tv SFUSD Board Of Education SFGTV November 26, 2020 10:00am-2:01pm PST
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ocean, and i got to see them connect with other students, and i got to see them fail, you know, and get up and get back on the board and experience success, and really enjoy themselves and make a connection to nature at the same time. >> for some kids that are, like, resistant to, like, being in a mentorship program like this, it's they want to surf, and then later, they'll find out that they've, like, made this community connection. >> i think they provided level playing fields for kids to be themselves in an open environment. >> for kids to feel like i can go for it and take a chance that i might not have been willing to do on my own is really special. >> we go on 150 surf outings a year. that's year-round programming. we've seen a tremendous amount of youth face their fears through surfing, and that has
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translated to growth in other facets of their lives. >> i just think the biggest thing is, like, that they feel like that they have something that is really cool, that they're engaged in, and that we, like, care about them and how they're doing, like, in general. >> what i like best is they really care about me, like, i'm not alone, and i have a group of people that i can go to, and, also, surfing is fun. >> we're creating surfers, and we're changing the face of surfing. >> the feeling is definitely akin to being on a roller coaster. it's definitely faster than i think you expect it to be, but it's definitely fun. >> it leaves you feeling really, really positive about what that kid's going to go out and do. >> i think it's really magical almost. at least it was for me. >> it was really exciting when
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i caught my first wave. >> i felt like i was, like -- it was, like, magical, really. >> when they catch that first wave, and their first lights up, you know -- their face lights up, you know you have them hooked. >> i was on top of the world. it's amazing. i felt like i was on top of the world even though i was probably going two miles an hour. it was, like, the scariest thing i'd ever done, and i think it was when i got hooked on surfing after >> november 17th, 2020. could you please do roll call. >> thank you commissioner.
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[roll call] >> okay, thank you for the roll call. this is a special board meeting. we have three items on the agenda, two informational and one is an action item. if there is no objection from my colleagues on the board, i would like to rearrange the order of it items due to the fact that there are parent-teacher conferences going on until 4:00 p.m. today. i know a lot of them would want to be here for the resolution. i would like to move up the
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update of coordinated care teams to the top of the agenda. >> president sanchez, she is on her way from the remote site to the district office because the thought was this was going to be later in the agenda. >> i'm sorry. i was late earlier this afternoon and i tried to do that, but i'm sorry i didn't get to you first. okay, well if that's the case then i think we should put the resolution first if commissioner lam makes some amendments to the
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resolution prior to the board comment. so if there is no objection to that. she will begin her reading of the resolution. commissioner, i think your -- either i'm frozen or you're frozen. >> i can't tell if she's frozen. >> commissioner lam -- >> i think she's frozen. >> you may want to log out. >> she just text us. i would call in or log out, log back in. this happens to me everyday in my class, everyday. >> soon we're going to talk
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about board meetings being in person again. >> does someone else want to start the reading? >> yeah, we're waiting for commissioner lam to read the resolution into the record. she's having some tech problems. >> yeah. >> so we'll give her a minute and if not, vice president lopez, if you could also read it into the record. >> i have it up and ready.
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>> commissioner cook, you can as well. >> we will probably tag team any way. so why don't we do that. i'll get us started. >> thank you. >> resolution 2011-10a1, this is the second reading. sfusd return to school safely resolution by commissioner jenny lam whereas a result of the ongoing covid-19 pandemic, public schools have been closed since march 16, 2020 and whereas the california department of public health believes guidance that allows schools to provide services in-person to small cohorts of high need students in youth who are better suited for in-person instruction or require special support services. if san francisco department of public health issued public health order expressly allowing
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schoo schools with personalized needs, covering students with disability, preschool programs, and those who need language services and specialized support services and the san francisco health officer authorizes school on a rolling basis with approved safety plans on september 21, 2020, and whereas the san francisco unified school district serves nearly 54,000 students across 128 school sites and provides each and every student the quality instruction and equitable support required in the 21st century and the district's top goals and priorities include promoting a safe and healthy environment in every school and building, fostering relationships with parents, educators in the community and the san francisco
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unified school district primary consideration when reopening school sites during the covid-19 pandemic must be the health and safety of students, adult staff, household members of student and staff in the larger san francisco bay area community and that would be under the first reading if someone wants to take it away. >> commissioner lam is back. >> hi everyone, can you hear me? >> yes. >> okay. thank you everyone. of course my computer glitz out when we start our business. commissioner lopez, can you read the last whereas? >> that's right, i'm at the end of the first page and this is on board docs, return to school safely resolution final 11-17 as of today, whereas the san francisco unified school
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district primary consideration when planning the reopening of school sites during the covid-19 pandemic must be the health and safety of students, adult staff, household members of students an staff and the larger san francisco bay area community. >> thank you. whereas the district must take a community public health and occupational health approach to safely reopening school sites for in-person learning and making plans to reopen school sites must include the current covid-19 transmission rates of student and staff in the zip code in which they live. a significant number of the teachers instructional aids, custodians, school nutrition workers, clerical staff, administrators, engineers and others who are currently working in person at school sites will be the first to return to work directly with students when schools are open for in-person
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learning, black, indigenous, people of colors and in communities most severely impacted by the covid-19 pandemic. the opportunity gap is the greatest civil rights issue facing sfusd. and also accounting if the threat of covid-19 in aligning with courresponding regulatory guidance and where as parents and special education staff have consistently called for greater accommodations and for higher quality services that meet the requirements and the needs of etch individual education plan and whereas challenges in educating students with disabilities such as one-on-one supervision, social and mental health services and individualized instruction is complex and not well suited for distance learning platform. in new york city, public schools
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similar to san francisco public schools serving a highly diverse population in a densely urban environment, cases are extremely low. random testing of teachers and students found 28 isolated cases, 20 teachers and 8 students, without any documentation of school based transmission and school closures due to cases or outbreaks. commissioner cook, would you like to pick up? >> sure. and whereas these numbers are even more impressive considering that many preschool programs have remained open across the state even while k-12 schools were closed. due the foundational nature of learning a new language, one we utilized through the rest of their educational career and beyond, it's important to assure
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that students who are english language learners reached a high level of english proficiency as early as possible. these challenges, coupled with the importance of providing a high quality and effective education to english language learners make this strategy a less viable option for facilitating their education and distance learning strategy may affect some students during the pandemic. there are students that are unable to adjust learning online, even with high levels of support provided and under a phased reopening plan, those with the highest needs are -- >> what's going on here? >> are the priorities of -- followed. >> megan, you need to mute. >> i muted her. >> thank you. sorry about that commissioner.
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>> sure. let's see, where we're under a phased reopening plan, those with the highest needs are the provid provided distance learning. whereas sfusd has identified a plan for many of our most vulnerable student population based on input, is preparing to notify families of plans to offer in-person instruction as soon as january. the progress of risk can be tracked through an online reopening dashboard and san francisco mayor london breed expressed her support for this resolution saying it requires
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all of us to be committed to what is one of the most primary -- most important priorities facing our city, education and health of our students, of our children. >> where as the board declare it is higher priority to be distance learning, gradual reopening to in-person learning and preserving the district fiscal stability. therefore, be it resolved that the san francisco unified school district board of supervisors recommends reopening in-person instruction for the cohorts of students allowed under the california department of public health august 25th guidance and allowed under the health order and directors, including preschool students, elementary grade students with moderate disabilities and students in general education no later than
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january 25, 2021, recognizing a need to safely reopen school on a rolling basis to attend to changing health and safety factors. further be it resolved that the district shall develop and present to the board of education an sfusd return plan, 2020-2021, including a phased plan and timeline for grades pre k-12. it includes a start date for elementary school presented on december 8, 2020, and plan for middle and high school students january 20, 2021. the plan also needs to draw from and comply with the san francisco directive and guidance and further it be resolved that all plans and timelines for safe school site reopening shall be
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consistent based on the most recent guidance for safe in-person learning issued by the california department of public health, california department of education, san francisco department of public health and all other relevant public authorities and be it further resolved that this plan should acknowledge that students and families that want to continue with remote learning can and this plan shall include hybrid instructional learning models and be it resolved that the district survey families to understand their return to school or distance learning preferences, partnering with committees and community organizations in supporting outreach. >> excuse me, commissioner lopez, with that resolve on page 5, i had an adjustment.
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apologies that it was just sent a few minutes before. if it's okay with you, i would like to correct for the record. be it further resolved to read that the direct survey distributed to families to gain understanding of their preferences regarding returning to in-person learning or continuing distance learning must include details on the district's plans for conducting in-person instruction and implementing covid-19 safety measures to allow families to adequately answer the survey questions and make informed decisions about any possible in-person learning partnering with parent advisory committees and community organizations in supporting outreach. >> that's right. can we just make sure this version gets on. >> yes, i believe they just posted it as well. >> it's actually the last file under the item. >> okay, i'll update it again.
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thank you. >> sure. >> apologies, thank you commissioner lopez. i'll continue to read. further resolved that the district provide a comprehensive testing plan to comply with the requirements set forth in the directive 2020-33b for educators and staff and include a remote learning option should a student test positive. furthermore, coordinate with the san francisco department of public health to connect students and families to support any positive cases and look to successful models developed by the latino task force and ucsf and the plan will include assessment for safe learning -- [inaudible] >> building systems, installations and repairs. the district shall seek to
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leverage community partnerships to accomplish site assessments. the plan of elementary and early education sites shall be completed by december 8, 2020, and create a site assessment timeline for middle and high schools. the plan should highly consider use of outdoor space and outdoor activities to the greatest extent possible and further be resolved that basic health and safety protections, including but not limited to testing, contact tracing, reporting protocols, barriers, ventilation systems, and sanitizing stations must be in place before the district reopens any school site for in-person instruction and the district shall meet and confer with all labor partners on health and safety protections specific to each working conditions and work factors. be it further resolved this plan for classroom safety complies with the department of public
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health direct temperatuivdirect it states how schools are identifying isolation areas, bathroom usage, specific exits related to cohorts, how schoolyards will be used and delivery, et cetera. >> be it further resolved that this plan shall comply with the existing requirements, including covering class sizes, cohorting to support safe learning, instructional ratios, hygiene, safety equipment and other health precautions. be it further resolved that the superintendent shall work in partnership with the city, the mayor's office, city agencies
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and city officials to identify resources, leveraging existing structures and identify funding gaps and how the city can assist sfusd with school reopening readiness, areas of resource planning. focus may include testing, health, facilities and transportation and the superintendent should work in partnership with health experts, collaborative to advise on reopen education safely in group and other technical assistance and capacity in the following areas. one, understand the safest way to conduct in-person learning and identify when remote learning is necessary for safety and ultimately and offer all
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children access to school as a primary safety net in our community. two, providing scientific information to schools and school districts to understanding the mitigation of risk to students and adults in the school and the community. be it further resolved that this plan shall include the estimated fiscal impact of each reopening pha phase, funding gaps, and further support in which contributed 15 million towards the district's covid-19 response since march. further, be it resolved the board of directors superintendents, teaching and learning personnel, and the logistics, site administrators, sfusd staff and community
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members. further, the essential addition of local health experts shall inform the work groups. the work groups shall shift towards monitoring progress, implementing efficacy of the reopening plan and remote learning model and advising the board of education and superintendent on possible revisions and continuous improvements at the next reconvening shall occur no later than the end of december 18, 2020. >> be it further resolved that the curriculum and instruction, the student family and community support early education, special education, and other departments within the sfusd will identify and implement developmentally appropriate and dedicated interventions for students transitioning back into the
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classroom to specifically target learning loss, emotional and physical health needs and other matters developed during distance learning and sfusd return plan 2020-2021 shall include milestones in the communication plan for parents to understand the reopening process and be it further resolved that the superintendent shall report back to the board of education as a standing item and each subsequent board meeting as a whole, and designated staff at committee meetings on progress with the return plan. i just want to share again with the public that the resolution we were looking at is the last item under this agenda on board docs. >> great. >> president sanchez. >> yes, commissioner lam?
