opportunities outside the district. two, if, in this is a big if, if there are seats available for qualified ninth graders, they should be able to fill seats of algebra, too. next, additionally, the policy provides no math opportunities and no access for any ninth grader who is ready to take a class higher than geometry. i know there won't be that many, but they have no options. thank you. [applause] >> hello, board members. i am a parent of three students from san francisco. i support a woman's right to abortion, to not carry an unwanted child. likewise, i support a woman's right to refuse to vaccinate her child. i have three young, vaccinated kids, one who is now autistic.

since vaccinations cause autism, but now i have some good news. u.c. davis, right over there, has just done a great m.r.i. study of children with excess food on the brain -- fluid on the brain. what it proved is babies with excess fluid on the brain, 100% of them, develop autism. we know what causes autism. i urge you all to do your homework, a google the u.c. davis m.r.i. study. see the evidence. don't listen to what the mass media says, they are working for big pharma. we need an end to this autism epidemic that is driving the cost up for the school district. we have more and more autistic kids in the school every year. black lives matter. four times more black students fail in the san francisco school

system. you report every year. four times more. why? there is a movie out called "fax ." it starts next week nationwide. it points out that four times more black students get autism from vaccinations then do every other student in the school system. i suppose i could mention it -- i should mention, i am also a dr. we have to stop this epidemic. one out of 45 boys now have autism in this country. it is getting worse every year. we must stop it. thank you. [applause] >> good evening, commissioners and employees. we are all, i am an active music teacher and i'm speaking at this

point in the meeting to address the issue of participatory budgeting on all levels, not only related to the curricular issues, but basically my point is i have worked at schools where that happened in the principal is very open to setting the staffing and the budget, and it results in a lot more efficiency. i really don't know of any process that erases article 25 at the teacher's contract, i have been encouraging you to think as you go forward when the -- with many of these goals that the people that i think know best how to allocate those resources are the people that are good doing the work. they have a lot of efficiency, could add a lot of efficiency to the process. so that's basically my point. it will be addressed in whatever

you do, but i would encourage you to develop a districtwide process, participatory budgeting , as well as at the cool school sites and encourage administrators to do that as well. thank you so much. >> thank you, those are the public comments that we have for items not on the agenda. section d., his advisory committee to the report. we have heard this. number twaddle under that item is are there any appointments to the advisory committee? >> i want to point alida fisher to the charter committee, please >> thank you. >> section e., consent calendar. we need a motion and they second >> so moved. >> second. >> we have no public comment. are there any items withdrawn?

>> none tonight. >> any items or mood for first reading by the board? any item severed by the board or the superintendent superintendent for discussion about tonight? seeing none, roll call, please. >> thank you. [roll call] >> that is six aye. >> thank you. vote on the board for separate consideration. there is none tonight. g., proposals for action. authorization to grant or deny the renewal petition for life learning e., -- academy. we need a report from the curriculum and program committee which met on may 20th. commissioner lopez?

>> we gave it a positive recommendation. >> thank you. deputy superintendent lea? >> yes, presenting this item is michael davis, director of policy and planning of charter schools. >> thank you. i am here to read the superintendent's recommendation regarding life learning academy charter renewal petition. the superintendent's proposal, 194-1 sp2 is an authorization to deny or approve the petition for life learning academy. pursuant to california education code, life learning academy inc. , submitted a petition for a renewal of life learning academy charter school to the san francisco unified school district and where as pursuant to california education code section 47605, et cetera, the

board of education of the district received the petition on april 9th, 2019, and whereas a district complied with all timelines for review and action on the petition as required by law, and whereas the board of education shall consider the level of public support for the charter school and shall review the petition and all information received with respect to the petition, including supporting documentation, and whereas the district superintendent and district staff have completed a review of the petition, and issued a report and recommendation through the board of education regarding that review, therefore be it resolved that the board of education shall grant the petition subject to the requirements set forth by law. more specifically, the superintendent's proposal, the board of education report on the superintendent's proposal states that the action proposed is that staff recommends approval of the renewal of the charter for life learning academy located at

