live outside the city? >> at least 45%. it's slightly more than that, including some close suburbs. but 45% are further out. finally on referrals how people come into the agency, transit operators choose to apply. word of mouth is a big factor. it has been for long time. if the word of mouth is not positive and other factors are affecting the attitude of current transit operators, maybe the word of mouth isn't to good now. that can be a problem. historicallythere's been lot of- historically there's been lot of

word of mouth referrals. the m.t.a. is trying new approaches. they are using social media now to get the word out also. that's one change that's under way. finally, supervisor brown, you asked about the twin peaks tunnel closure and for us to review what occurred there in the context of this staffing shortage. we did speak with m.t.a. represents and got some detailed descriptions what they went through to make decisions about how alternate service will be provided. we agreed that what they came up with was a logical plan. it was to provide bus service from the castro instead of breaking it up for buses and trains. it was a smoother approach. and the idea was to bring in operators from the busier lyn ls in the system. where missed run here and there won't have as much impact.

this would mean a delay over 30 minutes. that approach made sense as far as we were concerned. at the same time, there was closure, this general signup training and m.o.u. provided benefits for operators to learn new modes of operating. but also, there was new equipment brought in the system at that time and that training needed to occur. m.t.a. management did arrange to have training earlier and some later. some occurred before and after the closure. we looked at the impacts on other lines. that's ar where we saw some imps

you heard about. we saw impacts on the bay shore. this chart shows missed hours and percentage of scheduled service during the closure period by line. you saw from the director's presentation and probably know that services generally in the 98.5. that's the target for m.t.a. when you get town to what 38 rapid we're experiencing those are pretty big drops in service levels tiger tha -- during that period. finally you asked in the communications plan. we did review that.

there was an extensive plan for passengers affected by the closure. that is the riders of the klnm. the agency approached it. they had website information, they had social media information. they had paper, brochures, they had people at the affected stations to communicate with passengers and give them guidance for getting on alternate transportation. information about the project was provided to all members of the board of supervisors. the gap and i think the director alluded to this, within the other lines, lines that were indirectly affected. we talk about the 38 or the 8, the 14 mission and the 22, there wasn't information this went out or consistent message to state that those lines were potentially going to be affected as well. i think that took lot of the

riders by surprise headways were lengthened, buses were more crowded on a lot of those lines. that was not something that was expected because as far as lot of passengers were concerned, the impact were on the tunnel and the lines went through the tunnel. we have policy options for the board to consider. other districts are experiencing declines in applications for their positions. maybe there are agencies out there that have some practices that will be beneficial for

m.t.a. wages is certainly something to look at. when you have decline in enroll in competitive job market, that's a factor. we recommend, considering increasing this percentage of pay for the beginning workers. it could be rate higher than 63% if that would help make the positions more attractive. we recommend that m.t.a. with at mayor's office. i think that was one of the points on the slides that is ouring. in particular, to work with city college and offer a class for free to prepare applicants to pass the class b permit. that is a difficult test and some applicants would benefit from assistance in that regard. then finally, the m.t.a. should conduct review of its planning process to ensure hiring and

staffing goals are integrated with the necessary training. we did talk to the training divisions. know need to have the resources necessary to keep up to increase applicants or if the training process will be expedited. the staffing needs be factored into the agencies overall budget processes including capital expenditures. that's summary of our report. we're happy to answer any questions now and throughout the hearing. >> supervisor brown: thank you. i guess my -- just looking at your suggestions what we could do and the board, of course doesn't have a authority. as a city, the thing i think that jumps out is the wages.

i think because of the fact that we're not even paying them enough to qualify for affordable housing in the city. we're moving them -- they have really not many options here. that's my take on it. what would yours be? what's the recommendation or the one recommendation you feel that we should be pushing on as a city to help this? >> i will take the group of them, who it would take to make the agency more attractive to applicants certainly wages is a factor. going back to the word of mouth, to ensure that the agency is a desirable place to work. i think looking at the employment situation overall and

assessing how the agency become more attractive for the existing employees as well as those that considering that in light of other competitive job opportunities that they may have. >> supervisor brown: did you feel that the turnover in the first and second year was tied to the wages? i would think when you went through all of that process getting your license, taking the exam, going through training, that would leave after the first year -- >> we were surprised by that too. it is quite a process to get through and get hired. i think it speaks to attractive options for workers. maybe they pay more. maybe they don't like the experience being an operator once they try it.

