norton. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from the district of columbia is recognized for five minutes. ms. norton: mr. chairman, you know in the later days of european colonialism, countries like france allowed some representation from the colonies. because the whole notion of voting on the faith of the colonies with nobody there who could also vote seems even then to be a dilemma they could not live with. and i don't understand how any member of the house believes she has a right to vote on local education matters or any other local matter affecting any part of the united states, including the district of columbia. i note, mr. chairman, that mr. polis of our committee indicated that there was a county in colorado that had created its own voucher program. i respect that. because they didn't come to the federal government to ask that that local voucher program be funded. nor, madam speaker, did we. i think every member of this house ought to ask, since we've had five years of a voucher

commissioner norton -- >> i think she stepped out.resident mendoza: somebody from the curriculum committee that can give us a report on -- ok. there is the curriculum committee. they just had the curriculum committee. i needed a quick report. >> the curriculum committee heard this at the monday, march 7 meeting. we had a good discussion about the petition ultimately forwarding it back to the board on a vote of two in favor, one opposed. the main issue the committee discussed and i think it's more of an issue of the board going forward when we talk about other charter schools is the whole

commissioner norton: thank you, colleagues, for letting this item come first. i think it will start our meeting off on a good note. earlier this month, i attended the unveiling of a mural which was created by two students in our community which is our special education classroom for students who are ages 18-22. and their teacher is here and heidi, maybe you could come up and take a seat. i'm introducing. heidi noticed two of her students had exceptional art ties particular abilities and set them to work with an artist to work with professional artists in the community. and for a year, the two students worked on drawing with a professional artist and larry noticed that steven was very, very gifted at landscapes and joel was very talented at portraits and went out into the community and noticed that the two students got excited about drawing scenes of san francisco, their hometown, very loyal residents of san francisco. so the result of this year of drawing around the city was this wonderful mural honoring san francisco which is in the main hall and was unveiled

commissioner norton. commissioner norton: give my report from curriculum which was on earlier and. president mendoza: if there is anything different? commissioner norton: there are two things. we here about the schools. but i wanted to say at the curriculum meeting on march 7, first of all, we had the pleasure of reviewing a donation of two books from the -- donated by the japanese american citizens league, book "zero" companion volume which is called "one." this is another lovely children's book. the other book, i don't have a copy with me but called "swimming in the american" and donated and written by the author who i met this evening. he has had a very interesting life. he was intender and refused to sign a loyalty oath before he got out of the camps, which caused him problems in his life. but he per see verdict and became an actor and wrote this which has now been donated to our libraries and for our students to experience. thank him very much for that. and we heard a very interesting presentation on our programs for english learners. and we talked almost an hour about it and

norton: ms. edwards, you probably also are aware, we hear about the best and the brightest, the federal work force now with many baby boomers is eligible to retire and there is absolute panic about whether or not we'll ever see a work force as good as the work force we got in the post-kennedy period. these were people who came fresh with the -- with all of the notions of the kennedy era that public service was a wonderful thing. and they made their careers in the federal service. 90% of them could retire in the next 10 years. now the whole world is open to them. they could go to the high tech companies. they could go to hawaii. they could go to california. will we be able to attract the best and the brightest right when we most need them? in an era when the country needs this side as well as in the military side the very best talent we can find? ms. hirono: and the gentlelady raises yet another -- ms. edwards: and the gentlelady raises another interesting point, not only could they go anywhere el

particularly noting the quality of all of our middle schools as commissioner norton has explained and expressed. we had deviated from what was said regularly, and there was a shift. since i don't sit on that committee or that meeting, but almost half of our members were parents, talking about predictability, talking about these things for two years. but a strong voice came forward in that audience, saying, please hold off on this. we need more research. but think what ended up with the board of education is, how do we serve both arguments, which are absolute be valid, but figure out how to give a complement to improving the quality of our middle schools and also creating more choice. but prior to that scission -- that decision by the board of education, there was the conversation about predictability, and that was first and foremost in the priority level. your comments are well taken. many of those parents have one that what we have talked about for years, and they come from. wherley where you are serving from a supervisor's -- they come from primarily where you are serving from as su

