we want to be balanced by thinking of what might happen if the taxes do pass. i think we will continue to operate on both tracks. president yee: thank you. we will move on to the next item. request to speak regarding general matters is up now. 7:30, right on the spot. i have quite a few cards again. i just want to remind the audience that if you are coming up and will be talking about a situation, and we did not mention staff names and we do not make this hearing -- bad remarks on anybody. i want to have the first group, up. you have a total of 10 minutes. this will be the harvey milk group. kevin paulson, john, sean, kelly , michael, dara peters, carmen morrison, rich bennett, wendy lee, david, fred, laura smith, rebecca, stephen. the group itself will have 10 minutes. use it anyway you want. 10 minutes total. not individual. [laughter] nice try. are you ready? ok. go ahead. >> turn on the microphone. >> i came to this board a month ago and asked for a fair and transparent process for the harvey milk silver rights academy. i told you that the interim principal had said that my drug exposed son was just a c students and there was nothing we could do about it. since then, every single iep request we have provided has disappeared. the interim principal has fired the jobs of four women. the jobs of 31 after-school workers are still in jeopardy. my son has been call date faggot on the schoolyard. this cannot be coincidence. a boy you address the board why so many families -- will you address the board about why so many families are leaving your schools? in five days, a school for 220 students, 65 parents have signed a petition requesting the removal of the interim principal. 100 parents have signed a petition to restore the parent liaison position. 115 have signed a petition requesting that the after-school program be restored print 103 parents have signed a petition asking you to give due process in the selection of the principal. our children are more than just c students. there is something that you can do about it. [applause] >> august and a teacher at harvey milk for 12 years -- i have been a teacher adds harvey milk for 12 years. i cannot stay and work under this leader. that is a hard decision, but i wanted out there for people to know. we have heard nothing from any of the school board members. we have that are district representative come down, give our community misinformation, cause more of people, cover a lot for our principal's decisions. i hope it is not final. i hope to consider our petitions, are letters, it is not fair that a short sighted council votes has caused so much turmoil in our community and brought us down here again and again. please let us know. we have put a lot of effort into saving our community. we really need some response. thank you. [applause] >> i'm the parent of a third grader at the harvey milk civil- rights academy. many parents have passed to for help. -- asked you for help. we have heard nothing from you, have not received feedback or intervention. the situation at our school has deteriorated. we have learned that our children are not being adequately supervised during recess and lunch. my daughter has reported that no adult was on the yard to even take them down to lunch. we have been informed that our parent liaison was cut from the budget. in a meeting i was asked to attend yesterday with the principal and supervisors, she submitted a budget but the position reduced t. she did not inform the community or the parent liaison that she has submitted a budget with these cuts. no action was taken to revise the budget before the april 23 deadline. ignorance of the process is not an acceptable answer. as of tonight, the principal -- this program is an integral part of our children school day. the majority of our families participate in this program, and needed. by not meeting the deadline and refusing to discuss when she will make the decision, she has put at risk the ability for the school to have any program at all. it is not acceptable to put the well-being of our children at risk. we're not here tonight because we have nothing better to do or we think this is fun. the well-being of our children must be the priority of the leader of our school. we have not experienced this under this principle. i implore you to please take action immediately carried -- immediately. [applause] >> mind name iswendy lee. i am speaking on behalf of our family in hopes of saving our school. we have been in our school for four years. we plan to be there for five years. tonight, ims in my daughter's science fair because i believe this is the last chance to save the school. i am joining the community and asking to have a fair and transparent interview process to find a principal for our school. that is what we ever promised last year. that is what we want. i do not believe that our interim principal is that person. she is not a good communicator, she is not a leader, she is not a team player. she is dangerous for our children. she knowingly allows bullying honor school grounds without repercussions. she has allowed unsupervised yard time with no adult presence with their children. these examples of risk and neglect are not acceptable to me. i urge you to honor our request for a fair interview process for our principal. thank you. [applause] >> our community is a divided mind. it is starting to get really ugly. teachers, professionals, and parents. there are those who are pleased with the interim principal. there are those who are confused. there are those who think she is not a good fit for our school. we need to fix things