it through here, or i guess that is what you are saying, we will go through closed session. >> if it is administrators, that happens in closed session. >> but -- that discussion only happens with administrators,. >> in closed session, yes. >> okay. >> roll call vote. [roll call] >> i'm sorry, i want to understand what is being put forth. it is unclear to me. >> in the consent calendar commissioners can sever for discussion any of the items. commissioner lopez his average

two of them. we discussed them, and now we are voting on them separately. >> okay. yes. [roll call] >> six aye. >> okay. section d., discussion and vote on the consent calendar resolution for separate consideration. there are none tonight. section e., proposals for action. there are board policies for adoption tonight. very -- they are zero 420-point for two, charter school renewal, 5148.3, preschool and early childhood education, 0450, comprehensive safety plan for a policy 31, 3516, emergency and

disaster preparedness plan, student assessing teams, and district and school websites. all these policies were moved and seconded at a prior meeting. is there a report from rules committee? >> the items were hurried out rules committee and forwarded to the board with a positive recommendation. >> let's see, superintendent, can you call someone to read it into the record? >> general counsel will read them into the record. >> president cook, a point of clarification, are you moving all these items at once, or did you want to read them all separately? >> we are moving them all at once and we will do roll call vote at the end. >> okay. the action tonight is the board

approved the following policies. all of which, as you have heard vice president sanchez say or heard at rules committee, and received a positive recommendation. board policies charter school renewal, preschool early childhood education, board policy comprehensive safety plan , and board policy emergency and disaster preparedness plan. student success teams, and board policy district and school websites. >> commissioner norton? >> thank you. i have a question about the charter school renewal policy. i am glad that we are making sure that the charger partners are going to be complying with changes in the law, but i also

wonder, you know, there was an opinion issued by the state attorney general on the brown act, and also compliance with the political format. it occurs to me, i don't know that we require our charter schools to certify that what -- what their procedures are around the brown act, and also around avoiding conflict of interest as far as a political format. with this policy include that, or what steps are we taking around that? >> this policy could include that, but it is important to remember that the attorney general's position is persuasive, but not the law. we are still waiting to see what the legislature does with those present -- provisions. the school districts have tried to go beyond and to require charters to comply with the brown act, and that has not been successful. we are waiting for a legislative action on that in order to

require those types of measures. >> the district has tried to do that since the attorney general's opinion. >> know. not since the attorney general's position. >> okay. this is something that i really think we need -- i actually would like to -- i will leave it up to board leadership and the superintendent for how to do this, but we should have a conversation about the charter m.o.u. and what we are doing, what we have in them now, what potentially we could, some changes we could make, because i think this is a really important principle, and it is a source -- it has been a source of irritation to me that different levels of schools have not been public schools -- public schools have not been required to comply with the same level of loss. i just want to make sure that we are doing everything we can at the m.o.u. his with our charter partners to make sure that we are trying to keep a level

playing field. >> i'm sorry, can i just address that. i just want to correct something i said earlier because apparently tammy wong has listened to this meeting. thank you, tammy. she is sharing, but we do have some of these provisions. what i would suggest is let us get you a board report on the specific items that you requested, and then you can decide how you want to move the discussion forward. >> great. >> commissioner sanchez? >> the resolution we passed last year on charter school accountability oversight and accountability includes some provisions that we would like the state legislature to pass, including the board for charter schools would have to follow the brown act, which went to the legislature last year, i'm pretty sure, and it was vetoed or never made it out. it was vetoed by the governor. there have been attempts in the past, and now that we have a new

governor who is showing willingness to hold charter schools more accountable, i think we want to see that come back and hopefully past. but there's other things that we ask for in that resolution as well. >> i would just like to understand, i know that san jose has an m.o.u. process where they require chargeable -- chargers that they are approving to follow the brown act and sunshine and those kind of things, and i would like to know , i know that this is constantly shifting, and there's a lot of districts that are doing things that we didn't do ten years ago, because as we are realizing, we need to be more clear, i would just like to be able to unpack that more. i appreciate the fact that maybe varty done that and rules committee, but i would like to know -- maybe you have already done that unit rules committee, but i would like to know more before i vote.

