to say mahalo, just mahalo, continue moving forward. this is community driven. it is formed by the community. we are in partnership. i was here at the committee meeting earlier. i saw there was one position on there. we're advocating for three positions, so we can get in there and do this work. i spoke with kevin truitt a little bit earlier, and there's a recommendation that we're going to positive the p.i. community. as we move forward, continuously working on some immediate needs currently today that we can do with this building, but again, i'm just going to keep it like that. thank you so, so much. mahalo. [applause]. >> thank you. next speaker, please. >> hello. my name is epha, and i am a

tongan woman. [ inaudible ] >> one of the classes i'm taking this semester is called pacifica. i was also taught the definition of culture, and that is when you as people are given a space to manipulate. how we manipulated the spaces, one component is the tatau, or other words, the tattoo. the identity that you hold today is fluid, which means it's going to change. the tattoo is supposed to solidify your reality. the reason we told the tattoo in the samoan culture, it's a moment you are supposed to hold in your lifetime.

these classes that i take are my identity, and they are my tatau. the more classes i take, the more fluid my identity become. i am here to advocate for more classes for pacific islanders so they can have the same opportunity i had. i am advocating for the pacific islanders who are pushed out of the schools and kept away from realizing who their people are and who they really are. and i am here to advocate for the pacific islanders who are kept from getting their own tattoo. i am tired of the -- i am tired of being a teacher for my ownoppressions. we are tired to say we are struggling. we are tired of repeating ourselves, but what we don't want to do is forcefully get it

from people. that's why our people always ask, and our people are always giving. thank you. [applause]. >> good evening. madam president, commissioners. my name is john nauer, and i'm the coach here of the pacific islanders association. this is very historical and as well as emotional for us. i mean, just listening to some of those statistics, the only thing i can say, it's long overdue. it's long overdue. it's been a problem that our city and many other cities haven't yet addressed, and i thank you for putting this together for our city. and i encourage the rest of the commissioners to please vote yes on this. this is the first step -- let

me give you a scenario for a young pacific islander student in san francisco. if you walk-through the door, and you don't see anybody that looks like you, they see their teachers, they see the dean, their council, their principal, you kind of want to just walk right back out the door and find the first doorway you he had se had -- you see, get you a pack of cigarette and a beer and drink. there's no motivation for our young people. that's why there's those statistics. the proof is in the pudding. a lot of our kids are not making it. that's because they don't have an identity. when you do not see yourselves in an authoratitive role, why should you go to school in for us, it's athletics or clubs, especially the polyclubs, but that's a lot of culture and

dancing and stuff, but it's not going to take us where we need to go as a community. i really appreciate allowing us to partner up with our community. there's eight organizations. we're working hard, we're going to be back and hold hands with the district and make sure this is the first step. let's get our young people, let's help our community. let's make an impact, you know, let's change instead of just shooting for becoming an nfl player which is what, one out of a large number, let's shoot to get some doctors, right? let's shoot to get some more doctors, teachers. i mean, that's what our young people need. as you see, we have a larger community, but most of our folks are not used to partaking in forums such as this, but this is one great step. once we get the word out in our community, trust me, the next function, our numbers will be a lot greater when we show up. thank you so much.

[applause]. >> thank you. our last speaker, please. >> good evening, commissioners. my name's noah, and i am a policy analyst with the human rights commission, and on behalf of staff, they really wanted to offer our full support for this historic resolution. we are really excited and want to work with the board as this moves forward or -- and just to focus on one example of how this resolution is so forward thinking, for data desegregation, when you're looking at asian and pacific islander statistics together, it really masks a lot of the issues that you highlighted in

the resolution. and so pulling that out and looking at pacific islander specific data and then desegregating that further, like the resolution says, really goes a long way to make sure that students receive the supports that they need and that they're not statistically invisible. they're -- just to say how far ahead of the curve sfusd is on there, there's state law about desegregation, but it's not set to take effect for another 4.5 years, and it only applies in health situations. so this is a really important resolution, and the human rights commission is really excited that the board has taken it up. thank you. [applause]. >> thank you, noah. so at this time, i'd like to

