>> we seem to have a quorum. the regular board of the meeting of the san francisco unified school district for october 20, 2020, is now called to order. roll call please. >> clerk: thank you. [roll call] thank you.

>> president sanchez: so we're missing miss norton -- >> clerk: moliga. >> president sanchez: welcome to our staff and our families and our students particularly with us. staff leaders and everybody and to my colleagues on the board. this is going to be quite a long meeting. most likely quite emotional at times and i'm going to just make the case to the quorum that we need to treat each other with respect. we're not going to tolerate folks talking over other people, particularly our student

delegates which happened last week, and so, again, we expect a quorum though we are discussing issues, there's a lot of emotion in this. and i may have to make that plea more than once, but, again, welcome, everybody. section a is general information. and b is our opening items approval of the board minutes for october 6, 2020. and we need a motion and a second. >> so moved. >> second. >> thank you. any corrections? all right. roll call. >> clerk: thank you. [roll call] okay that's five ayes. >> president sanchez: thank you.

two is the superintendent's report. dr. matthews. >> thank you, president sanchez. before i begin my -- my remarks though, and the things that are happening, i wanted to follow your comments with just wanted to say to especially our student board members, as president sanchez just said, one of the things that we strive for is the quorum. this is the board's meeting done in a public setting and even in that public setting there should still be a level of respect in the ways that we treat each other. one of the things that i wanted to say is as staff we do our best to do everything that we can to make sure that is happening and with that being said i wanted to apologize to the last meeting what happened to you siobhan, what happened

should not have happened. how we'll handle public comment going forward, my hope is that the public recognizes this as well as you should know that we're doing everything to make sure that you -- not only you but everyone in this industry is being treated with respect. but i wanted to personally apologize to you for what happened at the last meeting. that should not have happened and we will do our best to make sure that it does not happen again. with that, i want to begin by saying happy filipino-american history month. our district celebrates by highlighting the diversity, brilliance and the beauty of the filipino x community, both in their countries of origin but particularly in the diaspora and their presence here in san francisco. there is a resource guide on our district website, and it provides links to literature, lessons, content, events and other resources to celebrate the

rich history, the contribution and everything that is amazing regarding our filipino x heritage and presence. april borleo escobar is a fifth grader at an elementary school and a poet and athlete with the american scores bay area program who has won first place in the national poetry slam. she will receive her prize at a surprise live event from her home in the bayview. april is one of three finalists from san francisco to compete in the national poetry slam that draws poets from san francisco, seattle, vancouver, los angeles, new york, boston, st. louis, washington, d.c., cleveland, milwaukee and chicago. isabelle tam and ryan hamm were

the other two san francisco finalists. more than 13,500 young poet athletes competed in the event, representing 311 schools. april was honored for her powerful words and passionate poetry slam performance. the three san francisco poets secured their spots in the national competition after performing in the first annual scores west coast poetly slam in 2019. congratulations to our talented student poet. the san francisco unified school district pre-k through 12th grade virtual enrollment fair is from november 6-13th. if you have a child starting kindergarten, pre-kindergarten and kindergarten and middle school or high school next year you're encouraged to attend this event. and talking to principals and other staff to learn how to apply and to watch videos about

each school. all conveniently online. you can also attend workshops to learn about the enrollment process and how to apply for special education services and much, much more. due to shelter in place, the enrollment fair will take place online using zoom, e.u. tube live and google -- e.u. tube live and google meet. and you can join with a laptop or cellphone. and you can call in to participate in audio mode. the registration is not required but strongly encouraged so we can plan for the best experience for your family. if you require language interpretation, american sign language or closed captioning, or you want to submit questions to the schools, town halls and events, you must register by november 3rd. and, finally, this is the last board meeting before election day, which is now only two weeks away. i want to remind everyone one

last time to make a plan to vote and vote early. this means thinking through this week whether you will vote by mail, vote in person early, or vote in person on election day. if you have already voted, congratulations, and great job. but now please tell your family and friends to make a plan to vote. remember to look for two education funding measures on the ballot. san franciscans will vote on proposition j, a local measure which addresses the illegal loopholes to continue to provide funds to the sfsub, and proposition 15, a state measure including increased revenue for public education and other services. each of these measures would generate tens of millions of dollars for san francisco public schools. please help to spread the word to prop j and prop 15 on the ballot, find them and vote on them. i want to thank you all. i want to remind those of you who are on this call to mute your mics and i want to also let

president sanchez know that that is the end of my remarks. >> president sanchez: thank you, dr. matthews. and also april who won the poetlpoetry slam final is goinge with us in our next meeting. so that will be a treat. now student delegates report. >> thank you, president sanchez. thank you, everyone. to start off, the business discussion, first we have the vote 16 resolution, and the student leaders affirmed their student voice in support of the passage of vote 16. we will continue to collaborate and support the youth commission to lower the voting age in s.s. when and where our s.s.c. meeting yesterday, we would like to thank all of our youth leaders, youth commission, mr. sal and mr. kwan for

providing more info about vote 16. >> our second topic is youth preregistration. kenny may presented on how to effectively facilitate a virtual voter registration for our youth communities. we aim to have a district-wide voter registration drive. as a council we are aiming to promote our student peers to vote and learn new ways to be engaged. this presentation was this last monday during our council meeting. the s.a.c. will continue to push out this valuable information to our student bodies. and the s.a.c. would like to thank kenny may for presenting to our team and helping us to spread the word about pre-registration. >> third, we have the focus group. the topic low emissions policy change. s.a.c. cabinet team, student delegates, all collaborated with the support of the representatives and worked together to get feed back about students' opinions on the law

2021-2022 policy change. we also discussed with them their opinions and what they have been hearing through their classroom debates and conversations. this all happened after s.a.c. meeting yesterday evening. thank you to the student association and the students for sharing this survey so rapidly. >> our next meeting is november 2nd at 3:00 p.m. via the s.a.c. zoom meeting. s.a.c. is a public council and anyone is welcome to our meetings. if you would like to attend, make a presentation or would like a copy of the up-and-coming agenda contact our s.a.c. supervisor mr. salvador lópez-bar, and that concludes the student delegate report. >> president sanchez: thank you so much to our student delegates. the number four is the recognition and resolutions and accommodations, none today. and five, recognizing all valuable employees awards.

superintendent matthews? >> thank you, president sanchez. this evening we have two rave awards, one is a distinguished service award. and the second one is our special service award. the first distinguished service award is presented to yasmir nava, a special education teacher at sanchez elementary school and presenting this award is the principal of sanchez, ann morin. miss morin? >> hi, good afternoon. thank you for having me. and it is my great pleasure and honor as the proud, proud principal of sanchez elementary school to announce the recipient miss yasmin nova. she represents the best that the teaching profession has to offer. she's collaborative, fiercely committed to access for and the representation of each and every student. a strong advocate for students and family, often neglected by the system, and deeply committed to continuous improvement and

professional growth. over the past 10 years, miss yasmim nova has been a para-educator and a third grade bilingual spanish pathway teacher. she has worked academically and socially makes sanchez a better place to be, not only for her students but for all students, families and staff members. i will never forget my pride in seeing one of miss yasir's students take the stage at a promotion ceremony several years ago. the student was a person functionally non-verbal and extremely limited in mobility. during his short time with miss yasmir and the team had developed a system for communication that allowed him to type a written contribution, and to take to the stage with confidence and sharing had writing with his voice output on a communication device.

this moment was moving to the student and his family and to his school support team, of course, but also broke down barriers for our whole school community. it reminded us that perceptions held are part of a culture and limiting not just to folks with disabilities, but to all of us. this is a big example that illustrates the little things that miss yasmir does to spread inclusion, and to break down stereotypes. she works with colleagues and special education and general education, with the students and families, it's a gift to the sanchez community for which we are all grateful. yasmir, congratulations, and thank you for all that you do for the district and for our students and for our families. >> thank you, principal ann. i want to really appreciate ann because she's seen me grow throughout these last 10 years. i officially have spend a third of my life with sfsub, and i

processed that recently. and i want to thank my wife who is also a special ed teacher who constantly pushes me and is always there to reflect and challenge me and my amazing grade level team who, you know, i spend every day planning with and we're always, you know, trying to improve ourselves so that we can then support our students in the best way that we can. and my family, of course, when has always been there for me. thank you, everyone, i appreciate your time and full of appreciation. >> president sanchez: congratulations. >> president sanchez, our second award winner is a service award to kaitlyn bowe, a social worker at clairton elementary school. and it's presented by her principal peter van court. mr. van court? >> thank you, superintendent matthews.

it's my honor as principal to announce this rave award for kaitlyn, and it's especially happy for yasmin, because i have worked with her. kaitlyn is instrumental clairton in creating a positive school culture that includes organizing the black student union, pride club, and parent education night and delivering the curriculum to all classes at clairton while reminding all of us of the importance of being safe, responsible, and respectful and kind. with endless energy, kate mobilized volunteers to do outreach to all of the clairon and the 560 families making sure that they knew that we were concerned about them and ready to help, even before school started. these are qualities that we applaud and it's the reason that kate received multiple recommendations to be our rave recipient. congratulations, kate, and thank you for all that you do for

clairendon and the district and the school and families. >> thank you, peter, and thank you for the recognition, i appreciate it. i think that i would be remiss if i didn't mention that it's a little bit odd to receive this award right now because i feel like a lot of the things that us social workers do, we can't actually do right now. and our job has very much turned into trying to figure out internet and trying to get a coveted learning hub spot for many of our students who need so much more. but despite all of that, i am constantly motivated and impressed by our school community. i'm so grateful for them. as peter mentioned, our parents and staff and all adults involved have just been so supportive through distance learning. and also i'm so appreciative and inspired by the amazing work that school health and other official workers in the district are doing. i couldn't do the work that i do

without them so i'm appreciative of them. and i'm really, really grateful for the wonderful students in san francisco unified. thank you, student delegates for being here. your activism is so important and i hope that we can all continue to work together to be active participants in what i hope is a better future going first. so, thank you, everybody. >> president sanchez: thank you. and congratulations to you as well. thank you for your service and dedication, both of you, to all of our students and families in san francisco unified school district. i love our rave awards. so we'll have a couple of items out of order. i did tell board members that earlier today. but we're going to have -- we're going to move up to item f, the second item under f that is the recognition of black studies. that goes first and then to the proposal from the superintendent and then hear from apac. i apologize, i know that we

reached out to the members earlier today and i know that it's a hardship to move you. so i'll put that out there. so let's move to item f, bring it to the fore. and commissioner cook, we need you to read it into the record. and then we are -- we'll go to public comment and then the board comment and a vote. and just so people know, it was -- this was heard in the committee of the whole last tuesday and we did have some good commentary discussion, and so i don't know how many folks are here to speak on this item but prepare yourself if you are. okay, so unmute yourself.

>> commissioner cook: thank you. it's a big moment. i need to unmute. so resolution number 202852 in support of creating a black studies to honor black lives and fully represents the contribution of black people in global society and advances the black liberation for black scholars in san francisco unified school district. whereas the school district has for the past 40 years introduced various initiatives and are closing the opportunity gap between african american students and their white and asian counterparts and whereas despite these various attempts ranging from developing the community school and extreme schools and the gap in english language arts and mathematics and standardized testing outcomes between racial groups has not narrowed whatsoever. and whereas the central focus of

american education system and other american institutions that should frame the history of black people in american, either enslaved or discriminated against or suffering under the social ills of poor health, poverty, and over incarceration. and whereas the broader impact of the african and (indiscernible) and astrology that forms much of the western civilization has never been sufficiently taught to students in traditional public schools, and whereas the contributions of black americans to american society have been limited to stories of dr. martin leught are king jr. -- luther king jr., and oftentimes shared in a one-time celebration in black history month. and the history of black people in san francisco is never taught in school from the role of a black man founding the san

francisco unified school district, to sfsud paying teachers less to work in colored schools, to the great migration of southern blacks to the bay area to support the world war ii effort, to the racist lending and hiring policies of the federal, state and the local government to how urban renewal policies removed black residents from their homes. and whereas given the long and varied history of the black community and the wider impact of the african innovation and historic narrative, needs to be detailed specifically to the black community in the schools that stand alone from the more multicultural history that is taught in ethnic studies. and where ise wherewhereas therl myth and misconception that elevating individual achievement of black americans alone can translate into a broader inspiration and motivation to achieve -- to achieve for black

students and whereas the students of san francisco in the school district have directly reported the value of knowing a full history of black people in order to achieve a stronger sense of self, and a deeper understanding of american history, and its contradictions. and increased engagement in their education. and whereas the san francisco board of education has passed previous resolutions to support culturally responsive instruction and curriculum for african american students, including the 2014 resolution to institutionalize ethnic studies, and the 2015 resolution to support and targeted programming for african american students, and the 2019 equity studies resolution centering on decolonizing the anti-oppressive prod gojy and the framework for teaching students. and whereas the 2016 stanford

graduate study looked at the equity studies and boosted attendance and academic reform for students at risk of dropping out of high school and a series of working papers published by the national bureau of economic research shows that just one black teacher, not only lowers the black students' high school dropout rates and increases their desire to go to college, but also can make them more likely to enroll in college. and whereas a number of practitioners and programs and school districts that have implemented the elements of a black study framework can be consulted for guidance, including but not limited to, the san francisco state universities african studies department, and black for the future, the african american achievement and leadership initiative, and the san francisco human rights commission, mega-black, san francisco naacp, and the boys

and girls club and the black school ed eightors and the san francisco black-led organizations coalition meadows livingstone school, and the eli odie, and the los angeles unified school district, and the philadelphia schools, and (indiscernible) and john simpleton. therefore, be it resolved that the san francisco board of education approves and supports the development of a black studies framework and curriculum that provides the opportunity for every student to enroll in a black studies class by year 2022-2023. and be it further resolved that the black studies curriculum has an approved courses for high

schools and required units -- require unit plans for grades pk through a, and introduce the students to the concept of racializing and african and african american history and equity and the system of immigration. and the committee to be grounded in the following principles -- developing, understanding of principles of humanization to extend black knowledge and love of self, and black felt determination, by collective process that elevates the local black voices to have a framework and curriculum that highlights the black san francisco experience. exploration of the racist ideas and policies balanced with the presentation of anti-racist society policies, including biological anti-racism, ethnic anti-racism, and cultural,

behavioral, color, class, gender and queer anti-racism. increasing the black employment and black contracts through the development and the implementation of this curriculum including black administrators and black teachers, and consultants and professionals and other professions. and access to black study courses because it is often deceptive telling of the history. be it further resolved that sfsud adopts the following goals -- in grades pk through 5, students form a sense of pride for the accomplishments of black people in global society and their local communities. students identify examples of black civilizations that have contributed to the major academic disciplines, building and stewarding well and governing the ancient and contemporary societies.