after invest that much -- investing that much time and energy, it is surprising. it tells us there are attractive alternatives for people. >> supervisor brown: thank you. anyone have any questions? next person i like to come up and speak to this is roger meranko transit workers union local 250a. >> thank you supervisor brown. it's true there's a muni operator shortage. there are a plethora of factors

that contribute to this serious issue and along with the problems that i'm going to mention to you now. number one, the wages has to be seriously addressed. it used to be 18 months max out pay and now it's 48 months to max out i in pay. number two the starting rate of pay of 63% of the base hourly wage. number three, going from level one in pay to level two in pay now takes 12 months when it used to take two months. number four operators to not feel safe and secure. especially nowadays when the assaults are increasing. all of the majority of these issues are indeed contractual

issues. i'm looking forward to the negotiations. i think they're going to go smoothly. we're going to have san francisco board of supervisors helping us out. in terms of what's happening now pertaining to the retension rate, the auditor stated that the wages and the 63% were a concern. i would go above and beyond saying they are not just a concern. this the actual reality and the fact that as to why there's a tremendous shortage operators. many operators used to be good paying job. they used to come in here single, you leave here happily married with children and a family and etcetera. now you can't do that because you have operators that unfortunately have to work six or seven days straight trying to make ends meet and top that t some of them centre two or three

jobs because they can't afford to pay rent. i'm very happy that the auditors had this special report or special audit. it goes to show how serious this issue is and although these are problems, they definitely came up with solutions. some of the -- i want to tell you story about an operator now in terms of morale. i heard you were talking about morale. the lack of communication amongst our superiors has been addressed with the director of transportation and he and i are doing a good job if terms of working together to have that addressed. the morale of operators is extremely low. often times they are given dangerous instructions on safe boarders and they're put in catch 22 situation. when incidents occur or when accidents occur, you supervisor brown, you mentioned this here,

was it preventible. any time there's a situation on the bus, this word preventible is thrown in the operator's face. of course it was preventible. you could have predicted it. every little thing is thrown at the operator. one example, there's an operator right now that's been sitting on the couch, has not done his run in over a month. the operator took off on his bus and elderly woman on the sidewalk fell. because she fell, this operator is now sitting on the couch as we refer to it until this investigation is completed. this is an operator that and should be out in the streets operating a vehicle providing services. an elderly woman fell and he's

been charged. let me repeat that again. the elderly woman was on sidewalk. she fell. the bus doors were closed. but the operator is being charged for this. this is a good operator that should be out on the streets public streets providing service to the general public. the morale is low and i really think that when this contract expires in six months, the morale of the operators will increase. i really do think that the operators had enough. the city and county of san francisco had enough. they've been feeling the impacts the negative impacts of what it means to have an operator shortage. i will not take up any more times. there's a couple of operators here that might want to share their stories on a daily basis. one of the small things that we

can do in terms of morale, few days ago, i was over at the cable cart barn, they were telling me about one of our brothers that passed away in 2015. he passed away while he was working on the cable car. i didn't know this, not even plaque was put on the cable car. he was killed while working on cable car 17. i will get with the agency and speak with the director of transportation to see how we can move forward in terms of putting up a plaque on cable car number 17 which is way overdue and these little things that just will end in the end boost morale. >> supervisor brown: i thank you. one of the things that -- i know everyone that is a transit operator, you have a really hard job. i ride the bus a lot.

i see what happens. not only to you have to deal with the public and you have to deal with the streets. the streets are so congested. they are not having a good day. i get that. it's really tough. my issue is, if you're not getting support when you come back in the yard or not get support from your manager, that's a different story. especially when you're actually reporting things that you have safety issues. i'm also just really upset this we're not paying our drivers enough money to even -- apply

for affordable housing here. it's one thing when i'm 15 minutes late for work, i can push it back little and say hey, i'm running late. when a transit operator is late, it throws the whole system off. do you know how many -- how far people are coming to work in the city. >> very far away. i know several operators unfortunately that sleep in their cars outside the parking lots because they live too far away because they cannot afford to pay rent here? what the percentage, i don't think, it is definitely high. dangerously high. >> supervisor brown: i feel like that is something that -- i think we have to address. i can't believe that we're not in a situation where we are --