open it up for board members to make any comments. commissioner walton? >> one, you know, i want to thank commissioner -- or president mendoza and president cooke for bringing the resolution forward. this is a conversation that we've been having for a while in community and with the board of education and with the district, so it is long overdue. but i also think this represents the commitment of this board to make sure that we provide specific and static opportunities for the groups that have the biggest gaps in the district. so i'm excited to see us continue with the specificity like we do for our black learners, like we do for our minority learners, and as noah mentioned, actually carving out

our nhpi community. that's important. and just the last thing that i want to say as i talked at about last week's meeting, it's important that you leverage what's out there. i always want to say on record, the role that they need to play as we continue this work within the district and our city for all of our populations that we're working with and targeting and streamlining our services because we know that with our initiatives, with role masterpiece in the latino community and black to the future, we have resources available to do the same thing in our nhpi community. just to give an example, we fund in school support positions with black to the future in a collaborative soul. it supports our young people in the classrooms, but it also supports or educators, so it is important that we leverage our

city resources as we work within our district, too, because this is all of our children and this work is important. again, just excited about this work and looking forward to how we get deeper into getting this done as a unit, so thank you all four coming out and thank you for bringing the resolution forward. >> thank you, commissioner walton. commissioner merase? >> thank you. i'd like to ask the authors if the rest of the school board members could be added to the resolution. i'm strongly in support. i want to thank the young woman from june jordan for being so articulate about the importance of this initiative. i met with mr. zuniga earlier this year. i want to recognize his key leadership in making this happen. i do want to comment on the committee of the whole meeting earlier, because in a subsequent conversation with mr. moliga, i know that staff are looking into sort of

internal strategies for improving nhpi representation in the school district. i want to be sure that execution plan for this resolution is aligning with community needs because the feedback that i received was there's a real need for student support services and strategies for providing students enhanced support, less of a need or emphasis on sort of sfusd internal. so any way, i would like to continue the dialogue and just make sure that the implementation of the resolution is in keeping with the community needs. i will be supporting the resolution tonight. >> thank you, commissioner merase? [ inaudible ] >> vice president cooke? >> i really want to thank everyone that came out to

observe this being read into the record. i especially want to highlight the tongan leadership for working with us to bring this resolution forward. as a graduate of schools mostly on the south side of the city, i went to school often it was with the polynesian, and as a member of the african american community, i saw how a lot of us were struggling with the same issues. it's really been people at the site that have tried to hold on and build and create something of an affirmative community. that's gotten a lot of diverse participation and it's been an important cornerstone at school sites. today, we say your -- your issues and concerns are at -- a top priority for the school district.

that's what this resolution says, that you're not doing it alone. that we are completely behind you, and we want to see all these issues be something of the past. so in acknowledgement of that long-standing site work, i also do want to acknowledge century fatoue, who i met at thurgood marshall, and was just the glue for all the students in that community. he's been an asset to every school that he's served, so thank you for that. and i'm really excited about all the things that we can bring to bear as a result of that resolution. i want to see that drop out rate drop. i want to see more people get hired. i think that recommendation for three staff is good, and i think if we can continue working with current staff to resolve the issue, then we're going to continue to do the things that we have gotten results. i look forward to see this

playing out over the course of the years to umm can, so i hope my colleagues support this resolution, and i'm excite today get to work. >> thank you, vice president cooke. i also want to thank the community for coming out and for really spending some really quality time for us. i'll really praud to be a coauthor on this, and i want to thank vice president c # ooke for his leadership on this. i just spent two weeks family. my sisters are all married to pacific islanders. it was just a reminder to me how important our cultures are, and when we come forward and honor one of our elders, and we think about what it's taken for us to get to where we are, it's not only been standing on the backs of so many people that have suffered, but to ensure