students reason that their culture, values and appearance and other characteristics are not superior to another person's based on race and grades 6-8, students complete an in-depth study of subsaharan african countries and their legacies. and analyze the role of black leaders, they have played in challenging racist policies and ideas throughout history. in grades nine through 12, the students elevate how racist policies and ideas led to the rise of the transatlantic slave trade. the students assess the enslaved africans' contribution to the united states during slavery and during the civil war. the students hypothesize how reconstruction is interpreted and if interrupted could have had reduced disparities in the united states. and students analyze every resistance effort led by black people in the united states in

the diaspora and how it contributed to the progress in society. let it be resolved that the black studies curriculum includes at least three a courses, one on african history, culture and geographies, and one on african studies, and another on african american history and african resistance -- african american resistance. be it further resolved that this framework will include at least one b course framed focused on classic and modern african, african american, and literature. and be it further resolved that the framework includes at least one g course, that is youth driven and curriculum development implementation. and be it further resolved that san francisco board of education recommends the superintendent to secure funding for this

expansion, including the funding of one f.t.e. devoted to overseeing the sequence development of the curriculum. and consultants that exist in the curriculum already, and to have the implementation and conduct the observation of curriculum on sfsud campuses. and one f.t.e. data analysis to monitor the outcomes from the courses. and the budget of professional development for ongoing learning for teachers. and be if further resolved -- and further be resolved that the board of education recommends that the superintendent to secure participation from the san francisco state university african studies department, and in partnership to sit in on a black studies advisory committee that can inform curriculum designed and course evaluation. be it further resolved that the board of education recommends that the superintendent to secure the participation from

long-standing organizations, focused on the advancing of the black community, such as the human rights commission, and the san francisco naacp, and mega-black, the san francisco coalition, and further be it resolved that the board of education recommends the superintendent to collaborate with the human rights commission to convene the community-based organizations and practitioners interested in contributing to the framework as a way to ensure that local expertise is sought and curriculum development and delivery and be it further resolved that the board of education recommends that the superintendent to raise a black studies fund to fully support this effort, including but not limited to the curriculum development, f.t.e.s to administer the program, and teacher f.t.e.s to reach the curriculum. such as school size did not need to draw resources from the site allocated, but just to implement

the black studies curriculum. further be it resolved that the black studies fund will allocate no less than $15 million annually to the development and the implementation of the black studies curriculum and at least 80% of the fund will go directly to the site-based cost of implementation, including teachers, professional development, and supplies. and 20% of the fund will go to administrative support for the black studies curriculum from central office. and be it further resolved that the superintendent explore, the philanthropic resource in the special city and state funding and the ballot measures to generate a black studies month. >> president sanchez: thank you, commissioner cook. we can open it up to public comment at this time.

if you have public comment, please raise your hand. if you have a comment on this item. mr. steele will determine how many -- how much time we allot to this item for public comment. >> clerk: thank you, president sanchez. there are 12 or 13 so far, president sanchez. >> president sanchez: so a half-hour. a two-minute speech. >> clerk: two-minute speech? all right. hello miss marshall?

>> caller: hello. good afternoon, everyone, to president sanchez and vice president lópez and board members, and our belovedether. i'm the president of the alliance of black school educators. what a momentous day. what a gorgeous day. thank you so much, commissioner cook, the favorite son of san francisco. and our favorite son for providing this resolution. we applaud you. it's about time. we thank you for the intent. we thank you for the collaboration with various groups, including the alliance of black school educators and the naacp. this will benefit all students in san francisco, but particularly african american students. when a student can sit in their classroom, an african american boy or girl from k-12, and see themselves in our history books and to have a teacher talk about african american culture, how

proud they will be. so thank you so much. we look forward to the implementation and we look forward to the assistance. thank you. >> clerk: hello, meredith? >> caller: hi, i am meredith osbourne, a parent of two sfsud students and i'm also an sfsud graduate. i think this is a wonderful idea, and great the work that has been spent on it, but i am very disturbed that the schools have not yet reopened. that there's no plan to reopen and there's no sense of urgency on this board or in the district about reopening. until the schools reopen, until there's a plan, until there is real sense of urgency, the parents are continuing to suffer, and children are suffering, and it seems wholly

inappropriate to be spending valuable time and energy on anything -- anything than getting our students back to school. thank you. >> clerk: i want to remind the public that the comments on this item, we have time to listen to public comment on the superintendent presents the dashboard. so if you're going to comment on other than this comment, please refrain. i mean, other than this item, please refrain until that time. >> president sanchez: thank you. >> clerk: hello, brandy? hellohello, brandy? hello, michelle? >> caller: hi, yes, good afternoon. can you hear me. >> clerk: we can, go ahead.

>> caller: thank you. my naish name is michelle, and i'm the parent of two former sfsud students and a coordinator for the parent advisory student to the board of ed. we stand in support of the black studies resolution and the explicit work of the anti-racist that is worked into all aspects of the work that we do with the students and with each other at this time. we also strongly encourage the inclusion of parents, parent leaders, and especially the members of the pan advisory council. on the advisory body for the implementation of this resolution. again, thank you very much for this important work. i yield the remainder of my time. >> clerk: thank you. hello, pilar? >> caller: yes, can you hear me? >> clerk: we can. go ahead. >> caller: i represent the latin american teachers association,

l.a.t.a., and we're thrilled with this well developed resolution and we look forward to seeing it implemented for all students in sfsud. i yield my time. >> clerk: thank you. hello, susan? >> caller: yes, thank you, mr. steele. this is susan solomon, the president of united educators of san francisco. also saying many, many thanks for this wonderful, wonderful resolution. it's never the wrong time to affirm the many, many contributions of black americans and black people in the world. so thank you so much. and just as a little aside, i taught art and math at the meadows school many years ago. it's a great model for what we want to do. and the specificity of the resolution i think is very

helpful as it is the sfsud members who will carry out a lot of this work, please let us know anything and everything that we can do to make this a reality. thank you so much. >> clerk: thank you. hello, andrew? >> caller: hello, how are you? >> clerk: good, go ahead. >> caller: i would like to say that i appreciate the focus on african civilizations. i think that a lot of americans, regardless of race, when they think of black people they probably just think of black americans. so i think that it is important in our world history classes to teach a little more about african civilization. i do have one concern. they call these classes anti-racist courses and i hope that is not misleading. we live in a big and diverse planet. and racist is not just an anti-black american thing. another concern that i have is this is for black curriculum in

our schools but i hope that it won't be disproportionately putting classes on like american history or african history in our schools. that's one question that i have. but that's all. thank you for your time. >> clerk: thank you. hello, diane. >> caller: hello. can you hear me? >> clerk: we can, go ahead. >> caller: great, great. thank you. hello commissioners and student delegates and central office staff and our superintendent matthew. my name is diane gray and i am the program director for 100% college prep. we partner with a number of schools in the district. i'm also a member of the san francisco alliance of black school educators and the co-lead for the mega-black education equity sub-committee.

and we are certainly in support of this resolution as it speaks to the integration of black history culture, across all academic subjects and teaching black history and culturally responsive ways, not just one month out of the year, but throughout the school year. and across, again -- i can't say this strongly -- across all academic subjects. this is not just a set aside class, this is showing up in science. this is showing up in math. this is showing up in english. so we want to make sure that this happens. and thank you to commissioner cook for presenting this resolution. it was also one of our policy recommendations under the mega-black education equity, the same information, the same statements, of what we wanted across the curriculum k-12th greagrade so we thank you againr

this resolution. >> clerk: thank you. hello, julie? >> caller: hi, my name is julie roberts-fong and i want to speak in support of this resolution. it follows in the path of resolutions that affirm the need to support latin x students, to ensure libraries have adequate representation of asian-american stories. it's very similar to the pacific islander resolution that is in process now. and all of these are aligned with the equity study and our equity resolutions that sfsud has passed and educators are working every day in the classroom to implement. i know that there's been some questions about the $15 million price tag and while i absolutely understand that sfsud's budget concerns, i did a little back of the envelope math and i think that would add about 3,000 per

pupil spending for black students that added to our average spending, and still doesn't approach what the others spend on students, most who face fewer barriers than san francisco's black students. finally, as a white parent of multiracial students i believe that black history and black studies are american studies and my children will have a better education as a result of this and these other equity-focused resolutions. thank you for your work in passing and implementing this. >> clerk: thank you. hello, alita? >> caller: hello. on behalf of the community advisory committee for special education, we'd like to thank commissioner cook for this amazing resolution. excuse me. and the c.a.c. is actually very grateful for the collaborative nature of this resolution. it really represents the robust

partnerships and it is quite a model this tha in that regard. if we work together in communities to bring together all of the different organizations referenced in this resolution, there's so much that we can achieve. and really help to make our students so much more well rounded and so much more aware of life for all of us here in the district. so thank you very much. and, like i said, the c.a.c. is just grateful to stand in solidarity and hopefully to be part of the work. thank you. >> clerk: thank you. hello, mary? >> caller: hello, can you hear me? >> clerk: we can, go ahead. >> caller: well, i wanted to say as a lowell graduate and a potential lowell parent, i just wanted to say that i support

this resolution and i think that the work going forward is really good. and i hope that it can be implemented well, and i was at the meeting last week when they talked about the $50 million budget. and i think that when we hear that amount it sounds like a lot, but when we hear that it's only 1%, to me it seems that it's not enough money. so i just wanted to say that i support this and i hope that it will just be really impactful for all of the students of our school district and thank you very much. >> clerk: thank you. hello, mauricio would you like to go ahead? >> caller: yes. can you hear me? >> clerk: we can, go ahead. >> caller: all right. i would just like to share our appreciation. my name is mauricio robinson and i'm an apac leader and i would like to share our appreciation for the resolution.

apac has consistently pushed for more black history in our classrooms and more black studies and learning about black lives in general. and we want to ask again to be included in the conversations that are coming up and to have a seat on the advisory team as well. thank you. >> clerk: thank you. miss olive? >> caller: yes, thank you. my name is miss olive and i am the parent of two intelligent, smart, young black men in the sfsud, and i am a previous student of the sfsud, and i am just so thankful and grateful that my sons will have an opportunity to get the history in school that i did not. luckily, i had a family that was very deep rooted in our history. so it was taught to me, however, to see it at school would have

even encouraged me even more. so i just wanted to thank you all for this. i yield the rest of my time. >> clerk: thank you. hello, carla? >> caller: hello, everyone. my name is carla bobadila, the membership chair for the c.a.c. for special education and i am also a parent and a pre-k class. i have a recent graduate of sfsud. i have a current freshman. and i am also a graduate of sfsud. and i just wanted to say how tickled i am that this resolution has been brought forward. again, i think that it's such an amazing thing to see roll out and it's going to benefit so many students, not just our african american students, but students in every -- again, black lives matter, and this is a great way for all of us to be

able to lift that voice up. i want to say those before me, and they said all of the wonderful things they wanted to say, but, again, just working with our advisory committees and special our african american parent advisory council, just to have them to have a say in what this resolution and how these things are going to go forward. so, again, thank you. and i yield the rest of my time. >> clerk: thank you. hello, gainor? >> caller: hi, commissioners. how are you? my name is gainor anathunga, and i am with islanders (indiscernible) and i am also coming as a parent of an sfsud enrolled pacific-islander student. and i am just really super excited on this resolution.

you know, in order for all of our young people to feel that they're included is to really to understand and to see that in the curriculum, their cultures are also included. and so we definitely support and we look forward into collaborating and partnering in this. thank you. >> clerk: thank you. hello, christopher? hello, christopher? hello, jasper? >> caller: hello. i am a current sfsud student in high school. and i'd like to say that i think that the vision of our sort of

teaching along racial lines and the sort of racial compartmentalization, especially in history, i think that it only furthers racial division and misunderstanding among students, teachers, and the community as a whole. and i think that having -- teaching black history separate from american history is unfortunate and i oppose the resolution. thank you. >> clerk: thank you. hello, mr. jeffries? >> caller: hello, everyone. my name is jeremiah jeffreys and i'm a first grade teacher. and i'm one of the coordinators with teachers for justice. and this resolution is a long time coming. thank you, commissioner cook, and all of the organizations and the individuals that have been holding up in supporting black students alla of these years here in sfsud. our schools are very important

places for transformative learning and development. and this work is a part of a longer tradition. like, we didn't just get here today. it wasn't just a good idea that someone had during the pandemic. it represents years and years and years of work that has moved us to this point to be able to unpack young people in the way that we have today. so however we do that, however you think that it should be part of american history, it needs to get done. and this is the way that we're going to do it. nothing is just given. nothing is just been given to black people at all. we fought for all of it. a lot of people had our way we would not be alive, we would not be here. but we fought and we continue to fight and we continue to struggle for what's right and just for our people. for our young people and for us as a community. so standing up this resolution is a really important step in

bringing the policies into alignment with what people say that their values are. and so there's a lot of talk about what people should be doing and what the board should be doing. but this is a part of that. white supremacy has not taken a break in over 400 years and we're not leaving. and so we're going to do all we can whenever we can to make it right for our young people. so thank you, board members. stay strong during this process and today during this meeting. you have a responsibility that we all trust, and have entrusted in you to stand up even when it's difficult. this item is not easy. and this will all work. so thank you. >> clerk: thank you. hello besa? >> caller: hi, commissioners, and superintendents. my name is besazamboldi, and i'm

very happy to be here at the board meeting. i want to especially thank commissioner cook for your proposal. today is a celebratory day to me. when i heard about the changes for lowell high school, which i was formerly a teacher, and then read about the announcement of the african american studies curriculum announcement today, i felt like my wish that hands were being untied in our district was actually happening. and i'm so proud of our district to be making these anti-racist moves. i wanted to come and to say thank you for those changes. thank you for your work. thank you for the advancement and keep moving in this positive direction. thank you so much. don't forget about the learning pods. don't forget to keep changing.

thank you so much. great idea. >> clerk: hello, ezra? >> caller: hello. so i am a current lowell student, you know, here in sfsud. and i think that this is a good change and i just want to ask what is your plan for the students who are, you know, not in, like, k-8 anymore or whatever and they might not get the earliest instruction on this, like, on these issues in their, like, classes. how are you going to try to incorporate that into their later classes at all? >> clerk: thank you. hello, jay ray?

