>> thank you. >> the committee, not the board. >> that superintendent if you introduced this? >> reading the recommendation into the record will be hired director of policy and planning of charter schools, mr mic davis. >> thank you, dr matthews. superintendent's recommendation including the leadership academy charter school petition, authorization to deny the petition. pursuant to california education code section 476 '05, the academy inc. submitted a petition for the approval to the san francisco unified school district, and whereas pursuant to the california education code section 476 '05, the board of education the district is in receipt of the petition effective april 24th, 2018.

we will comply with all timelines for review with action as required by law and whereas the board of education will continue the level of public support for the charter school, and review the petition and all information received with respect to the petition including supporting documentation, and whereas the district superintendent and district staff have completed a review of the petition and issued a report and recommendation to the board of education regarding the review of the petition, and whereas, the petitioners are demonstrably unlikely to successfully implement the programs where the petition and where is the district superintendent and superintendent review of the petition found that it is demonstrably unlikely to implement the program set forth in the petition, it does not contain reasonably comprehensive descriptions of all the charter provisions. therefore, they have resolved the board of education shall deny the petition subject to the requirements set forth by law.

you also have before you the board of education report denial of the charter petition for leadership academy, the proposed action is staff recommends denial for the leadership academy if the board does choose to deny the petition, that the board would adopt the findings included in the staff report as the written justification for the denial. >> okay. thank you. okay. so this is what we will do. i have quite a few speakers that want to be speaking on behalf of the chartier. i will give 30 minutes to that. i have quite a few speakers that

are speaking against the chart charter. there is half a number of folks. i will give 15 minutes to that. what i don't have based on what is in my hand, is through exactly it is for and against. i have a sense of who is speaking, who is here, for the charter. no, you know, this is our prerogative to do that. i will do this so we will be respectful for everybody who will speak. there will be many people that will say the same thing. this is not about the number of people that tell us what it is that they would like to share, as much as it is about the board understanding where the community stands on this. i appreciate how i will manage this. and then, i do have some speakers who are very clear about those who will be speaking

against and i have a handful that i am a little unclear about. i will call the names of these folks, and if any of you are on this list that i will rattle off and you are for the charger, would you please raise your hand and tell me who you are so i can put you on the appropriate category. i will call them up separately. allison collins, leah fisher, susan solomon, dianne great. are any of those in the wrong category? >> is there anyone on that list who was not in the right category? >> this was speaking against the charter for the resolution that

was put in front of us to deny the charter. very good. i am going to start with the, for those who are in favor, i'm sorry, those who are opposed to the petition you will have 30 minutes and there are, i gave extra time because there are a couple of spanish speakers that we will use a translation for. sherry taylor, veronica martinez, and if i call your name in this category and you are in the wrong category, would you please let me know? veronica martinez, amalia mend mendez, erica choy, and you can start coming up and getting behind the podium. [please standby for captioner switch]

>> and michelle isnogle, sorry. [inaudible] >> it does, so give me a

moment. brandy -- [inaudible] >> miley villaluna, and the other? [inaudible] >> randy markman. thank you. so the speakers that are going to be coming up now have 20 minutes, and then, we'll add time to the other side, and i'll give you that time number after i do the calculations, so why don't we go ahead and start with the public speakers.

please state your full name so that i can check you off. thank you. >> sharlie taylor. good evening to the san francisco board of education, the commissioners, superintendent, president. it is not every day that one can step into one of the greatest opportunities to change the world through the eyes of another person, yet that is the role of a teacher, whether that teacher is amazing or indifferent. that position is very impactful. my name is sharlie taylor. i'm a san francisco unified school district taylor. i received my degree from the university of maryland, okinawa, japan. also, i was employed at the united states navial regional center. these students were at high risk due to their behavioral

problems and also family issues. california ranks in the 43% pertaining to primary education but has the top ranking universities. the demographic of this private and ivy league universities are not predominantly reflecting the students of color. 32% of students of color attend a drop out factory, compared to 8% of white students. drop outs commit 75% of crimes. every 26 seconds, 7,000 students drop out every day. our high school drop out earns $200,000 less than the high school graduate. in addition, a high school drop out earns $1 million less over his life compared to a college graduate.

