good evening. this is the regular meeting of the board of education of the san francisco unified school district for may 14, 2019. the meeting is called to order. roll call. (roll call). >> give it up for delores swarta. she'll be with us friday when we have our official ceremony for

her at 1:00 p.m. so if you can make it, please join us. with no objection, i'll take section j which is the introduction of proposals and assignment to committee. this will be heard in section b. we'll just wedge it in right after we do the minutes, i think. and then we'll have public comment on agenda items after that. section a, general information, section b opening items. one approval of board minutes of the regular meeting of april 23, 2019 and special meeting of may 7, 2019 and we need a motion and a second. >> so moved. >> second. >> any corrections? roll call. (roll call).

speaker cards are necessary if you wish to address the board of education. an individual can complete a speaker card prior to the item called and presented to the executive assistant, to my right. members of the public have two minutes to address the board and/or time set by the president or, in this case, vice president according to board rules and procedures and speaker cards will not be for the items before the board. dr. matthews? >> good evening, everyone. >> good evening. last week was national teacher appreciation week. since this is the first board meeting since then, thank you to all of the san francisco unified

school district teachers. thank you for fostering the 21st century skills and thank you for being a role model for continuous learning, thank you for caring about both your student's academic growth and social and emotional development. thank you for peein for being af this community redefining school in service of all of our students. please join me in recognising our school nurses. lead give them a big round of applause. [cheers and applause] >> we have several in the audience and thank you, school nurses. [cheers and applause] >> may 8 was national school nurse day and on that day, we celebrated the 55 school nurses and three licensed vocational nurses who work everyday for over 100 years who have played a critical role in improving

school health and ensuring academic success. in our district, we have made school health a priority. there is a school district nurse in all of our middle and high schools. on any given day, our nurses are providing direct care and support to students and their families. put so far, in this school year within san francisco nurses have provided over 88,000 direct services to our students. i whole-heartedly thank the district nurses for service in keeping our students safe, healthy and ready to learn. let's give them a big round of applause. [cheers and applause] i would like to share news from the office of counseling and post-secondary success. first, the high school commitment days for all of our eighth graders will take place

between may 21st and 24th at all of our middle schools and facilitated by the eighth grade councillor. students will review and agree to six commitments, the 2023 creed that support high school success and finalize their commitment through social media via #2023 creed and #my tv futuremfuturemyhand. my future in my hand, be positive, be patient and persistent will be mailed to all eighth grade students over the next three weeks. it's information and links to help all studentses an studentsy begin high school with success and achievement. students from brettheart, drew academy and willie brown middle school will displace their talents through creative expression at the fourth annual bayview art's showcase.

the visual performing arts hosted event will include choir, ukulele, and hip-hop dance performances along with a joint win and string instrument performance by students from the four school. student artwork will also be on display. the goal of the programme is to provide access and equity in education for every san francisco unified student at every school day. this friday, our district students will create food for show at the san francisco unified school district food advisory showcase. the annual student nutrition services event will take place here at 555 franklin and will feature 18 fellow students from high schools across the district as they present ideas they have developed for building a students centered food system over the course of the semester. the sfa's goal is to integrate

school student voice in decisions made by our student attrition service and increase student satisfaction in overall interaction the school mill's programme. finally, all districts will be closed monday may 27th in commemoration of member day. that ends my announcement. >> item three, student delegate report. >> thank you. before we start our report, we would like to congratulate or super senior, mr. sal, for recognised as the mentor of the year of the sitting county of san francisco awarded by youth works. thank you for everything you do for us, mr. sal. [cheers and applause]

>> this is to mentor students over the summer break. thank you to our community-based organization for partnering up on this project. >> sac is hosting a leadership celebration ceremony on friday, may 31st to acknowledge dedications and hard works of student leaders in the past year. each student will receive 250 hours of community service time and an award certificate. each senior student in addition to what we mentioned will receive a sash. thank you to all student leaders for being great representatives for creating a better school community. >> last night student leaders in sac amended healing and hands resolution presented about the chinese association. the sac recognises our student's mental well-being. mental wellness is a crucial

factor of personal and academic success and we think students deserve mental health when they need it. thank you for your presentation. >> the student delegate candidate for the 2019-2020 school year kicked off their campaign at this year's annual youth summit in march. we now have the results. so mr. truett, would you like to come up?

