. >> up next, booktv sat down with george washington university professor marcy norton to discuss her book "sacred gifts, profane pleasures." this is about 20 minutes. >> george washington professor marcy norton, where did snickers bars and marlboros come from? >> well, we have to go way back in time. tobacco and chocolate are both native to the americas and were developed by indians. tobacco in the distant past, several thousand years bce and cocoa which is the raw central ingredient to chocolate, likewise, maybe around 3,000 bce and so they were central to native americans. and when europeans -- europeans had no knowledge of them until they arrived starting with columbus in 1492. and went from there. >> how were they used in these ancient cultures here? >> so tobacco was used in a whole multitude of ways. it was smoked cigars, pipes, sort of like substances also used topically as medicines, snuff through the nose, enemas, a whole host of applications sort of varying depending on the region. chocolate had a more restricted domain but what's really important is that it was a beverage,

commissioner norton? commissioner norton: did you call me? i heard you say commissioner -- thank you for the report. do you have the date and time of the meeting next week so that if people listening want to come, that they know when it is? >> the date is october 3. and i don't believe that we have a location completely certain yet. but it's october 3, early afternoon meeting and if anyone's interested, they could probably contact the p.a.c. >> i think it's 1:00 to 2:30. commissioner norton: who should they contact? >> they should contact ruth grabowski, i guess, at the p.a.c. let me see. >> pa c@sfusd. >> thank you. i'm looking at the list here and this is a partial list of what the p.a.c.'s priorities are going to be? is that right? >> these were the priorities that we discussed at our most recent meeting. i think it's a work in progress as issues come up or as interest arises and other issues, i'm sure we could add to that list. >> of course, of course. so i had a sort of a clarification question. and i'm trying to understand or maybe i'm

commissioner norton? commissioner norton: i wanted to say that many of the schools located around golden gate park have turned this into a fundraiser and are allowing people to pay to park on their schoolyard grounds so if you want to support your local schools and are looking for a place to park, of course we always recommend public transportation first as city policy but if you do find yourself in a car going to the festival, you can support a school and park on the schoolyard. president mendoza: i love that we're opening school yards for parking. commissioner murase? commissioner murase: ruth asal school of the arts had a dedication ceremony on september 14 and i wanted to congratulate that community and tonight actually comcast is going to present sort of with donation, they're having a precedent tonight, announcing new asian-american media content so we're very proud of soda and the contributions they're receiving and support from the community. president mendoza: commissioner yee? vice president yee

commissioner norton? commissioner norton: there are a number of special ed para's that have been added, so why that was. president mendoza: great. this meeting is adjourned. >> san francisco is home to a renowned civic art collection that includes a comic works -- iconic works by local and national artists integrated into our public buildings and six basis. the arts commission has struggled to take care of the priceless collection because of limited resources. in an effort to gather more funding for the maintenance of the collection, the art commission has joined forces with the san francisco art dealers association to establish art care, a new initiative that provides a way for the public to get involved. the director of public affairs recently met with the founder and liquor -- local gallery owner to check out the first art care project. ♪ >> many san franciscans are not aware that there is a civic art collection of numbers almost 4000 works of art. preserving the collection and maintaining it is someth

commissioner norton? commissioner norton: there are a number of special ed para's that have been added, so why that was. president mendoza: great. this meeting is adjourned. software version: 3.0c ++ >> thank you all for joining our wonderful san francisco symphony. and of course, what with the mayor do without issuing the official proclamation? on behalf of our great city, i would love to present in honor of not only the 100 years, but the grammys, oscars, the wonderful quality of work that the symphony has been involved in, to honor them on this day, to resign from our protocol officer the official proclamation presented to michael. declaring this to be san francisco symphony in day in san francisco. [applause] free parking is what he asked for. of all things. and of course, with this opportunity that we could not pass up, where would a 100-share birthday bash the without the official birthday song? i'm going to ask liang-liang to get on the piano. and i'm going to have ask all of you to sing in your lo

