vision. all employees of sfusd play a vital role in helping create our equity vision. you have a role in the district of helping us create our equity vision. thank you. >> thank you for that presentation. before we begin our discussion, i want to open it up to public comment on the four items under section f that we just heard a presentation on, understanding that there may be more voices who want to share, and we're hearing multiple items. i do want to make sure we have

enough time for the number of speakers that we have. there will also be time for public comments to be read into the record. there will be 15 minutes for comments submitted via e-mail in the order which they were submitted. copies of all the 49 e-mail submissions for item f-3 have been provided to commissioners in hard copy, and we will also attach them to the minutes in this meeting, so let's begin with public comment. >> clerk: there are currently -- >> oh, hi was rebecca [indiscernible] supposed to go or -- because i was asked to be unmuted. >> clerk: yes, your name will be called shortly. right now, you can begin public comment. you will have one minute per speaker, and i will monitor the

number of hands. right now, there are 21. >> yes. can that be represented in spanish and chinese? we'll have one minute per speaker. [speaking spanish language] [speaking cantonese language] >> okay. my name is rebecca woodruff. can you hear me? >> clerk: yes. >> thank you. my name is rebecca woodruff, and i am a teacher at sfusd. i am representing the voice of 272 workers in sfusd.

we are here to share with the board and public the impact that moving our positions out of sfsd central office budget to individual school sites budget. this is a decision that we only became aware of as our meeting on friday -- at our meeting on friday, february 25. we understand the enormity of budget cuts and that they need to stay as far away from school sites as possible. the proposal to eliminate a proven clinical infrastructure that supports frontline wellness staff to do their jobs is short sighted and will be harmful to the students and families of sfusd. my colleague stuart will speak next. thank you. >> clerk: i'm actually going to call genevieve evenhouse. >> hi.

this is genevieve evenhouse. schoolworkers have conflicts that are unique in sfusd and their school sites. we do not have departments or teams to look to for support and guidance. we rely on meetings four continuing professional development and depend on being able to call one of our mentors or central educators in approximate -- in a crisis. without centralized support, there will be an even greater turnover of social workers and nurses than we already have. dismantling a national model of health and wellness for our students and families.

my colleague, theresa, will speak next. >> clerk: thank you. i'm actually going to call on stuart. stuart? >> yes. hi again. moving our roles to the school site budget means that site administrators will be responsible for supervising and advising professionals in areas that they have no experience or training. it increases the exposure to risk and liability, site administrators, and mental health emergencies. it also means that school social workers and school district nurses will then be evaluated by our administrators rather than our professional peers. as ms. evenhouse mentioned, we

will lose our job alikes and support that we've been receiving from central office workers and social workers. always, but in particular during the covid pandemic, the need for immediate consultation on emergency situations involving the mental and physical health of our students is criticals. our mentors can't be expected to wear this hat in addition to all they're already expected to do on our school sites. >> clerk: thank you. theresa gonzalez? >> thank you. my name is teresa, and i am a school social worker at the student and family services division, and i will wrap up our comments by acknowledging that adding more responsibilities to overburdened site administrators hurts our students and families. we ask our services be

continued to managed centrally to continue the quality of care that nurses and social workers offer. can sfusd staff reorganize central administration differently to further reduce the district's cost while still maintaining its legal obligations and essential services. consider the legal and ethical ramifications that stripping school nurses and social workers of centralized support from program administrators who share their same credentials. this change moved forward will greatly impact the health and wellness of our students and families. thank you. >> clerk: thank you. michael essian? >> good evening, president gabriela lopez, commissioners, and superintendent matthews. i am president of uesf. focus on equity across this

nation, especially across california, is rooted in a lawsuit against a school in compton in 2019, and the legal liability to address trauma is now placed firmly on the shoulders of all schools in the state. this includes the may not review for the four administrators on the agenda earlier. it matters what and who we cut. many of the needs of our most vulnerable students must be addressed outside the classroom setting. please remember our most vulnerable students when it comes to the p.k.s. resolution and the may not renew in the student family service relation -- and the

student-family-service relationship. thank you. >> clerk: ellie meyerson? >> hi. my name is ellie meyerson, and i'm a student at abraham lincoln high school. i would like to point out that although there are many other core subjects or world languages that could have been cut, japanese is the only subject listed for cut. this cannot help but make us and many other japanese american people in the community feel targeted. we shouldn't be repeating history with this kind of exclusion and cultural erasure, especially as we approach the 80 anniversary of executive

order 9066, imprisoning many japanese families during world war ii. it would be truly saddening to see such an opportunity taken away from such dedicated learners. i strongly urge you to reconsider cutting japanese language classes. thank you for your time. >> clerk: emily murase? >> yes, good evening, commissioners, and superintendent matthews. i'm emily murase, former commissioner of the board of education. i take great exception to commissioner collins' comment earlier tonight of japanese as

a language of privilege. in 1973, parents of children who were japanese imprisonees saw an opportunity for restitution by the government for the wholesale ejection of japanese americans from the west coast, losing their homes, livelihoods, and physical and mental health, so no, commissioner collins, japanese instruction is not a language for the privileged, but the continuance of the constitutional right of learning languages in schools, and that is why the japanese language is so important to continue. thank you. >> clerk: thank you. alita fisher? >> hi, everyone.

