>> lynelle bailey. this is on the student travel to taiwan. it's item 11 on the consent calendar. come up and press the button until it turns red. >> to superintendent matthews and board members, my name is [indiscernible] i want to thank you for allowing us to travel to taiwan. [speaking foreign

language] [ applause ] >> wonderful. thank you. any items withdrawn or corrected by the superintendent. >> none. >> any items removed? any items severed for discussion? none. roll call vote on the consent calendar. [ roll call ] >> six aye. >> thank you. section d, there were no items severed. proposal for action, there are none. f is public comment on general matters. so i have quite a few folks here

that are prepared to speak. so i'm going to start with those that have comments on general matters. then i'm going to then next have me a moment because we're getting last minute cards here. so there are several -- okay. but these are all mixed up. okay.

>> i'm going to start with those that just have general comments. then i'm going to go -- there are large groups with the air

resource and organizing center and a large group with malcolm x. so i'm going to give you limited time on that. then we have a group from cleveland, a group from redding. so i will bring you through on those as well. the first group i'm going to have come up are margaret reyes, li ta blanc and steve seltzer. if you would come up while we're sorting through the rest. i will also have -- jose luis, i have a couple on general matters and not on anything specific.

where's jose luis? then i'm going to have rianda bautist and marie robinson and linda antwan. come on up, you guys. we've got a lot of folks speaking. if i've called your name, please come up. two minutes each on this item. >> steve seltzer, i want to speak on the issue of privatization and charters going on in this district and in california because the charters are really siphoning off

millions of $6 billion a year from public education in california. and frankly, we need to organize a campaign to stop and shut down the charter school industry in california and nationally. [ applause ] >> it's short changing the students, and these companies like kipp run by the fisher family, the gap foundation are in it for business. they're profiting off our kids. that's inexcusable, we need to protect public education and our teachers. and frankly, it's outrageous they're trying to attack malcolm x school, to bus that up. i think that has to stop. and i also think that this par system that you have -- and i brought it up at the last meeting -- is part of privatization. it's attacking senior teachers and african-american teachers. it's been proven in studies. we're going to call on you to terminate the par program. it shouldn't be used as a disciplinary program and we have to stop terrorizing the

teachers. why don't we defend them instead of bully them. that's what we have to do. also, i think what is driving education in this city are the billionaires, the tech billion billionaires. they're interested in making profit off our students. that is what's driving them. that's what they did in los angeles. they made a deal with apple and sears, the testing company, to basically scam off the students. we need to put the public first, public education first. we need to defend public education in our students. although they're not a large number of charter schools in san francisco, they have their eyes on many more. location has to be opposed. you don't have to agree with it. you can sue the state of california to say it's unconstitutional, prop 39. it needs to be stopped. unions and school districts have to sue to stop prop 39. it's illegal. it allows cherry picking. imagine in san jose at independence high school, there

are three charters schools and one high school. that's an out ag outrage and it destroys public education. >> next speaker, please. >> good evening, i did -- i signed up to actually speak about not colocating kipp at malcolm x. so that's what i'm going to speak about. i believe this is a bit of a litmus test for the district because of the many, many sincere words that i have heard from every board commissioner and the superintendent. virtually everybody i've worked with at 555 about prior, supporting the children at the bayview and the communities that surround them and the teachers that serve them and the educators that serve them. it's a choice. we understand that under prop 39, you have to offer space.

i don't have the five classrooms. i'm wondering why can't they colocate at maxwell? that's a big middle school. i bet i could find five classrooms, but i just think it's -- it sends the wrong message to the children and the educators who we have pledged our support to. it does open -- we know san francisco, thanks to a strong vision of the school board over the last 12 years, has not approved new charters, but this is a way of pushing out our public schools in the neighborhood that we have identified as one of the most vulnerable, if not the most vulnerable. go back to the drawing board. figure it out because the parents and the students and the teachers of the malcolm x community, they want to be able to stay at their school and continue to expand the programs