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>> just one additional correction on further resolve on page 6 and 7. i would like to confirm what is the latest and also posted oven board docs, i would like to read it. further be resolved that the board directs the superintend t superintendent -- [inaudible] >> all labor union partners and relevant sfusd advisory committees for special education, african american parent add advisory council, the parent advisory council and sfusd staff. further the essential addition of local public health experts should serve as experts to inform the work groups. the work groups will shift
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towards efficiency of the reopening plan and remote learning model and advising the board of education and superintendents throughout the 2020-2021 school year on possible revisions and improvements. it should occur no later than the end of december 18, 2020. >> all right. >> thank you. >> so i want to thank the commissioners who read the resolution into the record. now we're going to open it to public comment before we hear from our colleagues. so mr. steel. >> please raise your hand if you care to speak about the safely reopening schools resolution that was just read into the
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record. >> i see 17 hands up right now president sanchez, 19. >> we'll give it 2 minutes each and limit of 45 minutes. >> 45 minutes. thank you. >> hello david. david, are you there? so jay? >> yes, hello? >> yes, go ahead. 2 minutes. >> this -- [inaudible] >> i think there is a glitch. go ahead. >> hello? so the district the applying for the return to january 25 to equity. first, how can the district label every moderate to severe classroom not getting
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instruction? how is that when some students are going back and others are not? how is that equity if they are no longer in mainstreaming? what's happening perpetuating it. these youths are the most vulnerable to getting sick, especially for an aggressive illness like covid-19. we have students that can't tolerate wearing masks and can't keep them on their face due to sensory dimpl sensory differences. some require staff members to be by their side. if it's not safe to dine indoors, it's not safe to return to school per normal. this resolution requires more thoughts and voices from teachers and parents that work with students. our fight for every student's safety, especially during the ongoing crisis. to find a solution that will
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keep all students and staff safe because together we can. thank you for having me. >> thank you. >> hello, i'm a behavior analyst with the school district, and i started my career here at sfusd working in preschool moderate to severe classrooms. i think the date, january 25th is ambitious. that's 48 workdays and 33 school days to prepare for more than 100 pre k students and 60 mild to severe students. these are groups of children need hygiene health. they require almost constant
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close contact and we have 33 school days to prepare for their return. have we met with the educators, one of which you just heard from that currently do this work? have we consulted around the specific support to ensure we can safely provide them? have we figured out how we're going to provide related services which many of the students in these classrooms will need. i would not feel safe stepping into this situation without the information on how to keep myself, my students, and everyone else safe. i'm asking you today to do this for my colleagues, who are at conferences with families right now before determining when we return, please determine that it's safe for these specific groups you are sending back. our most vulnerable children and the educators that serve them cannot be canaries in a coal
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mine. thank you. >> thank you. >> hello steven? >> hello commissioners. we represent about 1,000 employees of the district that do all the food, do the clerk work, and we're most vulnerable. we have an agreement in place to protect orders that are not lived up to by the district and it gives me great pause that we have a random timeline not tied to science and expect that our members will continue to be protected. they don't have enough gloves,
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the set up is not right and there is no one there to make sure the lines don't gather up. it's a disgrace for not giving people just enough gloves to hand out food. it's really hard to believe that the district would take their labor partners seriously. the resolution has just been changed for m.o.u.s in place for all the different labor groups. so we want to have the timeline to be driven by what we know works and what we tested to
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more if that does happen with a science, i ask that you do not open on january 25th and we must follow the signs. i know parents want to get their students back in school. educators want to be back in school as well, but we have to stay healthy and stay alive. we don't want one child in that age group or any age group to get covid and certainly not one staff member as well. again, we commend you but please proceed cautiously. if there are any red flags, do not open the schools back up. [please stand by]
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>> i want to emphasize the importance of having labor agreements in place before we step back into the classrooms. this is a safety thing. it's potentially -- it can be potentially a life or death thing. it's classified and the teachers whose bodies that will be put in the front lines, so i strongly suggest that labor agreements, not confer but labor agreements are in place before we step back into the classroom.
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thank you. >> thank you. >> hello caroline. >> hi, i'm caroline, president of the united administrators of san francisco. we are here today to stand loud and proud in solidarity with our union siblings because we share the same objectives. support for our amended language to the sfusd return to school safety resolution. thank you for hearing us, incorporating some changes into this revised resolution and m.o.u.s that ensure the health, safety, and flexibility of all district stakeholders before we move to crisis hybrid and in-person learning as a global pandemic situation fluctuates. please consider this if you make important decisions about these things.
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thank you. >> thank you. >> hello meredith? >> hello, my name is meredith osborne. i'm a parent of two students, first grader and fourth grader. i'm also a member of decreasing the distance. i'm also an sfusd grad myself. i went to horace and my family is rooted in san francisco and in this community in a strong and proud supporter of san francisco public schools. i want to thank the board for this resolution. it's an important step in the right direction. i want to encourage the board to release information to parents about the current enrollment of the district compared to last year, the participation rates in
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distance learning based on daily attendance rates. it would be important for assessing how well our students are doing in the distance learning model and the results of the most recent math and reading aisssessment so we can understand the amount of learning loss going on with our students. we seen a lot of articles about the negative impacts of distance learning and how much our students are losing not only in their learning but in their lives. i think in the absence of that consideration, we aren't appreciating that students are suffering serious impacts and the public health officers said repeatedly it's safe to go back to school, taking the proper
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precautions, and we seen that in our own children being in group settings since march of last year because me and my husband are both essential workers. without outbreaks happening in the camps or the learning pods that have been available through the entire time. this is doable. it's wonderful and we need to do it. thank you so much to the board for doing it. >> thank you. hello susan? >> thank you. this is susan, president of uni units united educators of san francisco. i want to thank the members for some of the -- the unions that represent them and that are critical to the safe reopening of buildings and who educate the children. you will continue to hear from eggers and other union members, other workers on what is important to the safe reopening
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of buildings. plans are important. it's always good to plan. we also seen time and again with covid that the virus doesn't have timelines. we have to be mindful of that. the resolution cites data from new york that is outdated as they are considering closing down their schools. science and data continue to be important. we emphasize how we prefer to be in person but it needs to be safe. also as you heard from other speakers, we need agreements from all the different labor unions, not just a meet and confer. please don't force us into a situation we're not comfortable with because we have not agreed to it. we have to make sure there is agreement among the various agreements are done in concert with each other. there will be an agreement on how many adults are in the
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building in one union and that will affect everybody else in the building. we have to think about that as well. we are also very interested in hearing results from the surveys of parents that is supposed to take place because that will help inform us as to the number of students who will be doing in-person learning. at the same time, knowing that at this point we know there will be many students participating in crisis distance learning, we also have to be focusing on how we continue to improve that, knowing how difficult it is, but knowing that it's what we have right now. we have a lot of creative people who can come up with ideas for continuously improving that and you know, we have talked often at these board meetings as employees of sfusd and union
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members and educators on how difficult we recognize this is for everybody and how difficult providing distance learning is. please understand that as difficult as it is, we will be -- we are eager to get back to in-person learning and the only person we're not going back is because we don't know -- we need to know that there will be safety and of course we want our students' wellbeing and the wellbeing and health of the adults who spend time with the students. so, let's continue to do all we can to work together to make sure that this happens correctly. thank you. >> thank you. hello carmen? carmen? [speaking spanish].
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children in the school district. i think safety is the priority. i don't think we should rush going back into school. i don't think we will be ready to be back on the 25th. [end of translation] [speaking spanish]. >> [voice of translator] we have already been taking virtual classes for a long time and i think we can continue doing this for a while. [end of translation] [speaking spanish] >> [voice of
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translator] we are approaching the season of rain and cold and i think it would be danger for the kids to be outside learning. [end of translation] [speaking spanish] danger for th outside learning. [end of translation] [speaking spanish] . >> [voice of translator] so i know you said you will open but what would happen if the school that my child attends doesn't get pick to be reopened? [speaking spanish]. >> [voice of translator] and i'm worried because i had three kids. i use public transportation. as far as i know, only one of my kids will qualify to go back to school. [end of translation] [speaking spanish].
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>> [voice of translator] also, i would like that the survey and all the relevant information be sent in spanish also because a lot of the families don't speak english quite well and we would like to be clearly informed of what is going to happen. thank you. [end of translation] >> thank you. alma. >> hi, good afternoon everyone. my name is alma, and i work for the united educators of san francisco, but i'm reading a statement prepared by patrick
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chu, a parent and educator. i'm patrick and i'm a paraeducator and although i can't be physically present at the work meeting due to work commitments, i have strong feelings about the return to in-person learning and comment on what i feel would be a rush decisioned given the recent spike in the coronavirus levels. i work with a broad range of students. given how the moderate to severe students would be the first group to return to in-person hybrid learning, i would be effected by the resolution in several ways. due to chronic illnesses, my respiratory system is compromised so i would be at a heighten level of danger should we return to school before in-school learning is safe for all.
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there is a danger of me passing it to my parents as well. some of the students i work with don't have the best hygiene so even if p.p.e. is provided, the risk factor increases once more. with students and coworkers coming from all different corners of the city and some commuting from outside of the city, i feel that returning to in-person learning would only provide further opportunity for the virus to spread. so the timeline presented, the resolution in general has me feeling more than a little apprehensive of work. i love working with the students and want to do my best to support them but i feel that at this point in time, returning to in-person learning will not be in anyone's best interest. i hope that any plan to return to in-person learning takes into account not just the well-being of the educators, but also the parents and the students we serve. thank you for your time. >> thank you.
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>> hi, i am a parent of a student at jefferson. thank you for taking the time to take my comment. first i want to thank you for offering -- thank commissioners for offering this resolution to work on a plan to return to school. this is very welcome and long overdue in my opinion. something i really want to highlight here is what i feel is a false dichotomy or perhaps an inability to see, to really think of the situation of others and implications of what distance learning is doing to people. that's -- i point to that in terms of the emphasis on health and safety. people seem to believe by and large that health and safety means protecting yourself from covid. in our world, there are many risks and many dangers. there are huge mental, physical,
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and emotional disadvantages and harm that flow from keeping children in distance learning. there is a significant amount of abuse and violence suffered by parents and students and people all over the place in their own homes. this does not make distance learning the safest or best thing for them. it increases their isolation and the risk of suffering harm of all sorts and decreases the risk of anyone being able to spot anything being wrong with them. everyday that you tell people to stay at home is a day you imprison them further and subject them to greater risk. in addition, there is demonstrated disinterest and disengagement by students in terms of an interest in learning. we want students to acquire a basis of lifelong love of learning and success and the longer we keep them out of school, the more likely it is that these students will lose
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those types of very important baselines for their future success, as well as their present happiness. further, i want to point out that all of these concerns relate to being indoors. if you go outdoors, you avoid them. thank you so much. >> hello. >> hello, hi commissioners. my name is b.c. and i appreciate that you brought this resolution to the table. i think that as an educator, i am airing to the side of my colleagues to suggest that we can find out or support the kids that are struggling in a better way than we opening schools. the data and the upcoming winter and holidays, i think we have a possibility of dealing with more
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spread and putting more people in danger than just the kids that we're bringing to school. i think we can find other ways to support the kids that need help in focusing in school. i think that january 25th is very ambitious and i really beg that we review. most people that come before me today to address, i think it's the right direction to think about them and i think we can do better by compiling the data of what we seen so far. i think we can possibly find other ways to support those kids that we are saying is the reason for reopening and i think that we can also use this opportunity to prepare them. if covid has given us a window of opportunity, this is one way
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that people will be learning, especially when we think about the not too distant future. instead of rushing to open schools, we should try to collect more data and also try to think of the safety and find other ways to support the kids that are at risk without opening schools and exposing more people to covid. thank you. >> thank you. >> hello michelle? >> yes, good afternoon. thank you. good afternoon commissioners, superintendent, and members of the staff and public. i am the coordinator for the parent advisory council to the board of ed. i certainly understand a lot of the concerns that have been
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expressed in public comment and i heard in the past couple months leading up to this and the urgency for some of our groups of students to be gaining access to in-person learning. i have real concerns however about the rush, especially as many people have said here. this evening with numbers rising and the cold weather already showing its face, and the holidays, and the likelihood that we are not out of the woods yet and i'm concerned about the very ambitious date of the end of january. i do greatly appreciate the inclusion at multiple points of the mention of the different advisory groups and the parent and family input and engagement in this process. i just really highly encourage the board to really hear the input and concerns from our educators and other staff and many families as well to
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exercise caution as we proceed. it's hard. distance learning is really hard. it's harder for some more than oars -- others and i don't down play that at all. however, no person's life is worth a rush back to in-person learning, thank you. >> thank you. hello taylor? >> hi. [inaudible] >> hello taylor? did you care to speak? one more time, taylor? hello, d.a.? >> hi, my name is donnie. i'm a clerk.
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i'm also a proud parent of two boys. i'm calling about one of the school district chapters. we represent the clerks, custodians, the student nutrition workers and others as well. we're in solidarity with all the unions of sfusd. the school district is talking about reopening, but they still do not have a covid protection since july 1st. some of our members are risking their lives working right now, my wife included. now we're talking about reopening with students. i feel that the district is two steps ahead and need to take a couple steps back before reopening. thank you. >> thank you. hello taylor? are you there taylor? >> hi, can you hear me? >> yes, we can. go ahead. >> thank you. my name is taylor, i'm a mod to
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severe elementary teacher. i'm here to voice my concerns about this resolution. i'm speaking as one of the very first educators to go back to in-person learning and i want to plan for in-person learning that puts safety first for our students and families. as an educator working with the high risk population, i'm extremely concerned about the lack of safety presented in the resolution for all district employees that would be working with these students and the families they're going home to. these students require hands on medical assistance with feeding and learning. this isn't a scenario that can be solved with plexi glass. it seems that the school district is trying to bulldoze
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ahead. i'm advocating for my students that don't have a voice, my classroom staff and for myself. i do want to return. my family wants to return, but only when there is a well defined plan that allows everyone involved to have a clear understanding and not a proposal that feels hurried or potentially dangerous. i'm asking that we all work together to create an agreement that is safe, thoughtful, and unified. thank you for allowing our voices to be heard. >> thank you. hello cassandra. >> yes, hi. my name is cassandra, i'm a seventh grade teacher and i'm on the bargaining team this year. i need to speak up on this issue. similar to how i have in the past, when we come to our labor partners and we look to those
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who are the most vulnerable, those in a position to be the most impacted negatively by any motion that we may put forward. in this case, it should be glaringly outstanding that our partners and our paraprofessionals will be the first individuals to be impa impacted, where the date to reopen is the only issue in this provision. the science behind how to reopen for public, regardless, needs to be responsive to what's happening in realtime, not the calendar date. the language around meet and confer need to be strengthened which isn't currently in place since january. that should be the utmost concern for the district to understand that we have people
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going to their jobs without the full promised protection of their safety in regards to them wanting to fulfill their jobs. everyone wants to go back to work. we want to be able to do what we were trained to do, the best at. absent of our ability to do so and language and requirements that need to happen, the planning purposes is great. the revisions of these things are great. in the meantime, school is happening. we are working so hard to make this better each and every day as teachers, as paraprofessionals and as folks doing their job. we can put so much measure effort for those while making sure those most vulnerable and impacted -- >> that's time.