i appreciate the chief's comments about respecting and honoring staff at the beginning of this agenda item. in fact, this is not easy. however, i do also feel that it's important if we want -- important, if we want to honor staff, we have to be centralized. cutting up to 12 family liaisons will have a devastating impact on family engagement at many schools. for many parents, the relationships they build are family liaisons are a life line to the school authority. there's no transparency, and i find it insulting. parents have been asking for

years to dig into the budget, to dig into the details before decisions were made. please work with us instead of making this decisions in a vacuum. thank you. >> clerk: thank you. [please stand by]

>> caller: it is important for your family to get exposed to this japanese program. i still don't understand why the japanese is the only language targeted for this redaction this time and we also know a lot of families with japanese connections or japanese heritage. so i urge you to reconsider this thank you. >> clerk: maria elena. >> caller: hello? >> clerk: yes. we can hear you. >> caller: good evening. i'm an alumni from galeleo high

school as students would walk to a unified high schools together to and advocate and our students, we went to high school with san francisco's mayor london breed and she was a very active part of our high school experience. but here we are 20 years later and i'm being asked by our students to come and speak tonight. i have a few questions to ask the board. i would like to pose a few questions to the board. have you ever looked into jrtc or looked at any of our trainings. what programs do you have in

high school and success rates for grtc and what data do you have that shows grtc is an unsuccessful program and we can bring hundreds of folks that are still together 20 plus years later. it's a huge program for our students and also look into the data. look into the data of what retention rates reflect short, current, and long-term success rates because we so often get rid of these programs that impact student success. >> clerk: thank you. that's time. jackson miller. >> caller: hello. can you hear me? >> clerk: yes, we can hear you. >> caller: sweet. hi, my name is jackson. i'm an 11th grade student. this is my 9th year of enrollment. i've taken so many courses in

japanese it has provided and continues to provide me with. all the jab these teachers i've had throughout my near decade in the japanese program have proven they are generally providing all students with a comprehensive. i wouldn't have the experience of the community that this provides me with this near decade. no other program sfusd has provided me with has ever matched the magnitude of positive impact. taking this influential educational and communal opportunity away from students is deeply upsetting so i implore you to reconsider and vote the japanese program. vote no. thank you. >> caller: thank you bonnie mackovick. >> hi. my name is bonnie mackovick and

i'm asking not to approve the resolution. there must be a more expensable way to reduce the budget. my goal as an educator is to provide every single one of my students that empowers them. unfortunately, this task can feel impossible because my students are far past that. we need fully staffed schools for our students to feel safe and cared for. my school's is able to meet with flexible groups throughout the year to help our struggling students. our full-time social worker is all of the above to our students every single day.

my school and schools across the district. >> thank you, that's time. amanda hart. amanda. we'll come back to you, amanda. phillip vonsworenberg. >> caller: hi. my name is philip von forcenberg. i've seen time and again how critical the entire support

team is providing essential services to families. the following individuals must be present. parent liaison, elementary advisor, paraprofessionals, nurse, and social workers. 55 directors and 23 chiefs and assistant superintendents which should be considered for layoff instead of the 400 educators who work at schools. the cost of one chief. our students deserve better. it's shameful the resolution reduces employees. you're responsible for bankrupting our district and failing to meet the needs of families and students. congratulations. >> thank you. amanda hart. >> caller: i didn't sign up to speak, sorry about that. >> no problem.

leah nell. lucy lee. >> caller: hi, can you hear me? >> yes, we can hear you. >> caller: okay. hi, thank you for this minute of time. i'm a parent of a 6th grader at presidio middle school, but

what my daughter is getting out of this is the ability to explore another culture, to learn not just cultural value, but also develop a sense of cultural humility and i just think that in a world we need to normalize diversity. we need to normalize inclusive of asian americans and i recognize it's to provide quality instructions and equitable support. i think when you send that, you do send that message with your investment, but you also send that message with your disinvestment. so i would caution and urge the board to really think about is this a proportionate impact this may have and beating on the linguistic values that this offers in my school. >> thank you. leah massamento.

>> caller: sfusd proposes to cut from four schools for cost savings. pressure from the army is used to justify these cuts. more over sfusd will realize little cost savings from these cuts because it will lose cost share. also, more teachers will be need to redirect rotc programs. so the students can express their interest in the program. when the additional funding is secured, then the programs will be ready to thrive and continue to support our students. thank you.