>> caller: hi. hello. let me just take this out. all right. can you hear me? >> clerk: yes, go ahead. >> caller: okay. i'm a parent educator and an aleum new of sfsud and i'm thankful to be here today to speak to you all and i appreciate this resolution. i would like to uplift how the core values aligns with this resolution of being diverse, which helps us to unite and helps to lead to the awareness and the competency. [broken audio] filipino american history month, and, you know, i just really appreciate the united feeling of just being here. and i feel like this will lead to so much more. i appreciate everyone here being a fearless leader. let's keep on moving. >> clerk: thank you.

hello, christopher? >> caller: hi, can you hear me? >> clerk: we can, go ahead. >> caller: chris tossy, i want to say on behalf of our community, i want to thank commissioner cook. this is really like addressing systemic racism that's going around. but we come in solidarity with our black students and families and just want to let you guys know that we are ready to work. thank you. >> clerk: thank you. hello, justin? hello, justin? >> caller: can you hear me? >> clerk:we can. >> caller: last week someone said that i was miscoa misquoted that's not what i said.

i said that we should help our kids to achieve more by showing the example of immigrants who work harder and make more money. and in the 1950s, nigerian americans working harder would not have led to more money. and you should use that to motivate kids. to learn from people who are richer. i think that the school board should put more money -- they put all of the funding into across the board (indiscernible) and more in the parent education and tutoring services and motivating kids by imitating and emulating the africans who are successful. that was a misrepresentation of my thoughts last week and i heard when someone said i know where you live and what you said is racist. what i said is not racist. i think that you'll never have equal income without equal test scores and you won't have equal test scores without equal hours studied per week. so the school board should motivate kids to study thousands

more hours and it helps the african american kids to thrive and become rich. they're failing to motivate them by accusing society of being more racist than it is. we have interracial marriages and tremendous progress when i was a kid. when i was a kid there was no interracial relationships on television. now every seventh marriage is interracial and pwe have come a long way. so we need to celebrate the fact that many african americans are doing very well in society. and try to help more to do well in society by motivating them. >> clerk: thank you. hello, josephine? >> caller: hi, this is josephine. i, again, i celebrate, you know, that we have a chance to do a black study in our school district. again, i would like to put in the emphasis that we need to have to context when we provide

black studies as well as any other ethnic studies that we want to celebrate each and every one of our students, every one of them are special -- skin color, race, family background, newcomers, english learners, they all have something to celebrate. and we want to provide context of different ethnic studies in addition to celebrating our black students complete. >> clerk: thank you. hello, matt. >> caller: hi. this is matt alexander and i spent 20 years as a history teacher and then a principal in sfsud and i am so grateful to commissioner cook and the entire board for bringing forth this resolution which i think that plays a really important role. number one, in bringing forth accurate and complete history for our students.

as well as recognizing black excellence in american history as well as locally in san francisco. i think that, you know, it was one of my great honors as an educator to work with so many phenomenal black educators and with black students and black parents in san francisco and to see the deep tradition of excellence within the black community here locally in san francisco. and so i think that this resolution really honors that and it brings it forth. it's a blessing to all students in our city that they're going to be able to be exposed to this -- to this -- to the rich tradition that black culture brings and has brought to our entire society. i think that there's still work to be done and the 9-12 standards here are excellent and that there are courses with the a.p. u.s. history course that violates those standards and i

think we need to look carefully that and re-examine whether we offer that course in high school. but i think this resolution is a moment of celebration because it really sets a high standard. i want to thank the board again for doing it. >> clerk: thank you. hello, brandy? >> caller: hi, my name is brandy markman and i'm a parent of a third grader in the richmond district. the majority of our families are cantonese speaking. and i talk to a number of them and other folks on the school council and we are really excited about this resolution. and the many good things that it's going to bring. at our school we list the chinese new year and we have a really lovely banquet and then during black history month we have a huge celebration. we celebrate all month long. and there are 180 days i think during the school year, and

there's lots of time to lift up other folks. i think that this resolution is just a really beautiful complement to so many other things that we're doing in the district. and to shout out to all of our amazing teachers who are so great at weaving this into the curriculum. and we look forward to seeing even more of that in our schools because of this resolution. thank you. >> clerk: thank you. president sanchez, that concludes the public comment on this item. >> president sanchez: thank you so much to the public who came out to speak on this item. i'm going to have vice president lópez report out on the committee of the whole meeting last week where we discussed this item and then we'll go to board comment. >> yes, thank you. so similar to tonight, we began our meeting with the black studies resolution. there was a thorough discussion on this item that included multiple voices and

perspectives, including that of the public. we looked to examples of the successful work that has been done in the school district and how we want this resolution to look at these models to continue to expand on that work and to do it across the board. there was discussion on the timeline and how commissioners will fit with the superintendent to further discuss in order to implement it as soon as possible, but also to give it the attention and the care that it deserves. and another question that came up was regarding the budget proposal in our current deficit but that $50 million is no way measures what this work truly deserves. >> president sanchez: thank you vice president lópez. and i'll open it up to board comment. any commissioners? all right. or student delegates. sorry. student delegate? >> thank you, president sanchez. every day that we resist the

master narrative is a day that deserves celebration. and my teacher tells us that, quote, we have no doubt that our history class is the best in san francisco. end quote. no, it's not because of the perfect grades or because we're always listening, but because we have been taught the skills to be critical of history and dive into the history of truth. by eliminating the master narrative we get to learn about the history of not only ourselves, but each single peer in our classroom. this is transformative. learning about black history contributions and liberation is as important for black students but for each student, no matter what identity you embrace or what your race is. black studies is a necessary thing that each school in our district needs and each student of all grades deserves. this resolution is history in the making. a sense of identity is one of the most empowering things a

human can have to be transformative. a level that goes deep into the soul. the black studies resolution will transform the classrooms into something that leaves the room and transforms lives. with my whole heart i support this resolution because this will create waves of change that touch many hearts. >> president sanchez: thank you so much. i don't know if any of us could say it better. >> i agree. >> president sanchez: a lot of applause for this. any other board members or student goa delegates if you wod like to comment. >> no, i'm fine. i said all i had last week. >> president sanchez: commissioner norton? >> commissioner norton: well, i hesitate, i hesitate to follow the student delegates because they say it so well, and i want to thank you, corea, for your

comments because they were so heartfelt and moving to me. but i wanted to ask a question following up on some of the discussions that we had in the committee of the whole and to the staff. and particularly i really just felt that commissioner collins asked a great question about how are we aligning all of these resolutions. i mean, we have heard how -- i mean, the statement that we just heard from our student delegate really cuts through about how important these courses and this material is to our students, to see themselves, and their true history represented in our curriculum. and we have i think in an effort to address, you know, a long-term distortion of history of marginalized people, you know, we've had a number of these resolutions and we've had ethnic studies resolutions and the latin x resolution that

passed earlier this year and the resolution that commissioner molita sponsored for a.p.i. students. and i'm just -- i just think that it's a well-taken question of, like, how are we aligning all of this work in our curriculum? i think that the community is kind of under the impression that this is a one-off or these are a series of one-offs and we know that a lot of this work has been in progress for a long time. but i do think that there's a need for kind of a comprehensive approach to how are we going to use all of the really worthy objectives and all of these resolutions in a way that our students can see themselves and be taught this material, which is so empowering for them. >> so i'll begin and open it up -- miss snyder if you want to join. one of the things that has come

through as you just said is that there's a number of resolutions that have in the past, definitely over the last 12 months, really around the curriculum and especially around the curriculum of marginalized people -- the -- the department -- the curriculum and the instruction department has definitely been looking at these curriculums and been given the task of determining, okay, what is it that implementation look like. and currently we are -- definitely we have -- we are tracking, we have tracking devices and so we're tracking what we have implemented thus far. but in terms of the alignment, i know that at this point that it is something that will be undertaken just because of the -- i say twofold, the timing of, you know, what has happened over the last year. many of the resolutions that came up with the last year and as you know the pandemic seven months ago.

so at the same time as we're trying to distance learn, trying to reopen schools, we're tracking them, but i would say that the current cross alignment or the crossing -- where they cross -- that is still has to be done. as i said, if you wanted to comment further on at least some of the efforts that have been taken up thus far? >> yes, thank you, dr. matthews. actually, i would like to yield some time to one of our experts, maquil laud who is one of our panelists. if you would like to comment. >> sure. so it also would be okay for my colleague amy richell who also works in secondary social studies to also weigh in on this? >> yes, please. >> okay, great. so when it comes to aligning -- that is what our secondary

history and social studies team and our larger second human humn tearies team is doing, trying to create a mainstream curriculum for e.l.a. and history that is both aligned and also speaks to the principles of humanization and with the solidarity and the self-determination. and so we stand in the spirit and in alignment with the spirit of this resolution with centering black students and black communities and families. so we want to see this happen. the question comes into execution and how we do that in a comprehensive way. i have to say -- and i invite amy to speak more about this -- is that it is very difficult to do so when we have spent more on our collective lunches than our history and social studies team has on the budget to do this

work. so how do we align comprehensively when the resources to match that desire and need kind of aren't there currently. and so that's one piece. the second piece which i want to speak directly to the black studies, there needs to be a space that speaks directly to black students and their experiences and make sure that those are centered. there also needs to be a space in which all students coming through sfsud are interacting, with not just black history, but thinking about black future and what it means for the future of the black people to be central to any decision that we make as to (indiscernible). to say a few words, if that's okay. >> clerk: you need to unmute yourself, amy. >> thank you.

i wanted to also speak directly to the alignment. two things -- one is the current work that we're doing around infusion with history and social studies work, but then also around the ethnic studies and the 2014 resolution and also going back to the question around the difference between ethnic studies and black studies is that i want to make it very clear that ethnic studies is burgeoning from black studies so there's direct alignment already with practices and ways of thinking about curriculum development that in 2014 -- like we envisioned having ethnic specific courses within five years. that was the plan originally and to go back to makiel's point, we don't have the support and the funds to actually support that,

it falls by the wayside. and so that's when you get schools here and there that are doing the work. but that it's not a district-wide supported vision that was able to come out of something that we had already thought of then. and i don't want to see, again, in five years us having the same conversation. and so it comes to this idea also of infusion. when you say that the work that i got excited to leave the classroom for last year is to infuse into the content. and it's the purpose of education and why it is that you're doing what you doing. concepts. context, and also methods that are aligned with ethnic studies and africana studies, black

studies, ways of thinking and doing, teaching and learning. so what we're looking to do as a team is to see what does it look like -- not just to have one one-off class that students can take, but actually working together as a community of educators. and looking at what it means to infuse ethnic study concepts and ethnic study methods, and ethnic study purposes into k-12 history, social studies, and also like mikael said, how that could not just be housed and history and social studies. so a student is not just going through their history and social studies classrooms, but going through humanity classrooms as well and having that same experience. so, again, looking at alignment, going back to what mikael said also takes the support that we need from you all and the collective effort.