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thank you. hello taylor? >> i already went, thank you. >> thank you. hello julie? >> hi, this is julie. i'm a parent to the tenderloin public school. i want to appreciate that addressing remote learning is a priority. i'm concerned that the push to open school buildings is shifting resources away from supporting our students that have been underresourced and confounding, and succinct with actual learning. there are trade offs with resources. i'm concerned that there is not clear safety information for families, that's a concern for our families in the tenderloin. there's a dinners -- difference
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between the department of public health saying it's okay to open because we're at a certain level and understanding that the conditions in our school buildings, that the protocols and supports are in place to ensure safety. that's not an abstract concern for a lot of our families and communities that are hardest hit by covid. i want to emphasize the importance of surveying families and we understand which families are interested in in-person learning so i appreciate it being in spanish and written chinese. also, i feel that this plan should ensure that reporting is also done on the remote portion of a hybrid plan and that is continuing to be updated and approved and we're clear what trade offs we're making when we move to in-person and how that is available to those who cannot
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return in person. i want to challenge families that compare being at home with being in prison. i think there is some bias -- [cell phone ringing] >> one of my friends was talking about the benefit of in-person learning being that their child is getting really good at their home language. i want to challenge some of the biases where we might assume that being home with families is an unsafe condition for our student. i want to encourage families to let go of this white supremacy that says life is a race measured by test scores or report cards and ask that we move together -- >> thank you. >> thank you. >> hello virginia. >> hello board of education
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members and superintendent matthews and other staff and everybody on the call. hello. my name is virginia and i'm a mother to three school aged children and proud san francisco resident. thank you for the opportunity to comment. i care deeply about public school and appreciate all of the work that the board of education has done to drop this resolution. it represents huge progress. with that said, i'm disappointed that the resolution is being dropped at eight months into the pandemic. we are so behind and we are failing our children. the teachers, custodians and other label parties have come here today to state their positions and preferences. each has a strong union representing their interest. i would ask who is advocating for the children? who is giving voice to their learning loss, their boredom, their isolation, to the long-term documented impacts of distance learning.
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if it's up to me as a parent, i do not feel that my voice is being heard for my child. i am not hearing dialog around the impact to working parents. for example, how women are dropping out of the workforce in record numbers to handle the demands of distance learning and the risk to children suffering abuse at home who would otherwise be sheltered at school. we have evidence that there are ways to minimize the risk of returning to the classroom. as state in the public comment, teachers and caregivers outside of the district have been worki working outside in the pandemic with no reported outbreaks. we need to recognize that many professions are back to work with covid precautions. our students deserve the same. i would ask that the board of education take a whole child approach when considering the return to school plans and that the unions take a reasonable approach when weighing the risk.
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as zero risk scenarios is not reasonable, other districts have shown that we can make this happen with leadership, creativity, conviction and collaboration, we can do this together. thank you so much. >> hello ms. stewart. >> good evening. thank you board members, as well as president sanchez, as well as superintendent matthews. i spoke last week, but i'll try to keep this short as possible. school leaders, we know how complex it is to manage a school successfully, right? during the academic environment
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at the best of times and now we're in the worse of times. as people, we're charged with implementing many of the goals and aspirations of the community moving forward. we will promise to be transparent to the community in the process. we ask that the school board be as transparent with us so we can make sure we come back safely. i said this last time and i will continue to say this. i need a focus on the state of goals providing the best education possible given the safest environment that san francisco unified school district can create and provide for our students, families, and community members and i urge you to work with all the labor unions, include -- to make sure we create this environment at its safest point. it must be safe for all our students and families to come back to the school site.
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they are using the guidelines set forth by the centers for disease control and prevention, as well as san francisco public health department. if we do all these things, i see no reason that we can't do it. it has to be at the safest point. that is my urge to all of us. thank you for your time. >> thank you. >> the district addresses samoac. >> hi, this is carolyn, i'm the vice president for pair educator. and i also have two grandchildren that are sfusd students. they are also the fourth generation of sfusd students because i when to this district.
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as an educator, we know how important it is to work with the community to meet the needs of our students and families. that's why i'm speaking today on how important it is for a resolution to return to work in person that is safe. i'm going to repeat this, that it is safe for all families, students, educators, and district employees before we return. as an older woman of color and person with asthma, i am in the high risk category. as most of the parents that work in the district are people of color and we know how covid impacts the community of color. we are the ones that work with the families and the students. how would we feel if one student or educator gets sick with covid?
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i do know how it impacts the family because i had covid happen in my family. so before we can return to work, i think it needs to be safe. we need to look at how this will impact the students and the educators. we need not to rush into it. please think of the timeline and the impact this resolution and how we should do it with the least harm for all. i also have to say, i have grandchildren who have i.e.p.s, so i know how important it is for students with i.e.p.s to be back in school. both of my sons have i.e.p.s too, but we have to do it safely. thank you. >> thank you. hello jessica?
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>> hello, my name is jessica and i am a field representative for i.f.p. local 21 representative members in the district. i wanted to read a statement from my colleagues, susan chan. she writes hello, my name is susan chan and i work at the purchasing department. i want to share my concerns about the resolution to reopen schools. this time of year we all experience so many emotions that we need to remember to take care of ourselves so we can be there for those around us. that's why i'm here to stress the important plans about safe in-person learning. our students depend on us in more ways than others. the current resolution does not take account the safety of all
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district employees. how do we take care of our students if the district does not take care of our employees? we're committed to working with the district and hope to create an agreement that is safe for everyone. some of the things that concern us are physical distancing on campus, proper ventilation, cleaning and sanitation. i hope the district will take the proper precautions to see us all return to school safely. thank you. >> thank you. >> president sanchez, that concluding public comment. >> thank you for hosting that part. mr. steel, board members, if you would like to -- okay, vice president lopez and then commissioner collins. >> hi, thank you. thank you everyone for calling, for sharing your thoughts and your concerns. as a coauthor of the resolution, i want to reiterate my stance on
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not opening schools until we know it's absolutely safe. this is merely our attempt to move forward the plans to make this happen when everything is in place, everything is set and we're ready to go. we have been wanting transparency and clarity. we made that very clear. we heard from all students and staff that transparency is necessary during this time. so this resolution is really to up lift the numerous, numerous details that will be required, an effort for us to collaborate that is necessary if we do want to return to in-person instruction and the last thing i want to ensure that families know is that we stand in giving you all the option to return or to stay in distance learning and because of that, we are prioritizing these top three things, which is enhancing
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distance learning, organizing the reopening instruction discussion and it's of course our district's physical stability. so i just really want to make those points clear. we have been clear about not opening schools until we ensure safety but it requires a lot of planning and that needs to be happening currently. >> commissioner collins. >> thanks, and i don't know if -- you can let me know if this is a good time. i work with commissioner lam on an additional resolution that addresses supporting our involvement in implementing this resolution, but i also, you know, if folks want to have a conversation on what has been presented, i'm happy to present the amendment at the end of that conversation or now, whatever you think is appropriate. >> why don't we do some more comments from the board members
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first. commissioner cook. >> okay. >> yeah, i just want to thank everyone that spoke in the last several months, we heard from various people about how virtual learning is going and there are a lot of great people working really hard, working long hours, including our superintendent that works with everybody to get us back safely. i think it's inaccurate to believe that we're going to put a date that will -- like that's not going to happen. what we're trying to do is offer a very clear plan.
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the superintendent and his team worked hard around this dashboard and i want to commend him and everyone that has committed a lot of long hours to this. i'll reserve the rest of my comments but i wanted to say the idea that we called for a date and that date is important but if the science, in which this resolution elevates throughout it, we talked about the health and safety guidelines throughout the resolution. so, to think that we're going to, you know, preserve a date and violate like experts saying that we shouldn't reopen, that doesn't make any sense. it's not in the resolution we're asking for that. so i just wanted to elevate that and i'll stop there and if i need to chime in later, i will if i need to. >> and if you want to comment on
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the resolution, this is an opportunity as well for you. >> yeah, i would first and foremost want to thank the members of the public, all of the members of the public that came out to speak on the resolution. i think it's critically important, especially this conversation regarding reopening schools. there is one aspect of the current resolution that i will say as the superintendent have reservations about and we already have the work groups. it's the establishment of the additional work group. with that being said, i would just say from my perspective, it is just another -- there are a number of work groups that we already have in place. you know the three work groups. we have the covid policy team. there are a number of other working groups that are meeting and planning and establishing additional work groups.
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i can say from my perspective that it slows down the opportunity to basically roll up our sleeves and continue to do this work of preparing sites for the eventual reopening when safe. so that is the piece that i will speak to, the additional work group. >> okay, i don't know if any of the authors want to address that concern. >> superintendent, just to rename a bit. from the initial feedback from you, it is about the reconvening of the teaching and learning logistics work group. we did expand on additional membership to those work groups. that's what is listed in the amendments this afternoon and additional membership would be bringing on public health experts to serve on those working groups. >> so there is the establishment
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of another work group. >> it's the reconvened -- it's on paging 6 to 7. it's the second to last, further be resolved on page 6. >> thank you. >> i would like one of the authors to address the concerns that was brought up numerous times and i too would like to thank the public for coming out to speak on this resolution. around meeting and conferring as opposed to going through an m.o.u. process, it sounds like a meet and confer isn't as robust as an m.o.u. so you have a reaction to that. >> i'm happy to chime in and other co-authors are too. this is the conversation with our labor partners, to recognize
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that in the spirit of how we approach our work in san francisco, that we cannot do this work without our workforce and labor partners. it is clear that as my co-authors have expressed that safety measures and ensuring that our workers are protected, as well as our students and families are at the utmost need for our district and our city and county and the guidelines that are put forward by the state. so, i just wanted to name that this -- that we wouldn't go too far down a path like we seen in other parts of the country without our labor partners. >> so, i don't know if there are any other reactions. >> yes, i saw the amendment and
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is that a lot of this dashboard and this collaboration is happening in partnership with labor. so to allow it to continue around those discussions, i thought it would address the concerns enough for me. >> uh-huh. >> superintendent matthews, was that your plan all along, to meet and confer or was there going to be m.o.u.s? >> we are continuing to meet and confer. that leads us to the process of establishing the m.o.u. >> so we are already heavily
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into conversations around the m.o.u., meeting and conferring, but usually that -- well a lot of times that doesn't lead to an m.o.u. we done our due diligence and now we will do what we want to do. in your mind, with our other units, we are meeting an conferring with the aim to creating m.o.u.s with each one of them. >> that i'm not sure. our general council, do you want to address where we are with the other bargaining units? . >> yeah, i can address that. thank you commissioners. thank you president sanchez for your questions. just in terms of where things sit. the meet and confer is part of the process of reaching an m.o.u. there are elements that need to be pulled out and talked about so we can determine what impacts they have. so i wanted to fit that into the
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larger context. the other piece is that with all of our groups right now, we're in the process of -- we're going back and forth working on creating m.o.u.s. m.o.u. is the understanding between the district and our labor partners for united administrators, the ones we met today, united educators, we're meeting with them later this week and so forth. there will be m.o.u.s across the board with everybody. they will vary depending on the nature of the role and the potential impacts in the return to in-person learning. i hope i answered your question. >> and i do want to add that with this language, it's not to imply, at least for myself, that m.o.u.s won't be made. we reiterated consistently that this work cannot be done without our educators, without our staff
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and labor partners. so it's not something that will limit us in reaching an agreement of course. i don't think we've ever been aboard that or would accept that. >> okay. >> this might be a time for commission commissioner collins. >> okay, gra et. what we're hearing consistently is -- i mean obviously this is a really big process for any district. we're all, just to reiterate where we're at because we have a lack of federal leadership. states are doing their own things. at a state level, then every district in our state is -- you know, i'm looking through the state guidance and it says that flexibility is this great thing. you have to figure it out on your own.
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we're seeing that every district is struggling to figure out testing and lot of things that were not being provided by the federal government or at a state level. so, you know, taking on this daunting task, what we're seeing is that it's really, really important for folks to be involved in that decision making process. we're hearing the transparency is really important and also consideration of voice, the voice of parents, the voice of labor, and even as a board. it's important for us. we're hearing from the board of supervisors that it's really important for us to take an active role. maybe last year, some of our other policies, this is something that we all need to take an active role. so i do want to say thank you to all the folks that come out tonight because people are
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leaning in all ways, wanting to support all of us in making sure our kids get educated in a safe way and that we can move towards planning for reopening of schools. what i noticed is that in this process and this year, meetings have not been on a normal cadence. we have been figuring out when schools first started closing, we were like should we have a meeting? are we going to close schools? are we going to open? then there has been this constant barrage of us trying to be active partners with the district and with city leaders in making sure we meet the needs of our students and this happened when we rolled out with meal service. we got calls from constituents, realizing that maybe we missed certain neighborhoods or the timing wasn't right. because of that and for that reason, i wanted to add an amendment that really speaks to the dynamic nature of the work right now that we need to be an
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active partner in supporting our district and helping to coordinate and communicate with constituents, whether those are families or labor partners or city family and officials. i worked with commissioner lam for a proposal to the resolution that would provide a staff position that would report directly to the board and increase our capacity to prioritize resources and track progress of learning initiatives and partner with city officials and the city at large and advocate at a state level. as we all know, this is a volunteer position. none of us are staffed like the board of supervisors. sometimes i want to reach out to president sanchez and he's teaching. so we have to wait until he's not in class or commissioner
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moliga is working with families. so all of us are juggling multiple responsibilities, and i feel that the active and dynamic nature of this challenge is something that requires us to be more actively involved and supportive of and i think that it would help for us to have a staff member that would help us connect the dots and make sure that we can be more cohesive. i have been bringing up, even in previous meetings, relative to the various initiatives or priorities we put forward, you know, things have been changing so quickly that it's really important for us to have someone to help us even make sure that we are aligned when we have set priorities that we're working better as a team. so, i will read the proposed
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amendment to the resolution and it would read as follows. be it further resolved, the monumental task of addressing the pandemic requires the board of education to set priorities and provide support to the superintendent and staff as they work tirelessly to meet the needs of students and families. the board of education will establish new positions, strategic policy and project manager to increase the board's capacity to plan, prioritize resources and monitor the implementation of distance learning, school reopening and transition back to in-person learning that is responding to the changing nature of the covid-19 pandemic and health directives established by the city and county of san francisco and state of california. the strategic policy and project manager will also serve the critical bridge to ensure effective coordination and clear communication with city officials and community partners to collectively address this public health crisis.