that those that we want to get pulled up get pulled up through a variety of sources. so this resolution for me meant for someone who's in a policy role and a leadership role that i have an opportunity to come into the community and do what i can. you know, we've always identified groups, you know, within our communities that need support, and our pacific islanders have always been one of those categories. we've never done anything concrete to say we're going to do more for you, and so this resolution really speaks to that, as well. we've done a tremendous amount of work with our african american community, our latino community. we still need to do a lot more work with all through, but the idea now that you are going to be supported in a different way and recognized in a different way is really important to us. one of the things that you said, john, was that you don't have any identity, although

it's very easy for people to identify you, right? and i think your leadership in the community is really important. but it's also -- like, i think -- i've always respected you, but it wasn't until you were on the stage at city college talking about what it took for you to go back to school and how important education was, and how you wanted to be a role model for your own community. and you know that's not something that people our age always do, you know? and so you're spending nights and weekends doing something that'll make you a better person so that you're better for your own community and that you're a model. and that's -- that's -- you know, a lot of love and respect goes out to you and so many of your friends and family that are doing the same to ensure that our young people in the community have something to look forward to. and you know, the time i've

spent with you more recently and in the last couple of years when you were at burton, you know, working with athletes about how to respect women, how to ensure that when you're in a room with a woman, that this is about treating them with dignity and treating them with respect, and understanding the boundaries between sexual harassment and not was something that i think a young person who would look up to you and feel really supported and wanted to be like you because that's how we treat our women in our community was really powerful for me. and so to come to you to talk about what this policy should look like, i really valued the advice that you gave and look forward to working with you

more in the future. you know, just big love and hugs to patty for, you know, being there and letting us understand what it means to have the kinds of challenges that you have in the community, but always being open with your heart and the joy that you -- that you've always demonstrated and the level of engagement that you have for your families is crucial and critical, especially as we start to implement additional supports. we're going to need all of you to back us when we're starting to make some hard choices and decisions about what we want to do to implement better academic out comes for our nhpi community. so it is with great joy that we're able to put this forward. we're going to follow it and make sure that it gets implemented with fidelity, and i want to thank the superintendent for hearing us out as we've had these

conversations, as well o. . so if there are no other comments, miss casco, roll call, please. >> clerk: thank you. [ roll call. ] >> thank you. and it is fine with me and commissioner cooke to add any of our board members that would like to join onto this resolution, and our student delegates, we would love to have you on this resolution. so thank you for coming out tonight. congratulations. we look forward to working with you. okay. our next item is public comment, and we have quite a number of cards here, so bear with me for one moment again.

[ inaudible ] >> okay. so we've got one, two, three -- three items that have multiple speakers, and then, i have one speaker, paul kangas, so i'm going to have paul start. and then, i'm going to take -- i'm going to take this in -- in chunks, so bear with me. we're going to first hear from the families at guadalupe. and i have eight speakers, and i'd like to give you ten

minutes. so you can organize yourselves however way you'd like. it would be a minute perspeaker, or if just a couple of you want to say something lengthy about whatever it is. in these kinds of items with all three of the items that we're hearing this evening, i imagine that there is going to be some repetition. so if you would please think about that, that'll -- you will be -- you will be up next. and then, i am going to hear the -- the families from lafayette, and i have 14 speakers from lafayette. i'm going to give you 15 minutes on that, so organize yourselves accordingly for lafayette. and then, i have a really big stack for the malcolm x, so i'm going to be -- let me think about that while i get the rest of you going. so if i can get paul kangas,

and then, if i can get dori schrader, monique dufelly, melinda mulligan. [ inaudible ] >> i'm sorry. i don't understand what you're saying. so what i'm coming are the speakers that are coming to speak on the lafayette, so you're lafayette. i see. you're saying that i said guadalupe first, right? [ inaudible ] >> okay. got it. so guadalupe, corky wick, david mahone, chandra gonzalez, will federico, joyce wu, joelle