>> commissioner, president sanchez, we would like to comment on that. >> president sanchez: yeah. >> okay. so i just want to say, you know, i worked on that with commissioner lam and with, you know, with educators at sfsud, and those folks who had actually, you know, been -- the people who led the efforts for ethnic studies. and the goal was to create a framework for all of this work. and so at the time when we approved the resolution, i don't think that we had any social studies staff. maybe we had two. yeah. and the year before i think we had zero, right? so what we're seeing is deferred maintenance. you know, we're a house that hasn't been taken care of the

roof or something. and then, you know, now we're seeing the results of that. and i see it every day as a parent, and i see one of the reasons that i vote -- i wanted to push the resolution is that i see it in my daughter's history classes. we have textbooks that, you know, other educators and president sanchez even said that we don't want to use those textbooks because they're just not -- they're not good quality, you know, text. and yet we still have these amazing educators across the district doing this work and how do we make this systemic. so that was the intention of equity studies was to create a framework but it wasn't just to be, you know, the problem with ethnic studies is that it has been a great pilot that was supposed to expand and it kind of remains as a separate entity that either is or isn't fully implemented. and as we talked about last time, it was supposed to be infused in, you know, throughout the district by now. but that was even just at the

high school level. i guess that i have a concern this is the work -- this is the work, and when, you know, this is not a separate thing. and so -- and i want to also add that another resolution that was implemented before i got on the board and emily morase wrote excluding students of asian ancestry from sfsud, and diversity on diversity and inclusion and it calls for looking at asian-american books and histories and things like that. and so i guess i'm concerned that we -- you know, i'm really glad that we're expending our capacity, you know, in this sense that we are doing that. but i'm concerned that we -- these are resolutions that have been passed and in most cases they have been passed by a majority of the board. that's supposed to be the voice of the board. and the superintendent is

supposed to make that happen. i'm just confused as somebody said at the last meeting -- you know, computer science we have been able to -- commissioner cook, we have been able to implement computer science, you know. and we have been able to implement the common core and that's a totally new curriculum that we did in both english and in math. why have we not been able to infuse the visibility for -- cultural visibility for all of these communitie communities whd specific resolutions? that's not okay. and i and it's not acceptable that we don't have even -- that i as a chair of the curriculum committee meeting don't have a clear idea of where we are in any of these resolutions. and that i had to ask multiple times to just get a dashboard or something. you know, for the public. and our communities, you know, that come out and are celebrating resolutions like this. you know, the pacific-islander

resolution, will they come back in five years and asking what happened? and nobody even knows that we had an asian-american, you know, resolution in terms of making sure that books were representative of the asian community. so it's a concern for me and it's up to us as a board to hold our staff accountable and to hold our superintendent accountable and to figure out a way to have conversations about priorities as well. i think that is also a fair conversation. so i'm just wondering, you know, president sanchez, is this something that i should be putting on -- you know, a lot of us, you know, we have vice president lópez offers the latin x resolution -- how do we do that? >> i would suggest that i would like us to discuss this particular resolution, but have a board either through the committee of the whole or as a regular meeting agenda, to have

this discussion, the broader discussion. not particularly about this one resolution. so i would recommend us to do that. but it's more than a whorgt while venture, we need to do it but we don't have to resolve it right now. commissioner cook wanted to respond and then commissioner lam. >> i wanted to ask one more question but i can go after he's done. >> (indiscernible). >> commissioner lam? >> commissioner lam: thank you to the community members involved in this resolution. as i had expressed at the committee of the whole i support this resolution, it is so important at this time. and that our district continues to fulfill our commitment and our mission. not only to our black students but how we're really building up young people when they graduate with us from s.f. unified that they see a world beyond themselves. and really how are we going to

build a society that is for better and for good? so from the work that i have done over the years, just, you know, i was just reminded today by a friend, colleague, mentor that said that the reason that i dedicated my professional career to racial justice was because of the work that we got to do with one another. that really given what we're talking about, not just now but for the rest of the evening, is really at the heart of that. (please stand by)

>> the partnership, i mentioned that during the last meeting, but i failed to send it to the commissioner in this draft. my request is that that's in the final draft that is voted on tonig tonight. another amendment is that we get an update on the resolution of the school year at the chair's discretion. so the progress of the

resolution can be shared with the board and the broader community. when it comes to -- >> if there's no objection from any board members, we'll add those amendments in the final vote. >> i have some general comments that i was going to launch into and i'll be brief. i appreciate your participation and everyone who spoke during public comment. there is a few things that i honestly feel and this is not spin or twisting of words. i feel really grateful to be part of a city and a country like this, one of the reasons when i was first board chair i

signed the angela quote instead of the pledge of allegiance. i feel fortunate to be in a country where we can do that. this country was built by a lot of strong and beautiful people. my ancestors were founders of this country. this whole idea is about telling a more full history of a country that i'm proud to commit to, to help build, and to further so that it continues to provide opportunity for everybody. there will be challenges and this is the hardest time we've ever faced as a district. i hear the constraints. i hear the strain in the staff

voices about how to balance and where is the money going to come from. we have a committed community, black stakeholders in our city that want to build this with you. it sounds like that was missed in the capacity discussion, the fact that a lot of this is not supposed to be built by staff. this is supposed to be facilitated by the human rights commission, community stakeholders, and partnership with the district. so those people would be doing it, the consultants and the teachers as a collaborative effort to put the curriculum forward. the limitation obviously will come back to staff with an additional $50 million. i believe we're talking about a capacity issue that exists today without the framework that the resolution is trying to put us in to resolve those issues. that's a disconnect that i haven't seen reconciled in the

discussions on the limitations, the fact that the $50 million is being requested. my estimation on securing that means that we have a better chance to do it. with that, i submit to the fact that with our current staffing we don't. so i wanted to make that clear before we move forward. what i'm requesting in the resolution that we shore up and rely on the resources from the city [indiscernible] and the long-standing advocates that want to see this introduced to help build it. that's all i have for now. >> i'll go after you. >> just really quickly.

i also believe -- i really appreciate commissioner cooke's statement. i want to say while i want this to be built in partnership and it must be, i also think that this will work as well. so -- and it's not just on social studies. it should also -- and i heard this from diane gray who is involved with mega black, this isn't just the work of one class. there are spaces that we want to have black studies and things like that, but this is also through the equity studies resolution, we shoulden seeing students, visibility of all cultures and black culture is one of those cultures in math class, not just in social studies. we develop curriculums for social studies and for english

and for math and we support it in science. so that is the work. so we need support to do it well and to do -- and we need to build it with community members who have expertise that we may not have. that's what we need, resources. we need teachers' support to make sure it gets implemented properly, but that is the work it's all of our responsibility. so i just wanted to add that. i am looking forward to working with you, commissioner cooke, to make sure this goes forward when you are no longer with us on the board and also look forward to working with president sanchez to figure out how we figure out the priorities because there is a lot on our plate as well. >> i'll say quickly apologies.

last week i didn't voice my full support for this resolution. we understand the history that this country is grounded in. to deny that and to deny that it has had an effect on the black community is beyond problematic. i fully support anything that uplifts black excellence. it seems like we're talking about ways of incorporating the resources that we have especially in this city and including outside experts, which we should strive to do consistently. so i just definitely wanted to thank you, commissioner cooke, for making this a reality. it's a shock that it's taken this long. but i as a commissioner on this board for at least the following two years will make sure to push this and implement this connected to many of the students that we've been talking about. >> any last comments?

>> anyone who wanted to add their names to the resolution, i wanted to mention that that happened. >> i think that's everybody. commissioner cooke, i appreciate you so much. i've shared that with you before. this is an incredible step in the right direction. it looks like everybody on the board shares the concern about implementation. we will have the discussion about the resolutions and how they intercept with each other and how we're tracking the progress moving forward. yours is the only one that calls for budgeting for the implementation. again, thank you so much and the folks that worked with you on that resolution and on the public comment. with that, we'll call vote on

the proposal resolution as amended. >> thank you. [ roll call ]. >> we have a unanimous vote. >> thank you so much. we have the next item is d special order of business. superintendent's resolution to adopt an interim policy for the

2021-2022 school year. superintendent matthews. >> thank you, president sanchez. i'm going to ask the assistant superintendent for high schools to give a very brief framing of what the proposal was and then turn it over to you for next steps. >> thank you, dr. matthews. good evening, commissioners. it's good to see everyone. in response to the covid-19 pandemic at the october 13th committee of the whole, staff presented a resolution to the s.f. board of education to change the 2021-2022 school year admission cycle only at lowle high school. and a resolution students who live in san francisco and wish to apply to that high school will not be subject to the admissions requirement of board policy 5120.1.

instead, sfmoe will use the same form for all high schools and students will have an opportunity to be assigned to lowle high school pursuant to board policy 5101. this resolution is now presented to you for discussion and approval. >> all right. we're going to have a report from the committee of the whole. public comment will last a half-hour for those who support the proposal and a half-hour for those oppose. those who support the proposal will go first and those who oppose the proposal will go second for a total of one hour. vice president lopez.

>> last week we discussed this lowle policy. it was -- i'm having trouble trying to recap it, but we went over discussed. we heard from both sides of the public concerning their decision. let's get started. >> i do want to thank you. we would be remiss if we didn't say that there was some difficulty for some if not all of the folks who were agitated around this issue speaking about student delegates and i'm going to say again that's inappropriate behavior. we've added steps to our abilities to control that from happening again. i know that we wanted to allow

also students to be able to speak. to the extent that there are students in our audience that would like to say anything, i don't know how we can determine if they're students, but we definitely would like to hear from them as well. so we'll see how we can do that. if at the end of the hour we have more time, we could have just students raise their hands. the first part of the public comments will be for those supportive of the policy change, support of the policy change around lowle. please raise your hand if you're in that category. >> thank you, president sanchez. i will call on ms. heperle to read the letter and then we will go into the hands up of those who are for this policy.

>> thank you. >> hello, joan. >> good afternoon, president sanchez, dr. matthews, commissioners, and student delegates. my name is joan heperle and i'm co-executive director for administrators of san francisco. i am reading the following statement that was requested by the lowle administration for me to read this evening. over the past week there have been many conversations and opinions levied with regards the lowle admissions policy for the 2021-2022 school year. these conversations have taken place in both school board meetings and the media and students and families have found themselves in the middle, as evidenced by these conversations. the lowle administrative team would like to make clear that no matter which students walk through our doors or attend our classes, we are eager and excited to serve them all. as an administrative team, we

understand that our public school system, not only in san francisco but across the country, is rooted in white supremacy culture and systemic inequity which impacts our communities of color and our students from those communities every day. it is with this equity lens that drives our insistence that we greet, teach, and care for all students who enter our building. we take pride in this stance and we know the students who are assigned to this school will be successful in meeting their academic and lifelong goals. in appreciation for the goals of this board and the school district, we will do our part to make sure that every student at lowle have have access to a high-quality and equitable education. thank you. >> i will be calling for folks who are for this policy. you will have one minute each

for a total of 30 minutes. loewel lowell. >> i'm virginia marshal, part of a group that represents a group in the city that applauds the district for this admissions policy. every high school admission should be the same. we hope after this year we could look into an admissions policy for all the high schools that should be the same. not the only do our students deserve a high-quality education, but they deserve to feel welcome. many of the students do not feel welcome at lowell high school. i listened to the letter from

the administrators and that's great, but you need to work on making sure every african-american student feels welcome. and all the parents and the dad who had his negative opinions last week, he owes delegates a public apology. these are parents, adults, and they should not attack our student delegates who are minors. thank you very much. >> i am an sfufb alumni. i am someone who supports this. i was disgusted to hear some of the comments that the parents made. some of us are coming from a place of privilege and are educated and have really great jobs and want to raise our kids

with the same privileges that we had, but it is our responsibility as someone who does have that privilege to build this with love and not hardness. lowell should be the same way as the rest of the schools. they are part of the school district, so they should have the same rules as the rest without any additional barriers. >> thank you. >> hello, thank you. i am a teacher at a middle scho school. i went to school for the arts, which also has a strict admissions policy. i sit on the committee where they read the essays applying

for those applying to lowell. i had students who are african-american who were admitted to lowell and decided they're not going to go there because they can count on their hands the number of african-american students they see. i am supportive of this policy, but i would love to see us moving forward more equitable admissions policies for lowell and the school of the arts and any other schools. and also to consider eliminating these barriers so more students can say, i went to sfusb instead of just lowell, and having them get that prestige.

>> hello, mei ying? hello, patrick. are you there? >> hello, can you hear me? >> we can. >> i am neither for or against the process. limiting comments to 30 minutes for and against doesn't make sense. it's anti-democratic. why didn't you have for and against for the last proposal? there are a lot of people with strong feelings. this is a democratic process. you should allow people to speak their minds and not artificially constrain 30 minutes for and against. thank you very much.

>> tiffany, are you there? >> yeah. i think this ties into the earlier resolution in developing anti-racist educational practices. i will state that i'm very in support of this. i'm concerned that lowell is a pressure cooker. if we really want to have a diverse student population through this process, we need to make sure that we also have successful student outcomes. so we need to really hone in and support the children that will be entering the school and support them for success. i like what the lowell letter said, but many children fell through the cracks there and predominantly the children of color or from underprivileged communities are the ones slipping through the cracks. so i would like to see some i guess consideration about how they're going to have support for these students for full success while they do this. >> thank you.

>> hi, my name is karen little. i'm the parent of an eighth grade student at roosevelt middle school and i support the proposal to change lowell to a lottery next year. like many others, i advocate that it becomes a permanent change. lowell is no different than a gifted and talented program designed to appease white parents like myself while siphoning resources away from other schools in the form of qualified teachers and parental support. and i don't think it has a place in a public school system. i believe that san franciscans will look back on this time with regret that we let an exclusive academic program like lowell continue to operate for as long as we have. thank you.

>> susan solomon again. i am a graduate of lowell, glass of 1972. my kids graduated 20 years ago. times have changed and we need to change with them. i also talked with the union building representative cathy melburn, long-time teacher who said with many successes we're able to give students access to a culture of academic rigor and for too long the admissions has been tied to grades and test scores. these are biased towards upper-income students. this change gives us an unprecedented opportunity to give students a choice of schools that will most likely do more for diversity in schools

than any initiative in the past. the community welcomes this well-considered response, but we appreciate so much what jackson said. a long-term solution is let's create more schools like lowell. >> my name is joanna, a current student at lowell high school, a junior. i would just like to express my support for this admissions policy. i understand that because of the circumstances here, it is not possible to use the grades that we would normally use and, frankly, i don't think it's fair. i think looking forward, i'm hoping that we can re-evaluate the regular admissions process to be more holistic and more focused on evaluating a

student's character. again, i am in favor of this. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> hi. i am a lowell alum, class of 1983, a parent of a senior at lowell and of two eighth graders at another school. i am in favor of the lottery for this year only. i also agree that it's the only equitable way of evaluating -- of admitting students this year, given that there's only one semester of in-person grades and no test scores. i have confidence that a random lottery for those students eager to be there will be good. if you want to make this truly equitable and random, i'm asking that you do three things. the first is give preference to

students who list it first and want to be there and have no sibling or neighborhood preferences, no tie-breakers other than the willie brown tie-breaker. and i understand that would be hard to do because of the algorithms you have in place for the other schools. it's important if you're making a new policy that it start with the most equitable and fair place. >> thank you. >> my name is terry and i would like to first say that i stand with jivon and support her. as a black woman who graduated from lowell only five years ago, i appreciate the words and the sentiments from the administrators, but as of now

and i speak from experience, it's all lip service. i felt extremely unwelcome from the students and staff at lowell. they have a long way to go if they really want to make the process equitable and make us feel welcome at school. >> i am a black alum of lincoln. i am calling to support shivon. we are standing back and standing by because we know she is brilliant and brave enough and can handle any challenge. for those thinking of coming for her, please don't unless we send for you. >> thank you.