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consistent with board rule and procedure 9200, limits a board member's authority, the strategic policy manager should report to the president of the board of education, given the urgency to the changing covid-19 pandemic, legal staff will support the board in expediting the hiring process. so, that's the amendment that i worked with commissioner lam to propose and even today, i just want to say we have changing numbers as far as covid rates in san francisco and as i said, it's a day-to-day thing. so, our goal is to provide more support for us as a body in being more hands on and being able to respond as things change and howo support the process of moving forward. >> does any board member want to comment or question regarding the proposed amendment. or for that matter, staff?
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>> i'll let the board members go first and if you want me to comment, i will. >> i like you to go first. >> ok. >> so, i spoke with i had the opportunity to speak with commissioner collins and commissioner lamb about this just a few concerns. one is around the -- so typically in districts where there have been -- so typically, for example, other districts around the country most often the board has one employee and that's the superintendent and it's put in place for a reason to make sure there's clarity around roles and align. the first concern is around just
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making sure that there would be real clarity around roles and reporting assignments and the understanding of not directing staff by the position all of those kinds of things really need to be worked out and clear and so many places where additional positions are added. in some cases it can create confusion and while i'll just stop there. you can do some history looking on your own to see but the second piece was more around, and i just, you know, i say this, i understand the piece where commissioner collins was talking about assistance in helping the board to get align aligned, and i say this in love that it's typically the other way around and it's the board and you have to be a willingness to get aligned and and i should
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say that the willingness to put in the work to get aligned. typically, i should say typically but many times previously, a commissioner collins has said she'll put something forward eight meeting and when are we going to come together to set our priorities and the willingness to come together to get yourselves aligned. so if the board isn't cohesive around the what the board and it will be difficult for where
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something similar has, i would say the alignment has to come forward before the deposition. >> i love to respond to that too. it's important and i guess you know, first off, i do want to say it wouldn't make any sense the position that i'm seeing is not at all to be someone that would be a person to serve as an agent, you know, that would directly manage staff oring involved in -- we have enough folks doing great work working on making the plan and supporting the staff in serving students. as you said, i mean, i do think as a board we're very aligned. i was in oakland unified and you
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hear about people throwing chairs, sfusd and there were maim or fights. as a board, i think we're very aligned and and i have a question for you superintendent math use and commissioner lam has a question and we're each independent commissioners and it's not our job independently to direct you or staff to do anything and i think because the fact we were looking at going green in covid a few weeks ago and now we're looking like we have purple, right. things are just changing so rapidly that the normal cadence of us having a regular meeting which is when we have these
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common things are just happening and changing so rapidly that i think we're not legally allowed to have meetings because we don't want vile at the brown act but because we work full-time jobs and juggle family lives and things like that, because of this dynamic nature of this crisis that we're in, and because it's really urgent that we be involved and not just kind of let things play out, that we do need more capacity and i don't think that there's a lack of a willingness to come together, i think there's a lack of capacity and so, because when i said it, there's a silence that everybody nods in agreement. yeah, it would be good if we can be very clear about directives and things like that and i think where there's been a silence is trying to figure out how is that
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going to happen? and so, i think that is because we already have mr. steel, you know, he helps in response to questions for us and he coordinates these meetings and i'm sure it's probably overloaded just with what he is already doing because we are also, this is another thing to say too, is i know that i've increased communication with staff and with you to get information and constituents reach out and i want to follow-up and the overload is also something that i'm concerned about if we're all asking the same questions independently, you know, it's like five different questions to the same person that i'm hoping that someone can kind of hold this, you know, the reopening process that can hold all that so if i'm asking a question and then another commissioner asks the question, we're not taking staff away from the work that we want them to do, and they can be more of a resource for us so that we can make sure that we're
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tracking goals and progress in a way that doesn't continue -- doesn't over tax and that's my response. >> i have some questions for dr. so, with the idea, it's like there's this reality that is happening and two different ways it's like the reality of the capacity of the board to manage anybody effectively and the capacity of whoever the
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president will be and then there's like the need for additional personnel inform keep the board informs around this specific issue. mr. question is has there been any personnel hired sips the pandemic is starting, maybe would it be a better person to answer this. have we responded that we need new skill sets of course everyone sort of just retool? does this question make sense? >> it does. so the answer to that is no? others have been on the existing person and we did, as you know, want to bring in a consult ability at the beginning of the summer but that was not
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approved. >> ok. >> we have emergency response person s. that position filled or no? >> thank you for the question, commissioners. >> we had an emergency session. >> we had, we're starting incompetent views so we've been without that position for a couple of months so all of that i've absorbed that back as well. >> what i understand commissioner is talking about is related to something very specific and not with the emergency management person would do and even if that person were in place, one of the realities of all of our schedules and getting information timely, is the the capacity to staff for responsive and if this person were in place, my first question is if this person were in place, would
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they be in a position to talk to board members directly about what is going on related to this emergency? >> or would it still be you, dr- >> >> the position would be able to talk to board members but i'm going to talk legal council, just so it's clear around the brown act, if you could answer that question? >> i think the struggle this person would have is that in terms of getting the board in alignment or understanding where board members are on particular issues, this person would have the same constraints that staff has that we can't engage in serial meetings under the brown act, so in other words, the way that i would caution this person to be careful, of instances where they may want to go.
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>> are you talking about the emergency person or the person hired? >> the person that you would be hiring. they would have the same constraints, right. they couldn't go to you commissioner cook and say president sanchez wants this and commissioner collins thinks na about this request. they can't do this anymore than staff can. they, to the extent their role is to -- i was talking about exiting personnel and talking about the theoretical new person. so i'll stop and then i'll come back if i have more questions. >> commissioner lamb. i wanted to further explain some
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of the rationale that's been very about the capacity piece of building up for the board, especially during this time of covid. it's also a relationship-holding position as we are embarking in really new paths in working with the city in new ways and daniel, they're living in the implementation relationship holding of the various agencies as we go through for example like d.p.h. right as well as dcyf and on going relationships but i think this position would hold our relationships with the board of supervisors and i know that we have our government relations liaison position but that is also been holding educator housing and really also developing the policy implementation so i just think at this time there's just so much rapid development and
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movement that this would help the board with its, not just focus and alignment. the alignment i think there's some work to be done there frankly and really the intention to raise this when i met with dr. matthews but it was clear even at the budget and business services, meeting when staff presented about and they based upon that presentation on the superintendent's priorities and goals for the year and even though it had been confirmed less than a year but yet so much has changed and not captured so that's an example of clearly yes, as a board, i wish i was able to dedicate full time to the school district but i also have responsibilities too and my professional and home life too. that is what really that impotence and thinking is for
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this position. >> vice president lopez and commissioner moliga if you want to chime in after? >> i also wanted to just point out, especially superintendent, since you are helping us keep it real, there's are numerous staff that have been told are not allowed to communicate with boards, with commissioners and so, i also want to put that out there as far as getting in the way of us getting work done there have been blocks and fare tactics that are unfortunately happening within the school district so if there is someone that can work with us and have it be clear these are the people we're communicating with in order to get work done, i'm supportive of that. those are realities. >> do you mean staff members are
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not allowed to communicate to reach out to board members? >> that's right. it's been a concern and it's coming up multiple times. >> i can't communicate by the superintendent and i don't want to take them off task so i respect we want to make sure our questions are i want staff to focus on work and we need no information to support with policy and also to support with working with city partners as well. >> ok. >> any further comments? >> are you ready for me president sanchez? >> i am. >> thank you commissioner collins and i'm in full subpoena or the osupport.given she mentia little bit, right, full-time father, full-time employee
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working 40 or 50 hours a week and you know, in the past, by the city and county of san francisco to really step up and put together all our skills to reopen schools and do all these other things and it just realistically it's not possible, right. so, i definitely amman advocate for building out teams for the school board members and i have other ideas and i think this is actually a start and so, it's to me it's a step in the direction that is actually going to be beneficial and i just want to say also you know, for a person or for school board members like myself and commissioner collins who have been in these joint select committees, you know, there's been a lot of preparation on our end that we definitely could be supported around and these positions can help us with so understanding, what currently is going on in terms of like our covid-19
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planning within the school districts, right, like, not all of us are briefed on those kind of things. and then really preparing us and fielding our questions and going back and getting our questions, you know, answered within the school district sometimes it gets delayed or clogged up and you know, it's they just don't get responded to and so, i think it's helpful and during this time it's needed to think about and i support it. >> school board members are elected by the voters of san francisco and we hold office. we're elected folks but we're
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paid not even a pay it's a stipend essentially of the $500 a month and if we want to take advantage of healthcare we can many of us have jobs and healthcare and the now in this new era of covid we're stretched very thin, much more than before and so we do need help and this is one avenue and i love to explore more avenues with commissioner moliga and others but this is a good start, i think, for the board to have more to build more capacity and particularly now. i want to emphasize that we have efforts in the past to get supervisors to put on the ballot that board members will be full time and paid as such and they
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have refused and it's awkward to be accused of not doing our jobs when they could have been supporting the board historically and have not done so and have not stepped up to do so and our work is essential so if there's no objection to the amendment we can add it in. all right. i do want to circle back to the meet and confer. i'd like, if it's ok with the authors just to add some verbiage after us saying meet and confer that leads to a signed agreement, through either an m.o.u. or a side letter. if that would be amenable to the
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authors. >> you may want to receive some updates on advice on labor in closed session before you want to make those sorts of amendments but i just offer that to you. it's not something we can do here and i just want to make you aware that we can't bargain in public via text or otherwise with our labor representatives so i just want to be careful about that and making amendments on the fly. >> the other part is that there were several of the corrections that commissioner lamb read that were not on the version that is
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on board docks. >> the amendment we just adopted as well as the amendments that were read into the record earlier. >> go ahead. >> go ahead. >> please, in terms of catching our corrections we're relying o. >> i'm happy with the resolution with the addition of commissioner collins. >> ok. >> all right. we will definitely have that discussion in closed session regarding labor and come to a determination regarding the additional language that we can add at a later point. i don't feel there's support for adding that language right now.
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>> can we move for a vote for action then? >> with that being said, roll call. [roll call vote] >> do you need a second. >> no. it's already been moved and second. >> the resolution that we are adopting are those that they read into the record? it actually is on board docks the last file i posted right before this came into being and being read into public and also it's inclusive of the resolution that commissioner collins read into the record.
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>> we have some added language on you also posted. >> it's going to be incorporated into the resolution, correct? >> >> some of us listening closely when commissioner lam was reading we're not able to track the language and we're not sure that that is the correct version that is posted we want to make sure we have a clear understanding of the board's expectations and i don't zoo those and >> she did send the resolution and the updated resolution and that's the one i posted and.
