. >> president cook: welcome. glad you're here. this is the regular meeting of the board of education of the san francisco unified school district. this is january 29, 2019. this meeting is now called to order. miss casco, roll call, please. >> clerk: thank you. [roll cal [roll call] >> clerk: thank you. >> president cook: thank you. tonight, we start this meeting in honor of the great american activist, ella baker, who said we who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes.

section a is accessibility information for the public. section b, opening items. number one, approval of board minutes of the regular meeting of january 15, 2019. can i have a motion and second, please. >> so moved. >> president cook: can i have a second? >> second. >> president cook: thank you. any corrections? roll call, please, miss casco. >> clerk: thank you. [roll call] >> clerk: seven ayes. >> president cook: speaker cards for the regular agenda and for closed session are necessary if you wish to address the board of education. members of the public are reminded that an individual can complete a speaker card prior

to the item being called and presented to the executive assistant, miss casco. importantly, according to board rules and procedures, speaker cards will not be accepted for an item already before the board. number two, superintendent's report. dr. matthews. >> dr. matthews: thank you, president cook. thank you, everyone. today, students from lowell high school and george washington high school will rehearse together on the eve of their collaboration with san francisco's grammy winning kron kronosquartet. the concert will present works from 50 for the future. this is the second year our students have collaborated with the world famous string quartet in a community concert.

tomorrow, january 30, our community is hosting the second annual career path showcase from architecture and engineering to culinary arts and more, our students are getting an early start. students and teachers from all 42 campuses will highlight their work at this annual showcase in san francisco. these multiyear pathways prepare students for different careers through real world project based and work based learning. the office of counseling and post secondary success in partnership with the community advisory committee for special education is hosting our district's first college wide district and career fair for students with learning support on saturday, february 2 at

city college of san francisco from 9:00 a.m. to 2:30. the day will include a keynote speaker. this speaker is the dean of education from u.c. davis, lauren linstrom, and a panel of parents, educators, and student. there will be multiple workshops and a full college career fair of post secondary institutions, city organizations, and support agencies. i'm excited to aunited statnno for our district's graduating seenors, the superintendent's award is now accepting applications. six seniors excelling in the graduate profile will receive a $2,000 cash prize. this is available to all students regardless of citizenship status. you need to apply on-line by march 8 at

www.sfusd.edu/studentaward. president cook, that concludes my announcements for this evening. >> president cook: thank you, dr. matthews. number three, student del gat report. >> thank you. good evening, everyone. last night, the student leaders participated in the presentation for alliance for girls which addressed issues facing girls of color in the sfusd. our goal is to provide input on designing proto-types of how security guards interact with girls of color. thank you, director for the inspirational presentation and the great ideas from student

leaders. >> the effect of meat consumption on the environment is significant. to combat that, we introduced the meet free friday. from there, we will gather feedback and improve this reform. thank you to the s.a.c. student chairs and kristin tam. >> -- we established a couple of student-led focus groups with our peers. our goal is to have a student friendly m.o.u. so that our feerz feel safe, welcome and can thrive in a school setting under a healthy environment. the student led event will be held at two of our high schools by our accountability committee and our special district committee. we would like to thank mr. paul

quesada and kevin truitt for taking the lead on this focus group. we look forward to hearing what our students have to say. >> the s.a.c. and budget committee have been working with sfmta in the effort of increasing student safety during high traffic hours. thank you to ivan lee ong, the budget and legal team, as well as the sfmta coordinators. thank you. >> our next meeting will be on february 9, at 5:30 p.m. -- [inaudible] >> -- thank you. >> president cook: thank you for that report. number four, recognitions and resolutions of commendation. there are none tonight.

number five, recognizing all valuable employees, our rav awards. dr. matthews in. >> dr. matthews: very excited tonight. we have two rave award winners. rave is recognizing all valuable employees. we'll begin with our first employee, miss mary fung. she is a designer at facilities design and construction, and there will be presented by the executive director, so mr. radonov. >> good evening, commissioners, colleagues, and members of the public. it's my great pleasure and honor as executive director to

introduce this month rave distinguished award recipient, mary fung. mary has worked at san francisco unified school district for 14 years she has managed and directed over 100 projects. it's difficult to imagine our department without mary. she responds to every task quickly and with determination. mary has been nominated for the rave distinguished service award where the rooftops school community for managing construction projects and creating an environment that supports educators and students. i will quote the end of the nomination. we cannot say enough great things about mary fung. she's a gem of an employee.

