these are people who made and to make a positive difference for the people of san francisco. mayor ed lee was a champion for education. under his administration,, our district and our city shared one of the strongest partnerships supporting children, families, immigrants, and public education ed lee was an unassuming leader, who led with his heart. he was thoughtful, intelligent, and joyful. he was the kind of leader that i aspire to be like. all these different pieces of who he was, and how he came across connect with a kind of learning environment we want our newcomer school to be like, for immigrant children and their families.

when mayor lee died unexpectedly , many many of us were shocked. if not devastated. as our city grappled with his loss, the idea came from different members of our school community to rename the school in his honor. to embrace and continue the legacy of his work and his life. fast forward to an afternoon at the school where i was afforded the great honor of sitting at a table in my office with an easily, wife of the late mayor edwin lee. president of the school board at one of our over-the-top super amazing community volunteers from the rotary club of san francisco, chinatown. it was, in that afternoon, in that little office, in the shadow of these three powerful leaders, that the idea brought in to include anita lee so that we could honor the work that she

has done in supporting education too. our school team connected with our families, our cbo partners, our business partners, our volunteers, our chinatown district schools, some of our public officials and our friends everyone we connected with embraced and loved this idea to rename our school. so here we are, this evening with our board of education about to take a vote on this name change idea. and it is feeling quite unreal. just last night, at the board of education building and grounds committee meeting, one of the commissioners mentioned how, together,, as we consider these proposals of the school name changes, we are embarking on making history. i don't mean mean to put pressure on you. [laughter] >> and while this may not be --

it sure means a whole lot for our little school down in chinatown. if this name change is approved tonight, it will be one of the highest honours to have the chinese education centre be renamed as edwin and anita lee newcomer school, after our first asian american, chinese american mayor of san francisco and the wonderful mrs. anita lee to is, in so many ways, an active champion of education, especially for girls in science education. thank you for considering our proposal. [applause] >> thank you. the other speakers, if you would please join us at the podium.

>> good evening. i am a former student of cec. i often say that i graduated from cec because i attended the school as a fifth-grader. that year, s. it is special to me since it was my only elementary school education that i experienced in the u.s. although, the experience was phenomenal. the name of the school misled me into thinking that i was enrolled in a center and not an actual school. [laughter] >> this was disheartening. it is obviously not true. however,, even today, i still hear parents and a local city residents who misunderstand the mission of our school because of names. i am now a teacher at the school

is the current staff member and alumni, i feel it is my duty to urge the school board to support this name change. we should give our future students a reason to proudly say that they attend the edwin and anita lee newcomer school and know that they have leaders like mr and mrs. lee to look up to end aspire towards. thank you for considering this name change. [applause] >> good evening. my name is jolene. i am speaking as a former c.e.c. student. as i -- and as a representative of the chinatown ymca. i finished chinese education

centre as a student in 2,006. i am now a ymca excel afterschool program coordinator at c.e.c. my -- the chinatown ymca has been a committee partner with the c.e.c. for the last eight years. on behalf of the chinatown ymca, a branch of san francisco, we are in full support of the proposal to change the name of the chinese education centre to edwin and anita lee newcomer school. for me, as a former chinese education centre student, i also think it is exciting that our school will be named after our first chinese american mayor. it is my pleasure to be here today and supports my school. thank you, very much. [applause] >> good evening, everyone.

all the commissioners, board of education, site directors. i stand before you as a community partner of the chinese education centre and a volunteer there. i want to thank, especially the president mendoza mcdonald and the commissioners for writing up such a beautiful resolution for the school. the c.e.c. and the remaining of it. i was moved from being here last night about the renaming of a both schools. c.e.c. and the fairmont school. honouring a very remarkable people. i learned about a woman named dolores who is still so remarkable at the age of 88. and all that she stands for. and then our humble mayor, ed lee and his immigrant wife,

anita. to recognize these are marketable people and to name a school after them, for what they have done pack what they stand for, but they have given gifts of hope. hope from the daily distress from all of the breaking news about issues regarding immigration. the comforting thing to know is that if you vote to have these name changes, the future students that walk the halls of these schools will learn about these remarkable people. i want to thank you for considering this and for listening to me tonight. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, very much. we will take comments this at this time from the board for

superintendents. vice president cook. >> i just wanted to thank my colleagues for their leadership and mr tab for his decades of service to our district and for being -- leading to community efforts. this was embraced and discussed at the school. i just want to say briefly that i first met the late mayor ed lee when he was city administrator and who -- and 2008 when i was a city hall fellow. they got me back to san francisco. and i went to williams college which is slightly better than bowden but we do not have as many mayors as bowden does. [laughter] and, you know, i bantered with him about that.