>> thank you sam. sam are you there? christina madgy go ahead, please. >> we can hear you, christina. >> caller: okay. good. good evening. my name is christina. as a parent of students

currently in the japanese pathway through sfusd. the japanese pathway is very important. it creates a connection that was severely damaged by americans. now, we had understood that five of the seven teachers would be eliminated, but i'm not hearing that only one teacher would be eliminated. so i would be interested now into having more information to explain that discrepancy. thank you. >> thank you. sean nonely will is. >> caller: good evening. i just want to speak to the importance of keeping paraeducators not only in our district, but at our site. this has been a year filled

with trauma and devastation for our families and there many families and community members who have had hard trust with our district. our family is on the student advisors, who are making sure that it's going to be even harder as we try this new normal and it would be even harder to try to do this without those idol members, but do our community members as a whole and it will be really devastating to see. i'm asking that you please vote no on this. >> thank you. kirt whitlock. >> caller: can you hear me? >> yes. >> caller: hi. thanks for taking my call. i'm kirk, i'm a social worker at sutro.

the proposal to make us is pretty short sided and unethical. i can't tell you the number of times that i have called the city administrators. teresa was one of them and the guidance they provide is incredibly important and also ethical for somebody who is a mental health professional working with students who are in crisis. so really reconsider the reorganization of sfsd. thank you. >> thank you. megan ohtani. >> caller: hi. can you hear me? >> yes. >> caller: hello. my name is megan ohtani. i want to preserve my culture and i do so by learning japanese through my school's

japanese language program which is facing five units worth of cuts as a result of the school board's deficit. that's equivalent to losing one teacher at every school this program is offereded. i'm concerned why the japanese program is making these cuts. a petition garnered over 3,500 signatures within a few days. this program without a doubt is extremely popular. to me and many students with japanese heritage and serves az a way to remember our history in america. to nonjapanese students, needs to discover and learn more about japanese language and culture. nonjapanese and japanese people alike are intrigued by the japanese culture in the bay area. i understand the school board has several priorities right now and i wish i can share more

on this matter. >> thank you. hadipti lama. >> caller: hi, i'm a jr. rotc student in high school. instructors have been the rock keeping us going through these hard times. we'd also be losing four out of our seven programs being balboa, mission, galleleo and the best instructors we could have asked for. that's it, thank you. >> thank you. dorian. >> caller: hello. my name is dorian and i am in

the jrotc program in high school. jrotc is a program that really has no substitute. it provides leadership, skills, responsibility, citizenship, and academic support. bless you to whoever that was. it also provides an opportunity for students to meet other students and introduce themselves to a group that transcends grade level, economic status, background or whatever classes you may be taking at the time. not only does it provide previously resources for the students, it also provides support through the community around us to volunteering at events to the voluntary coastal clean up to providing safety for the runners at various marathons. thank you for your time. >> thank you. katie higgins.

katie higgins. >> caller: hi. sorry about that. my name is katie as you all know now and i'm a parent at an elementary school and hopefully a parent of a rising tk kid next year. calling to say that we cannot abandon our teachers who have signed on to work at schools during the pandemic. i don't want us to abandon our teachers period. i don't want those especially who have been with us over the years. they've been asked to show up while some other people were given the benefit and safety of working from home. if you move forward with mass lay-offs now, where will our teachers come from. how will they trust us and it's our job as a wealthy city and state with a budget surplus to

invest in our schools and fully fund a robust budget. a shockingly small deficit in the face of what could be available to our students if the will was there. thank you. >> thank you. patrick. >> caller: hi. my name is patrick and i'm a school social worker. the vice president of the california association school of social workers and the western rep association of america. i also teach the mandated courses for social work at u.c. berkley. i'm calling to emphasize the importance of maintaining social workers and alignment with the national association. emphasis on supervision will be provided by experience that may arise in our work. there is an emphasize that this may be a budgetary decision to move the funding from centrally

site based budget. however, this is not a budget decision. this jeopardizes safety in order to preserve the positions of over half a dozen newly hired managers. i look forward to the report from the analysts to learn what we can reduce in lieu of those who have previously developed and maintain and the program that the state has shown correlation to decreasing students. >> thank you. hillary. >> hi, my name is hillary and i'm a coach for the teaching credential program. i'm calling about the resolution on determining the order of seniority with the same start date of service. we just learned that a random card drawing system will be used to determine seniority for those teachers with the exception of extra points being added to certain criteria or with a bi-lingual authorization. i'm asking to please add the

talent pipelines, like the pathway to teaching programs. the pathway to teachers that risk lay-off. and 83% identify as teachers of color. this is a district that aspires to be diversity driven. our teachers of color who've been working so hard during the pandemic when they're now being told they may be laid off from the district that specifically recruited them here. please consider the media and long-term impact that were working so hard to recruit support for our students and our school community. thank you. >> thank you. caller 7032. caller 7032. >> caller: hello. hi, can you hear me? >> yes.

>> my child started kindergarten -- her father and i and her grandmother agreed that she would benefit by the japanese multicultural program which includes that third language in our history tradition and as soon as she started kindergarten, she did start the language program and was writing in japanese and we felt this really developed the mind of learning. also, i feel we should honor our japanese brothers and sisters because as farm workers to this country, farm workers not knowing the language not having much education but looking to work hard. we suffer great persecution during world war ii in tournament camps. yet, they succeeded. we support their culture and i

am grateful, i'm very grateful to the community because it is a great foundation for child learning and she did graduate. >> thank you, anna. caller 7032. >> caller: hi. >> go ahead. >> caller: hi, this is louise whitlock. just some comments about the whole budget process you're going through. you're being really dishonest with people. it's pretty obvious from the whole loaf discussion that you hate lowell which we all knew and i was disappointed to see that superintendent matthews is also on board with that and also bill sanderson, disappointing. it looks to me like the whole school board is throwing high schools under the bus, not just lowell, but also rotc programs,

japanese language and i think that's very unfortunate and it seems to also extend to the union. the union seems to be throwing their own teachers under the bus for 30 pieces of silver that goes to the people who remain working. so a lot of corruption is being exposed tonight, but at least we know and we will vote appropriately in the next election for you all. good night. >> noel. >> caller: can you hear me? >> yes. >> caller: i am a senior at galleleo high school and i would like to focus on how this is the second shutdown we're facing in the past three, four years. we only got back in fall of