sorry. we're not in a place in that the city we're saying these people i trust my life with these people to make sure they are driving me to where i want to go. we're not paying them enough to even afford to live here. they are driving from far away or sleeping in their cars, which is not a safe thing to do, it's not ecofriendly or safe for them to be sleep in car. i think this is something. this the first thing that we have to look at. it's the wage. i can't imagine going through the training this you guys have to go through and all those hurdles and then not being able to get a raise for 18 months or

a year. >> this is mr. terrence hall. >> i will address your first question you asked roger. we have employees driving from patterson, merced, sacramento, stockton on a daily basis. that's where employees are coming from. the census on how many people live out the city is low. it's really low. their report it corollates when our wage progression changed in 2014. in that contract. it went to this four-year wage progression starting at 63%. prior was 19 months. 63%, when all other bargaining groups in san francisco, they

have four-year wage progressions other than the police, they started 80%s a start and they go up 5%. we're so much farther behind. 80% will be 28, 84 and 94. that's the problem, muni is an opportunity for someone who has no class b license to get free training. where they can live closer and may not have to worry about coming cross here. i just got free licenses. a free class b. that's what's going on. unfortunately, they didn't get an opportunity to come talk to us. they spoke to a small pool. that's why the people are leaving. they can't afford it. they're working uber, they doing everything. they are tired but they got to come to work. they want the benefits, they

want the pension. but the starting wage, they can't afford to live here. >> supervisor kim: i have to ride about the comment. how that's more appealing occupation than working for sfmta. >> it's a supplement. >> supervisor kim: not a competition. >> to supplement their income >> supervisor kim: do you think it will be helpful if you provided more flexibility on choosing hours? i'm picking your shifts and hours would that attract more folks? is this model working in terms of attracting workers. this the--they get to pick when to wk andives are needed the most. is that something that's attractive to your members or to

potential muni bussives. >> drivers. >> i think the reflect is there and we have signups. you can pick a shift to work with your family, school and summers. that's there already. i think it's really the problem is the pay. >> supervisor brown: did you have anything else to add? >> that's it. thank you for your time. that might be some members that want to share. >> supervisor brown: i have one mr. speaker. the next person is cat carter from the transit rider. >> good afternoon chair kim and supervisor peskin and supervisor brown. thank you for calling this hearing for inviting san francisco transit riders to speak. we hope this will lead to

improvements what is chronic problems as we all know and talked about the summer of 2018 was a very difficult time for san franciscans. as an organization, we knew about the need to shut town twin peaks tunnel and we supported investing in upgrades. we we were impressed how sfmta handled the preparations and the outreach and the bus substitutions. it looked muni was taking seriously the impact to riders. it did everything it could to take care of the riders. but then everything seem it fall apart. service through westport was worse than before the tunnel work. it's now four months since the tunnel reopened. we're hearing about huge service

gaps, slow training and trains do crowd the board. what it going on with the tunnel and how and when it will be fixed? when the tunnel closure started, we thought the bus substitutions were going almost as well as it could. people couldn't board buses that were overcrowded. getting around became challenging. service continued to climb for few more weeks before the tunnel reopened. seem liking in can be tobe to -- done to fix it. i had a weekly evening class to getting on the 38 at about 6:00 p.m. with nearly impossible. the bus didn't arrive as usual. it was too full to board. once i got on the bus we passed many stops. i wasn't trying to get a job on time or pick up a kid.

muni has invested a lot to improve lines like the 38 and other lines listed. riders are left in the dark about why they are stranded. this makes public transit it difficult to use. we need realtime up state when buses and trains are coming. we need updates about delays in

service so we can plan accordingly. as for the surprise operator shortage, muni should have been proactive letting riders know. we should not have been taken by surprise by failing service and stranded across town. we should not have learned about it from the examiner. we have heard about operator shortages before. it has seem to be chronic problem. sfmta has announced service improvement this year and there haven't been enough operators to deliver improvements. what is sfmta doing to address this? we understand that some things

maybe out of sfmta's control. we need to hear about it before there's a break down in service. muni has long had a poor reputation when it comes to communication with riders. the lack of communication results in lack of public faith and muni ability to deliver reliable service. all that work to put in preparation around the tunnel closure was undermined by lack of communication about the operator shortage and the failure to deliver service across town. you need to let us know what's going on. if you see an operator shortage on the horizon, can't be a total surprise, just let us know. if you know there's an hour or day or week or month, of missed bus runs, adjusted headways so we can plan accordingly. riders need to be able to plan our lives. we want to build pub trust in -- public trust in muni.

