School Board Notes 1.10.06

School Board Notes
1.10.06
By Nicole Achs Freeling
GreatSchools.net Correspondent

• Public on edge about imminent school closings
• Yee becomes Board President
• Board adopts new sunshine policy

Public on edge about imminent school closings

While absent from the Board's discussion Tuesday, impending school closures dominated the public comment period. Downtown and Leadership High Schools, both of which have been suggested as possible new tenants of the site of International Student Academy (ISA), each brought delegations to lobby for why their school should be awarded the site should ISA move.

DHS's current site is located in the middle of a major construction project. "We have no heat, no hot water," DHS teacher Catherine Salvin said. "Yes, the construction is disruptive. The building shakes, the is a lot of noise, we get a lot of strange smells." DHS representatives stressed that they did not want to be the cause of displacing another school, but asked that it be given priority over charter schools or other entities. Leadership High School representatives discussed the school's diversity and the need to be located in a place that would be accessible to its far-flung population with some students who commute from as far as Vallejo. They also reminded the district of its legal obligation to provide the school with a Field Acted building with such facilities as a library and auditorium, requirements which the district is not meeting currently.

San Francisco NAACP President Amos Brown proclaimed "disgust" over the disproportionate impact of school's targeted for closure on the city's African-American population. "That is wrong. We want to be conciliatory and work with you, but if can't do something about the disproportionate fallout" from the district's budget woes on black students, "We will pull these children out of the schools and teach them in our churches," Brown said.

A number of speakers from Potrero Hill argued against the Daniel Webster/Starr King merger and advocated for the ability of the neighborhood, which has a growing population of young children, to support both elementary schools. Another group from Newcomer urged against moving that school from Pacific Heights to a proposed location in the Mission.

Yee becomes Board President

Norman Yee was unanimously elected to succeed Eric Mar as President of the Board, with Sarah Lipson elected as Vice President. "This is not going to be an easy year in 2006," Yee commented upon his election. "We are going to need to resolve budget issues, consolidate a bit so we can function more effectively, look for a new superintendent, as well as tackling such difficult issues as student assignment. I'm grateful we have such a passion board, with very passion members who have strong opinions. I hope to be able to harness that passion to make this district one of the best of nation."

Board adopts new sunshine policy

The board unanimously adopted an open government policy aimed at enhancing public access to meetings and district information. Among the provisions adopted was a measure that stated that requires special meetings to be called with a notice period of 72 hours in business days, which could be reduced to 24 hours if decided by a supermajority of the board. Closed session meetings would continue to be called with no less than 24 hours notice.

The resolution also calls for disclosing collective bargaining agreements 14 days before the public meeting at which the agreement would be voted on for approval. It requires the district to maintain a publicly available file, current to 30 days, of all correspondence circulated to a quorum of the board and to maintain a calendar with the time, place and subject matter of all public meetings. It also calls for placing a link on SFUSD's Web site to link to archives of KALW's radio broadcasts of the meetings.

The board unanimously approved the resolution in spite of a lengthy discussion over a measure in the policy that requires the board to record closed session meeting. The tapes would be made available only in the context of a court order issued by a judge as part of ongoing litigation, such as a lawsuit alleging that the Board was conducting in closed session business that should be done in an open forum. The highest-cost part of the policy, the practice also raised concern among some members that extremely sensitive information regarding students and staff could be released to the public. Ultimately the board approved the resolution with direction to staff that it investigate an effective way to safeguard the tapes.

In other business, the board directed staff to look into a process for making more successful use of after-school tutors and for more effectively vetting the companies that provide these services. Many of the services are fly-by-night operations that get money up front and don't follow through with the services they have promised, according to Commissioner Jill Wynns.

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