Upcoming Board of Education Meetings

There are two meetings of SFUSD’s Board of Education this week! The Curriculum and Program Committee meets Monday, September 9 and there will be a regular Board of Education meeting on Tuesday, September 10.

Augmented Curriculum and Program Committee Meeting: Monday 9/9 at 6:00PM

The full agenda is available here.

The committee will hear an update on the district’s nondiscrimination policy curriculum and will also have the opportunity to discuss and make a recommendation on a petition for charter renewal submitted by the New School. The New School submitted a charter petition to SFUSD in 2014 which was denied by the SFUSD Board of Education. The petition was subsequently approved on appeal to the California State Board of Education for a five year term. The New School is seeking to renew for an additional 5 year term and must first again seek approval from the local district (SFUSD).

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

• Commendations: there will be special resolution introduced honoring the 40th anniversary of Peer Resources.

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.

Advisory Committee Report

The Parent Advisory Council will be reporting to the Board of Education.

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:

Source: SFUSD. Click to view slides. These slides were presented at the Curriculum and Program committee (pre-amendment)

• The Board will vote on a resolution proposed by Commissioners Collins and Lam at the June 25, 2019 Board of Education meeting and amended and passed along with positive recommendations at the Curriculum and Program and Budget and Business Services committee meetings.

• The resolution, titled “Equity Studies to Implement Humanizing Learning Experiences for All Students PK-12 in SFUSD,” can be found here (as amended). if passed, would require:

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

  • SFUSD educators to analyze and interrupt systemic oppression as it impacts instruction and student experience — with the help of specific professional development

  • 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.

  • The Team and Task force would create a culturally/community responsive calendar and a rubric and resources for making sites visually welcoming

  • Mandatory professional development on implicit bias, restorative practices, and culturally responsive curriculum for all site and central office staff

Proposal for Immediate Action

• Commissioners Lopez and Sanchez will ask the board to approve a resolution endorsing the September 16, 2019 “Free our Children Day of Action” and stand in solidarity with Central Americans, Mexicans, latinx, refugees, and all immigrants.

Introduction of Resolutions

• A proposal has been submitted by the New School charter school to amend its charter to expand to serve grades 6-8 as well as K-5. This is considered a substantial amendment and the SFUSD Board of Education will have an opportunity to be briefed and weigh in at a subsequent meeting. It should be noted that the charter for the New School was approved by the state Board of Education, not the SFUSD Board of Education, but substantial amendments to the charter still must first come to the local Board of Education.

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.

We are not able to provide live-tweet coverage this week, we welcome guest tweeters! If you are following the meeting, please tag any highlights you wish to share with #BoardWatch and we will retweet them @PPSSFBoardWatch!