and it's not just what she does, it's who she is, and i agree. congratulations, mary. >> thank you. [applause] >> thank you all for presenting me this award. as a facility project manager being receiving this award, i'm facing with challenges and decision making every day, and i would like to thank you, yankov, as my supervisor, who provides me the support and the guidance of finishing the project.

thank you. [applause] >> dr. matthews: our second award winner tonight is samantha aguirre. she's a teacher at john o'connell high school, and her award will be presented by her

principal, miss susan ryan. [applause] >> good evening, families and staff of san francisco unified. i am susan ryan, the very proud principal of john o'connell high. o'connell's different because we're a small school designed to make sure that individual school students at our school fluorish, and i can think of no more important person than samantha aguirre. she makes sure they're successful at o'connell, making sure they have strong literacy and presentation skills. she is an m.v.p. for student leadership, running the student leadership at our school. she's an m.v.p. when it comes to athletics, coaching track and cross-country.

she runs social media at o'connell. she's an incredible person, and she's been with us four years. i can't imagine our school without her, and in a special distinction, she is nominated by a parent. i'm sorry, i don't have the words in front of me, but essentially, she is relentless in making sure that every student is successful and making sure every student is a leader in the school. so thank you, mis-aguirre. she's -- ms. aguirre. >> i want to thank our schools on the side of the city that are sometimes hard to staff but you wouldn't believe it by the time i got there. i chose o'connell because i wanted to serve students that don't always have a consistent education, let alone home life and things and stability in

their community, and so i'm very fortunate that of all the offers that i had at different sfusd high schools, that i lann landed at o'connell, so thank you to all of you who really push and take care of our students. so thank you.

[applause] >> president cook: that was wonderful. thank you again for your diligent service. thank you and congratulations. number eight, advisory committee reports and advisories to committees by board members. number one, we have a report from the migrant education parent advisory council, if you would please make your way to the front.

[applause] [speaking spanish language]

>> hi, everybody. my name is brenda sandoval, and i'm part of the migrant advisory system. [inaudible] [speaking spanish language] [applause] >> my name is theresa molina, and i participate in the parent education program. and i want to thank the moms that are here that are part of the program, as well.

[speaking spanish language] >> and the point of our visit today is to speak to you a bit about what the migrant program entails for families. [speaking spanish language] >> and we'll be looking at the 2017-2018 school year.

this program is a federal program that was started by cesar chavez in the 60s, recognizing the academic challenges that migrant students face. [speaking spanish language] >> and as part of the p.a.c., this is the parent advisory committee, we have several people and myself, theresa molina, i'm the representative from ramp, which is the regional association of migrant

parents, and then, we also have staff for the migrant program. [speaking spanish language] >> and the staff includes blanca gonzalez, recruiter, community alliance liaison, gina padilla quintanar, and community liaison brenda sandoval moreno. [speaking spanish language]

>> basically, those who qualify for the migrant program are students between the ages of three and 22 who have not yet finished high school, and in cases where the student, the parent or the guardian is an agricultural worker or works in fishing. [speaking spanish language] >> also, the student or their family has moved in the last 36 months to obtain seasonal or permanent employment in agriculture or fishing and has

moved from one school district to the next. >> hi, everybody. so these are some of the statistics that we have up there for you to read along with the packet that you received that we have the migrant ed flier, the questionnaire that we sent along with the flier in terms about the project and number of students. as you guys can see on top of the board, in august 2017, we have 154 students, by the end of the year, we ended up with 240. recruitment is done by my partner on the end all year-long. it has been really difficult this year to find families and along the year because of the cost of living has risen in san francisco. families are now afraid to leave san francisco because they don't know if they're going to come back, because that's one of the biggest problems that our program is serving. however, the families that we do have, we have served to best

of our ability with the resources we have between us. we have a pre-k service where we bring the students in twice per week, and they have a two-hour lesson with my partner at the end, as well. we have three o.s. wives, and we case manage -- it's very different -- every student is very different, but we don't want the students to be left behind. [speaking spanish language]

>> the academic support that students in the migrant program receive goes from preschool to 12th grade and includes students who have dropped out of school. those services include prekindergarten instruction, academic incident vepterventio mentoring field trips, academic case management, and summer school. [speaking spanish language]

>> support for migrant families include health and social services and collaborating with other community agencies, support for parents through leadership and development workshops, recruitment and identification of families, identifying migrant students at the schools and through community outreach. [speaking spanish language]

>> and next, we're going to see some photos of our students and parents on a field trip, and we do these to motivate students so that they will be interested in going to college. we do tours, and we also do camping trips. [speaking spanish language]

>> and our parents and kids do a lot of college trips. we want them to see and motivate them and see that it's important to go to college. so some of the photos we have here are from a trip to ucla and to sonoma.

