The highlights of the Board of Education meeting of Feb. 27 are:

1. The BOE denied the charter for Bayview Essential School of Music, Art and Social Justice with a 5-2 vote (J. Kim and Maufas voting in dissent).

Mary Richards noted that outstanding concerns was that the charter didn’t submit a policy on explusions and suspension after repeated requests from the District; they did not note a policy in dealing with sexual harassment or assault as required under the District’s “no tolerance” policy against sexual harassment or assault. The charter is required to submit signatures representating at least 50% of its school population or 50% of its teacher staff. The school was projecting on a first year enrollment of 1210 students. They also got signatures from 23 eligible parents and one teacher.

Board members express that the Bayview Essential School could still be formed as a district “small school by design” school.

2. The BOE voted to grant the renewal of Metro Arts and Technology Charter School’s charter.

3. The BOE voted to approve Policy 6400-Small Schools by Design with a 7-0 vote. From the BOE’s testimony, it was revealed that District staff provided a revision of Policy 6400 to ensure that all of the adminstration regulations involving Small Schools By Design still fell in the control of the superintendent.

The Board rejected that amendment. Commissioner Mar spoke eloquently (to applause) that dedicated activists have been working for the last five years on this policy and the Board should adopt the entire recommendation of the task force.

Commissioner Wynns objected that the policy would allow schools to have the autonomy to determine how they would spend funds on janitors, instructional materials, substitutes and Proposition H funds. The policy also stated that the schools’ budget would include actual costs for teachers rather than the average amount used for the budget of other schools. Her suggested amendment was seconded by Commissioner Yee. But her amendment was defeated on a 1-6 vote (Wynns voting for her amendment).

After the BOE voted to approve the policy, Commissioner Wynns then left the meeting.

4. During public comment, UESF members spoke about the District’s initial proposal for their 2007-2010 contract. Ken Tray noted that paraprofessionals should be given equal benefits as teachers-including binding arbitration for personnel disputes and the same leave policies as teachers.. Earlynne Santiago noted that teachers have lost $725 in buying power in the last two years due to the insufficiency of the current count. Betty Harris-Robinson noted that the child development professionals were concerned about the health department opening after-school programs at the same facilities as child development centers that already have after-school programs. She also noted that Jefferson Elementary School had opened a private summer school.
The speakers noted that a new agreement should be in place by the end of this school year.

5. SFUSD has hired WestED as Everett Middle School’s School Assistance and Intervention Team (SAIT). In November 2006, the California Dept. of Education identified Everett as state-monitored for failing to make significant growth in its test scores while in the High Priority Schools Grant Program (HPSGP). The Board of Education will receive monitoring reports every three months.

6. Superintendent Chan honored Harvey Milk Academy Principal Sande Leigh and Abraham Lincoln High School Principal Ron Pang as San Francisco’s Schoolmasters of the Year. Both Leigh and Pang noted that they both had started their careers as special education teachers. Leigh said best, “Those who teach special education provide a deal of heart in their teaching.” Pang noted that he was a special needs student himself and was always at the principal’s office. “But a teacher saw in me something that I didn’t see in myself and she pulled me out of the principal’s office,” Pang said.

7. Eric Mar, chair of the BOE’s Curriculum Committee, noted that Fairmount Elementary School was requesting that all of its incoming kindergarten classes be Spanish immersion classes. This is part of the Fairmount school community’s plan to become a 100% Spanish immersion program school communitiy.

7. The Board members voted 5-0 (Wynns and Yee absent) to approve all of the items on the consent calendar.