>> anyone else? >> are you saying that we are free to vote on this resolution? >> i don't know. is this locking us in? >> it can always be relented. >> okay, okay. >> roll call vote league his. [roll call] >> six aye. >> we already did section f., public comment. section g., special order of business. number 1 -- appointments to career technical advisory committee. dr matthews?

>> the chief academic officer brent stevens will be presenting. >> good evening, commissioners. we are making a request of the board this evening that the board of education approve the c.d. advisory committee listed nominees for the 2018-2019 school year. >> we have no speakers signed up for this item. any comment? seeing none, roll call vote. >> i move the recommendation. >> second.

roll call vote, please. [roll call] >> yes. >> six aye. >> number 2, proposed plan for the expenditure of funds awarded under the low performing students grant. dr matthews? >> we will have our chief financial officer read -- presenting this item with landon dickey. >> thank you, good evening, commissioners. i am the chief financial officer. i'm joined by landon dickey. the requested action is that the board of education of the san francisco unified school district approves a proposed plan for the expenditure of funds awarded under the low performing students grant.

and expenditure plan is also attached as well. >> can you explain a little bit more about how the eligibility -- so it says, there's numbers about for each pupil that qualifies, and i want to know exactly how -- who those peoples are that would qualify. >> sure. i believe the academic achievement of students in particular schools, and students who identified as low performing on the state english language, arts or meth assessments, and to also do not otherwise receive, are not eligible to receive, or do not count towards receipt of the supplemental grants under

the lc s.f. they will receive funding at the rate of $1,976 per eligible people. those are identified as low performing students, and the block grant is meant to target. >> the grant is about $2 million. >> it is about $1,000,009. it is a one time to be spent over two fiscal years, and there is an additional $15,000 that also comes through the county office of education. >> how much does the grant get to the school site? >> it is incorporated in the expenditure plan. mr dickey could provide some context, -- go ahead. >> so the context here is that

we are going to be applying these funds to support the pitch schools, so the 20 school sights that were identified in novembeg historically low performance for african-american students, or they are being hacked a high achievement gap between african-american students and other racial subgroups. >> so there will be low performing students at other schools that will not get the grant? >> that is correct. >> okay. thank you. >> so is this a reset with the plan, if we approve this grant, or is there discussion around how it will be implemented? >> so there can be discussion

about how it's implemented, but we are approaching the deadline, so that is why we have a plan in place right now, already -- it doesn't hit every single low performing student, but we have a plan in place that we are moving forward to. >> i guess my question is, a lot of schools have been talking about the need for community schools as a model for implementing some of the pitch implementations, and i am wondering, sometimes people think of it as the same thing, so i just want to know, if we are approving this, is there any conversation that we, as a board, can have with the district in ensuring it is done in a community-based model caught with -- in that model of community schools where this partnership with families and staff and community-based organizations? >> absolutely. that is the model we have been using. when schools have come forward

with their plans, we asked them to identify the root cause. let me finish please, if you don't mind. happy birthday. [laughter] >> they will identify the root cause and then their strategies, and then they will come forward with what are the resources they need, and the research they have identified. i had a discussion with the group from community schools, but they were really a group that was -- in one of the things that i said is one of the things we wanted to avoid from previous initiatives around low achieving -- a top-down approach, where we find the solution, and say this is the solution. we wouldn't want to save them macho is their solution unless you came to us and said that, then we would have worked with you towards that. if schools say that this is what

they believe is the best way, and absolutely, we will work with them to get the resources. but we don't want to say it has to be community schools, or we are telling you it is community schools. >> i think there is a specific -- this may be driven from certain members of the school community, but i think this community school model is not necessarily a prescriptive model in what you do. it is -- there is a clear criteria for how you gather information from the community, in that relies on community school coordinators, and it relies on a certain number of gathering input from the community that i don't normally see in schools when they have to submit plans. being someone who has been in the community meetings, and not seeing community members there, we do not do a good job of outreach. that is why m.l.k. is a great model because they are doing good work of involving the

communities in whatever plans they have. in approving this, i would like to make sure to have a commitment from the district to truly engage, in that also means resourcing the folks that do that work, which is a community school program are. it looks different in different schools, but having that person, resources, that capacity for the school to do it with integrity. >> i will just say yes, there's absolutely that commitments. >> maybe at a later date we can talk about what the ongoing, ins and oversight is of the points that is being made. we will ask for questions as they come up. >> can i have a motion and a second? >> second. >> roll call vote, please. [roll call]