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>> if you could load up? >> will do. >> thank you, sir. >> much appreciation for those in attendance and for board members. tonight we wanted, as you know, the resolution is just passed for our board and in terms of the moving in-person instructions that resolution calls for a plan to be presented on december 8th. but before we move forward, we wanted to give an update and then give the picture of what this parts of the plan could look like and so if you could
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advance that. so, as what drives us as a board and as a district is our mission and how critical it is that we pro he wide support so they can thrive in the 21st century. and during this time of the pandemic, and due to covid, we know this is negatively impacted all the students across the country and but especially marginal students from, students of color, our english learners have faced even more so
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in-person learning is what we do best and what are the steps to begin to make sure that we're bringing students back as quickly as possible when it's safe. thank you. >> thank you. so this is, as many of you have seen before, a road to a readiness and we began the fall in distance learning and we know that we're in this middle period now and we know that middle period is where we begin to look at the process for making schools safe and then we get to where we need to be which is beginning to reopen schools when it is safe. so we spoke to you all about our fall plans and it was to begin in distance learning, august 17th and we were very
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clear as we began and ended distance learning we were going to begin the process of building for a gradual return which is phase 2 and then we will eventually move to a full return for priority students. next slide. so, we introduced this shortly after we returned for distance learning, our decision tree, if you were asking how are you going to make the decisions around returning students and for us, we have different phases for returning students and you will see more about that tonight. for the small group return, initially, as you can see, we look at the indicators on the
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left side and you can see that for the small group we want yes, even if it were in purple we can bring small groups back we're not in purple but in red but when that becomes yes, then we go through each of our work streams to determine whether it's safe to bring students back. if you go down to that middle column, strong groups identified and safety measures in place and all s.u.v students and staff han trained and covid-19 measures are in place. wove gone through these. they all have to be yes before we bring 2a back and you notice that there was much conversations tonight about returning but you will see the last work stream is labor agreements have to be in place. so we've said this repeatedly, this is part of our decision tree each and every one of these has to be yes before students
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returned. next slide. so, as you think about reopening, we put a -- and people were wondering and asking about how is the public going to be made aware of progress that is being made, so we have a dashboard in place for that first group 2a and the last board meeting we actually put up dashboard for 2b so now, the public can see actually both dashboards and it gives you the progress that's being made regarding the in-person instructions and those are both available for the public on our website and i still have people who approach me to ask, you know, where are we and what progress is being made and i can continue to say you absolutely can see the progress that's being made and it's up on our dashboard. you don't have to ask the
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superintendent or the board president and you can all see for yourself on our website the two a dashboards and two dashboards and on all nine of the work streams. next slide. these are those fine and talking about and small groups and identify safety measures in place and all staff trained and all families informed of our covid-19 health and safety protocols and covid-19 -- covid-19 measures in place and school facilities prepped for social distancing and three-month supply of p.p.e., instructional learning plans in place and then labor agreements in place and you see that we heard a lot of conversations tonight from interested parties and interested individuals and i just want to stress that all
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nine of those have to be to grown before we return. so, the plan that will come to the board on december 8th is in basically two parts. the first part will be around how we're prepping the dashboard you just saw and the second part will be around bringing students back and i just want to say tonight is not the plan and i want to make sure you're aware, this is not the entire plan but this is what we wanted to do and talk to you tonight about and share with the board is how we're thinking about returning students eventually once we receive -- when we get to yes in all nine of those work streams.
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that's when we believe it will be safe and at grown and give you awe sense of what it could look like and then have you have the tub t opportunity to respono that. next slide. this is just more of the plan and we're only going to address that first part of way 2a. talking about what those waves wilwaveswill look like. the first identifies the priority group for in-person learning as well as the sights so we'll focus on those groups to share the proposal for moving
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students into in-person instruction. i'm going to ask the community and the commissioners, the public and justin to bear with me. we tried to annimate some slides and hope that it will bring more clarity and transparency so justin, get ready to click. next slide, so again as we've shown before, right now we're in phase 1 which is full distance learning and we are moving into phase 2 which is a combination of in-person and distance learning and the return to in-person plan that we're going to have like this afternoon will now this evening and focuses again on the first part of phase 2. next slide, please. as i shared before, in the spring and over the summer months, we engage a diverse set of stakeholders through working groups, town halls and surveys to get input on which groups we should prioritize for in-person learning. across all of these groups, families, teachers school leaders, labor partners the student groups on this side were
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named as priority for in-person learning. these groups are also consistent with research on distance learning that said that priority for in-person schooling should be given to students who are likely to struggle most with distance learning and including younger learners, and students with individualized education programs. our own data has shown that these are also the groups for sfusd and they have shown significant difficulty engaging and particularly engaging in digital in-person -- online learning and they also have the developmental needs to say they require more in-person learning opportunities and just needs in general that cannot be met via the remote learning format and while this is a side that we've shared in "the apprentice" prevs one group we added during the stakeholder groups is the students in our county program. you see those on the left-hand side. we have 105 students for those first group coming in and
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and effectively as possible and we learn as we shared in previous presentations. as we think about moving through this in-person which is represented in the light blue rectangle, our proposal is to reopen schools in ways they are all indicators on our dashboard showing green or yes and the next few slides he will detail students for 2a and i wanted to note four things. we're valuing a home school strategy and that means we that we believe the students do bit of in school communities they know and are familiar with so when we plan this return, to return students to school. to get every student access to in-person learning but we know
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we can't do this so our goal is to always to get to phase 3 and we can't do it at all one time. this is to bring back priority students. prioritizing in-person seats to every and offer in-person learning and so even as opportunities for in person learning are available we respect families have a right to chose and make the best decision for their families we want to offer opportunities for folks to opt in and out of the inperson learning option and the fourth thing to know is the timeline and targets dates are preliminary and our dashboard being green and board approval and health and safety. i've shown the you priority
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groups and access to in-person learning first and i've also explained that we're going to open school sites to these student groups or in ways and so the first wave is shown here. safety and readiness. ventilation and sanitation and working windows and sinks and washing stations and the over all feasibility of the building. the site serve two o'er more or. have access to cross the city communities and inform learn and scale as we move for students in to open with the small number of schools and add more schools each subsequent way. the 12 schools in this wave, wave one, provides in-person seats to 248pk students and.
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of students and the first cohort of students will be the students in class and two weeks after, those sites will add their students and tk through first grade and it will be 840 students. january 26th, preliminary date which is our babies in pk and the same schools at the next benchmark two weeks later will open up classes for their students in tk through first grade. next slide, please. there's more spread across the student and students in our focal population and this wave we add an additional 370
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in-person seats for our pre k students and 174 students for our babies and odd severe sec classes and 90 seats at our county satellite and civic center program. i showed you how one student brings in students overtime again maintaining precautions with safety and o optimizing learning. we're follow that same order for wave 2. he first operate in-person learning being our pk and mild to severe sdc and our tk1 students in these schools. most all students in the early programs and pk through 5 would have an opportunity for in-person learning. in pr provides in-person learnig by the end of both waves for
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those priority groups named. next slide. by wave three, date to be determined, all of our tk through first graders would have the opportunity to return to in-person learning and we will begin to address our secondary students again starting with those secondary students in our mild and severe sdc class to return in person. next slide again. so we've now seen the priority student groups and the proposed sites or way and the proposed timeline. now let's discuss the proposed schedule. you will see that there's four weeks next to sum groups and high-risk next to other groups. for the targeted groups of pk and sdc, mild to severe, and our county schools, we're proposing full-day five days a week in-person instruction. for our tk through first grade students, we're proposing a high grid schedule with some days in-person and some days remote.
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next slide, place. finally and again, our current context is complex and we manage new forms of scheduling, fasting, use of space, et cetera. you've heard the themes a safety and learning in this and other presentations and conversations, and so i just want to reiterate these are top of mind for us as we move through the planning process and we are aware sometimes even how safe it is or where we are changes from week to week and although health and safety informed the dates and timeline we continue to plan so that when the indicators say that we're all clear, we are ready to provide in-person learning for our students. i share our strategy to move to inperson learning but wanted to also highlight that to do this well, we know we have to work really closely with our school sites and our school community and make sure this is responsive to their context and their circumstances. and so this slide represents we also have a process by which we engage our school leaders of the identified school sites and as
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well as the school staff and family to make sure their return to inperson learning is inclusive of facility considerations, how she's getting in and out and it's a standard prized we go through every site leader that includes them going through processes with their staff and with their community members as well. next slide. justin. >> we will continue working with work groups as stated in the resolution. the next meeting is this friday for those work groups. staff will make progress on all nine areas and as you heard from deputy superintendent that that progress is critical for you can
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see the amount of progress that's been made and we'll conduct in-person learning it's a work stream making sure the protocol is in place and we'll serve families in the phase 2a regarding the interest in attending in-person learning. so we wanted to give you a picture and this is not the plan and this is a piece of the plan and we wanted the board to see this and have you offer feedback. with that, i'm going to turn it back over to president sanchez. >> that's right. thank you so much dr. matthews
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hello greg. greg? sarah? can you hear me? >> >> first of all, my name is zar ar and i'm a public schoolteacher and i'm a parent of two kids at daniel webster they're in the spanish emersion program. i wanted to thank the board for a plan that is clearly a pathway to a safe reopening. that's about what w what we all. i appreciate the transparency and the progress that's been made since we've been tracking that and i wanted to thank the unions because it's also very clear that they're doing everything they can to support not only our students but to keep all of the teachers and staff safe and as a group we want a plan in place based on
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science and can provide a pathway to in-person learning, not only for families who want to return but the kids at the most risk and the kids who really need schools and institutions and all the safety they provide for kids. i wanted to thank you and we look forward to hearing more as this process goes on. >> thank you. >> hello, leader. >> my comments are about the resolution passed as the presentation since public comic was limited before they had a chance to give feedback last time. i really appreciate that beer we
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highlighting the parent survey which is long overdue and many of us in the community of we're darned if we do and if we do. we want to send our kids back to school and we know it's the only way they'll get the learning that they need but many of our kids are so immuno compromised we just can't. and and also, assessments. we have a 700 student assessment backlog, more than that and nowhere in this plan was that mentioned at all, how we're going to address that and hopefully that will start with the early parts of phase 2a and
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also, you know, we really need to get these reopening and the other part about the resolution, i'm glad we talked about reconvening the workforce, the task force and the working groups because, we've only met a couple times and this meeting friday, those of us on the work groups, we had no say into the date or time it was just put in our calender. i'm glad to hear that more public-health experts will be added and hopefully the feedback that our parent groups are giving for free, not with a paid liaison, thank you, very much, wore doing it for free, will be included more regularly and the decrease the distance folks have said, you know, us parents, we have a lot of expertise we want to share. parents are students first teachers. thank you. hello, greg, thank you there?
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>> hello. >> caller: hi, good evening, everyone. i just wanted to some of my wondering for the presentation. thank you for presenting and giving a possibility to what it looks like when we reopen. i didn't see -- it could be there but i didn't see any k-8 schools and nor did i see a plan or hear a plan or solution for k-1 students in emersion programs. i'm speaking a as a parent of zi who is in a chinese emersion program and goes to a chinese emersion school. and what reopening looks like for her. how are those students included in the process and how they'll be able to be able to return to their school sites to help to
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keep the emersion going for them in helping learn their second language. >> thank you. >> caller: the initial is js. js are the initials on the handle. are you there? >> hello, carmen? carmen? [ speaking? spanisin spanish ] [voice of interpreter] my question is, whose school sona pears izoneappears in this?
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how will you support for those students who are not on that list? [ speaking spanish ] is that it? >>[ speaking in spanish ] it is my concern because if you say they're a priority but kids who special ed kids whose school doesn't appear there and at least you have, how are you going to provide support for that kid. that is my concern. >> thank you.
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>> hello, kamal? >> hi, there. my name is kamal i'm a parent of a first grader and i think after attending a number of these board meetings, i'm very happy with the progress that's being made and all of the transparency and the work that you all have been doing so i wanted to say thank you. and i will say this is very overdue. we had our first grade assessment today and the teacher, i'm sure you are very much in touch with the teachers as well, but she noted that many, many of the students at least the younger ones are dis engage at this point and so how exactly we get these kids back, even if it's butts and seats, she said she's getting concerned with how they're just not
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necessarily willing to participate the same way that we were in the beginning of all of this and the novelty has worn off. while distance learning was working for many, i think it's starting to stave in its ability to reach children. i'm very hopeful that we will be able to move forward in the new year and so thank you for your work on this. >> thank you. >> hello, daya. >> caller: can you hear me? >> yes, speak louder but go ahead. >> caller: ok. [ speaking in spanish ]
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task force say model that has been successful in helping the families and that can be considered to keep working when the schools are reopened to put the kids that might get sick and my concern is the latino families have healthcare at the family health centers and the latino task force is not at play with the families go for healthcare. so i would like to see the family health center in san francisco general hospital to be more involved in this because we are talking about the safety and health of our kids. and most of the latino families go to san francisco general hospital. and the other comment is around the distance learning and how it's not working for our families. we're already seeing our kids very distance and learning and
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we're already seeing the depression and we're already seeing anxiety and so i really appreciate he want to consider all the harm that we already happening with our kids and family. thank you? >> hello kim? >> hi, i just wanted to ask a couple of questions. i don't get to sit on the meetings so it's -- i'm a mother of twins at lakeshore. they have been in hubs since the summer and there have been never a report of a case of covid-19
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so either they're doing a really good job of keeping everybody clean and safe so i'm anxious to see my kids get back to school. i understand the risk. there's always a risk. my children are having a hard time right now at the hub and couple of parents have said, that kids are no longer interested. my concern is their learning process, i work full-time, hence they're in the hub but it's hard for me to supplement and it's hard to get back at 5:00 and be on a schedule, get their routine done, and finish their homework. luckily lakeshore has accommodated and put them in the same class, but by the time i get home, i'm a single mom, i have to get on two laptops, finish two cases of -- two sets
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of homework for six and a half-year-old twins, my son cannot sit at the hub and some of the homework is it's really frustrating to these parents want safety and reality is we don't know when the science is every going to move i prove if s safe to be fully in-person and it's, i mean, we can't wait i just need my kids to be back in
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school. i don't know -- i understand it's not easy. i need an answer. i just -- this transparency thing is not enough parents are being heard. >> thank you, ms. >> we're in the same storm but we're not in the same boat. i think that's just my point. >> thank you, ms. that's your time. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> hello, meghan. >> hi, this is meghan and i'm also on the reopening workgroup and i completely appreciate the group as it is and the importance of it and i recognize it's not representative specifically of all of those who
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are stakeholders of returning and i want to make sure that the voices of the families, students and educators and staff that are going to be directly effected and that first phase have some face to be heard and have a say in how things happen. i listen to my colleagues as much as possible and i want to bring their voices to the table when i enter that room and it's important for those who be asked to take this risk to have their voices specifically heard and to be part of the conversation and how it happens. they have the direct knowledge of how this should go for their children, students and schools and we need to have a space for them specifically to have those
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conversations and those making the decisions. so, while i know it's not feasible to have another task force or workgroup i think there has to be forms for that to happen. >> thank you. >> thank you. hello, cliff. >> yes, hi, thank you so much. my name is cliff yee and aim a parent of a first grader and creating the distance and we're about equitable education solutions for all sfusd parents and i want to thank the commissioners for resolutions that includes a plan that is say pathway to savory opening and i heard that union reps loud and clear and i want to shout out for all they're doing for our students and for decreasing the distance. we really just want to reiterate the importance of preparing and having a plan in place that is it based on science and that can
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be a pathway for in-person learning for students who need it most and family and staff who want to person to in-person learning. two other thoughts i had was, one, with regards to safety reopening and prioritizing the science, thinking about having a standing item on the boe agenda with a persons staff on the current state of covid as it relates to the reopening of schools and one other thing think heard around families to prioritize that for all families not just those in the first couple of waves so all families get that information at the same time for accountability and transparency. thank you so much. >> thank you. hello, luce? >> hello. [ speaking in spanish ]
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[voice of interpreter] good afternoon, my name is luce rodriguez. i want to thank the board on the commissioners for all the work they're doing and i really recognize the unhappiness and i'm happy up and happy about things and i appreciate the families having a hard time during this time. it's a hard time for everybody. i really want to thank the people who are working at this school to make this plan moving
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school considering all these factors. [speaking in spanish] [voice of interpreter] my personally, i'm not prepared to send my kids back to school but i do see the families who really need it and if when i ask the families to go back to school that they will be able to go back with all the systems of safety in place for them if they need to go back to school and
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they want to go back to school. [speaking in spanish] >> so thank you very much. i hope we can continue working in as a team so we can provide a good, successful future for our children. thank you. >> jay ray. >> thank you for having me. i'm a parent at one of the schools the first opening. moderate students for autism is who i work for and i appreciate all the planning and everyone's hard work and doing their best during this hard time we're going through, this pandemic. i'm missing my fellow staff and our students and what y'all talk about the survey, the family surveys are very crucial because
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everyone has their own idiosyncratic needs of like going back to school. each school site, i believe, has their own thoughts of going back. each staff, some of them want to go and some of them aren't ready to go back and i feel like that's very important and crucial to think about and i want to feel my students are safe and supported but protocols and specific tasks on how they'll be social distancing. because some students need that distance, they need that proximity and i want to be able to know that with like a straight protocol, on how to social and physically or verbally deescalate certainty situations ta we have in our classrooms, for voiding and and that's all. something for having me.