tidwell, es34 eralda duran. >> and the comments that you're going to be making about a particular person, and we are asking that you not say the particular person's name as you make your comments? okay? okay. come on up. thank you. i'm sorry. before you start, paul kangas, is paul here? okay. paul, i'm going to have you come up unless you want to get behind a larger group, so you're a single. >> okay. >> okay. so i'm sorry. let me have him speak first. >> hello. thank you. my name's paul kangas, and thank you to the board. board supervisor matthews frequently writes about why the

i.q. level in san francisco seems to be different than the nation, why the failure rate is so high, the achievement gap is so high amongst black students. so i looked on-line at a harvard medical school study on this, and they did a study of the ten largest cities in the united states that do not have fluoridated water, and they compared them to the cities that do. what they found is that the i.q. level is lower in cities that do have it, and much higher in cities that don't. this is probably slightly controversial to people, but that's the nice thing about google, you can check the facts. harvard medical school on fluoridation in the water. and i think we might take this

into account, that there might be some medical problem that we're imposing on children in the city. a lot of parents you'll notice buy bottled water for their children. the parents educated on this study don't want their kids drinking tap water. i raised three kids in san francisco. they went through the public school system, and i think that this is an important issue that people need to be aware of because the parents can actually do something about this. this puts the responsibility on the parents. the parents are directly able to influence the diet of their children, and i think it's valuable that parents have that power, then, once they have the information. thank you for allowing me to speak. >> thank you, mr. kangas. [applause]. >> okay. this is now guadalupe and miss casco, we have ten minutes on the clock. all right. thank you. sorry about that. >> dr. matthews and

commissioners, my name is david hmahan. i'm a teacher the guadalupe school in the crocker excelsior district. we have tried to find a way to work with our principal but are continuously frustrated. we submitted our complaints and letters to you about our principal. the principal was originally placed at our school to fix problems with the principal before her. but she came with her new complaints. she left her former school under unfavorable conditions before she was placed at our school. we bring these complaints only after trying hard for the last few years to fix the problems with our administrator. we've exhausted all the normal avenues. we have now submitted staff's and parents complaints to you. this principal does have some good qualities, but herrin ability to work with staff and families undermines all her good efforts. since she has been principal, we've steadily lost families.

she has been offensive and dismissive to several parents . she she's made many families feel unwelcome. we ask you to listen to our appeals. read what we've written, and to help us fix this situation. thank you. >> thank you. keep coming up. >> good evening. my name is miss cunningham, and i am the parent of two students at guadalupe elementary school. i have a fifth grader and also a second grader. my fifth grader has been there since second grade, and before this principal came, it was a family oriented environment and unfortunately, i believe that because of control issues, unfortunately, the faculty is

being dictated with control, and we're not being able to raise our children and educate our children as a family in a village, which it takes a village to raise our children, and if we're divided as a facility, then, we can't give our children what we need. so i believe we definitely need to come together and do what's best for our children and not have our families feel uncomfortable with communication during issues. like, with family issues or student issues, it should definitely be handled very differently, and thank you. >> thank you. [applause]. >> good evening, everyone. my name is joyce, and i have two kids that are enrolled at guadalupe elementary school, and i'm here to represent most of the parents at gaud lupe.

-- guadalupe. we don't feel supported by the principal. she is not loving, caring or friendly principal. she doesn't take efforts to show the parents that we are part of the outcome of the school communities, and overall, we feel ignored and neglected by her. and also, her speech in english is very hard to understand because of her heavy accent. so we think we deserve a better leader in order to setup -- to set a good example for our kids at guadalupe. however, she is not -- she has poor attitude and relationships with the staff members and parents. so thank you for your time, and please be considering of us.

thank you. >> thank you. how much time do they have remaining? [ inaudible ] >> yep, six more minutes. hi. my name >> hi. my name is huda, and i have two children at guadalupe school. i have problems since i -- since i put my daughter, the little one, which she's a special kid, in there. in the beginning of the year, my -- my little one, she didn't really feel comfortable with the environment, and they -- they really -- they didn't -- they took the step to tell me that i have to change her to sdc, which i didn't like because she had only speech delay, and she wasn't that bad.

