Upcoming SFUSD Board Meetings

Two meetings this week for the SFUSD Board of Education. Tuesday night is a regular meeting and Thursday the Ad Hoc Committee on Personnel Matters, Labor Relations and Affordability will meet. 

Regular Board of Education Meeting: Tuesday March 21 @ 6PM in the Board Room

Agenda for the meeting here

Highlights: The board will take action on four resolutions including: renewal of the Leadership HS charter, approving the Public Education Enrichment Fund (PEEF) spending plan for next year and changing official policies on transportation for students in special education and appropriate adult/student relationships.

Leadership High Charter Renewal

SFUSD must reauthorize district-supervised charter schools every five years. Leadership High School was founded in 1997 and is located in the Excelsior/Mission Terrace neighborhood.  The board delayed voting on the renewal when it was brought for approval on March 7, 2017, requesting, among other things, additional data on the academic performance of African American students.

Full text of the proposed board policy on the renewal petition for Leadership High School is here.  A breakdown of additional data requested the board can be found here.

Board Policy Updates

The board will vote on adopting an updated policy on transportation for students with disabilities, aligning with state law.

Full text of proposed board policy on "Transportation for Students with Disabilities" is here.

Another policy update to be decided on involves appropriate boundaries between adults and students inside and outside of the classroom. These guidelines would apply to volunteers, coaches, counselors, etc as well as classroom teachers and include rather detailed guidance on activities that may be "inappropriate" including restrictions on electronic communication.

Some examples of inappropriate adult/student conduct under this resolution include:

• being alone with a student and out of view of others
• inviting an individual student to an adult's home or visiting a student's home (unless that is part of the adult's work)
• any electronic communication not for legitimate educational purposes, unless a parent or principal is copied; coaches or advisors should only send electronic communication to a group, not an individual
• accepting a follow request from a student or non-adult former student on social media
• using a "pet name" for a student or singling a student out for special attention or friendship

This list is not exhaustive and there are some exceptions.  It is worth reading the full text of the proposed board policy here.

PEEF Budget

The board will vote on approving the Public Education Enrichment Fund budget. San Francisco voter approved PEEF funding provides additional funding to San Francisco schools for sports, libraries, arts, music and "other general uses" which include:

• school social workers and nurses (1/2 time position at all K-8 schools)
• the Peer Resources program
• wellness centers
• translation and interpretation services
• STEM education (including class-size reduction in 8th grade math classes)
• Restorative Practices
• high school credit recovery
• language pathways
• AVID programs
• African American Achievement & Leadership Initiative
• Career and Technical Education
• Digital Learning (new)
• programs supporting families in the Bayview (new)
• reading intervention program (new)
• more!

This year, it is projected that the PEEF budget will increase by about $3 million over last year with additional funding being spread across many PEEF funded programs as well as a handful of new priorities.

The full proposed  PEEF Budget Plan is here

Other things:

A resolution adopting a new board policy on grading will be introduced and sent to one or more board committees for discussion. The proposed policy:

• base grading on academic work and mastery of content rather than attendance, effort, conduct etc.
• prohibit penalizing PE grades if students don't have access to uniforms
• require full credit for makeup work in the case of excused absences
• require notice to parents when it becomes evident that a student is in danger of failing a course;
• prohibit the placement of information related to disabilities on grade transcripts
• outline methodology for calculating GPA.

Ad Hoc Committee on Personnel Matters, Labor Relations and Affordability: Thursday March 23 @ 6PM in the Board Room

Agenda for the meeting is here.

Highlights:  The board will discuss staff recruitment, teacher retention plans, potential for a parcel tax to fund teacher recruitment and salaries, and finally an update on the search for a new SFUSD superintendent.

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

At committee meetings, the public may comment on items discussed at the committee meeting or topics that fall under the purview of this committee. Usually it is not necessary to sign up in advance - speakers will be called to the podium when the chair determines it is time for public comment.

Recordings and Live Coverage of Meetings

You can access recordings of regular and committee meetings. Audio recordings are usually posted a few days after the meeting on the SFUSD site here. Regular board meetings are broadcast on KALW, SFGOVTV2, and via live webcast. You can also follow PPS-SF's twitter feed @ppssf, we'll be there on Tuesday and Thursday.