2019 and we didn't get a full year until we finally got back this fall and now we're immediately facing another shutdown. multiple programs other jrtcs and other programs are like wise facing these issues of not being able to get up their proper enrollment numbers simply because we're unable to show case our own program and haven't been able to pass down tradition, pass down previous appointments. >> thank you. tiana t. tillery. >> caller: good evening, everybody. my name is tiana tillry. i'm a paraeducator who has also received a preliminary lay-off notice here at sfusd. i just wanted to first say how much i love my job.

those who know me know i love everything there is around attendance and attendance intervention. i'm here to speak really quickly tonight about our child welfare attendance liaison also known as c-walls. i am asking that you consider resending their lay-off notices. there are seven out of ten of them are receiving potential lay-off notices and due to lack of work and/or funding. in the last time i checked, we still have a chronic absentee issue here at sfusd. so it's hard to imagine how we can lay off the folks who work with students who displaced here in the attendance issue because of lack of work. please reconsider lay-offs of all paraeducators, but specifically our c-wall. thank you.

>> commissioners, that's 25 minutes. >> thank you. president lopez, that includes the time allotted. >> president lopez: we will move into the reading the written e-mails that we received for public comment. and there will be 15 minutes for that, correct. >> okay. >> hi. i am a parent of a 10th grade at washington high school. i am writing to this comment on how japanese classes are important for the community and we should stop decreasing numbers of teachers and stuff. my daughter and i came from tokyo, japan, about a 11 years ago. since then i appreciate how this community san francisco has been welcoming us and our culture. i believe that diversity will enrich our society. at washington high school, teachers are so passionate and

encourage students to learn and grow. to eliminate the japanese language program would be a huge loss for washington high school. i really don't understand why the japanese language is being cut. japan is the third largest economy in the world. demand of japanese language is high and students love its culture. cutting the costs would impact negatively for sure. please keep japanese language programs, sincerely mazoho takahashi. this is from jennifer morales. hello, submitting to specify it is for item f. to the board, the budget cuts assuming in these lay-offs demonstrate sfusd's unwillingness to admit error. a disregard for equity and a willingness to further inequity when it will please the district's loudest critics.

my school had a kindergarten close in error. epc failed to account for our looping model which has been in effort for well over a decade. restoring a kindergarten is the right thing to do. we have always been able to fill our kindergarten classrooms. yet, etc is unwilling to take this simple step. instead, they have provided incomplete, unpersuasive and inaccurate data to prove they are justified in closing the class. at our school, we are reminded that the same staff changed our start time by 65 minutes and refused to meet with our community. when we presented data showing our families preferred an early start to a late start by 2-1 margin, we were discounted and ignored. i asked the board to insist that the superintendent and epc restore our kindergarten. again, this merely corrects the

mistake. we teach children to repair harm. it is time for the district to model the behavior we wish to inspire. failing to do so compounds the harm. for the first time in my 15 year sfusd, high level district staff had advised schools in writing to utilize pta funds to buy back classrooms and lower class sizes. this is inequitable. my school and other schools cannot do this. in fact, only the district's wealthiest schools can do this. the district intends this to happen since they have cut 10% of all kindergarten seats far more than can be justified from enrollment. regardless, compounding inequity in this way does harm. the district must be required to live. fully enrolled buy lynn gull,

cultural pathway. sfusd is this year refusing to provide any funds for contributing this pathway through 5th grade. sites like hours will be expected to fully fund this program. they have no other option to do so which pounds the cuts they have received. rather than devoting our site allocation, we must fund basic course offerings. this is unacceptable and places an undue burden on schools with many english language learners. the district has chosen to balance its budget on the backs of its low income schools while supporting its wealthier ones and offering more. this is the antithesis of equity and of responsibility an act of intentional harm. i demand that the district do better, restore the harm you have visited on school communities. rescind lay-offs.

restore our kindergarten. fund schools who cannot rely on parent support. fully fund by lynn gull pathways at all schools. jennifer mullis. this next letter is from emily varossi who we did hear public comment from. i will move on to the next. this is a public comment on item f3, resolution to decrease the number of certificated employees. i strongly oppose the resolution to eliminate japanese employees. teaching japanese in our public schools strengthens and sustains this bond bringing new generations of kids up with an appreciation of the special culture of japan. these classes also connect students to history.

