San Francisco Unified School District Board - Regular Meeting

All right, let's go ahead and get started. Uh, good evening everyone. Welcome to the fourth meeting of the ad hoc committee on public engagement. Uh, the fourth and final session. So, I just like to thank everyone for those who've come to more than one meeting or those who are here for the first time. Uh, we really appreciate it. This has been phenomenal. Uh we also have interpretation services and so I will turn it over to the interpreters. There's also information in the back for those who are here who may need interpretation. Um but with that may I turn it over to the interpreters to also uh share with their languages.

Sure. Yes, please. Hello. Thank you.

Hello. Spanish. Oh, connect. Thank you. So, as we move through this uh presentation, we're continuing our work to refine how the board of education connects with the community that we serve. Um, so I'm going to go to slide three. And just as a brief outline of the agenda today. So, as I mentioned, this is our final meeting. And so, what we'll do is we'll recap the arc of the committee, review the updated board engagement plan, move into small group discussions to talk about implementation, and then conclude with public comment and, you know, brief kind of closing remarks. So if you go to the next slide, uh as a reminder, as we've done for every single committee meeting, we want to remind what we are doing, what's in scope, and what we are not doing or what is out of scope. And so uh within scope, you know, we're here fundamentally our focus is on

specifically how the board engages the public to inform our decision- making as we look at school year 26 27. Uh we're looking for authentic ways to reflect the community values in in the work that we do and to be able to engage uh the the goals, guardrails, and strategic decisions. What we are not doing in these meetings is adjudicating specific current events whether that be school consolidations uh student assignment. We're also not revising any current goals or guard rails uh as those are not currently expiring and we just extended those. Um so that's just a reminder of the scope of this committee. If you go to the next slide, we'll talk about the arc of the committee. So in slide six, here's the journey so far. So this has been a narrowing process where we started very broadly in the first meeting to talk about what are the issues that people care about and how do they seek to be heard by the board. We took that feedback from the community and in meeting two we then went to what do those top ideas look like specifically around um when we think about routine engagement when we think about the major decisions and also then uh taking out emergent issues as that was not the top of the agenda for community members and then looking at how do we engage that led us to meeting three where we came back with a draft plan based on the feedback that we received from community members and we gathered feedback on meeting three to further refine and figure out what was there, what was missing and how do we further edit this. So tonight based on that feedback, we're focused then on the

implementation. uh you know what what are the plans that we need to consider to make this a reality for our school and community as we go into the 2627 school year. You'll notice at the bottom of this slide there are two call outs. The first being that as I mentioned emergent issues dropped off because the thought and the idea was if we are engaged with major decisions as well as routinely with ongoing public engagement then hopefully we catch issues before they become a crisis before uh there's a challenge that requires something for emergent issues and that's what we'll test out this coming year. The other thing you'll notice is we are now focused on routine engagement because the as we discussed in meeting three uh when we think about major decisions that is highly dependent on how do we uh collaborate and co-design with school district staff and we have yet to receive a detailed plan of public engagement for the major decisions being considered uh by the superintendent and staff. So the board is not going to engage in that now. When we do have an implementation plan, when we do have a public engagement plan for those major decisions from staff, then we can engage uh on that matter. So tonight, what we'll primarily be talking about is the routine ongoing engagement by the board uh when it comes to public engagement. All right. So if we move to so this this is just talking about major decisions a strategic pivot uh as we um you know have have pushed off major decisions as we don't have the the staff plan um so can you guys hear me okay am I not

speaking

sure sure thank you mic all right so with that being said. Um, what we'll do now is turn to page eight and the up updated board engagement plan based on the feedback that we received in meeting three as well as from some of the surveys. So, as a as a follow-up reminder as well, what we did recognizing that and and as we continue to improve and get better and better, what we also did was in addition to the engagement that we received online and in person in meeting three, we also then sent out a survey. So asynchronously, community members, whether they be in the advisory committees, whether they be in community- based organizations or at school sites, could engage asynchronously using the survey to tell us what their thoughts were, to tell us what they prioritized. Because part of this plan is creating the plan. And then also what we'll do is go to the uh present this plan to at a regular board meeting and make sure that this aligns with what all of the school board members uh believe must happen and they also prioritize. And then we also need to prioritize with staff what are the resources required. So, we recognize there's a lot and you'll see as we go through this, there is a lot that we seek to do and we wanted to take stock from community members through the survey and through the work that we did in meeting three to make sure that we're prioritizing, we understand what the priority is for folks. And so, the way in which you'll see this presented is in the order of priority that we received

from community members when we took everything into consideration. And so if we go to the next slide, um first and foremost, part of our focus is looking at student outcome focused governance training. So for those who've attended regular board meetings, if you ever listen to schoolboard members, you'll hear us always reference student outcome focused governance. That is the model in which we subscribe to. President Kim starts every meeting of the school board with uh understanding and recognizing naming that that is the model by which we govern focused on our goals. And so as part and parcel of this, what we want to make sure we do is uh make sure that we host a public training session on what is student outcome focused governance and cover the difference between the board's role, the superintendent's role, and how we use visions, values, goals, and guardrails to monitor progress. Next slide. So what we heard in the survey and then also in our conversations is it's very important to engage at the school site level. So once per semester commissioners will sit down with organized school groups like PTA, like school site councils. And this isn't just a visit. It's a deep dive to understand the lived experience as well as the community data that we're receiving from school communities themselves. We're in a semester.

