Good evening everyone. My name is sarah clark. My daughter is in eighth Grade Student at mlk. She is also a product, i graduated from balboa high school. I went away, moved away, and actually the School District is what brought me back from houston. Prior to her transitioning over to mlk, we look into a Charter School. The Charter School did not have the Resources Available to her, that is why we chose mlk. Receiving a letter last night, from the school, indicating that the school was going to be losing 300,000 with the possibility of losing resources. To me, that means that my child, as well as other children are going to be losing precious resources that are afforded to them right now. Those resources could be counselors, could be School Nurses could be somebody to talk to at that school. Those resources will be lost if this funding is misappropriated somewhere else. I am asking you, you can tell by the number of individuals that are here from mlk, and the support that we do have. I am very instrumental in my child school. Im constantly there. I am also at work with my employment, and my employment has given a lot to the school as far as helping with the school to bring the school up. As well as helping her with her elementary school. By losing this funding, basically youre putting it out there that the class sizes will be much larger, the teachers will be more stressed as well as the students will be stressed. More than likely it might affect peer resources. Peer resources will be overwhelmed. Therefore by eliminating this funding, the children will not have a choice. They will have nowhere to go. We are always talking about that there is large rates of suicide, things like that. In the release of this funding thank you. My name is katie carter, i am a seventh grade english teacher at mlk. This is my sixth year. I want to read a letter from one of my students. Before i do that, i do want to say, it is my understanding that mlk is not the only school with open enrollment. But because we are a. 2 school we are expected to deal with this budget cut. A few years ago, i remember when mlk was a tier three school. We are working really hard, we are doing really good things. A school is like a tree, right . A tree does not grow overnight to, you know, you need to water and let it grow. I feel like we are still growing having Something Like this happen again, it feels like we are getting the rug pulled out from underneath us. Fostering, creating, and helping quality schools for our kids, then you need to give us the time. You need to help us continue to grow. One letter that my students wrote; i am writing about the proposed budget cuts at Mlk Middle School but i love my school because it is i love mlk like my home. If we have to have budget cuts in our school, we will miss a lot of things that we should have. We will not have enough money to do enrichments. Because of the budget cuts we will lose teachers that students trust, like counselors, homeroom teachers and nurses. Just thinking about it makes me upset already. I hope that sfusd school board will changes decision because its not fair. Thank you for reading. Thank you for your time. My name is alicia jacobs. I a resource specialist at mlk. Im also going to read a letter from one of our students to echo what ms. Carter was saying. One of the reasons i love working at mlk, theres so many opportunities for Student Voice. I do worry that could be taken away if we have these budget cuts. I am going to be reading a letter from a seventh grader. Dear sfusd school board. I am writing about the proposed budget cuts at Mlk Middle School. Im upset because 300,000 will have a huge impact on our teachers, staff and students. If we cut our budget, we need to consolidate classrooms, who have built good and meaningful relationships. I do not understand why sfusd needs to cut our budget and use it on other schools with money. I dont want my school to have less fun activities and teachers than the other schools have. If other schools have all of the fun, and we do not, whats the point of going to mlk. Please consider finding another way to make the money. Thank you. Hello, my name is sasha, i teach eighth grade math and science at mlk. I will also read a letter from a student. They want me to share, they wanted to be here themselves but they are at a softball game. Some of the students have connections and relationships with these teachers. We wouldnt want to lose these teachers. Also, these teachers are supporting us to learn from our mistakes. We know our school is not perfect, but still other schools like presidio and who have a lot of money. They have a lot of things, not like us. They have a lot of fun with her teachers. Their classrooms and bathrooms are clean, but our benches are broken, our basketball nets are broken, our desks are broken. We have to use the boys bathroom or the cafeteria bathroom because the girls bathrooms are broken. It is not fair theyre going to take away money because they want to send it to other schools. That makes me feel really disappointed. Theyre showing us that the district does not care. They dont care about our opinions. We have a voice and we should have a say. We are kids, we get it, you adults know things but we should have a say. Thank you. [applause] before the next speaker goes. I just want to say something. Usually we dont comment during public comment, we dont respond back. Im going to tell you a couple of things, a couple of you have said the Superintendents Office is cutting our budget. My hope is that tomorrow morning you will go and talk to your principal. There has been no notice whatsoever, from my office, about your budget being cut. Secondly, you talked about stir in the front, you talked about taking the cutback, or not doing the cuts, we have not proposed a cover your school. We have not communicated a cut to your school. This is for everyone. The rest of you can continue to share your comments, but we have not proposed a cover your school. One thing we know is that yes, your School Somebody said something