we're glad you're here. this is the regular meeting of the board of education. for the san francisco unified school district. today is april 23, 2019. roll call. >> ms. collins present. ms. lam present. ms. lopez here. mr. moliga here. ms. norton here. mr. sanchez, here. mr. cook, here. >> president cook: i'd like to open this meeting in honor of

ms. harriet tubman who said, i freed a thousand slaves, i could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves. section a. general information. accessibility information for the public. b, open items. number one, approval of board minutes for the regular meeting of april 9, 2019. can i have a motion and second on the minutes? >> so moved. >> second. >> >> president cook: roll call vote. seven ayes. >> president cook: speaker cards for the regular agenda and 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 present it to our assistant. members of the public have two minutes to address the boards, or the time set by the president. importantly, according to board rules and procedures, speaker cards will not be accepted for an item already before the board. superintendent report, item number 2. dr. matthews. >> superintendent matthews: good evening, everyone. this week is administrative professionals week and tomorrow, wednesday, april 24th, 2019, is administrative professionals day. i'd like to take this opportunity to say thank you to all of our hard-working administrative professionals as our school sites and central offices. you're truly the lifeline of our organization and administrative professionals day is celebrated to say thank you. so i thank you as you are the

ones to make our schools and offices run like a family. lets give all our administrative professionals a big round of applause and a big thank you. this saturday, the current and incoming students, alumni and family members will join for an anniversary celebration titled -- [speaking spanish] -- celebrating years of diversity. the day includes a talent show case of current students and staff and alumni and unveiling of 85-tile installation featuring student-created ceramic tiles. the tiles represent each year that the school was opened and an event that happened in that year. supervisor mandelman will present an honor certificate to

ray, in honor. on tuesday, april 30, acts of regents 5 will host its leadership celebration. it is the largest umbrella organization for school leaders in the nation serving more than 16,000 school leaders throughout california. it consists of san francisco, san matteo county. it serves 25 districts, with san francisco the top urban district and more than 300 school educating 158,000 students. this year they will honor four of our very own san francisco unified school district leaders. raul chavez, tiffany from rooftop, and andy from lowell.

congratulations to our school leaders for receiving this honor. on wednesday, may 8, from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m. we will honor the african-american reach higher college signing day. our african-american 12th graders will be welcome to honor their post high school plans. the initiative is part of former first lady's michelle obama's effort to inspire every student to take charge of their future. i'm excited to share our own african-american advisory council has led the planning and design of this event in collaboration with 100% college prep. the alliance and the african-american achievement and leadership initiative. our main focus on this special evening will be to celebrate our african-american students who worked very hard and have made

plans to attend a two or four-year college or professional training program. there will be food, live performances, guest speakers and student incentives. i have some exciting news to share. our district has been recognized as a california exemplary district for improving student performance in mathematics. this follows the award of a new math sequence that has contributed to more students accessing higher level math courses. the california exemplary district awards celebrates school districts with achievement an emphasis on implementation of state standards and access to a broad course of study. the board policy was adopted by the board in 2014.

and the core sequence alliance with common course state standards and provides progression of content from algeb algebra, statistics. more san francisco students are taking higher level math courses than ever before under the new secondary course sequence. and the students taking the classes are more diverse. the number of students who retake algebra has dropped 40% to 8%. with these decreases for all subgroups. this year, more students are accessing courses beyond algebra ii. and finally, we would like to thank all our schools and families for participating in the culture climate survey. this annual survey provides us with important information on

areas, improving school climate and student social-emotional learning and these surveys are taken by student, staff. we have three more closed for the online family survey. parents, guardians, if you have not already done 0 so, please take the survey. this gives us important information. if you need help finding the link, please contact your school leader. president cook, that ends my comments. >> president cook: thank you. student delegate. >> the sac stands in agreement with improving mental health service. currently they're reviewing and