>> hello, celi, c-e-l-i? >> yes. i am a second-generation lowell alumni. i was a student body president and student delegate to the board of education, class of 2009. i am here to voice my support for this lottery alternative, especially given the fact that we are in a pandemic and i trust that the school district has done what it can do in the parameters of trying to do what's best for students. in general, i do think that this should be a step towards making lowell a more equitable space. i am 29 and when i was a kid the

black population of san francisco was at 10% or 12%. today it is less than 3%. if we are not intentional about redesigning our institutions to allow young black people to thrive, this is going to be a very white and asian-only city, which is not a city that reflects the progressive values it says it stands for. accessing the different languages are things that should be accessible to all students -- >> that's time. >> i wanted to say i dislike the

[indiscernible] -- >> i just wanted to say that i also dislike the current system at lowell, where we create an exclusive system by ranking people according to grades and scores and bringing them in. i think a good step towards an equitable system would be this lottery. i have a couple of concerns of going to a pure lottery system. the first would be that i don't know if there's any way for you to monitor. there's probably a substantial proportion of students who would otherwise probably go to private schools in san francisco and

given their demographic i'm not sure whether a lottery system would change that and attract a larger number of white students, for instance, which might go against the rults that you're looking for.es that you're looking for. the other -- i guess that's time. >> that's time, thank you. >> can you hear me? >> we can. >> this is tiffany arben and we have a full neutral statement but we have other things to say too. we've seen a lot of energy and passion around this issue. so many of us are dealing with hardships around the pandemic, racial injustice, the impact of the climate, and this is going to perhaps be one of the most difficult chapters in our history. we need kindness to work together, especially when we

disagree, not decisive structures like this. we can't bypass meaningful conversation with the people the admissions decisions affect the most. there are concerns the change could become permanent. this change is no surprise when public comment was seen more as a nuisance. we demand that our elected leaders be better than this. we are working with the community to address racism and inequality. we also want to recognize the other amazing public high schools who want their students to be successful. more can be done to support them. let's have an opportunity and we invite the board to join us for an intentional and respectful discussion about the long-term plans for lowell high school. let's be better together. >> i support this resolution as part of a change to make things

more equitable. i'm hoping that my kids can go to a school like this. i would ask that the provision preventing 10 to 12 grade spots from being filled be removed so that all admissions be under a lottery. i want to make clear that this is a historic question in a pathway of school segregation and want to ask commenters and board members how they feel about folks during the civil rights movement who said i support school integration but i have questions about process. and i wonder if comments that refer to concerns about process feel adequate to this moment. thank you.

>> i am ms. olive, an sfufc graduate. i was actually one of the students that had excellent grades. i went and toured lowell. because of the reaction that i received from other parents that were touring along with their children as well as other students, i decided not to even continue with the process and i ended up going to lincoln. so i definitely support this. i think this is definitely a step in the right direction and i look forward to this becoming a permanent change. thank you. >> thank you, board and

superintendent. i am in support of this policy for the 2021-2022 school year. i am also a graduate of lowell high school, class of 1978. we need all of our high schools to demonstrate high academic and artistic standards. this is the time to fight for educational equity. again, i support this policy and i hope that we have discussions to support that policy beyond this year.

>> my name is matt lauer. to the parents, i would like to say to please remember that we all want to say that we want the best for our kids in this requirement and that means everybody. to the administration, your conduct reflects with great honor to your commitment to this community and the strength of your character. thank you so much for your service. it is humbling. to the entire board of education, thank you for the leadership you are showing us in these difficult times. i support whatever decision you make on lowell and i thank you for the consideration. i do hope you will consider adding the essay process. one idea demonstrates the student's commitment to a student education and the other shows our commitment to the core belief of equity to access and you have the power to make these

changes. it is also my hope that -- >> isaac. >> i am a san francisco city kid and also mexican and white. i actually was a graduate of lowell high school. i did not get in originally. i was brought in, in 1990 around affirmative action. i was given the opportunity to attend lowell and learn and get leadership experience there. i may not have been the greatest student there, but i learned a lot. it allowed me to graduate from the berkeley leadership program to get my master's in education

and now i am a leader at lowell. i want to make sure we give our education opportunity to all the students we can in sfusc no matter where they're coming from. we will take all the students we get and we will do the best we can to provide them with the top-notch education. >> [indiscernible] -- foster a culture that helps students

achieve their potential and more than makes up for the loss of these students at other schools. in my opinion, the school offered me a challenging pace that pushed me harder than i would have been pushed at my neighborhood school so i'm grateful that lowell exists. if we attended balboa, would we have made that school better? i've never heard of a college or a large company that held a lottery for the sake of diversity. i think we should encourage students to apply [indiscernible] -- >> michael.

>> i want to support the resolution as a lowell alumni and agree with all the other people who have spoken. one of the things that's important and important to remember, a lot of people who go to lowell high school and leave the school almost act as if they haven't gone to a san francisco unified school district. if you could refer to lowell as part of the sfusd system and not apart from it. >> i have to promote you to panellist, emerson, to speak. >> i would just say we need to have [indiscernible] -- let's

say overall, i go to lowell and i'm a kid and don't really know anything. the only difference i found between my middle school and lowell, it's not that the kids were smarter, but there was no need for the teachers to have any class management skills. the kids just did it. we need to improve our diversity somehow, but i don't know if this is the best way to do it. i definitely would not have gone to -- i cannot afford to go to any other school and i would not have want to go to any other sfusd school.

>> when we speak of the utilization of the word "equity," we must follow this thought as well. i wanted to express my disappointment on the treatment of our youth in the last meeting and shame on the adults for the disrespect. this is not how we teach our youth respect. so definitely accountability should be on that. thank you, youth, for teaching everyone to stand up for what's right and that's including adults. thank you.

>> i think it's unfair for lowell to be based off of grades and test scores. when lowell is trying to drill into their students that their grades and test scores don't define them, since that is something that students are concerned with. the majority of the schools here are white or asian with the resources to get them in there. those who are underfunded and have fewer resources and opportunities are black and brown students. those black and brown students should not have to work harder than their counterparts to get into lowell on their first try. they should not have to prove themselves worthy of getting into lowelled by starting at another high school and transferring.

>> i'm a student at lowell. i'm a first-generation chicana. while i may not have been prepared for lowell, but i can speak for the students doing their best. my middle school did not really hold me accountable. i've always been a good student and being at lowell has shown me a different environment. i think negativity speaks to fear. a lot of people discouraged me from even applying to lowell and i know other minority groups can relate to this. this is why i'm pro because it's opening the doors for students who may not have been able to apply, but if given the

opportunity like me, they would be at lowell, which is something i want to emphasize for the parents who are worried that us students of color wouldn't do that well. thank you. >> [indiscernible] class 1995 and i would just like to make a quick comment that during the time i attended lowell high school they did have a special requirement to allow the student body to be more adverse [indiscernible] -- not supported

by [indiscernible] -- >> asking students to submit grades and test scores is untrust [indiscernible] is the root of many injustices and hostile attitudes at lowell.

i want to put my support behind our student delegate who i think has great ideas behind creating a more just system at our high schools. >> my family [indiscernible] any member of the public to

[indiscernible] i am an alumni class of 2019 and i am in support of this resolution. my years at lowell came with extreme unhappiness due to the lack of students that look more like me and i hope this brings more opportunities for students of color who attend lowell [indiscernible]. >> this will be our last commenter on this side. >> i'm a seventh grade language arts teacher and have been working for sfusd for 10 years.

i've been helping students to write their essays at lowell and since the beginning it is clear that this is a segregation type of system set up in a public school system, that any merit-based admissions policy in a school system like sfusd will automatically produce inequitable outcomes. i support this resolution and will fight with my voice and any amount of energy left to make sure it is permanent and that all schools in sfusd are available to all students in sfusd. >> proceed, please.

>> i'm lowering the hands right now and i'd like for anyone opposed to the proposed lowell admissions policy to raise your hand now and you will have one minute each to speak for a total of 30 minutes. >> i'm a parent of two sfusd middle school students. we're all enduring perhaps the most difficult chapter in our history. as the lowell representative said, we owe it to our students to model behavior that emphasizes collaboration and respectful dialog, especially when we disagree. given the need for leadership, it is incomprehensible that our board of education is engaging in meaningful communication with the students, parents, and administrators it will affect the most. last week was an embarrassing

and heart-breaking day for sfusd and we now have an opportunity to collectively step up and lead. please consider an alternative to a random lottery. please listen to the sfusd for paths forward. for example, your student delegate suggested that the district use an essay to admit students in the fall, something that [indiscernible] -- but for the ideas of what that student wants -- of why that student wants to attend lowell. >> can you hear me? >> go ahead. >> i'm a lowell alum.

[indiscernible] -- to say everyone should have an equal opportunity is degrading african-americans and latinx students to say they can't qualify. real life doesn't hand out awards to those who just show up. private businesses don't hire you because you're black or latinx and i wanted to caution the board on the law of unintended consequences which no one has brought up that the lowell alumni association, their last report in 2018 shows they raised $2 million for the school outside of any other school raises. why aren't they donating it to the fund if they wanted it to go to all schools. on the topic of merit-based submissions, doesn't commissioner collins' children

attend a merit-based school? we should get rid of that and let everybody go there. >> i fully understand lowell high's dilemmas and logistics problem problems, but i think there was a neutral observer, so now i'm disgusted by the comments we heard. they are talking about increasing the population of a

certain community, which would be african-american. they want to give privilege just because of the color of their skin. this is offensive to black americans. in the u.k. and europe black students are among the top and don't ask for special privileges. i don't understand what merit has to do with racism. you don't get a job just because you're black or enter berkeley. i hope anyone who cares about the education of our children and the quality of public will -- >> thank you. that's your time. >> isaac, i have to promote you to panellist to speak so your

video may be on. are you there? >> yeah. sorry. >> go ahead. one minute. >> my name is isaac and i'm an eighth grader right now. i'm pretty against this use because for the past few years i've been working pretty hard to get into lowell and i'm pretty disappointed to hear this system if applied will lower my chances of getting in. lowell is a great school and it gathers academic talent together and, like many other things, academic talent needs a suitable environment to nurture and support itself. i know that there are many other people out there who have been working really hard like me and they shouldn't be just denied

because of most things dependant on luck. and also, if you do decide to apply this change, this should be completely random without any advantages -- >> thank you. thank you. that's your time. thank you. >> hello, jasper. >> hello? >> yes, go ahead. >> i'm a current student at lowell high school and i think that what makes lowell good is the fact that we only have students here who care about school and want to do well and not students who won't put in an effort.

if we do that, we'll [indiscernible] -- good place for new students to become [indiscernible] -- >> hello, jeff, are you still there? could you mute your screen, please. >> why don't you go ahead and start over. >> [indiscernible] what makes lowell a good school, first of all, is if the goal is to open up the learning environment to all students, it will stop being the great learning environment that it is now and we will lose

a great thing that we have going on in addition. thank you. sebastian. >> yes, hello. my name is sebastian and i'm an eighth grader at j.p.h. middle school. i'm very much against the admissi admissio admissions policy here. i have worked hard for years for getting good grades to get into lowell. there will be kids who will ignore their homework, skip zoom classes, and in general do not pay attention at school. lotteries are not fair.

thank you. >> hello, colette? >> i'm colette and i'm a mother of four and a nurse-practitioner. i have a couple of concerns in regards to the discussion we're having. first of all, why is it one or the other? why can't we do a combination of the two? having more percentage of the students being chosen through lottery, i think that would enable us to have a diverse group of students as well as keeping the essence of lowell an academic school [indiscernible].