>> six aye. >> we are in session h. session i is consent calendar items removed. there are none tonight. section jay, introduction of proposals. i have two speakers for public comments. please make your way to the podium. >> good evening. it has been a long evening.

you guys have a big agenda. i will be superquick. it is lovely to see you. those of you i haven't met yet, i'm looking forward to the opportunity. and the executive director of gateway public schools. we are just about to start today. the charter renewal process --dash we are super excited. this is my 19th year at the gateway, and i can't even remember how many of these charger rentals and authorizations i've done with you all, but i knew a few things for sure, i know that it is always both a rewarding and a challenging process. it is an opportunity for us to look really carefully at what we're doing well as a school, and also where we need to grow. it is an opportunity for us to spend some time together, we are looking forward to that in the time ahead, and it's an opportunity for us to remember that we are all in this work

together on behalf of the kids of san francisco. i will be seeing you more soon. i won't take any more time this evening, but thank you for what you do and i will see you. thank you. >> good evening, again. i will take more then the minute and a half. but to follow up on what the director said, they are part of the san francisco unified school district, so i would like to commend gateway on their parent participation. the real reason i am up here is to speak about policy regarding parent surrogates for special education students. i appreciate, as i've said before, i appreciate the fact we are starting to put policies in place to name a lot of these. thank you so much for the hard work you are all doing.

i appreciate that we are using best practices. i would like to challenge you to look at saddleback valley unified school district version of the same. there is is exceptionally inclusive, their policy flat-out names different laws for advocates, or i'm sorry,, surrogates. a couple fun facts, public agencies must ensure illegally that a surrogate parent is not a district employee, and the state agency must make an assignment of a surrogate within 30 days. two of those are very important safeguards for students.

neither one are named in the policy, but if we named it more robustly, and included verbiage from federal law, it very well could be. thank you. >> number 2, proposal 19212. authorization to grant an alternative to denied the petition for gateway charter school, charter high school and board policies. may i hear a motion and a second on s.b. one and the two board policies? >> so moved. >> second. >> i am referring s.b. one two budget and curriculum committees and board policies to the rules committee.

section k., proposals for immediate action. there are none tonight. section l, board member report. vice president sanchez? >> for rules? >> yes, sorry. >> thank you. i forgot what committee i am on. we reported on most of the items, but a couple were held at -- held up. nonpublic, known secretary and school agency services for special education, and board policy 6146. for, differential graduation and competitions -- competition -- competency standards. >> thank you. >> we met, and we reviewed the state budget update.

just kind of an overview, and got -- we looked ahead, and we moved, what is it called when you don't make a motion to approve or deny? with no recommendation for creative arts charter school. and we also discussed timelines for the committee, and we also discussed potential topics that we might want to discuss more in depth regarding some central office kind of -- learning more about peace, spending, and tss, and specific, if their specific departments that folks are interested in and getting more information about what programs they are spending money on, and specifically, those where

curriculum instruction, and within student services, but maybe more specific to just knowing -- to understanding what some of the things that we are doing as a district, but i am also, i would like to encourage other board members, if there's any specific topics that you would like to put on the agenda, now versus later, please let me know so we can make sure that we are putting that in the timeline. >> commissioner lopez? >> we met for the first time yesterday, and our action item was the petition for creative arts charter, which we moved with a no recommendation, specifically around their language around defiance. we had an update on the assessment committee, and we also had an update on the m.o.u. with sfpd, and there are a number of upcoming meetings coming. around the m.o.u. >> thank you.

do we have any board delegates or membership organization reports? any other reports by board members? okay, we have the calendar of committee meetings, budget and business services will be meeting on wednesday, march 6th at six p.m. the new and improved and incredibly led buildings and grounds of the services committee, chaired by none other than myself. [laughter] >> we will be meeting on monday, february 25th at six p.m. the curriculum and program committee will be meeting on march 11th at six p.m. the rules committee will be meeting on march 4th at five p.m. and an ad hoc mentee on student assignment will be meeting on monday, march 18th

at six p.m. and the ad hoc community and labor relations will be meeting on wednesday, february 20th at six p.m. the committee for the school district and city college is being held until we figure out some other things around a joint committee meeting with the board of supervisors. it is to be determined. section m., other informational items. there are none tonight. section n., memorial adjournment. there is none tonight. we don't have any public comment for a closed session, section oh, closed session of the board will now go into closed session [laughter]