commissioner norton? commissioner norton: there are a number of special ed para's that have been added, so why that was. president mendoza: great. this meeting is adjourned. >> i am the director of visual arts programming at intersection for the arts. intersection for the arts is based in san francisco and has always been an organization that looks at larger social political issues through the lens of practice, and we are here today at our exhibition of "chico and chang." the original inspiration was drawn from a restaurant chain in new york city. half of their menu is -- what struck me was the graphic pictures and a man in a hat on a rig truck carrying take that time is containers and in the black sea to representation of a mexican guy wearing a sombrero and caring a somali horn. it struck me that these two large, very subversive complex cultures could be boiled down to such simple representations. chico and chang primarily looks at four topic areas. one of the man was is whose stories are being told and

commissioner norton? commissioner norton: there are a number of special ed para's that have been added, so why that was. president mendoza: great. this meeting is adjourned.

commissioner norton: i want to second to that. we don't do that enough, we don't connect enough. here is what we did, here is what we spent, and this is what we got out of it. i think there are maybe some things that we are doing that we should not fund any more. i don't know what they are. it is easier for us to stop funding things that we shouldn't be funding if we can see it has not had the impact we would like it to have. commissioner fewer: i noted that because i think we are going to have to get very lean and mean. i like that we are a district that is willing to look at things that are not aligned for strategic planning goals and not have a great impact and has not helped us to close the achievement gap. and even though we have these things for a long time, we are brave enough to looked at that, that the budget is aligned to what the goals are. although we have had the programs that were protected, we are now preparing children for a very rigorous academic course of study. we have a college growing culture here. it is our mission to graduate every student in the district r

commissioner norton? commissioner norton: there are a number of special ed para's that have been added, so why that was. president mendoza: great. this meeting is adjourned. >> there has been an acknowledgement of the special places around san francisco bay. well, there is something sort of innate in human beings, i think, that tend to recognize a good spot when you see it, a spot that takes your breath away. this is one of them. >> an icon of the new deal. >> we stood here a week ago and we heard all of these dignitaries talk about the symbol that coit tower is for san francisco. it's interesting for those of us in the pioneer park project is trying to make the point that not only the tower, not only this man-built edifice here is a symbol of the city but also the green space on which it sits and the hill to which is rests. to understand them, you have to understand the topography of san francisco. early days of the city, the city grows up in what is the financial district on the edge of chinatown. every

corning me is richard norton smith. it is november 2, 1948 at the roosevelt hotel. what happens here? >> well, the day began with a virtual unanimity in the nation's press corps that this election was over. it was thomas e. dewey's to lose. there were pollsters who had stopped polling after labor day. they were so convinced there was no contest. gov. dewey and mrs. do we want to vote at midday not too far from here. he got out of his car and decided to walk back to the hotel. reporters thought it was a good sign. he was a new dewey,a warmer dewey that people have seen on the campaign trail. they had an election night tradition of having dinner with their friends, robert strauss who was a publisher. the family went there for an early dinner. while they were there, some disturbing returns came in from connecticut in particular. thomas dooley had relied along the accountants as much as anyone else, almost -- always had a respect for the numbers. the numbers were a little out of sync with what the pollsters had predicted. that was at the beginning of the night long orde

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

norton wrote about dewey. i was just wondering -- what did dewey think about his chances of going into the 1948 campaign about winning the race? i know that dewey was supposed to win that race. maybe mr. smith can talk about what were his prospects about winning the 1948 campaign against roosevelt. >> now the 1948 campaign against truman -- i think the 1944 campaign i am not sure he ever really expected to win. i think he expected to win four years later. again, as we talked a little bit earlier, he was not a complacent figure sitting unquestionably on his lead that you might think from some of the textbook accounts. he was very confident of the fact that public opinion was a dynamic thing. he sensed a slippage in the last few days of the campaign. i think he felt he was almost trapped. he had a strategy that brought him this far. there was no reason to believe it would not carry him across the finish line first. >> american samoa thomas e. dooley, jr. told us tonight, his father turned the page and moved on.