commissioner norton -- >> i think she stepped out. president mendoza: somebody from the curriculum committee that can give us a report on -- ok. there is the curriculum committee. they just had the curriculum committee. i needed a quick report. >> the curriculum committee heard this at the monday, march 7 meeting. we had a good discussion about the petition ultimately forwarding it back to the board on a vote of two in favor, one opposed. the main issue the committee discussed and i think it's more of an issue of the board going forward when we talk about other charter schools is the whole idea of using an outside person for special education. we talked about the el dorado but they felt it wasn't an issue for this particular petition. president mendoza: i need a reading of the recommendations by mary richards. >> thank you, president mendoza. good evening, commissioners and deputy superintendent. my name is mary richards, executive director in the lead division with the focus on charter schools. with the indulgence of the board and i

. >> commissioner norton? commissioner norton: thank you for coming and talking to us, both of you granlts of the school. i'm so moved by what you both said. i think this is why we do what we do. this is the power of education. so thank you sheriff hennessy for starting this program and being such a champion of this program. it really is -- it is one of the things i'm very proud of that we have helped to do in san francisco. >> commissioner yi and commissioner winn? >> i know some of the other commissioners have had the chance to go visit some of the facilities. did this several years ago and i was completely sold. it was just an amazing -- one of the most amazing trips i've had going into something that was not expecting to happen. it was -- even though it was a short visit, every classroom, the students in there, were so attentive and so -- how do you say appreciative of what they were learning. i spoke to them. i said why are you doing this? they said you know, what we're doing, we're learning how the read

i would like to invite commissioner norton to invite her guests up and do a little introduction for us. >> thank you very much. make your way up to the table. parent education network, i hope i don't get anything wrong. so they will correct me if i don't get it all right. parent education network is an organization of parents, of studentsith learning disabilities who got together and have formed an organization to bring resources to parents and students who have learning disabilities. we have some guests, some of the students that are in a really interesting group and they will tell you more about it. they also are going to do -- they have this wonderful conference that is both for students and parents and teachers. so -- with lots of resources about l.d.'s. they are going to tell us about that. so welcome parent education network and it looks like some student education network. >> thank you very much for allowing us to speak on this evening and know that you have had a long night. we will get started. my name is laura malone. i'm briefly going to tell you just a little bit about who

norton. mr. yi. ms. mendoza. thank you. jo the motion and second planning for the advisory council. thank you. reading

norton. mr. yi. ms. mendoza. thank you. jo the motion and second planning for the advisory council. thank you. reading and motion. thank you. i'd like to call on the chief who will introduce our guest. i'll turn this over to graham doneson. good evening commissioners. here with cpac the coordinator with the advisory council. the board of education of san francisco unified school district appoint the following people. the new appointments, sandy, allen, allison. reappointments. i'd be happy to give you some background on each of those recommends for approval. >> could you give us a little piece on what your process is on selecting the recommendation. funded by every county in california for the needs of current consideration. 20% are community representatives. within our ordnance and by laws, we have assigned seats for the school district. head start, two resource and referrals. and children services and for dcyf, the first five san francisco. >> that group comes together on "moly basis. it informs the school district and board of education around what's going on in the field. >> can

commissioner norton, do you want to give us a quick report from the curriculum committee? >> yes, the curriculum committee heard both of these petitions on monday, march 7 and by ack makings had a positive recommendation. the feeling of the committee is that what they are doing is really unique and really wonderful for a group of students that have really very few chances left for them. so we were very, very pleased to -- >> thank you. >> i'm just going to wait a moment as our families settle and make their way out. so we have a reading of recommendation by mary richards? >> thank you, president mendoza. also i would like to follow the same process. to do a brief budget presentation and what we have done in the past for some reason, these things merge naturally. we have the five key schools. i gave you a few packets so you a pink and a purple. the purple is the adult and the pink is the independence high school and there is also two white packets that are the amended resolutions plus a fact sheet. that gives you -- i did a quick run to distinguish -- >> sorry. you're going