about attendance. Its not about attendance, its about enrollment. It is currently under enrolled. At this point, the direction from the board, what they wanted us to do was to make sure if we are going to have to make cuts, that we do it in the most physically fiscally responsible way possible. All we are doing is looking. We know it is under enrolled. No proposal for 300,000, or any other number has been proposed. What really saddens me is that announcements are baited at your school were made at your school, i heard a letter was sent home saying we are proposing making cuts. We have not proposed a single cut from your school. The rest of you can continue, we will continue to listen fred i need you to understand the facts. It saddens me that it has taken on this mushroom like a, and spread all out that we. Go to your School Tomorrow and ask him if he has received anything from my office regarding we are taking 300,000 from his school. Or, if we proposed a cut at all . You ask him tomorrow morning. I wasnt going to, we had heard so much, what i dont want to d we cant have a discussion. Board members, we have to be really careful. While you do have to legally hear from members of the public, and i know you want to, you cannot legally have a discussion about their comments, unless it is noticed on the agenda. Continue, if you still want to speak your in line. I did prepare something. As an art teacher at mlk, we really do focus on Student Voice to what youve heard today. Whether it is true or not, its not the first time Something Like this has happened. I think the fact that just the thought came to us, it is triggering. I stood here three years ago and said some very similar things, and ask similar request. I do believe that this just goes to show the strength of our students, our families, and our staff, and the link that that we will go to to fight for our students. We are standing here today for our students, and i just want to refocus that. They made this today, they are holding it up. I know we keep talking about dollars, and budgets, these are the words from students today. This is their future. Its not just a matter of one moment, one school year, it is shaping the experiences they are going to have as adults, too. I am proud of everyone of you that are here today speaking on behalf of mlk. Thank you for listening. I am the peer resources teacher at mlk. I want to thank everyone for listening, and thank you for the clarifier. What marissa said about this being a little bit triggering for us might have been from a complex history, systemic and equity in our district. I think we are all aware of them and we are trying to fight. Everyone in this room wants what is best for the students, we know that. As we say one of our core values is social justice. As a district, we stand with those that are most vulnerable in our communities. I think what is important here, you need to take extra steps in the system, and to take care of those that need it the most, and to face that inequity. Mlk is changing and growing and we still have a long way to go. It is a place i want to continue to build, to be the place that im going to send my children to, as they grow up. I hope as discussion goes on, decisions are made, some of the schools that are still building will continue to get that extra love and attention. Thank you. Good evening. My name is leslie, and i work at Mlk Middle School. Doctor matthews, i appreciate, i want to invite folks to continue the conversation. That is not the messaging we have been getting, or the communication we have been getting. Our community has been told to cut 300,000 from our budget this year. This has brought up so many questions, and concerns, for our entire community. I feel really frustrated that this is happening to our community again. Several hundred thousand dollars were cut from our School Community we have to come down here in march of 2017, and here we are again fighting a similar battle. Several colleagues of mine are worried about their jobs and their ability to stay at mlk. Fear, uncertainty and mistrust have creeped into our communities. I feel frustrated that it feels like a larger system changing our youth and families. I feel frustrated that mlk students that they primarily in 94124 are getting resources taking away from them again. I feel frustrated that the system feels like its perpetuating a macro to bs. Even worse than the frustration and anger, the confusion that i feel. I just dont understand why our enrollment numbers are 50 less students this year, when they have been steady for the past nine years. I have exact numbers for that. I dont understand the reasoning behind why we arent being held. [inaudible] when we are working on our master schedule, there were 30 last students in our sixth grade. I understand and agree that that funding should follow students. We just want clarity. We want to conversation and really invite people to come to our Schools Community to see what we do, and to clear up any misconceptions. Thank you. [applause] i want to start by saying that i am proud of all of the students that showed up today. All of the families that showed up today. All of the staff that showed up today. Also the parents who are here, who might not even have students at mlk, who want to speak on our behalf. That really warms my heart. Whether or not what we have been hearing is to. I think that is a beautiful thing. To all be here and be unified. I am so proud to be here. Whatever direction it goes. My name is anna robert. I was involved in sfusd six years ago. I have been at mlk since then. I felt like it was important to be here, and to represent the students because that is why were here here in the first place. At mlk, we have been intentional about starting the school year with community building. One of the most touching ones i was part of was one that my students recommended because they felt like they were not part, feeling like they were included. Its really touching to talk with sixthgraders about what steps we can take to step stand up for each