The Board of Education meeting of June 27 began 45 minutes late at 7:45 p.m. due to a long closed session. Eddie Chin was absent from the meeting.

The Board said farewell to Student Delegate Jason Wong who has graduated (as the president of the student body) from SOTA and is headed to Harvard. Wong has served on the SF School Board for three years as a student delegate. All of the Board members and Dr. Chan complimented Wong on his years of service and his contributions to the Board. Commissioner Wynns and Student Delegate Jason Wong are good friends (he invited her to attend his graduation and thanked her for her mentorship at TACT)-and Commissioner Wynns conveyed her heartfelt gratitude for their friendship and the years that they served together on the Board.

Superintendent Chan announced that principals from the following schools are retiring-Cabrillo, Alvarado, Rosa Parks, Moscone, Ortega and Miraloma, along with the site leaders of Bessie Carmichael/FEC and Junipero Serra Child Development Centers.

The Board on a 4-1 (Wynns voting no) voted to renew the charter for City Arts and Technology High School. The Board also adopted SFUSD’s updated wellness policy and adopted the instructional materials for K-12 health.

The Commissioner passed a resolution to create an advisory committee to reignite the Small School Initiative at SFUSD. The advisory committee will include representatives from UASF, Local 790, UESF, students, parents/community members, district staff and community based organization representatives. The committee will develop a policy designed to support existing small school by design and any future schools that are developed. The policy will need to address the criteria and selection process to identify small schools by design for an initial period of five years as well the necessary autonomy for small schools by design in key areas of school operations, including but not limited to staffing, resources, teaching and learning, governanaces, instructional time and facilities usage. Prior to the School Board meeting, the District had a press conference to announce the resolution and the District’s support for small schools.

At 9:30 p.m., the Board discussed the adoption of fiscal year 2006-07 Recommended Budget. A parent from Cobb Elementary School complained that parents were not given notice about the elimination of after-school programs for school-aged children at Drew Elementary School, Dr. Cobb Elementary School, Bret Harte Elementary School and Junipero Serra Elementary School.

Members from Local 790 complained about the 25 people who were out of a job due to the budget cuts-and that the process of informing those staff members as well as the union were not followed as required by law. Local 790 pointed out that everyone who was laid off in the student nutrition department was over than 55 years old. Local 790 also pointed out that SFUSD did not follow the proper procedures in selecting and notifying the employees about the layoffs. They also pointed out that many of those being laid off were 55 years and older and that could be an issue that could be pursued by a greviance action or lawsuit. Ricky Johnson, an absestos worker of over 30 years, has received three layoff notices in the last four years. He pointed out that SFUSD is contracting that absestos removal work out at a cost of $600 per hour-which does not result in a savings to the district (as required under the district’s contract with SFUSD).

Commissioner Wynns asked about the agreement between SFUSD and City College to rent the Newcomer High School site at Jackson. Myong Leigh reported that City College’s Trustees voted to not rent the site due to voiced concerns from the surrounding neighbors around the site. Commissioner Mar asked if Newcomer could stay at the Jackson location. The district staff did not respond. The next day (Wednesday, June 28), the Newcomer staff were told that they were moving to the former XCEL Academy site at 9th and Judah.

The BOE passed with the budget without any changes with a 4-1 vote (with Mar voting no).

At public comment, 12 people from Cesar Chavez Elementary School complained to the district about being informed that their principal was being transferred to Paul Revere Elementary School the day prior to the last day of school. Parent after parent, staff member after staff member praised Principal Lance Tagomori for the great job that he has done at Cesar Chavez and the importance of allowing him to continue his good work at Cesar Chavez. They also complained that the District didn’t give them adequate time to create a ceremony/party to honor Lance for all of his hard work and his accomplishments. Superintendent Chan spoke privately to the Cesar Chavez community after their testimony.

The Board held a public hearing to listen to the initial 2007-2010 initial proposal from UASF on their contract. UASF reported that they were happy with the proposed contract and requested that the Board passed it.

At 11:31 p.m., the Board held a public meeting for the adoption of the annual service and budget plan for Special Education. Due to the lateness of the hour, there weren’t any speakers nor did any member of the BOE spoke on this important issue or the budget being passed for Special Education. The packet included a Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA) Annual Budget Plan for 2005-06 showing expenditures of $81,647,833 and revenue of $81,819,102 (parimarily in Special Education Resource funds). The meeting’s packet did not include an SELPA plan for 2006-07.