quickly. the main division is the stellar lack of communication and transparency. i ask the board for two things. facilitate in mediation, we need an effective process. we need to conduct an open and transparent interviewing process. i hope she will be part of this process. [applause] >> thank you for listening to our concerns tonight. i am a parent of a third grader. can i have everyone from harvey milk stand up tax-cut [applause] -- stand-up? [applause] can come here together with a unified message. [applause] >> i am the parent of a fifth grader. i am also the chair of the friends of harvey milk, the nonprofit organization that raises money for the schools. we are the cbo for the after- school program. we are a group of volunteers. i have never been treated in a more disrespectful manner than this you're working with this and from principle. i have never seen, from the district, and i will say their names because they said mine. margaret chu has treated me in the most appalling behavior. their behavior is a reflection i knew. i urge you to read the letter in that package. it is very detailed. they passed out a letter that used my name seven times. in every single thing that they said, it was an absolute lie. i can back up with evidence. it has been of scene. the principal, there are some serious learning issues happening at the school. she does not address ieps. she makes fun of kids in the office. we have had union people, and to talk about this. she told me last night at this meeting that if the friends of harvey milk can defer a decision on whether they can make up the budget deficit, she will let us know if we will be the -- >> one minute. >> it is an unrelated issue. [applause] >> i am a parent of a fifth grader. almost two years ago, a group of our faculty expressed concerns about their inability to work with the principle. instead, the district did nothing and fire tore the fall in may. no support -- and fired her the following may. no support. they provide -- a promise they would provide us with an interim principle that was well suited for us. what we got instead it was -- a school that took 17 years of love and effort to build. the principle has failed us, the school district has failed us, and you, the board, has failed desperate if we continue on this path, one of san francisco's best elementary schools made a logger be. [applause] [applause] president yee: next speaker is chris. are you here? harvey milk, thank you for coming. we are hearing your comments, okay? next person is chris, madelina, mary ann, lenny, matthew bellow, hold on a second. you have one minute. >> i am a parent act san francisco unified. i am also here representing myself as a physical education teacher that works for the district. i want to remind you of the quality and need we have for a physical education program. we have hired a lot of elementary teachers, we need to continue that growth. as a middle school teacher, i see that students are still coming in, they do not know how to put on a softball glove. they do not know how to skip. these are sixth graders. that is a first grade standards. i taught for seven years at an elementary school in san francisco. i know you know the standards for math and science, but there is also a standard for physical education. some of the things we try to do is to keep education going. the new type of p.e. -- is that it? it is working for professional development for our teachers. but we need to read and -- we need the reinforcement to make sure that our class sizes are kept low. that we can give quality physical education and we can make sure all the teachers are getting professional development. we need more great substitutes as well into our system. [applause] >> good evening to all board members. we are here on behalf of the organization of filipino educators and employees. this is a letter from our president. she is not here tonight, but i board read the first part. as the school gear is about to end, the organization will be hosting a reception to honor and recognize the hard work of the filipino american stance with a gpa of 3.0 or above. we identified 128 students and we will honor them. we will be awarding scholarships to deserving students. they will be chosen based on their essay. how my filipino family values education and financial needs. we will award based on their financial needs. >> for this reception, we would like to invite you, members of the board, to join us on this special event on friday, may 18, 2012. it is at the war memorial building, second floor, from 6:00 to 9:00. we hope you can join us and celebrate our students. >> because of the lack of money, we have a very basic invitation letter to the board members and to the administrators. >> thank you. it is this friday, right? 