rachel norton of the board of ed will be a panelist. we think that people will be interested. we have a presentation from the masons on the raising a reader program that they have just rolled out. they will be talking about the other schools where they will be presenting their little red bags for the students to take home. and books that they will get every week to read. we would really love the parents to come and hear about the program. the keynote speaker will be a man by the name of david kerp. he has written extensively about children and how children can succeed in life. what we as a community need to do to make that success possible. he has written a book called kids first, and the first 175 participants that register will get a copy of this excellent book. he will be presenting to the entire conference. we will have other presenters about preschool education, understanding the child's mind and the brain. he'll have programs about common core standards. it'll be a very full day, but the programs are excellent. we invite the community to come. please reregister. and you

commissioner norton has said that if this passes, she thinks it would be ignored, yet she signed her name to a document saying kids will be uprooted in the middle of the school year, and you signed your name to this. i will charge any of you to bet $1,000 you could put your hand to a lie-detector test and say i believe if this passes kids will be forced to switch schools in the middle of the school year. i challenge any of you, and if i am wrong, you can slap me. i know you knowingly lied. we teach our children it is wrong to lie, and you are responsible for the education of our children, and you sign your name to a document saying kids will be forced to switch schools in the middle of the year. where were these people when it happened? you know there were more people in favor than against it. that is misleading, but it is knowingly and lying when you say kids will be forced to switch between school years. each of you signed your name to this document. students could see themselves transferred to other school sites, and it could take place in the middle of the semester. if you are re

commissioner norton? commissioner norton: there are a number of special ed para's that have been added, so why that was. president mendoza: great. this meeting is adjourned. wah! announcer: the smallest moments can have the biggest impact on a child's life. [laughs] announcer: take time to be a dad today. $40,000 of this will go to 20 existing businesses. it's this is like a dragon house. -- businesses like dragon house. [applause] others that have been identified. i want to thank ellen and debt been played -- that the little. that is right. al harris and others that have worked in the exocet ashcelsiorn group for so long so that we can make a difference. we want these grievance to make a ground level difference. that is why paying attention to everyone here. it is a struggle of a lot of our commercial corridors right now, so that is why the work we have been doing in mid-market, the experience we are bringing out there with the arts programs and business loans we want to do right here to help out as well

>> commissioner norton. >> i have a lot of the same questions, so i am not going to go over that again, but i think the thing that is still bothering me is the idea of a kid said is essentially in a kindergarten classroom for two years, because most teachers i know have away they do kindergarten every year, and they have a lot of great stuff they do, but they do not necessarily change year to year, so that seems like a big expectation that teachers are going to do something different. it does not seem to be educationally sound to have kids do the same thing next year, and i am not a kindergarten teacher, but if i were, i would feel that would feel like a big undertaking to me. that concerns me. smith i am still not clear on the student assignments. it may not even be that different, because we are going to take who comes and assign them. am i right that you are going to take who comes, assign them according to tiebreakers, and they land where they try to land? we will adjust based on who lands where. good >> we have even played around with if we assign them, we will hold slots, and par

norton wrote about dewey. i was just wondering -- what did dewey think about his chances of going into the 1948 campaign about winning the race? i know that dewey was supposed to win that race. maybe mr. smith can talk about what were his prospects about winning the 1948 campaign against roosevelt. >> now the 1948 campaign against truman -- i think the 1944 campaign i am not sure he ever really expected to win. i think he expected to win four years later. again, as we talked a little bit earlier, he was not a complacent figure sitting unquestionably on his lead that you might think from some of the textbook accounts. he was very confident of the fact that public opinion was a dynamic thing. he sensed slippage in the last few days of the campaign. i think he felt he was almost trapped. he had a strategy that brought him this far. there was no reason to believe it would not carry him across the finish line first. >> as thomas e. dewey, jr., told us tonight, his father turned the page and moved on. he goes on to