Yeah. Never mind. No, no, no worries. S.

So, so um what what we'll do is um compare the data that we're getting say at a school site level that's being collected and reconcile that with the district level data that we receive. So in in a way we're able to ground truth that and understand from our community members themselves what that means. Uh and so if each commissioner is engaging with one school per semester that's about 14 schools that we're engaging with. And that's not to say that we're not engaging with all of our school sites. But really this is just a ground truthing exercise with about 14 various different schools whether it be at the high school level, middle school level, elementary school level to understand and be able to share that data between us uh and and again reconcile and understand how the how the ground reality is shaping up compared to what we're hearing at say the 30,000 foot lift uh at the district. Next slide. The third is complementaryary to all of this. The board is also understanding what's going on on the ground when we conduct board shadow days. And so this is if if you consider it a day in the life of to truly understand our schools. We seek to be present during a school day shadowing uh staff, teachers, students to understand what is the day-to-day reality that our schools have. We've already piloted this this year. President Kim had uh assigned all of the commissioners to schools. We visit in cohorts of two to three members I believe in general. Uh we did trying to remember did we do a middle school and a high school

this year if I remember correctly. Oh and elementary. Okay. That's right. Um, so we were able to to really see what's going on and be able to speak plainly with parents, with students, with our staff members to understand uh what some of the realities were that that are happening to make sure that the decisions that we make at a schoolboard level are grounded in the reality uh and and needs of our our schools.

That was great. All right. So, moving on to the fourth piece of this school engagement plan that is a summary of all the work that we've done together with the community over the last three or four months. Next, we have the advisory councils and committees. And so, oops, sorry. So here uh the idea is that commissioners are attending the monthly or quarterly advisory council and committee meeting and every committee should have attendance by commissioner at least twice during the school year and at least by two different commissioners so that we're able to rotate commissioners around in an organized manner with the help of staff to make sure we're all getting out there are we understand and recognize that our advisory councils and committees do important and tremendous work uh with our student populations, with our community members. And so part and parcel of that is looking at how do we be how do we make sure that we are in coordinated manner uh attending attending the meetings. Uh and for those who are less familiar with this, this includes groups like the African-American parent advisory council, uh QTPAC, uh AsianAmerican Advisory Council, many of the uh those required by city charters by the California Department of Education. So there are many we have a variety and a robust variety of different committees that then can be attended by commissioners.

All right. And finally, uh, and certainly not least, we have our community- based organizations. So, with our community- based organizations, we will hold three general listening sessions with our CBOS that work with the district. And, uh, you know, I I I think what what we heard is work with the community- based organizations to understand what what would work best. So, do we have general sessions? Do we have sessions with specific CBOS? This is something that we look forward to thinking about in the implementation and part of this conversation that we'll talk about a little later is how do we implement these. So certainly when we put this into practice in the school year in the 26 27th school year we'll discuss this more with our say in this case the community based organizations and tonight we have an opportunity with our advisory council members our advance advisory council staff as well as our community based organizations if there are things that we should consider as we think about implementation certainly let us know. All right. So, that was a brief summary and you should have, you know, in in the materials if you want to uh look over this in more detail. The these recommendations are printed out and I believe they're available online as well. They're attached to the agenda for those that are online. So, you can read through these and understand a bit more about the description, the commissioner expectations, staff expectations uh for conducting this work going forward. And again, what we'll talk about uh and what we wanted to make sure we did was to prioritize these. This is in the order of priority that we heard from the survey so that when we talk about how to resource these with staff, we understand

um how to do so, what is most important. So with that, I'm going to transition to our schoolboard member discussion, our ad hoc committee discussion on this to uh hear from my fellow commissioners what their feedback is on this document, how this looks, if there are any suggestions or changes. And uh I think what we'll also do is then stick the document up so that we can track little changes. Don't make any changes and hold out any changes you've got. Okay,

got it. Just a correction. So I'm going to keep track of the changes. The interpreter didn't hear the question. As we go through this, I will very slowly read out some of the changes following along can do so. and um and keep track as well. All right, commissioners.