6,518th street treasure island for five years beginning july 1 st, 2019 and june 30th, 2024 to serve approximately 50 students per year in grades nine through 12. >> thank you. we have public comment on the a-10. please address the podium. you have two minutes each. [reading names]. >> hello, good evening. thank you so much for allowing us to comment on this item number. my name is denise coleman, and i serve on the board of life learning academy. i am also the director of youth justice for huckleberry community assessment and

resource centre, better known as park. in my capacity as the director, we see about 250 kids a year. we are san francisco's diversion for respite kids. as we talk to our young people, at least 75% of our young people have issues or problems with their behavior, attendance, or grades in school. there is an even larger percentage of that 75% that feel of feel like they just don't fit in a traditional, standard, unified school, and when they give us that kind of information in the first place, then we turn to the life learning academy. i know that they specialize in young people that feel like they don't fit, and they engage them in a way that is warm, that is loving, that is teaching, that

gives them an environment, and a space where they want to learn, they want to try new things, and on top of the academic and the social learning component that they have inside the school, they are now providing, or very soon to start providing a residential component, because there are so many young people that come there for a school day , come home, and are incredibly discouraged, and don't want to come back to school the next day. they don't have to do that anymore. now they can go to school, go home across the street, have a good, hot meal, or find a good place to sleep, and they can come back to start the academic day all over again. thank you so much, and i support the charter for life learning academy. [applause] >> hello, everyone.

i am a senior at life learning academy, i will be graduating next week on tuesday. [applause] >> it is bittersweet to say that , yes, it is, but i'm pretty excited. i want to thank terry and everyone who have taken me to become a better person. i would like to tell you guys a little bit about what l.a. has done for me. i want you guys to see through my eyes how it can help other students, and i wish that the dormitory option was open for me when i first started because if that was open for me, i feel like my life would have skyrocketed 100 more% than it already has. i would really like to consider that we have -- i say we because we are a family, i don't think we are a school. i go there, and a call occult my home. i say, no, i'm just going to terry. i like to let you guys know that

we don't think of it as a school it is all family. we all know each other's names, we know everything about each other. we see the light in each other. we know we all came from something that is not extremely perfect. we all come from something that can be family related, it can be self related, it can be school related, but we all come from something, and we are all there to make ourselves better. that is what we see there with each other. i have learned to be very outspoken, and before i wouldn't be speaking to you guys, and i would really appreciate you guys for letting me come up here and speak about my school, and how the academics has really helped me. i think i have been a more intelligent person for life, and not just for school. i feel like i'm ready for life and i am ready to skyrocket off to my next adventure in life because of the life learning academy. thank you so much, and i hope you guys consider keeping us open, because we can excel in so

many other people's lives. thank you. [cheers and applause] >> good evening. my name is jamaal, i am the chief academic officer. i will give you a little review of some of things we do in terms of academics. our school, it combines academics and vocational and life skills. we are curriculum -- our curriculum provide students with an experiential learning environment where they can put to work what they are learning in the classroom right away. we have an integrated curriculum , so we do all of the traditional subjects. and we also do workforce development. this comes through in our classrooms every day. our steam class, not only do they learn about the design process and the tools that students need to implement such, things like being able to design and build a stage for our theater program, or greenhouse were greenhouse for our organic

garden, and so next year, our students will be using the greenhouse to conduct science experiments around soil biomes. they will be learning as they work in the garden. they will use that garden to produce food for folks who live on the island and selling things at the farmers' market. it is a really important way for them to apply what they are learning right away and to have a use for what they are doing immediately. denise hasn't told you all the things she is accomplished because of take much more time. she's poised to graduate and then she will take what she learned this the semester in our program, and she will be in the northern california carpenter's union union preapprenticeship program. [cheers and applause] >> by the end of summer, she will be getting hired as a union carpenter. [cheers and applause] >> she has a few steps to get there, but i have absolutely no doubt she will accomplish it. as you heard from her and her

poise, as well as many other students in our school, they are learning things that will last them for life. thank you for this opportunity and for improved -- approving our charter. [cheering] >> i go to life learning academy i transferred from galileo high school in san francisco. i played football all four years there. life learning academy has provided a lot of opportunities in the different things that you can do. they let me play football at their school when i transferred. i just really want to say thank you, you know, for everything. i thought that, i don't even know, i wasn't even planning on going to college.

they allowed me to become better before, i was just a student, and now i am more of a student athlete. i'm looking forward to going to college. [applause] >> i just want to keep be -- being able to be good and setting a good example for my little brother. i want to continue to be a positive influence to my community. in my school, we have a ton of support. we are not a school, we are more of the community. all of the students there, we know each other, the students there in our school are not walking around on our phones, we're talking to each other, communicating, and we have a lot of respect for each other. you look around our school, we don't charge around. all of the murals and the paintings you see, the students did that.