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>> thank you. >> hello meghan. hello, meghan. >> caller: hello. >> go ahead. >> hello, thank you for letting me speak. i am a parent of a fourth grader and also i've been a child abuse attorney and a child advocate in san francisco since 2006. i think it's just critical that public schools open for in-person learning as soon as possible for those parents that want that. dose mess tick violence and abuse are real issues ha should not be dismissed. kids who have supportive family life, they're suffering emotionally sitting behind a screen. i am actually just really stunned that parents have not been surveyed yet regarding
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whether they want to return their kids to in-person school. it seems to me that is crucial information for the district to have in order to plan. if only 10 kids want to come back then the process will look very different if a thousand kids want to come back so i would just put that out there that this is really important and the kids are counting on us to do the right thing and to do the right thing we need to gather information. thank you. >> thank you. >> hello, laura. >> my name is laura and i'm a resource specialist at everett middle school a san francisco native and sfusd alum. i'm speaking on school reopening and safety. in the discussion around reopening, i found it disconcerting to notice the lack of educate towards educators and staff are immuno compromised. and have health concerns or
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disabled. i'm immuno compromised and i have to take daily medicine that is immuno suppress enter and i'm extremely at risk if i'm exposed to covid-19. no matter how much i would love to be in-person with my students, i know that it would be an extreme risk to my safety, to the safety of my immuno compromised peers and students and to the immuno compromised family members, my students live with. as a special education teacher, i understand how important our work as educators is within an in-person context however i know how valuable and essential the lives of our disabled and immuno compromised community are. if we claim to valanciunas valur communities, then we must keep them safe by continuing distance learning and school closure until it is safe for all to return. thank you. >> thank you. >> hello, meredith.
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>> meredith? >> yes, hi. my name is meredith dodson and i am involved with a group reaching the distance and also to be a parent of a kid at rooftop preschool and a member of sfusd officially and so i want to thank the board of ed tonight for a plan for the resolution that is a pathway to savorsafe reopening and thank te unions we heard tonight, this afternoon, and appreciate what you are doing for the students during this continued learning and difficult time for us. the group we want to reiterate the importance of preparing for and having a plan in place that is based on science and that can be a pathway to in-person learning for students who need it and for families and staff who want to return to in-person
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learning. and also, with regards to the safe reopening and prioritizing science, we asked there's a standing item, the board of ed agenda including a dph staff person to report on the current state of covid and as it relates to safely reopening of schools. thank you for your time. >> thank you. >> hello, lauren. >> caller: hi. i am a parent of a second grader at star king. also i'm a member of the decreasing the distance. lauren, are you there? >> lauren? >> hi, sorry. >> go ahead. >> caller: i'm a parent of a second grader at star king
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elementary and i'm also a member of the decrease the distance. i've watched over the past year while my happy, outgoing son, who loves learning and his teachers and school become withdrawn and dislike school and be unable to make a connection with his teacher this year. remote learning is causing developmental damage to him and i don't know how we're going to fix this. i want to stress that ensuring that progress continues to be made to prepare for reopening is so important for families and finally, attending these meetings to make my voice heard i recognize is a privilege that many families don't have. they're just trying to keep their heads above water. lots of families have my school have asked me to attend to represent their point of view because they don't feel hurt. i think expediting the family survey is imperative to gather the plan that works for all the families, teachers and staff. thank you. >> thank you.
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>> >> my name is courtney helen, i have a fifth grader and second grader and sfusd. i want to say that i really appreciate this conversation. i am personally very much in favor of a safe reopening for all children, as soon as the science says we can. and i am also grateful that the distance learning will remain we need to remind folks no child will be forced to return to the classroom if their family does not feel comfortable with it. also, i would like to just remind folks that sfsusd lists as its core values that they're student-centered. it's a very first core value that is mentioned. and as we make these decisions and have these conversations, i would just like to ask that we
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-- prioritizing students returning to their home and we need that information in order to plan for when it's safe to reopen, to know exactly which families in phase 2a are interested in returning. we also understand that there is an interest from other families, even though we do not currently have specifics for them in having a chance to weigh in on where they currently stand. we did ask multiple questions about that in our summer survey. but we know that a lot has changed and a lot of time has gone by, so we're prepared to
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send other surveys to all families in addition to those in phase 2a and we will be working on that in the next few days. >> can you give us a timeline though, like, when the first one will go out? and the second one? >> sure. so the first one to phase 2a families we're planning to get it out -- it's in many ways going to be a sort of a questionnaire that is going to be used specifically for the purpose of planning how many students will be -- will be interested in returning, when it's safe to do so as the superintendent and the deputy superintendent shared. the other survey is actually ready to go because it will be a similar version. but we didn't want to send it out at the same time as the staff were doing wellness checks and parent conferences, there were a lot of feed back that might feel like asking a lot of families at the same time. but now that the conferences and
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the wellness checks have passed we can plan to do that around the same time as well. >> which will be when? >> so i need to work with our research planning and accountability department. but we use a system called "panorama" the and we hav and wy to go but it could happen at the same time in early december. >> so we're looking at early december. >> but i'm sorry -- president sanchez, but i want to make it clear that the survey that would go to the families not in phase 2a would not be able to specify for families any particular timeline or any specific instructional plan. so it will be a little similar to what went out in the summer. >> but we can gauge interest and be able to break it down
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ethically and racially and all of the demographics? >> that is correct, yes. you can do that with the instrument that we use, panorama, absolutely. >> commissioner colins? >> i had a question on that specifically. can we view the survey before it goes out as commissioners? >> sure, absolutely. i would welcome our chief research planning and accountability to speak to that as well. but we do have it in draft form so we can share it immediately. >> okay, because i don't know if you work with the bilingual spanish-speaking families -- i don't know if you had a chance to review it also with the p.a.c. parents because sometimes they flag things that i don't see. >> we do have extensive parent input on the survey that was sent out in the summer and that the one that we have contemplated sending out is actually a similar version.
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but we can certainly send that same survey out for feedback again, given that the time has passed and more information is available now. >> i appreciate that, thanks. i have other questions but i'll wait for other people. i just wanted to specifically to ask about the survey. >> i don't know if you wanted to chime in before we go further on this. >> i think that the survey has been reviewed and we just got feedback around the ethnicity, which commissioner collins commented on and we will make that change. so the earlier survey has already been reviewed by parents. so it can go out. in terms of the questions in the survey, we'll be happy to send the two or three questions that will be asked to the parents to the board members. >> that would be great. vice president lópez. >> hello again, thank you, thank you for this work. i wanted to know more about the
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survey as well and i feel -- i have been saying this a lot, that this is step one of the process but there's so many step ones of this entire production and so i'm happy to hear more about this survey going out. i also am -- i do want to point out that this work is being held by the district. meanwhile, doing distance learning. and so i know that there's a rush in wanting to know information, but at the same time, we are enhappensin enhance learning that is happening right now and that's why we hold our educators in such a special place given the circumstances that we are working under right now. and that the school district has been sharing this even before our resolution passed. so i am happy to hear that the superintendent encouraged the public to really look to the dashboard to get all of those details and the questions answered. of course, being a part of these meetings, but we're just trying to highlight and to show various
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ways to bet the information out to the public and to families, who you all know, reminding you that you do have the ability and the choice to remain in either in-person or distance learning. one thing that i did have a couple questions and the first one is what were the decisions behind the hybrid schedule for some of the school sites? or what was the planning around that? >> the hybrid schedule is not by school site. it's by priority group. so the babies, the early ed and our students and our moderate classes will get full day all in person. it is babies and the pk through first grade and likely other grade levels that come in that will get hybrid. and part of that commissioner lópez is just because of the requirements around spacing and social distancing. and also wanting to make sure
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that there's a day in between perhaps to clean and so it really is kind of juggling multiple factors that make it ideal for there to be some time -- you know, as much time as possible in person, but also an opportunity for them to engage in remote learning as well. >> okay. >> just to be clear, that is why i was specifically vague because the exact schedule of what that hybrid would look like is still being developed and determined. >> i understand that. i wanted to point out that the colors are super helpful. seeing it laid out as it was, helped me to better understand the wave. but it's those pieces that we really need to be clear if we're asking families to decide whether they want to come back or not. because that could be a deciding factor is a family simply does not want to do any distance learning and that might be the reason why they remain in full
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time. >> there's a catch-22 about the survey and we want to be able to share as much information as possible to inform decisions. myself as a parent, i might answer one way with a certain set of assumptions and you tell me it's at the school and i might answer a different way. and we're hoping to get more clarity and to share that as well. >> that's right. and i understand that too. which is why just voicing it is really important. and my last question is how we decide on the schools because, you know, we're consistently seeing a gap in the tenderloin and treasure island, and some schools in the mission. so what was part of choosing the actual building in the schools that would reopen first? >> so for the first one it really was about the readiness of the facility, and looking at the facilities and scoring them. and we picked schools that were kind of ready to open first, if
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you will. again, ventilation, washrooms and sanitation, etc. but it was also prioritizing schools that had two or more of those priority groups and wanting to mention that there was a school in each cohort so that the teams working with those schools could actually learn a lot -- not just at school -- but that community and that context and to scale up to add more students. so that's why it started off with just 12. but soon after you see between wave one and wave two there's almost a double, right. we go to 26. and then wave three we would have all of our elementary sites open. so it really was a combination of the three factors that i just said and also the realization that we've got to start small and slow to have safety but also to learn all of the lessons as we move forward. >> right. and i do -- i want to reiterate that this 2a planning is really a base of what the coming phases will be, and i imagine that once
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we get into talks of middle school and high school it will be a lot of it will already be in place. but i also do want to speak to, like, if the building -- the actual buildings were not in a space where they were ready, then i think that does speak to how the buildings in parts of the city are currently in just something that i want to flag and uplift for the future. >> i see that -- that dawn just turned her screen on so i said maybe i said that wrong. so i don't know, dawn, if you want to chime that in. >> she heard her name for her department. commissioner molia did you have any questions or comments? commissioner lam? or commissioner cook? commissioner cohen? >> sorry, thank you. i appreciate the questions and i guess that i'm concerned about -- i just want to -- first
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off, to say thank you to the staff for putting this all together and providing more clarity. and i guess specifically i wanted to kind of piggyback on what vice president lópez said. you know, with we rolled out the food, in a way it's like we have to do it quickly. and so it makes sense to think about how we can do that quickly, it's going to be about logistics and so we did it based on facilities. but what we found is that we missed critical neighborhoods that had the most need. and so we were planning and we did scramble and i'm very grateful for the staff. we had readjusted and we actually added it in the neighbors that commissioner lópez brought up. and then initially when we started school we didn't think about when kids would need to get the food and when they were going to school. and commissioner lópez again requested if we could shift the time when the families could pick up food because we had a pick-up time that was the same
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time when kids were supposed to be in distance learning. so i'm concerned that i do want us to be able to mobilize quickly so we do need to think about facilities. but i'm also concerned that it feels like -- i'm sure that there's a juggling act but we're planning around buildings, not students. if we want to be student centered and community centered and serve the families most in needs, the neighborhoods that pop up for me and also hearing from other commissioners, the ones that tend to get excluded from our priority list is chinatown, excell excelsior and tenderloin and the mission and soma as well. so i'm concerned that those are not first. i'd like to know, you know, maybe there's good reasoning behind that and so i guess that i would like to know more extensively about, you know, why those are chosen and i also, i guess, on a larger -- you know, scale, why -- the second -- you