Well, I would just like to first thank you, Chair Gupta, and Chris, who has been staffing this and all of the staff in the room who's been working to support this. Thank you so much because I'd say it's really nice to actually name expectations for us as commissioners and so and shared expectations and how we're going to actually engage with community and what the expectations is uh or are I think is is really it's it's a great start to the work of engaging with the community. So I'm so excited about that. Um, and I, uh, you know, I part of the work that we signed on to in the student outcomes focused governance was making sure that we train community. Anyone who wants to learn more should have the opportunity to do so. So, that's great. Um, you know, I love more school site engagement. I know one of the things that we did here, there's the tension between how much we can do in our roles, which are very much part-time, versus um one of the things we heard in our breakout session last month was, "Wait, if you only go to one or two school sites a year, you know, like it's going to take you 10 years to see all the school sites." And and we recognize the tension there. Um and would love to sign us up to hit every school within a year or two. and then there's only so much commissioner capacity and commissioner time to go around. So that tension um I think I'm hoping many of us will try and get to more than just one a semester. Um but love that love that it's named that one is the floor. Um so um the shadow days have been fun. So I've really appreciated those. President Kim, thank you for naming those and starting that process. I I actually learned a lot. There were some great conversations at both of the school sites that I attended this year. Um, and I appreciate the continued focus on our advisory council. I'm just going down

the list here, by the way, in case you know for anyone who's wondering. I'm not rambling as much as I normally do. There is actually a method to my madness here. Um, but the uh attendance at advisory councils and committees, there's a lot of great work that happens there. So, one of the things that I'm really excited about is to see that um you know, we will be reflecting our site visits and our um advisory council visits back by um reporting back at board meetings. Um so that we can all share in those learnings. I think that's important. Um, and considering that our advisory councils and our CBOS, community- based organizations very often have the strongest relationships outside of say the classroom teacher with our students. I'm really excited to see that we're naming that engagement as well. Um, I think the one thing, and I can't believe I didn't bring this up earlier, so my apologies, Chair Gupta, was, um, I know we do a lot of informal conversations with our labor partners, you know, like we all have strong relationships with various labor partners and we do check-ins, but um, if we're going to memorialize meetings with our CBOS and our parent advisory councils, perhaps we want to memorialize, you know, regular check-ins with UESF, UASF, SEIU, FTE, you know, all of our, you know, all of our partners in some way, shape, or form. Um, so just that's a a thought to the one thing that I apologize for not bringing earlier. Don't mean that as a gotcha. I was just looking through and it and I also re the reformatting of this. I Chris, I'm assuming that was you. Um, this makes it I think very very readable. So, thank you. Um, I like the breakdown of this. So, um I think um I'm the staff expectations I know

that we don't have the board liaison in house right now that we hope to have. Um and we're working on hiring a person. So, I think that'll be really helpful in actually really operationalizing some of this work. Um and and I I appreciate you also naming where you know initially our scope was to look at um major decisions as well and but recognizing like that's not just our work that's the superintendent and board lead or and district leadership as well and it's not fair for us to put together a plan um without understanding um her plan and her team's plan as well. So um as much as I wish we could have tackled that, I I understand why we are where we are. Um, and so I appreciate the work that's gone in and and appreciate community for being here and participating.

It's a good thing you didn't have a threem minute timer on me today. It was really well put. Thank you, Commissioner Fisher. It was well put. It was the timer part. No, no, sorry. It was well put. All the praise that you gave. Kidding. Just I I think you covered it well in terms of the the spirit of everything. I um on the on the staff part um or on the on the engaging our labor partners part uh if you go back to the original charter of this there was a call out to we are not that's right

speaking to um the labor the the staff the labor piece of this and this also has to do with the way in which the board engages uh the role of the board the role of the superintendent and I might invite you in a moment to speak to this as Well, President Kim, given that you you originally put together the the charters, but um I think it's important where our our uh we supervise one staff member and that is the superintendent. Um and so we all informally engage with our labor partners. We always have that open door. Even in here, you know, we we welcome all our labor partners to engage when we're say for example going to school sites and so forth, but the primary the primary audience that we seek to engage here are our school community members. And of course, if there are staff, if they're educators, administrators that are part of that, we absolutely welcome that. We welcome their perspective. Um and we recognize that that is a whole other um group of individuals within the district.

Great. Um oh if if there was anything else you wanted to share as far as No. Um yeah, I I think charter I think you covered it. Um uh likewise I I won't repeat all the wonderful glowing praise from Commissioner Fischer, but um I I do appreciate the way that this I didn't realize this was um ranked my my priority, if you will. Um, so that I look at it. Uh, yeah, I didn't notice that. So, I appreciate that. Um, my one piece of feedback is to change the name of board shadow days, which first of all, it was B shadow student days,

but this does sound creepy. So, um I would say that we just um reframe uh this and you know I think the equivalent is like instructional walkthroughs that sites or that staff do and this isn't quite as structured as that but um I think thinking of a name that captures our desire to to be in and connect with sites uh uh while I mean the whole purpose of creating the shadow student days was for us to literally be shoulder-to-shoulder with kids experiencing instruction in classrooms and so what do we need to do like what what what would counter that so I think that's the one um area experiencing something

maybe sounds good to me student experiencing gosh go back to being it just sounds so like middle school dance vibes you know under the sea so um we don't need to come up with a name now but it could be just something. Oh, do we do have to this will then get approved by this committee to then bring forward uh we just say school school walkthroughs board school walks.