majority of our pacific islander and latino students failed math in the california state recent exams. the mayorial booker leadership academy will provide annen riching, engaging excelling curriculum for our parents and community especially for the forward advancement of our students. we have witnessed this in motion when we recently had the opportunity to visit a charter school in the san francisco bay area. we are not the enemy, we are here to assist the san francisco unified school district in closing this enormous achievement gap. we are in favor of collaboration. although we have different strategies, we have the same goal. one day, our students will one day say i will be proud to graduate from a san francisco unified san francisco system, and let's not get it twisted. we've seen all of these statistics about how great our

african american students are doing. that's not the populous we want to reach. we're concerned about the students that have fallen through the cracks, so it is very important that you approve this petition because it is a high percentage of our african american students who are not achieving. that is the gap we are concerned about. we are not concerned about those who excel in a wonderful, wonderful level of expertise, who go onto college to become major doctors and lawyers and attorneys. we are concerned about the large percentage of african american students who never get served, so let us help you help them. zbl good evening, members of the board. my name is veronica martinez, and i'm not go to college, but

i'm a mother. and every single day, i get good education for my kids, and i'm up here because this is what we want for our kids, better education. i don't speak -- my english is not good. i came 18 years ago. my husband is born and raised in san francisco, in the mission district. my son went to public education many years ago, and he got exactly the same problems as my husband have long time ago, and i don't want this for my child. i want better education. i want my kids to go to college one day, and they going to do it because you know what? i'm here, and i'm going to speak for that persons who don't want to speak or they don't speak the english, or they don't have like me to come standup here and talk about with you guys. i don't mind.

i'm going to fight every single day so all the kids have the same education and my kids can go to college. marybell literature academy is all this. every time we have a chance, we meet with parents. this is a great school for our children, for our communities, and we are doing our part. i think it's time that you guys do you part. we don't want -- we want this change now, not changes ten years later, we want now. [applause] >> my name is montara, and i go to this school. i go to the schools, and what i

like about my school is we do a lot of things, like math and reading, and, like, science and social studies. and we also play, and we do art, and we do, like, p.e., and yeah. [applause] [speaking spanish] [voice of interpreter] >> good evening. my name is maria marquez, and i have three kids. my oldest graduated this week.

i have two other kids. they are at mission preparatory. they are very successful at this school. they have succeeded in math, english, and social studies.

i really like a lot of things about this school. they pay a lot of attention to the kids, they have good discipline measures, and they have a really strict schedule. i really like the school for my kids. and i would like my kids to succeed more than we did. thank you very much. [end of translation] [applause] [speaking spanish] [voice of interpreter] >> my name is consuela ibarra.

i have a nine-year-old child who goes to the mission prep also. i really like the school. this school has a really good discipline measures. my son has done really well in reading. he loves to read, and he is doing well in math, too. when he has a problem solving a math problem, i really works hard at it. we have an agreement. and what i love about this is since my son started in this school, he tells me mom, i'm going to be successful, i am going to go to college. he can explain to me what it means to go to college for him. thank you. [end of translation]

>> hi. good evening, commissioners, and also the public. my name is tiana coleman. i am the niece of mariel booker, and i am also on the board of the school, as well. i'm here to speak -- obviously, it was denied, but i still wanted to give some background. i was born in the bayview as well. i attended the george washington carver elementary school. i believe i obtained a good education, and i thought i was getting that. i just drove through the bayview. on my way here, i saw over 100 young black students who clearly did not have anything to do with their time. they were standing on third and -- i don't know if any of you are familiar with the bayview area. i know a lot of here are them to oppose, and most of them do not live there. their children are not involved in any way in the bayview area. we live there. we are the --