>> thank you. >> [please stand by]

>> thank you. hello, karim? >> hi. let's -- let's be honest with ourselves. the reason why lowell has a reputation for superior academics is because a group of like-minded kids got together and were all after one thing: academic competition. lowell's reputation is not because they have all the best teachers or the best resources or they've hogged all more than their fair share of resources, it's because competition is how folks get into higher education. competition is how businesses shine on the world stage, and

competition is a constant on the geopolitical stage, russia, china, u.s. competition is a fact of life. if you make the lottery permanent, those gifted students and families will leave. they'll go to san mateo or berkeley or nearby cities. san francisco will be poorer for it, and if your goal is antiasian american racism, then you are doing a fine job. >> operator: thank you. hello, caldwell? >> hello. so i'd first like to address the point that i think it's wholly inappropriate for the side that's supporting this proposal, notably vice president lopez herself, trying to frame the centers as racist or antiblack and brown people.

there's nothing to say that they want to stop less qualified students who are black and brown. they're also trying to stop students who are asian and white. what i got when i went to lowell was a group of highly motivated students who were very competitive. me and many students still fell flat on their faces with little help from the administration. students will still need help. how is lowell planning to keep up with students' demands. also, i want to point out that this is never the best solution. you could increase the number of students let in based on essays, as well as just academic based, and increase that level of competition, as well. >> thank you. hello, katie? >> yes. can you hear me? >> we can.

go ahead. >> yes. i am an 8th grader at hoover elementary with no siblings or students to increase my level. i've worked over years to be considered for this consideration. the lottery default system as evidenced by several attempts to redo it and current exploration underway of the committee itself. i ask the committee to please explore other options that are fair and equitabletor who have worked hard, like myself. there are startized tests administered in sixth and seventh grade. it

it's confimperative the distri look at other ways. it's my motivation and hard work that has prepared me. this resembles the hard work of a low-income university, and i thank you for your time. >> yanina? yanina, are you there? >> yes. can you hear me? judge yea jud >> yeah, go ahead. >> i do not have a strong comment either way? but i wanted to make any comments any way? i'm worried that the comments in support of the lottery were focused on diversity and equity, not because they don't passionately support those things, i do, but because the lottery isn't really going to help with that, so that makes

me worry. additionally, i want to address that the issue of what lowell is right now, today. i want to talk about how, when we look at elite levels -- and yes, we can all think that there's a lot of problems in our society, and elite society in power, but right now, if you look at who gets to run things, they all went to the same set of schools, a limited set of schools. and right now, lowell is one of the few places where you can get an education that gets you there for free, and that is valuable. >> thank you. >> hello, josephine? >> hi, thank you for letting me speak. i'm actually really glad to hear both sides of the comments? the enthusiasm really speaks to me that everyone wants to have access to lowell.

the people that are against the policy change, as well as the people who are for policy change, they actually wanted to access lowell. so that just means to me that lowell is working. the model of lowell having a merit based, that people are encouraged, students are encouraged to study and get the taste of the real world is working. we should replicate lowell in multiple parts of our city, make marshall high school a lowell, as well, so that every students who wants to go to lowell can go to lowell, and we don't have to fight a very small pie. we can have a bigger pie, and also, we can have a more indepth discussion for more community process? and in the next school year, i would advocate for a school policy that's more honor -- that's more close to the existing policy, and we can discuss a change that can really bring equity into the system and also making every

parent, every student who visit lowell in the school tour feel welcome, and that's a culture change that we need to advocate at lowell. thank you. >> thank you. hello, victor? hello, victor? >> can you hear me? >> we can, go ahead. >> i want to address some of the myths that were spoken by these supporters of the proposition. one is related to increasing ethnic diversity. i think that if you look at the scores of -- the academic scores of the students that are approaching lowell entry,

there's an overwhelming number of academically qualified asians, and currently, there is a 68% or 168% overrepresentation -- or 68% overrepresentation. the second, so there will be more -- less diversity in terms of minority. i want to speak, addressing the existing system. because of the high -- >> thank you. that's the time. >> okay. >> hello, siu? >> hello. i am siu, we want to condemn the tone of the discourse by some people last week and implore all parties to speak civilly and respectfully. we look to the board to deliver

excellence and equity. however, your actions on multiple occasions have provoked frustration. parents want to trust sfusd leadership, but your actions are eroding that trust. listen to the people you represent. delay this vote. thank you. >> thank you. hello, cynthia? >> hi. can you hear me? >> we can, go ahead. >> hello? okay. i'm an sfusd k-12 graduate, lowell high graduate, '85. i'm just going on -- i don't think there's much time. i'm just listening to the comments. i wasn't on the call last week,

but it sounds like the board has already made a decision. i'd encourage you to listen to the ptsa. this is really thrown at us in 2020, and i understand you think this is an urgency, but i see no consideration of the sotos application process. i've listened to all the eighth graders, and i think that you need to listen to them, too. i know i studied very hard to get in when i was in junior high school, and i think that is continued. it's a disservice to some of the eighth graders and juniors in school now who are trying. i think given the situation, maybe you do -- a more holistic -- as someone mentioned, a more holistic choice. i think, as a first choice, lowell sounds reasonable. i think a sibling and [inaudible] does not sound [inaudible] for lowell.

>> thank you. hello, jennifer? >> hi, there. thanks for taking my comments? i am a lowell alumna, and a proud alumna of stufffusd. i do not support a lottery system for lowell for this year and certainly not in the future. do not consider a lottery system to be a socially just system. i urge the board to please consider some alternatives as you're looking at this -- this really difficult situation of this year in specific. i completely agree with many of the comments raised in the earlier half of this discussion regarding the need to better diversefy lowell. lowell was a much more robustly diverse school when i was a student there, and i believe that the school and the district can do a better job of

looking at a more holistic application. i do think that rather than bringing all our high schools down to the least common denominator, we should be looking to raise up all our high schools to be like lowell. >> thank you. hello, tracey? i'm sorry. go ahead. hello, tracey? >> i am here. >> hi, go ahead. >> actually, my daughter, who's in eighth grade, would like to speak. thank you. >> um, hi. i'm a current eighth grader at rooftop, and this is why i'm against the lottery policy. so first of all, i've been working extremely hard for the past, like, two to three years. i've been trying to get really good grades, and so has a lot of many other eighth graders and seventh graders in the

district. and for sibling preference, if you want to do sibling preference, that would mainly keep the same amount of diversity since many students there have younger siblings of the same race, and you supposedly want to diversefy the school, but that would just keep the same amount of race there, mostly. and also, if you want more kids from mostly minority schools, with less money to get into lowell, then give the schools more resources to be like lowell so they can be more like lowell instead of using it to wipe away murals at washington. and if this school goes away, we'll probably have to go to a private school, which we cannot afford. >> thank you. e-mail address

nils.gilman@g-mail.com. >> hi. i'm nils. tens of thousands of sent their students off to lowell and then onto universities, serving the middle class. i want to stress the word excellence. the reason why so meany top colleges accept -- many top colleges accept lowell students, the reason why it's been a vehicle of upwards mobility for so many students is because it's excellence. whatever the standards should be, a pure lottery system by definition provides no standards whatsoever. indeed, many of those who have spoken in favor of the lottery want no merit systems at all. this is destroying the very thing about lowell that people want access to.

this would be like the very famous general in viet nam who declared that he had to destroy the village in order to save it. thank you. >> thank you. hello, mia? >> yes. >> go ahead. >> i just wanted to comment and say something that i've noticed during this entire against forum is that everyone against thus far, or everyone thus far whose comments has been against has either been white or asian. i'd also like to comment and say if you are against these changes of policy at lowell, then you are probably inherently racist and supporting white supremacy -- [inaudible] >> sorry, mia. we are offering the time for the folks that are against -- >> i know. i just ran out of time, and it needed to be said. you all have a blessed evening.

>> hello, lea? >> hi. i'm a current junior at lowell, class of 2022. i don't think this proposal is the way to goal. this focus on changing the system is focused on making it unfair to incoming students is actually not to raise diversity. that is a by-product, so i think that's what we should be focusing on in this discussion, as well? also, if you take a probability class, you'd understand if there is a pure lottery percentage, there's a really high percentage of getting children of color into lowell as well as not getting a high percentage of children of color into lowell? there's this one really good school, it shouldn't be this way. it should be every other school should be just at good. one problem is this new system is unfair to incoming eighth graders. they've worked their butts off, and i can only imagine if i was

an eighth grader, how upset i'd be if the kid next to me who didn't even want to go to lowell got in. another thing is, if you want to implement this system long-term, you can't. there's also the issue of the standardized test. the point of a standardized test is that everyone should -- >> time. >> [inaudible] i think the whole point of having a standardized test is easier -- >> thank you. that's time. >> that's time, miss. >> hello, jocelyn? >> hi. i am a current high schooler at lowell high school, and i oppose the lottery system. i oppose it because i know a lot of students whose parents will make them apply to lowell, and if they get in, and someone who has worked hard to get into

lowell, and they don't, i don't think that's fair. i also oppose the current -- the merit -- the testing scores, sorry, way to get into lowell. i think we should do essays because we should understand why people want to go to school and admit people that way? that way, we can better diversity and make sure that the people who want access to resourc resources at lowell get it. thank you. >> okay. i think that's our time for this segment of public comment. i do want to see if, mr. steele, we could open it up for a bit more, if we could get students. we did have a bit more students than we did last week, which i'm gran oriente tide with, but i think if we can get more student voices, that would be more advantageous. so can you help us in that regard? >> sure. i'm going to lower all the hands, and then, as president

sanchez has asked, only students please raise your hand, and president sanchez, this is both sides of the issue? >> yes. also, if you've already spoken, please refrain. we would like new students to be able to speak at this time. if you're not a student, and you raise your hand, we're going to have to obviously, you know, deal with that as it happens, but let's see how many students are out there. >> okay. there's at least 18, and i can't see beyond the full page. there's quite a few, president sanchez. >> yeah, i see the hands, as well, so let's give them all a minute? >> okay. so -- okay.

hello, oliver? >> hi. so i'm an eight grader, and i've been working hard to get into lowell the last few years? i think a merit system versus a lottery, i don't think it's one or the other, but i think a combination would be the most fair to people of all races? i think that soda is keeping the way that they are. i don't see a reason that lowell shouldn't, but i also do think that they should allow -- they should, like, compensate to ensure that there is more diversity at the school. a lottery isn't perfect, but neither is a merit-based system. >> thank you. hello, moonlight? >> good afternoon. i would like to oppose the proposition of changing the lowell system to a lottery

system because it's unfair how some students have to keep consistent good grades throughout middle school and have to do an essay. and i understand why it's being proposed for the upcoming school year, but i feel like at least they should do an essay to be able to get in. >> thank you. hello, cassandra? >> hi. i'm cassandra lee, an eighth grader from presidio middle school. like many others, i do not have the opportunity to go to a private school. lowell would be an opportunity for me, like many other students, to have an academic challenge. eliminating both admission policies hurts everyone, especially those who can't afford the academic resources of a private school. thank you. >> thank you.

hello, alina? >> hi. i am alina. i don't think that lowell should switch to a lottery system from a merit-based system. i understawonder why students that at other schools? are they saying that other schools don't have the facilities for students to become better? if they take away the merit based assets, students who have workhave -- like me who have worked hard for years to get this chance feel like it devalues us. also, i realize people that are for the lowell changing to a lottery system are all adults and none of them are eighth grade students, like me, so also, they don't have to face

the anxiety and uncertainty of whether they get into lowell or not. >> thank you. hello, virginia van zant. >> hi. can you hear me? >> we can, but you have an echo. >> oh, sorry about that. hi. i just wanted to say -- hello? >> go ahead. >> hi. i just wanted to say that i graduated from lowell in 2016, and i think i'm against the proposal this year to make lowell a lottery because lowell's a san francisco institution, and it's the only public school that allows students to choose to work hard to go there based on academics? it's an option, a school that's free, that a lot of san francisco families cannot afford to go to private school for the same purpose.

when i attended lowell, i felt like i was pushed to my full academic potential because i was surrounded by students who put school first, and it is the only environment that you can do so in san francisco in terms of public schools. i understand that this year, simply having a merit-base system is different based on the covid circumstances, but i think an essay would be a more although listic way to judge students just for this year, and i hope to see lowell remain a merit based school in the future. >> thank you. hello, shenke?

>> yeah, just a second. >> hello. go ahead, please. >> yeah. so i am against this new lottery system because sure, diversity is important, but -- but it's just not fair for the -- for us -- for, like, the ones who worked hard and are -- and are just losing their -- their advantage because, like, they've worked hard, like, they should -- i mean, i'm going to say this but, like, they should -- they should get -- they should be able to get into lowell more -- like, it's just blatantly unfair to just put on the -- to do on the -- the lottery system because you're ignoring the fact that you're throwing away the opportunities

of the people who worked hard. and also, if you're going to say -- if you're going to say the current system is, in some way racist, then how is the lottery system going to change that? the lottery system has nothing to do with it. thank you. >> thank you. [please stand by] .

>> from going to lowell, it is not what everyone makes it out to be. there are a lot of systemic issues and making it a lottery system only lowers the entire district. we need to spread the wealth that lowell has. in the alumni association, the amount of money they raise is absurd and i think the fact that the rest of our public schools

in sfusd aren't granted those same opportunities is really unfair and i think that we need to start investing in the rest of our public high schools and bring out the entire district and i would like to say i support our student delegate shivon and she is doing a really great job. >> a few years ago i attended the lowell evening school to tour -- [indiscernible] -- >> this is just for students at

this time. thank you for calling. >> i'm a senior at lowell and i understand that the school board is wanting to make this a lottery system, but i urge you to listen to other people's opinions and create different solutions than what it is now into just a complete lottery solution. an essay i think would be a great solution, but also the middle [indiscernible] there are other solutions than just a full lottery system versus merits. >> i'm a current lowell

sophomore and i am not -- [indiscernible] -- >> have you spoken on this item today? >> no. >> it's not because, like, i'm racist. this is not a racially charged thing in a negative way on my part. if you take away admissions, lowell just becomes a regular school and it loses the appeal and its grade. it's 58th in the country. [indiscernible] -- make a concerted effort with the academic resources. that's the biggest issue.

