and enriched the core academic program by adding before and after school mandarin teaching. having worked with mrs. douglass for about six years now through our district 4 office, i have seen the level of commitment she has for building a sense of community around our schools. at lawton mrs. douglass has fostered character and citizenship development as a complement to academic studies where every student participates in many opportunities to develop and demonstrate character and citizenship through taking action by performing service learning projects. for example, students recycle, tutor, mentor peers, acas

reading buddies and so gt foughtv because of mrs. douglass's leadership, performing practice integrated into every single classroom. so, i want to thank mrs. douglass, thank you for your 40 years of service and serving as a teacher, mentor, role model and community leader. (applause) >> first, i'd also like to call up [speaker not understood] again on behalf of the san francisco unified school district to say a few words. >> thank you again, stanchion. okay. ~ supervisor tang this principal is retiring so we are losing your talent and leadership. but after so many years of service, you've earned it. so, as a 45 year plus veteran, 12 year veteran at lawton, all the awards supervisor tang just mentioned, sustaining a 10/10 ranking on the api score, upped your leadership lawton is one of the most desirable schools

in the city of san francisco ~ under . and much of that is accredited to what you have done to lead and cultivate the hundreds of families and students lives that you have touched over te years. on behalf of superintendent richard karanza, on a personal note, it's been an honor to work with you as well. thank you so much for your years of service and dedication to sfusd students and families. (applause) san >> i'd like to thank supervisor tang, ~ but particularly members of the board of supervisors because you have provided a forum, a place where you can share your personal voice and personal stories. and you bring to life what you do as leaders as you serve this

wonderful city of ours. i am a child of immigrant roots, and public education is truly the leveler. and i would be remiss -- in fact, it is my responsibility to take this moment to acknowledge specifically two colleagues of mine, one being dr. john ignacio, the assistant principal of lawton, who is also retiring at the end of this school year. and also a lady who has 20 years in the san francisco unified school district, assistant superintendent margaret chew. now, between the three of us, i have 40, john has 43, margaret 20. ~

so, it's a wonderful body of work that we've been privileged to do, 103, with our children and families in the public school system, and we are very proud of that work. and there are many educators who feel the same, whether they be day one on the job or the 10th year or longer. part of my needed to is to honor my family, and in the audience is my husband peter, my sister denise tom, my brother-in-law dr. alan tom, and the person on the way, my two children crystal and alan inspire me, along with all the students in our school systems. they really prop us up, along with the parents, the staff, the community members. and, again, just as mr. wong

stated, it truly is a collaborative family of people, really is a village. now, as i look upon you, my supervisors, i recognize supervisors mar, yee, kim, campos, and the reason why i look upon you is because you bring your service from the unified school district to the city government. you bring your knowledge and experience right here. and i am -- couldn't be more pleased to see that continuity of work because your voice and your active presence is necessary to sustain all the bolts, all the children of this district. as one parent to he will ~

eloquently said to me one night during a pta meeting, if we floated all the boats, then my child's boat will float as well. and finally, listening to mayor ed lee, i am so pleased that our mayor has seen fit to make education an important focus of his work. and i know that this is a time when we are looking to building alliances between the district, between businesses, corporations, institutions of higher education, parent groups, and it goes on and on and on. so, i encourage you, stay active. make sure your voices are active, and that you participate in this call to action. as our city and civic leaders

joining the district as we forge these partnerships to sustain a very complex environment, i am nine days retired. not a future date [speaker not understood]. i look forward to having the time to practice, quite frankly, citizenship. so, my gratitude for the opportunity. i thank you for your leadership and your efforts in supporting public school education. my gratitude to you. thank you. (applause)

>> my daughter is in washington and my son is in tennessee. so, i promised them a photo. thank you.