proud and not so proud moments for america and san francisco is vital for us to remember. japanese class is an attractor of talented students and a highly involved parent in a public school. the savings gained from the cuts will likely be offset by the loss of students. parental involvement and cultural engagement. a loss for schools, the students, the parents, and the city. everyone loses. the city should invest in this community, not flash it just another line item on the budget spread sheet. thank you. commissioners i am submitting comment on agenda item f3, resolution to decrease the number of certificated employees due to a reduction in particular kinds of services. i am strongly against staffing

cuts to the japanese language and cultural programs in sfusd. our students benefit from a range of languages. the japanese community in san francisco has a proud history which should be reflected in our schools. cutting language programs is an insult to this community especially in light of the programs at the elementary level. does great disservice to our students, academic trajectories and potential. kyle woodward, parent at rosa parks. this is a comment in regards to item f3. i cannot attend the march 1st board of education meeting and would like this comment on the record. i object to this lay off proposal and would implore you to seem seek other ways of cutting the budget. the japanese language program is crucial to maintaining the

cultural heritage. one must realize the historical racism in the 20th century that led to the decline of japanese language speakers in san francisco. the legacies of world war ii camps and forced assimilation must not be ignored. the city of san francisco has a history of white washing inconvenient past negligence. if there's any asemblance of remorse regarding the mistreatment of japanese americans, we must consider funding this initiative. thank you for your reading of this if you get this far sincerely. parent of sfusd student. to the members of the school

board -- this is a duplicate. we read this one. my apologies. it is important to me we have no lay offs. if you or your family needs support, sfusd related requests. sfusd students -- oh, this is part of -- hello. i'm from los angeles and my wife is from japan. i've watched the programs at presidio middle school. it is bringing children of all races and cultures together in a way that doesn't take hold in other ways. they're learning not just language but japanese cultural

observations, crafts and the result is a really life long community bond. without these teachers, san francisco will be losing a big part of what makes it great. please don't stop the funding for these teachers especially at this time in history. thank you. patrick. i am writing to comment on item f3, resolution to decrease the number of certificated employees for today's meeting. it's a subject we hope he will continue to study and love in middle school and beyond. cutting japanese programs in sfusd schools would be a huge mistake. having a diversity of languages available makes sfusd schools more compelling and cutting

these programs will only cause families to leave these schools. please do not make such a short sided decision. there are other ways sfusd can reduce its costs. sarah sheetman. i'd like to testify to the board meeting agenda item f3 resolution to decrease the number of certificated employees due to reduction in particular kinds of service. please do not reduce the japanese teachers from our childrens' most important learning years. please keep funding japanese language programs in sfusd. we need more diversity and educational offerings. please show us the district respects cultures and people. our children are benefitting so

much from our current japanese language learning program. please do not take this away. thank you. a parent of two who are in sfusd. >> dear members of the board, i'm writing as a concerned parent, homeowner, and taxpayer. it has come to my attention that you vote on a measure which would effectively eliminate the reals for five out of seven japanese instructors at the middle and high school level. of my daughter has been attending rosa parks elementary and has been enrolled in the jbbp program since 1st grade. my daughter is not japanese. exposure to a different culture and language has brought in her view of the world. the language instructions specifically has led to increased confidence and is a source of pride. eliminating the scope and availability of instruction as she moves to middle school and then high school where a second language with required curriculum, is short sided at

best. eliminating curriculum that actually engages students would be a mistake. sfusd curriculum is already bare boned and i am forced to send my daughter for physical education lessons. if you choose to vote for the elimination of one more program due to a budget shortfall, you should expect to lose more students to private institutions that provide more engaging programs leading to further budget shortfalls year over year. it makes little fiscal sense to be less competitive in the long-term in an effort to follow the short-term budget problem. scott shapiro. item f3, resolution to decrease the number of certificated employees due to a reduction in particular kinds of service to whom it may concern. as a parent and loyal champion of our public school system and as a volunteer and donor, i would like to express my

opposition to this resolution. while i remain empathetic to ongoing funding challenges, this resolution represents a betrayal to children who have diligently tracking in this area. japanese language programs. many since kindergarten. language and cultural programs in particular are vital to improving cultural awareness in a troubled world and ultimately make for better national and international stewardship. to abandon these programs now would be a breach of contract to the commitments of children and families and to the hard work and resources they have expanded over the last seven plus years. please save the japanese language programs in our schools. david t. darling. hello. if the japanese program is gone, there's no reason for my family to stay in san francisco. i believe it is the same for a

lot of families whose children are in the jbbp program. thank you. rioto nagata. and that was 15 minutes, president lopez. >> president lopez: okay. thank you for reading those comments into the record. we will now begin our discussion again hearing the four items under section f. are there any questions or comments from the board? i also want to note elliott du sean is on the call and would also like to share. student delegate lamb. >> yeah. i'll ask just one clarifying question first because i want to hear what mr. du sean has to

say. i want to clarify the japanese program piece. it only says one f.t.e., my question is by laying off this one f.t.e., is it single-handedly ending the japanese program at any one school? >> superintendent sanderson, do you want to speak to the reduction of the one teacher in japanese language? >> to answer your question directly, no, is the answer. we are reducing -- as you know and i said this earlier this evening, we respond to student requests for courses and we anticipate that the student request will be lower for japanese and as a result, we anticipate that we will not -- we will need one less japanese