we need a drum roll. congratulations betsy herrera. >> from mission high school! yes! [cheers and applause] >> this is the first time the board has ever had a delegate from mission high school. >> congratulations. >> special thank you to all candidates this year. you all did amazing campaign and i like your campaign.

may 282,019t 282,019th is theout 6:00 p.m. four award's obtain yet. the public council and anyone is welcome to attend our meetings. make a presentation or would like a copy of our up and coming sac agenda contact the supervisor mr. salvador lopez-barr. thank you. >> thank you, student delegates. regularecognition of designatio. >> we recommend the mission high boy's varsity soccer team for winning the first northern california title in the division 5 title. cheer cheer. [cheers and applause] >> they defeated hilmar sacred

heart cathedral and the would like to bring the principal up to introduce the time. >> thank you, dr. matthews and good evening to everyone. i really appreciate being here, and mostly i appreciate these gentlemen right here. they are amazing been so just real quickly, i've been doing this a long time and i've seen a lot of championship teams, but i have to say that you are and please don't tell every championship team this, but you are my favorite championship team by far. [ laughter ] >> there's a reason for it. first of all, they're lovely human beings but in the middle of the championship season, they won the championship game, went on to state championship and did beautifully and i can't remember the team from winners, california and two days later they were met for semifinals and a tragedy struck and it impacted

everyone one of you here and impacted our entire community. the night of the tragedy was the night of the oakland's game and they said we'll go and win it for the family that went through a terrible tragedy and not only did they win it but two days later, they went to hillmar and dedicated the game to the family and i think the goal within of , was winning but at the center of this was love and i am so proud of you all. [cheers and applause] >> with that, none of this could happen without our amazing coaching team lead by a mission graduate, coach mendosa. [cheers and applause]

>> this is my third year coaching. i enjoy being back and after going to college, i wanted to come back and being out there with the kids and they're not kids any more. but yeah, i think the first two years coaching, most of these guys were with me since they were sophomores and we were close to the championship but i think we got stuck in the semis but this year we're able to pull through and go to the city final and then, i had the opportunity to finally play in state and they showed everyone, you know, that the public schools in san francisco are able to compete with the best schools in all of northern california. and i just hope, you know, other

public schools can go out and do the same. [cheers and applause] >> good evening, everyone and the team from mission high school. it's an honor to be here tonight and i would like to say thank you for having us here. i would like to say thank you to my teammates. for me, it was an honor to play with them. allowing my teammates are from many different countries, and when we came, we were thinking of the free exam of the english test and my teammate didn't know english at all. we did not know one day we would be here at the championship voice and now we here. the championship was a dream at the beginning but the in end it came true.

go bears! [cheers and applause]

>> thank you mission varsity soccer's boy's team. >> the next recognition is our rave award. it's recognising all valuable employees. our first rave award winner tonight is from er taylor elementary school, josie verano is the literacy coach and esanina will be presented josie violenverano to us. (applause). >> good evening, commissioners

it is a great honor to present this award to josie. she is in her 23rd year as an employee of san francisco unified school district and 20 of the years were spent at sunset elementary. and she came to us with park pan and commitment to teach literacy and at every turn, she shows up as a courageous leader. she also brings students at the center of the work and makes sure we are data driven and makes sure that we make decisions in support of our teachers so that they can have an impact on our students. so it is a great honor to honor you today.

she is hard working and worked with the most challenging students and adjusts to the needs of the studentses. literally she'll follow a student on the yard and makes sure she is searching that students. that's how much i admire your resiliency. so i would like to present this award to you and again, we are very honoured, the students' families were honored to have you as a member of out team. [cheers and applause]

