goldstein. i gave her my time. >> hello, i'm a little bit different than the rest of the families discussed so far. actually i don't have a kid in a wheelchair. i have been very fortunate. these families have been dealt a difficult card and the decisions made have made their lives harder. frances school is an elementary school with 540 kids. the affected members of 5 kids. it's a rounding error almost subsequently about the it not for these families. the reason i'm here is because i want to talk to you about not the benefits to these kids, but the benefits to the rest of the kids in the school. the way to really think about it is that this i talk program is doing the best to make the best the children can be, but it's all the children and it instills a sense of empathy

and i guess just an acceptance of differences . this is really tearing our kids apart. if you come to see the level of integration, it's amazing. our school is one of the bigst participants in the special olympics and it's because of these kids. they are the heart and soul of our school. the school district has treated them as a liability. they make our kids and themselves better through this program. you need to come to the school. our pta president, raise your hand, she's ready with times for you to come to this school and see how amazing it is. has anybody heard of the bridge school? like the concert like carlos

santana and steve matthews come. they all support a concert benefit for the school for a school of 11 kids. this was an answer on sfusd to do the same thing. please support the school. >> next speaker, please. [ applause ] >> hi commissioners, i'm a parent, a gay dad. we adopted my daughter seems like a long time ago now. but she was born preemie and needed therapy and she got therapies and early intervention and occupational therapies and speech therapy. she couldn't talk until she was 2 years old. she's 6 years old now in kindergarten and sometimes i just want her to

keep quiet, not talk. i recognize the values of the services that's provided toll -- to all of the kids here whether they are moderately delayed or severely disabled. whether i chose the school, i looked at 15 schools checking out what they offer and things like that. every school said they are inclusive but france school is different. you walk into this school and there is classrooms designed for students here and the corridor is filled with equipment to help these students. i always believe and i said that it takes a village and by you taking way the program you are removing our village. this community is precious. in singapore where i come from if

you are handicap you go to handicap school and you are not seen. in school here you are seen. you go to lunch with my kids, go to class with my kids. you are part of us. we are empowering the disabled students and giving them a voice and showing them they are human beings too. by removing it you are taking way the soul of our village, our community. have mercy. you have to give them hope. i really hope you will not remove this program. you will take away our soul. thank you. >> hello, thank you superintendant carranza, president fewer, board members, staff. my name is susie loftus and proud that i went to elementary and middle

school. i have a first grader and third grader. what i'm here to share is really an appreciation of assistance superintendant who came to our school last night and has some important goals and data and policies where you want to go. our request really is that in fact oring those decisions and understanding what this program means not only to children that are in the program but kids like mine who benefit who spend time with those kids who cheer them on, it affects an entire community that is truly inclusive. it's something that benefits all of our kids. you can see the number of people we have packed in here on short notice. if there doesn't have to be a rush to this, take

some time. come out to the school. have you experienced what we experience everyday and we believe this is something that you will want to replicate and you will see the incredible impact it has. our request is to slow it down and give us more time to show you about this program and we think you will agree that it's an absolute gem and something you will be proud of. >> i have an online petition of 700 people agree with all of us and 15 letters. thank you. [ applause ] >> next speaker, please. >> okay. >> hello, my name is mckaila sullivan. i have worked in the school since 2001 st district i have served in the

augmented program and i have worked with dr. gloria soto in this wonderful feel to help children get empowered to participate in the curriculum at large. i'm proud to say that the i talk classroom really provides a forum for the students to participate and be included in the general ed curriculum. i'm really, i really want to talk about how our students are the most vulnerable and really need the most intensive communication strategies known. what is really important about what we do is we get them ready to use their communication devices to participate in reading, writing and a variety of other things. we have the best practices and i'm proud about that because we utilize ipads, we utilize electronic devices

and technology and we've seen so many successes. i have worked at the middle school in the i talk program there and i have seen the students age out and move into transitional programs in adult day care programs, and i'm so proud to say that they can actually really even with the most intense communication difficulties they are able to tell people how they feel, what they want, what they need. we really need to be able to say to students when they leave san francisco unified that they are able to community their most basic needs and feelings. and i moved way for two 2 years and i lived on the east coast before moving back 2 years ago. i saw a very different type of communication and educational setting for kids