that they have put in place for next year and they do not want to see a single student pushed out, approache poached is the w. they don't want to see a single teacher consolidated because of dropping enrollment. i beg you to go back to the drawing board and figure out something better. [ applause ] >> good evening. i'm the cochair of the african-american council. i'm here this evening to speak on behalf of apac. i would like to express our commitment to san francisco public education and we believe in sfusd and the incredible work that has been going on to shift the narrative that often plagues or communities. while we're committed to working

hand in hand with sfusd, we support parent choice and understand sometimes for a variety of reasons, including feelings that our children have not been adequately served or because their hopes and dreams are sometimes found in different settings, parents may opt for charters or home schooling. we'll we respect everyone's choices, we stand firmly in the belief that students in the southeast section of san francisco and throughout sfusd are brilliant and capable and can grow in our public schools, but we know that being part of a community that has poured resources and love and expertise into ensuring nothing but success, that charter schools is not the way to go. we do not need anymore charter schools within our community. we need a commitment that will sustain success in the schools that are currently there. we have what it takes especially within our community and our schools currently.

within cohort 3 to support our children. thank you. [ applause ] >> i'm the other cochair for apac. we hand here firm lee with malcolm x academy and with the other schools. while we are small in number, where you powerful and mighty. our children are doing amazing things and they have a right to a solid foundation that's not broken up by having two schools within the same school. we are trying hard to continue the legacy that we've had in bayview of having the top tier schools. that is something that we want to bring back. so we ask that you decline the charter school's encroachment on our bayview schools. thank you. [ applause ]

>> my name is linda. i'm back again. but i'm back because it really hurt me that i fought for some doors at carver, and malcolm x and stuff, i feel like if you bring in these charter schools, you're affecting my child's health. i feel like because if you overcrowd the school, that means that you bring in more different sicknesses because the kids are overcrowded. they -- i mean, you're going to have a lot of kids with disabilities and all these problems, and i feel like when you overcrowd, you bring stress to people, to kids. i feel like you bringing in other schools in -- i feel like, you know what? let's not go there. i feel like when we were down at the bottom, i'm 55. when i was little and i was raised over there, i went to those schools and everything. you couldn't get someone in the

bayview to go to those schools. now, it seems like you put these buildings over here. hello. you all build it up and now you're going to bring this priority in from other schools and all these charter schools and all this and all that. i feel like why would you all want to overcrowd us when i feel like our test scores and everything, we're improving. now you want to slap in our face. now you want to bring us back down. i don't feel like we should have to share something with another facility so more schools and my kid should be -- i mean, uncomfortable knowing that now my daughter washes downstairs and upstairs she has a whole different environment. that's sending miscommunication to my daughter. i don't like that because the fact is, when i have my own room, i want my own room. i don't want my brothers and sisters to have to come in my room. my door is closed, my door is closed. due to the fact my kid has been

at carver and bayview and balance come x, i feel like you should have have a reason to come in there and throw us out of there for other people. sooner or later, you're going to throw us out and keep them in. i have a problem with that. >> thank you. [ applause ] >> so before the next speaker comes up, i have margaret reyes. if your name has not been called, i'm not expecting you to be speaking. so the only other card that i have right now is margaret reyes. did i call your name? >> i placed a card. >> if i haven't called you, you will have a turn if you gave me a card. i'll call your name. >> i'll wait. i'm patient. thank you. >> margaret reyes, please. >> all right. thank you for everyone's passion. i'm changing the subject a bit. thank you to san francisco school board and mr. matthews for allowing me to speak tonight. i'm employee number 18505.

i'm here looking for answers regarding a labor management evaluation committee. i'm seeking to better understand a staff member's rights regarding evaluations and placements in programs run by our partners. on january 12th, the legal department communicated to a community member and whistleblower that the labor management committee has not met between the years 2012 and 2017. i personally asked uesf for further context as to why the evaluation committee has not met, and i was told that uesf was refusing to participate in the committee because of anti-education groups influence on the evaluation committee. as a teacher and community member, i remain very confused. my understanding is that this would put the partners out of compliance with california education code 44660, and uesf,

sfusd section 16.13.1. there is much about the evaluation process that warrants further review. for at least a decade, uesf has received various complaints that evaluations were not honest, fair, and discriminatory. uesf acknowledged the lack of honesty and targeting exists in many evaluations. but pro claims their no rights to hold the district accountable. the only thing teachers could do is write a response. i received a disciplinary notice in human resources department. throughout the notice, i was criticized for having written responses to evaluation. it was cited as a valid reason to discipline me. the sfusd hr department cited it as a displace of unparallel [indiscernible] for asking that my evaluator relook at the evaluation. >> thank you.