>> the final rave award for this evening is from hoover middle school. go hoover! my middle school. this is for a professional at

who'ver middle school, tanisha hudson and this will be presented by her principal, liz pierce. >> good evening, members of the board, superintendent matthews, my name is liz pierce and i'm the principal of the middle school and i'm so proud to introduce our valued staff member, tanisha hudson. she's been both students and stt her greatly and she tends to be the preferred allied adult for her students and most known for passionate commitment, not just in academics but in life. in the word of or nomination, she extends herself far beyond her duties to make sure her students feel loved and supported and she's care, want

hard-working and extremely collaborative and she has her own children in usfc and has her own sense of humor. tanisha, congra congratulations! [cheers and applause]

>> we're moving up an item j. so this is introduction of proposals and assignment to committee and we'll do the whole item together this is for the crowd for board member's proposal 195-14a1, healing and hands. creating school as faces of youth-driven healing, tran transformation and growth. we have a number of folks. when i call your name, make your way to the podium.

as we heard, there are so many people on this item, that you have two minutes each, but you don't need to take two minutes each. so lay wawu, jacque. (names being called). >> we have others but we'll start with these. >> good evening board of ed members. i am a lead organization and an intergenerational organization focusing on developing leaders, work-class, primarily chinese american youth and workers. cpa has worked on multiple levels throughout the city and

state, from state-wide legislation to city-wide policies, like hospital closures, ordinance 310 to serving on healthcare alliances like communities creating healthy alliances. i'm here today as an adult ally because i support young people leading their healing in their hands. healing studentses and students of colour are on the front lines of trauma. when students become agents at their own healing and well-being, our entire expect grows stronger. we know as educators, you see this, too. we also know that the systemic challenges are larger than any of us can solve by ourselves and we need the power of youth to gather their own data and to come up with their own solutions. so through our student-driven

data, we came up with the following recommendations, to increase wellness funding for staff, for social workers, to strengthen preventative resources, to build in-student bases so students can take part in making decisions and to implement training and to implement pier-lead coaching to support the students. our young people want to work with the adults in our schools and we believe we're all aligned in the same vision, asking you to uplift the student's voice and agency, so let's work together, listen to them, equip them with the tools and taking the lead for solutions in our schools. thank you. >> hi all, hi board of education. i'm karen ung from the galileo

academy and i have a lot of troubles with medical. a lot of studentmental health.ie helpful and know a lot of studentses who have benefited from them. sometimes i wonder about my peers who aren't as lucky as i to be admitted to these services, too don't have a friend to reach out. my friends are talking about their mental health in general. now there are barriers to access accessing the resources because all of the stigma around medical. homentalhealth? look at the healing in our hands and how it's been a youth-driven campaign. we want to involve community members like youth ge by givinge students the opportunity to be vocal. you give youth the chance to be leaders and making a support ienvironment. you give youth the idea that talking about struggles is ok

and getting help is important and is safe. you help youth to be successful and sustainable in their future, because the youth are the future. thank you. [cheers and applause] >> good evening. i'm the executive director of the community youth center of cyc. we founded in 1970 to, basically, more than 25 schools in the san francisco school district and currently, four our mental health or behavioral health component services, we saw 15 schools including elementary, middle school and high school in san francisco and this year, we add additional five schools. so many schools do not have social workers or councillors who can meet mental health needs of chinese studentses who might have adjustments, school orle family probleorfamily problem ot

disorder or other trauma-related conditions. so our team of 19 staff, as well as interns, most are bilingual and will go in a school to provide screening, consultation with parents and mental health service referrals. just this year we serve over 300 youth within the school district and up to 338 students, 160 do not have medicare. if we do not provide a seek and service services, they will not be able to receive any treatment and we'll only find them in crisis services. so i really, really urge all board members to stand behind it are healings in our hands campaign to support the recommendations of the campaign. thank you. [cheers and applause] >> good evening, superintendent,

commissioners, my name is laura markman, the president of the association of chinese teacher. wellnessaat gal ga galileo was l ahead of other districts. i have an adult group to work with if a student is struggling to deal with life and believe me, i do not take my wellness team for granted. i heavily rely on them as presence and expertise allows me to do my job. so i was shocked when i heard about this topic and presented to the board. i was skeptical and ready to defend my coworkers with every last breath but it's not about that. i heard about the statistics, how asian american studentses are drastically underutilizing services and how they want peer-to-peer services, how they

see wellness as disciplinary. last year i had four students suicidal and all four were chinese and all four didn't want to see a councillor, they wanted to see me which qualifies this data. so i met with them sometimes hours at a time and they ended up looking out for one another and they said, hey, you need to see jimmy, he had a rough night and these students are our frontline. so firsthand, i can say there's a stigma with chinese youth about mental health and mental health services. firsthand, we need more funding to continue to grow and be a model for what wellness nation wide should look and be like. all wellness centers should have therapists front and center because health cannot just come in english or adult, we have to look at this data and make decisions based on findings.

