issues that are present and profoundly prevalent right now. so we just need to get down to the core of it, so we need to step outside of the box, outside of the politics, outside of the budgets, outside of the things that have been done thus far, and maybe dig a little deeper to find a resolve, and my son would like to say something. >> i don't like bullying in the schools, because of rashon. how could this happen to a school? like the system,

>> thank you. >> next speaker. >> i'm sarah sims and i'm a parent to two children enrolled in miraloma elementary and i'm here to implore to you raise our teachers' salaries. the district consists that teachers will see an 18.5% increase for salaris and benefits over the next three years and also acknowledge this means 8.5%, but the department of labor states that the consumer price index that measures prices in the greater sf area has grown 3% which means that the wage proposed by the district wouldn't keep up with the district. 8.5 is just 2.8% per year, leaving teachers 2.2% poorer than when they started. teachers have not had a pay scale increase in five years and the market rate for one-bedroom apartment in san

francisco requires $62,000 salary. per sfusd's own published pay scale a teacher will earn that in his or her tenth year, but only ensuring that we are enrolled in continuing education and earning 60 units. part-time at san francisco state university will cost $1800 and at that rate it could cost up to $18,000 to accrue 60 units. what does this mean? the bay area average cost of living is increasing faster than the raise that is district is offering and this doesn't reflect the increases of other necessities. this is driving teachers away and this is keeping good teachers from considering working in san francisco. this puts san francisco unified's mission at-risk so that each student can achieve

his or her maximum potential. i know how hard the teachers work to support them and by experience the community. please pay them a fair living wage. i voted in favor of prop c and in favor of the sota tax and for the people who sit in these chairs and those are people who will stand up for our teachers. thank you. >> thank you, next speaker, please. >> dan linder. parent of two children at miraloma elementary. good evening. thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak. i wanted to talk about the impasse between the district and the union. my father taught in this district for over 44 years at lowell high school and he would probably be rolling in his grave at the situation that has taken place over my lifetime here in san francisco with education, and how teachers are

being treated. acting in good faith literally mean those act in good faith, with integrity and i think that word "transparency" is overuse and numbers can be manipulated to prove whatever you want. at the end of the day, since you spoke about how appreciative and thankful you are, mr. carranza at this time of year, show it, do your job and end this impasse as quickly as possible. i wanted to read from your note from sfusd the update october 2nd, 2014. we committed to giving our employees much deserved raises. why does it take six months to do that? it shouldn't and we're still not finished.

we are committed to being fiscally reresponsible, which means submiting a balanced three-year budget to the state with required minimum. well, budgets can be manipulated and expenses can be inflated, but it shouldn't be on the backs of the students or the teachers, and the state does have more money. and i think there are funds there and there is waste that can be eliminated and that should not be at the expense of the teachers, the paraprofessionals and support staff and as we hear tonight is becoming more and more of an issue. the city cannot afford and your administration cannot afford to handle a teachers' strike. i thank you for your time. good luck. >> next group of speakers. dennis kelly, susan sullivan, patrick hennesey, vanessa hutchison and ken trey and that is all i have under public

comment this evening. >> good evening superintendent carranza and board members. i have been an educator for the past 14 years and had the privilege of working in new teacher support for the past seven years. i love my job. interacting with teachers and helping to shape their development is a great gift and challenge. my time as a mentor and teacher has shown me the great value in teacher experience and reflection. it does not matter how strong a candidate is in the beginning of their career, over time they develop into better educators

with greater reflection skills and ability to serve our students. over the years i have had many conversation with teachers sticking with, but i have seen an increase with young teachers struggling with their career choices and the main question, do i continue to plant roots into the city by moving into another field or stay in teaching or move to a higher-paying district. my husband is a high school teacher in the district. so we have two teachers' salary, one-two-year-old and one baby on the way. as someone born and raised in the city from middle-class roots i if any it's a city for all people to live, no matter what bus you ride to work. i entered this profession knowing it was not one of great financial excess. however, there was always an expectation

it would be a viable long-term career in sf. for me, i am lucky enough that it probably will be. for new teachers i cannot be so certain. please do what you can to help make teaching a profession in sf and be the trail blazers. thank you. >> next speaker, please. >> good evening, commissioners and superintendent. my name is patrick hennesey and i had 11 wonderful years in your district, nine years as an educator or nine years as a teacher and the last two great years i have been supporting new teachers as a new teacher support provider. so far in my time i can say one thing for certain about teaching, it is is far from easy. it's a very difficult job. it's a job that one does not learn overnight.