>> thank you. [ applause ] >> next speakers, kelly walsh, raul avila, julia roberts fong, and austina homemaker. this is on redding. no one speaking on redding? thank you. >> the next group that's speaking is on cleveland. if if you could please be in the room for cleveland speakers. >> my name is julie robert fong. i'm a parent at redding elementary.

i have three things to squeeze in. >> this is -- i have your card. so this is just on redding. >> okay. we'll be called back for the other two? >> yes. >> thank you. that's great to hear. we're over 80% of families qualify for free and reduced will nolunch and we've had budg. our school has been -- is being renovated so we've been moved from tinder line to across the hill to russian hill which has been difficult for many families and it's destabilized our school and upset our enrollment. in the past, we've had -- we had to come out last year to advocate for cuts to be restored. we are, again, facing cut to our social worker to 50% time. even as we're going to be moving back to where many of our families are in transition and many of our families are also immigrants and refugees. some who had very difficult transitions to this country.

so we also have dollar cuts from the mtsf supports. we also are experiencing dollar cuts that are going to result in a 3/4 split. we already have a 4/5 split because kip takes students from our school. there's another private school and they both tell students that they should ply to middle school early. so we end up losing enrollment and dollars and our upper classes. we don't want our fourt fourth s to be forced to have a split. we want to school district to restore the cuts to make sure we're able to maintain a fourth grade classroom and a full-time social worker. one of the pieces of this is that the enrollment guide was printed with the wrong address with the address for us at our current location. so we ask that the district hole us harmless and not make our students suffer for cuts to -- that resulted in a mistake by the district.

thank you. [ applause ] >> next speaker, please. >> hi. i'm kelly walsh. i'm also a parent at redding. i wanted to urge the school board and the district to return our social worker to full-time. for me personally, i have a son who has pretty severe adhd, and his transition to kindergarten was really difficult. what that meant and what happens to a lot of kids who have behavioral issues are labels of being aggressive or a difficult child. you know, without the social worker to help him to provide that social and emotional and behavioral support, he wouldn't be where he is today. kindergarten, first grade, it's night and day. the social worker was able to work with him and provide support he needed. it's not just my son. it's all the kids that have

these difficulties, that are going through transitions that, are going through trauma. the social worker is key in providing that extra behavioral and emotional support in order to make them feel safe in school and thrive. so i urge you to restore our social worker. thanks. [ applause ] >> hi. good evening. my name is austina. i'm one of the parents at redding elementary. i'm here mostly just to hear what other people have been saying about the funding issues at schools and to point out that our school is very small to start with. because of our 100 year improvement that we luckily got this past year, we had a great year before that in which we got

lots of funding and help with our students in transition. we improved enough that the next year we sort of funded out of getting assistance. i don't know how that works. so we petitioned last year to get full funding for our assistance with kids in need and for getting an extra teacher to give us going with the classes we had. now, because of the fact that we moved, we lost so many students and our funding dropped, but our next year funding is based on that. it's dropping again. basically, we are trying to understand or request that we shouldn't be held liable, i guess, is the best term, for having a transition that caused us such upheaval because even through all of this, we are still receiving students in transition and trying to deal with keeping them on an even

keel and improving their lives. we love that redding is there and able to do that. it's one of the schools that does that for students and parents who need them to have that done, that help, but we don't know how we're going to do it with losing, you know, a teacher next year, which is what we have to do to accommodate the budget that we're going to be working with. we know for a fact, even where we are, far away from the [indiscernible] that we have students still coming to us in transition. we'll be getting more. >> great, thank you. >> thank you. [ applause ] >> raul avila. >> yes. hi. how are you? thank you for giving me the time to speak. i just wanted to say that i've been a parent at redding elementary school for 7 years. i remember when i first started there, i actually didn't even