So I think coming up with a name that differentiates it from our intent of item number two is going to be important. Right. And I think the the focus is on um the parents and you know the connecting with parents in the morning but also um you know understanding the student experience as much as possible right I think those are Hello Dr. Sue. Thank you. It's good to see you. The work of a superintendent is never done. Thank you for making time for us. Um so um just some something that names the fact that you know like school site engagement looking at the data you know connecting with the SSC is a little bit different than you know immersing ourselves in the student experience of a school day right

does that so yeah learning box board I like that board learning board learning box commissioner Fischer does that sounds can tell That was uh that was offered by a teacher. But yeah, I I like that. Yeah. Yeah. Four learning walks. Let's do it. Four learning walks. Okay. So, I'm going to make that change to this document.

Here we have a chance to look at these. Okay. We're just going through you have anything you want to Hello, Superintendent Sue. Thanks for thanks for joining. Um so so as we go through this uh I will in superintendent too if you if if there's anything a as as we go through this I know you just sat down um feel free to name anything that um that you see but take your time to do do what you got to do um where the shared understanding of why we're not focusing on mg

just to be transparent and make sure that I'm sharing what I'm saying up here with the whole community. I was just um recapping for Dr. Sue uh the slide the major decisions and emergent issues and our commitment to have some kind of board engagement around major decisions, but wanting to make sure that it's in collaboration with staff and feedback around major decisions as well and not and so that's why it's not covered as part of this plan and we will revisit that. Um, so yeah, just pointing that out. That's So, thank you. Great. All right.

If that's all of the uh red lines on this, then I might move to a uh move to vote an approval of this engagement plan. Um, so on the I on the agenda, can I just ask a Yeah. Yeah, please.

Just a process question. I know we're going to do breakouts and we're going to talk to community next. I'm wondering um do we before we officially vote, should we do that community engagement before we vote on community engagement strategies? um or um I should have asked this question earlier instead of um but I think my question is like what would be the point of the breakout sessions after the fact if we've already voted on this and making sure that we have community feedback and potentially accept their red lines before voting.

It's a great question. So in the last meeting in meeting three that was really where it was what will formulate and what will form this plan and now it's the implementation piece. So it's sort of how do we implement what this plan is given that we've already done the how do we form the plan part. So but before we can talk about implementation we want to make sure we have an approved plan for implementation. So that that was the thinking behind we did the common suggestions that could then get incorporated especially given that this is the last meeting and there are no more uh ad hoc on public engagement pieces. So that's what we captured in meeting two and meeting three and so as we think about how to implement this then this is where we the implementation feedback is what we want to get on the approved plan. There's a

Yeah. So, the one the one specific public comment I will just reflect back from our last meeting from fellow Spac member um former chair Hava Kelly was that part of the community engagement. It's listening to us and then developing the plan but coming back to us and making sure you got it right. Right. So, I think um that's where I would Yeah, that's where I I would love to make sure that before we vote on it, we got it right, you know. So, Oh, I see. Well, if you want to respond to that, I'll not to mess up your whole agenda or anything.

No, no, that's that that's fine. Um I mean I fine. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. I think that's actually don't know if we can because we do public com

accessibility, Miss Robinson. No, but they can't hear you. Yeah.

All right, I got you guys. Sorry about that. um that I would agree with uh Commissioner Fischer and the communities uh being able to see what uh the reflection back and even if it's just a small portion of time just an idea of having that final review with the community or input or feedback from community before a decision is made by you all as a board would um be beneficial. Um additionally I am confused on the voting of of I'm sorry, the discussion of implementation. While I do believe uh it is great to have community feedback and input on what the things are that should be implemented, I don't think that is necessarily the job of community to decide or choose or figure out how you all will implement what we've given you. So it's kind of like digging into our brains twice. So, not only developing and engaging around the pieces that make the plan, but now we got to figure out how you can go out and give us the plan. I just um think that and because it's our final meeting, that means that even if I tell you you should do it this way and you don't do it that way, then I only find that out when you say, "Oh, this meeting is happening this day, this place, this." And so, um yeah, that's just that's just my two cents. Um, thanks for sharing uh, Marishia and and uh, I I want to um, maybe add uh, some context to relieve the pressure a little bit here of um, a couple things. One, this whatever we discuss and I don't know how you're going to find out the agenda. However we next engage um whatever we come what comes from this committee will need to go to

the board anyhow and the board will then may make further edits right based on whatever it is that the board wants to do as a whole. Um so our our purpose today is to ask ourselves do we have confidence in the recommendations and would go to the board. So that's one. Two to your question around just like does this work is like a question that we should be asking ourselves every year. And so I I think one note maybe Chris uh you can just note this for our governance calendar is actually to find a time in a board meeting to circle back to this and ask ourselves you know after half a year of doing this engagement does this actually get the kind of feedback that we want to be getting uh in the engagements themselves and so that might be something we add to our our multi-year governance calendar that I

mean like a progress monitoring session like a progress monitoring session We are progress monitoring an ad hoc committee that was how many more words can we use to describe the things that we're going to do? should have had a um so I just wanna I I'll say that because I I do think you know part of the conversations that we had at the inception of this committee was you know this is a it's a first intentional elegant step but it is just our first step right so there's going to be multiple iterations of this I'm sure things will adjust and we will need to pivot as we go this is not turning into a board policy just to be clear this is turning into a discussion at a board meeting for us to adjust as we go right So because there is some limitations to a board clause