i live in treasure island, so i wish i had come to life learning academy right when i first started high school. galileo was pretty big, i felt that, i'm kind of nervous right now. >> you are doing great. >> thank you. [applause] >> good evening. my name is barbara, i am a second-generation parent and grandmother at life learning academy. i had six children who all graduated from the san francisco unified school district, but i had two children who graduated from life learning academy which have not -- which would not have been possible in the setting they were in. i had one daughter at balboa, and i had -- both of my kids were up elbow, and for some

reason, they were able to get off campus and do all this extra stuff. i had all these people calling me to come get them. so my son went into a deep depression. he didn't want to tell me that he was doing really bad in school and he was depressed. i found terry, and she saved both of my children's life. now i get to the point where i am and i have a grand -- i have a grandson who had his father murdered in 2012, a mother who is not in his life, but he had a strong background with my sister and i. i stand firm for him, and i stand firm for life learning academy and terry who was more like, i don't know what to describe her, my daughter what if she was here, but it is an awesome experience. i was really afraid for my grandson. he was getting in trouble all the time. he ended up at why p.c., and i said oh, my god, i feel like i was in a dream, the kind of kid he was, like why is he here?

it was a company he was keeping. he always wanted to be the class clown. it came down to, either i find somewhere safe or a better learning environment for you, or i might be visiting you in prison. so i called my sister, i said, hey, i have the perfect place for him. i know it works. it worked for two of my children who are now productive members of society. and my grandson, with everything he has on his shoulder, when he gets there, it is still like being home. life learning academy is built on love. it is education, and my grandson can cook. he likes to cook and i love it. thank you for your time. >> good evening, board. i graduated from the life learning academy in 2008. i was a kid that was on the wrong path very fast and having

life learning academy mean something in my life actually saved my life because from that point on, i learned how to live, i learned how to grow, i learned how to do so many things that i would not have been able to do before because i did not have much confidence. i was hanging around the wrong people. life learning academy showed me a family that i really didn't have, and they also showed me job skills, they showed me life skills, jamaal mentioned the greenhouse. i was one of the students that held built that greenhouse. to actually hear about that greenhouse -- when i got to the school, if you ever go out and visit, it is spectacular. when i got out there in 2005, it was too far. now, you know, the academy, and the board and the academy, and the garden, which has been around since 2005, 2006,

whenever i was there, and they also taught me job skills. i currently work at a tech nonprofit that supplies other nonprofits with tech services such as microsoft, adobe, a lot of the big tech giants. i worked directly -- i work directly with partners that wanted microsoft cloud services. none of that would have been possible without life learning academy guiding me in life. i thank you. [applause] >> hello. i have an 18-year-old. he attends life learning academy i came across -- i'm a single parent with three boys. terry has been absolutely wonderful. she is more than just a principal, she is family. i can call her up any time of the night, i can text her. she always responds to me.

my friend gets into galileo, and he started following -- falling behind. i got to the point where he didn't want to go to school. so they welcomed him in with open arms. it is like a. second home. even helped build the school, the housing on treasure island for the high school kids. he has a few certifications for construction. you got those before he turned 18. the school was a wonderful place i just want to thank terry, the staff, and he knows how to cook. they have a culinary class there it is nice. i go to work from 4:00 a.m. until 1230 in the morning. i don't have to cook. i can come home and dinner is done. he has grown so much, very responsible, a good role model

for his younger brother. i also have a 17-year-old. they have helped with college preparation, getting this applications and everything, and overall, it is just a good program. i want to thank terry and the rest of the staff. i really do appreciate you guys. [applause] >> all right. my name is sienna, i have a 17 -year-old at life learning academy, i have been an island resident for 15 years now. i am not only an island resident with my own 17-year-old child, i also have foster children from juvenile justice and child protective services. i really thought i was just the hardest parents. i really got this nipped in the bud until i ran into darren. i said oh, my god, i have to watch what i say because she will get me. this is what my daughter needed. my daughter wanted to leave i.c.a. so she could go to a