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said it's facilities related but maybe that is not time to go into depth, but i don't know if there's a way to increase capacity for those sites. if there's something that we could do, i would want to do it. if it's not feasible, okay, but i guess that, you know, in some ability to speak to that, that would be helpful. >> i'd be happy to. i think that, commissioner, just to clarify, while the facilities did share information with the instructional team, just to make sure that we were avoiding any, you know, any sites that had real issues. the selection of the sites is driven by the guiding principle that it is best for students to be back in their normally assigned home classrooms to the extent possible. and so that is -- that is just the distribution issue which far problem seedprecedes my arrivalw
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those programs were developed over time the but once we landed on a guiding principle together as a team around how important it was to really try to accommodate students back at their home sites, that really pushed certain facilities to certain locations to the top of the list. and so i wanted to flag that it's at this point not the facilities that is shaping the decision-making. i hear your point, it is a good one, and we just basically we went through a due diligence exercise to make sure that there wasn't an obstacle to operating certain sites. but it was not a driver for how they were selected, if that makes sense. >> okay, that's helpful. so i guess that -- well, i guess that the other question that i have, you know, if we tal talked about this last time -- okay, so to be clear -- the total number that we're looking to accommodate after phase two is -- or 2a, is 10,000 students, is
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that correct? >> over 10,000. >> okay. so we can accommodate potentially 15,000 per day. that's not with the staggered schedule. >> yes. >> so i guess that my question is, why aren't we considering second grade? because that was originally something that we were discussing. when i think about students, you know, second graders are still on the earlier side of, you know, learning. and if we can open up sites, i'm wondering why we're not considering them? >> commissioner, as you have brought this up before and you're right, that grade was considered initially. i think that donna said and we do have a capacity for 15,000 seats. we really were trying to kind of start small and feel and learn from it. and then phase in other grade
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levels. and it's possible that we could consider second grade even in this first wave. and then to scale up quickly. and it led us to say to focus on the youngest of the younger learners and then move those other babies in at a later date. >> okay, and then i guess that the other question is -- you know, i'll be honest -- i appreciate all of this detail because it gives us something to respond to. but i felt like an audience member and not a participant. i think that it's hard, and everybody is in different committees and the logistics and the buildings and there's constructional plans and they intersect and there's separate work flows and you are finding it as well, working with the staff, and it's not linear. >> right. >> and i don't, obviously, i'm not the only board member so
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these are opportunities for us to say where we want you to prioritize things. so i wonder as a body, you know, if you give out surveys, i am just saying for myself, but then i want to also hear from my colleagues that it makes sense that if you're going to send out surveys and we have the capacity to serve 10,000 students and you're including pk-1, i'm assuming that not all of those kids are going to want to come back. so we already have capacity. does anybody know -- if you included second grade, how many kids is that if they all wanted to come back? >> i don't have the second grade numbers with me, sorry. i don't know if they have them -- >> 3,800 to 3,900. >> 3,900. so if everybody wanted to and back we'd still have space for them. so i guess that i'm just wondering, you know, why wouldn't we want to just kind of do all -- i mean, i'm also assuming -- like i said, not all
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families are going to want to come back. so why wouldn't we just survey all elementary school families. because this is a little hard for me. as somebody who has done a lot of project management. i have been a consultant for school districts and i have done large-scale projects and the first step is assessment. so we're doing that, right? we're building and surveying is assessing and we're sending out to educators and saying who might have trouble coming back. and now we're assessing families and it feels that this is an incomplete assessment if we're not assessing, like, all of the families to see what is the need and then we'll know, kind of -- you know, it's like half of them want to come back and it's not really a problem, it might not be a problem. but if all of them want to come back then we have to hustle and, you know, to work together and to figure out can we do outdoor learning and, you know, do we need to hire more staff and that will be more informative for us in terms of, you know, kind of,
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you know, what are the challenges that we're going to have to include. and i feel like waiting is going to delay, you know, our ability to really plan fully. i kind of would like to have the big picture but i'm interested in hearing from other commissioners, especially the commissioners who wrote the resolution, you know, what are your thoughts on just assaying more families and then also including maybe one or -- at least one more grade level in the initial phase 2a or -- i get confused with the phases and the waves and the groups. but i'd like to hear from other commissioners on that. >> the clusters and the bubbles and the cohorts. so for -- just my thoughts on specifically with the resolution because we need this, it would be important for me to know where the entire school district falls as far as returning to in-person instruction. and the reason why i call this
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step 1b -- or step one as we have to do to make this happen -- again, i have heard repeatedly that there's a number of conversations that have happened and we come to find that the students that we are accommodating are very few and we're having conversations that affect the entire district. so once we have this very clear number of who is wanting to return, we can ensure that our planning is around this number anand then accommodate as we go. because the planning will be better once we launch. but i don't think that any of this work can get done until we have that information out. i'm not thinking pk through one, i'm thinking the whole school system, including middle school and high school. >> commissioner lam, do you have any thoughts? >> i just think that my question to the superintendent would be more about, you know, if we were to add this grade, you know, how does that play into what the planning process has been
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already. and for me it's -- i think that you have all heard me say this, i don't want to slow down the planning process but i also want to be strategic and intentional. so i think that is what is helpful to understand. and then ultimately, the elementary school return as well as what commissioner lópez raised about the pk-12, overall i think that the board is looking for that overall direction with the resolution, even at high level and knowing that there's so many thousands and thousands within each of those plans with pk-12. >> i'm smiling miss lam, because i was intentional to say potential. and that's why we're here, and so i would like to take it back to the team because i think that you mighta alluded to this and i
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appreciate you asking about how to do this without slowing down the train, as you will. so i'd like to take it back to the team that has the instruction and the facilities. and there's multiple criteria and get back to you with what is the impact, what, if anything, is lost or slowed down by adding our second grade babies. and to be clear that the request is just to bring the groups in in phases and so pain brin maybn the second, and maybe the third, fourth and fifth at the same time, and the need to do this in small cohorts and to do this gradually so we can maintain safety and really so we can (indiscernible) but, yes, i will circle back with the theme with the request. i knew that it was coming -- with a request for our second grade to be added to the application for that. >> so there's two questions. one, can we add second grade? so it would be great to hear
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about the implications of that. and commissioner lópez, can we at least survey elementary students just so that we know what the need is or where the desire is. and commissioner lópez is saying can't we just do the whole thing and we have been hearing from other commissioners on that. >> superintendent, there's a survey for all families? >> i think that it's just for (indiscernible) severe. >> no, i'm sorry, there's -- yes, there are -- there is a survey to families that are contemplated in the phase 2a plan. and those -- those students we can actually say to them a lot more detail about what it would look like. and the survey is actually more of a registration process really. like, do you -- if all of these conditions are met, do you intend to return, or would you rather stay in distance learning? so it would be helpful for that
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first phase, 2a. and at the same time we have a broader survey that doesn't have timelines but it has a various set of scenarios where we can send out to everyone in the district and get their feedback on that as well. >> so that's not -- (indiscernible) prek through 12 but all of them? >> exactly. >> that's good. so that was a misconception and so i'm sorry and so you're hoping to do early december? >> yes. >> great. and the other question is, can we include -- because in those neighborhoods, we have heard from them multiple times and commissioner lam and commissioner lópez and commissioner moliga and we heard communities saying why weren't we included? so it appreciate that it sounds like we're centering students in terms of location selection, but i'm also interested in maybe having a little more dialogue around, you know, geographic
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locations for families that we know that are in need. i'm hearing about families in the tenderloin that don't actually leave the house because they don't feel that it is safe. they don't have safe outdoor spaces. similarly in excelsior i'm hearing that and in chinatown there's not a lot of outdoor space to just run and play. and they have home language concerns about families whose home language is not english. so that's another group, you know, i know that we're balancing a lot of priorities. so i'm wondering if this is something that we could follow up on at the curriculum meeting and having a deeper dive and we could come back -- is that a good forum for us to continue the conversation? >> yeah. >> okay. >> it would be great. >> any other commissioners? last thoughts or comments or questions? all right, i want to double down
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-- commissioner cook? no. okay. i wanted to double down on commending staff, superintendent, the team, again, for updating us and apprising us and involving us. so we are now going to move to the last item. >> thank you. >> clerk: so the last item is a coordinated care. >> the coordinated care team. >> clerk: so tonight presenting we have chief smith. >> thank you, thank you, superintendent, and thank you, commissioners, for the opportunity to present. sorry i was en route from presidio so i missed my first curtain call so now i'll bring down the house. at least i hope so. and could we start the slides, please. great. so this is -- thank you for the opportunity to present.
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you can go to the next slide. as you may recall the fall learning plan had included a care plan for wellness and partnership. go to the next slide. the guiding principles of the coordinated care plan are grounded in anti-racist healing practices that support the students and staff and around anti-racism, partnership, and building communities to create safe and supportive school culture and climate. as a district, we define anti-racism as the act of conscious and non-neutral process of identifying and eliminating racism by changing the systems, organizational structures and policies, practices and attitudes. so that the power is redistributed and shared equitably. the heart of an anti-racist system is personal, professional, and system-wide accountability. we have been working internally as a division to develop structures to stretch and deepen our anti-racist practices. no one becomes a racist or an
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anti-racist, we have to continue to strive to be an anti-racist. it's not who we are, that's how and what we do. you can go to the next slide. as we came back to school we knew that we needed to do things differently, to work towards equity. as such the site-based structure team was coordinated to have school-based solutions that are solution based and embedded in healing practices and that would drop the school-wide -- in the school-wide and in the classroom systems to support our families, students and staff. the creation to be completely transparent, the creation of the coordinated care team is a new structure. and we have embarked on work where we critically look at the programs and processes to adapt, abandon or adopt those who have worked in the service of anti-racist practices and increasing authentic partnership in and abandon those who have
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not. we are building on what we have done before, the equity work and the intervention systems and restorative practices and trauma-informed practice. can you go to the next slide. sorry. so the site-based coordinated care team integrates the pre-existing teams at a school site, with the student assistance family and the family partnership team and the attendance review team and the student success team into one team. in the spring as a division we were able to conduct listening sessions with nearly 400 stakeholders to hear their experiences within the division. through those listening sessions we learned as a division that our siloed work was causing confusion at school sites and that as a division we were asking the school sites to create multiple teams without coordinating the work amongst ourselves. so the team concept is designed to eliminate some of the
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redundancies that we were asking for at school sites. you can go to the next slide. so as we began to develop this new system, we knew that it was important to find the coordinated care. the coordinated care is a system of care that involves deliberately organizing the student and family support activities and sharing the information among all of the participants. especially the students and their families who are concerned with the student's success. this is in order to achieve a stakeholder and more equitable school culture and climate. you can go to the next slide. the process that a coordinated care team would follow at a school site is that the site leader and a processed facilitator most commonly one of the assigned staff, the staff that we have that are assigned to school sites, social workers, wellness coordinators and nurses. and that those together they would meet with a team of members from the school community that would include the families and partners whenever
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possible. this team would hold meetings to complete the different processes with the overall focus on coordination and clarity. and there would be a core team members who attend all of the meetings so that we could ensure alignment and calibration and that would be incorporated throughout the process. the team would also use data to take action to improve the student outcomes at the site level, the classroom level, and also triage the student cases with the central office support that need more support. we thought that it was important to be transparent and clear on sort eve of the main outcomes tt we hope for with the coordinated care teams. that is to partner with the families at every step of the process by centering the students and family voices in the care for the students. to integrate the best practices and other student-centered site-based teams at the school, to honor the expertise and to adopt and adapt what has worked in the past and abandon what has not.