>> welcome back. last few minutes of your birthday and we have a read out for the closed session for february 12, 2019. by a vote of six aye, we approve the contract. we also contribute approved the vote for the intern. issuing notice to one principle that the contract will now be renewed. we will approve the contract for 44 assistant principals. we will approve the contract for 22 program administrators. we will approve the contract of 26 supervisors.

we will approve issuing notice that two principal contracts may not be renewed. the board approved issuing notice that three assistant principal contracts may not be renewed. issuing notice that one supervisor contract may not be renewed. we will approve issuing notice that two program administrator projects may not be approved. approved the issuing notice at six principal contracts will not be renewed. we approved issuing notice that four assistant principal contracts will not be renewed. we approved issuing notice that one supervisor contract will not be renewed. the board approved the release

of 11 probationary certificate employees, in the matter of d.c. versus san francisco united school district. we give the authority of the district to pay up to the stipulated amount. on one matter of anticipated litigation, the gave direction under general counsel. that concludes the meeting tonight. this meeting is adjourned.

>> this meeting will come to order. this is a regular meeting of the budget and finance committee. i'm supervisor filling in for chair. i'm joined by supervisor rafael mandal minimum anman. i woulmadam clerk, any announce? >> yes, please silence all cell phones and devices and documents to be included as part of the time. it will be on the agenda unless

otherwise stated. >> thank you. >> before we begin, can i get a motion excusing supervisor fiora from attendance? supei take this motion without objections? >> yes. (gavel). >> this motion passes without objection. >> madam clerk can you please call items one and two? >> ordinance of authorizing the treasurer in the event of a partial shutdown of the united states government occurring between february and june 2019 to secure a short-term line of credit if an amount not to exceed 20 million or in the alternative partnered with one or more financial institutes for the purpose of providing short-term emergency unsecured individual loans for federal employees, using that and working at the san francisco international airport. number two, appropriating short-term loan proceeds to the treasure's and tax collectors

office to administer loans for a future shutdown of the government. >> we'll hear from courtney mcdonald and then amanda fried for the tax collector. courtney? >> thank you and good morning. my name is courtney mcdonald and supervisor hainey apologize for him not being here but we thank you for providing critical relief for the employees impacted by the critical shutdowns. when we forward these before you with the mayor's office and treasurer's office, we had come out of the longest government shutdown in united states history and we're bracing for another shutdown on february 15. although that shutdown was averted, there's a possibility this will happen again,

unfortunately, later this year and federal workers will be in limbo once again. during the shutdown in december and january, thousands in san francisco was affected and forced to go without two paychecks which as we know can be devastating to anyone dealing with that. people were forced to take on second jobs, and many continued working those jobs even when the government reopened. they were not able to pay for transportation or childcare, many of the basic needs. we saw dozens of cities respond with rental assistance, transportation, utility deferrals and san jose had an eviction moratorium and a lot of other cities stepped up and we've learned that many of our departments have robust programs for folks dealing with economic hardship and local businesses and banks stepped up as well, but we don't think we've done enough and we need to provide a greater safety net for people living in san francisco. we need to be prepared if this

happens against later this year. these loans will go a long way towards providing some sense of security for our neighbours impacted by the furlough so we thank you for hearing these itemed today and appreciate your support. thank you. >> thank you. >> any questions or should we g? >> good morning, amanda freid. as you heard, these ordinances would authorize the treasurer to create a city loan program for federal employees who are furloughed or working without pay due to a federal government shutdown. i want to thank the mayor and their staffs for partner to propose this program. the original ordinance was only applicable for a shutdown through june of 2019. given that the current spending bill is set to expire at the end of september, you have before you and amendment to extend the length of time this authorization would be effective until december 2019.