and after two months, she was really good at school because the teachers helped her a lot, and not the administration because she was really tough with me, and i had to ask for another iep and everything. but another thing that i feel not welcome there in the school from them, and we are always having problems, that i have to setup and talk -- and really be mean sometimes just to get what my daughter need, okay? and well, last year, we had a lot of new teachers, and she changed teachers all the time, like. my daughter, she feels so bad because my teacher is not going

to be here the next year at school. so for three weeks, she was crying and having bad moods because she's not going to see her teacher again, and she wanted to e-mail her stuff. we wanted to have -- we don't want them to have that at school. we want them to be comfortable with their teachers and see them every year. i don't know if i explain what i want to say. and we want -- we want translation in arabic, as well. and especially from the -- from you guys, because you send us a lot of booklets and stuff, but the arabic is not translated good, so i don't understand anything. the computer is really missing it up, so i don't know -- so i don't understand it. that is -- i don't know if i'm reading in spanish language or arabic. >> okay. thank you. so corky, tom, chandra, will,

joe, or esmeralda. >> hi. i'm corky brick. i'm a community volunteer, and i was fired at 83 years old from guadalupe, and never directly. i was never told -- the organization i worked with was jewish coalition for literacy, and no one ever spoke to me directly about the reasons. i'm believing it's because i supported the teacher i work with who was fired also, and i also think i wrote a letter about let's have a diagnosis for one of the kids who was difficult. and the -- i heard that i had contacted the parents, which i never did. we question the leadership and decision making ability of this principal. and this school, which is a

fabulous place, with great children deserve a much better principal. thank you. [applause]. [ inaudible ] >> good evening, commissioners. my name is will federico. i've been teaching at guadalupe for 14 years. i'm going to read part of a letter from a parent. she's a parent of two children. i've been a member of the school's pta and sse since 2014. i want to start with the positive things i've sensed from the principal. i think she has a heart for improving education and works hard in that domain. she cares about parent participation and community involvement. i've appreciated her commitment to academics and desire for parent participation. however these positive desires and commitment have not translated into a good learning and teaching environment for the students and school.

as much as she talks about community, i've been disappointed with the sense of community we have in our school. there's been a lack of coheegs amongst the administration and staff for the past three years which have negatively impacted the sense of community and energy in the school. i've seen many of our really good teachers leave or not have their contract renewed because of this issue. as a concrete example last year my son and i were very disappointed to hear that his second grade teachers and the kindergarten teacher's contract were not being renewed. guadalupe is not just my kids' school, but it's also my neighborhood school. i care about it not just as a parent, but as a vested community member. i care about the childrens' education as well as the institution. i believe once the school's environment is flourishing, the effects overflow to the children and to the families. this is something i addressed to the principal last year, but it seems like things have not

changed. i question her interpersonal and communication skills and the ability to lead her staff into a common vision and goal. thank you for considering my thoughts and experience. [applause]. >> thank you. >> i am reading -- my name is chandra gonzalez, and i am reading a letter on behalf of the ubc who has written this letter on behalf of teachers who foal lieel like they don'ta voice. okay. it has been noticed that during staff meetings when the principal supervisor is present that messages in this meeting is normally different than what it normally it. the principal's tone becomes more pleasant and not as criticizing as she usually is. she is willing to allow others to have a turn to express themselves.

during these meetings, the principal does not tell people that we will discuss this laters, nor does she tell teachers or staff to e-mail her, answering their questions later, which she never does. it seems as if she's trying to impress her supervisor by pretending that everyone has equal opportunities to speak in the staff meetings. her attitude in this type of meeting is distinctly different from how she usually conducts staff meetings, when she cuts people off, there is -- if there is any topic she is uncomfortable with discussing. this facade hides the reality of her inability to create a positive working relationship with her colleagues. in acting this way when her superior is present, she demonstrates that she actually knows how she should be running these meetings versus how she actually does run them. thank you. [applause]. >> thank you.