like these. we have collaboratives in massachusetts where the kids were taken to different buildings. they would have five different towns send the kids to feed our collaboratives where they were separate from their typical peers. i found this to be very depressing. >> excuse me, your time is us. thank you very much for sharing that with us. [ applause ] >> hello, my name is nadine duffy. my child was the first to be in the i talk class 18 years ago. he did attend the bridge school and was able to learn how to use a communication device at 4 years old. but i was very saddened by the fact that san francisco unified school

district did not have an i talk class, but i knew that my child wanted to communicate. but after he was at bridge school for 4 years san francisco unified got an i talk class. and my son was transferred back up into district. and i just wanted to thank you for allowing my son to go from i talk at frances to an toss to mission high and he's doing very well. he's currently working 2 days a week at ucsf. he's a greeter. he uses his talker. if it were not for him getting the basics at frances scott, i don't think he would be where he

is now. a lot of parents have stopped me over the years, after my son left bridge school he didn't talk anymore, what did you do? it wasn't what i did. i had support from san francisco i talk class every step of the way. i'm just asking that you not get rid of the i talk class because it's v e very important. my son is 21 years old and he will be graduating this year and i'm happy to say, he's done very well with i talk from elementary up to high school. thank you. [ applause ] >> thank you very much. next speaker, please. >> hi, my name is kristin soto i have been working in san francisco unified school district. >> excuse me, did you submit a

card? >> yes. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. i initially started working as a para professional in a special day class at a middle school where i saw that students weren't welcomed into the general classroom. they were referred to as iep kids and i have had teachers tell me flat out that my students with respect to welcome. now i'm at an elementary school and told that any of my children are welcome at any time. my students are extremely special and wonderful and they deserve that right. they can't receive these kinds of services at any school. not all special day classes are created equal. we have on-site services for occupation therapy, physical therapy. this enables our students to not miss any class time. they can receive their

services on-site and have their peers watch them and see how capable they can be. i'm asking you to keep this program intact. it's a wonderful model and you should be so proud to have this program in your district. thank you. [ applause ] >> next speaker. >> good evening, i'm yolanda blossom and we are all here tonight to ask the board of education to please consider funding middle schools to allow all students access to a 7 tsd period day. currently they are english language learners and they do not have enough school day periods to participate in electives such

as band and art. the latest community advisory committee submitted a letter to fund electives to all middle school students. we are here to urge you to please accept the committee's recommendation. we are also urging you to please fulfill your commitment to the plan that states that sfusd will provide full access to the district's comprehensive grade level program, mathematics and visual and performance arts and world languages. i would like to now introduce some fifth graders, kelsey greenberg and -- pete. >> i'm going to read. when you were 10 or 11 did you know what you wanted to be when you grew up. like many others of

my age i do. when i grew up to be an inventor to have students like me enrolled in mandarin means having an elective besides mandarin. having an elective besides mandarin could help students accomplish their dreams while learning a new language. for instance, i would study robotics. i believe having an elective not only teaches you new educational skills but also teaches you one of the most important skills in life, how to make choices. thank you. [ applause ] >> my name is kelsey greenberg. i miss my friends from the ge program. for five 5 years i was in an after school program that allowed g

and e kids and because of this, the after school program was one of the best experiences of my life. baunsd -- because they don't get to inaccurate with kids, they won't become friends. the only way kids get to interact is during the short pe session we have, and in middle school, if we, the mandarin immersion will be one part and ge will be another. it goes this way, it will be mostly segregated. and in order for ge and mi kids to be able to feel as one instead of segregated, you must all have electives to interact with different people and we all get to all feel

as one. so please allow us to have 7th period. thank you. [ applause ] >> i have a couple of other names on the list. amy, ranch an, oh conel. >> next speaker, please. are we done with public comment? okay. >> my name is bill rose toe. i'm a parent of two elementary school children at star kirn currently in the mandarin program. at the add hoc committee i presented and

asked the same thing to the committee members. at the time commissioner wynns made the argument and therefore an elective itself and it would not be fair to the other programs possibly diverting funds from other schools and programs for the benefit of the few. i would disagree. the 7th period should be for everybody. we have the funding to make that for everybody. this is not taking away from anybody. this is adding and enhancing for all. i urge you

to fund this program. thank you. >> hi, my name is katie olson. the kids from star king immersion and those identified as english language learners both face the disappointment of missing out on electives with exciting opportunities with stem classes, band, art, the kids feel disappointed not being part of that programming. we have seen other schools with cantonese and spanish programs and they find a way to fund zero or period 7 classes with title one funds or parent raising. we respect you follow the