please be clear in the problems so we can all work on solutions. thank you for calling this hearing. people can work on solutions from riders planning different routes or days differently. only through the transparency and communicate can we begin to trust muni and get where we need to go. thank you. >> supervisor brown: anyone have questions for ms. carder? i want to give time for public comment. i know that's really important. we have lot of transit operators here. could you line up for public comment please? >> supervisor kim: at this time we are opening for public comment. >> i'm a cable operator. i been with muni for about 18 or

19 years. to be honest with you if i was looking for job today, i wouldn't come to muni. one thing it's dangerous. the pay is not good and the biggest thing is there's no support. you call the police, they don't show up if somebody is hurt. if there's a fight, they. you to -- expect you to intervene. aside from coming to drive the bus, it's stressful dealing with it. sometimes operators have to take off. just one more thing. this is question i have. do you think it will be more effective if they had -- person that was over the muni just have the transportation to deal with rather than trying to deal with these other things. that's just my question. they addressed the wage in terms when you come to work for muni,

more importantly, people are coming to muni working two years and leaving because they can go to santa clara make 15 or $20 more. we have so many modes of transportation that nobody has. thank you. >> supervisor brown: next speaker. >> good afternoon. i've been with muni for almost four years. i'm not working right now. i've been out since october 20th. i was sexually assaulted. i'm an f-car operator. it's very unfortunate it's my third time being assaulted. i want to say that i want to just work in an environment where i'm respected first of

all. instead of tmc focusing so much on our on time schedule, check up on us. we will never be on time if there's a situation going on in the car. we need more training and what to do in an emergency situation. i would like to be prepared as to what to do we need more parking and mostly riders are mentally stabled and they are high. i'm afraid to speak up and say anything now. i don't know what's going to happen to me or a passenger. i keep my mouth shut. i never imagined that working here will be this hostile. i love who i do. i'm a good operator. i love driving the equipment.

it's great. as a woman, it's awesome driving a train. i'm considering taking my skill possibly to b.t.a. thank you. >> supervisor kim: i'm so sorry. you don't to answer, you said you was sexually assaulted. was this on the job? >> this was on the job. it was passenger, non-paying passenger, homeless at the terminal. i noticed the whole time he was looking at me inappropriately. he hesitated to get off the car. i didn't feel safe in there so i got off and i went and talked to my coworker this was in his

vehicle in the f-car in front of me. he came from behind me and he touched my butt. i responded with defending myself like any woman would. i was told by the insurance adjustor and he saw the video that i was the one hostile. the guy was never hos hostile. i don't feel backed up by the company. i have children. i have family that i need to support. i feel it's unfair. it's not right. >> supervisor kim: you said insurance adjustor. >> workman's comp. >> supervisor brown: next speaker. >> thank you to all the

supervisors. this is the first time it's been assessment years at muni. there's crazy lady that gets on all the time. i filed reports on that. there's no response to it. but nobody is following up.

it makes the situation dangerous. stuff being thrown at you. it's a dangerous situation. every time people ask questions to the operator, why we ask the operator, why can't we ask what the management can to fix these things? the city, even -- $1500, $40,000 a year. more than half the money it gone raising three kids. people hit our bus all the time. they hit it and they take off. it's a hit-and-run, why are we charged with these incidents? even in california law, hit-and-run is other person's fault. we leave the scene.

>> supervisor brown: you were saying that bus line this you drive, you have a mentally woman that gets on regularly. you worried about her being violent. >> she has spit on passengers many times and she curses passengers out. >> supervisor brown: you come back and you report on this person? what does your supervisor do? do they take a report, all the police? someone getting on everyday and it's predictable? what's the procedure? >> we call t.m.c. they look at it. procedure like you open all the doors, they leave. they tell you to continue service. it's like another -- back in the day, the transfer thief. he hung out right there on south

van ness. that's our headquarters. it's ongoing situation. i got disciplined one time because i complained. this lady. she got on the bus, she pushed her tourist. i said that's not nice. she started telling me i get paid to drive people around.