our student's lives depend on it. [cheers and applause] >> good evening, commissioners. i'm the president of the use nated educator educators of sano and when they brought this report to us, we knew we were seeing an important document. we brought this asking for support for this recommendation and the resolution and in both bodies, both govern governance s there was a support here. we know that everything we do has to be student cente centered when students say w they need their voice heard, we believe

them. so thank you for taking up this resolution tonight. >> good evening, commissioners and district staff. my name is kevin bogus, the political director at coleman advocates for children and youth and i'm here to ask you to support this resolution because students need access to support to be successful. for too long our school district has been segregated for those who have and those who don't and so often it's black and brown students who get left behind and pushed out of school. a lot is they don't have the support they need, whether it's life-planning, college planning, we don't have enough people at school sites to do what our students need. we ask you to support this policy change and find a way to utilize students and their expertise to support each other and make sure they can be successful and that they're well. i just want to also just say from coleman's perspective,

black and brown students are struggling in this school district and they aren't getting what they need. so hopefully this is the first step in a bunch of steps to take to address the disproportionalty that exists in our school district and makes sure everyone gets the type of education they need to have community in their schools. thank you so much. [cheers and applause] >> i'm here to support wellness center. we need wellness center for schools to help the kids even if they look like they don't need help. and that does not mean to support them. and we mostly need wellness centers for all kids struggling in the schools, especially african-american students and latino students because they're the ones struggling more, going

to the office and getting suspended and sometimes, it's not even their fault. they didn't do nothing. >> my name is daniel and i want to talk about how colored students are getting punished pushed away. neither gettinthey're not getti. i was sent to the principal's office because a teacher thought i was disrespecting her by sneezing. i thought it was disrespectful. the youth have a voice to make decisions. i would have sided to make the solution a different way and i

wanted wellness centers to come more out instead of the principal's office. i support this revolution and i hope you pass it. [cheers and applause] >> i'm with the coleman advocates making a change. at our schools we should feel safe and supported and have somewhere to talk according to race, language, et cetera. we should have a safe space where we can go when we're feeling down or upset. at my school, at this middle school, there's usually no one in the wellness center or it's usually closed. there's more finding more wellness centers than can culturally correspond to us and deal with our problem and then

we can feel safe. >> i'm here on behalf of the close--the-gap commission. i want to thank the youth from mojo and sedeer and podare. it's been moving and i want to thank you as a parent with young kids because i know they'll benefit from your leadership. the close-the-gap coalition is in the best fra decision of community schools and part of the tradition of sharing power, listening to stakeholders and in supporting their solutions, understanding that the people that are closest to the problem are closest to the solution. we support increasing resources to sites and building on existing programs, again guided

by stakeholders to best integrate and coordinate these resources and make sure they hit the students who need them most. most disagreeds ar ideas are no. but in high school in the '90s, we had peer-to-peer educators. we're already supporting each other -- i'm not young each other, but youth are already supporting each other and having peer-to-peer educators is powerful to meet where their needs are and connect the needs into -- connect students into the needs and supports that they need. so we want to ask you again to support this resolution to listen to our youth and thank you all for the changes you're making in our schools. [cheers and applause] >> before the next speaker,

marita gomez, jenny delapaz, michelle chan and shenbach, that's the last name and angela chow, ed lawrence, kylie hoffm hoffman. >> good evening. my name is michelle chan and i work with coleman advocates. i am also a mother of a 6-year-old attending kindergarten in the san francisco unified school district. my son is half chinese and half arab and i want to say today that racial discrimination in our society and in our schools is very real. i dealt with it growing up in schools. his father dealt with it growing up as an arab american and we fear our son will deal with these issues as he grows older.