pick redding as my school because i did what many parents did. i went online and picked the best schools with the best scores, but i got redding as my default school. honestly, it was probably the best thing that ever happened to me and my children. i decided to give redding a shot. i reached out to the principal who was -- actually, i can't think of her name right now -- bonnie. there we go. sorry about that. but any way, i had been a very active parent, and i had been working on parent participation, parent participation had gone up significantly. in addition to that, our fundraising has gone up. ever since julie joined the team, things have gone to the next level. with that said, our school is going through a renovation right now. unfortunately, we had to move to a temporary site. when we moved to this temporary site, it had a great impact on

our overall enrollment. so it went down significantly because of the fact that we could not provide transportation for the after school children. since most of our families come, they need an after school program because they're working parents. it's a matter of survival for them to work. we don't feel that you guys should cut our budget because of the fact that, you know, we had to move to a different temporary location. so i would greatly appreciate it if you guys would take into consideration not to cut our budget because i do believe that our enrollment will increase as we go back to our beautiful school. so thank you very much. i appreciate it. >> thank you. [ applause ] >> this next group is a large group. you're going to each get a minute.

let me just remind you that this is the cleveland crew, and we are requesting that you not name names, but you can name the positions of the person that you're coming to speak about. [ reading names ] >> come on up. let me get clarity. we have general comment and then speakers for closed session. is this for those of you that are speaking for cleveland? are you here for public comment or closed session? is there somebody that can speak on their behalf? >> some of us are here for closed session. [ inaudible ] >> how do i know which ones are which? so if there's anybody here from

cleveland that is speaking during public comment, which is now, if you would come up. i'm just going to call everybody's name and then if you're speaking in public comment, great. if you're speaking in closed session, we'll clarify who you are. [ reading names ] >> if you're speaking for public comment, come to the podium. you have a minute to speak when we have translation. yeah. [speaking spanish]

>> i'm here to talk about an incident that happened at cleveland elementary school. my son was hit, and the principal didn't do anything. i brought a picture so you can see how his eye looks right now. [speaking spanish]

>> so he's also doing a lot of things that he shouldn't be doing, like taking out the after school programs, and this is a program that the kids need to bm because they need to be there. he's also taking teachers that he shouldn't be taking out of the school. thank you. >> thank you. [ applause ] >> hi. my name is maria gonzales. i'm a parent at cleveland elementary. i'm also an ex-pta member and also the president of the pta when there was one. i'm also a volunteer at the school, and i had been in the school since 2008. i have seen a lot of changes and a lot of people go through the school. lately, the changes have been really, really hard and has been affecting a lot of the students.

a lot of the parents have been also part of that, and have noticed all these changes. lately, we've been trying to communicate with the principal, but sometimes we get completely blocked. there's no communication. a lot of the parents feel like they're not getting heard. there's multiple groups in the school separating the parents. there is also incidents regarding a student behavior which the police has been called several times and i know there's a lot of confidentiality of the kid, but safety for the remainder of the kids. everything has been changing, and i know changes come as new people come in, but then also, the school has been put in the morning with chains on the gate. teachers have to jump fences in order to get inside the school. >> thank you. thank you.

[ applause ] >> next speaker. [speaking spanish] good evening. many thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak. i'm also a mother at cleveland. unfortunately, i don't share the opinions that have been expressed before mine. i have worked with other principals before regarding the education of my children.

so regarding the after school program, the mother said it had to be taken out. i had to take my kid out of that program because that teacher has 27 children. my child was there only to paint pictures, to color. [speaking spanish] the new program

would be the ymca and i hope that this new program will support the families and the children. i know change is difficult to accept, and i know a lot of people are not willing to accept it, but i want the parents and teachers to see what this negativity they're imposing on our school, who is this negativity affecting? our children. i need your help. i need you to come to our school and help us raise the grade for our children. our school is at the bottom of the performance. please help us raise the grades of our children. >> thank you. next speaker, please.