composing feedback regarding a resolution and looking to continue aiding this campaign and the well-being of our population. thank you, caroline, and the leaders and the chinese progressive association. >> last friday was the 10th annual partnership event. we also heard from stanford and sfu speakers who worked on these studies. we had an opportunity to provide our student voice and work in groups and publicly speak on the matters that affect us. we will be engaged and be part of the solution, especially for the constituent peers who want to be more involved. we want to thank ms. laura for including us student leaders at this event. we look forward to providing our students voice to succeed. >> next up on the topic of voter

registration. the sac looks to increase voting rates. in addition, we would like to support students to exercise their political power beyond voting. student leaders exchanged questions and thoughts on how to extend our current effort in promoting student engagement. we would like to thank the presenter. >> our next meeting is april 29. sac is a public council and anyone is welcome to attend our meetings. if you like to attend, please contact our supervisor, mr. lopezbar. thank you. >> president cook: thank you, student delegates. number 4, recognition of resolutions and accommodation. dr. matthews?

>> superintendent matthews: we will recognize lowell's varsity soccer team for winning the division 5 championship. they defeated university prep of redding by a score of 4-0. that means university prep of redding did not score a goal. [laughter] we were here one year ago because they, our lowell girls varsity team won the northern california championship last year as well. that is an amazing feat, but there is more. the lowell girl's soccer team has won 22 san francisco section championships in a row and 24 out of 26 total cif san francisco section championships. it is also my understanding that they have not lost a league game since 2010. i would now like to call up, big

round of applause -- i'd like now to call up the principal to say a few words. >> president, members of the board, dr. matthews, student delegates and the honorable costco. first of all, let's show our love and congratulate the lowell varsity girls' soccer team. [applause] sitting out there in the rain for two-and-a-half hours, getting drenched and watching you guys really, really play hard. it was just unbelievable. and i'm glad i was there. with you and supporting you. wow. i would like to introduce the head coach and the two assistant

coaches of the 2019cif northern california division 4, girls' soccer champions. amber, cheryl and jean. [applause] >> thank you. i'm the head coach. thank you all for honoring us and recognizing us. we're the only girl high school team that won in all of the schools in san francisco, public and private. we're very proud of this group of ladies and their hard work. thank you.

>> president cook: any comments from commissioners? okay. good time to go if you don't want to stick around. [applause] whoever else is standing, you can feel free to fill in the seats if you want. item 5, recognition of all valuable employees, rave awards. dr. matthews? >> superintendent matthews: our first distinguished service award winner this evening is dexter james. the lead cafeteria worker at john o'connell high school. this is presented by jennifer.

>> good evening. it is my great pleasure to recognize dexter james, the lead dining staff employee at john o'connell high school for his rave award. dexter has been working for the district for over 30 years. [applause] yeah, let's give a big round of applause for that. dexter is an amazing individual who cares deeply for his students. i want to emphasize his students. they believe they are his students to take care of every day. he has a welcoming smile and always engages with the students. students know when asks, how are you doing today? that he really wants to hear from them about what their day is like. he creates meaningful relationships with the students and with the staff. he takes the time during the busy meal service to greet each student. he lets them know what he is serving and by eating healthy meals, they'll be ready for

class. at breakfast he asks to see them at lunch. he wants to always create a welcoming environment for them. the coworker who nominated dexter said it best, he is truly dedicated. there are few that greet the students with compassion and positivity. a little hello from dexter goes a long way. we're so pleased that dexter is being recognized today for the compassion and positivity. thank you, dexter, for everything you do.