practice and patience and experience is key to teacher growth. now with that said, i believe the district, i believe we need to do everything that we can to retain experienced and effective teachers. i am a father of two young boys, who i soon hope to put in our district. i have a wife, who is a school social worker in the district. so i'm particularly vested in retaining good, effective teachers who have families and who have children. i believe they make some of the best teachers in this district. i believe they are the ones who believe in teaching as a viable, live long profession, who see it as -- who see their schools as a place they want to invest, where they want

to raise and send their children to schools. i also believe these teachers are the ones who through their own experience with their own children have a unique understanding and empathy for our student development and education. i really believe this. unfortunately, these are the teachers feeling the economic pinch the most and i just ask you that i know you can't do it all -- this is a significant rise in cost of living, but dig down deep and do the best you can for the students and for the profession. thank you. >> thank you very much. next speaker, please. >> good evening, commissioners and superintendent carranza. my name is susan solomon, executive vice president of the united educators of san francisco. what i have here or will in a moment are over 2300

petitions that parents have signed. now you have seen the content, i live, because there are also hundreds of online petitions that have been signed and sent forward to you. so you know that the key words in this petition are "stability and security for our students and their families." and we have it in three languages, english, spanish and chinese. the parents who stop and talk with us as we stand outside of the schools are overwhelmingly supportive and will sign these petitions. this is happening at dozens of sites around the city. from the inception of our close the gap coalition, to now, we have heard what parents want for their students, and it's what we want also. they want personalized instruction and attention for their students. that is best developed and delivered by educators who live where they work.

we have heard a lot and we'll continue to hear a lot about the affordability crisis that is hiting our families and our educators. you will hear from ken trey about the affordability crisis town hall that took place a couple of weeks ago. what we heard there, in addition to shared stories of hardship, was an outpouring of love, respect and support from parents for educators. and as the previous speaker said, the educators who are working so hard, we're grateful to have jobs that bring us that kind of love, and that give us the opportunity to help our students succeed. it's a wonderful way to live a life. there was just an article about future dining in the san francisco unified school district and it's improved cafeterias and improved food because we have an expectation that our students who are struggling most and whose parents work two or three jobs are going to be eating three

meals a day at school. we want to be there with them. we want to be there by their side and we want to give them the support that their parents want to give them, too. so we very much appreciate the support that we're getting from parents to get a fair contract that will keep us in our schools. thank you. >> mr. kelly, two minutes please. >> mr. trey. good evening superintendent and commissioners, my name is ken trey. i'm currently political director at united educators, but i started teaching in san francisco in 1986 at balboa

high school. and even way back then teachers knew they were underpaid, but there wasn't an existential kind of angst about whether teachers or paraprofessionals could stay in the town. after all if the landlord evict you could probably move across the street for 20% less. that is not the situation in san francisco today. the highest-paid teacher to find a new place to live is out of town. one former teacher who was voted most popular teacher at galileo and lowell high school is now living in minnesota because he could not face a place to live after facing eviction in the home he had been in over 30 years. in past three weeks i have been to five or six events in my neighborhood in the mission about housing specifically.

with groups like justice and others had a forum that was started by the faculty and parents the buena vista horace man school and that meeting that filled the auditorium with a number of teachers, paraprofessionals and parents, there was a commonality, a common concern about whether any of you could stay in the city that we teach and live in and in which we want to grow our children in the classroom and at home and work together for their future? there is joint responsibility for teachers and parents and our students to thrive in this town. and it's a pre-cursor to the education of this city of ours, san francisco, that educators can afford to live in this city. we're now involved in how many

months' of contract negotiations? in a year, in which the district is receiving many more millions of dollars than previously because of our efforts and i'm saying "ours" by progressive and labor people and community people in passing prop 13, working aside the governor. there is more money coming into the city, into the district and there is also local-controlled funding formula, which is bringing more funds into san francisco. it's time to take care of the people who do the work in this city as we keep doing the work to provide the best possible education for our students. just the other day i was at the memorial for ted gulickson, famous tenant rights organizer and i can't tell you how much teachers and paraprofessionals i ran into at that memorial at mission high school and they are there, because in recent

past, ted gulickson and the tenant's union has helped them to stay in san francisco. it's time for this school board to step up and do its part. i can't point the finger at other agencies. you have to take responsibility. we all heard the school bell, well it's time for the school board to not ask who the bell tolls for, because it tolls for thee. thank you. >> thank you very much. i'm dennis kelly and i'm the president of the united educators of san francisco. ladies and gentlemen of the board of education and mr. superintendent, a member of the board of education went to the commission of the board of supervisors and said she would like to give the teachers and paras 300% salary increase. now that was different. we got excited. we got out our buckets and got our bushel baskets ready to receive that unexpected windfall. but she then talked about

sacramento and then she blamed the city for the high cost of living. as mr. trey just said though, it's your job. you have a $700 million budget. that budget has gone up. the number of dollars you get per student has risen thanks to proposition 30. you heard tonight people talking about what happens to a school when you can't get teachers and you can't get teachers to stay? let me ask you know, how many open positions do you have in the teacher force right now? five? ten? 20? wait until we get to 79 and then raise your hand. how many of you have vacancies in the paraprofessional core?

