Imagine many of you have something similar to say, so instead of, what id like to do is call the names, if you can come up. I want to try to wrap up this section of the Public Comment by 8 30. So im not going to put a time limit on you, but if you have something a little bit different or more to say than your peer, then say what you need to say, but if we can just run through and get you up here to make your comments id appreciate if you would be just coordinate your comments. So, im going to read off those of you that called in. So chris teresa book walter, come on up, jason chan. Hesinka. Lorraine. Chloe wong. Can i just make a suggestion that we ask to hear from students first because its about students . Yes, i thought all of these were students. I have parents on the orange cards. Thank you, commissioner norton. We would like to hear from the students first. Point of order, everybody registered to speak will be granted two minutes if they so choose. No, im telling you that i want to wrap this up in 25 minutes, so you will not be given a full two minutes, but you can coordinate. I think some of the students will say a couple of words. So aerial, jennifer, jacob. Im going to stop there for now. If you can get lined up and come on up and state your name. Go ahead. Hi, im from Abraham Lincoln high school, i belong to the drama club and would like to tell you about our amazing club. We put on two shows per year. Theyre amazing. We have an Amazing Community that helps support us in terms of family and relationships outside of school. We do all the work ourselves. We are a cast and audition and we rehearse religiously and it means so much to us. Last year we put on a show called Sweet Charity. I did all the costumes for the entire show and we had what, 32 kids that were cast, each with three costumes, so that was a lot of work. 30 seconds. I did it all because i love drama so much and it means so much to me that we get to put on these performances every year. Now, that being said, we sell tickets for these shows and it is used as a way to fund our next performance so we can keep on doing these things, however that is not all we do. We are the ones that run the talent show at our school and that gives people who arent necessarily a part of drama club a platform to show their talents and all of their friends and family members come to support during this time. And its after school and we get a great turnout every year and it is probably our number one source of fundraising. Now, taking that away means that we dont get enough money to do things like put on two shows per year and i dont get to do these amazing sparkly dresses and put people in cost actuals all costumes all the time. It would cripple our Drama Department if we didnt get the fundraiser done and it helps to keep us afloat and supports us for the years to come, because again, it is our main source of funding. So it would mean that our club wouldnt be able to do all the awesome stuff it does. My fellow club members are here today. They have a few more points to say and i would really like the board to reconsider taking the legs out from under us, please. Hello, im a senior at Abraham Lincoln high school. To add onto what my friend was talking about, its really unfair for us that sports and other Extracurricular Activities get to charge people to see their games and to see their shows, but we cant charge people to see our plays and performances and thats where where you are money comes from. We dont get a lot of money from the school to put on the shows. And these shows are very expensive. We did a musical last fall as my friend said, Sweet Charity and that was very expensive. And we were already in deep water as it is because of the last spring play, the vagina monologues we didnt get enough money for that, because we asked for donations and it wasnt effective. If we ask for donations for the rest of the plays, were not sure were going to meet our goal or make a profit. And this really this really helped me find myself again, because last year i joined drama and im sorry and it really helped me find myself again and find out what i want to major in life, and i really do enjoy performing and i wouldnt be here right now if i didnt care. Because i care for all the other people who dont know what they want to do in life and drama is an escape to show off who you are and express yourself. I cant find anything that im good at except for drama, so i hope that you consider helping us and yeah, vote no. Thank you. I dont think i can one up that. But, hi, im for Abraham Lincoln school for the Drama Department and i want to say unfortunately a whole lot of students cannot afford anything i wouldnt say anything but they really cannot afford a whole lot. And if that is the case and they want to go to the shows, we have a lot of alternatives, like if they show us they have a free lunch waiver, we can let them free of admission, but letting a whole lot of other students, free of admission, that is nice, but it takes away our ability to put on productions and the ability to put on great productions, because not a whole lot of this is free and its expensive, sadly, but personally for me, i really care about the Drama Department. I really do. Without the Drama Department i wouldnt be here. I wouldnt be standing. I wouldnt have the confidence to say please help us. So please help us. Thank you. Hello, im also from the Drama Department. I am a senior. And again, im just kind of reiterating the facts, but i wanted to more talk about im a senior and this wont necessarily affect me this coming year, but i care so much about this Drama Department and this Drama Department doesnt just affect kids in high school. It affects them going on to college and later on in life. We