norton: ms. edwas, you probably also are aware, we hear about the best and the brightest, the federal work force now with many baby boomers is eligible to retire and there is absolute panic about whether or not we'll ever see a work force as good as the work force we got in the post-kennedy period. these were people who came fresh with the -- with all of the notions of the kennedy era that public service was a wonderful thing. and they made their careers in the federal service. 90% of them could retire in the next 10 years. now the whole world is open to them. they could go to the high tech companies. they could go to hawaii. they could go to california. will we be able to attract the best and the brightest right when we most needhem? in an era when the country needs this side as well as in the military side the very best talent we can find? ms.irono: and the gentlelady raises yet another -- ms. edwards: and the gentlelady raises another interesting point, not only could they go anywhere else in

norton: i thank you very much. i certainly thank my good friend from florida for his work on not only this bill, h.r. 471, but for his strong respect for the district of columbia and its residents and his support for our rights of self-government as american citizens. i oppose this rule, i oppose this bill and at the appropriate time i will have a substitute to redirect the funds in this bill in accordance with the home rule wishes of the district of columbia. may i say i appreciate the words of my good friend from utah, but i do resent the use of the word liberty. at a time when this bill would deprive the residents of the district of columbia of the liberty every other district has in deciding local education decisions for itself, they have it in utah, we will never be satisfied as long as we do not have each and everything you have in utah. now, the majority ought to approach this rule with caution. many in the house ran on the promise to reduce the power of the federal government and to reduce the budget. now w

thank you, commissioner norton, for bringing the organization to our attention, and we hope we will be able to encourage more students and families to attend your conference on april 18th. thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you. and we look forward to work with you more in the future. >> thanks. >> our next item is item n, concept calendar resolutions. there are no. >> item o is vote on consent calendar. it has already been moved and seconded under section f. we need a role call, please. >> that is six ayes. >> thank you. item p is the consent calendar resolutions that were severed for board discussion and immediate action. we had several items. buildings and grounds for mr. golden. items 3 a through 3 dd, would you please repeat your question? >> i just want to call the commissioners' attention to pages 43 and 45. mr. golden and his staff do a great job of doing the analysis requested by the board. on page 43 we are approving $400,000 in contacts. of this, 1.5% is going to women and 54%, which is pretty healthy is going to minorities. do you think there is room for improveme

we do need better norton-south service in the -- north-south service and better access to chinatown. i do believe it is important to keep reminding ourselves that the has not gone or is not going as far as i would hope that it could go at some point in the future. we have a history in the bay area and san francisco of building rail and subway systems that are not extensive enough. we made a huge blunder in building bart and allowing some counties to opt ow. we are now paying the price for not having an extensive enough bart system. we have another transportation system covering a small portion of the city, leaving the west side to struggle without transit system. this line, although i support it, is not long enough. i hope we will do whatever we can to extend it up to fisherman's wharf. i think that is important for the future transportation needs of the city. i also just want to note an additional concern that i know a lot of people share, that we do not do nearly good enough job taking care of the muni we have now. we are seeing all sorts of infrastructure problems that are causing

gray and an individual, commissioner norton. my concern lies in that this conversation was not c.c.'d amongst all board members and brings me to the issue of accountability. so as a publicly elected group of commissioners, i feel it's responsible to have everybody be tied in with what's going on in the conversations. also, to only check in with -- the only check in is by the board or dr. gray and that's not surprising that she absolves herself of any responsibility. do you want to ask qaddafi about affairs in libya, he would say i'm doing everything i can to people complaining are in the way of progress. so check in with the people on the ground and you'll receive overwhelming different perspective. the other thing is i passed around data. the reason why this is important is that all decisions being made in bay view is based on the idea that it worked to bob burrell, it will work in bay view. dr. gray is explicit in principles that they need to recruit asian students. president mendoza: thank you. next speaker, please. [applause] >> my name is tommy harper. i came for tommy harper an