>> supervisor brown: thank you. appreciate it. >> good afternoon. thank you for having this hearing. my name is ryan banks. i dealt with muni most of my adult life. i came in when johnny stein was still manager. then muni was family. all the departments within muni was family. whatever you had to deal with outside, you could withstand it. it was a family inside. first thing i noticed when i got hired on, was the embrace from management from the supervisors through management. it was family. they help you get through that together. there wasn't much money. it was part of the general fund then. things were literally held

together with duct tape. we provided the service. what i was trained to do, you go out there and you treat these people you want them to be treated. you give them the same service you desire. that's what we did. we got through that. i went through having guns but pulled on you. i didn't report that you have big piece of glass in front of you. i'm going on 28 years. if we can restore that family back, then we can restore the service. i wanted to share that with you. >> supervisor brown: thank you. >> terrence hall again secretary of treasury. when i was up last time -- >> supervisor kim: because you already spoken, you can't speak

public comment. i will close public comment first and then if anyone wants to bring you back up for questions -- are there any other members that like to speak. public comment is now closed. i have a warning. we have one more item. we are going to lose quorum at 2:00 p.m. supervisor brown. >> supervisor brown: anybody have anything before we close up? >> supervisor kim: what i will say briefly, i appreciate supervisor brown for holding this hearing. this is a really critical issue. we talk lot about meeting our staffing needs for police. clearly meeting our staffing need for transit operators is just as critical. i would say that muni and public works, street cleaning services is the ways that our residents interface with city. that's what they understand local government to be. it's our bus and transit suspect

and how well we clean our streets. what i would just continue to say, i hope that we can work on figuring out how to address these deficits and being employee first in terms how we can get more workers on board. i don't know all the facts of the incidents that one of the members of the public brought up to me. i'm very concerned about womendrivers and women staff. i ride muni i see public treat the drivers. we have some that really abuse ourivedrivers. our drivers are social workers and they do so much more than that just driving equipment. i really hear the call for more training. we should make it clear there's

zero tolerance for any types of assault on our workers. i hope this we can do more to see women drivers. i love seeing women muni operators. i think part of it's recruitment that is making women feel safe. we should have a zero tolerance people. i want to thank all the members to coming to speak today. i talked about being worker centered. part of that is also making sure that we are ensuring that customer service experience for riders too. that changes the culture of ridership. more people are happy, our drivers get treated better, all of that is important. whether we like it or not, the text sector has pushed the

public sector. they have made customer experience essential. we have to follow, otherwise we're going to lose riders. i want to thank director riskin for leading that. this is little separate, i do really hope we work on the red lane and ensuring that it's limited to transit and taxi caps and not other private vehicles. i do really look forward to the work that we'll do. i like seeing the double parking enforcement. part of ensuring customer experience comes first is people getting to their destination quickly. supervisor peskin. >> supervisor peskin: later this afternoon, supervisor kim and myself will be meeting as a

personnel committee of the transportation authority. we do a salary survey for the 42 individuals that work in that department. i was startled last night going through just seeing how salaries at similar agencies had gone up. we have the same thing at m.t.a., which is vacant positions where we can't recruit and retention issues. lot of this, i think as mr is te 250a and m.t.a. i hope that's a productive mature process that i'm looking at the director and at the t.w.u. that's a process that will help us recruit and retain quality operators for the m.t.a. and

muni. good luck on that process. we look forward to helping in any way that we can. >> supervisor brown: this hearing -- i first started out with looking at this hearing just that it was the communication issue that we didn't know as transit riders that buses will be late in the summer. now it's so evident to me how hard our transit operators work and the things they have to deal with. i think we all knew that. you get on muni in the morning and have you cup of coffee and you don't think about the amazing transit operators that get to you work on time and safe. i never. bothered on a bus by anyone. lot of that is because i've had amazing operators that watch out

for me and other people. i feel that right now with this hearing, the things that glare at me are that we're not paying you enough. the city is not paying you enough. you need more money. we need it make sure that you get paid fair living wage. wage that if you choose you could actually play for affordable housing in the city and be part of the city. i think that would make it much easier also. you will get to work probably on time if you live in the city. we won't have those kind of delays. also, in different places in the western area, where people don't have money to go to college or they won' don't want to, they he muni driver and it's a great

job. i didn't realize you didn't make enough to even qualify for affordable housing. this is real eye-opener to me. we need to do better. i feel like we need to fight to make sure that you get the right pay that you can apply for affordable housing here. when we have the moral issues we ned to work on that. we need to make sure they feel supported and safe by our city and the agency. we also want to make sure that -- if you choose to live here, you're able to. i want to make sure that you are heard. thank you all for coming today. thank you for participating. this is an eye-opener for me. this wasn't how i started.