have alumni here who came with us because they still care about this Drama Department they participated in High School Years ago. They came back to support just to support this Little Drama Club they were in, in high school and that was put on by our amazing director who does so much for us. She puts on this amazing department. She puts it all together. She may be whacky, but she makes us whacky as well. So this Drama Department, this is where we get most of our funding. And its really important to us, again as chloe said, its really nice to make this free and their Extracurricular Activities and these are great Educational Opportunities for students. A lot of teachers give extra credit to go to the performances because theyre fantastic and fun to go to and funny a lot of times, but theyre a big fundraiser for us. And its important to get the money for us. And just i talked to the head of the Pe Department this morning. And he said that i said, what are the tickets do for you . Because the sports department, they get funding from the school but what do the ticket sales do . They help support our system. They help pay for the equipment and help pay for the uniforms. And thats exactly what it does for us. Our uniforms are just costumes. Our equipment is tech equipment, the lights we use. For stage that is as big as this room. For our funding is just as important as sports. We dont want it to make it we dont want to make it about sports versus arts. We want to make it about sports and arts, the two together. As a Drama Department, we go watch the sports and the sports come and watch us. Weve had the entire Football Team in the audience and hooting and hollering for us. And we want to Work Together as a community. We want sports and arts together and as i think you can probably tell, drama is very important to all of us and these Little Drama Clubs and these productions mean so much to all of us. And it would really mean a lot o. If you can just help us with this. Thank you. Thank you. Let me just remind you that youve used about almost half the time, and youve had four speakers. I know youre emotional and want to share this, but be mindful of the time. Hello, im from lowle high school and these opinions and emotions are from every single student here, not just the ones speaking. There are a few things there is one thing mainly that i would like to bring up. And that is that while this mainly affect the extracurricular, the after School Musical and plays, a lot of students find their way to choir, to dance, to drama, through the Extracurricular Activities. If theyre not present for students to be inspired by and to learn from, i for one found my way. I entered high school not knowing what i wanted to do, but from watching the school play and musical, i found what i wanted to do in high school. And i fear that if this resolution passes and if people are if schools are not allowed or not able to produce these shows because they simply do not have the funding, that many, many students will lose out opportunities that they could have had. Thank you. Thank you. Im going to read off a few more names. Sandra. Joshua. Bill. Emma. Cleo. Charlotte and james. Hi, my name is jessie, im a junior and i represent our technical theater department, comprised of 40 students. If this resolution passes tonight, our current production of sues cal tt will have to halt, because without the funding we receive from ticket sales, which make up 60 of the audience in the productions, will have to stop all production of our musical. Which is upwards of two months work from the student actors, technicians, designers and musicians and i think it would be a loss to the community that is so strong. And it has brought so much joy to peoples lives. Basically everybody up there is from lowle and if this passes, everybody who is participating in the musical, it will be over. I think thats really, really sad. Could you be please only come up when your name is called. There are a lot of names. Im a senior from lowell high school. Ive been playing football and been in drama, i can tell you that the Drama Program does just as much for kids and building identity as sports do. You can see it here, 50 plus kids. If it pass, we lose a musical. There are kids that cant afford to do outside programs that may want to pursue something in the arts in college. They dont have an opportunity to get that experience. Its a bad idea to cut this funding. I implore you to vote no. Hi, my name is joshua. Im a junior at lowell high school. A lot has already been said, but i will say this and this is very technical and you know probably much more about it. But according to the california Education Code, av 1575, it is illegal a violation of that Education Code to interpret pupil fees as any voluntary fundraiser activity or donation. And what im trying to say here, a lot of these revenue that we gather, its highly encouraged, true, but it is voluntarily and when you get down to it, it is a fundraiser for the amazing programs we have, to continue to inspire the people to go into the arts and really find their way in life. So, not only is it incredibly important to every Single Person coming up to speak, but and again this is where your expertise trumps mine, but it may be against the california Education Code. So if nothing else, i do ask you to consider that in your decision. Thank you. Hi, my name is cleo. Im a senior at lowell high school. I wanted to tell you guys that my most valuable experience in high school has been my involvement in the theater productions at my school. I wanted to ask you guys and wanted to how if measure 6415 passes how its going to promote equity for students if it takes away the opportunity to participate in free theater production. 