>> i want to thank everybody for the award i have received. i do care a lot about the kids and they come first. i'll be working and cleaning up, they'll come, can i get a milk, i'm thirsty, it's hot, sure, i say, i stop what i'm doing. i got it. get them a milk, they say thank you very much. and you know, like they say, say hello, smile. when it comes to the morning, i like them have a great day. sometimes they look happy, sometimes sad, i say, smile, it's a beautiful day, get breakfast, fruit, come see me for lunch. i learned a long time ago, a hello, a smile for the kids. i appreciate the award. and i'm going to always be there for them.

i support student nutrition. i'd like to thank everybody for the award. i love the kids. i'll be there until i can no longer be there. thank you very much. [applause] [applause]

>> our next rave award winner this evening is sabrina belara and she will be presented her award by john. >> this is my first time here, so i'm like kind of -- [laughter], whoa. they told me to press the button, so ipressing the button. i want to say, i'm incredibly humbled by this educator that i'm going to introduce. she was nominated by her peers and colleagues. i want to say a few words what they say and i'll add what i think about her, too.

basically, sabrina is a new addition to our faculty through the new pathway program to fast track special education to full-time. she has built relationships with students and parents, utilizing her understanding of culture. she is hard-working, humble and supporting of all working in our students. she has been an asset on our team. constantly communicating with her students' parents and always ready to learn and challenge herself to be the best and most organized case manager she can be. they say they play a three part role. it's one thing i say about a lot

of our educators. she is a for our youth. she is exactly the kind of consummate professional you want in a person at your school. congratulations, sabrina. [applause] >> good evening. i just want to thank everyone, specifically i want to thank the faculty at balboa, the most affirming recognition is from the kids. the fact that the room that i've created is a space where these faces want to come in and hang out, kick it, seek help. students that i don't even teach come into my room. the second most affirming thing

is being recognized by the people at the front. the amount of work we have to do is unsustainable and just having someone take the time and right words that recognize the hard work is humanizing. so i appreciate having my effort be humanized through this recognition. and none of this would be possible without all the o.g.s at balboa and the faculty that are there, new and old, actually. so thank you. [applause]

>> president cook: that concludes our rave awards. we are now onto public comment for our non-agenda items. please note that public comment is an opportunity for the board to hear from the community. we actually refrain from using student and employee names. if you have a complaint about a district employee, you may submit it to the supervisor.

as a reminder, board rules and california law do not allow us to respond to comments or attempt to answer questions during public comment time. if appropriate, the superintendent will follow up with speakers. so we have a number of people signed up for public comment tonight. i think it's about 40 names here. when you hear your name called, if you could just make your way to the podium. we'll start your two minutes. i want to apologize in advance for mispronouncing your name if i do. if i do mispronounce your name, you can blame former commissioner emily who is in the audience. lynn. amiko. kyrie.

tom. tomka. >> hi. i'm a parent. thank you for allowing the time for me to speak on this non-agenda item that is important to me. >> president cook: just one second. go ahead. >> and this is regarding the japanese bilingual program, middle school assignment process. i want to say that it was founded almost 46 years ago by parents like me for children like mine. you may or may not be aware of the culture surrounding this, but like me, these families come from japanese-american families who were placed in internment camps in world war ii. many came out of the experience

letting go of their japanese heritage. my parents were put into camps as young children. even though i saw my grandparents almost weekly,my parents had no interest in me learning japanese. my daughter wants to continue to get the most she can. she has worked hard to learn japanese, represent at rosa parks at the speech regional competition and she works very hard with her japanese teacher, as much as possible on class projects. since no one in my family speaks japanese, i'm a single mom with limited income, it would be hard for her to continue learning japanese beyond this. because of this, i think it's okay to acknowledge we need to rethink that i would like the school district to look at the

process. since it's supposed to be a pathway program, it's frustrating. we're trying to wait for future assignment rounds. i understand the lottery system and tie breakers are considered, but i know lowell and others have a different assignment process. and i would like there to be more opportunity for those who place it low on the list. in addition to my daughter, there are other japanese-speaking families here for other important reasons. thank you. >> vanessa. hello, everyone. i'm in 5th grade and i'm in the japanese bilingual bicultural program.