in addition to that, i want to say that mental health issues in our children are very real. my son, after experiencing a traumatic life event, was diagnosed with adjustment disorder. he woke up in the nights for months screaming, waking up from nightmares. the healing process was a long road. he has finally been able to heal and gain a sense of belonging, but i want to say that we need some investments in our school, invest in racially, culturally inclusive schools that are supportive and address mental health needs of children and families to give our students and families a chance to succeed. thank you. [cheers and applause]

>> i'm emily and a union mojo leader and a senior at george washington high school. i'm here today because i deeply support our healing and hands campaign. i've seen too many friends struggle with mental health and struggle with reaching out for support because of the harmful stigma. my friends come to me about stress school, stress from family and other personal struggles. personally, i was struggling with my own mental health in the spring semester of any junior year and wanted to get help but every time i was in front of the wellness center, i kept making excuses and telling myself i would come back the next day. it was not until i found out a friend of mine received therapy at school that i got the courage to help myself. put so i made my appointment along with other followup appointments to go over the paperwork, receive parental consent and finally after a month, i started to see a therapist. put and whilwhile i was able toe

help, i know there are other barriers to accesses mental health resources. that is why i support this so we can all help build a healthy school environment where we can nurture each other and also ourselves, a recommendation that i would like to highlight in this is peer-to-peer counseling. i believe in this recommendation because this will prove how youth had the leadership skills to create support and healing spaces. it is a chance for us to prove that we are worth more than our test scores, that we care about one another and enough to build a stronger community. now is the moment for us to join forces with other students, teachers, parents and all supporters in this room. the board of education commission education and

superintendent vincent matthews, please stand with students of colour and others to work by these recommendation and show your public support by tweeting #ourhealinginourhands. thank you. [cheers and applause] >> my name is maritza gomez and i'm a parent of a second-grader. my son has mental health needs and just by experience from kindergarten until now, i know that the schools don't have that support that he needs. from being at the school supporting him all the time, i know that there are -- the schools need more wellness centres and they need time away from class where someone will understand what they need to help support them, someone they can trust, who they know.

they won't get in trouble or get suspended. for things that they can't control. thank you. >> hello. i'm a mother of three boys and growing up in a unified school district, i was one of those kids that actually needed a wellness center and when i was growing up, it wasn't there. sometimes you need somebody to speak with you for five minutes and growing up and being a part of my kid's education, i see how important it is for wellness centers to be there for children that have mental health issues, that have behavioral issues, suspensions are very high and i stan here as stand here asking g that this bill does pass. it's very, very important for children to get that five minutes, that two minutes, that

minute they need to speak. suicide is an epidemic out there and hopefully you can understand it's very important for the children to have somebody to hear them out and not blame them for what they don't know is wrong. thank you. [cheers and applause] (speaking foreign language).

>> so hi, everyone. my name is angela, i have two children, both of whom have gone through the district and i have been very active in school affairs at the schools that my kids have gone through. i'm very happy to see everyone and am representing the workers at cpa today. (speaking foreign language).

>> i really thing the young people who have put the proposal on the table today are brave to share with all of us what is in their hearts. i really want to also applaud the wellness centers for doing their best with the limited means that they do have right now. i actually have a daughter who has faced mental pressures from and through deep listening and also encouragement, we have walked out of there together.

but what i learn there was that when someone has mental pressures, the most important thing is for someone to hear them out and so, we know that their peers are the closest allies that they have. so that's why at my proposal here, specific about the peer coaching programme, i really think this will help studentses to sharstudents toshare freely . students face a myriad of pressures, both from society and family and really hope the district can prioritize this issue so that young children can give out their lives and confidence. thank you. >> i'm from iraq, the arab and resourcing center and part of the al youth group and we're here in solidarity with cpa. i'm a sophomore at the high

school and right now we experience high levels of bullying and islamaphobia. as an arab muslim woman, i see this and i experience this every since preschool. my friends have experienced this, too. this year, i did use our wellness resources, but for the longest time, i didn't know these existed. i personally have seen the benefits of having wellness staff and anything that strengthens this can support all our communities. i'm someone who tends to not stick with things but i get excited to be a part of this and i wouldn't have been a part of this youth programme without the wellness center at our school. we ask you today to vote in the favorite of strengthening our wellness services. thank you.