public school so she could experience prom. i allowed her to do that. she got over to galileo high school where she did not want to go back to school, had been -- had me running out of work, running out of court, i did not know what to do. i called terry. my godson was already there. there was no drama. she didn't allow that. she nipped it in the bud. terry took my baby to interviews , and she said, are you sure you want to make something of yourself? do you want to do something? and my baby broke down into tears, no, i'm not like that. my daughter is going to be moving into the dormitory. i will be nervous to let her go, but i have more kids. i still have two placements at home that are looking to move

into the dormitory. i actually have to say this here i have watched terry graduate a lot of students. i have been a resident there for 15 years, i have seen a lot of kids who weren't doing anything with their life go to terry's school, graduate, and make something of themselves. thank you. [applause] >> i think i just turned her off i'm terry dillane, the executive director of life learning academy. when i hear denis show mckay and allen, and all the kids after is what keeps me going for 20 years this is our 20th graduation. we are very excited, we are very proud. life learning academy is about support, love, accountability, and opportunity, and we value

our relationship with san francisco unified school district as part of our community, and part of our family. we are just a little smaller, but we find the kids that had become invisible, and we bring visibility to them and their lives and help them change. thank you, so much in advance for allowing us to continue and we will continue on hopefully for the next 20 years. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you for the public comment on this item. commissioners? >> i just wanted to say thank you to all the families who came out from treasure island and stayed tonight and just hearing testimony from students and parents. i really appreciate you being here and sharing your experience

thank you. >> i just want to echo and thank you. it is almost like we are at 9:00 or something, but they are still here. it just means that you care about the school and the work, so i just want to give big kudos to terry. she has been around for a while. i know she is about the business , because i was talking to my uncle and he is from the streets. i said, if anyone can fix this dude, that must be a miracle, but he said it with a lot of pride. he said it with conviction. it really meant a lot to them that that relationship was there the school has been there for a while. i wish i was in the school myself. god had other plans. i know you are have good people. and a good solid core group. with the kids, with the staff, i am seeing you good -- seeing you

do good work. i want to see you advocate for the school. thank you. >> commissioner norton? >> i want to thank you for all the work you do. i have been here now long enough to hear for a couple of renewals for you guys, and every time i hear such great stories. i think, you know, this school embodies what we aspire to for our charters. you do something that our traditional schools can do and you are succeeding. i really appreciate it. thank you. >> this and later on, those are the kind of charter schools that we appreciate and love. thank you so much for coming out thank you for your school, thank you for the work you do. i call it life-affirming academy , life loving academy. roll call.

>> thank you. [roll call] >> that is six aye. [applause] >> congratulations to you and to us. section h., special order of business, two action items. the first one is 195-28 f. '01, authorization to appropriate funds from the san francisco unified school district's rainy day reserve in an amount equal to $40 million. we need a motion and a second. >> so moved. >> second. >> thank you. deputy superintendent? >> thank you. chief financial officer is here

to present the item and i would ask to read the requested action into the record. >> thank you. good evening, commissioners. the requested action is the board of education of the san francisco unified school district approves a withdrawal from the school district rainy day reserve. the school reserve in an amount of $40 million, subject to the provisions of the charter language under proposition g. of november 20 -- 2003 as amended by voter approval of proposition see in november of 2014. proceeds will be used to support the cost of the salary add-ons provided to the districts bargaining unit in fiscal year 2018-2019 under the terms of the living wage for educators act which was passed in june 2018 by majority of the voters but which is currently facing a legal challenge.

if there are any questions. >> thank you. i don't see any speaker cards for this item. comments or questions from commissioners? seeing non, roll call. >> thank you. [roll call] >> that is five aye. >> the second item is the fifth amendment to contract between the district and the first student incorporated late law. we need a motion and a second for this item. >> so moved. >> second. >> thank you. once again, vice president sanchez. this item is a type of item that would typically have appeared on

the consent agenda, but given the magnitude of the requested action and some prior discussion that i think took place at the ad hoc meeting on student assignments, the chief of policy operations is here to give a presentation regarding transportation, which includes discussion of the requested action. if this is okay, commissioners, to go through this presentation and i would ask her to air on the side of brevity unless there are pieces that the commissioners would like to hear more about. thank you. >> thank you. good evening, commissioners. i will go through this quickly and then i'm happy to take time to answer any questions you might have. just a quick overview of the department's mission, vision,