[speaking spanish language] >> and some of the successes and important points to highlight include the expansion of our preschool program, working with high school students to prepare them to attend college, helping them fill out applications for college admission, preparing -- helping them get ready for the exams -- for example, the a.c.t., the s.a.t., and helping them with fafsa and seeking scholarships, academic intervention, mentoring, and additional school outreach, and collaborating with the mexican consulate and summer school.

[speaking spanish language] >> and priorities and continuous support, priorities include to see a reduction in the number of students and families that qualify for this

support for middle students and high school schools so they can participate in credit recovery programs and the avid program. discussions on how to reduce the achievement gap that we see with migrant students, and our areas of continuous support, keeping the program, the funding of programs for students and families, contributing with c.t.e. to focus on support for migrant students, and continuous support for units in preschool. [speaking spanish language]

>> so this is what our program offers our kids and our young students, and thank you for your time, and we're open for any questions you may have. >> president cook: thank you for the presentation. questions or comments from commissioners? commissioner collins? >> commissioner collins: i just wanted to know if you're gathering data from families or meeting with families about how they feel in terms of feeling welcomed or safe in school? and i know now is a time i'm hearing from teachers who work with newcomer students and just immigrant students -- you know, there's a lot of things that be scared about, and i want to make sure that the schools feel safe. i was just wondering if you're hearing, you know, specific feedback or have any recommendations for our schools and how we welcome migrant

students? >> personally, i think having that conversation at home is really important. our parents come in and often ask how do we talk to our kids about this when we're really scared ourselves? and they're showing that fear to their kids. what we try to encourage the families is that this is a safe city, and we reiterate that to our students. i work with the high school students, and they have an idea of what's going on better than the little ones. then, they go back home and talk to their younger siblings, and oftentimes, they talk to their parents because the parents don't understand all the legalities behind these situations, so we really try to have our doors open to all parents in the communities and try to connect them to organizations so they know they are not only supported by our school and with sfusd but with

local community organizations. >> commissioner collins: what happens if they don't feel safe in a school because of school practices or just bullying that's going on in the school? >> we really try to suggest to meet with the principal or teacher. we try to have a proactive investigation and attack it at the source. most of the time, they feel intimidated. how do i approach, school? how do i approach the principal? what if they don't listen to me, or there's a language barrier. so we try to bridge that gap or be the interpreter or translator or whatever that may need for them. >> commissioner collins: thank you. >> president cook: do you mind just sharing again if people are listening or they want to connect people to you, how to get ahold of your organization. >> so we are located at mission high school, room 101. the secretary knows us pretty well. the counseling office knows us extremely well. my partners have been in this program over 20 years. i'm new to this program, two

years almost, but we try to give our information to every school to try to really get our faces out there and be known. >> president cook: thank you. commissioner lam? >> commissioner lam: thank you for your presentation and really glad to learn about the migrant education program. you all mentioned that you've seen an uptick in the past year in enrollment of students. the question i have in the past year, it's been challenging, given the climate and the environment, but do you think that there are more students who can benefit from this program that haven't engaged yet, and what are some of the possible ways to increate that outreach and engagement of students and families, both in the pre-k, as well as k-12? >> oftentimes, our name is a

source of fear, because they fear we are associated with immigration. we are not. we are a program for the families directly. so one of the things we did this year is we know we presented to e.p.c. they're the first source. they see the families first, so letting them know we're here and present is our primary source. we are also using the newcomer list and trying to call those families, letting them know we are here, and these are the services we provide, so those are the outlets that we've kind of been taking. >> president cook: all right. thank you. >> gracias. [applause] >> president cook: number two, any appointments to advisory committees? commission

commissioner moliga? mowing mowi >> commissioner moliga: sure. i'm appointing carol hill to the peace committee. >> president cook: okay. number one, consent calendar. can i have a motion on the consent calendar? >> motion. >> second. >> president cook: thank you. we have no public comment on consent. any items removed or corrected by the superintendent? >> dr. matthews: none. >> president cook: okay. any items removed for first reading by the board? there are none? any items severed by the superintendent for board discussion tonight? there are none. roll call vote, miss casco. >> clerk: thank you. [roll call] >> clerk: seven ayes.