teacher or a portion of a japanese teacher less next year. the japanese program will remain open at all of the schools that it is currently operating at both in high schools, the one middle school and i assume elementary school because that does not require a single subject credential. >> can i just have a quick followup, if more students want to take japanese, then it will go up or down based on student interest. is that what i'm understanding? >> that's always how it is. that's every single course. . that's correct, ma'am. >> thank you. >> can i just ask one sort of followup. where are the public commentors getting five f.t.e.s from? is that like a

miscommunication? >> jenn, do you want to speak to that? >> i think that is a misunderstanding. there was, you know, it's part of the message that that was a heads up notice. that was to the list of teachers who were on the seniority list. so i believe that might be some of the resolution. and indicates the reduction of one f.t.e., not five. >> thank you very much. that clarifies a lot. >> president lopez: yes, i think we all had a similar clarifying question. mr. du sean, do you want to share? >> yes, thank you, commissioner. my name is elliott du sean. i along with my colleagues was

on our staten appointed fiscal efforts to advise the victim balancing budget. your district received a letter on september 15th from the california department of education noting at that time you had a $160 million structural deficit and that the state was going to take certain actions. they required you to submit a positive report for your next one which was december 15th and they present a budget stabilization plan along with several other things and put pam and myself in place to advise you on this process. i can't say it more clearly than this is not a pleasant process, it is a process we all hope will end better than it starts, but it is also

necessary to take these actions now because you will lose that option after march 15th. i want to explain something in simplest term as i can. $125 million is a lot of money. you have over a billion dollars budget, but the problem is that if you don't fix that deficit this year, then it accrues and it's $250 million the next year. your required reserves are about 2% for a district your size, that's about $40 million. if you have to take a loan out to meet your financial obligations for two times the amount of your reserves, the state will put in place a trustee. an administrator is the

terminology, the added administrator essentially sits in the place of your superintendent and your board. you as commissioners at this time zit in place of the people of san francisco. you have an obligation to be solvent. that is really a covenant you have with your students and i know i can tell the passion of the community and the passion of the board and the passion of your staff. even as unpleasant as this may be, i am proud and honored to be here and to be working with the district stature in san francisco. you do a wonderful john in educating your students. the fact of the matter is you are funded by taxpayer moneys and you have to live within your means. if you don't, by law, ultimately the state has the authority to take you over if

it has to fund your deficit. your staff has put together a plan that is really worse case scenario and you made an -- you committed to this plan on december 14th when you passed the report and also passed the budget stabilization plan. it's really your obligation to continue on that road and do everything you can to erase this deficit, not lower it. you have to erase it. if it accrues, it only gets worse. the problem is really very simple. it's not about the quality of your staff, the quality of your programs or anything else. you once had 57,000 like many districts if not most districts in the state, you now have many fewer, approximately 50,000. you cannot offer all of the

staff and all of the programs to fund 57,000 students with only 50,000. if you continue to do that, it will get worse. 150 -- $25 million will not only accrue, but it will become greater. so i have to urge you as a commission, as your and really my job is to give you everything i can and pam everything she can the ability to maintain the local control over your budget. that's our goal and i hope that's your goal. the only way you can do this is to continue with your obligations that you already made in december with your interim report and your budget stabilization. as painful as it is, i recognize that, and i

personally have been on both sides of the lay-offs and they're not fun. chances are, things will get better, i can't make that promise and no one else can. but you have to take this measure now or the state will have to take more drastic measures with you. i'm happy to answer any questions. i am i take full responsibility for the role i have and pam has in representing the california department of education and really providing all the aid that we can in helping you to make sure that your budget is solid. so thank you. it is really an honor and privilege to be here. >> president lopez: great. are there any questions for mr. du sean. we appreciate that explanation.

commissioner boggess. >> commissioner: can you compare how other districts would be going through similar things because i guess it's par for the course what we're seeing and experiencing and the information we didn't have in december kind of the additional information we have now still missing kind of the total picture as we move forward. >> yes. i actually went through a process in a district of about i met with every one of them. every one of them except one who did not have a credential ultimately came back. some of those teachers, it was their third lay off. you have to have a plan now not

knowing the governor's budget, not knowing your involvement. not knowing your retirement. it's in place before march 15th so you cannot no matter if your staff was giving you anymore information, they'd be looking into a crystal ball and i'd be sitting here telling you you don't have the correct or proper information. we've looked at the budget stabilization, the budget balancing plan. we've looked at your projections. you have a lot of staff and you just have to make cuts. i want to assure you because as hard as this is, there's not another way to meet your budgetary obligations. and you can truly look at how many people you get for how much in terms of one physician versus another, but this is very typical to do a cross the

board in places that all reflect in this case the declining enrollment of the. >> commissioner: thank you for that. the last question i have is if you can share your assessment i feel like we heard comments from the public in it seeming malicious. if you felt they were coming from a place that weren't grounded in the best budgetary decisions or anything you can see from your kind of auditing. >> no.