he was city administrator. you gave me a lot of great advice on how to think about long term and sustained employment for communities in the city onto the door was opened and he was very committed to the city. it was very tragic to see him go his legacy and his life will forever live on and the community has missed so much in the city of san francisco. i will probably be voting in support of this tonight. >> thank you. >> thank you. thank you to colleagues as well for offering this resolution. if it is no trouble, maybe we could add our names to this resolution. i have met the former mayor ed lee at this desk. he was marching in the latino honor roll parade in 2009.

it was a very door she was a very understated man. he was wearing a baseball up and i think you had to force him to meet people in the parades. i just really appreciated his low key attitude. he did not seek the limelight. he was there to serve the city as best as he could and he did so much for our district as well it has been mentioned in the resolution that he, the day after they run just round the cover story of one of our homeless teachers, the day after that, he said the city is giving $43 million to build educator housing. so our educator housing that will be coming online in 2022 is in large part, due to his work. i also want to mention, i don't know if this is totally accurate , but we have schools that are named after former mayors.

willie brown, font -- and feinstein. are there others? i think that might be it. it is not every day that we name schools after our former mayors and nor does every mayor get school named after him. it is not every day that when we name schools we named them -- we name the school after not just the person who honors it, but it has been also given to their wife. we have we have only done that once. i am really happy we are doing this as well to honor both ed and anita lee. thank you very much for helping in this resolution. >> thank you. >> i want to thank my colleagues , especially the president mendoza mcdonald for your leadership. i know so many things you are involved with. your partnership with the city around with mayor lee made this

possible. we have to get back to being here for this and we are able to do this while you are here. i also see some connections to you here. we are really grateful to have a very strong partnership with the city and a lot of that is because of great leaders who are sitting up here and to have been in the mayor's office. i want to thank the members of the community and especially the principal for your leadership. this is something that can be difficult to change a school name. it is something that when a name has been around for a while, and to get the consensus, and to have such support and excitement about this. i think it is a testament to your leadership and to the school that you leave. i mentioned this last night, but when you step into the school

you can feel the joy and the warmth and the love for the children who are there. i want to thank the former students and staff as well for that. when a young person when it comes to this country, sometimes the first touch point they have with institutions and with the larger city or community is at the school. and for you all up to be having them have the first touch point and be one of such warmth and love and carrying anti- belief and their future, i think is extremely powerful. and for them to be in that school and to look up and see, you know, ed and anita lee's name up there and to know what they did to, and to understand the connection between what they've done and their service and the people who were in that building every day serving them and caring for them, is so

powerful. we will never be able to measure the impact that this has on children in the future. this name -- 100 years from now, this will still be the name. some of our school names, you know, at last that long and beyond. this is a a very big deal. it is is something that we are very proud to do. it is an honor for us, also to have mrs. lee allow us to do this. i want to thank her and thanked the lee family as well. i'm sure there were a lot of people who wanted to name things after mayor lee and for the family to say, yes, this school feels right, means a lot to us too. it speaks to what we are doing in the school dressed strict -- school district. i am very proud to be part of this. i think the last thing i will say, school names matter. they do communicate.