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to examine and to address and to take steps to change the systems and the structures that oppress the bipoc students. to have clear processes for students and family supports. to utilize the data to inform the systems and strategies and interventions and to coordinate and to create student spaces for healing and connection. you can go to the next slide. with the building of every new system, we adopt and adapt what has worked before, but we also made a commitment to abandon what has not. some areas that we were working towards improving are reducing the silos and com compartmentalization of teams and to reduce the confusion around the disifntses in tiered support, moving to more deeper supports through tier one and tier two and three. to move towards authentic partnership, to have daylighta-based decision making and to meet families where
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they're at with differentiated support without having to pull out students for individual or group sessions on a regular basis. and to create more adult-centered interventions. so the coordinated care team works as a team to build solution-based action plans and to review the outcomes to revise plans as necessary. the wellness and the partnership team is also available to support -- to provide support and consultation as needed. you can go to the next slide. i'll go a little bit deeper in that graphic that i showed on the side. so if you look at it, at the school site level, the coordinated care team teams up together and develops and trains the staff, families, students, around anti-racist practices and coordinate the family wellness check-ins and follow-ups from those check-ins. because this is a new initiative, so while we're talking about where we want to transform towards, probably everything is a process but i think the teams are probably
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leaning in towards the district-wide family check-ins that are happening four times a year. and the team is a role of a triage with other school staff, including providing teacher consultation and support with family connections. the work is continually informed by reviewing outcomes and revising action plans. you can go to the next slide. in addition, we're developing central supports designed should the coordinated care team in review of its action plan recognize that more support is needed. team members can reach out to the students, family community supports what we're calling the wellness partnership team for consultation as well as partnering with the school stakeholders and the partners and family representatives. you can go to the next slide. and this division provides centralized support and we have a group of team that meet monthly with leads to support in a more coordinated way to build our dual capacity together. we're working across the
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district and we have been working deeply and connectedly with the deputy marcel and the lead on how we can best, i guess, to institutionalize this new process. we have been developing and continue to develop and provide capacity building resources through training tools and coaching and we also provide direct supports to the staff who are assigned to the school site. so we're meeting monthly and regularly with all of the staff in our division who are working as process facilitators in this process. you can go to the next slide. so the well businesness and the partnership team is comprised of members throughout our division, including school health and family partnership, and i want to say that this is a first time that there has been
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cross-division support systems developed. so we've had to do a lot of internal calibration and alignment amongst ourselves to support school sites without creating more confusion and lack of clarity. the wellness and the partnership team members, we began in earnest this month to meet with all of the different cohorts from the lead and the early ed department and the special education department on a monthly basis to continue to support our own dual capacity around tier one practices. and, of course, we have also set up the school-based coordinated care teams to request consultation and support from us. and we have connected this through the student family resource link so that we can track the supports that are being asked -- requested, and hold ourselves accountable to following through. so to wrap up my presentation, i just want to be 100% transparent and say this is a completely new schism we're continually refining and changing it as we
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implement. as a division we're creating this system with fewer staff than we had last year. at the same time we're leading the work in developing the health and the safety protocols for returning to in-person learning as well as staffing and coordinating the family resource link. we have also really spent some time as much as we can carve out with everything else, to look at our own practices and systems and to identify areas where our division systems and practices may have been racist or perpetuated white supremacist practices or having bias. that is not grounded if awe aw c practice. and we want to work closely and aligned across the district and within our division. we also want to recognize that this is a big change for school sites. this is them having to pivot to distance learning and all of the things that we are doing amidst the pandemic. so i would have to say that
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while we're working towards this coordinated care team structure and having supports within the division, it's going to look different at school sites and some of them may still be calling -- may not have adopted the new names and it may have a mixture of the way they used to do things and the way that we're using. and we are really leaning into that part of the idea of the anti-racist practices being within organizational systems and all of these practices and attitudes so that powers redistribute. we have a long way to go to dismantle the systems that have been built over many, many years but we're really committed to it and we continue to design the systems to work on auditing our own work to provide better support for school sites. that wraps up my presentation. thank you for the opportunity and i'm happy to answer any questions. >> thank you. so i'll open it up to public comment at this time. >> clerk: please raise your hand
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to speak to the coordinated care team item that was just presented. seeing two hands right now, president sanchez. >> all right. two minutes. >> clerk: thanks. hello, julie? >> hi, this is julie robertson. i appreciate this presentation. and the way that we're a alignig the sort of various systems with a stakeholder process. and i'm wondering -- maybe i'm confused but it feels that it connects very much to the needs assessment process that we've been doing so i'm wondering if we can have a better understanding of how these two processes align. and we have assessments in the fall. and i'm hoping that we'll get
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some of the data back and that i think that it will be helpful at this point to see how families are changing from last year, what patterns we're seeing at sites, and across the city. and ideally it sounds like we'd align that data and the data attendance and the meaningful engagement to use that information in the hybrid learning planning process and other work that we're doing. and to dedicate the resources to meet the families' needs. so i'm wondering when we'll get that information and how it might align with the care process. and then lastly on the prior topic, i remain confused when the tenderloin and the excelsior students would go to a school in the first two waves and how that fits in with the homeschool strategy. i hope that as we survey families we would make it clear where those families in those neighborhoods would be expected to go to school. and i appreciate the commissioners emphasizing that it's been deeply frustrating to consistently get maps about
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where food will be and where computers will be distributed and where hubs will be. and to constantly see our own neighborhoods left out. i hope that we'll be able to shift to centering those neighborhoods and that in the future that our maps will come out and show our most historically under-resourced neighborhoods being centered and other processes. thank you. >> thank you. hello, marie? >> caller: hi, good evening, this is maria robinson, and i'm from george wash carver. i would like to say thank you to the presentation and for the systems -- many of the bayview schools have already had in place where all of our different teams were coming together and meeting about our students. i also want to say that i look forward to there actually being resources and training and
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staffing for classified staff that mostly support those systems such as the family liaison and the elementary advisors. it really helps to include as part of the whole school community when we -- at the district level -- when we have those supports and resources funneled down to us. and is made aware and known to everyone in the district. so i appreciate that. thank you. >> clerk: thank you. hello, jenny? >> caller: hi, i'm a teacher. >> clerk: i'm sorry, go ahead. >> caller: hi, i'm a teacher at sfsud and i appreciate all of the efforts made to reopen our schools safely. i am wondering where teachers can find information about how schools will be reopening
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safely? what p.p.e. is going to be offered? whether teachers will have opportunities to be tested? whether we will be implementing a hybrid model or just what the school will look like as we prepare our curriculum and as we prepare ourselves for in-person learning. >> clerk: okay, thank you. that concludes public comment. >> any questions or comments for the staff? commissioner moliga? >> thank you, president sanchez. thank you, chief smith. i appreciate the work on this. a couple questions. have we rolled this out already or is this something that that is in the works? >> no, we have begun moving towards this process since the beginning of the school year and
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i think that where we are probably working on it best is with the family wellness check-ins. so a group of folks whether they call themselves the coordinated care team or maybe they called themselves something else previously are the ones that are working and coordinating those wellness check-ins. and many are social workers and counsellors that are leading it so we work closely with them on the follow-up. that's part of the answer to the other comment from this about how this is all connected to the family wellness check-ins. so that data goes back to the coordinated care teams so they can do follow-ups with families and reach out if they need to. so we certainly have begun it. we have still our muscle to keep building on it. and to think about as we return to the school it's -- for the schools returning to in-person learning what is the role of the care team in supporting the families in both through check-ins and then in person so we're thinking through those
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ideas. >> all right, thank you. how long do you think it would take to fully implement? >> i think that anytime that there's change management, it's being able to work closely. and that what we have begun to do with the lead, you know, to go to each of the individuals to work with the school sites and the district -- the division staff that are at our school sites. and to sort of train and teach them all of the new processes. so i couldn't say -- it's a little bit hard to imagine. i mean, if we were in-person completely and we weren't in the middle of a pandemic, i could say by the end of the year we probably would have been able to get each school to understand the process and to know what's happening. i mean, by the end of the school year we want to to be able to identify each school having a care team and identifying the members of it. and then to be able to sort of keep rolling out the training processes. but we're shifting our division, at the same time as we're
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shifting to this process. so we're making advances, but i think that the change management at over a hundred schools -- maybe we'll get somewhere in a year and it might take us another year to embed the practices. we're also starting to -- we've done a lot of audits within our division to look at some of our practices and the way that we did restorative practices or the way that our content and the emotional learning and the sort of the audit to push it up against, is it perpetuating white supremacist practices or truly an anti-racist practice. and we're starting to makeshifts to some of the practices that have been paternalistics for many, many years. so that's our first round. and then we need to go out to our families and our students to also look at those practices and say that these are the practices that we were going to be moving -- coordinated teams towards implementing. but we do not. to start implementing them until we have gone to our students and
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familiefamilies who also audit d say, yes, these are essential partnership practices. so we're trying to resist the sense of urgency to make change quickly without taking our time to be deliberate and thoughtful and engaging our partners in an authentic way. so when we say to a coordinated care team this is how you have a student and a staff meeting, that really is authentically grounded in family partnership, that it really is. because it's been developed with students and families. so we're sort of trying to go fast an to go slow, and slow too fast. >> okay. and for me the question is, like, because i have been -- i worked in schools before and i have been on coordinated care teams, probably not like the one that you're rolling out right now, but, you know, i'm curious to know, like, who is actually holding all of the information and the process and how it's rolling out, right?
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like, how is it being maintained? right, who is keeping track of how the coordinated team care efforts is moving along? i heard you say the lead, right is this and i know that the lead is alls doing a whole lot of other stuff. >> yeah, we're all holding a lot and i think that speaks to the lack of our data systems and the systems for accountability. so one of the ways that we're at least able to be able to find out, like, what are the teams that are reaching out and how do we coordinate that and organize that, we do that through a system that is built in to collect data and we can make sure that we get this many calls about these types of things and we were able to fulfill those requests. so it's one small way to think about how do we -- how are we able to keep ourselves accountable to this. and we started last year but it ended because of the pandemic with d.o.t. and we did a lot of stakeholder input about how do we take our multiple systems
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where we keep data and have a kind of -- we're calling it that umbrella system where we would have a better reporting mechanism. we got pretty far on that but then we stopped because of the pandemic and the person leading it is on sabbatical. so in january when that person comes back we'll bring that full conversation back to what are the data systems that we can create so that we can actually do that. because there's only so much that we can do, and that's kind of where we are right now. we track with lead and meet with them regularly to see which schools have the teams and who is on it. but just like you said, they're super busy with a lot of other things. so we work together towards that accountability measure. >> yeah. and that's kind of my thing, you know, like this is an amazing effort, right. and if it rolls out, flying colors and everything, it's going to be really be impactful.
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and then the opposite is actually true, right? it could go and just, you know, fizzle away because people lose interest. >> yeah. our goal, of course, is always institutionalization in a good way, right? and anti-oppressive institutionalization. but i'll be completely transparent with you, it's not a system that you can build in a year. it's a system that you might get wedged in in three years, you know, and it could take five to really -- well, other work that i did around, you know, tobacco prevention and control, it takes a while to change the way that people do things. and we're trying to move towards practices that have been traditionally pretty paternalistic and that means that we have to do all of that personal work of what are my anti-racist practices and how do i do that. and that's the work that we do together as well. the good thing is that you get stronger and you iterate quicker
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and quicker and if you go slow there's a point that you can make the change faster because you have done all of the small work to begin with. >> yeah, i don't want to go on about it, but i think what i see that could be helpful is having somebody to hold that work for you, you know, to monitor that. because i can just see, you know, again -- if lead folks get overwhelmed and, you know, they're not really, you know, prioritizing, you know, the work and it could get lost. so i think that it would be beneficial to have somebody, you know, that could actually champion that work for you and to move it along and keep tabs on how things are doing and do check-ins and have a macro understanding of how things are working. because, again, if it works and it's working the way that it's presented right now, i could see it being successful and saving us money down the line, right? but, again, i don't want it to go to waste. people have to do extra work
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and,, you know, and not being followed through. and the last thing they wanted to say was around resources. you know, what is the resources that we're putting into this effort? >> well, across the division, we're putting a lot -- i mean, so the division was sort of designed or built relatively siloed so we're moving more into a division-wide systems. and i was able -- we do have a director of coordination and a strategic alignment and a director of operations. and now we have a bit more division-wide positions that work on coordinating that. so i do have staff that is dedicated to sort of pulling all of the pieces and keeping this aligned. but i'll be honest with you, that we're stretched. we also have a lot of cuts last year and we're trying to realign and to be smarter and, again, doing that adopt and adapt,
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abandon, so that the work that we do is more focused on the coordinated care coming out of our division and coordinating that work together. so we're trying to be smarter with the way that we align our resources as well and that's part of the work this year as well. >> all right, thank you. commissioner lam? >> thank you for the presentation and the update. that was my follow-up question, it's always around -- as one of the learnings and the things to abandon or to improve, whether on the data set, so that is helpful to hear about the plans that are in place. because we know that in order for us to be really strategic and like you said smarter, that the data systems are going to feed to be in place. so i encourage as you go through this process that, you know, bringing that forward to the board. and ultimately the budget and to
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services to understand what that impact will look like, similar to what we have done, our whole h.r. system and with melissa's team, and really how that is a game-changer, right, and structurally for us as a district. so i encourage that for you. second, as these teams are advancing and, you know, like you said getting operationalized, i would love to be able to understand from -- i call it a student journey, right, what does that journey look like? and it was talking as an institution and as, you know, how -- the how and what -- but for me to also move towards understanding, so with these systems in place, like, so what is that journey look like for the student? what will be different because of this? it would be really be helpful to share that narrative. >> yeah, as we move and do the outward looking and asking students and families to start
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auditing the work and informing it and then you have to have a continual feedback of how it is implemented or what are the shifts that we have to make. so our goal, absolutely, is to tell that story. >> mrmiss collins. >> i appreciate the work that you have been doing and i want to speak to that but i have one question and a comment. i'm realizing related to the previous item, which is as a last meeting that i had a whole list of questions so this isn't for you, chief smith, but for the superintendent and i had a whole list of questions that were really specific. i sent them, and my understanding is that i would get answers to those questions and i didn't. so i'm just wondering, they're really nuts and bolts and really too much time for this meeting
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but i wonder when i'll get answer to the specific questions that i emailed last week on just reopening and, you know, those kind of questions. >> we'll get them to you as soon as possible. >> okay. all right. so i want to name that i am asking questions i don't always get answers and i want to know when we'll do it. but i want to shift now to chief smith and i want to say thank you very much for this presentation. and i am -- you know, you talked about coordinated care before i knew what it was and i saw it in our and so i want -- and for the board, because i wasn't clear on this -- this is actually kind of -- chief smith is doing something that i think is transformational for our
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district and so i appreciate that. at the same time it's listed as an accountability measure in 8077 that says when we have distance learning we need to make sure that kids that are not showing up, whether it's clicking or, you know, their google classroom, showing up in class on zoom, or when we can't reach them, right, we need to have an accountability measure. (please stand by)
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