and goals, and then this is 53, which is grant's, and the services that transportation provides and the cost, and so it shows that for students with i.e.p. we have about 202 buses going to 121 different schools, about 1500 students, and for general education, it is 29 buses, 43 schools, and about 2,000 students. we spent about 20 million for students with i.e.p., and about $4.3 million for general education and $325,000 for field trips. this is grant's for profile of the students who are receiving -- students who are receiving transportation services and it provides a racial ethnic breakdown and also the home zip code and the grade level, and for the home zip code, that is a colour-coded map. the greater the number of students there are, that is in

blue. you will see the majority of the students are receiving transportation services that live in the southeast. for general education, it just is a quick review of what the policy goals are for the general transportation services, and we are going to 36 elementary schools and seven middle schools , and the location of the schools is mapped there. first student is a transportation service provider. we have been contracting with them to provide drivers and buses for over 40 years. the current contract was approved by the board in june, 2015 for five years. we are not asking tonight for the board to renew the contract. it is not a contract renewal. this is a request to increase the not to exceed amount. we have our cost sense 2014 and

they was have increased by 32%. the cost drivers, what is driving up the cost have to do with the rates charged by students, the number buses needed to support the design by sfusd, and the number of driver hours. and with that, i mean, in some cases, the charges for three or four hour minimums, and if we are transporting to students that go across the bay to a nonpublic school, then obviously it could be a six hour -- it is longer hours. i am tired, i have to confess, i have jetlag, i just came back from a wedding in ireland, so i'm eight hours ahead of everybody right now. excludes -- excuse me. the number of buses and hours required is directly connected to the number of spaces and the bill schedule. that has an impact on how we are able to design routes and schedules. so this gives a sense of the different cost drivers.

if we look at the increase in rates, when we were down to bid in 2015, 2016, we just had one respondent, and that is for a student. the prices went up by 14%. they have gone up 6% since then, so this table shows you the three hour daily base rate based on the type of bus over the last few years. we have also seen an increase in the number of buses that we are using, and this has to do with the number of locations and the number of students with these receiving transportation services. so our request tonight as we are asking -- in june 2018, the board approved a one-year contract extension with first student for a not to exceed amount of $27.6 million. that was the amount that we had proposed. at that time, we hoped that we could reduce cost by $2.46 million. it was 30 million before.

it is really hard to predict when we put that forward in june and what the cost would be, because you never know how many students are going to have transportation written into their i.e.p. so what we have seen is an increase in the number of students were transportation -- transportation written into their i.e.p. we have ten more buses than we have last year and we have six more locations than we had last year. we also have the 4% increase. we have been making valiant efforts to try and reduce the cost of transportation. this is a list of some of the strategies that we are undertaking. strengthening the process and streamlining the systems. we launched a new process the beginning of may. we were about to drop a new r.f.p. for transportation services in august, so at another agenda meeting in june, we will be coming back, asking

the board to give a last year extension on the current contract with first student, and we are upgrading the software and we are using design routes and schedules, and we are hoping that that will get implemented this fall. starting in january of next year , will be using new software and as part of the byproduct of lawn thing -- launching the ted process, we will be designing hub routes. what that means is that current way it is done is if a student gets transportation added to their i.e.p., it is just transportation. it is just a box that says transportation, which meant you had to do curb to curb. that was the only option. the process that we just rolled out as a sequence of questions that you go through, and you can also check a variety of options. it could be that a student with an i.e.p. could be served with different routes or could be that they could have hubs

instead of curb to curb. this will give us an opportunity to design routes in a different way that will make these services for families and reduce the number of buses that are needed to provide the services. we are also hoping that once we have launched the software and done some other changes internally within the function of the transportation department , we will be able to embrace the process to look at schedules so we can align planning time -- planning time with schedules. we currently have 19 different start times. we have some schools, not all schools releasing early common planning time, and they do it on different days of different schedules. i think if we embraced a districtwide approach, we could provide a more equitable access to common planning time and also hopefully reduce the amount of buses that are needed to support the students. there are some of the strategies where we are currently embracing

to reduce cost. again, i will go back to slide eight because it is more adequately described. the question is, the board approves a budget, and an increase to the not to exceed amount for this current school year for transportation services because the costs are more than we predicted because we need more buses, we are serving more students with i.e.p., and this contract is through june, july 31st. it is through the end of july, so it is to cover summer school services. we want to make sure that the amount that is approved by the board providing services is adequate to cover students to the end of july. thank you. >> thank you. i don't see any public speaker cards on this item.