[cheers and applause] >> i feel like for many minorities, there's an automatic level of trust that comes when you talk with someone similar to you. this level of trust can help students be less hostile and more open. this will help councillors for the students' mental an emotional state and find the next steps to help the student. it is alsos remember to convey messages or events that cannot be easily translated into english. there are conversations or events in my life and in the lives of other minorities that would be hard to translate into english while still holding the same tone, mood or gravity. it suggests simply to say it in the native language. additionally, there are different societal norms, rules

and traditions that only people of the same culture can fully understandings. that is why i believe that our students will have better mental an emotional space if they can talk to a councillor and peers they can relate with and that is why we are here, to support the resolution to fight for cultural support and resource for our communities, specifically for the asian pacific communities and other expects of colour. thank you. >> hello board of education, students, i'm the director of the san francisco youth commission. i'm here on behalf of our 17 youth commissioners who are appointed by the board of supervisors and the mayor to advice them on the unmet needs of people in san francisco.

aon march 19, 2018, they presented to the youth commission and the commission voted to support our healing and our hands campaign. they want to enact implementationestimplementationt youth commissions. as someone in bureaucracy, it's not only about the resolution by implementation of it and we are excited to see that action move forward. thank you. thank you all for coming out. just stick around and you'll know the next step. this is section j. for first reading, our policy 3260, fees and charges, 3515.4,

recovery for property loss and damage, 6.190, and 9.192, athletic competition and 430 employment and we just heard the last one about our healing and hand. may i hear a motion and second to the board policies? i'm referring the policies to the rule's committee, the resolution we were hearing public comment about will be budget and crim lu curriculum m. so that's where it will go and take a little while to get through the whole process but thank you again. you may want to take this opportunity to leave because there will be more boring stuff

coming up and i know there's a lot of you here for this. thank you. so public comment on non-agenda items. we have a fair amount. when you hear your names, you'll have two minutes. (names called).

if you hear your name, please come to the podium. ok, welcome. >> good evening. , board, community. i am here as one of many from

the community of james lick middle school. [cheers and applause] because our community is concerned. we are concerned about the budget that was allocated to us for next year and what our administration chose to do with that. the middle school received funding as it did in the previous year. unfortunately, with the teacher's salary raise, it means that we have now the funding for three less full-time educators. our administrator without consulting, our ubc decided to take that budget and make those cuts to classroom teaching positions without any consultation without any governing body. the school site council was shown without told what it meant, without being told or

giving imput about what positions would be cut and did so without a quorum. we as a staff, as a ubc, as a parent community have all said that we not want these cuts to come from the classroom. we are worried because it takes a village to educate our children. it takes a community and we are a community. we are here tonight because james lick, unfortunately, we are tired of that of the er classification and we're tired of coming at the top in suspensions. we want to do more for our students and continually asked do more with less. james lick is here tonight and you will hear from students, from parents and from staff that are saying that we need the school board, we need you all as part of our community to help

us, one, rescind the budget that was already admitted by the administrator so we as a community can decide on our priorities and look at funding allocations that are designated as pitch schools or high potential schools, thank you. >> before you go on, i'm assuming that was mr. ariba and i foregoat to mens, please note public comment is an opportunity for the board to hear from the community on matters within the board's generation. jurisdiction. if you have a complaint about a district employee, submit to the district supervisor and as a reminder, board cools d rules ds to respond to questions during the comment time and if appropriate, they will ask the staff followup with speaks.

as members of the board of education, you should be fundraising money for our students and schools. budget cuts are not the way to help our school. the spanish emerging helps many kids. it's not easy being a middle-school teacher. the budget for next year make my teacher's jobs harder. teachers deserve a budget that supports them. students need an education, full class sizes, updated des textbo. the ones we have are old without updated information. this budget cut will not make