ms. norton, ms wynns, ms mendoza, mr. yee. president mendoza: item s, the board members reports. you already commented. commissioner: we had a very interesting presentation from the information technology department on the information systems. this is going to cost us a little over $8.50 million, and so, we looked at the budget. we looked at what it was going to be spent on. everyone i think on the committee agreed that this is needed, because we needed a new information system, but, however, it is going to be a very expensive one, a little over $8.50 million, and if other board members would like a brick out of it, i think it is actually fairly interesting -- if other members would like a break out of it. i think we can get a copy. oh, and then we had a very dismal report, yes, and, in fact, actually, i think it is worth spending may be about three minutes now so that the deputy superintendent can give us sort of the bleak outlook for our school district in the next coming years. would you mind? it does not have to be really fancy. >> i will keep it short for tonight, because i

ms. norton. ms. wynns. >> no. >> that was the most positive comments i have heard from commissioner wynns. despite her vote. commissioner wynns: there are those charters i wholeheartedly support. that is where they belong. >> as you are clearing the board room, we're still meeting. if he could leave quietly. students, go home and get rest and continue to work hard. -- if you could leave quietly. item j. i have a few speaker cards. thank you for those of you who have waited to speak on general items. i will call your name and just come out. linda rovano, yvonne durkley, tiffany wong. come up and you will get two minutes. >> i am here on behalf of some fellow parents i met in the waiting room at the school district office. it could be quite a while so you start talking. i am here to ask that you make the system, i have a kindergartner going into kindergarten. the system should be more transparent and user-friendly. we went through the first two rounds and got nothing. the reason we did is also another

ms. norton? >> yes. ms. wynns? >> aye on august 16, and abstain on july 19 and august 2. >> thank you. mr. yee? >> aye. >> ms. mendoza. ms. fan and ms. tom aren't in the room. ok. thank you. >> so let's move on to item b, which is the presentations to the board of education superintendent's report. superintendent garcia? >> good evening. it's really exciting to start another school year, a rip roaring opening of the school year again. i want to congratulate all the administrators, teachers, staff, and parents of all our great schools for a smooth opening of schools last week. i also want to thank our facilities department for ensuring that our schools's moves that took place during the summer were really efficient and also what a great job they did in cleaning up our schools and getting them ready to open up for a brand-new school year. on the first day of school, i had the privilege of visiting several schools and i have to say, wow, what a difference our facilities bonds have made. that the public here in san francisco has passed in 2003 and 2006. if you look at our facilities, reall

ms. norton. ms. wynns. those in favor say aye. ms. mendoza. those in favor say aye. >> six ayes. president mendoza: item i, board member's proposals, none tonight. item j a request to speak regarding general matters. i have a list of folks who wanted to speak. come on up as your name is called. r.t. choice. jerry, we're going to hold you. pam rah rouse, elaine meriwether, sharon kennedy, elizabeth conley, chantae rogers, betty robinson harris, and alyssa, do you want to speak at this point? ok, come up. >> my name is archie choice. i live here in san francisco for about 50 years and i've been having a problem with you -- your lottery system for placing kids in schools from junior high, elementary, and it just seems like it's not a fair system and doesn't seem like it's really effective, relying on somebody to wait on a lottery system. it's like going to the store and buying a ticket to see if you're going to win some money for your kid to get an education. i filled out a form and it had six different schools for my kid to pick to go to. i filled out three. you didn't give him any

ms. norton, ms. murase, mr. yee, ms. mendoza. >> yes except on items k 1, 12 and 19. >> item p, we have one item. >> on page 113, k-22. the reason i pulled this actually, i have already spoken to the folks submitting it but the reason i pulled this was because i wanted to just discuss, not discuss but highlight, i think, the need for our parent engagement department to actually review and at least review the curriculum that is being presented to our students, our parents to make sure it is aligned with our overall parent engagement plan and aligned to the goals of our strategic plan. i would hope we would have evaluations for training such as this that we would hold our own selves accountable to which is really the impact and are we moving our parents from a dependency model to an empowerment model. also hopefully once we have the capacity ourselves as a district to do these type of workshops ourselves we will have our folks doing it also. to make sure that everything is aligned to our strategic plan and also to our over

ms. norton. ms. wynns. here. mr. yee. >> here, he's here. >> ms. mendoza. president mendoza: here. and ms. tom. here. >> join me for the pledge of allegiance. item a, approval of the board minutes, we have none. item be, presentations to the board of education by the superintendent. superintendent, welcome back. >> for those of us who -- superintendent garcia: for those of us who stayed around -- no, that's not true. i was gone, but we got a lot done. starting the school year today, last week, we've been looking at a lot of training, professional development going on in the schools, it's fabulous. it's great to see the entire district talking about special education, talking about how kids learn to read, how kids do math, how we can improve in those areas. i don't know, i kind of feel like a kid going back to their first day of school all over again. it's exciting time. so i want to thank all our administrators, teachers, staff, everybody who works in this wonderful school district. i welcome you back. i know the teachers start technically on friday. we'll have a lot of different t

ms. norton, will each control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from california. mr. denham: thank you, mr. speaker. i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on h.con.res 67. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. denham: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. denham: house concurrent resolution 67 would authorize the use of the capitol grounds for the district of columbia special olympics law enforcement torch run that will be held on september 30 this year. i'd like to take this opportunity to thank the gentlewoman from the district of columbia and ranking member of the subcommittee on economic development, emergency management and public buildings for introducing this resolution. i am pleased to be a co-sponsor. as in years past, the torch run will be laurched from the northwest terrace of the capitol. the special olympics is an international organization that is dedicated to

ms. norton: i thank the gentleman for yielding. i thank the chairman for coming forward. enough of the outrage on both sides if i may remind us all that's precisely what the american people told us during recess they didn't want to hear. i do want to correct one item that the prior gentleman just in error he just made, there were no jobs in the american recovery act. there were three million jobs made from the american recovery act. and if there had been more funds in that act, we wouldn't be here today with the american jobs act trying to get more money to avoid a double dip recession. . this bill is not what the american people deserve and i apologize to them, that we have had to lower our standards. but it does save us from another jobs catastrophe like the one we experienced in july. it saves a million transportation jobs, imagine furloughing that many people, if this bill, the surface transportation bill, had run out on the 31st of this month. each is very short-term, but both are clean, both are about yesterday's business, about yesterday's airports, because they do

norton, ed towns and lacy clay have been working to protect. at this time, i yield such time as she might consume to the gentlelady from california, congresswoman maxine waters. msk you very much. i'd like to thank you for taking this time out this evening to focus on this issue of jobs. it's extremely important. i'd like to thank steny hoyer for coming to the floor to recognize the work that we are doing, to increase job opportunities for people in this country. the congressional black caucus is to be commended, commended because they heard the cry. they felt the pain of so many people out there who have lost their jobs, who do not know how they're going to pay their mortgages, who do not know how they're going to provide for their families, so despite the fact that the congressional black caucus organizeds and introduced over 40 bills dealing with this issue, the congressional black caucus decided to do something more, recognizing, yes, we have a public policy responsibility, that's why the 40 bills, but beyond that, what else could we do? so the congressional black caucus took to the streets and went out into america and hit five cities, cleveland, ohio, detr