[inaudible] >> all right, you guys, we're not going to have -- we're not going to do this. you'll have your time, please continue. >> i stand here to oppose the fact that change is not based solely on the opinions of people that have different skin colors who are doing exactly what they need to do to hinder the process of gaining equity in the bayview schools. then we fail our students again. we've already failed them. they can't read, they can't write, they're unemployable, and now we're failing them as leaders of the community. and so most of our opposers do not, again, live in bayview, their children are not affected by this achievement gap that we speak about here this evening, and they are -- and their sole mission is to divide and also segregate a community and use their educational expertise to persuade unknowledgeable

parents -- this is horrific, as thea said 60% of the people he visited at the jail were what. they obviously got there by stealing, doing criminal activity because they're uneducated and unemployable. this can change with our help at community leaders and board members. if people eventually end up to stop people from living -- [ gavel ]. >> people stop this intergenerational cycle of people that are uneducated and unemployed. if we continue to write plans that say they work for specific demographics, but that group continues to not show any improvements, yes, politics govern our society but it does not govern the lives of these failing students. plat notes sound really good. let's get it into action. my granddaughter is one years old. the plan you have will not be implemented until after she

starts kindergarten. that's shameful. we need to check our personal agendas and think about how our half thought out plans are creates plans for the system to grind black people up. thank you. >> you have eight minutes remaining, so use your time wisely. eight minutes remaining. [speaking spanish] [voice of interpreter] >> good evening. my name is amalia. i have children that go to school, and i think the school that's being put there, mariel

booker, is needed because we need a school for our children. i'm looking not just for my children but also for my nieces and my nephews and my neighbor's kids who also need to go to a school like this. this school has a lot of good programs, including the technology program, which i think if implemented correctly will help bridge the gap of performance in the students. the tutoring that they provide to our students so they can attain their grade level

performance has also been very helpful to our students, and that is something that i never saw when my kids were at public schools. for example, there's no tutoring in english for the english learning students. but in the charter schools, i have seen the support. my children were both be able to be reclassified while they were there at the charter schools. they motivate the children to go to school, and that is a

dream that i have for my children, for my nieces and my nephews. i want the kids to go to the university, and that is a dream that i have for my children, for my nieces and nephews and for my neighbors, also. and i think you need to vote for the school mariel booker. thank you. [end of translation] [applause] >> hi. my name is erica, and i have a really long story. i have five kids. my oldest son is 29, and they've all attended a unified school district. my oldest son had a lot of learning disabilities. i have two other kids, and unfortunately, you know, they're still failing my youngest that is in the 7th is going to be in the 7th grade, and in the meantime, i have to use all my resources. i have a husband that has a

brain injury. i have physical disabilities myself, and i'm constantly using the resources that i have to constantly make sure that she gets whatever little support that she gets because i'm just tired of of my kid -- my children, you know, not getting the support that they need. and so i'm here to support and i want to be able to have an option for my last kid that's in school to be able to attend the mariel booker that has a lot of promises. i look forward to her attending this school because i think, you know, i'm tired of blaming the teachers, and i think that i've learned that it's not the teachers, they just don't have the support, and so i would really like for you guys to consider that there is a huge achievement gap that's going on, and nobody's listening and

it's -- in the hispanic community, the african american and the other group that we were just talking about. and so i would like to just let you know that i'm here to support mary booker academy, and i'm also here to support the awful lunch that rooftop has for our kids because my daughter never get to ss to ead i have to use my little resources on a daily basis, so thank you. [applaus [applause] >> good afternoon, everyone. my name is joanne abernathy, and i'm a long time advocate for the bayview-hunters point for many years. i sit on the board of mary l. booker leadership academy. i'm sick and tired of people dividing our people against

each other. >> joanne, i'm sorry. i don't have a card for you. >> well, i put a card in. >> yours wasn't one of the names -- >> well, i stood back there and asked you why my card didn't get called, and i didn't hear nothing -- >> can you hold the time, please. i'm sorry, but i have -- i have others that -- that i have cards for, so if your card was up here, then i would have called your name, but i don't have your name. >> so what do you want me to do? >> okay, you guys -- how much time do they have? you have two minutes left, so use your time how you'd like it. if you'd like for her to speak versus somebody that has the card that you've signed up for, you can, but you have two minutes left. >> okay. i'm speaking. right there, what i said there. we're getting divided by what i say is we get to make in our community and even in these meetings. it's not fair that we have to