so if another federal government shutdown should occur before the end of 2019, we are proposing a one-time interest free loan of $1,006,000 be made available to fell employees who are san francisco residents or who work art the san francisco international airport. there are approximately 3,300 federal employees living in san francisco or working who missed two paychecks and could benefit from this program. the impact of a missed paycheck is felt immediately. most americans do not have $500 saved to cover emergency expenses. when people experience shocks to income, they often turn to high cost and damaging financial options, such as increasing credit card debt, delaying payment of bills or taking out payday bills. this proposal will help federal employees without the shock of causing long-term financial

harm. they arranged for a balance, the coaching partner to offer a free one-on-one counseling for any impacted by the federal shutdown. so how would this program work. should there be another shutdown this year, the treasurer would have the authorization to secure a $20 million line of credit from a financial institution. the $20 million would be enough to cover all 3,300 workers if they applied for the maximum loan amount of $6,000. workers would be able to apply for the funding online, using a simple loan application form we've developed. they would need to verify their employment status, their shutdown impact and provide their contact information. we would prompt them to upload required documentation and their banking information, have them agree to terms and conditions and then schedule a time to be interviewed in person. interviews would be conducted at sfo by airport employees and at city hall by treasurer office

employees. applicants would choose their loan amount in increments of $1,000 between 1,000 and $6,000. if approved, the funds would be deposited into the applicant's bank account. all federal employees are paid via direct deposit and this is consistent with their current practice. the loans would be one-time and zero interest and at the conclusioconclusion of the shut, employeed woulemployees would ho pay the loan in full. thank you for your time and i'm available for any questions. >> we have a report from the budget and legislative analyst's office. >> good morning, chair stephanie, i'm from the budgeting office. the proposed ordinance would appropriate $20 million for individual loans. plus an additional 500,000 in interest earnings on the city's investment for a total of 20

merchandis$20,000,500. they plan for the loan program the department has not yet identified a financial institution. the remaining 5 hub now will come from interest earnings on m the attributable funds. it's a policy matter for the board of supervisors. thank you. >> any questions? >> i have two questions, i believe. what happens in the event the loan is not repaid? >> sure. so the office of the treasurer and tax collector has a bureau of delinquent revenue and we work for the city as a hole and delinquent revenue is sent to our office for collections. these would be treated in the same way and the clean part of this from collection's perspective is that during the loan application process, we would have all of the documentation we would need.

we would know who the folks were, where they worked, where they lived and we would have enough information we would be able to recoupe the funds. >> how is the amount of 20 million determined. >> it was just a 3300 employees times 6,000 rounded up slightly. >> thank you. >> are there any members of the public who wish to speak on this item? i believe i have one speaker card. ace on the case. >> i'm so sorry. listen, glad to be here. this is my first appearance. first of all, let me say i approve everything you all do so i'm not here disrupting. but i'm here to speak for my people right now. you all are talking about money, millions of dollars, treasurer

for people what trump did in washington, d.c. closed down the damn government but what happened? this is black history month, the shortest month of the year, they gave that to us. they won't give us 28 days. so i won't go into that history but right here in the city by the bay, calm down, ace, i'm here on this platform speaking to you all today for the rest of this short month of black history month to bring you awareness and to let you know what's going down. nobody can answer the question. the budget going up, housing, but what's going down in the city by the way? let me tell you one time, the black population is going down. now, i'm not here to point the fingers at nobody. i'm not here to criticize, just to analyze and i'm hoping that the mayor, the budget, and all

people here, they need money to be set aside for people that look like me, because every other race, la te latino, asian, gays, have a budget to say what's that about. my name is ace and i'm the case and i'll be on the budget. you have a budget of what, $13 billion and state got what? over 100 some billion dollars surplus? somebody better sprinkle, sprinkle, sprinkle for my generations to come in the next ten years. ladies and gentlemen, my name is ace and i'll be coming to you. this is my black history month special and i'm be carrying on for the rest of the month. you all better something in that budget for us. >> thank you, ace. >> you're welcome. >> any other members of the public wish to comment on these items? >> seeing none, public comment is closed. (gavel).

so based on the amendment, i would like to make a motion accepting the amendment changing the end date of the program and line of credit from june 30, to december of 19. can we take that amendment without objection? without objection, this motion passes. (gavel). >> and deputy city attorney, the amendment that was just made and passed, is that amendment substantive? >> yes. you can't pass out item one. you could in theory pass out item two today, but item one, at least, needs to be continued. and if you want to keep them together because they're part of the same program, you can continue both. >> right. i propose we keep both items together and i would like to make a motion continuing both items one and two to the february 27th meeting of the budget and finance committee. can i take that without objection? without objection, this motion passes.