i've talked to people in several of your divisions. i've sat in on your lcap meetings, our peace meetings. what i see in your staff, in your community, on the board are well-intentioned people who in good faith want to provide the best education and i was telling somebody today, i like the term each and every but you also are responsible for all. and you can't take care of each and every if you're not taking care of all. i have not seen any kind of animosity, maliciousness, anything that i've seen in any other kind of budget cutting in a time like this. i mean, i can tell you when i went through this before, i had parents who told me i hated swimming, i hated dance. i hated athletics.

i was even at a band concert when one parent told me that. everybody takes a cut personally. i can assure you i have not seen that. >> president lopez: commissioners, other questions or comments? >> i had some more for staff. i guess if we could just have an explanation a little bit more clarity around what these reductions would feel like understanding that we're just kind of projecting out kind of the worst case scenario and we expect it to be less than what we're seeing here. but i guess if this is the final verdict, what would that kind of mean for the individual sites that are kind of going to be impacted and what would it

mean for our district as a whole to kind of have that shift from serving a 57,000 students to 50,000 to just support families and staff and kind of understanding how we'll field these as they potentially roll out. >> yeah, i can speak to that, commissioner boggess. i want to be transparent having been both sides, having been an administrator in a school during layoffs and having received layoff notices myself, it's very disruptive. there's no way to -- it is. right. when a position gets closed somewhere, it's often not that [ indiscernible ] is going to get laid off. that educator may get consolidated and that position to get closed and educators in

that position may have greater seniority and then they are going to consolidate in the teacher pool a more junior teacher would get a layoff which would then open up a senior position. even if a school doesn't close any positions, some of the educators, the newer edge castors at that school can get bumpeded out of positions because of the way seniority functions as the kind of main driver here. so this can be very disruptive. right. this is why i framed it at the beginning of my presentation that, you know, we are -- this is the last thing we want to do. we are very much keeping your fingers crossed and trying our best to create conditions for those who want to retire, to retire. those who want to resign. they do that so that we know of

those vacancies ahead of time and we can start the process as soon as we know. we can start the process of making sure that teachers in closing positions are moving into open evacuee cannot positions which means that we don't actually have to issue final layoff notices in may because it all works out. right. i don't know if that answered your question. >> commissioner: no. i appreciate that. i think what i really was just hoping to get a feel of is just how much of this reduction will kind of change the way our schools feel and the way people interact with the district and i know we're not in a place where we can fully quantify what everything will be, but i guess i'm just really curious to see these layoffs and to not really have a full vision of what they're going to mean for school sites and how we're going to continue providing the same quality of education we currently are with these reductions because i think i have a hard time seeing how the

reductions lead to a reduction in need. [please stand by]

>> -- she's right. i did make that commitment, and the -- and i did appreciate the superintendent's collaboration and cooperation on that, but the fact is we haven't gotten very far on that process, and so, you know, we did approve a

balancing plan in december with $60 million in cuts to direct services and $30 million in cuts to office services. the governor's budget has given us an additional $40 million in additional revenue, so i think we're in a much better place than we were in december, so the reduction is now between $15 and $20 million, of which that is because of enrollment

decline. we can't -- where someone said we're eliminating the critical infrastructure while rewarding senior administration and staff, as well. i think we have been cutting positions closer to the students while retaining senior

administration. in the presentation, when they talked about external consultant, that person would provide guidance about unrepresented management positions, so it seems like the chief is not sure that management needs reductions. i just want to be clear, as least my understanding of where we're at. ten years ago, we had more students then than we have now. 15 of the top positions, the deputy chiefs and the assistant superintendents, we had 15 of those ten years ago. now, we have 23. executive directors who cost an average of $250,000, ten years

ago, we had 15, and now, we have 21. directors -- this is the one that's amazing. we had directors cost $224,000 a year, and we had eight of them ten years ago. now, we have 55 -- sorry. the next one's even more amazing. managers that cost $190,000 a year, ten years ago, we had nine, and now, we have 72. education policy analysts, we had 12 ten years ago, and now, we have 22. those are all positions that cost 180,000 and above, so of those collectively, we had 47 of those positions a decade ago, and we now have 171. the approximate cost in dollars is $26 million a year. that's in addition, right -- ten years ago, we were spending $11.5 million on upper

management. now, we're spending 30 -- or see, 37 million, roughly, so we've more than doubled our spending on an annual basis. that's 26 million a year. we know if we don't make those reductions now, in every out year, we're spending $26 million a year. i'm sure there were new things that came up, new central initiative board policies that were promulgated, i just find it impossible to believe that every single one of those positions is necessary. and the real issue isn't that,

it's that we haven't done the analysis. we've talked about zero-based budgeting, but we haven't gone

through and so basically, i'm going to support the teacher layoff resolution even though there are programatic reductions that i don't agree with. that's $25 million of layoffs that if we don't make, we're going to be in a big hole. the para layoff is another matter. this week, it's 47. last week, on our agenda, it says 37, and this year, it's now 47, so i just think there's some -- it's not clear how many

even are needed to be laid off. they include family liaison, staff, attendance workers. some of the staff are the only people that speak cantonese. and they only cost $3 million. if we were to layoff 16 of those directors or 20 managers, we could restore all of the para positions.

i just hope, finally, that we can continue to work together but also truly student centered and really prioritizing the positions that are closest to the classroom.

