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MINUTES
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
6:00 P.M.
1800 Oakdale Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94124
1.0 Call to Order
Commission President Bobbrie Brown called the Wednesday, May 24, 2006 meeting to order at 6:11 p.m. in the Alex L. Pitcher Community Room at 1800 Oakdale Avenue.
Commissioner Brown read the Sunshine Ordinance aloud.
1.2 Roll Call
Commissioners Present: Brown; Kennedy, Parker, Person, and Sampson
Commissioners Excused: Fuentes and Jones
Staff Present: Annette Price, SECF Comm-Sect
1.3 Consent Calendar
(a) RESOLUTION (SECFC-2005-56)Be it resolved that the minutes of the Southeast Community Facility Commission meeting of Thursday, May 11, 2006 were approved as submitted.
2.0 PUBLIC COMMENT
Mr. Samuel Murray announced that SFPUC will hold an Emergency Preparedness Day on June 24th, 2006 from 10:00 to 3:00 at the Southeast Community Facility, 1800 Oakdale Ave. Mr. Murray also announced that invitations to attend the graduation ceremony of the apprentice stationary engineers will be sent to the Commission.
3.0 COMMUNICATIONS:
The Commission Secretary reported correspondence to Mayor Newsom and Police Chief Heather Fong are in progress and will be ready by the next commission meeting.
Commissioner Brown announced Mr. Alton Byrd, who was to present tonight on the Interim Marketplace, called to reschedule his presentation date. President Brown announced that she would take agenda items 5.0, 6.0, and 8.0 out of order to accommodate Superintendent Chan’s schedule, who was running late.
5.0 Director’s Report:
Due to Director Moses being on vacation, this item has been tabled until the meeting of June 8.
6.0 Introduction of New Business By Commissioners:
There was no new business introduced at this time.
8.0 Announcements:
Commissioner Kennedy announced that the Citizen’s Advisory Committee (CAC) would hold a special meeting on June 1st at 6:00 o’clock, 1800 Oakdale Ave., Southeast Community Facility regarding the community benefits program. On June 17th a community workshop will also be held at the Southeast Community Facility to discuss that same issue.
Commissioner Brown introduced Ms. Gwen Chan, Interim Superintendent of Schools, San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD), who apologized for her lateness and thanked the Commission for the invitation and opportunity to give update on the Dream Schools.
4.0 Presentations:
Superintendent Chan assumed her current position as Interim Superintendent on February 1, 2006 having worked with the SFUSD for 38 years. She introduced SFUSD senior staff, Mr. Hoover Liddell, Ms. Ritu Khanna, Ms. Dee Dee Desmond, and Ms. Orla O’Keefe. Superintendent Chan reported that her staff has been directed to study data of academic performance rankings, community feedback, and need of experienced instructors at the Dream Schools.
Ms. Chan stated effective July 1st, there will be changes in school administrative teams across the city. Also in partnership with other city agencies and community service providers, Mayor Newsom has provided additional resources for truancy, the Beacon Case Management Program, and has added two additional wellness centers in the continuation high schools. Ms. Chan asked that Mr. Hoover Liddell step forward to give a brief overview of his findings on the Dream Schools.
Mr. Liddell gave background that the consent decree, which began in 1983, specifically focused on academic achievement and desegregation of schools in BVHP while the Dreams School administration focused more on academic achievement. Mr. Liddell reported Dream Schools (Charles Drew Elementary, Twenty-First Century Academy, Gloria R. Davis)are ranked 1:1 in their API’s (Academic Performance Index), which is at the lowest level on a scale of 1 to 10.
Mr. Liddell stated the goal of the SFUSD is to have high standards for all schools. He noted Dream Schools are faced with the challenge of low student enrollment as well as low academic rankings. He noted by having standard report cards for all schools, which would require that every student meet certain academic standards, and by setting higher standards, those challenges could be met. Mr. Liddell closed by reviewing academic standards for grades Pre-K through 3rd and addressed some of the needs the District will face next year.