>> president cook: section d, discussion and vote on consent calendar resolution severed by -- our separate consideration, there are none tonight. section eight, proposals for action, there are none tonight. section f, public comment on general matters. please note that public comment are opportunities for the board to hear on items within the board's jurisdiction. we ask that you refrain from using student or district employee names. if you have a complaint with a district employee, you can submit a complaint. if appropriate, the superintendent will ask that staff members follow up with speakers. we have some names. i'm just going to call the names that i have here. when you hear your name, if you can just make your way to the

podium. you'll have two minutes to speak. if i mispronounce your name, it was commissioner lopez' fault. [laughter]. >> president cook: see...guillemia armina, juli julianjulian juliana titus. mike. we also have dan no, aaron gutierrez -- thank you. belinda shellingberg, so we'll just start with those names.

just be sure to press the button when you're ready to start. >> hello. my name is juliana titus, and i am a parent of a student at creative arts charter school. >> president cook: wait a minute. miss casco, would you mind starting the -- >> so i'm here to speak in support of our charter renewal. we chose creative arts school because of the hands on arts integrated approach to learning, which is the kind of environment where my eldest child really thrives. but the school has provided for our families so much more than we could have expected. my second child is transgender and transitioned during my

eldest child's kindergarten year. the support from the school that we have received, even though my transgender child does not yet attend the school and will not be attending until this coming school year, the support from the school has been outstanding. the school was already a safe, supportive place. there were already all gender bathrooms in place. the staff already received training. there are parent education nights, but the school recognizes that the work that they are doing needs to be ongoing because they're committed to ensuring that the school is always a warm, safe, and welcoming place for all children. my child and my whole family feel at home at creative arts. we feel welcomed and celebrated. my husband and i feel that our children are safe and nurtured, and that as well as their academic success, their social emotional health is being cared for and watched out for.

my transgender daughter is so excited to be joining her older sister at creative arts for the next school year, and we feel so unbelievably fortunate to send her off to a school knowing that she will be safe and happy, that she will be going to the school that will celebrate her, that will stand behind her, and that will standup for her rights to live the truth in her heart. thank you. [speaking spanish language] >> good evening. my name is guillermina alamina.

i am the mother of two children at acas. [speaking spanish language] >> i'm really proud to be here before you today. i want to support renewing the school's charter. i have seen my daughters grow in their strength while at the school. [speaking spanish language] >> i'm extremely proud to be

part of cacs, as i mentioned before, my daughters are thriving in their abilities. [speaking spanish language] >> the teachers strongly support their students in any need that they may have. [speaking spanish language]

>> they don't just provide the academic support and artistic support because it's also a very rich environment in the arts, but they also provide love, and they really make students feel comfortable, and that's a really powerful thing. they make students feel loved, and that helps them develop in all of their abilities within the school. [speaking spanish language] >> they also work a lot with

the community, there's diversity and unity among the students. they support each other whenever there's a need. [speaking spanish language] >> one of the experiences that i've had among many rich ones involves my six-year-old daughter, who's a first grader, and she's had a wonderful experience in her classroom. whenever we're talking about how her school day went, she says it was super, super great, and she has this huge smile that i can see.

>> president cook: thank you. >> i'm maria, and i'm also here to support the charter renewal. i am the middle school administrator at creative arts charter school, you about i fell in -- but i fell in love with this school 22 years ago, when my child was a three-year-old, and i found a creative home for my -- a home for my creative little beast. my child is now grown, and i left my job in management so that i could become a teacher, and so happy to surround my world every day with creativity and innovative work. some of the work i'm really proud of, and it's actually really fun, because here's one of the high schoolers i'm going to talk about. we've worked really, really hard to support all of the students through the navigation

of this sometimes complex navigation process here in san francisco. we have worked with sfusd schools to setup tours so that i take groups of students there for students and families who might not have the -- as many opportunities to make a well informed decision. we have a one-day seminar where we work really hard at writing essays and looking at different schools and look at options and find out so that they can feel that their decisions are if for them, and it's a good fit and a good transition from creative arts, and we start this work in the sixth grade, and we do it all the way through eighth grade. i just wanted to say thank you for all the work that you do, and i know how hard it is to work every single day, because i love what i do, and i just really want to give a big shout out for the people in -- over there, alana ramirez who works

super hard to help us navigate this process, so thanks. >> good evening. my name is belinda shellingberg, and i teach english at the amazing jamestown middle school. john dewey believed that school should be based on the principle of learning through doing. 120 years, we throw open the doors for every student to take ownership of what they learn and how they demonstrate that learning. it affords every parent limitless moments to see their progeny shine, and everyone the right to stand proudly with dewey to say that what we do every day in a student's learning is if you want amountal progress unreformed. with a master program that gives english language learners

access to rigorous electives heretofore unavailable, it creates a an environment of enrichment and opportunity. students are afforded more variety of opportunity to understand what it means to be local and global digital citizens. protected planning time for educators will allow for more meaningful, unrushed collaboration and culturally responsive reaching and learning in addition to more prospects for participation in cooperative opportunities such as the community of educator design cohort, graduate profile and action, and public lesson studies. i was asked to describe for you what excites me most about middle school redesign, and the answer is simple. personalized learning with more student voice and choice. for the african american scholar, it is an opportunity to say i see you.