so we appreciate all of you coming out to speak us to about your concerns. the next group is going to be our lafayette group. we have 14 speakers. i'm going to give you 15 minutes on this. so karen chow, max ewen, liz mcmil an, melina milligan, dori schrader, karen -- actually, you guys have less. they're all the same, so hold on. liz, nono, carrie bates, hermone ayer, and wendy perez,

so just hold on one second. actually, i have nine speakers, so i'll give you ten minutes. okay. first speaker. >> hi. my name's max. i'm here to speak on behalf of my son, lucas, who goes to lafayette, and first grade was kind of rough for him. it's due to poor handling of his i.e.p. by school staff and administrator. this year, he's much better. he's made a lot of progress. he's not afraid to go on stage to perform with the rest of the classes, and he loves opera music. there's a three part nuskal called odadios center. this is all part of his second

grade teacher who's engaged him with his peers. lucas has made tremendous progress this year due to being in an inclusive environment championed by a second grade teacher. the way we heard that his teacher is facing an arbitrary no cause did i see -- dismissal, we felt angry and betrayed, so we reached out to school administration. i strongly urge the school board to reconsider and reverse dismissal. thanks. >> thank you. >> hello. good evening. my name is hema thayer. i have a daughter who's in nick

manford's class at lafayette. i'm here in support of him. we were surprised, confused and disappointed to learn that mr. manford's teaching contract at lafayette was not renewed for next year and that no reasons to provide for this decision. he has been a kind, caring and strong teacher for our daughter this year. as the only indian child in her class and one of the very few at lafayette in general, he's always made her feel included. he's taken initiative to learn more about her culture and introduce culture from around the world when appropriate. in addition he goes above and beyond what is required of him. during the autumn carnival, he spent his day raising money for books for the class to be used throughout the year. he's introduced art, opera and strong academics in the class. we strongly urge the board and the district to reconsider the

decision and renew his contract. thank you. [applause]. >> thank you. just a reminder not to use names, please. thank you. >> hi. so my name is nunu, nunu gindi. i have three kids, two of them are at lafayette. i have a four-year-old who's almost going to go to lafayette. my older son, he's ten years old. so he's been at lafayette for a while. lafayette has been our life here. my daughter, lydia rose, was in second grade class, has been growing up so much emotionally. she requires a lot of attention, and mr. manford has always been available and so patient to provide this attention. i so believe that as parents, we educate our kids, but our teachers are the one who do the

rest of the job. as the teachers, they do plant the seed in our kids hearts, and those seeds are growing. and since my daughter is in mr. manford's class, she's reading about a lot of things, becoming a book writer, becoming a gymnastic and going to the olympics, becoming a teacher, becoming a pets doctor. mr. manford has always been super open and always available to the kids. i would like his case to be reviewed, and i would like to keep him, and i would like my son to have him as a teacher when he's ready. thank you. [applause]. >> my name is liz mcmilan. i have two children at lafayette elementary school, one of which has been lucky enough to have the teacher in question this year. until this second grade class,

my son, who is on the cusp of a diagnosis with adhd, despite his strong propensities in certain areas, he dreaded school daily and cried almost every morning because he was made to feel stupid and that he was a nuisance. a bad kid. after just two weeks with the second grade teacher, the one who's being let go, my son was changed. he felt excited about his strengths. he had already progressed more in other areas than in his entire first grade year -- two weeks, and i could see in his affect that he wasn't merely a nuisance. he felt valued. we no longer heard complaints about going to school. as you have erred hadheard, hee only student with this experience. this teacher has made

advancements in his class. to be honest, the way he conducts his class and addresses the needs of each student equally seems super human. i don't know how he does it. it is an incredible moviy movi experience to watch the way he conducts his class and engages with the chirp. a teacher with his level of passion, caring and effectiveness is extremely rare. we have yet to encounter a teacher with this quality in our experience in sfusd. at eight years old, my son can recognize how lucky he is to have had this teacher, and he says that often. you have a responsibility to retain teachers who excel in this regard.