to children, who they should look up to. who is valued and whether their cultures and their community and our diversity is fully respected , and for this service that ed and anita lee have contributed to our kids and to our school scent to our city. i cannot think of a more powerful statement to the kids of today and of the future to put this name on the building. thank you to everybody for doing this and i'll be very probably supporting this this evening. >> thank you. commissioner norton? >> i want to add my thanks to the authors of resolution for bringing this forward. everything that i know about mayor lee and his career, i think is he would really be proud and honored to have his name on the school. i think the school and it's mission is particularly about what he is about. it feels like a very fitting and

lovely tribute to someone who served the city well and has gone too soon. >> thank you. i want to thank you in a tonight 's public comment speakers. particularly the principle. one of our finest principles and a force of nature once she gets an idea. nothing will stop her. but a proud partner with my colleagues in the community on this. i wanted to point to the pocket of letters of support that the commissioners received very broad-based support, including support for comments you -- and the association of chinese teachers, as well as dozens of families from the chinese education centre. this broad level of community support is the best way to do a school name change.

and is not a random idea. it really has the support of the surrounding community. i was with merely the friday before he passed away so suddenly. we were at sunset elementary school. i believe there were others there. we were celebrating sophie lee. a principal at sunset. the mayor was so happy. he was hamming it up with the faculty and the educators. with the students. i cannot imagine that he would leave us so quickly. i do think that this is an appropriate way to honor his memory and to honor anita lee's contributions. it also sets a strong message of sanctuary. we are a society of delinquents. thank you. >> thank you. superintendent greek. >> i wanted to pay you back on something that commissioner haney said. he was speaking about the joy

and the warmth. the feeling you feel as you enter the school and you feel the love for students. that was something that each and every time that i had the opportunity to interact with mayor lee, it was absolutely at that sight at that school and it was a joy and the warmth of the love that he felt for students that you came through loud and clear each each and every time. any time we requested him to be at an event at school, i did not seem to be in his vocabulary to say no. he was always there and he gave almost every time, beats me there. he would be there talking with students, asking them what they are doing. i always loved what he entered the room and you could hear the audible gasp here the students pushing each other and saying

there is the mayor. there is the mayor. but his love for students and love for wanting them to achieve their best was why i was proud to call him a partner in this work. i don't think there is any more fitting honor than to have the school named after him. >> thank you. this is a really just let me try and get through this,, this is a really special resolution for me my colleagues will tell you, i i don't write resolutions. what has not been my practice as a board member. my practice practice is to work with staff and try to solve issues that way. and work with my colleagues on issues that are important to them. and it worked for me, primarily because i had this very unique role of being on the scoreboard and serving the mayor, both mayors for several years and

most recently, mayor lee as his deputy chief of staff education and equity. and when mayor lee past, i think one of the things we all thought about as staff members was that we all felt like we were his favorite child. because that is how he treated us. he treated each and every one of us as if the work that we were doing was the most valuable work that anyone can do in the city. 's through the lens was through what he did for education and he did for our children and families in san francisco. that included all of the departments that i was responsible for liaison and which included the department of children and youth and families in the library and the office of early education and all of the educational institutions.

so my connection with him was his idea that we were going to do as much as possible, as quickly as possible and make as much impact as possible. so this resolution was filled with so many stories and accomplishments that i may have guided him on, but that would not have been able to do had he not been willing to do it. if you do not have the passion and the dedication for our children here in san francisco, none of this would have been possible. so i really felt i had a partner in so many ways, to do some of these amazing things dot, you know, we, as a board wanted to do and the superintendent wanted to do. and i served as a vehicle to try and make so many of these projects happen. and, you know, there so many other things that we didn't include in this resolution that made him such a special person.

and, you know, as people were talking, and kept jotting down more things and more things and i'm reminded how he would get up and say, i will be short because i am sort. and that was always his opening line but but he was never really short. and so my job was to be on the side, doing this so that he would wrap up his comments. at, you know, his comments got better and better and better every single time he got in front of people. i wanted to rattle off a few more things that i thought were noteworthy. when he first became mayor, i was the president of the board for the first time. we did an amazing land swap school district that would have the back area of our parking lot that we now have the ability to do something that we would want to do as is a school district. in exchange, we gave him a piece -- gave the city a piece of property which was because of