>> thank you, supervisor tang. now back to continuing the recognition of our police department. i'd like to acknowledge our supervisor from district 6, supervisor jane kim. >> thank you, president chiu. i appreciate -- [laughter] >> it's really such an honor to have our principals here today because when i was thinking of our commendation today, i thought of when i sat on the board of education, i actually attended an education policy conference at which at one of my workshops, one of our policy experts did an hr policy. and i remember really thinking about it that day. and it took me awhile to absorb that message. over my time as a policy maker it is one of the truer statements i've ever heard. we can pass all the policies we

want here at city hall or the school district, but the real individuals who implement the policies and implement the vision of a school district or city, the superintendents, the principals, the teachers, they are what make schools great. the best -- and the best policies in the world do not make students achieve, do not make neighborhoods cleaner or safer, but people do. one of the most evident examples of good hr translating into good policy is our former captain john joe garrity, and now you can applaud. (applause) >> so, we all knew that this day would come, but it was not a day that i was looking forward to. i had the pleasure of getting to know and working with captain garrity my first 2-1/2 years in office. and during that time i learned that he is a stellar leader, a

stellar human being, and a story teller. and [speaker not understood] all here today fell in love with you over the last 2-1/2 years. and i actually remember a year ago when there were rumors that captain garrity might be moved, i saw the chief and i stopped him and i threatened to throw my body across the door of the tenderloin station if that was to happen. it did not happen that one time, but then better news came along most recently. one of the pleasures of coming into office are meeting individuals that defy the stereotype of the government bureau cat or civil service. and yo garrity is certainly this man. he defies expectations and stereo types, much needed in a neighborhood such as the tenderloin. the residents including seniors, parents and children see crime on almost a daily basis. joe has been a father figure to those of us in the neighborhood and we walk out on the street and you can still see this when he does people shout out to him and they call him captain, or

they call him by his nickname, big red. he was a football player at cal and then at an unnamed professional nfl team. not the 49ers. in fact, you can't walk down the street with him without folks stopping him to say hi. in a neighborhood where residents know each ooh joe blend in smoothly. in a neighborhood of story tellers and talkers, joe could match the best of them and yes he could repeat the best of his stories with the best of the story tellers. and he understood the neighborhood and the neighborhood could relate to their fearless public safety leader. so just a little bit about now commander garrity. he has served 27 years and counting, 13 years as pay patrolman, 8 as a sergeant, three as lieutenant and three as captain. he started as an officer in 1982 at central station working the night watch tenderloin foot beat for close to 10 years. he then joined a tenderloin task force as one of his original members until 1996.

he then spent a short stent outside of the tenderloin at northern for two years and then came back later to be the sergeant of the b patrol at tenderloin station until 2004. he later became the lieutenant of the mid-market beat foot patrol from 2008 to 2010 before being promoted to captain of the tenderloin station. he has received numerous awards and recognitions from the san francisco police department and our neighborhood and community groups, and conservatively has made over 5,000 felony arrests in his career. most importantly, he is loved and trusted by our residents and small business owners and is an important aspect of making our neighborhoods safer. and when i got the call from chief suhr regarding his promotion one friday night in may, i actually didn't tell anyone. because i was fearful of the news that would ripple out and i was also in a bit of denial as chief suhr remembers. the news eventually did get out and when it did our office

acted as therapists on the phone to many grieving residents about losing a leader and friend. it is hard putting into words what captain garrity means to the community [speaker not understood]. as it is one of the most compassionate and warm communities i've ever been a part of. but [speaker not understood] we have not lost him. in fact, better news for our captain who has now been promoted to our commander, and as another benefit we have gained another community public safety advocate in our new captain, captain [speaker not understood] who is also here today. and served with garrity when he was at northern station. and i do just want to thank the chief directly. as i said before, hr is policy and one of the things i've been most impressed by is your selection of captains. i had the pleasure of working with captain moser and captain red man and they have been stellar examples of public safety leaders and it's just amazing the difference that it makes when you have a [speaker

not understood] captain. how much easier work is and how much more united our neighborhood is with a great police captain. so, he does have a better half that wasn't able to make it this afternoon, but will be [speaker not understood] for your big community celebration for the ucsf director at department of neurological surgery. he has raised two daughters here in the city and county of san francisco. in fact, he did briefly move out of san francisco, but missed the city so much that him and his wife decided to repurchase a home again here in the city. so, we welcome you back. the last thing i will mention about joe is that he often hearkens us to another time. a fine example of this is that the commander famously carries a slide rule in his flashlight pocket. i did not know what a slide rule was. [laughter] >> i also hear that joe is a quintessential old time beat officer. everyone knows not just his name but his nickname in the neighborhood he patrols and he