>> [speaking spanish] paragraph paragrap[ speaking sp. the reason that i'm here is because i do not want the parents to get divided. if i work really hard at my school, in some of the parents get the information they need to get about the bilingual

programs. so kids can get the education they need to get. [speaking spanish] >> so to -- i would just like the board of education to know how united our parents are at our school. we have at least 30 parents who get together every month at the school, and i don't think no other school in san francisco has this level of parent participation. thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> all right. so the next group is the arab resource and organizing center, the mou.

there are a lot of speakers on this as well. i'm going to give this item 30 minutes. so i'm going to call names. i suggest that you come up and you be as concise as possible and if somebody has already said it and you don't want to repeat it, i just encourage you all to pass if you need to. so this is aroc. [ reading names ]

>> we're going to put 30 minutes on the timer, and if you would please state your name when you come up. >> i'm robert roth, and i'm a proud teacher at mission high school. i'm here to read a statement from our principal who could not be here tonight. he writes, i am sorry that i cannot be in attendance this evening as i have prior school commitments, but i do wish to express my unwavering support of

aroc and the powerful life changing, critical role they play in the lives of our arab students and truly all of our students at mission high school many as the school deeply committed to anti racist teaching, they play an important role in helping us make this vision a reality. they have been instrumental in supporting the creation of the very first arabic language pathway in sfusd. long before this, for many years, aroc has been here for our students with a wide range of supports including cultural clubs, outreach mentoring, social emotional, and well-being help, academic support, and much more. frankly, not only do we not do enough here in san francisco so support arab students, there are virtually no other groups that work at the level that aroc does. i for one urge the board to pass

and sign off on an mou. to not do so leaves a large portion of our student body behind without the support, nurture, and care they deserve. as a district that prides itself on equity and social justice, it is hard for me to understand why an mou has not been passed at this point with aroc. that's from the principal and expresses the position of so many of us at mission high school. thank you. [ applause ] >> so i need to speak on both items. should i speak on both? i will speak again? okay. great. so my name is jose. i'm here in support of aroc's mou getting renewed. i want to submit a letter of support on behalf of advocates for children and youth. i'll pass that on to ms. casco.

aroc is a pillar in the community. it's been doing this for 30 years leading in the movement for social justice. their work speaks volumes. right? you can have teachers, students, parents speak to the impact that it has in opening up our minds and really walking the values that sfusd and you all here at the board of education have on the walls here outside, have on the materials that we give to our families at schools. we talk about social justice. we talk about inclusion. we talk about equity. this organization is walking that every day. right? it is a humongous injustice to deny the opportunity for students to get to benefit from the amazing transformative programs that aroc offers. so on behalf of our members, i

want to urge you to look within yourself, in your heart. make this a reality. make it happen. it's been three years. it's ridiculous that this amount of time could go by denying them that opportunity. it's something that we haven't seen with any other organization that has such an amazing track record of doing the work with our students. so i want to urge you to please reconsider. put this on the agenda like it's supposed to be and make it happen and renew the mou for the aroc and sfusd. we can't wait to have them back on our schools working with our students tomorrow. [ applause ] >> hi. good evening. i'm the lead youth organizer for chinese progressive association. we are an organization that works to educate, empower, and organize low income

chinese-american communities to build power with other press communities to fight for better working conditions, better living conditions for all. i'm going to give the rest of my time to our youth leaders here. they're going to introduce themselves, but before i say anything, i want to mention as a strong supporter of making sure we not colocate and making sure we support the students of malcolm x. for the rest of the time, they're going to go. >> i go to galileo academy. >> i'm caitlyn. i'm also a senior at galileo academy. >> my name is nevin. i'm speaking on behalf of cpa to voice our support for the arab resource and organizing center in their efforts to gain a memorandum of understanding with the san francisco unified school district. so as you may have heard before. aroc has been important for the arab community, which includes arab youth and students within

san francisco unified school district. it's unacceptable that it's taken this long to bring this to a vote. like in this political climate right now, we know there is an environment of islamophobia and our schools are not immune to that. it's he se essential we supporte community. it concerns me that this has taken this long. this process has taken this long. in addition, i want to voice that -- let me gather my thoughts for a second. i want to voice that in this political climate, it's important for elected officials to have bravery and take action. otherwise, we are letting down the communities that need us and that need services like aroc. we're here to stand together with them on this and we're here to say that we support their efforts to gain this mou.