i'll end my comments here in the interest of giving others a chance to speak. thank you. [applause]. >> hi. my name is dori, and i have two sons in san francisco. i'm speaking today of my younger son, who's a second grader. he is hard of hearing, has an iep, requires acoustical modification and support in his mainstream classroom, and he proudly displays his hearing aids every day. he's excelling academically, reading the aa level that this school district would place in upper middle school. a few weeks ago we passed by an open car window and heard music. this seven-year-old deaf kid said oh, he must like jazz. this morning e he shared with me that he is playing the lead role in the opera that other parents have mentioned, but

he'll be performing with his classmates at the wilsy center for opera. i'm sharing this with you because this deaf child, his knowledge and appreciation of music did not come from our home, it came from his teacher. and no, i don't need to remind you that this district has faced a teacher shortage over the past four years. it's especially true for teachers that are willing to support special education. lafayette itself hasn't been able to fill its two special 2k c classrooms with credentialed teachers in the past three years. i read an article by a reporter on sf gate from the start of this school year and there was a quote that caught my attention: special education is like a four alarm fire in this district. lafayette is one of the two designated dhhs schools, and i'm here talking to you about an experienced educator who came to lafayette to teach the incollusion second grade classroom. he'd been supportive of dhhs

students. and i'm telling you this because i have an older son. we've been through many teachers in the district, and this teacher has been among the most supportive and responsive. we're asking you to step outside of normal operating procedures and help consider this has been a bad and wrong decision that has impacted the livelihood of this person who is a career public schoolteacher with two children attending sfusd -- this district whose wife is also a teacher in the district, who lives with us in our city, and we are asking you to help us find a way to keep him in this district. thank you. [applause]. >> thank you very much for your time. my name is melinda milligan. i'm a parent of a child who's in the second grade class. number one. i'm a university he haddaeduca

sonoma straight universi sonoma state university. i can attest to the fact that the curriculum that this teacher provides maps directly onto college success. the children in his class are being given a special opportunity, a special gateway, whether they're under performers or over performers because of his expertise in scaffolding and his expertise in curricular design. i would urge the board to see the recommendation of the principal not to renew this teacher's contract as simply that, a recommendation, one that's incorrect and that you need to be responsible enough to overturn. thank you. [applause]. >> okay. thank you. look, i know that when you as a

board member are faced with a group like ours asking you to rereview a decision that you typically for valid reasons approve without question, you are put in a tough spot. i do appreciate that you are serving as public servants in this way, on top of your day jobs and other responsibilities to help make this district the best it can be. like melinda, i, too -- i am a college teacher. i've been on probation myself. i was observed and evaluated. i got feedback on what i needed to improve. i was given an opportunity to improve and adequate support to do so. from what i have been told by our teacher, he was given no notice of problematic issues. no opportunity for feedback to improve. there's no budget crisis. his position was not a substitute position. our principal has told us he will need to hire for a new teacher to take his place, exchanging for a known quantity for an unknown quantity, when you have a teacher shortage in san francisco, and you're also

putting a family in crisis with this decision. i brought flowers for you today in appreciation for what you have to do. i hope that when you look at your bright flower, you see the face of a child whose life was turned around by one teacher. i was that child, and i bet some of you were, too. i was also a child who was denied an opportunity to be in a wonderful class with a teacher i adored after being only in the class for one week. two kids were directed out of that class to make way for two other children for no stated reason. it was an administrator decision, just like this one. we were both kids of color. it was me and robert gonzales, a filipino kid. i never want that to happen again to another student or to a good teacher. thank you for listening to us and for using the information that we are giving you to do something good for our children and for our district. [applause].