discovering what you are passionate about is far more important to me than someone else's short story, the five-paragraph format, or revisiting the same three heros we've both been learning about since third grade. for the immigrant child, it means free, fresh air, to take risks in an educational home where they are empowered to show their brilliant. what excites me most about this transformative change to what we do every day in the -- >> president cook: thank you. that was the timer. >> okay. thank you. >> president cook: thanks.

[applause] >> good evening to every board members. my name is dan angio, and i have three kids that are attending at visitacion valley elementary school. there are a lot of problems, and parents are concerned at this school, and i would like to bring them to your attention. and i did e-mail them all to all seven of you, mr. cook, mr. sanchez, miss collins, miss lopez, mr. moliga, miss norton, miss lam. hopefully, you have received it. i am here to sincerely and humbly to please read my e-mail. i attached five page does of principal problems and -- pages

of principal problems and parent-teacher concerns at visitacion valley elementary school, plus one signature letter with close to 100 signatures. thank you to you all. especially to you, miss collins. you were the first to reply to my e-mail; it's only the one. thank you again, miss collins. thank you. [applause] >> hello. i'm erin gutierrez, and i'm going to share my time with jennie de-la paz, and i'm going to take the second minute, and she's going to take the first minute. >> i want you to look at me as the voice for my school and for all the students in that school. i am very disappointed at the unified school district not

reaching out with us with the problems that visitacion valley has regarding safety, regarding principal calling the police on parents, on students. i am not only speaking on my behalf, i have been bullied, i have been harassed by her, and my son, as of last week, had to be removed from that school and placed somewhere else because he was not learning. we're not getting any kind of education in that school, and it's a shame that you guys have not reached out. there are no solutions, and there's a bunch of safe issues going in that school. that school right now is under the principal that uses funds for her personal use as baby showers, and you guys have not addressed it. i'm extremely disappointed how they bullies the staff, the students, the parents, and i'm very, very ashamed that you guys have not reached out. i'll give my time.

[applause] >> so we were here, 40 of us in december. we know there's been a change of board members, so we're here again today to make the plea to you guys to please come out to our school and get your own information about what's going on. [please stand by]

>> you want to ask the school district with our principal and

with some other folks being responded to and i believe that folks who did not into the platform being pull down now. however, it's a serious violation of family privacy because of some family situations in my own background. there's a time my parents enrolled me in school and my name did not match my birth certificate. i'm not from an immigrant family, those are all valid reasons parents would not want their informationtor shared. i want to ask the district to reach out proactively and ensure as plat forts are marketing to our schools that we're protecting family privacy. thank you.

>> that concludes public comment. section g, special order of business, number one, calendar for 2019-2022020 which was moved and seconded. superintendent matthews. >> thank you president cook. we have staff presenting on this item. our chief labor relations carmelo sgarlato. >> thank you superintendent and board. the recommended action is to adopt the attached 2019-2020 and the 2020-2021 instructional calendars. >> president cook: we have no public comment.

any comments from the board superintendent? seeing none, roll call vote. >> thank you. [roll call] >> president cook: discussion on other educational issues. superintendent matthews. >> thank you president cook. tonight we will begin -- we have two presentations. first presentation is on the middle age redesign process and it's to give an update on where we are. tonight presenting we'll have assistant superintendent of middle schools our chief officer

brent stevens and our chief technology officer melissa dott. >> good evening commissioners, superintendent matthews and student delegates. children walk into our classrooms with all of themselves. they are the some of the experiences and their expectations. we cannot ask them to leave any part of themselves at the door when the bell rings. rather, we embrace their entirety. the graduate profile calls for a bold and inspirational outcome by the time student graduate from our system. the graduate profile allows for students to bring their entirety with us and currently, middle

grades are best positions to expose students to various elements of our vision. they are organized to maintain the status quo. if we truly offer a transformative education, we must embark on a process that will breathe life into vision 2025 at the site level. the middle grades, one of the things we want you to know is that all comprehensive middle schools are engaged in the redesign work. we're seeing difference in middle schools. the main anything i want you to know, deeper learning how we really have students engage with the content is at the core. grounded in