The Board approved the appointments of Debra Andrew, Milena Levitina, Jenny Mai and Emily Murase to the Parent Advisory Committee. Daisy Hernandez, a parent with a student at Gateway, was also recommended by the PAC for appointment. But Commissioner Wynns raised concerns about a parent of a charter school student being on the Parent Advisory Committee. She along with Commissioner Kelly voted against appointment Daisy Hernandez. Since all Board actions require a minimum of four “yes” votes, Hernandez did not give the necessary four votes to be approved for appointment.

The Board heard from Leadership High School asking for a six month waiver from meeting Education Code 47610(D) for required code requirements for their current building. Leadership is located at San Miguel near Balboa High School. Leadership has not been able to find a location agreeable to both the District and Leadership for a move out of their current site. Its current building will not meet the new building code requirements for education buildings that is being specified under new state legislation. So the District agreed to approve a request for a waiver for Leadership, so they can stay in their current location for the next school year. The vote was 4-1 (with Kelly voting no).

Staff removed an item to approve student travel to Osaka, Japan as a district approved event. Commissioners Wynns and Kelly questioned that since the Osaka-SFUSD have a sister city/school district relationship and share exchange students. Wynns also pointed out that one of the student traveling to Osaka will be staying for the fall semester.

At midnight, Chris Issod from the San Francisco School Alliance presented a resolution (cosponsored by Wynns and Sanchez) to accept renovations of $1.6 million to Burton Fields including synthetic turf, goalposts, scoreboard, a resurfaced track, new restrooms, new fencing, ADA-compliant accessibility ramps, ADA-accessible pedestrian entrance and other improvements. With great support and great thanks to the SF School Alliance, the Board voted to accept the gift.

The Board also passed consent items that dealt with the following:

$321,840 to KALW Trust Fund. District staff had identified the source as General Fund unrestricted and Trish Bascom said that she would correct it to show KALW Trust funds.

$57,500 to SpaceSaver Designs for a playground equipment for Sanchez Elementary School

$96,799 to CLW Builders for a modification to their contract to install a new storm drain and tie two existing lines at Dr. Charles Drew Elementary School

$16,247,062 to Laidlaw to renew their contract to 8/31/07

$165,000 to J & B Delivery Services to renew their contract to 9/30/07 for food delivery services to Child Development Centers

$230,000 to Waxe Supply to renew their contract to 7/31/07 for purchase of toilet paper and towel papers

$75,016 to Applied Pest Management to renew the contract to 2/28/07 for pest control services for various schools and school facilities

$750,000 to Securitas Security Service to renew their contract from 1/16/06 (yes, it already lapsed six months) to 1/15/07 (3rd year extension) for security guard services at various schools and administrative offices

$192,000 to Municipal Transportation Authority to purchase MUNI fast passes for Special Education Students

$1,967,995 to CitiCapital to pay for energy retrofit lease payments for FY 2006-07

Consent Items that Expends General Unrestricted Funds:
$20,000 to Edgewoood Center for case management and coaching services for Independence High School
$5,800 to School Services of California for weekly updates on school fiscal and business management issues impacting public schools
$75,200 to School Innovation and Advocacy-the District’s lobbyists in Sacramento
$20,000 to Kevin Harper CPA for periodic independent audits
$10,000 to Cotchett, Pitre, Simon and McCarthy to represent the Board of Eduction in the suit Wong v. SFUSD
$120,000 to Lozano Smith for legal representation on labor and employment issues
$100,000 to Morgan Lewis for legal representation on labor and employment issues
$50,000 to Miller Brown and Dannis for legal representation on litigation, retirement and labor issues and Charter Schools
$20,000 to Meyers, Nave, Riback, Silver and Watson for legal representation of various facilities matters, including real estate transactions
$300,000 to School and College Legal Services for legal representation on Special Education Matters
$10,000 to Remcho, Johansen and Purchell to represent the Superintendent in the lawsuit Wong versus SFUSD
$70,000 to Renne, Sloan, Holtzman and Sakai for employment litigation matters and labor negotiations (Senior Partner Louise Renee was formerly the General Counsel for SFUSD.)
$10,000 to Howard, Rick, Nemerovski and Canady for legal representation on employment issues

The meeting was adjourned. The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Board of Education is scheduled for August.