thank you. [ applause ] >> hello, everyone. my name is mary beth and i'm the chairperson of the league of filipino students and i'm at sf state for the sociology and sexuality studies department. as a newly graduate, i'm familiar with students incurring debt while in school with fees and high tuition, costs -- that's increasing as well as student loans. it's our duty to prioritize the youth in our communities i'll they have access to education. we're combating he -- attacks in higher education, we must fight to protect youth programs that the youth has access to right

now. arab and muslim youth are targeted with racist against them. islamophobia is heightened from the muslim ban. if san francisco is a sanctuary city, all arab and muslim youth, aroc is one of the only organizations that provide sanctuary for all arab youth. they provide safety and can provide relevant education for youth here in san francisco. it would be a shame that aroc's programming is dismissed again. what message does this send when you take away needed services. if even our schools are not there to support them. the league of filipino students stands in solidarity with those impacted by this decision and we urge that the board of education

make the correct decision today and stand in support of the program being at all schools in sfusd. thank you. [ applause ] >> hello. my name is jared, and i'm the current finance officer for league of philippine students at san francisco state. i'm here to show my support for aroc and condemn the san francisco board of education and san francisco unified school district's current attacks on arab and muslim youth and students. as a first year in college, studying business management, i understand that we as youth and students of color are continually navigating through the unfamiliar waters of academia. i am just now getting familiarized with my own people's history, culture, and heritage at the age of 19 years old. what i wouldn't have given to know the resilient strength of our people at an earlier age, but unfortunately, our people have faced so many attacks in our home country that our people

are forced to migrate here to the united states due to words of aggression, labor, export policies, and advanced militarized policies. our brothers and sisters base these attacks in their homelands and were displaced. instead, what they are receiving are attacks in the bay area. [ stand by ]

>> clerk: if you are speaking and not on the list or your name was not acknowledged, then we are going to ask you not to speak. i did not want to interrupt because you are on a time frame, but we have had several speakers that are speaking that were not on the list. people have been waiting this evening to be able to speak and have submitted their names. please be respectful of that. thank you. >> my name is elliot hellman. i am on the list. i am a member of jerry's voice for peace and you will hear from several others of us tonight. we're supposed to be talking about it and i think it is important to focus on the kids

and the kids that it serves but i want to stop -- talk for a minute about another organization. the jewish community relations council, which i believe is behind a lot of the problems with proceeding with the memorandum of understanding. a rock is a true grassroots organization. it is obvious by the people who come out to support them. it is obvious from the kids that they work with. the jewish community relations council, by their own definition is a treetops organization. they work in the back door weighings with powerbrokers like you guys and like the people at glide church you initially came out against the memorandum of understanding. but after actually meeting with the people back they had the sense to realize that they had to been had. and they rescinded their support. i think you guys should follow suit. when you are talking to these people from the gcr seed you are

not here that much they don't have the numbers. sorry. but i would just ask you, the next time that they are here, the next time they come before you can ask them check how many kids do they represent who are in public schools? they don't. the last time i was here and there was somebody from the gcr see speaking, they said, we have 50 families that are part of our organization. they did not say there were 50 families in public education. because they are not. [applause] >> hello i met a freshman at a high school. i am part of the arab youth organization calc a branch of a rock. being a part of it has helped me grow as a person and learn about

where i come from. you took this opportunity away from other arab youth in my community and i will not sit here and let this happen. this is discrimination against arab youth no matter how you guys put it. that is why i am here today and i demand we get put on the agenda next meeting. it is about time. thank you. [applause] >> hello. i am a history teacher at a high school in west oakland. i have been teaching there all year and we have a small yemeni population there. a handful of students, about 30 students and every day i see the importance of a rock through the students. every day i walked the halls and see how much of a benefit it would be for an institution, a grassroots organization like a rock to be at a school working with yemeni students and understanding the complexities that arabs go through. understanding that the