commissioner norton: i'm not reporting on a committee, but i did go see

commissioner norton: i'm not reporting on a committee, but i did go see a bilingual community council meeting. i did not know we were doing this, but we have begun translating the annual test reports that all parents get in the mail. parents are getting them in their native languages which is a huge step forward. it has been a lot of work, apparently, but it was very much appreciated. i wanted to add my thanks, it is a big improvement. commissioner fewer: on october 19, i attended the school district's first annual lgbt family center. it was a smashing success. i think they thought 50 people would show up and it was packed. clearly next year, will have to have a larger venue. i would like to thank staff for putting this on. this was a fun event and i felt that everyone who attended had a great spirit, very family feeling, and i hope that next year we will have more families that will participate. at this time, i would like to make an appointment to my advisory committee. i would like to appoint edwin yuen to the bilingual council. he is bilingual in spanish and chinese and is the pare

eleanor holmes norton asked one lady who does this all the time to help her buy her budget items. >> we started with greens and you can add cheap meats to them. >> reporter: delegate norton and others think federal food assistance is miserly and ought to be raised. conservatives worry that federal assistance programs breed dependency. >> the average time people spend on food stamps is over eight years and that is creating a long-term dependence. rather than helping people get to a place where they're self- reliant and able to help themselves. >> reporter: the looming fight over the ballooning budget deficits may mean that existing food assistance programs could be reduced. jerks ven if there are changes in our budget, the national budget and even this is national ised a -- smashed away, that would be i moral. >> reporter: liberals think this food assistance is essential and should be protected and maybe increased and the cost of the program, however, doubled since 2008 and even the agriculture mits have suggested cuts. stay tuned, brian. i think this debate is going to get ugly. >> a

commissioner norton. commissioner norton: thank you for the presentation. the photos are stunning. i drive by cobb a lot and one day i nearly crashed the car when i saw the mural. i'm just wondering if it's possible to put a copy of the presentation on the district website because i just would love for more people to see these pictures close up and if you would email me a copy for my own website i would love that. >> it was my intent to do that, which is why i didn't bring copies. it's an enormous file. these are verying very high resolution photographs, a lot of them taken by professional photographers, i can't email it to you but i can burn you a c.d. or load it on a u.s.b. key. commissioner wynns: i heard the buzz about cobb and made a trip out there for the purpose of seeing it. i have seen some of these others. i want to sewallenberg, haven't seen that, since we built the spaceship, i want to see it. i want to ask about the principal center, about the brickwork. i have heard the story -- story of of the presentation of the brickwork at roosevelt through one of our previous, ev

commissioner norton? commissioner norton: there are a number of special ed para's that have been added, so why that was. president mendoza: great. this meeting is adjourned. >> the san francisco cons tri of flowers in golden gate park is now showing a new exhibit that changes the way we see the plants around us. amy stewart's best-selling book, "wicked plants" is the inspiration behind the new exhibit that takes us to the dark side of the plant world. >> i am amy stewart. i am the arthur of "wicked plants," the weeds that killed lincoln's mother and other botanical atrocities. with the screens fly trap, that is kind of where everybody went initially, you mean like that? i kind of thought, well, all it does is eat up bugs. that is not very wicked. so what? by wicked, what i mean is that they are poisonous, dangerous, deadly or immoral or maybe illegal or offensive or awful in some way. i am in the profession of going around and interviewing botanists, horticulturalists and plant scientists. they all seem t

commissioner norton, commissioner murase. commissioner murase: i would like to commend you, i remember this hearing last year, we sat stunned at the report you had to give so actually this is much better. it's not perfect, obviously but it is much better system of thank you for the work you've done over this past year to get us starting the year with fewer shortages. >> commissioner murase, the wins and then fewer. commissioner murase: you give some of the response from the schools in terms of insufficient materials, principals of 54 elementary schools, did you hear from 100% of the schools? >> yes, we always do. commissioner wins: i'm glad we do -- commissioner wynns: i'm glad we do this. i'm interested in what you can tell us, it doesn't have to be now, but if there's information about the postponement of curriculum adoptions by the state over time, so we've been talking about, you know, since we're spending a serious amount of money replacing textbooks anyway, getting some that are better for the state -- even if the state

commissioner norton. commissioner norton: thank you for the presentation. the photos are stunning. i drive by cobb a lot and one day i nearly crashed the car when i saw the mural. i'm just wondering if it's possible to put a copy of the presentation on the district website because i just would love for more people to see these pictures close up and if you would email me a copy for my own website i would love that. >> it was my intent to doth