I appreciate that clarification and you know we've done like the baseline level implementation of the student outcomes focused governance. We have given the superintendent guard rails but we have not given oursel guardrails and that's the next step in student outcomes focused governance that we have to that we really should commit to if we're going to keep moving forward with this process. And I think um in recognition that this might not be a board policy, but this should very much I think influence any guardrails that we put around ourselves as a board. Yeah.

Um so yeah, really grateful for this work. Thank you. So, um the the way that we have our three goals and our five guard rails for the student outcomes focus governance like and they're all they're all framed negatively like the the superintendent shall not make any major decisions without consultation for the um with community, right? The the superintendent shall not neglect the whole child just to meet the goals. Thanks. I'm paraphrasing. Um

excuse me. Great job. Oh, thank you. Um, but we also should um we should put guard rails around oursel um in in a similar fashion. So, that's the that'll be the next step if we you know really I feel like I'm channeling AJ here. Um if we move take student outcomes focused governance to the next step. I appreciate that. Um yes and and part of the to be clear part of the implementation conversation you know I think it's rooted or should be rooted in

the idea of you know when we when we engage community it's not to or for it's with right it's not to community it's not for community it's with community so one of the pieces for example I'm looking forward to um I see our CIA representatives over there and sort of when we think about community based organ organizations and how we actually put this into practice. There are many ways in which that might look and so it'll be interesting to hear from for example CA as well as other community- based organizations. Is it useful to have a general session with all kinds of community- based organizations or should we separate it out into you know different different types maybe smaller meetings. So what does that look like? I wouldn't want to presume that that takes one form or another, but rather work with our community- based organization community to then figure out what will then lead to the greatest, you know, if we're all focused on the impact and how we serve our students and our community and make sure that we're rooted in that voice, what does that mean? How do we best do that in in that communication?

All right. Yes, please. Um, someone monitoring the chat by the way to make sure that it's I just wanted to note in the uh draft plan that the CBO section is not the frequency isn't defined. It says three general sessions, but it doesn't say if that's per year or um per I assume it's probably per year, but I think adding that in uh for clarity is helpful. I'll make the recommendation to add it in per year. I agree. Perfect. Okay, thank you. Oops. Oh, I think we wanted to get right.

Is that what we want to do? Okay. Yeah, that is fine. Do you want to Sorry. Take turns pass. Just one clarifying question. Are is there a publication of all CPOS so that as you're starting to engage CPOS wants to engage through those CPOS they have visibility like we have all of our advisory committees published we have all of our schools published question is there a place where the CPOS are publicly sorry wonder if there's a stat I don't think there's

I don't think there's a Oh no, you're getting old.

Thank you for the question. Um, it's Maria. Hi everyone. Um, uh, the question was, do we have a place where all CBOS are listed? Um, I believe we do have a d a directory. Um, but it is not comprehensive. I I do feel that we need to perhaps update it. So that would be a really great first step for us. Um, and just to be mindful, some of our CBOs are um, they're they're brought into our schools via the PTAs or PTO's as well. So, it's not just your traditional thinking of a CBO that gets, you know, that the larger ones and some of them are smaller. So, I think we need if we want to be very inclusive, we can bring all of that together. So I I want to recognize that uh and I appreciate superintendent Sue. I think the spirit of it should certainly be inclusi inclusive. So it's not just you know if we do have an existing list and there are other CBOS you know how do we make sure that we are inclusive in in that. Um I recognize we've been fielding you know hands in this room but I also want to recognize there are those that are online. So, if people do have uh comments or or suggestions as we as we're talking through this online, please feel free to raise your hand and we will do our best to recognize you.

I think I see a chat here. So, I just want a couple chats. Oh, nope. 620. What time is it? 647. Okay, never mind. Then it was questions about low volume. I don't think we have any anyone asking about I'm so sorry. Okay. Do you remember when you were inclusion? Yeah.

We're live. that quoting you my kid

like I say about my that's my that's fine like I always say about my children everything they're doing is developmental project and Go ahead.

Go ahead.

Yes. I'm a father of uh two soon three uh children at er elementary. Um so just for context like you know if you had an interview and the employer said you know we have the most meetings I don't think that would be a selling point right and that's the impression I get where like for for things like this or for guard one a lot of the metrics it seems is like you know how much how much consultation we're doing how many you know people hours of the community times we're taking and in my view that's not the target that's the currency right that we're spending our time and then the target the metric trick or or at least a goal we should be um you should be committing yourself to is like demonstrate the impact. So like we're doing all this consultation like you know like the budget last fall how did that make our decision our proposals change compared that if we didn't do it and I guess showing that evidence like with you know show us that we're not wasting our time but also I think that's really for it's not the amount of consultation. So that's a suggestion for more for the kind of tracking this guard rail, tracking these goals. Right.