Commissioner Brown asked in terms of standard report cards for the Dream Schools, what is the District using currently and how will they differ. Mr. Liddell said report cards used by the State of California from kindergarten through 5th grade tend to be somewhat ambiguous. The District would prefer report cards that are more specific in terms of student proficiencies.
Commissioner Brown asked what type of performing arts program has been put in place with regard to Dream Schools. Mr. Liddell stated there are enrichment/intervention programs that take place after school at all phase I Dream Schools. Ms. Desmond stated they would report back to the Commission on what specific enrichment programs students are being exposed to.
Commissioner Kennedy asked that Superintendent Chan expand on extracurricular activities that have been removed from the school curriculum, such as music, band, sports, art, etc. Superintendent Chan reported since the passage of Proposition H, two-thirds of the funding ($60 million) would go toward athletics/sports, music, arts, libraries, counselors, nurses with each school being allocated a set amount of money based on student population.
Commissioner Person asked: How much parent participation is there in the Dream Schools; how are teachers selected for the Dream Schools; and what types of critical thinking skills are being developed in Dream Schools. Superintendent Chan stated parental participation varies from school to school. However, there is a full-time parent liaison in each Dream School that is responsible for parent outreach.
In response to the selection process of teachers for Dream Schools, Ms. O’Keefe stated that process is the same process used for all schools. Vacancies are posted, applicants are centrally reviewed, lists are provided, and the assistant superintendent and principals are involved in the screening process.
Regarding critical thinking skills, Superintendent Chan stated the District does provide opportunities for students to be responsible for their own actions, such as service learning. Chan noted although there has been a shortage of content specialists, she will make every effort to obtain funding so that there is a specialists in each subject area in middle and high school.
Commissioner Sampson asked what is being done to bring up student enrollment in the phase I schools. Mr. Liddell stated one of the things being considered is to reconsider the schools and possibly look at a high school other than Davis. The District is also attempting to bring in more students from the community by changing the set up or administrators.
Commissioner Parker asked how would the city handle the following disparities: retention of teachers, low student enrollment, and lack of confidence in the public school system by teachers. Superintendent Chan stated in an attempt to attract families back to the city, the Mayor announced at his press conference that he would put more money into the juvenile probation department in public education, mental health, social services, and wellness centers.
Regarding teacher retention, Superintendent Chan spoke of a partial tax being implemented to attract more teachers to San Francisco by paying them a higher salary.
Commissioner Parker asked what plan is in place to evaluate the effectiveness of the Dream Schools in terms of upgrading/evaluating. Dr. Khanna stated there is a quality/quantity evaluation survey designed for Dream Schools, which rates the satisfaction of students, parents, and teachers. Additionally, data outcome or state test data is looked at to determine student performance.
Commissioner Parker asked what is the position of the District as far as the exit exam. Dr. Khanna stated the State Superintendent announced today that all students must pass the high school exit exam in order to get a high school diploma.
Commissioner Brown asked whether there was some type of assessment performed on the students who did not pass the exit exam to look at consistent threads in terms of classes taken, instructor, etc. Dr. Khanna stated data has been gathered in terms of courses taken from 7th grade onward. Also students have been tracked down to their middle school and reports have been provided to every middle school as to how the students performed so that schools can determine which area they should focus on.
Commissioner Brown asked what type of African American history is there in the school textbooks. Superintendent Chan stated there is black history on African American authors, Asian Pacific Islander authors, etc.
Mrs. Fia Carlos Valentino commented about school assessment of the Dream Schools, academic enrichment programs, parent liaisons, effectiveness of Saturday school programs, and relevancy of staff to population being served. Mr. Tony Caruso asked for clarification on the Dream Schools and the consent decree. Unidentified Speaker suggested that the administrative staff at Gloria R. Davis be looked at in terms of disproportionate representation of African American students.
7.0 Public Comment:
There was no public comment at this time.
11.0 Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
_____________________
Commission Secretary