i was a parks about my japanese culture and next year i'll be going to presidio which has the same program. i want to continue to learn japanese, but i did not get into the program. i think this is unfair and i would like to learn japanese. thank you very much. >> hi. my daughter has been -- she has been studying japanese in the program for six years and she wasn't assigned to presidio. she just wants to continue

studying japanese in the program. thank you. hello. thank you for your time. my name is tom. my daughter has been at rosa parks and japanese bilingual program for six years now. in a similar situation, it was her first choice to get into jbbp, but she did not make it. i know the lottery system is sometim

sometimes, but i wanted to let you know there is a lot of demand for the program and there are other families who did not get in, even though they were in the program for six years in the elementary school. thank you for your time. >> hello. my son has been studying japanese since kindergarten, for six years, and i didn't want him to continue to study japanese at the presidio. we put the first choice, but we didn't get in. even pathway, jbbp has priority. some people put second choice and we didn't get it even though we put the first choice. that is not fair. my son is trying so hard to

learn in japanese because his dad -- actually my husband passed away last year and he promised to continue to learn in japanese and we didn't have chance to do that. so we hoped to get into jbbp. thank you. >> hello. my name is nicholas. i'd like to be in jbbp program at presidio. i have been learning japanese since kindergarten. i promised my dad to keep learni learning japanese. i was signed to general, but i want to learn japanese every day. >> president cook: thank you. we have some more names here. robin. julia.

sasha. alicia. kelly. teacher. i've been teaching for the past 16 years, but during the last three years, my role there has changed to something twofold. i'm also the san francisco writers core teaching artist and

resident at redding elementary school. the writers core is a project of the san francisco arts commission that gives grants to writers to teach creative writing courses in schools and community settings. and the grant has enabled me to expand my comic writing workshops to the regular elementary school day. and if redding ost is closed as plan, the impact would not just be to families in the program, but also to students in my comic writing workshops during the regular school day. in fact, we stand -- redding would quite possibly lose the grant entirely if the closure goes into effect. thank you. >> hi, my name is ashley. i'm a parent at redding.

i was informed along with the other parents from redding late last week that ost program was going to be closing indefinitely, starting this summer. and i think all parents understand what hectic and how chaotic it is just trying to find summertime programs for your students, let alone an after-school program for students. so myself, along with other parents, are pleading our case that hopefully you'll help us keep our program open. thank you. >> hi, my name is kelly. and i'm a parent at redding. and i'm here to also plead the board to halt the closure of this program. i'm a single working parent and without the ost program, my family can no longer stay at redding. my son receives services through

the special education department and has been kicked out of the community based program twice due to his disability. every day when i was in the program, my heart would sink as i approached the school for pickups, knowing i would be met with complaints about his behavior and the threat of us having to leave the program because he couldn't comply with their system and leaving us without child care. this also adversely impacted his self-esteem. there is always this constant message being told that you're a bad student, that you can't fit in when you're constantly getting in trouble. and this only served to exacerbate the issues in the program. and i'm not saying this to disparage the program, it is a great program that works for many families. however, this is a larger issue with the district replacing its certified staff after-school

programs with non-profits who experience high turnover and whose staff do not have the training to serve all students, especially those like my son. since joining the ost program, my family's experiences have been wonderful. ms. robin and the staff have the tools to support my son and other students. our community deserves to have a safe after-school program on their campus. i'm urging you to keep the ost program at redding. thank you. >> hi. my daughter goes to the ost program in redding and the teachers, they are sensible, it's a fun place, they teach

well and my daughter goes. i don't know what i'll do for the summer and for the other years also. also, we have already made a decision that we're going to redding for the next coming year. and that is based on the ost program that we like and we want to be staying there. so if it goes out, our lives would be disrupted, both me and my wife work and we cannot keep our child at home. so i urge you to do whatever possible to keep the program running. it's the best program and we don't want it to be discontinued. thank you. >> good evening. my name is susan. i have a kindergartner at redding. he's also in the ost program and we have really enjoyed what an amazing public school and community it is.