commissioner norton: k4. to addres the questions -- address the questions raised. commissioner maufas: [inaudible] >> take your hand off the button. move your hand. >> k6. k11. >> there are too many people talking. k6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. any other items? commissioner wynns: i'd like to remove 3o on page 56. >> thank you. the superintendent's proposal, there are none tonight. the board members proposal, there are none tonight. is that right? ok, so we're doing in -- ok. the request to speak regarding general matters. i have a couple of speakers. wendy, you want to speak on the proposal, is that correct? i will have the speaker on the proposal. -- you speak on the proposal. you have two minutes. >> i work here previously, and i missed the last meeting so i come back today again, and if you don't remember why i was here, it was for my niece's school assignment. it is not about my knees anymore, but i speak on behalf of all other students that have the same problems as my niece. the problem was that the students are being assigned to schools that are far away from their

norton wrote about dewey. i was just wondering -- what did dewey think about his chances of going into the 1948 campaign about winning the race? i know that dewey was supposed to win that race. maybe mr. smith can talk about what were his prospects about winning the 1948 campaign against roosevelt. >> now the 1948 campaign against truman -- i think the 1944 campaign i am not sure he ever really expected to win. i think he expected to win four years later. again, as we talked a little bit earlier, he was not a complacent figure sitting unquestionably on his lead that you might think from some of the textbook accounts. he was very confident of the fact that public opinion was a dynamic thing. he sensed slippage in the last few days of the campaign. i think he felt he was almost trapped. he had a strategy that brought him this far. there was no reason to believe it would not carry him across the finish line first. >> as thomas e. dooley, jr., told us tonight, his father turned the page and moved on. he goes on to

he already did this, so he is providing us with copies on this, and commissioner norton on curriculum. he brought with him and seven people. there was a lot of discussion about african-american students and lack of participation and lack of achievement in math and science thos, and we were interd in some of the ideas they brought us. they were identifying african- american achievements, really pointing out what they have achieved in these areas, and we asked staff to bring up these ideas. goowe got a lot of data, and it seems obvious from the data we are given that we have a lot of students identified as gay in this district, and as we've probably are not surprised, there is a difference among races. there are more white students being identified times -- identified as gifted. also, how are we identifying high achievers? it still is clearly a sorting mechanism in a lot of our schools, so this is a discussion we need to return to. i think we will bring it back to curriculum. we asked a lot of questions of staff, and i davis is a discussion -- i think this is a discussion. we are very c

. >> reporter: eleanor holmes norton asked a constituent ache woman on assistance for years and a motherck to help her shop for the budget items. >> we started with greens because can you stretch them and you can add cheap meats to them. >> reporter: delegate norton and other liberals in congress think federal food assistance is actually micerly. it ought to be raised. conservatives like rachel sheffield who studies domestic policy issues at the heritage foundation worry that federal assistance programs breed dependency. >> the average time that people spend on food stamps is over eight years so it is creating this long-term dependence rather than helping people get to a place where they are self- reliant and able to help themselves. >> reporter: the looming fight over ballooning federal deficits may mean that existing food assistance programs could be reduced. >> but what is scary is that if there are changes in our budget, the national budget and even this is snatched away, that would be immoral. >> reporter: so liberals think food assistance is crucial especially during period of high

commissioner norton: i want to ask that this data if i can get it in a table format, i would like to see which schools have more and which schools have less. >> i have a couple of questions. i am trying to wrap my head around this. i zoned out. i cannot deal with this. i will put out some of my bigger concerns. will this take seats away from our kids? that is my main concern, so i can already see families of set that kids coming in will get placement there, and they will automatically be placed if we take 10 kids, and that means we are only taking in ten, so i am really worried about about, and i am wondering how this will affect our pre-k classrooms, and how much was the packard grant and? >> we have two now, so it totals 325. 325,000. >> that is going to be for professional development, and will that help to implementation? >> part of that your good >> what else will we be able to tap into? >> we will have to look into title 1, a general fund. good everyone was clear. it costs to do this, and it is probably the worst time. >> just to show how challenging this is to grasp, i started