So I I appreciate that. I'm gonna I'm gonna try to I'm going to try to paraphrase um Mr. Marshall, and you could tell me if I'm if I'm not capturing it, but uh the comment that was being made was right now public engagement is maximized for quantity of public engagement as opposed to ultimately a better outcome. And so, how do we get a better outcome from this process that actually makes a measurable difference in the outcomes that we seek and that we've prioritized as a student outcome focused goal? Yeah, I want to go first.

Um, I mean, I think it's a really worthy question to try to answer together. Um, I mean, I kind of think of the IEP2 kind of spectrum here of like what is what exactly is the kind of decision that we are trying to make, right? Um, and what is then everyone's role in that decision- making that is really critical to just to actually then saying did something actually change, right? Um, and is this, you know, to use that language, is it a is it a consultation? Is it a co-creation? Is it a you're the decision maker? We're simply facilitating, right? Like, so I think there's like different levels there that we should probably consider. Um, I mean, my orientation to this from the beginning, I think I've shared this with commissioners, is is we're going from zero to something, which is great. And so creating the space to at least have those conversations and then see what kinds of decisions that we're going to be using in this is part of I think the learning journey that we're in right now because because I don't know if we have a strong answer to that right now, you know.

So I really appreciate Mr. Maron's question because a lot of like I've we ask this question a lot at our advisory committees at least the ones where I'm a member of you know well very often when I was chair of the CAC we would have folks come in and just or district folks be like hey we want to present to you on blah blah blah and so my question as chair before putting them on the agenda was always why you know help me understand why we should give you our valuable time when we only meet once a month you know and a lot of times it was Well, I'm required to present to you once a year, right? And it's like, no. If you can tell me that you want our feedback and it's really going to be impactful on a decision or a policy or something that you and your department are doing, great. That's why we exist. But if we're just checking a compliance box for you, you know, sorry, but pound sand. Um, so I think if I could, um, pound sand means go away. Sorry. like pound along the beach. I don't know, maybe it's a Midwestern thing, but we don't have beaches in the Midwest, so I don't uh uh but I think really for me like a measure is, you know, can we, you know, like like I was saying earlier that Hava said last week, you know, like you've got to like come back to us and show us show us that you actually heard what we said and give us a chance to validate that. Like that's what Hava was saying. So I think for me the questions that I ask are as a commissioner what did I learn by engaging with community? How is that changing or impacting the decisions we made? And if we've heard something from community that we're not going to implement, at least honor their time by explaining why. Right? So I think those are the three metrics that I would use, but I'm not really sure like how as a board we would operationalize that. But that's kind of like my internal metric for making sure that I'm

doing good community engagement. So I don't know if just and that's just reflecting on Mr. Moshan's comment. I I don't think I can add add much to it. I mean it is a continual work in progress and maybe the only the only other thing is um don't ask a question that you're not going to do something about. So

yeah, exactly. So um and just also a an appreciation Mr. from Russian. I read your articles. I have read your articles and they're great. I appreciate the rigor. Um, so I think at this at this point if I I see one other comment. I I just want to also be conscious if there are any other comments or questions online. Um, and just to just and and don't worry if you don't have one now, but you have something formulating in your head. Here's what's going to happen. We're going to go to small groups where we can talk about this further and then we will have public comment at the end because you know the community engagement ad hoc. So you know there's there's plenty of opportunity. It's never a bad time. So um so with that or did you have one other thing or Okay. So we'll we'll we'll break into small groups now and uh and continue the conversation. Um, Commissioner Fischer is going to be online for those that are online and uh and then we'll we'll come back.

Thank you everyone so far for a great conversation and we'll come back. Give me a few minutes to

online folks. Give me a minute to change locations. I'll join you in a couple sec seconds. There we go.

Hey everybody. I think we have staff mostly here. Do we have any public members who want to comment? Hi Brenda. Hi. Recording in progress. So all right, I mean I am happy to ask the questions and um you know staff feedback is important too as well as community feedback. So um does anyone have any feedback on the plan um or the logistics of outreach best practices they want to share especially like those of you who are here from you know who have done the work in community love to Brenda love to hear from you

oh I was gonna say Laura just unmuted I thought she had something to Are they broadcasting us in the other room now or did they take all that down?