>> of course, i put in a card. anyway, i am chair of the community advisory committee for special education. i would just like to thank the transportation department and honor your leadership. there has been a lot of input from parents that have gone into working with the transportation group. we have done so many transportations and we are talking about getting our most complex children around the city in ways that launch them into the school day effectively, and it is no easy task. thank you for all your work, i know there's a lot of collaboration this year between special education and transportation, cost reduction and improvement, so thank you for that. one thing that i would love to

cs consider is by the time our kids get to high school, there can be a stigma around riding the big yellow bus, so i am wondering if there is a potential to consider some more even cost-effective actions other then the yellow buses, maybe maybe smaller, more efficient cars, something more nondescript that might help our students arrive without the stigma showing up on the yellow bus. lots of things to consider. we are happy to be a thought partner. thank you very much. thank you for the work. >> thank you. [applause] >> thank you for the presentation. most of my questions and inquiry is related to emissions and environmental impact of our services through students first, and the planning that i know the district has been thinking about

but with the extension of this, i would like to know more about our climate goals, but as a public health issue, knowing that the majority of our buses that we are employing now are also serving students with the highest amount of negative health outcomes like asthma, as an example. just a couple of questions, or if you would like to react to high level, what have been some of the plans or goals around working toward zero emissions of working with a vendor that has zero emissions. >> thank you, commissioner. we are actually factoring that in. we are in the process of writing the r.f.p. that we will drop in august, and we are hoping to come back to the board by december of next year with a new contract. we are looking in june and it is a renewal of the existing contracts that we can go out to bid.

we want to have a designer bid that is really competitive. there will be points based on our zero emission goals, and we are factoring into it. it will be one of the criteria that will be used to determine which vendor is awarded a contract. >> for example, i know that this is part of education and inquiry around -- i know, for example, students have various certification. i was curious, as i was glancing through it, i know some are our neighbours and they are part of a certification. maybe you can share and shed any light or information to my colleagues to understand what that process might look like. >> yes. i can follow up and send some information about the current contract with the parameters and expectations are, and then i can also share information about what we are putting into the new

r.f.p. that we are going out to bid with. >> maybe you can share. has there been any areas of challenges, or as we are looking to embrace a much more, faster plan around zero emissions, anything that has come up and some of the planning processes are discussions? >> there is a particular grant that is coming out in a year or two that we are looking at that allows companies -- monies for companies to replace their fleet we are debating that and seeing how that intersects with our r.f.p. process. [please stand by]

>> my high school experience has been very unique because of the diverse community that's been cultivated here in the city. i want to give a special shout out to mr. chow since the first day i stepped into a meeting. mr. chow, for your endless stories and your creative store, and mr. quan for your unconditional friendship. and of course, i want to thank galahad for being such an inspiring leader. i'm so happy to have had you by my side this year.

and to the group of students at sfgov. from fund raising to homeless youth to marching for our lives, there's no other team i'd rather do it with. and lastly, my parents and friends for keeping me grounded. this is a bittersweet farewell, because i'm sad to leave, but i hope to see what next year has in store. i hope to bring everything with me to socal and chapman university, and i want to come by to see everybody later. >> thank you. f.y.i. is actually asked us if

after the midnight clock chimes, it will end the end of four years that i came to this country. so four years ago, i came to this country, barely knowing english. back in 2015, if i attended a board meeting, i would not understand everything, nor would i have the bravery to speak or even sit on the dais. but now, i'm here as a board member and i'm saying good-bye in a way. i want to say thank you to everybody who helped me there. it's, like, clarice. you are, like, my board body, and it would not be the same

without you. like, how do i say? you're the one who made this journey, and i really appreciate you, and i hope you all the best in chapman. and also, i would like to appreciate my s.a.c. teachers. i never feel old in your office. you three are the real mush rooms in the palace, and in case you don't know what mush rooms are, they are fun guy. i used to joke all the time, it worked all the time. but whatever. and i really appreciate a lot of the journeys and yeah, experience i had on this board. and as a student, a recent immigrant and newcomer and also proud stanford cardinal, i

really want to have my last words to the board and say that for those students who are learning english as their second, third, or fourth language, to take advantage of all the opportunities in your surroundings. they're not only going to drive you to success academically, but they're going to reward you serendipity, and that's the fruit that quenches all our thirst. oh, one other thing. can we keep our name plates? and we will come back as a commissioner. >> you never know. any other commissioners want to say anything? commissioner norton? >> so i usually say something each year when the student delegates leave, and this year, you broke me up.