it was very disappointing to hear a sudden abrupt decision to close the ost program and especially to terminate it so soon to this summer months. it makes it very difficult for working parents who want to continue in public school systems when you have changes in programming like this. it makes it difficult for us to plan. and to stay in public schools. i hope you'll reconsider the closure time line. thank you. >> good evening, honorable board members. i wanted to speak regarding the outof school time program. since my kids have been in ms. robin's class and the other classes after school, my son, i just want to show you a tangible example. my son has written a comic book. he's published a comic book, thanks to being in ms. robin's class. they get a great education.

there is a more grave problem here. i believe they're shutting the program down without process. there hasn't been like any notice. and the problem with shutting down this program now is not only they're going to miss out on the program after school, but we've actually been homeless in the city, surprise, surprise. we've seen our kids living in a honda fit with their mother as i had to go to a transitional home to stay out of the car. we've been through it and we've been to two schools. this is our second. the other school was malcolm x. this is a perfect fit for us, because we work here in the city, at a company called giant. we've been able to work for this program. we can't pick them up at 2:30. this enabled us to work and pay the $2,000 rent which people might say, oh, you only pay $2,000, it's a lot of money for us who are poor and struggled our way up.

without this program, it's either going to be my wife or myself that is not going to be able work and we're going to be homeless again. that's what those two hours mean to us after school. a great education for them, but a place for us to be able to have the kids supervised after school so we can work. that is one of the tangible consequences of the action of shutting down the ost, which myself, along with many of the parents, need. and i would appreciate the board's consideration with this. and just, i'm asking you to give it gravity. thank you. >> my name is julie, i'm a parent at redding. i want to ask the board to save the ost program. this is one of the highest needs school in the city. we should be expanding the

programs. you heard the testimony tonight. we haven't had far to come. this is also, again, a city-wide dynamic, where there are community based programs which are terrific. my students are really well served by the program and i think it's probably the best option you can imagine for a community based program. many of the staff are people who are in school to become teachers, but at the end of the day, the staff is not paid a living wage, they're not certificated and until the district resources those programs so that those amazing teachers can be certified, be full-time, stay in the city, they're not going to be able to provide the teachers and the staff the students need. we want to ask that the district not outsource our responsibility to provide high quality after-school care that meets the

needs of all students at redding and drew. and i also want to ask that -- i know some of our students have sent links to the comic book program. that program is $144,000 grant that benefits students at our entire school and some of the comic books are really moving. they were highlighted at the public library. two of my favorites, how to move from nigeria to america and my grandmother, which a student talked about her grandmother's experience as a soldier in vietnam and refugee here in america. so finally, as you know, redding has been through a lot of changes with enrollment. and we may lose families, just this conversation may mean we lose families looking for other options which will again impact the budget. i ask you to reconsider and keep both these programs open. thank you.

>> president cook: su, ivy, ying, irene, susan. winnie, jean. alice, teresa. >> my name is ivy. five years ago we presented

staff came to meet with the parent of taylor and make a promise to us that any student in bilingual pathway would be guaranteed bilingual education up through high school. in addition, provided with opportunity to literacy, from high school. five years later, sfusd is now going back on their word and taking away our children's right to a bilingual education after elementary school. as the largest school district, we think that the bay area, how can the school district so easily go back on their promise to our children? they should uphold guarantee to

parents and students. it's caused our communities to lose trust in the san francisco school district. how do you expect a student to believe in the school system after the -- provide them with their bilingual education as promised? most important of all, the district's actions have left parents who have been supportive of our school district disappointed, helpless and hopeless. please take care of our -- we want chinese bilingual pathway in mlk, school year 2019-2020. thank you so much. >> we are here because we vote

2019-2020, we need mlk open the bilingual class for us. chinese bilingual teachers can no longer be used as a skill. six years is not enough time for the district to -- this program. personally, [inaudible] and chinese is in high demand. since it is -- and return qualified bilingual staff. it is responsibility of the school district to -- bilingual. the majority are students who

want place in chinese bilingual program. because they already have an older sibling in the school. they simply benefit because relationship placement. so what of the student who do not have older siblings? do they deserve to receive second bilingual education? [inaudible] try to get into the chinese bilingual program. it's unfair. please, please. thank you so much. >> speaking chinese.