I just want to thank you for all the work that you all have been doing. I've been part of these meetings. It's really enlightening to to connect with the community and get that one-on-one connection. I think our community really needs it. Um I know it's difficult to reach out to specifically the community that I currently support. I think it's very difficult for them to show up in person and oftentimes when I encourage this it's a space of discomfort for them um because they feel like maybe their insight is not um worth it or because they feel like what am I going to say in these meetings. So I think again encouraging them and and also hosting a space for them to um for you all to connect with them on one-on-one basis to make you feel more human to them. That would be if that's something to say. I think that's important. So, I appreciate that a lot,

Brenda. Thank you. I And we heard that in our last meeting. Um, Vid was talking about that. He's the um Asian-American parent advisory council lead. He was talking about how sometimes it's hard to get families to want to come out into these spaces and it's so important to go to them. So, it's I really appreciate you highlighting that and lifting that up again here today. But hosting a spa like what would it look like? Where do you where would be the best places like how how would those connections be authentically made in your professional opinion?

I mean going to the spaces they regularly um visit. So like if they go to the to get free food so going to those those spaces um going into the offices that they the parent rooms at school for instance at our room we have parents that come in constantly and it's a safe space that they've created for themselves. So going into spaces that they regularly visit I think is important. Um the elax they all the community building in that and I think personally with the groups that I work with let's talk about the migrant group. Um the migrant office is constantly open and so we host our parents there during our pack. But I think it's important to go to the food uh for instance where where they go to the CVO's um connecting with them in the community and showing them like hey I'm here with you and not in such a formal space sometimes that's a little intimidating but like being there in part of the community I think is important.

Okay. Okay. And and I think also like the where there are community celebrations where we could show up too, right?

Yes. So I I will highlight that superintendent Sue, shout out to her because showing up to the LCC event, that's major, right? It's major and I know that you were there as well, but that's major because I think being in the spaces when you are invited and having, you know, folks that are and the higherups have to say like some and so like coming into that space and and asking having the questions answered in a space that feels safe and not in a space that's so formal like going to the board that's a little scary and to you know have all you sit in a circle and see the families and have them want to come up and ask I think that's a little intimidating. meeting. Um, but like when we do host these events, for instance, the LCC really appreciated the fact that she was there and they were able to connect with her and it it made you and again I say it all the time, it we're all human, but I think of oftent times we lose that when we are in the positions that we are in. So really meeting them in a space that feels safe in these community events that that our community is organizing. I think that's important because that you'll connect with them and then they'll see you, oh, they're they're an ally.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right. And I I think especially right now we have some families that are desperately trying to see to be seen, right? And and feel that they're they belong. And so,

absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. Right now, I think our community is really targeted. um they are really frightened and culturally it's oftent times don't be seen don't be heard don't get in trouble right that's the motto so oftent times that's that's sort of the the the way we sort of maneuver the way we we function through through the way like we are we try to follow the straight line because that's culturally what we've been taught right you have to do the right thing but oftent times that that sort of entails like lowering your voice lowering your opinion because if you do that you don't know what's going to happen. It's not often instilled in us to have a voice. That's something that I had to learn in this space. I had to learn how to speak up. I had to learn how to voice my opinion in a space that often felt intimidating and often felt that, you know, because the way I looked, people were not going to take me seriously. So, all of these things, I really really sympathize with my community. So in the space and in the position that I hold, I hold it very dear and near to my heart because I was one of their children at one point and now I'm a parent. So now I understand. So thank you.

That was really important to hear, Brenda. Thank you. I think of all the the places that that's true like the I mean that resonates as a you know as a parent I mean you know as a as a young woman growing up in the 70s was just smile more young lady right you know and um um and as a parent of a kid with an IEP it's just like just you know go along don't make waves don't make trouble. You want to you want, you know, don't make waves for your kid at the school, right? And so then having to step into the advocate role was initially, you know, to advocate for my kid for more services was very, very uncomfortable. And I recognize that also comes from my place of privilege as a white woman. So, um, when you add on the the all the layers and, um, and intersectionalities, yeah, that really resonates. Thanks, Brenda. All right. Do the rest of you lurkers have anything you'd like to add? I use the term lurker lovingly, by the way. Um, if anyone would love to hear more more thoughts if anyone wants to share them. Wish I could offer you all some burritos through the computer. Um, okay. So, outreach best practices. There's a couple other questions here. Um, yeah, neighborhood institutions. Um, okay. So, Brenda,

yes, you name you named the I think the where and the what, but as far as the the who, are there any like trusted community partners, leaders, you know? Yes. who to and I think I heard you say that like family liaison, you know, those community um school coordinators or family liaison or the person who runs the parent room is often like the the the great connection

and oftent times you should even look into the secretaries. They have such a good connection with families. Um, I see it at mission, you know, that the moms come to the secretary or to the to the um to the counseling office and I see them connect and and oftentimes it's like sort of say that again. Like yachti hold. Yes. Y great place. That's my perfect example. So with her it's like the language barrier, right?

Yeah. So finding someone that speaks to you in your language when you get to a space like a school where you're dropping off your child is super important. But also I really believe that dropping off your child to someone that where your child can connect with visually also is important, right? Yeah. Representation matters.