tumultuous lives that's the trump administration has created as a result of the muslim ban. the bombs dropping in yemen back that draw joe's drone strikes that force people to come here and when they are here they are not allowed to get services or they are not allowed to come at all. and so every day i see the intentional impact of a rock in a high school. but because the s.f.u. board will not make a decision of the ml you count the students are not getting the services they need every single day. why is it that a rock is not getting its mou past? why is it that the only group that is having its mou stalled? is it because retakin taking pe- position on the state of israel? is a jewish person, i support the mission on israel and the freedom of all palestinians everywhere. i urge you to pass the mou with a rock immediately. every day that it does not past as a date that an arab youth and

arab student is not get the cultural services that may need to drive here in the bay area. thank you. [applause] >> clerk: it just a reminder you are just past half your time. >> evening. members of the port, it is actually really exciting to see the community to come out," it is in the speech. it is working its way through, thank you. so it is nice to see that people who look like me are the ones who are advocating for power in this space. right? we have done it with the board and now those are the people demanding more. that is important. i'm a teacher at an elementary school. it is getting hard to provide shelter for our families. i'm also an organizer in the missing and i am here today supporting the mou with a rock, a great community organization.

so i have attended a few trainings in the last couple weeks, and every slide starts off with equity and the definition of equity, according to the district,'s equity is a work of rate of eliminating oppression and biases and ensuring equally high outcomes for all participants. through practices and conditions pick dr matthews, you have shown yourself to be very honest. you have always brought up the issue of equity. you keep making it an emphasis and claiming that san francisco unified can be something different for the country. outside of the private school model. so when you asked the community to take an initiative and implement this equity division and sfusd, it discredits the sincerity when we are not allowed to do this in our terms. because it makes those whose

voices are already heard, who always had their voice heard, not comfortable. as educators and power in our communities, we cannot tell them fight for this vision, yes the district will support you with this program. if you do not show the courage on your end. i think this vision is something that we must adhere to you. we must lead this leadership of this district. they claim of socia social justd raise important issues as flicking off another item on your resume. well it means something different to us. you told us to take it and we are taking it. it is not going to be given up by those who are not willing to give it up and it is not meant to make them comfortable. approve the aroc because it is the right thing to do. do not send a message that politics from the outside organizations will make excuses as to why our kids cannot be served. let them dictate what and how our needs should be met. so please, i know you are bringing up the boat, take that into consideration. we are fighting hard in the mission.

we're fighting hard to get the shelter plans. we are fighting hard to unite our families and every time we bring this up, an outside organization, not one in here, tells us what to do. i think that is a major problem. your vision shows us otherwise. [applause] >> good evening members of the board and superintendent. my name is charlie. i'm a parent of three sfusd students. i'm also arab-american and eight jewish man. i am here on behalf of of an organization. we are here to stand in support of the centre and urge you to move forward with implementing a memorandum of understanding at your next meeting. i wanted to speak to the value of community-based partners and partnerships. community-based organizations are an invaluable resource to and sfusd education. they bring in critical language skills, cultural programming, additional resources, community

expertise, in valuable, authentic community relationships like all of this only enhanced on a public education here in san francisco. in addition, now more than ever, it is critical for sfusd to be partnering with organizations such as aroc, immigrant communities are under eat -- attack. muslim and arab americans are unfairly profiled, and we need sfusd to model the racial tolerance and injustice at this being taught in our classrooms with model collaborations with organizations like aroc to bring diverse community perspectives on to challenge the profiling of arab and muslim americans. we're here to support aroc and we urge you to move forward immediately. and q. [applause] >> my name is jeremiah. i'm a first-grade teacher at a primary school. i'm also one of the coordinators for the teachers and here in support of aroc.

as well as malcolm x and... as a teacher i will do a little education for you. you probably already know this. however,, in case you do not, we want to share with you. these issues are not often related. both of these issues are about white power. it is about white power structures pushing. so the fact that question communities out, in wanting to take them over and wanting to privatize our public spaces, right? you have a private organization, not really serving the people and the use of our schools and telling us we should work for an organization that does nothing but serve the youth of our schools. and has for years. how dare you? it is ridiculous and it is not lost on me, the irony, that we as people of colour are asking other beautiful people of colour to do right by us. we fought to