Upcoming Board of Education Meetings

There are two meetings of SFUSD’s Board of Education this week! The Curriculum and Program Committee meets Monday, August 26 and there will be a regular Board of Education meeting on Tuesday, August 27.

Augmented Curriculum and Program Committee Meeting: Monday 8/26 at 6:00PM

The full agenda is available here.

The only topic on the agenda for the meeting is a discussion of a resolution proposed by Commissioners Collins and Lam at the June 25, 2019 Board of Education meeting. The resolution, titled “Equity Studies to Implement Humanizing Learning Experiences for All Students PK-12 in SFUSD,” can be found here. if passed, would require:

Source: SFUSD. Click to view slides.

• SFUSD curriculum to center on decolonizing and anti-oppressive pedagogy

• SFUSD teachers and instructors to center on Ethnic Studies pedagogy

• The creation of an internal Equity Studies Team which would meet bi-weekly;

• The formation of a Community Task Force to create measurement metrics and monitor progress which would meet monthly.

• Mandatory professional development on implicit bias and restorative practices for all educators and central office staff

District staff will give a presentation on what it might look like to implement this resolution and how it aligns with work currently underway. This resolution will also go the the board’s Budget and Business Services Committee for fiscal analysis.

Regular Board Meeting: Tuesday 8/27 at 6:00 pm

You can find the full online agenda here.

Opening Items:

• Superintendent’s Report, Student Delegate Report

Public Comment:

Those who have filled out speaker cards in advance may speak on general matters. Most of the time there is a limit of 2 minutes per speaker for public comment.

Consent Calendar:

• This part of the agenda includes approval of contracts, MOUs, and personnel items (approving hirings, transfers, leaves of absence, separations etc.)

• Usually the board votes on these all together, but any board member may “sever” a particular item from the group to discuss it in more detail and vote on it separately

• By looking at the personnel items you may get a preview of who some new staff are that are joining our schools and central office! Certificated staff include those with credentials (like teachers and principals), other school district staff are listed as classified staff.

Action Items:

• The Board is not scheduled to vote on any resolutions or other action items tonight

Informational Items

Source: SFUSD. Click to view policy.

• There will be an update on the Middle Grades Redesign which is entering a pilot year.

• There will be a presentation on updates to SFUSD’s nutritional guidelines.

  • A report on the updates is here.

  • A link to the guidelines is here.

  • Changes were made with input from students who sought foods that were more diverse and culturally responsive

  • The changes seem in general to loosen some of the nutritional mandates. Some changes include allowing white rice, allowing some fried foods (like corn chips), allowing pork, and allowing some canned vegetables to be used.

Introduction of Board Policies

• Several board policies (new or updated) are being introduced tonight - they will be discussed in one or more committee meetings and then come back for a vote of the full board at a future meeting. There is an opportunity for public comment on these proposed policies.

• The full text of policies is available in attachments to the online agenda. Some of the items being updated include:

  • An update to the board policy on Sexual Health and HIV/AIDS Prevention that would explicitly add gender identity and gender expression, and affirmative consent as topics that must be included in sexual health education as well as providing parents with information about human trafficking prevention,

  • An update to the policy on Grooming and Dress to, among other things, make clear students' rights to dress in a manner consistent with their gender identity or gender expression,

  • Updates to policies on HS graduation requirements and rights of married/pregnant/parenting students.

Public Comment

There is always an opportunity for public comment at school board meetings.

At regular meetings, speakers may speak to any item being voted on or may give general public comment during the time reserved for "Public Comment on General Matters." This item has recently been moved earlier on the agenda, so if you wish to speak, make sure you arrive by 6PM! Speakers must sign up in advance, either by calling the board office at (415) 241-6493 or filling out a speaker card at the meeting and handing it to Esther Casco, the executive assistant to the board, who sits next to the podium. Speaker cards must be turned in before the agenda item being spoken to is officially "called."

At committee meetings, those wishing to speak may sign up in advance or simply approach the podium when the committee chair calls for public comment.

Members of the public are typically allowed two minutes to speak, but the time given may be shorter if there are a large number of speakers.

Recording and Live Coverage of Meetings

You can access recordings of regular and committee meetings.

Video recordings of regular meetings (not available for committee meetings)

Audio recordings of committee meetings (click where it says "audio recording," under the meeting agenda)

Recordings are usually posted a few days after the meeting.

Regular board meetings are also broadcast live on KALW, SFGOVTV2, and via live webcast.

Follow our live-tweet coverage of Tuesday’s meeting on our new BoardWatch Twitter @PPSSFBoardWatch #BoardWatch!