>> thank you. i want to thank the lafayette community for coming out. so our next group is malcolm x. so we have 14 speakers, so i'm going to give you 15 minutes, so if you'd organize yourself and come up. mil dred coffee, sardi aguilar, ana maria, victoria allay, molly stark, elena rosa, deidre l.manskame, mahirna abdelhamid, alexis david, aleda fisher, allison collins, and susan

solomon. 15 minutes on that. okay. so 15 minutes, and why don't you go ahead and start. thank you. >> hi. thank you for having us tonight. my name is mildred coffee. i'm have coleman advocates. we are a group of children and parents, cmas making a change, and pmas, parents making a change. thank you. hello? >> hi. i'm the principal at malcolm x academy and i'm here to speak on the colocation -- the proposed colocation of new school on the our school site. i really want to believe that meeting the needs of an can american students and their

families is still a district priority. i'm feeling very dismade that the district might actually approving giving up 11 of our classrooms at a site that has shown academic acceleration for the past two years and really has developed a model that is really being innovatetive to meet the needs of our students. this not only is going to add extra stress to our community, it's going to take away the focus, which should be on serving our students and families and accelerating academic achievement. i'm going you to hold the district accountable on providing some clarity on why a school that's already colocated somewhere else is being asked to come to our academy. you can imagine the competing message for me to find out meeting the needs of our school and helping us improve is a

priority, and yet you're going to take away 11 classrooms that serve students with iep's, and students who have access to stem. i again, it seems like we are under roled with a lot of space, but i want to tell you we use that space very wisely. i invite anybody to please come on out and check out our amazing programming. >> i have been at malcolm x as a program teacher, as a councillor and as a coach. i feel like because we're doing so well, there's a -- there seems to be a reason of now let's try something else on. i really want to encourage you to meaningfully think about this decision. like miss rosen said, please

come to our school and see the work that we're doing. we don't just have 11 classrooms where nothing is being done. our kids are ak can i havely engaged, and we're doing so much work that it would be a d disservice to disrupt that for our students. thank you. >> good afternoon. my name is victoria eley, and i'm the only african american teacher at malcolm x academy. i want to thank you all four coming out and supporting, and i would really like to invite you all to come to our school and see how we're utilizing our space, the wellness center. we have space for our art and music teachers. we have space for our children that needs a play and have play space that we have organically

and strategically incorporated into our classrooms. we have behavior modification strategies. so colocating at our schools is encroaching on the sanctuary that we have been building and the community, and so we're just asking if a school already has a space, and they're safe, and there's space for them that it's not necessary to bring them in. and you know the data on moving and shifting and changing. so to disrupt that is just going to cause more trauma, and that is not what our kmubt needs. also, in addition, the relevant topic that came up earlier about our asian and pacific islanders samoan community, speaking and asking for space, and that was approved, and this is a school that also serves a large samoan population. our school is african american, latino, with samoan, as well.

you're serving the students most in need and adding compounded trauma onto an already sensitive space. so please we're just asking for your consideration on this to take our sanctuary into consideration and making malcolm a safe, loving place that the children will want to come to. thank you. >> okay. so in addition to the excellent points that have been made, and i have a letter from all the staff that -- from all of the -- from all of us that could not be here. my name is deidre ellman sumey. we are excited proud to report that we have been chosen as a beacon fund site for the next school year, and we're working really hard to develop this amazing after school program, and the city has chosen us to

invest these funds. and yet, at the same time, our classes are being -- that would -- be used to -- in this new and exciting program are going to be taken away? it's just kind of like how can we wrap our heads around that one? and the other thing is that, you know, i really appreciate the intention of sfusd to collaborate and to work with the community, but we have not in this instance been worked with the aal with -- at all. it feels like it's a very top down decision on the extremely -- the most vulnerable among -- community in the city. so please reconsider. [applause]. >> good evening. my name is molly stark. i am the special education teacher at malcolm x. i've been there three years.

i am here today out of love for my students, their families our school and the wider hunters point and bayview communities. in the past three years we have worked to make the work inclusion meaningful at our school. the classroom i have created is a space where students want to be. i have watched their confidence and independance grow as they have progressed both academically and socially. our classroom is also the space where students with iep's have access to high quality services like speech, and family counseling. without the space for our resource room, our students would sever a decrease in effectiveness of services and the resultant lower out comes. i want our school to achieve its vision