(gavel). >> madam clerk, any other items before us today? >> no, madam chair. >> since there is no further business, this meeting is now adjourned. >> usf donates 100-120 pounds of food a night. for the four semesters we have been running here, usf has donated about 18,000 pounds of food to the food recovery network. ♪

♪ >> i'm maggie. >> i'm nick. >> we're coe-chairs of the national led organization. what food recovery does is recover and redistribute food that would go wasted and redistributing to people in the community. >> the moment that i became really engaged in the cause of fighting food waste was when i had just taken the food from the usf cafeteria and i saw four pans full size full of food perfectly fine to be eaten and

made the day before and that would have gone into the trash that night if we didn't recover it the next day. i want to fight food waste because it hurts the economy, it's one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases in the world. if it was a nation, it would be the third largest nation behind china and the united states. america wastes about 40% of the food we create every year, $160 billion worth and that's made up in the higher cost of food for consumers. no matter where you view the line, you should be engaged with the issue of food waste. ♪ ♪ >> access edible food that we

have throughout our lunch program in our center, i go ahead and collect it and i'll cool it down and every night i prep it up and the next day i'll heat it and ready for delivery. it's really natural for me, i love it, i'm passionate about it and it's just been great. i believe it's such a blessing to have the opportunity to actually feed people every day. no food should go wasted. there's someone who wants to eat, we have food, it's definitely hand in hand and it shouldn't be looked at as work or a task, we're feeding people and it really means so much to me. i come to work and they're like nora do you want this, do you want that?

and it's so great and everyone is truly involved. every day, every night after every period of food, breakfast, lunch, dinner, i mean, people just throw it away. they don't even think twice about it and i think as a whole, as a community, as any community, if people just put a little effort, we could really help each other out. that's how it should be. that's what food is about basically. >> an organization that meets is the san francisco knight ministry we work with tuesday and thursday's. ♪ ♪ by the power

♪ of your name >> i have faith to move mountains because i believe in jesus. >> i believe it's helpful to offer food to people because as you know, there's so much homelessness in san francisco and california and the united states. i really believe that food is important as well as our faith. >> the san francisco knight ministry has been around for 54 years. the core of the ministry, a group of ordain ministers, we go out in the middle of the night every single night of the year, so for 54 years we have never missed a night. i know it's difficult to believe maybe in the united states but a

lot of our people will say this is the first meal they've had in two days. i really believe it is a time between life or death because i mean, we could be here and have church, but, you know, i don't know how much we could feed or how many we could feed and this way over 100 people get fed every single thursday out here. it's not solely the food, i tell you, believe me. they're extremely grateful. >> it's super awesome how welcoming they are. after one or two times they're like i recognize you. how are you doing, how is school? i have never been in the city, it's overwhelming. you get to know people and through the music and the food, you get to know people.

>> we never know what impact we're going to have on folks. if you just practice love and kindness, it's a labor of love and that's what the food recovery network is and this is a huge -- i believe they salvage our mission. >> to me the most important part is it's about food waste and feeding people. the food recovery network national slogan is finding ways to feed people. it's property to bring the scientific and human element into the situation. >> growing up in san francisco has been way safer than growing up other places we we have that bubble, and it's still that bubble that it's okay to be whatever you want to.

you can let your free flag fry he -- fly here. as an adult with autism, i'm here to challenge people's idea of what autism is. my journey is not everyone's journey because every autistic child is different, but there's hope. my background has heavy roots in the bay area. i was born in san diego and adopted out to san francisco when i was about 17 years old. i bounced around a little bit here in high school, but i've always been here in the bay. we are an inclusive preschool, which means that we cater to