other to make sure every student is being included. Ive seen that ripple effect. I have a personal story of a student who started off the year being really frustrated. He told me that he hates school. I asked him why . He said he wanted to be at home, he would rather be playing video games. What have teachers done in the past that have supported you . He said nothing, i hate teachers the student was leading a group of students in an activity with a map, going and being totally involved. Hes coming in at lunch and getting help on his homework. These are things that take time. These are things that are intentional. It is going to continue to take time. I would just hate to see those relationships ripped apart. [applause] i am short. My name is elizabeth alberts. This is my eighth year of the district, seventh year with mlk as a special education teacher. I want to tell you some of the Amazing Things that are happening at our school that are funded by our school site budget. We have increased counseling support, which means it when are escalated they can have a counselor come to them instead of having to leave their School Community, and they can receive support. New teachers are getting support from our facilitator, and our instructional leadership team. This means that there has been less teacher turnover at our school. Which means students are getting experience teachers in the teachers are getting support. It also means that students and teachers can build relationships over time. I work mostly with eighth grade, but i go six grade field trips. By the time i see kids in eighth grade, i already have a relationship with them, because i have been there and i know their families, i have taught their siblings. Ive also seen teachers implementing project based learning. Students can engage, no matter how they learn, whether they are auditory learners are visual learners. They have a chance to feel successful at our school. We are starting to host more Community Events such as our biannual knights were students can showcase their work for parents and other community members. I am really proud of all of the students who spoke today. I think there is a lot of good things happening at mlk. I want to see them continue. Thank you. [applause] good evening. My name is and im a teacher at m. L. K. Middle school. I joined the Community Three years ago, and i have been student teaching there. I have about seven packets of letters [inaudible] our students are pretty amazing. I want you to know something. I have seen students grow with the trust, rely on a system that historically does not work for them. As a teacher, of color, i have been in system. There is a reason why i stayed at m. L. K. At 300,000dollar budget cut could directly impact our community. It ignores sfusds values of prioritizing student needs. Weve incorporated all of these amazing systems, and i just want you to know our students really rely on. Everything we do is student centered and student focused. We are reflective about the work we do. I feel frustrated that our communities going through this, even if there was somewhere along the way a misunderstanding. I feel stressed that our students are scared that their instability will be gone. I feel stressed that our students are here, on a tuesday night, wednesday night, fighting. I feel overwhelmed that i am a second year teacher of color, im spending my time at this Board Meeting fighting for our community, instead of curriculum planning for my students. I urge you to show our students that organizing has an impact, by keeping our community. I urge you to validate our students and feelings by keeping our community funds. I urge you to demonstrate to our students that they matter. Ultimately, we are here for them. Thank you. [applause] my name is colleen sampson. Im a sixth grade resource specialist here at m. L. K. I want to make one point of clarification. All of the preparation it took to be here together from students, teachers, parents, has been driven by students, teachers and parents. This is not something that was a top admin communication to us. This is my first Board Meeting. I was here a few years ago, this is now the second time in three years that i have gotten the news that our community is at risk of losing hundreds of thousands of dollars. On the one hand it is upsetting to be here. I am confused. Even a little bit more confused. I am not sure why some schools are being over enrolled why while ours is not. I am confused why we are fighting about about that now after school has started . After we have established a master schedule . [please stand by] when we implemented this we saw dramatic increase in the time students spent in the class learning. When w we started project base learning we saw students move into the classroom. You can see how awesome it is when the students are engaged in real world meaningful work. Budget cuts would make it impossible to continue with the system. It takes staffing. As it is, we are stretched thin because of the last time that funds were taken away. The cuts would also make it nearly impossible to continue to grow with project based learning programs at our school, and it would contribute to instability for our students. I wantin want to be clear what t are talking about. These are schools on the Southeast Side of the seggrated School District. Money is getting difficult from African Students and those who experience trauma. It is clear to me the district made a mistake when they allocated seats. It shouldnt employee our most vulnerable students who pay. Thank you. [applause. ] i am jackson whittington, eighth grade history teacher at mlk. We were told at staff meeting it is possible to lose three fulltime teachers, master schedule changed, we would Lose Community partners, counselors. We were told 300,000 cuts from the middle school, 600 cut from willie brown. We were told the information we were getting came from conversations with commissioner cook and hahn and names were dropped where this information was coming from. I find it very hard to believe