[indiscernible] -- cut the branches off or whatever. >> i need to emphasize that this is for students and we encourage students who have already spoken not to speak again. >> i am an eighth grader at hoover middle school and i and my friends and also a bunch of other people have been studying really hard to get into lowell because, i mean, for some of them that's their only choice, for a really good education. and i also know probably a bunch

of other people are really stressed about this thing. maybe you don't know how that feels and maybe you do, but this is our education. we try really hard to get into this school, and then suddenly you announce that it's going to be 100% lottery and anyone could get in, which is really not fair. it's just really frustrating. >> hello, jenny. >> i'm her son. i agree on the proposal for lowell just because i want my little brother to get in for his future for him to do his best to

be his best to get his own good education because public schools are failing. i want my brother to have a good education. thank you. >> hello, zoe. >> can you hear me? >> we can. >> i would like to thank you for taking this public comment. i would like to address what kids and adults are saying that they want to get the right caliber of education. what they don't understand is the cost of attending lowell in the current form. this generates so much hate

amongst students that go to lowell, students that don't go to lowell and adults, that it's a place that's fostering such a negative environment that it can't exist in its current form and the merits-based admissions process is a really big part of that. i would also like to say thank you to the student delegate, who has done a really amazing job. if you have been attacking her on social media today or in the last meeting, i would just like to say you should feel a lot of shame because the people doing the work here tonight to get this passed are doing good work. thank you. >> hello, maria?

>> can you hear me? >> we can. >> i am a lowell senior currently and i would just like to say that as a senior i have endured four years of something i never thought i would imagine. as someone who actually attends lowell, i can speak on behalf of what i thought lowell would be. as a middle schooler i applied because i thought it would give me an opportunity to make my family proud being a first-generation student, but that changed my mind as i am attending lowell. i speak for eighth graders when i understand your frustration. not everyone will experience this. going into high school your middle school grades are not a reflection of who you are. a lot of your grades can change. who you are as a middle schooler is not who you are as a high

schooler. i completely agree with everything that zoe said and i definitely think that the social media harassment that shivon has been facing needs to stop. if you are an adult harassing a minor, that needs to stop. >> i believe that was time. >> first of all, i would like to say how much i appreciate everyone coming out. obviously there is a huge topic of concern, not just two sides. thank you for your comments. i know there are a lot of others wanting to speak as well and thank you to the students at the end to bolster the commentary. now we're opening up to board members. i know, commissioner lam, you may want to use this opportunity to offer your comments.

>> thank you, president sanchez. as i go into my remarks, i just wanted to thank the public for your comments this evening and being part of this process. but first i want to publicly apologize to student delegate shivon for the personal attacks that she's received after the last board member as well as outside the meetings. it is completely unacceptable and that is upon us and on me to keep our students safe, to care for our students and one another. i wanted to begin with that apology directly to shivon. over the past week i've spoken with and listened to students, parents, community

organizations, alumni parents and associations. thank you for sharing your thoughts with me. i want to express the disappointment of the lack of engagement from the community stakeholders to arrive at this proposal and ask questions of the staff. it's clear from the last week that there is a hunger for deeper dialog. and i also want to acknowledge that we want to stop pitting communities against each other. i want to say that i do value parenting voices. i'm not clear if the proposal will ultimately -- actually, i

know it won't address the long-time changes that are needed in the lowell culture and ultimately making the student experience more holistic and for for our students. ultimately the systemic change that we strive for, not only at lowell, will require more intentional work beyond the admissions policy. the world is changing before our eyes. even in the last six months with the pandemic, higher education is also changing including admissions. i'm so excited to see the evolution of those admissions becoming more inclusive at higher education institutions. we as a public education institution need to make those changes in the 21st century. i am a parent of a high schooler

who attends an amazing high school that is not lowell. i have an eighth grader also embarking on his high school admissions in his high school career next fall. i am committed to looking at our high schools and the opportunities to expand various pathways and courses and discussions about specialized schools, but tonight we are unable to have that full discussion. so i just want to make clear for future discussions that we are talking about inclusive, holistic, equitable admissions, the opportunity for examining and looking at our specialized schools and really ultimately how are we supporting and fulfilling our promise of equitable graduate profiles for young people to be ready to be part of to contribute to the

greater society. before i go into considerations for my colleagues to consider to amend the current policy, i also want to read into the record and, president sanchez, i hope you will allow me to extend my time. i have something i would like to read into the record at this time that we received as board members and superintendent matthews, a letter that we received. we are a group of progressive lowell alumni students who are advocates for equitable high school focusing on under-represented students. we believe that the current lowell alumni association does not represent all alumni.

we would like the students to be aware that we are willing to work together to find solutions to have diversity and equity and inclusion at lowell. specifically and initially we are in support the board revision, that fully represents the contributions of black people in global society and advances the ideology of black liberation. we support the inclusion of ethnic studies in the curriculum. we support this resolution as consistent with the expansion of other elective course. [indiscernible] -- next, we are also in support of the superintendent's resolution to

adopt an interim lowell admissions policy for the 2021-2022 school year. we understand the challenges that have resulted from the pandemic. we recognize that the board will and should re-evaluate the following school years with the input of those in the community. with this statement not to question the district's decision, but to question those vehemently opposing the proposed lottery admission to lowell. these assertions pushed by local factions of some current and prospective students saying there is elitism and racism. [indiscernible] lowell's academic reputation until the end of lowell. if lowell is that weak,

revisioning is definitely needed. if lowell lets in just anyone, the reputation will be ruined. this premise is patently false and should be rejected on its face. first, we recognize that nothing in the proposal reflects [indiscernible] second, this promise fails to acknowledge that only students who choose lowell will be placed in the lottery. students who do not choose lowell will not be placed in the lottery and will not be placed there. third, we recognize that this is unique in the academic environment. we recognize that there is a

[indiscernible] well-known for its career academyies on scienc and technology. those who insert most [indiscernible] -- o pontss of the policy also raise concerns that the well-being of students who would not have been prepared under the old model and would be shoulder to shoulder with high-achieving children. similar concerns were raised before the u.s. supreme court [indiscernible] such as the university of california. this mismatched theory is inherently false and patronizing and has been rejected as such. the sad reality is that many students at lowell today are struggling academically and emotionally. these are the students who

earned their way into lowell and are unprepared. unprepared for what? is this the lowell that should be preserved and protected? we understand these are extraordinary times and the district and the board are under immense pressure to address these challenges. we also recognize that families and students are anxious about the impact the pandemic will have on their education. nonetheless, in this moment we trust the district and the board are acting in good faith. we urge the board to conduct a review of the culture at lowell. there have been incidents of racism on campus and most recently students have spoken out about a climate of sexual violence associated with lowell. these incidents are [indiscernible] mental health awareness events in order to provide their peers with the resources they need in order to

cope with the high-stress environment in which lowell exists. this culture is often cited by many prospective students as reasons not to choose lowell. in conclusion, most alumni recognize that lowell in its [indiscernible] -- as the school that we attended. many of us, it is the same or worse than it was when we attended. we are concerned for the well-being of current students and we have supported their efforts to make positive change on campus. it is in this spirit that alumni and students have banded together to speak truth to power

for lowell high school. i would like to officially submit that for record. sorry, i didn't anticipate being overcome with this emotion. i just wanted to also say that my pediatrician, when we went in for our annual exam and my daughter was about to -- was in eighth grade and had received her acceptance letter to what high school she would be attending in the fall, our pediatrician asked us, which school are you going to be attending? she said she would be attending lincoln. our pediatrician said she would talk us out of it, if it was

lowell, because of concerns from the students. this puts a light on the mental health and well-being supports that we must have in place now and especially during the pandemic. so nit i also would like to propose an amendment to the current policy because i also recognize and myself felt uncomfortable with the process. i just felt that with the policy right now i would like to amend it for consideration. president sanchez, would you like me to read it? >> i would like it, vice president lopez, if you wanted to say something. >> i did. i certainly want to hear the amendment, but i'm wondering if we can pause for discussion because it could shift the conversation if we do it at the

beginning. >> me as well, and i appreciate that comment, commissioner lopez. >> it's up to you, commissioner lam. anyone can offer an amendment at any time. if you want to wait, that's fine. otherwise, you can just summarize it for us and send it as an e-mail. >> i'm sorry, commissioner lopez, do you prefer to have discussion? >> i'd just like to understand the concern myself. >> the overall concern is i just wanted to ensure that if we were to amend the admissions policy beyond -- for either school y r years 2022-2023 that there be a

process set by the superintendent and a task force looking at the different considerations or revisions to that policy moving forward. i can again list the specifics. i can either read it or send it by e-mail for your reference. >> you can send it for reference and then we don't have to vote on it right now, keeping that in mind as we move forward in the conversation. i want to open up to student delegates. shivon, if you would like to speak now, you can. otherwise we can wait until later. >> before i begin, i would like to say that the 45,000 students of sfusd cannot go out and vote

for board commissioners, but they can vote on student delegates, which is why i'm speaking to you all today. as one of the student delegates, it is my privilege to speak on behalf of my students. speaking to a lowell focus group, i feel confident saying the students are passionate surrounding the concerns of equity and student resources. for this goal to be met, there must be change. as we all know, this is already an extremely dangerous inference. we can't predict how students will perform at a school, just like we can't predict the pandemic. if any school in our district was setting up our students to fail, it would not be open. i know there is a lot of fear especially when it comes to change, but if we don't advocate for the change, there will be no

progress in our district, leaving us stagnant and stuck in place. i understand that students have worked hard for attending lowell. our schools offer greatness all around, all across the board. lowell is not what gets a student into college. it is the sfusd student that works hard to get into college. like maria beautifully said in public comment, who you are in middle school is not who you're going to be in high school. your destiny will always be yours no matter what the journey looks like to get there. that's all i have to say for now. >> thank you for that. shivon, did you want to speak? >> yeah, first, i want to say to all the people who have been harassing me on social media through twitter accounts and through anonymous threats, i

want to say, hi, i'm alive and well and i hope you are too. first to my point, when i came into this meeting, i had my camera off for the majority of the meeting. as most of you know, i don't normally do that. i did that in response to my picture being shared on social media due to anonymous accounts who have been attacking the valid points i brought up about the incidents and situations and real life that our students at lowell go through. last week's board meeting was very bad. i don't have any other way to put it. it was very bad, not only for me, but also for other students who looked back and listened to the recording and saw what was said. i can also see that this affected my school.

i had teachers who pulled me aside and said, shivon, do you have time to fill out the homework because i know you're going to be under attack tonight. so it's the assumption that i'm going to be attacked shows everyone's integrity on this call, . cassia and i are elected student delegates and even during my campaign, i saw myself and my campaign under attack clearly because of my race. i have the qualifications. i've been involved in student organizations, as you can see. every stakeholder at lowell knows my name. every student at lowell knows my name. most of them probably voted for me to be in this position. the fact that some people posted on twitter that this is a political stunt to have a black

and a hispanic student delegate is a political stunt. a lot of people were misinformed. i said this last week and some of you came on the call without even cracking open a news article or the sfusd website. you don't get put into the lottery system unless you write down lowell. is that correct? i need someone to say it's correct so everyone on this call can hear. >> that is correct. >> what makes you all come on

this call and, like, act like this? what makes people from anonymous accounts send threats to a minor? i don't get it. i also want to bring up the point that i don't want to say who, but someone brought up in the call this is going to take away our advantage. as you already see students who are -- some students feel like they have an advantage and this system will take away their advantage. as i said last week and you still have not read up on it, this is not in response to diversity at lowell. this is in response to a pandemic. people's interpretation of it bringing out diversity is their own opinion. it does not clearly state that african-american and latin x and

hispanic students will have an advantage due to this process. me personally, if i could do this again, i probably wouldn't go back. i would go back for the students and wouldn't go back to be in this environment. a lot of minority students and a lot of non-minority students feel that way because of recent events and what we've been seeing uncovered during the summer. i'd also like to support this statement that commissioner lam wrote out saying that the environment of lowell needs to be evaluated. i whole-heartedly agree with that. the district has been letting the administration beat around t the bush. i brought this up last week, but even when we saw the 2016

walkout and the demands from the student and everyone was like, oh my god, we're there for you. woo hoo, boo-hoo, none of those demands were met. we haven't seen any of that change. specifically me as a black student. 2016 was supposed to be the big awakening. lowell was going to be a turnaround, we're going to dig deep inside the community. students like me and some of the minority communities have been feeling the same things. coordinating a walk out, meeting with sfusd admin. nothing has changed. right now i don't have anything to say. i feel great embarrassment for last week's board meeting. it wasn't a board meeting, but

it was committee of the whole. you all acted up on the call. i feel embarrassment for the way you conducted yourselves on the call. and i also -- even the parents who yelled at me on the call, they apologized using money. they apologize using money. my club had a gofundme that was up and the parents sent me a message, oh, shivon, i'm deeply sorry for the way i acted. please accept my apology in the amount of $150. when i have some more ideas, i'll speak. >> we have circle back. vice president lopez. >> thank you.

i just want to echo what we've seen and how we feel about threatening our students. clearly people have been behaving in a way that is unacceptable. there is no doubt where i stand on this issue. i wanted to use my time to clear up some misconceptions and just be aware that grades and standardized test scores are automatic barriers for non-white and asian communities. these have shown to be one of the most effective racist policy s. to use this as a measurement

tool in order to set up a school is a process that excludes certain communities, mostly black and latino. there's no denying that because we see it in the student population that has been evidenced for decades. we're hearing this message about scoring better on tests and working harder and what makes lowell good or destroying it if we change this process which is problematic and that's what the school district heard in the 1980s and the 1990s. when we create that hierarchy, we destroy these ideas. if we use this system, it's inherently racist. this is an illegal process that has stood too long in this school district. as a leader in this school district, not a colonel, i am

ready to make this change and am in full support of this now and in the future. >> thank you. any other board members? >> yes, i appreciate that and i really appreciate you, students, delegates, fostering and your leadership. i'm deeply sorry that as aduls s we are showing the type of leadership that you and your colleagues on the board are showing. i did not like what happened last week and i heard more of the same today. there was a little less shouting, but the negative message and the harm is still there. some of what i heard constitutes verbal harassment and abuse. these comments and behaviors are

unfortunately indicative of experiences many blacks, latin x, low-income and immigrant students and families have to endure in our classrooms and schools, including at lowell. while these comments and behaviors are not new, they are unacceptable, especially in an sfusd board meeting. let me tell you why. the comments that i heard and the behavior that i witnessed is harmful to black students, at lowells specifically, who just want to be able to go to school without having to justify their excellence. it is harmful to black parents who consistently are called on to defend themselves and their community against people who say our children don't work hard enough, we don't know how to properly care for hem, and our culture doesn't value education.