be chosen as people of color to be treated the way we've been treated at these meetings and anywhere else and under any circumstance. i'm here to talk about why i support this school. i support this school because i've got through daughters. two of my daughters attended public school, another one attended a charter school. guess what? the one that attended the charter school went to college and graduated with a master's degree, all right? and she wouldn't have did that if she did not -- she wouldn't have done that if she didn't have the extra time that some of these charter schools spend with their children. so i'm not against public schools. charter schools do not take nothing away from the public schools. it helps the children get a college education. [applause] >> hello, commissioners, my

name is geraldine anderson. i am a mother of sons who attended schools in the bayview, both public and charter. i love charter because i've had great relationships with the teachers and staff, but most importantly our parents and scholars. sadly san francisco has yet to close this achievement gap that is 2 aboo to discuss amongest people of color and the district i stand before today. mary booker was a beacon in our community than what better way to commemorate her memory. i support mary l. booker academy to be open to these families of color suffering the achievement gap but overall to work alongside the district to add another option to our

public, private and charter school choices for parents looking for a good educational fit for our child. i hope we can breakdown the barriers between public and charter school and hope to bridge the gap between both. >> thank you. so that's time. [applause] >> the next group of speakers are from the -- from the second group. so i'm also going to give these same names. you will also have 20 minutes. no, they were added to -- there were more that came from the other pack that went into this pack. melissa dart carbajal, randy

markman, mari villaluna. brean breanna hinkle, steve, i always jack up your name, and i apologize. mike hutch inson, allison collins, rhonda batiste, susan solomon, lita blanc, iris chapman, and virginia marshall. i will remind all of you also that you have 20 minutes. we add on extra time if there are nonnative -- spanish speakers. if there are spanish speakers, we add on extra time. you have 20 minutes, and we'll get through as many as you can.

so we're putting on the time, so starting now. i'm sorry, sweetheart. i'm sorry. >> my name is kimora. i go to malcolm x academy. we don't want or need a new school. we like the school we are at. my -- my school is healthy and clean. our teachers care a lot and love our -- us. they call my parents every day to update them on our behavior, good or bad. they are -- my mom is at our school off and onto help us

with our school. our public -- our public school -- our public school is amazing. i standup -- i stand for public schools, i stand for malcolm x academy. please leave our public school alone. please leave our school alone. malcolm x. thank you. [applause] >> my name is breanna. i have a big family that lives right next door to our school. all five of us go to malcolm x academy. we love our school and our teachers so much. they teach us how to be for our community and standup for what's right. we don't want unwelcome guests, kids at our school. i think you should invest more money at public schools.

why? so our school doesn't have to struggle as much. my mom is very involved in our education. our school staff reaches out to her for advice and also reports to her about our well-being. i am honored to be a part of malcolm x academy, and i hope you people hear our cry for our community and public schools. thank you. [applause] >> i'm steve zeltzer with defend public education now. there's a -- $6 billion a year is being siphoned from public schools to charter schools, and when people complain their kids aren't getting the education they need, where is the money going? to charter schools. that money should be going to our public schools to make them the greatest in the world. i don't believe -- not just the

break up of public schools through colocation, prop 39, which we're discussing tonight, has to be stopped, and i support opposing all charter schools and suing the legality of prop 39. once you let these charter schools go in, you are going to destroy public education. the reason is public schools mean publicly elected school boards, not privately run. what we have here is these cancer of charter schools that are run by billionaires that don't pay taxes, and i'm sick and tired of having to pay taxes when people like the fisher family who owns the gap corporation wants to push charters and privatization. we have to stop it, we have to defend our public schools and make them great. thank you. >> good evening, commissioners and superintendent matthews. hello. my name is diane gray. i'm the director of 100%

college prep. i'm also a member of the san francisco alliance of black school educators, and a member on the southeast community coalition and a founder of the bayview transit public schools. i also grew up in bayview. i am also now a homeowner. i went to school all of my school years right here in san francisco, san francisco unified school district. so i'm here today to say no to more charter schools in our city, no to more charter schools in the bayview-hunters point community, and yes to holding charter schools accountable to the same standards as our traditional public schools. i am totally for parent choice in selecting a school. what i'm not for is a group of strangers called innovate, coming into our community pitting indigenous families and community members against one another and using the name of