>> so i'm not hearing a response. it's muted. i do want to note, student delegate lamb, your hand is up. perhaps commissioner collins?

s. >> i do want to make a quick comment since we're here, around this idea of it being high risk, this idea of us seeking funds from other partners, from a district that's scrambling to meet the needs and meet the demands set by the state, but i think i want to throw out there that maybe that is what it's going to take to support the people who were all saying we want to support who we want to prioritize over the highly paid staff that, for my entire time being on this board, we've talked about. maybe it is going to mean getting down to the wire to make this decision. we had all this time to do it,

and this is finally going to be the action that makes it happen. i just -- i hear this often. we heard it in december, we're here now, and the notices that came out a month ago, 1.5 months ago, have already done damage, so this -- hopefully we'll get there, but i guarantee you that some people are choosing to leave sfusd because of these notices. >> yeah, i appreciate that, president lopez, and i also just wanted to appreciate commissioner lamb and commissioner boggess. i think it sounds like we may be landing on both sides of

this. yeah, i appreciate the dialogue, and i also really respect the approach to fiscal responsibility. i think there's a deep commitment to that, and i think that these -- yeah, these decision points are tough, but i just think -- i just want to appreciate all of my colleagues and the superintendent again, and -- for the, you know, just the hard work on this, and just recognizing that i think we are all trying to get to the same place, but we may have slightly different tactics, but i think i have hope that, as we move forward, we're going to get there, so just wanted to express that gratitude. >> i guess i just want to come

back to one of the comments made in public comment. we have employees that are not getting paid what we approved. i want to remember how much money extra did we spend on the empower contract when we voted to kind of expand that contract? i remember it was -- was it more than $3 million? >> commissioner, i believe the action that you are referring to was a contract amendment, and my colleagues might need to remind me, but i believe that was $5 million. >> okay. i appreciate you sharing that with me. i know this is a different pot of money that we're talking about, but -- be cause we're talking about on going expenses, right, for staff, which is different than

investments like this, but i just -- i just -- we find millions of dollars for some things, and then, when it comes to paraeducators or folks who are doing, like, really hard work, but they're not at the top of the pay scale, that's the stuff that really sits with me, and it tells me -- and i guess that's what drives my ultimate decisions. thank you. >> okay. i'm going to end this discussion, and i do thank my colleagues and staff for

supporting this dialogue. let's begin with the first item, roll call vote on the resolution to decrease the number of certificated employees due to a reduction in particular kinds of services. this is item f-3. [roll call]

>> and just to note, student delegate ling is no longer at this meeting. she was excused earlier. roll call vote on item f-3, resolution establishing the order of seniority for certificated employees with the same date of service. [roll call] >> clerk: six ayes -- five ayes -- six ayes. >> that was six ayes, correct? >> clerk: correct, yes. six ayes. >> thank you. roll call vote on resolution to decrease the number of administrative employees due to a reduction in particular kinds of services. [roll call]

>> clerk: six ayes. >> and last item under section f, resolution to decrease the number of paraeducators due to lack of work or lack of funds. roll call vote. [roll call] >> clerk: fails with four nays. >> thank you.

before i continue, i want to call a vote to extend the meeting past 10:00. [indiscernible]. >> so moved. >> second. >> roll call. [roll call] >> clerk: meeting is extended. >> thank you. and at this time, i'm going to excuse student delegate lamb. please rest. >> good night. thank you, everybody. >> okay. if you're following our agenda, we are on section g. this item was heard at the beginning of the meeting.

we are now in section h, introduction of proposals and assignment to committee. item 1, public and board comment on proposals. item 2, board policy 6170.1, transitional kindergarten. can we check if there are any public speakers on the resolution? there will be a total of five minutes for this item. [speaking french language] [speaking cantonese language]

♪ >> it is unclenate's creativity time.

welcome to uncle nate. we are are going to draw bubble letters. you need supplies. you need a pencil, markers, something to color with and a few pieces of paper. gather up supplies and meet me back right here. all right. let's go. got all supplies out. draw your name lightly in the center of your page. give yourself room. give each letter a little room. all right. now, i want you to draw around each letter like you are driving a car around each letter. next, let's erase the center. take away the original outline and then we will be left just with the bubble letter.

make sure you get the center part out of there. okay. we will touch it up. time for color. i chose yellow, orange, and red. yellow at the top, then the orange in the center, and i am making a stripe right through the center all the way across. last, my red, which makes a cool fade. time for the outline. unclenate's creative time. figure it out. now we are going to do a drop shadow. a shadow underneath each letter and to the side. it is really going to give it a

3-d look. wow! great job. i bet you didn't think you could draw that. now you can draw bubble letters you can use it to draw things for your friends, cards. it is really useful. i hope you had a good time. i will see you next time on uncle nate's creativity time. uncle nate's creativity time.

>> president laguana: the meeting is being called to order 4:30 p.m. the small business commission media service and sfgov tv for televising the meeting which can be viewed on sfgov tv 2 or live streamed on sfgovtv.org. members of the public who will be calling in the number is (415)655-0001. access code, 2487 601 5734. press pound pound to be added to