supervisor fee where. supervisor fewer would be 100% affordable housing -- housing in the mission. that was something that he was so open to and for years, you can vouch for this. we we tried multiple ways to do some land assaulting with the city. we are able to do it with him. he showed up for the first day of school every single year that he was mayor. we had the 40 niner suite as a gift from the city because it was run by rankin carrick. and never did he filled feel that suite with adults. he always had sunday games filled with kids. we had 15 seats, and every single sunday game was filled with a child. as one of the most beautiful things. these were kids were all over the city that would never have an opportunity to see a professional football game. he was -- he was able to do so

many things on a professional level but it was also really fun he was shot at block parties and he would go to basketball games. he would do backpack giveaways and he just always made every single one of those moments fun. commissioner norton, when you said he would have been really honored to have a building named after him, i really think that he would have -- it would have made him a little uncomfortable. it would've made him humbled and a little uncomfortable. that is how he was. in that day, emily, when we were with him on that friday night, on that friday morning, i wrote back to city hall with them and we were talking about thanksgiving and we were talking about some of the things that were coming up and what he wanted to do next year, you know , with the school and some of the other companies he wanted

to trap to make sure they were giving us money. the last text i sent them was at 9:45 pm on the night he passed away. the the night was at the hospital. because our thing was to talk about who won a worrier warrior 's game last night. before we got in bed every night , that was our parting words before we saw each other in the morning. and that was incredibly special. the most special thing that he did for me, which actually was an act here in the school board to, when you were president and richard was superintendent, and i got proposed to buy my husband in the boardroom but mary merely married my husband and i five years ago. this resolution was extremely important to not only do immediately after his passing

but it was something that i think as a board, we have the ability to do. i absolutely wanted to make sure that this happened. but because, also, my departure from sfusd and going to new york , and one of my dear friends said to me, when i told her i was leaving for new york -- new york dot she said why kate that job as a gift from mary lee. [please stand by]

lease stand by] . >> so in addition to the letters that were provided, we also have a petition that was signed by all of the teachers and students and faculty at chinese ed. and so with that, it is with great honor and pride that we take a vote to rename the chinese education center to the edwin and anita lee newcomers

school. miss casco, a vote, please. [inaudible] >> yes. there is a message from the family that i do want to share, and this is from tanya and breanna and from anita. our family is so honored by the proposal to rename the chinese education to the edwin and anita lee new comers school. both are dedicated to improving the lives of immigrant children and quality education that meets their unique needs. renaming will be such a great honor to our late father and the amazing work of our mother that she continues to do. miss casco. >> clerk: thank you.

commissioner. [voting] >> clerk: that's six ayes. >> thank you. thank you all for coming out and for making this happen on behalf of anita and ed lee, and we're going to be having a celebration on this occasion on september the 28, and you'll be getting more information about that. so thank you all very much. this is a really special night. [applause] >> so in the spirit of name changing, our next item is in support of changing the fairway school -- it was moved and seconded on august the 14, 2018. buildings and grounds sent this forward with a positive recommendation. if we can get a reading of the

resolution, mr. sanchez. >> thank you. whereas fair month elementary at 65 chenery street is a renowned school with a long tradition of -- and whereas fairmont was established circa 1864 and established the first p.t.a. in the state of california and whereas according to the glen park neighbors, evelyn rose, fairmont has a historic legacy, the tract platted during the civil war is one of the older neighborhoods in san francisco. for more than 150 years,

fairmont school has educated children. and whereas the fairmont community is dedicated to ensuring that all of its student, 71% latino, 13% white, five% african american, i think it's about 34% asian, have -- and a deep love of learning, and whereas the community has committed itself to the proposition of renaming the school to delores huerta elementary school because she has dedicated her life to improving the lives of others. and her commitment to creating a space of awareness and justice based on evidence of hard work, sweat, tears and blood in her own unwaivering

resolve. huerta with cesar chavez cofounded the united farm workers and helped organize the delaine owe grape strike in 1965. she was the -- delano grape strike in 1965. she was the originalor of the phrase si se puede, and she has received several awards, including the united states presidential eleanor roosevelt award for human rights, and the presidential medal of freedom. she was the first latina inducted into the national women's hall of fame, and whereas during this renaming process, the fairmont stufd has abided by the renaming of hall