[speaking chinese] >> hi, i'm the parent from taylor and we are pleading for the district to establish a chinese bilingual pathway of martin luther king middle school beginning with the school year of 2019-2020. we believe that by building a bilingual program at mlk is viable and the funding should be readily available as we were informed five years ago about this extension. as such, the district has had ample time and opportunity to

recruit teachers and develop curriculum. we hope that the district will be able to finally -- to uphold the promise made to parents and students. so that our community's trust in the district be restored. we believe that the district has had ample time to prepare the necessary funds for the endeavor and that you are now prepared to fulfill the promise you make to our community years ago. by fulfilling the commitment, you made to our students, we hope to establish the trust in the school district and our students -- our students will have bright futures, thank you.

>> [speaking chinese] >> hi, i have three kids in taylor and one of them has been placed to mlk middle school. we're willing to go the extra miles to ensure that the effort and the sacrifice of the students, teachers and parents will not be squandered. we also are ready to face and conquer any obstacles that may arise. we're willing to take any actions necessary to help our children get the education they were promised and deserve.

we hope that you can understand our determination to fight for our children's educational rights and that you find a swift and just resolution to our request. thank you. >> hi, welcome. [speaking chinese]

on april 10th, the parents of taylor met to discuss our concerns and the need for a bilingual program at mlk. the parents subsequently attended the sec meeting on april 16th at which they learned that no one from mp contacted mlk about the parents' request to establish a bilingual program. had the parents not attended the mlk meeting, they never would have discussed that they had lied to them about working on

establishing the middle school bilingual program. please don't take us for fools. do not for one moment believe that we can be dismissed by simply holding meetings to discuss ideas without taking action to meet our demands. we will not stand idle while you continue to trample on our children's souls and our trust. if the school district does not fulfill their promise, they may as well add a new course called how to lie. thank you. >> hi, i am the parent of -- my son is in taylor and he is -- by the time i know him, because i know that the school in mlk is

going chinese path, but my son, this year really, mlk school still don't have any chinese classes. and i don't want to waste his sixth year time of learning chinese. and also, i can, as you know, chinese is one of the hardest language to learn. i can tell the difference. my son didn't go to a chinese school and they don't speak chinese at all. my little one, he is learning six years of chinese. and he can communicate with my parents. and this is why i want him to continue to learning in chinese. because if he cannot continue, he will not forget he is chinese because he really need practice. and i hope your guys can really

open mlk in the coming semester. and he connected in. and mlk. i don't have other choices. instead of mlk. >> good evening, we need chinese bilingual in the school for 2019 and 2020. thank you. >> my name is chinese bilingual

in mlk school for school year 2019-2020. thank you. >> good evening. my name is alice. please give a chance to the kids to continue to learn in chinese bilingual. thank you. >> president cook: thank you. moving on. martha. betty.

[please stand by]

>> so, the school is basically segregated. the ma mandrin program has high scores and their academics scores are really high.

>> and i see there is much to be done. i have been working at this school as a volunteer parent in the classroom and the teachers are excellent. it seems to be so much more to be done. >> we condition make books like the kids in the other schools. >> they don't speak our language and they're really behind.

>> i want to know what the school is doing to help us with this problem. it's true the general program has a smaller class size and we have 18 students per class but what does it matter that we have only 18 students if they are students who cannot concentrate. so, the teacher spends a lot of time trying to get the students attention at the beginning so she spends at of time doing that. at least, basically, only like five of the students will pay attentiond