recommendation and use the funds to provide all students with electives. >> next speaker, please. please identify yourself. otherwise public comment will be closed. >> hi, i'm matt, i'm a 16-year-old san francisco high school student here. i have been interested in computers and technology sense i was very young and i have always wanted to learn more. i have wanted to take a class known for technology. as i learn more i saw that a lot of students weren't able to take

courses in computer science and courses weren't offered and a lot of students have access to success cellular phones. i have been working on a project that empowers people to leverage this technology and teach themselves the code. for the last year i have been building a free educational app for coding and it's an allowing kids to learn at any time. i wanted to bring it to you because of the broader schools that can help them in middle school and high school and beyond. i propose three actions this board should take. first, the board should adopt a resolution to adopt all students to public schools to learn the code. this will enable students to research the code. second, the board should help students find the

resources to educate themselves. the easiest way to do this is to add a tab under the family resources program. this would link the students for resources for them. i would be happy to provide the resource. the board should establish intentional outreach to local outreach companies to encourage donation of equipment. last year i worked at a start up and would be happy to work as a liaison to companies. i know there is a great interest for them to give back to the community. thank you for the opportunity to speak. >> excuse me, matthew. i think we have jim ryan in our audience from the staff. mr. ryan would you please connect with matthew? thank you very

much. mr. tray, i don't see your name on the list. >> i'm speaking for someone else. >> good evening commissioners, this saturday, a big truck of books is coming to san francisco. there will be 40,000 free books courtesy of first book and united educators of san francisco. the ultimate goal of first book is to get as many books as we can into the homes of our low income students. educators in intuitively know when there are books at home for students to read for theiren enjoyment that connect to the curriculum, they do better in school. by the way, there is data to back that up. here is how it will work. hundreds of san francisco educators have already registered for the 40,000 books coming on saturday.

educators and that not only includes teachers and professionals and who work at school programs and community organization based programs are eligible. we know those who have registered will be there saturday. guess what, here is the secret. if you haven't registered you can still show up on saturday and we'll register you on the spot. these are brand new books. they are appropriate for prek all the way up to 12th grade. the event will start at 9:00 a.m. at sports basement. it's been good enough to donate their basement and the books will be on display and educators can come up, can show up and take back 100 books each. so we invite all of our fellow

educators to show up saturday. this is a great opportunity and we hope that in the coming years we are going to develop the ability for san francisco educators to go on marketplace online and choose books that connect directly with their classroom curriculum to send home with our students to start to develop their own libraries. thank you. 14th and bryant. 9:00 until all the books are gone. sports basement. >> shot out to sports basement. they are so supportive. are you on the speaker list? >> yes. i'm a parent of star king student and app toast student. star king has been a

school that we have reached out and helped out community that we are very concerned about our general ed kids and the strong group of english language learners that we have at our school. we were really surprised to find that they will not of electives if they are still registered as an english language learners. they would not have electives at app toes and we were surprised that it would be true. and we would like to advocate. one easy way to do it is to expand this pernd perd -- period and they would be able to get support and expand their mind through stem programs and music and art. thank you. is there any additional public comment? seeing none, public comment is closed. thank you very much. item e.

parent advisory council report. tonight we do not have a parent advisory board report. i would like to take out of order under section k. any objection, seeing none. i think you have a report for us.

>> louisa, please come up. do you have interpretation. i'm going to ask you to hold. please for those exiting the room, please exit quietly. we are conducting business. >> good evening. i'm louisa barrel. thank you for giving us the opportunity to share the english learner advisory community presentation for this year. i have to honor to work with this amazing group of english learner families and every year they come together and make some very thoughtful recommendations to improve the education for

english learners. i want to mention that in november we had an election. we have a brand new board, executive board of delack. i'm going to take a minute to read the names of our new member. maria rocha from cesar chavez is our chairperson, jack kwong, from chinese is our vice-chair, we have a secretary elena from marshall. louis abrego from mission high school. olga reyez from bryant, from daniel went webster, and laura nava from glen park. so i'm just going right ahead to turn it over to maria for the delack

presentation. thank you. [ spanish speaker ] >> good evening, commissioners, president fewer and superintendant. my name is maria rocha and i am the president of delack. [ spanish speaker ] >>