our community treasures such as mary l. booker. i was told that the selection of her name was a community process, yet i saw no fliers, i saw nothing on facebook, which is one of their main and favorite communication tools, or any communications about a meeting. and i -- i am in the know in the bayview. when i heard about a school opening in the name of mary l. booker, it was a done deal. is it an arts school? a pipeline? no. is it a social justice school, like another district -- another school in our district, june jordan? no, not what i've seen, not what i've seen written on webpages or any other paper documents. to the family members of mary l. booker, we mean no disrespect at all, but let's do this right. let's honor of life of mary l. booker by creating performance art academies in our bayview schools, a pine line from

elementary school through high school that is focused on social justice performances. board commissioners, i urge you to join us in this. create policies that hold these schools, charter schools accountable. thank you. [applause] >> good evening, commissioners and superintendent matthews. firstly, i would like to say that i am a proud bayview residence debt. my i.d. does say 94124. i not only live there, but i work there, and my daughter actually attends school there. i'm not here speaking on behalf of anyone other than our bayview right in our own community in our neighborhood. on behalf of apaac, we want to express our deep commitment to san francisco public education. we believe in sfusd and the incredible work that has been going onto shift the narrative that often plagues or communities. while we are committed to working hand in hand with

sfusd, we do support parent choice. we understand that sometimes for a variety of reasons, including feelings that their children have not been adequately served or because their hopes and dreams for their children are sometimes found in alternative settings, families may opt for charter, private or home schooling. while we respect parent choice and partner with all families of african american students within apaac, we stand firmly in a belief that students in a southeast section of san francisco and throughout sfusd are brilliant, capable and growing in our sfusd public schools. we know from being a part of the community that has poured resources, love, expertise and hart work into ensuring nothing but success that we do not need more charter schools, we need a commitment to sustaining that success. we have what it takes, especially in cohort three, and for those of you who do not know, that's the bayview

potrero hill neighborhoods, we have what it takes to support our children academy, socially, and emotionally. thank you. [applause] >> hello. my name is nancy hernandez, and i work at the good samaritan family resource center. i'm an advocate. ever incident i was in high school, i have he he been coming to meetings in this room and talk about what are the needs of high school students or middle school students. i currently work with six through 14 year olds in the san francisco unified school district. the parents who speak, i hear you. every parent here that spoke said that all of our kids should see college as a reality in their future. parents said that there need to be bilingual tutors that are working with kids who speak english and spanish here in this district, and i agree with everything that i heard. the thing that i'm here to say right now is that charter schools are not the way for us to improve the conditions of

the young people in our communities. i have read innovate tease materials, i have seen them coming down to the schools and neighborhoods and fliering, and we ask them, where are you from? well, i'm not from here, i'm from las vegas, or i'm from north carolina, but i feel that the schools here are horrible, and we want to make improvements. if the improvements comes at the detriment of students at the sf unified school district, we cannot stand for that. i want to have improvements for all students in this school district and all the kids that grow up in frisco giving control of our education system to a corporation is not going to do that. yes, maybe some of those schools maybe do provide some of those things, and strictness, but the strictness we are seeing in those schools is scary. they're choosing to call the

cops, and they're choosing to bring in the securities the way that they have is scary, and so the -- the social justice school that i currently teach at is called june jordan. this is my fourth year teaching in that school. in that school we are creating creative thinkers, and we are teaching people how to think for themselves. corporate schools do not give us the capacity as teachers to teach young people to be critical thinkers. what they are trying to produce is low wage workers and people who are easy to control, and so this school district needs to standup for the right for young people to think for ourselves and take action and not just follow commands and not just be o obedient. willie brown, the young people who go to that school are precious, and we cannot give that space to a corporation and assume that they will take care