it is also hurtful to educators, students, and parents across our city who go to other schools and are told their schools are not academic. here's what i'm going to do about it. i'm going to be a tireless vocal advocate for those who are harmed by these conversations. it is not okay for adults to shout down, disparage, or threaten black and latin x student leaders. it is also not appropriate to interrupt latin x commissioners while they're running meetings and it's not appropriate to troll black and latin x leaders. i will call out this behavior whenever i see it and i implore other city leaders to do the same in spaces they are in.

i am not the president of the board and have not had any input on the timing and process of this decision. nonetheless, i'm taking all of this behavior into account when i make my determination about the future process of lowell admissions. i am uncomfortable moving forward with any conversations about process when these behaviors persist and when people are comfortable talking about process without actually addressing the racism and the abusive behavior that our students and our families and our black alumni continually share with us. i am not alone. i am joined by scholars and community leaders by local and national organizations, including the california and naact, s.f. human rights

commission, students rights councils and other organizations fighting to celebrate, nurture, and protect excellence in our public education system. i want to thank all the student leaders, the parents, educators, and the city leaders of all races and backgrounds who are already doing the work and could consistently motivate and inspire me to fight for all our babies, but i am not comfortable talking about process unless we talk about what is happening in the toxic culture at lowell high school. >> thank you. i just want to say that i am supportive of the proposal for reasons that i stated last week, that i think -- i don't know that we have really any other

choice. i have reviewed the amendment that commissioner lam will be submitting and i am supportive of it. she'll read it into the record i'm sure at her time. i really just wanted to say there are a number of women of color on this call on this board that have been subjected to a level of harassment at the meeting and on social media, in particular by president lopez and commissioner collins and student delegate foster. and i want to call out that behavior as unacceptable. and i also want to say that using commissioners' children against -- in public comment and as an example is unacceptable. it has happened to me.

it is true at times i have talked about my children and their experiences, and that does not give the public the right to invade their privacy and to use them as weapons against my opinions as a commissioner or anyone else's. i want to restate that because these are children. they're children. they didn't ask for their mothers to run for the board of education and they didn't ask for their school experiences to be used against them. definitely there has been times that i've told stories about my own daughter's experiences at sfusd and was told in no uncertain terms by said daughters not to do that anymore. i became much more careful about their privacy and i would ask the public to be. >> other commissioners?

>> i just wanted to appreciate you commissioner norton, because we don't always agree on policy. i've been coming to meetings as long as you have, although i was a parent, and i've seen you. over time you have become more vocal. i just want to say you are modeling what i need, what our student delegates need. that is alliship. it is good behavior. i just want to honor you and say we don't always have to agree, but this is how we work toget r

together. we all should agree on how we treat each other. i'm deeply deeply appreciative of you as a person on this board and how you use your voice, so thank you. >> i want to thank those who have weighed in. there are 870 on the call. that is a lot of interest. i continue to be impressed and proud. i couldn't have asked for a better way to leave the board than to serve alongside folks like you and the student

delegate. i've been the focus of threats online and attacks throughout some of my time on the board and i've grown. i expect some of it to happen. this is not something that we stand for as a board. obviously we've heard and the black community as well. so i appreciate that we've spoken about that. and just to uplift and acknowledge the impassioned discussion i heard on both sides of the issue. when students reach out, i do my best to respond. i had a number of students concerned this policy would compromise their future. a number of eighth graders spoke about the resolution. i heard you and i understand

that you feel like this at some level is going to completely jeopardize your future. i wish you didn't feel that way. i understand that that is what you feel. i heard you. one of the great things about our district and our city is that opportunity s opportunitie everywhere and that's a message i share with a lot of our high school students. a lot of my career is focused on high school, working alongside of lowell and the other incredible schools in the district. the context for this decision i think has been really wrapped up into something else. as was already mentioned, this was in response to the pandemic and has become a discussion of race and diversity along with the discussion of the culture at

lowell and long overlooked negative experiences for black students that attend lowell. all that needs to be addressed and it should be addressed. we're here today because of the pandemic. we're here virtually because of the pandemic. i have that frame of mind on this issue tonight and i would encourage if there's going to be further policy that we have an ongoing conversation. we have a preview and see where the city stands on this issue. my vote is going to have a one-year allowance because of the pandemic. >> commissioner molina. >> thank you, president sanchez.

i'm not going to say too much. we have strong black and brown and white women leaders on our school board and student delegates that have been saying everything that folks need to hear and i have nothing but respect for them. i come from the city. i live and grew up in san francisco. i went to all the schools that people didn't want to go to. i understand -- i went to downtown high school. people are probably like, well, how did you get on the school board? hard work, dedication, and a great school education. i just kept going. so you're definitely going to be okay whatever school you go to. i'm going to be supportive of the current superintendent. sitting back and hearing how

things have been playing out the last two weeks, it is very shocking and hurtful in a lot of sense as a people of color when people are talking about neighborhoods [indiscernible] -- >> i thought it was somebody jumping in to say something. everyone talked about the respect and how we need to treat each other. the one thing i want to mention around that is when i hear grown men talking to women a certain way, that's me as like -- there's a level of, like, understanding and how much patriarchy we have to deal with in this country. if you're out there talking to

any women, people on the school board, student delegates, i just ask all the men, whoever you are, oppose or support, whatever you do, to check yourselves and really understand your privilege in society. for me at the end of the day when i was hearing some of the things and the young ladies on the school board or the student delegates, that's not okay at all. so again i don't have too much to say, but that's been on my heart since last week. i hope that this goes into someone's heart and mind. we need to keep this going, but i want to uplift all our sheros

from all our commissioners and student delegates. >> thank you, commissioner lam. commissioner, i know you said there was an amendment. i would like if you could read it into the record and if, superintendent matthews, if you could respond because it's amending your policy recommendations. so i would like to hear from you as well. >> in the amendment that a majority of the board of education wishes to amend the lowell admissions policy for years 2022-2023, prior to considering any amendment, there should be a task force consisting of a variety of stakeholders, including but not limited to students, families, educators, administrators, community organizations to

recommend revisions to the lowell admission policy to the students. recommending changes to the policy, the task force shall consider the impacts of covid-related changes to the admission policies for the 2021-2022 school year. the task force shall be guided by the district schools to create learning environments that are fully integrated. the task force shall include a comprehensive stakeholder process. the superintendent shall consider the recommendations of the task force and recommend revisions to the admissions policy, if any, to the board of education one year in advance of the academic school year in which the amended policy would take effect. the superintendent shall

recommend revisions to the lowell admissions policy, which will accomplish a more racially and socially-economic body and a more socially inclusive learning environment for all students. >> all of that is doable, but the current recommendation to you is just for the next school year and i absolutely understand that what this takes into account is if there was a thought of doing this for longer than next year, we would go through that process. but i just want to be clear the current recommendation is only for next year. >> and there seems to be a hunger by most of the board, it

seems, to deal with lowell lang term. i would imagine we would want some kind of a change moving forward. we could use this opportunity to have this year-long conversat n conversation. i do know that there might be concerns. i know, commissioner collins, you had something you might want to add into it as well. >> i believe this is disrespectful. >> what is disrespectful? >> this amendment, this process. how have we involved black parents and black alumni in putting forward an amendment in a way -- like, they should be leading this, and i've been working on this for a long time. as an educator, like, what i'm hearing from familyies isn't

about integrating, but they're wanting to address the toxic culture and it feels very disrespectful. it feels like lopping it over and saying, okay, we have to deal with the due process. i just feel like this is a very disrespectful amendment. so i think if we're going to right something, we should start with addressing what student delegate shivon is asking for, which is for us to immediately address the culture at the school, not set up a task force to address it. we're hearing from students that they could go but are choosing not to because of the toxic culture. that needs to come first. it doesn't make any sense to

integrate the school if it's not welcoming. we need to start with making the school welcoming and what the school and the students need and then how we fit that in the system. >> well, i didn't see it as disrespectful myself. i get what you're saying, we have to deal with the culture at the school. the culture at the school is implicitly and explicitly tagged to the enrolment process. they're hand in hand. we need to deal with both. i would say we need to be explicit if we amend it with this language that we add that we are dealing with the culture of the school at the same time. because you're right, the culture of the school is toxic. >> on the fly, you've got a bunch of people. it's disrespectful and doesn't involve the people who have been [indiscernible] -- something --

>> can i call on people to talk since i'm trying to run the meeting. shiv shivon. >> first i'd like commissioner lam to re-read her proposed amendment, but also next to that we don't implement another committee or task force about equity. i've sat on all those committees for four years and i'm sorry to tell you all, racism is still there. >> commissioner cooke. >> i just wanted to actually ask a process question weighing in on the amendment right now.

i understand commissioner collins' point and i understand commissioner lam's thinking. so i just wanted to ask about how we're going to address this. are we going to vote on the amendment? what's the process going to be? >> norm the process is when the commissioner offers an amendment, we discuss the amendment and vote on the amendment then we vote on the full resolution. >> over four years, i forgot quickly how we do things. >> we don't amend that much. >> anyone can offer amendments and anyone can say disrespectful. everyone should feel, let's amend and discuss and move on. >> do we have to move it? >> yes, it has to be moved and seconded.

>> okay. i'll go ahead and move it. >> i'll second it. >> okay. i really hear what commissioner collins is saying. and i hear you, student delegate foster. you're right, the last thing we need is another equity committee. [please stand by]

if you want to change things. i think what commissioner lamb is trying to do, is to layout some process of how the board might do that to let the community know that, you know, this is what will happen if the board choses to have a process. i personally think -- i've thought for a long time that we would never create lull in the form that it is today. there's no way that anyone on this board of education or anyone in the administration would create the school with the processes that we have today. i think what president sanchez said is very true that there's -- that the admissions

process is linked with the toxic culture at the school so they have to be dealt with at the same time or together. dealing with the admissions process is the easy part, actually. so, i just really want to commend everybody who is going to be continuing on on this board for being willing to take this on and i do agree that we want to be really careful and intentional about the voices that we elevate to have this conversation and are a lot of people that been talking about and we don't want to think we just invented this conversation. so, it needs to be thoughtful and i also heard a lot of parents really being concerned

about the process and how will my voice be heard and we should acknowledge too, the timing of how this particular proposal rolled out is not anybody's first choice how this happened. we're in the middle of a pandemic and there's a lot going on and we're doing when we're doing it because suddenly we realize we have to get it into we could have gotten more input but it is what it is and we need to set up some guidelines or some kind of guidelines for how we're going to take this up in the future so that people are feeling like this took them completely by surprise will mow there's a process we'll keep talking about. >> vice president lopez. >> thank you. i want to support this because

as a stance i believe in community input and i understand this is what people have been saying is it came out of nowhere and the way i would support it is if we amend this amendment which is part of the process and strike the first couple of words and begin with the board of education wishing to amend the low admissions policy for school years 22-23 or beyond, and beyond, i think it would make sense to incorporate that. this would be setting up the space for this school board to change the policy in the future. does that make sense?

>> >> i'm sorry. i talked about this earlier. if commissioner lamb could reread the amendment, i want to get a firm grasp on it before i vote on it. >> i also want to acknowledge and thank you to commissioner and this amendment seek to under mine any of that work as well as in the community as commissioner collins has raised. >> in the event they wish to meant policy for school years 22-23 or beyond, prior to considering any amendment the

superintendent shall create a task force of stakeholders and not limited to students, families, educators, and administrators to recommend revision to the lowell admission policy to the superintendent. in recommending changes to the policy, the task force shall consider the impact of covid-19 related changes to the admissions policy for the 2021-22 school year and consult with local national experts regarding best practices for magnet and specialized schools. the task force is to create learn environments that are socio economic incompetent graded with a take holders process. threcommending revisions if endg to the board of commission one year in advance the academic school year and the policy would take effect. the superintendent shall recommend revisions to the

policy accomplishing both more racially socioeconomic integrated student body at lowell high school and more learning environment for all students. >> all right. any further discussion before we vote on the amendment? >> so this would delay the vote for a year? >> we're still voting on suspending the current board policy -- >> i'm hearing a task force will be made to evaluate the proposed policy from the superintendent? >> if we go beyond the one that we're voting on today, which is for this next school year. >> basically what's would happen is vote to approve this criteria

for a year and this amendment would provide a process criteria for lowell. it would still suspend the current policy that mandates test scores and grades. >> go ahead. >> i just want to make it clear that there's been no commitment at all to addressing the concerns our student delegate and our black a num alumni of te

toxic culture. i have not heard, as a body, we are making a commitment to do that. >> we don't have that item. i don't know if commissioner lamb wants to add language like that? >> i would be comfortable as i read into the record, by the letter submitted to the board where it's absolutely in the forefront of my mind to also address the toxic challenging environment -- toxic environment and the negative impacts it has had on our students at lowell. >> ok. >> so for example, if this proposal comes up again, this would implement a tax forced to review it before it goes out? >> yes. >> this is to determine lowell

and the requirements after the next school year. >> it doesn't address enrollment and does not specifically address culture? >> right. >> i don't know if commissioner lamb, you want to be explicit and say that part of the task force duties are to deal with the culture issue at the school, i don't know. that might be a whole separate process. >> i think you should include that members or presidents of cultural clubs should be present in this task force because even when we look at our stakeholders at lowell, most of them are either white o'e or asian. i don't think that would change the racial standpoint if we have more of the majority on the