18, thank you. >> good evening. i am a teacher at civic center secondary. i just want to tell the board a little bit about the proposal about the lower level classrooms. for anyone that is not aware, that school is being renovated right now. we heard from our principal that they would like to turn the bottom level in two offices and the middle school out into the portables. we want to let everyone know that the san francisco voters voted to have the facilities for our students so they could walk into a school site with pride. if they want to put the offices anywhere, they should put them in the portables. [applause] our students are marginalized in san francisco, they have self- esteem issues, and i think they deserve a good setting to learn. apart from that, can i have 20 seconds? given the nature of civic center, we do have challenging behavior's. we have a high level of students with emotional disturbance. we have to consider therefore -- that are with severe physical and sexual assaults. if you put the middle school outside, it could cause a lot of issues. if you have any more questions, please talk with this security guard. please allow us to have all the restaurants within one building so that we can care for them the best -- have all of our students within one building so that we can care for them the best we can. president yee: brian paulson. john, isabelle. this is one minute, please. >> thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak. i am speaking tonight on behalf of my family and other families who have been negatively impacted by the districts change of plan for a transitional kindergarten. i will be brief. less than a minute. what we would like this for the district to allow waivers for children who are ready for kindergarten, but to do not meet the brand new birth date cut off. we would like transitional kindergarten classrooms on the north side of town. those of us to live on the northwest side of town, it is not possible for us to get all the way across town when we have other children already in school. we worked in other parts of town. the two classrooms that have been offered are not possible for us to get our children to. those are the two things, thank you very much. >> good evening. john templeton. i want to bring to your attention that this is the 150th anniversary of the proclamation. coming up september 22. as you are dealing with the budget challenges that were addressed earlier, make sure that you do remember that you still have to have something positive to keep students in school and to keep parental support. we are blessed to have a tremendous learning opportunities because we have five african-american organizations that are 160 years old this year that will be part of the observance of the emancipation proclamation. we have a significant role in that history. we encourage you to make sure that to use the categorical funds in an effective way to make sure that the promise of what it is most important social movement of 19th century is used in our schools. president yee: thank you. [applause] >> good evening. i am also one of the 400 -- i wanted to say that it is putting some parents in to some impossible situations because they're only two schools offered. in my case, i have four kids. with a newborn. i cannot drive for medical reasons. i do not see how i can manage that. some of our kids could stay in preschool, which has not happened. i just got the letter from the preschool office saying they are not eligible for t-k. some of our kids are ready for kindergarten because they have been preparing for it for two years. we should be able to use waivers to put them into kindergarten. i am hoping there will be something happening about this situation. thank you so much. >> at the next set of speakers -- the next set of speakers. marissa, david johnson, christina hart, susan watson, norman, -- >> do you mind if we go in a different order? president yee: 1 minutes, each. >> good evening. i am a teacher. this has been a difficult year for us as we are moving into the dual language spanish program in san francisco. we have been trying very hard to make this happen. we have found that the administration has made it is very difficult for us. trying to to come to agreements and terms, we are working about staffing next year. people love made requests to continue on with their jobs -- people have made request to continue on with their jobs to do so. it has not been the case for everybody. someone has been singled out. as opposed to giving professional reasons, it becomes clear to me that it has been personal. if that should not be the case. we're all working for the same things. this has not been a fair process for us at our school. is that my time? ok, thank you. >> i am also a teacher. i wanted to elaborate on some of the things that norman was referring to. he was referring to the consolidation of one particular staff member. we are not supposed to say names, is that the case? is that correct? a particular staff member in seventh grade is being consolidated because she is being told that she does not have the proper credentials. we feel that the classes were added to her schedule only. the english language arts teacher next year is being asked to teach a 30-minute spanish class. our current teacher does not hold a spanish credential. that was added on to her schedule only at the last seconds. we never received anything that indicated that it was to be the case. suddenly, it was added. we presented a ton of evidence to say that was -- by that was not necessary. we were rejected several times and never given a proper answer. now we have a math teachers instead of our seventh grade language arts teacher. >> my name is christiana. the seventh grade language arts teacher is an outstanding teacher. each year, her reading levels rise 2 to 3 levels. she spent hours individualizing lesson plans to meet individual student's needs. for scores reflect her meticulous planning. every year, per test scores have gone up every single year. she is one of the highest scoring teachers in the zone. the goal of our language arts program is to increase literacy. she has consistently done this. decisions made for our students should be based on students' needs. it is baffling and we're struggling to understand why this teacher is being consolidated. thank you. >> hi, i am susan watson, also a teacher there. i have worked for the last six