congresswoman norton was the president right to listen to the so-called lady hawks? >> i'm sure these three smart women would agree you do not make the weighty decision to go to war based on the agenda of the officials pressing the point. >> now, the question ought to be should we be going to war without a clear mission? and the answer is no and i don't care who gave me that advice. >> well, back to the question of whether or not he should have listened to them. he absolutely should have listened to them. these are three smart women. they have a variety of background and experience on humanitarian issues and crisises. and so their opinion was just invaluable whether you agree with it or not. >> i respect their positions and the fact that they had that type of influence but i think the answer is no. because as well intentioned as the mission maybe the road to hell is paved with good intentions. >> do we agree that he was listening to them and gates said no and he overran his secretary of defense in favor of his secretary of state? >> he was pressured by john kerry and

a crater some one of hawaii's most active volcanoes has said norton rather hurdling into the sky this was not by dozens of small earthquakes kill away has been erupting almost constantly for most three decades with varying intensity the area has now been roped off and year by pro quo. despite reassurances that there is little danger. finally in the spring is just around the corner the time when members of one particular profession are on top of the world chimney sweeps are a profession that may seem a bit old fashioned but they're still very much in demand as argues tom barton explains paramedic stereotypes of sooty boys with brooms just couldn't do and one woman streams. it's snowy and cold up on this moscow roof but this team here to remove snow they're interested in the chimney suit not the brain yeah this is a very old thing we don't even know if it's possible to install fan base it's sometimes that parents can't get the chimney. apart from a love of roofs cleaner is also unusual and being moscow's only female chimney sweep she runs the company the art of the chimney sweep cleanin

me from norton into its. limitations. but we know it's a level six in fukushima heading to level seven which was the chernobyl event what's going on here is we general like even after the comcast merger still has a significant a stake in the sea we see the nuclear lobby through the nuclear energy institute and all the other page fills in his town putting a full court press on every possible media outlet in addition to members of congress to make sure that nothing happens to affect the growth of nuclear power plants in this country and president obama i would add not only has jeffrey immelt as his jobs and competitiveness of adviser on our white house panel but he took a lot of money from exelon a chicago based nuclear power plant company so we have all kinds of conflicts of interest basically what ed said many decades ago get the corporate boardroom out of the news room now we see the effects that. page to share your thoughts on the tragedy in japan and the battle to contain it's a good place it's. tell us what you think

norton has had 500 inches of snow. some sun in the moving. clouds roll in. mostly cloudy gives way to cloudy skies and rainy. the wind will pick up, upper 50s to the low 60s. that will take us into the afternoon highs. it looks rather wet. but maybe we'll -- but then wheelage a break. sunday looks good and then monday, mainly jew -- mainly just the north bay, as the jet stream lifts more towards oregon. >>> we know it's spring time but it still looks and feels like winter in the sierra -- a lot of snow for skiers and snow boarders. >>> all right. 8:42. well, getting neighborhood to prove a point. [ chanting] >>> military families of those serving in japan back at travis air force base. we'll tell you why they decided to come home and when they might return. that's all ahead on "mornings on 2." >>> let's bring you up to date on some of the top stories we're following for you. look at these pictures. this is cairo egypt. a fire started at the ministry of egyptian there. a protester started the fire, they say. thousands of protesters have been -- had been prote

norton: i'm not on that committee but i heard what he said. he said as well, don't harm the recovery. you don't in the midst of a bear recovery start acting as though you had a full-fledged economy. everybody's been talking about a double dip. they're going to find out what a double dip. if we have what independent observers say, 700,000 jobs gone because of these cuts, gone in wisconsin. gone from the federal government, there is is no way for us to recover. we cannot kick workers to the cush without having an effect on the -- to the curb without having an effect on the retvry itself. watch out, wisconsin, and i say to my republican colleagues, watch out that you don't bring it here and don't miss with the collective bargaining of our federal employees the way you're doing in wisconsin. ms. moore: will the gentlelady yield? in january, our economy nationwide gained 36,000 jobs. hardly anything to brag about. but i can tell you this, this wisconsin state budget fires 21,000 -- 21,600 state employees alone. when you consider the cuts to municip