of our children. san francisco unified school district needs to stand strong and control malcolm x and make sure that malcolm x is given everything that it needs to succeed in that school district. we cannot give that school up to a corporation and expect them to do the service that it needs for a school. so please stand strong and give these schools everything that they need for the school district. to all parents who are here mobilizing, whatever side you are on, i appreciate you standing up four your kids, and we need to go home and do a little more research on what the charter schools are really do, what they are really like, and what we can do to improve the schools in the mission and places that we are. >> thank you. can i get please a time? thank you. you have eight minutes left. >> president, mr. superintendent, members of the

board of education, i'm amos brown, president of the san francisco branch of the national association for the advancement of colored people. and also, i have been a pastor of the historic san francisco baptist church for going on 43 years. i rise to speak with a bit of pain because i hear persons speaking of the opposing view demonizing persons who are school board members and servants in this community. we are in this thing together. [applause] >> dr. martin luther king, jr., my late teacher and friend, reminded us that the

end does not justify the means. the opposing group has a good end in mind, and so do we. but for people to misrepresent the position of naacp on this matter, and i have the good evidence that it was represented by the opposing group, some of the representatives of that group, that the naacp was supporting charter schools. our national office of the naacp last year called for a moratorium on all charter schools. [applause] >> finally, i must say that thomas jefferson said that education is the foundation of

our democracy. and i might add further, a mix of the wisdom of mississippi, education is like fertilizer. if you don't spread it around, it does absolutely nothing, nobody any good. charter schools came up with a notion about their doing something to educate. all of us ought to be concerned about the education of children, and public schools belong to us. it's the right of every family and child to have a quality education, so i hope that this board will hold your -- mr. superintendent, we're on our way. we're working with this program that you have advanced, and i

think that it's disingenuous for this superintendent to say he has a plan for everybody, and we get in a skunk fight about whether or not we're going to have charter schools. my children went to public schools, and many members of my church in bayview and the western addition were products of public education. truth doesn't come on 1 foot, can comes on 2 feet, and many of our children are excelli excelling -- are not excelling, and i'm not blaming any parents, but we have not made quality education of our children, and we have not made education a priority in our

communities. if a child does not go to school ready to learn, they are not going to go there and sit and be did i policemened to learn regardless of whether it's a charter school or a public school. we must deal with the issue and not be partisan and do snap thinking. and finally, i will say we will not be pumped by a piece of pizza, by a piece of pizza, we will not be seduced to give up our right to public education for all, and all means all. >> can i get a time check, please. [applause] >> you all have three more minutes. >> my name is aleta fisher.

i'm the chair of the community advisory committee for special education, and the c.a.c.'s mission statement on charters are pretty agnostic. we're posed we're opposed to this charter in particular because the san francisco local education plan provides over sight. our families deserve accountability. our families deserve resources not being cancelled out, and i have to say as a parent of an african american student who just graduated from mission high school, my kid has been pretty well darn well supported in this school. my kid with disabilities, he's been pretty well supported, too. i wish that for all families. thank you. [applause] >> my name is mike hutch inson, and i am a proud student of oakland public schools. we're members of the national

alliance, a groot roots organization fighting for education justice across the country. we stand in solidarity with the naacp and black lives matter in calling for a moratorium on charter schools. i'm born and raised in oakland, and as superintendent matthews knows, oakland was taken over by the state, and when oakland was under stateceivership, we saw charter schools placed throughout our community. right now, oakland has 42 charter schools, of those 42 schools, 40 of them are below 5 80. if charter schools were better, they'd be in the hills in oakland, but instead, the opposite has happened. the hills have been able to fight off charter schools, and they've only been placed in our

neighborhoods, and this has followed the same colonial pattern across the country, so i encourage this school board, you know, schools have never served our communities like they should, and many of these families connected to charter schools, they have a good point. we need better, but the thing that is lacking there is not one report, no research out there that show that charter schools out perform public schools, so what we need to do is change the diynamic. why don't we put these resources into our public schools and finally make the public education system that we need. thank you. >> less than a minute. >> hello. my name's allison collins, and i'm really pained to hear families speaking about their hopes for their children and that they think that charters

are the answer. i was upset when i worked at the district with what i saw in the district 20 years ago, and i left and went to work in charter schools. and what i saw was really upsetting. i worked in schools in the richmond that had turnover, and i worked in schools in oakland that counseled students out. i'm with you. we need to do it together, we need to do it in our community schools, so thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you. [applause] >> so time is up. i'm going to allow -- time is up, but i'm going to allow lita blanc, but time is up. >> thank you, president mendoza, i would like to cede my time to virginia marshall.

