before the next speaker, aleta fisher. >> yes? >> so you have a card here for public comment and for -- to speak on the c.a.c. special ed. [inaudible] >> okay. so it's not -- doesn't have -- okay. got it. thank you. >> i can get up and talk more if you want. >> no, no, no. i'm trying to manage this, so i'm trying to see if i'm going to let you speak again -- no, i just want to put you in the right category. thanks. >> good afternoon -- good evening, commissioners and superintendent. this is from a parent who could not be here tonight, jim -- kim stewart. i'm reading on her behalf. dyslexia is soul crushing, not just for the kids but for the whole family. my daughter got in the car in january lamenting about being the tunedest one in her class. she's in therapy for low self-esteem and lack of confidence that results in high level of anxiety. my daughter wants very much to go to charles armstrong school for dyslexic kids so she can be in a class of kids like me where i can learn. the school has said that getting violet to a level k

my name is aleta fisher, and i'm the chierm of the advisory committee, and i -- chairman of the advisory committee, and i'm a parent of three children. first of all, we'd like to thank you very much for hearing us tonight. dr. matthews, president mendoza-mcdonnell, and commissioners, thank you all for your time. we'd like to start with a bit of an overview of special education just as a reminder. i think we've presented this before, but students receiving special education services makeup 12% of sfusd's total population. that's over 7,000 students, and the majority of those students, actually 75% actually receive their services in a general education setting rather than a special day class. so by supporting special education students, we're supporting all students? special education is actually by law a service, not a placement. and the supreme court decided the andrew s. case last march. i'm sure you're all well verse -- endrewf. case last march. i'm sure you're all well versed in that, but we provided you some documentation of that that the fact that the new court decision confirms tha

aleta fisher, kevin bogis, ally kopp. >> first, i'm a member of the african american parent advisory committee, so i'm going to read some comments on behalf of the aapac. we are excited to see the work being done at m.l.k. was highlighted in the data tonight. however, when you look beyond the number, m.l.k. has built a culture in partnership with staff to address the racism and barriers that prevent our students from achieving. to highlight m.l.k., we must also address the unspoken issues that many of our students and families feel unsafe as they first enter the schools. the district's own data show that 25% of our students don't feel safe in their schools. in addressing the data around suspension, we would like to know what data has been collected around students being sent out of the classroom, voluntary home suspension when the parents are being asked to keep a student home, how many times have police been called to sites for students? how can we capture the entire picture of what's going on at our schools with less than complete data? lastly, we would like to highlight the need f