73410. be it further resolved that -- that the name change is established during the 2018-19 school year, and further be it resolved that district staff will work with the fairmont delores huerta will work with the public to create and install a plaque creating the new name. >> thank you, commissioner sanchez. so we have several speakers this evening on this item. i'm going to call your name and please come on up. evelyn rose, griselda amazula, gracie garcia, rosa hernandez,

maureen sullivan va, and palom florez. and then, louise, do you want to open -- so if i may, i'm going to give the principal a few minutes to open and then, we'll have our public speakers, thank you. >> buenas neches, commissioners, good evening, director matthews, staff, and general public. i want to share with you all the genesis for the name change of fairmont elementary to delores huerta elementary. discussing with several people with the atmosphere enveloping our country before and after the 2016 election, thinking about the absence of several members of our student community because their parents

were afraid of what might happen to them on their way too and from school because of t the23edth the -- that they were not accepted. the question came up of how could we send a message of solidarity, of acceptance, of normalcy? how to send a message that their service to their greater school community, their presence was not only welcome, but also valued? what better way to show appreciation for getting their children up every single day to bring them to school to a spanish part of the spanish

immersion aspect of our schools thrived proudly. with those questions in mind, the idea of honoring service and commitment to a community to the betterment of a society began to take shape. a school is supposed to lay the foundations that will support the improvement of the lives of the children who attend it. a school is an institution of learning, an institution that should teach our students to standup for equity and challenge the status quo in which only a few privileged ones get to decide the fate of the many. selecting someone representing our latina community became the call to action. we began to think about who possibly embodied qualities about what we are trying to instill in our students: respect for others, working to effect a positive change, being

relentless and consistent, standing up for dignity and fighting for justice, giving a voice to those whois who has been historically muffled and silences? did he letter he is huerta, someone who has given her life to improve the lives of others became the obvious choice. we thought having the school named after a woman, a latina, a campesina was empowering in so many different levels. in her commitment to creating a face of awareness and justice based on evidence of hard work, sweat, tears and blood, in her own unwaivering result to difficult a message of a better tomorrow, she has become an institution herself, an

institution that fights and safeguards of human rights to those who still feel like the system is enkraeching on their ability to thrive. someone who personifies the struggle, the persistence, the endurance, the commitment and conviction of fighting for justice and not just us, an agent of change. but adopting the name of a strong latina leader, we also would like to send a message of empowerment to all female students, particularly or female students of color. our process engaged our school parent groups, our faculty and staff, our students and our community at large, the proposal has been met with overwhelming support.

lastly, not too long ago. at a friend's party, a guest at me regarding the name change proposal. what is wrong with fairmont? i responded nothing is wrong with fairmont, but everything is right with renaming delores huerta. i ask you support this name change. gracias. >> thank you, mr. rodriguez. okay. our first speaker, please. okay. you will each have two minutes to speak. >> president mendoza, honorable members of the board, i'm evelyn rose and founder of the glen park neighborhood's history project. we cover the district of the old rancho san miguel immediately south of twin peaks, cover glen park, glenn canyon, sunnyside, fairmont heights, and diamond heights.

i have to say, when i first heard about this proposal, i did have some trepidation. mainly because the identities of several neighborhoods in our city are being lost, and that's because for whatever reason, the boundaries of neighborhoods are changing. the fairmont district is one of those. when i heard that the name of fairmont school was about to be changed, it's basically the last physical landmark with the name fairmont in the district. when principal rodriguez had a meeting, i attended and shared some of the history that we have in the district. and in learning more about their reasons for the name change, it became clear that a lot of miss huerta's histories

and activities are reflected in the histories of fairmont, including the route of the el camino real immediately adjacent to tendery street. and also a resident who made aviation history, being the first to fly in a fixed wing craft at high altitude. nearby, the home that is associated with mary ellen pleasant who is considered the mother of california civil rights. and even a former resident who amazingly went onto become granny on the beverly hillbillys, which -- who attended fairmont school, but whose father was working as an immigration agent in the federal chinese exclusion act. so there's many things to connect. so i fully support the name