6145 will make access to the arts inwe cequitable. Performances should be subsidized by the sfusd for the performances we put on, equalling the ticket revenue for this. If the point is equity, students should be able to attend performances, or exhibitions of student work for free, i dont understand how a fee can be charged for Student Athletic professions. It prioritizes the athletics over the arts department. And lastly, i wanted to say while working on my last production in high school, i was applying to colleges all as a theater major, and it wasnt a path that i imagined for myself beginning high school, but being involved in theater productions is what made me choose that path. Thanks. Hi, my name is velma. Im a junior at lowell high school. I just wanted to reiterate that all of the funding comes from our ticket sales and were barely staying afloat as is. I can see our teachers saying so many of this already comes out of their pockets and they dedicate a lot of time after School Without pay. Im a member of lowell Dance Company and advanced drama and participate in the musical after school. And without this funding, these programs will no longer exist and many students, as well as myself cannot afford to take theater and dance anywhere else. And the Public School system provides really great opportunities for lowincome families that cant afford to pursue their passions in other ways and i think it is inequitable to take away these programs are from students like myself who wont be able to pursue their passion. Thank you. Hi, my name is emma. Im a sophomore at lowell high school. As a student at lowell high school, i can tell you that drama has changed my life. When i first started high school, i barely knew anyone. None of my closest friends were going to my same school and i felt alone. My mom told me throughout my childhood, her starring in guys and dolls in her high school production. When we held fiddler on the roof, it was my first time singing in front of people and putting myself out there. When i was in the show, i knew i had found my family. They welcomed me with open arms and for the first time in high school and the first time in my life i felt i truly belonged. I have finally found by passion in life and it would devastate me to not have it in sfusd schools. Losing this opportunity would break my heart. I and my fellow classmates heard today during school this meeting was going on, we knew we had to be here to talk about how this program is supposed to support equity in our schools, when fast it would be taking it farther and farther away. It is definitely unfair that the sports games and other activities would not get applied the same resolution. Drama and other arts have always been persecuted and this just another example of why this resolution should not pass. Please, please, dont say yes. Thank you. Im in the Choir Program for the last two and standing here as one of my former drama teachers when im asking to you please reconsider your decision. For me, i have always been able to find peace in myself and be able to feel comfortable and my most authentic self when i am on stage, when i am portraying a character that may have no resemblance to anything i experienced in my life, but im involved completely in what they have gone through and my own version of their own story, because i can get on stage and look out at a sea of people and perform something that i have put a lot of work into and care about. Sorry. And this summer i actually lost my mother, which was very difficult because i had lived with her for my entire life. The one thing that sorry the one thing that i found solace in when performing my first show without her being there was knowing that i had a Wonderful Community of people that i already had made and to be able to know they could be just as proud of me as she would have been. When i say this, i mean it completely. You are not creating equity, you are creating borders. I hope you can make your decision, because i couldnt imagine another student who has gone through anything similar to what ive gone through and the department, and couldnt have this outlet to say they could have somewhere they feel safe, so please, please, do not pass this resolution. I thank you for letting me speak. Thank you. So, i think this is probably a good time to take a break. I am ive been asked to first of all thank you all for coming out, its meant a lot to hear your voices and for us to understand the impact this decision would have on many of you. And in consultation with my colleagues ive been asked to pull this resolution at this time. So we will not be voting on this at this time and were going to delay the vote on this and we wanted to just thank you all for your comments this evening on this. And so when will it be brought up again . The next regular meeting. I think we need to have a little bit more conversation around this and get some further information. I think one of the things that we some of my colleagues had asked was if we could get a fiscal analysis on the impact this would have on many of the schools. So thats something we want to be able to research more. Please stand by. So [ inaudible ] 30 seconds, right now. Thank you very much. Ab 1575 does not require the steps that youre asking to take. Its based on a Supreme Court case called hartsell versus conors in which the Supreme Court of california says you cannot charge a fee for participation in a school activity. That is not whats going on here. What is going on here is attendance, being a spectator at what the Supreme Court has said is a spectator activity. The Supreme Court has said you can actually charge for this. Also, in the packet youre looking at, youre citing to 12 on r 02, and you need to be looking at 17. 01.