over 60. people are not looking to come and work in san francisco. and it's not because we have bad students. we have wonderful students. it's not because our schools are dilapidated. we're keeping them in shape. it's because of their inability to live on a salary that they can make in san francisco. that is not sacramento's fault. that is not the city's fault. that comes to you. you made choices. when you had a budget, you made choices. you set aside a certain amount of money for raises. now in priority industry when that was done it was called bullarism and became an unfair labor practice, but you set aside a certain amount and that is basically all we can get from you.

bullarism was declared an unfair labor practice and you are on the edge of it. you need to show the respect for the people who do the work to educate the children, to make the schools stable, to stabilize the neighborhoods. you can't blame anybody else. you have $700 million dollars to deal with. thank you. [ applause ]. >> thank you, general public comment is now closed. now we're on item d, student delegate's report. gavin chan. >> thank you, president fewer. >> you are welcome. >> good evening, president fewer, superintendent carranza, commissioners and deputy superintendents. so at our el cap task force meeting, which was our first one with the sac taking part of it, we had four

sac representatives at the lcap meeting. our next meeting is december 11 and i would like to give a shout-out to deputy lee for having us at the meeting. next we had our internet safety instruction day, which was on november 7th, 2014. and first off we would like to thank mr. kevin truitt for negotiating with commonsense media and having our instruction day at washington high school. i would also like to thank erica and assistant principal for having it at washington high school.

the sac collaborated with the commonsense media and provided us student live forum by providing a social media toolkit to outreach to our student peers at washing ton high school. the sac promoted a healthy student environment where our peers are open to discuss issues with the sac represents and others such as classmates, teachers and principals in a positive and respectful way. in addition, this workshop incorporated internet safety and social media responsibility. such as anti-bullying awareness. being responsible on the web, and providing an open-door policy. so the student advisory council is open for anyone who has issues about any type of bullying.

the next sac meeting will be next week, monday, november 24th, at 5:00 p.m. the student advisory council is a public council and anyone is welcome to attend your meetings. in addition, as an incentive, we will provide dinner for all our sac reps and guests attending. if you would like to attend, make a presentation, or like a copy of our agenda, please contact our student advisory council coordinator salvador lopez. >> what is next meeting? >> november 24th. >> november 24th. >> yes. >> thank you very much. now on to item e, parent advisory council. i believe we had have a report

this evening. >> good evening superintendent carranza, and everybody else. my name is margaret wilson. i am a parent of four children that are in the school district. i have a 10th grader at academy arts and sciences. a 7th and 6th grady at betsy carmichael middle school and a kindergarten. >> good evening, president fewer, commissioners, superintendent carranza, i'm georgia williams, coordinator for the parent advisory council. >> i am going to be presenting the parties that we had picked. just bear with me, because i am

visually impaired. >> thank you for waiting through the public testimony. i know we took it out of turn. >> we as members had picked out six items, and one is going to be support the planning, design and implementation of the family academic -- basically for university. second will be strengthen the implementation of the lau plan, supporting programs and services for english-language

learner, including increased access two to district information in their home language. no. 3 is support the momentum for vision 2025 including the implementation of sfusd's building the digital district plan. next one is strengthening the implementation of the restorative practices. building stronger connections with families to improve school

climate and culture, and the next point will be advocating for racial equity, especially in the delivery of special education. services, the implementation of safe and supportive school initiative and supporting african-american achievements and our last one is continue our work on the local control and accountability plan. the lcap. including actively participating on the lcap task

force, and reaching out to families for a community engagement campaign in the spring. >> project teams are in the process of meeting and developing initial ideas and proposals to the full pac to decide on each project. our next meeting we'll host a meeting to support implementation of the safe and supportive school initiatives. we invite on the ed our community partners to participate to capture additional voices and put a plug in, and we know that other packs are going to be hosting a similar conversation, as well as the community advisory committee for special education. they are hosting similar conversation as well and we

really want to encourage familis to participate. so that we get a diverse perspective on the input of the behavioral matrix to be considered for the implementation and how best to support safe and supportive schools initiative. next month we'll be presenting a recommendation for slate of new pac members. we interviewed pac members over the last month and thursday we'll also be voting on new numbers to present to you next month. >> thank you very much. any comments or questions for the parent advisory council? commissioner maufas. >> thank you, through the chair, is there a possibility -- it's two announcements, but can our translation say them over the air, that these meetings are happening, if we could have them in chinese and spanish as well. >> sure, interpretation,

please. >> translator: (making announcement in spanish)