change to delores huerta elementary, and i look forward to working with the school to continue the propagation of the remembrance of the significant histories of the district. thank you. [applause] >> good evening. good evening, everyone, board members, subject, commissioners, student representatives. good evening. i come to you today representing myself. i work here in our school district overseeing the indian education program, title six, which serves american indian alaska native american programs. it is a district wide program. hello, good hearted ones. i speak to you first and foremost as a member of a california transcribe, pitt

river nation. i say to you, hello, good hearted ones. hola, coma estas? how are you? well, i hope. i am the daughter of an immigrant farm worker from a small town close to zamora in michoacan. i speak to you in the identity as to supporting the name change because we ask ourselves what's in a name because we call a rose by any other name. connecting with the renaming, that there's always been names here in these lands of california. so when we look deeper at how we represent themselves today and how we give respect to those who have always been here, those who are living,

still creating that history, i support the renaming. i support the renaming because it is about time. like the rock work that my father showed us and still does to this day, almost 70 years old, i commend sfusd for laying down a strong foundation for all students to walk-through bby making this choice to rename. thank you. [applause] >> good evening. my name is kristina rapp. when the idea of name change came across, and it went from fairmont to changing it to delores huerta, it gave me a sense of pride, being a latina.

it just brought joy to me, and thinking, i've always questioned how we can better serve our students by giving them a sense of pride, and just as someone mentioned, the name change gives them a sense of pride, the sense of your language is valued and also your culture, so please consider the name change to delores huerta. [applause] >> good evening. thank you all. my name is laura tierra. i am a ten year parent at fairmont elementary. through my parents work with miss huerta, i've had the pleasure of actually spending some time with her. when you meet her, the first thing you're struck with is how much energier she has.

she's like an ennergizer bunny for justice. she always is looking forward. there's no campaign that's too small, there's no goal that's too big to be worked for and to accomplish. it's true that she and her whole life story is an inspiration for all of her kids, but i feel that setting the goals, always doing the work, and always standing up for what is just and what is fair, that if we have those people that's run through our curriculum at the delores huerta school, that we will be changing our children's lives forever. thank you very much. [applause]

[speaking spanish] [voice of interpreter] >> my name is rosa hernandez and thank you for the opportunity to hear my humble opinion. i have two daughters at fairmont, and i'm very proud to be a part of the fairmont school. fairmo

. >> i am among the people th-- e people that support the name change of the school to delores huerta. miss huerta is somebody who has struggled for and somebody who has championed the rights of laborers, students, and working people. huer we should take into account that this is an immersion school that makes efforts to preserve the language and culture of latina children.

knowing two languages will give them a great advantage in the workforce in the future. thank you very much to all of those who are supporting this name change. [applause] >> good afternoon. i'm a little nervous. it's a lot easier with students. i am a teacher at fairmont elementary. my name is gracie garcia, and i began when i was first presented with this idea. you know, i think i had initially the same reaction as my students, as, you know, for them, it's, like, something that's -- you know, since kinder, it's always been fairmont. when i had this conversation with them through a restoreative conversation, it was, you know, it's fairmont.

i have my jacket. it's always been fairmont. but then, i started thinking about our students and the demographics at our school. you know, fairmont was not a spanish immersion school before. you know, it was -- it was an english school, and that doesn't represent our body -- our student body. you know, we're a spanish immersion school now, and i think delores huerta is a much more fitting name for the demographic of our school. as they mentioned, 71% of our demographic is latinas. i can't speak much more than the obvious. another thing, i began to talk to my students, well, what is fairmont to you? what does it represent? do you know the history behind fairmont, and we began having a conversation with the history of fairmont.

and then, we also began talking about delores huerta, and i immediately, as my colleague mentioned, felt the pride and especially from the girls at my classroom. they stood up taller, and they felt good about -- they started embracing about changing the name to delores huerta. as we began to learn more about did he letter he delores huerta, i was excited to hear how excited they were about this name change, and that how inspiring. and i would hope you would allow this change because it's wonderful. [applause] >> good evening, superintendent, board president, board members, commissioners. my name is maureen sullivan -- and community members and colleagues. i'm maureen sullivan. i've worked in sfusd 18 years. 15 of them i've served fairmont

as a teacher, as a curriculum coach, and now as a teacher librarian. [inaudible] >> that's not official. delores huerta is a champion of human rights and immigrants' rights, and she is sufficient an inspiration. she was just speaking this spring and bringing so much energy to education and working hard and speaking out for what you believe is true. i feel like i can speak no letter than one of my former students. one of my students wrote this and asked me to read this to you. hello. my name is abraham escalante. while i attended the school, i learned in an environment that promoted inclusivity, tolerance, and respect.