thank you very much. >> okay. we're not -- so i'm sorry, miss blanc, i'm honoring the contract and allowing the union to speak, and so i'll allow you to speak, but i'm not going to allow any other community members to speak, but i want to be fair with the other group. [inaudible] >> no, i'm sorry, miss marshall -- no. well, i'm not going to run again, so you're lucky, so you don't have to support me. but i'm going to allow miss blanc to speak. thank you. >> so what i would like to say on behalf of uasf which is that we stand here together, all parents, all educators with the best intentions to raise up the students of all schools, particularly those in the bayview. but we know now that 5 years

after charter schools have descended upon our country like a plague. your own budget book said in 2008, there were 2300 students in charter schools. since then, that number has tripled. and that means a loss of funds for public schools. i do want to thank the staff. the staff has made a proper recommendation on our understanding of history that has been tried to be written by corporate america. standup for public education, standup for the kids, standup for accountability, and please support the staff recommendation. thank you. >> thank you. okay. [applause] >> so public comment on this item is now over, so i'm going to have -- any comments from the board or the superintendent? commissioner walton? >> thank you, commissioner mendoza-mcdonnell. you know, first, i always

respect every parent that take the the time to come to a school board meeting. i know you're taking time away from families, and so i appreciate that fact. i'm not going to give my typical aggressive speech as to why i won't be supporting this charter school, but what i will do is just read something. so first, i just want to say that willie brown middle school had their first 8th grade promotion the week before last. [applause] >> and to demonstrate that i put my actions where my mouth is, my stepson was part of that 8th grade promotion class, so when we talk about living in community and sending our kids to community, some of us definitely with a reflection of that 24-7 and what they do. but i want to read a blurb

about some of the great work at willie brown and our bayview schools, and this was from an article that was written by a community advocate educator, nonprofit director, diane gray about our amazing public schools in bayview in the southeast sector of san francisco. recently, there have been many notable accomplishments in our public schools in the bayview. dr. george washington carver school principal was awarded principal of the year. students at willie brown academy just won a statewide competition on healthy eating, and malcolm x academy's 8th grade math scores beat out kipp middle school scores. she goes onto write, parents should know that carver has a lot to offer. not only has it been renovated, it has a wellness center

staffed by social workers which doesn't exist in a lot of our elementary students, a computer lab where students learn the code, a light filled library with a librarian, and a full-time family liaison who is a former carver parent and the current cochair of the african american parent advisory committee. at willie brown, their black student union just won first place in the statewide black minds matter competition. jaden just built a theme for his newly built school. a stem school offers project based learning and it's dedicated to nurturing student leadership. all students not only take science and math, but also coding and app development, visual art, instrumental music,

ethnic studies, and spanish are also offered. at another school, local elementary school, malcolm x, parents tell us their kids are well cared for. 80% of its students are reading at grade level. there's outside play and learning with the newly renovated garden classroom and recess play time organized by play works. students can take music, dance, theater, and arts in partnership with community organizations performing in a showcase at the end of the year. there are counseling and health services at the wellness center, and each student is served three meals a day. students can attend an on-site after school program, and each child is learning to code. more funds will flow into this school with community schools grants. it's clear that we don't need

new schools in the bayview, we need investment in the schools and community programs that exist. [applause] >> i'd like to see more nonprofits and health and wellness, educational support, and academic help, elements of what is called a community school. these include groups like urban academy which supports elementary and middle schoolboys of color and stem education and runs an after school program at malcolm x. the third street youth clinic that works with children suffering from adverse child experiences and trains pier facilitators around health and wellness. and the girls 2,000 program that supports girls and women in supportive housing. that's the end of the reading of the article, just the