i'm transit rider and i was pissed that the bus wasn't on time i walked. i live in transit rich community. a city we're talking about doing minimum parking and new development. there's going to be an rest on muni. we're going increase services on muni. it's going to impact you our operators. we need to make sure that once we hire an operator and train them, we keep them. the turnover is amazing. i can't even fathom it. i want to say as we go forward, these are the things that we're going to work on and i want to make sure that you know that we hear you. also, like i said, the communication is important to the transit riders. first up, it's taking care of

our transit operators. >> supervisor kim: thank you supervisor brown. >> supervisor brown: i would love to call this to the chair to see in six months where we are. i know they're going through negotiations right? correct? i would like to see what's happening in six months. maybe we can look at this and call it to the chair. >> supervisor kim: we have a motion to continue this item we can do that out objection. thank you again to sfmta and transit riders union for participating. >> please call the last item.

thank you so much mr. clerk. you did speak with committee members. theres no need to convene into closed session. we'll open up for public comment. any members of the public would like to speak on item number six, please come up to the mic. seeing no public comment. we're now doing public comment for item number six. which is on assessment of a lawsuit. if you like to speak on this item you may. it is not general public comment. seeing no members, public comment is now closed. we take a motion to move this

item with recommendation to the full board and we can do that without objection? >> clerk: it has been a pleasure serving on the committee with you for the last two and a half years. >> supervisor peskin: thank you for your leadership and your comments and thoughtfulness for the last two years. good luck on whatever you choose to do going forward. >> supervisor kim: thank you supervisor peskin. mr. clerk are there any other items before this committee? >> clerk: there are no further business. >> supervisor kim: meeting is adjourned. it has been a pleasure serving with you. thank you very much.

>> my name is amanda [inaudible] over see the girls sports program. when i came to san francisco and studied recreation and parks and towerism and after i graduated i moved to candlestick park and grain r gain adlot of experience work with the san francisco 49 and [inaudible] be agfemale in a vore sports dynamic facility. i coached volo ball on the side and as candle stick closed down the city had me move in92 too

[inaudible] >> immediate interaction and response when you work with kids. i think that is what drives other people to do this. what drew me to come to [inaudible] to begin with for me to stay. i use today work in advertising as a media buyer and it wasn't fulfilling enough and i found a opportunity to be a writing coach. the moment [inaudible] you to take advantage of how you change and inspire a child by the words you say and actions you do. >> you have a 30 different programs for girls through rec and park and fast ball, soft ball and volley ball. i started the first volley ball league and very proud what i have done with that. being a leader for girls is passion and showing to be confident and

being ambiggish and strong person. [inaudible] for about 5 years. programs offered thraw thirty-three rec and park and oversee thg prms about a year. other than the programs we offer we offer summer camp squz do [inaudible] during the summer and that is something i wherei have been able to shine in my role. >> couple years we started the civic center socking league and what an amazing opportunity it was and is it for kid in the neighborhood who come together every friday in the civic center plaza on green grass to run and play. you otonly see soccer and poetry but also see books t. is a really promoting literacy to our kid and giving them to tools to make it work at home. real fortunate to see the [inaudible] grow.

>> girls get pressureed with society and i know that is obvious, but we see it every day, magazines, commercials the idea what a woman should look like but i like to be a strong female role for it goals that play sports because a lot of times they don't see someone strong in a female role with something connected with sports and athleticism and i love i can bring that to the table. >> soccer, poetry, community service. we now have field of dreams. we are [inaudible] all over the bay area and excited to be share our mission with other schools across the bay to really build the confidence and character of kids when they go out to play and close their eyes and think, why was [inaudible] we want to make sure-i want to make sure they remember me and remember the other folks who [inaudible] >> get out there and do it. who cares about what anybody else says. there will be

poopal people that come up and want to wreck your ideas. that happen today eme when i went to candle stick part and wanted to [inaudible] people told me no left and right. whether you go out for something you are passionate about our something you want to grow in and feel people will say no. go out and get it done. i can be the strong leader female and i love that. education.

[inaudible] >>. >> commissioner walton: glad you're here. this is the regular meeting of the board of education for the san francisco unified school district. it is december 11, 2018. miss casco, roll call, please. >> clerk: thank you. [roll call] >> commissioner walton: before we jump in, i just wanted to acknowledge we have two world famous attendees in the audience tonight. tracy chapman is with