my sister and i both work for the san mateo public library, supporting many programs that help our communities grow. we help empower them with the tools to bring us a new generalration of kids that hopefully will reflect these values. these are all things that we have championed from our younger years and have taken pride learning said values during our form ative years at fairmont elementary school. delores huerta is also one such person to champion the idea of community through unity. the community that fairmont served with pride when we attended, and i would hope still does today. as former students of this beautiful institution, we are both in favor of the proposed name change and hope that those who are opposed will understand that fairmont, while important to us, who have had the pleasure of having any alfiation with, is simply a

name that we gave importance to for what it's been in the past. changing the name to delores huerta would be a great salute to one of the people in championing the things that she and cesar chavez pioneered. thank you for your time. [applause] >> good evening. i am susan solomon, president of the united educators of san francisco. delores huerta started her career as a teacher, and then, she went into union organizing. we think that's a pretty wonderful combination, and a very important piece of her life that should not be -- go unmentioned. she fought and still fights for the rights of working people to organize in a union. we still see her at union

events, and as a previous speaker said, she still has the fire in her belly. she still can talk and -- walk the walk, talk the talk, so we ve very much appreciate that the board is considering renaming fairmont to delores huerta. i also want to say that i was remiss in not getting up to this microphone to not getting up to speak about ed lee and renaming a school for himself and his wife, anita. if it weren't for mayor lee -- we had teacher of the year under gavin newsom. we got parent educator of the year under mayor lee, and if not for mayor lee, we would not have educator housing being built on the old francis scott key site. i think this is a great night that we're going to see two

schools named for great advocates of education, teaching, learning, and keeping the fight alive. thank you. [applause] >> okay. thank you. thank you to all the speakers. so comments from board or superintendent? vice president cooke? >> i want to thank everyone for coming out, for public comment. i actually have a cousin at fairmont, which i'm voting to change to delores huerta tonight. [applause] >> i won't mention his name, but during my last visit, i ran into him in the -- it was a beautiful school. very great programs happening, and i was really impressed walking through the classrooms and meeting a lot of the students. so now, i can be even more

proud when i visit and delores huerta's name's on the building. thank you all for coming tonight, and i look forward to going back and visiting the school soon. [applause] >> commissioner haney and then commissioner merase? >> so i actually also have a cousin who goes to fairmont. [applause] >> joaquin and cico hurtado are my cousins. oh, i hope i didn't -- seems like they're legendary there. so i'm also very excited to support this. you know, a couple years ago when some of us on the board started to talk about changing school names, i think some people panicked and said well, what's going to happen? are we going to change multiple school names every meeting? and we would say no, of course

not, of course not, that's not going to happen. but i have to say now that seeing what's happened tonight, if this is the sort of direction we're going, i'd be very happy to see us change two school names on a regular basis. this is a very proud evening for our school board and our school district to step into the future, to step into our responsibility for our children to see our heros and sheros in their curriculum and school names and on their t-shirts. this is something that's overdue, and i think we're especially proud that this has come from the school community itself. the school board has a role with this, but it's most powerful when the school community comes together and says this is what we want, this is our identity. this is going to make our staff proud, our families proud, our children proud, and that's

clearly what's happened tonight with both of these school names. delores huerta, incredible leader, someone who fought, continues to fight, to make our communities better in so many ways. and again, to have young people learned about her and know her name and look up to her and try to hopefully emulate her story is just so powerful for us and fits with what we are here to do as educators and as a school district. so thank you to the fairmont community for your support and for put approximating up with my cousins -- for putting up with my cousins. [applause] >> they're like, yeah, we need extra applause for that. and thank you to the -- to the commissioners who brought this forward, and i think that other schools should also take note of this, and