it is such a privilege to serve alongside students, and all the best to you both. i don't know why i'm really emotional, but congratulations to you, and i really look forward to seeing what you do in the future. >> i think that sums it up for us. if you'd like to give us hugs, you may, but we're going to say good-bye -- well, wait, wait. just some elbows...

see? see what happens? all right, you guys. take care. now back to the item at hand. commissioner lopez? >> hello. i'm also tired, so i can understand what you're going through. i was wondering about the experiences of students on these buses, and i've heard many, many examples of experiences coming to and from school. but i didn't hear that in this presentation, so i'm not sure if you can talk to me a little bit about -- i mean, even the hiring process, who you're getting to be in these spaces and how you're supporting students when they're coming to school.

a lot of times, it impacts their day so much they enter the classroom not wanting to learn, and many of them don't feel safe? so if there's any information about those experiences, i'd like to learn about it. >> i think there's a lot of room for growth. i think that we're continuously trying to improve the experience, and it's going to be a lot in the r.f.p. process, thinking about the student experience. so is it documented in any way -- in any way when someone has a bad experience coming to school? it -- there are incident

reports if there are issues that are written up, and it's something that we work with schools, and -- on, so -- >> well, it would be really great. so the schools would be the ones, like, sharing that information because we don't have -- i imagine we don't have a choice in who is -- right, who is managing the buses, who's driving them, but we can share those experiences to give them back to the employees because they're ultimately the ones that have to deal with the problems or impacting students' experiences. so if that can begin some way, it's really important because it's to the point where students don't want to come to school because of it?

students don't want to learn, they don't feel safe, and these are our students that need the most support, you know what i'm sayin saying? >> yeah. we rolled out a form on-line that students can fill out that way, and then, there's a whole series of protocols in the event that there's an incident that needs to be dressed. so those are the two things that spring to mind immediately? so yes, we do have reports that need to be filled out by the driver. we do have area supervisors that we send out. we do have information about kind of concerns that we're working on that we work with the vendor on all the time to try and improve service, and then, we put on the web that something anyone -- any teacher or parent or student can fill out and send back information. >> and my last question, do you know if drivers have the

ability to decline providing services for students? is that a right that they have? >> so one of the things is the company does a bidding process at the beginning of the school year where they bid out all the routes, and it's a union process, so it's based on seniority, and so drivers do select that -- their routes through that process, but then, they're supposed to stay on their routes for the entire school year. >> okay. just so it's known, students have said they don't want to provide service or allow a student on the bus. that is also happening. >> that is not appropriate and shouldn't be happening, and you should notify us straightaway

if anything like that happens so we can follow up. >> you haven't been notified of anything like that? >> i mean, on an ongoing daily basis, we're dealing with issues, so -- >> okay. thanks. >> yeah. >> commissioner norton? >> so we talked a little bit about this at the last committee meeting. i think what i would be really, really interested in as we put out the r.f.p. and contemplate changing our school bus service is who's riding the bus? i mean, we know the students with i.e.p. that are riding the bus, but we don't know special ed students. i think it would be important to know. we heard in the assignment committee that something like 57% of families are driving their kids to school, so you know, it's such a -- it's such a major expense, and you know, it's something that we have

considered to be an important actual in integrative schools, so knowing who we're attracting on those routes would be helpful. i don't know if we have a way to collect that. >> so we're absolutely building that into the r.f.p. process for the next contract when we go out, knowing who's riding the bus. we did a snapshot once. you know, the schools know who's riding the bus, and we know the counts, so we can, with the assistance of schoolteachers and principles do period -- principals do periodic kind of snapshots of who's riding the bus. but otherwise with the general ed, it's like a muni route. students get on, students get off, and the drivers get to

know them. we don't have a mechanism for tracking who's actually on the bus on a daily basis, and we want to change that, and we're going to build that into the r.f.p. that we're dropping in april -- in august. >> just also an understanding of, you know, what stops are the most important stops and which stops do -- you know, how to manage our routes maybe a little bit better. >> commissioner moliga? >> my questions are really around process and who has the responsibility of, like, monitoring behaviors and stuff on the bus. like, how does that work?

is that with the behavior