emp. we don't turn anyone away. we take every child regardless of race, creed, religious or ability. the most common thing i hear in my adult life is oh, you don't seem like you have autism. you seem so normal. yeah. that's 26 years of really, really, really hard work and i think thises that i still do. i was one of the first open adoptions for an lgbt couple. they split up when i was about four. one of them is partnered, and one of them is not, and then my biological mother, who is also a lesbian. very queer family. growing up in the 90's with a queer family was odd, i had the bubble to protect me, and here, i felt safe. i was bullied relatively infrequently. but i never really felt isolated or alone. i have known for virtually my

entire life i was not suspended, but kindly asked to not ever bring it up again in first grade, my desire to have a sex change. the school that i went to really had no idea how to handle one. one of my parents is a little bit gender nonconforming, so they know what it's about, but my parents wanted my life to be safe. when i have all the neurological issues to manage, that was just one more to add to it. i was a weird kid. i had my core group of, like, very tight, like, three friends. when we look at autism, we characterize it by, like, lack of eye contact, what i do now is when i'm looking away from the camera, it's for my own comfort. faces are confusing. it's a lack of mirror neurons in your brain working properly to allow you to experience empathy, to realize where

somebody is coming from, or to realize that body language means that. at its core, autism is a social disorder, it's a neurological disorder that people are born with, and it's a big, big spectrum. it wasn't until i was a teenager that i heard autism in relation to myself, and i rejected it. i was very loud, i took up a lot of space, and it was because mostly taking up space let everybody else know where i existed in the world. i didn't like to talk to people really, and then, when i did, i overshared. i was very difficult to be around. but the friends that i have are very close. i click with our atypical kiddos than other people do. in experience, i remember when i was five years old and not

wanting people to touch me because it hurt. i remember throwing chairs because i could not regulate my own emotions, and it did not mean that i was a bad kid, it meant that i couldn't cope. i grew up in a family of behavioral psychologists, and i got development cal -- developmental psychology from all sides. i recognize that my experience is just a very small picture of that, and not everybody's in a position to have a family that's as supportive, but there's also a community that's incredible helpful and wonderful and open and there for you in your moments of need. it was like two or three years of conversations before i was like you know what? i'm just going to do this, and i went out and got my prescription for hormones and started transitioning medically, even though i had already been living as a male. i have a two-year-old. the person who i'm now married

to is my husband for about two years, and then started gaining weight and wasn't sure, so i we went and talked with the doctor at my clinic, and he said well, testosterone is basically birth control, so there's no way you can be pregnant. i found out i was pregnant at 6.5 months. my whole mission is to kind of normalize adults like me. i think i've finally found my calling in early intervention, which is here, kind of what we do. i think the access to irrelevant care for parents is intentionally confusing. when i did the procespective search for autism for my own child, it was confusing. we have a place where children can be children, but it's very

confusing. i always out myself as an adult with autism. i think it's helpful when you know where can your child go. how i'm choosing to help is to give children that would normally not be allowed to have children in the same respect, kids that have three times as much work to do as their peers or kids who do odd things, like, beach therapy. how do -- speech therapy. how do you explain that to the rest of their class? i want that to be a normal experience. i was working on a certificate and kind of getting think early childhood credits brefore i started working here, and we did a section on transgender inclusion, inclusion, which is a big issue here in san francisco because we attract lots of queer families, and the teacher approached me and said i don't really feel comfortable or qualified to talk about this from, like, a cisgendered straight person's perspective,

would you mind talking a little bit with your own experience, and i'm like absolutely. so i'm now one of the guest speakers in that particular class at city college. i love growing up here. i love what san francisco represents. the idea of leaving has never occurred to me. but it's a place that i need to fight for to bring it back to what it used to be, to allow all of those little kids that come from really unsafe environments to move somewhere safe. what i've done with my life is work to make all of those situations better, to bring a little bit of light to all those kind of issues that we're still having, hoping to expand into a little bit more of a resource center, and this resource center would be more those new parents who have gotten that diagnosis, and we want to be this one centralized place that allows parents to breathe for a second. i would love to empower from the bottom up, from the kid level, and from the top down, from the teacher level. so many things that i would

love to do that are all about changing people's minds about certain chunts, like the transgender community or the autistic community. i would like my daughter to know there's no wrong way to go through life. everybody experiences pain and grief and sadness, and that all of those things are temporary. [roll call] >> the executive director is present. silence all electronics and cell phones. thank you. >> thank you. there will be a slight