knows your name as well. he is as old-fashioned as the slide rule he holds in his pocket. in our days of rapidly advancing technology and innovation, sometimes the old-fashioned plain and simple is the best way to making our neighborhoods safer. and walking the beat and knowing the people is the best way to do it. and someone actually said this once. [speaker not understood] very hard to do, but our commander certainly exemplifies that to the best degree. i want to commend you today so much. it's been such an honor working with you. i'm so sad to lose you specifically in the de la hoyactionv but i know you'll be serving our greater city. ~ in the tenderloin before i give it over to our commander, i did want to allow our chief to say a few words as well. >> thank you, madam supervisor. i actually had the pleasure of knowing joe the 30 years he's been in the police department. i was actually the radio car in the tenderloin when officer joe garrity showed up that night at

central station. back then there was no tenderloin station. it was actually part of the central -- supervisor yee might be the only one on this panel that knows what a slide rule is besides me. i was a little chagrined when i asked the supervisor. she had no idea. she googled what a slide rule was. >> i did. [laughter] >> joe is a product of san francisco education, at another timev he went to state, not to cal. he's a gater. so, but his commitment to the tenderloin ~ to service of others, beyond comparison. i know as big a loss as he was for the tenderloin, the credibility of the command staff went up a notch when joe joined us as a commander because he has that reputation amongst the troops. so, he's a little bit learning his way now as he works on the south -- southern part of the city with all the five stations that he has charge over, but he does a great job and he will be ever present. and as you say, he does it old-fashioned. he prides himself on never

walking on carpet in his 30 years of his career. so i don't think we'll ever get him on carpet. so, joe, the floor is yours. (applause) >> and on the slide rule i carry, i'm trying to go green like everybody else. [laughter] >> thank you very much from the board, supervisor kim. it's been a great couple years in the tenderloin as the captain. i think when chief suhr promoted me to commander, i think i pulled out a road map to see how far that was from south of market street to leave. the tenderloin has changed the last 30 years. it's kind of morphed. i followed a bunch of hall of famers here with matt, david wong and beverly as educators. i think it's very important the tenderloin has a lot of children now, over 5,000 children in that area. i think supervisor kim and her

staff and service providers in that area and the people with the safe passage project we worked on in area for the children in the after school program was a big plus for us. they received an award from metlife. that was a big plus for the station and the community. it's starting with the mid-market, the tenderloin starting to morph a little bit. great business people that we dealt with [speaker not understood] bid at john's grill and the people at macy's that were very instrumental in helping the community when we needed something to be done. so, it's been a great time. i think i'm getting out in the bayview on the 4th of july, third on third, it was great to be out in the bayview, running out there. saw a lot of people i knew from years ago when i was playing football [speaker not understood] of. chief suhr started combing our hair [speaker not understood] the last couple of years. they didn't recognize me. it's been great, you know. i think it's important to realize especially now in city government and the private

sector services we have to work together on all these projects to make it work, all of them come together. so, i want to thank everybody, my wife and two did you tellers aren't here today. they kind of keep me in line at home. ~ two daughters they keep me on the straight and narrow so i don't get too light-headed, big headed. keep me on the straight and narrow. they say happy wife, happy life. i try to stay that line. we have a lot of great men and women doing a great job. i was out at single side 4th of july. ~ ingleside. the men and women, you receive glory for home runs when you make hits by somebody else [speaker not understood]. men and women in the police department, the chief, loftus and everybody else, we try to implement what we're doing now on the street. especially now we're hiring a lot of new people it's really important they realize they have to be able to talk to people, understand what

people's backgrounds and each part of the city is different. hopefully that will continue. i've kind of come like yesterday's newspaper, sports page. you don't throw it away. you might want to keep it out and use it for something else later for paper. it's important to remember we continue to move forward with the resources we use with the police department and city government. so, thank you very much. i appreciate it, and thank you. (applause) >> so, i did want to -- i see some of our residents from the tenderloin and folks that want to come up. they're going to take a group photo. i forgot to mention when he was the captain, like many teachers in the classroom, he would dip into his own pocket to pay for awards for the boys and girls club for parties for youth and families. he's truly been someone that has been integrative and committed to the neighborhood, responds to all of his e-mails. it's just really been amazing to work with you and i look forward to continuing to work with you as commander.

(applause)