Yes, it does. And and and it's really important. It's important for them to see folks that look like them in all areas of life. But for us, for us as parents, I think about it as a parent is it's looking for someone in the school that looks like you makes you feel I'm going to gravitate towards that person. I won't feel as intimidated. And hosting events that bring the community together in a safe way is super important. Like I said in the beginning with LCC, it was really it we were a bit nervous to to connect with a lot of the community because of the political climate and we didn't want folks to feel intimidated or targeted. Um but once they discovered when they discovered that they um that this is a safe space

that that was really helpful and that was really encouraging for the following meeting. And I think especially you know like families who are afraid to be seen, be heard, like finding those safe and welcoming spaces has got to be such a such a relief.

Yes. And it was really nice because we connected with the my the mission um high school community students staff. It was really nice to see one for myself how much of a connection I've made at the school um in an impact in some sort of way because students poured to help me make this all happen. They cooked. They were extremely excited to meet Dr. Sue. So just the overall 360 support from staff, um, from administration, from students, it was really, really encouraging. And ultimately, our goal is to really give back to the community. And so for me, that's really, really important in the position that I hold now. And I hope to continue working hard at it and getting better.

I have the warm fuzzies listening to you talk, Brenda. Thank you. I'm just gonna keep picking your brain. By the way, anyone else can feel free to know. I'm like, does anybody else have something to say, John?

Yeah, I know, right? John Burke, Christina's over here calling you out. She's across the table from me. No pressure or anything. Um, okay. So, one of the other questions. So, I've got a sheet of facilitator questions. That's where this is all coming from, just so you know. I'm not smart enough to make all this up on my own. Um, with regard to school site engagement, the board seeks to understand site level data and experience in relation to what the school board hears at the district level. Can you say that one more time? So, the school board seeks to understand site level data

um and experience in relation to what schoolboard hears at the district level. I'll give you an example. Mhm. When I was on the CAC board, we used to monthly with district, you know, like Jean Robertson, um you know, uh Regina Piper, now Jenny Jimenez Payne, um Liz Blanco in the, you know, so yeah,

and they, you know, there was always a a a special education director section of the meeting where they'd talk about, oh, here's the initiatives we're rolling out, here's the things we're doing, and and you know, like we're doing all this great work and we're putting this we're we're giving these resources to these schools and invariably all of us would look around like wait that's not happening at my school is that happening at your school all of us parents and you know teachers would be like wait I haven't seen that happen at my school wait you've rolled it out already like help help us understand how and where like there was very often a big disconnect between what the central office folks thought they were doing initiative-wise and

was what was coming down to the school sites and what us as families and educators were actually experiencing. I mean, go to the site. I think it's important if if something is being rolled out and the district is saying it's being rolled out, see it in fruition. I think it's important. For example, just if there's ma new math curriculum, are you going to the to the classrooms and seeing it being instructed? Are you going to the classrooms and engaging with the students and thinking like what do you think about this? Is it difficult? Is it too challenging or is it not challenging enough? So, I think it's like again getting and this was a comment that was made um that I've heard. It's getting those um you all those folks up in the in the in central office out in the field, out in the schools, the schools that are struggling the most, the schools that are maybe doing really well, what are they doing? Because you can hear it from admin, you can hear see it from data, but are you looking at it through your yourselves? I think that's important

that resonates. I actually talked to someone who works centrally who went to a went to a school site to address a a student issue and be part of a restorative team and she it's it's funny you see you use the example of math curriculum because you know there was still curriculum that hadn't even been unboxed sitting in the hallways there. I'm not sure what was being taught in the class. So that's a that's a very preient example that you use there. Um yeah, so that's really important. I think I think it's it's getting out of our space of comfort and putting ourselves in a place of discomfort oftent times, but that's the place we're going to learn the most.

Um okay, I'm I'm writing that down. We call what is that? Okay, for all you educators on the line, don't we call that the zone of proximal development? You've got to push yourself past what you know into the challenge, into the discomfort in order to actually grow and learn. Yeah, I learned that from a very wise teacher. That's amazing. Love that.

And discomfort, that's where we grow. Oh my gosh. All right, Brenda, I just need to, you know, like Dumbledore had his pen where he could take the thoughts and put them into the pen se take all of your thoughts and do the same thing there. Um, okay. Uh, not to highlight JK Rowling and her problematic view. We're moving right along from that. We're moving right along. Okay. Um, let's see. Uh, okay. Is there any other guidance you have for schoolboard members when it comes to implementing um implementing any of our initiatives? Like what?

Okay. I've always said this, so I probably sound sometimes like a broken record. It's really important the delivery and that's been an issue for our community for a long time. So I understand that delivery sometimes is through regular mail, email or checking SFUSD website. However, we have to really consider that there are families that do not have a home that live in a shelter or put a different address. We have to really identify those families and hand it to them in person because they will not get the information. Second, there are families that don't have iPhones and still to this day have flip phones. I work with those families. And third, there are some families that rely on their third grader, fourth grader for full interpretation or navigation of any online system or any written form. So, there has to be that again that one-on-one or in-person communication. If we establish a list as a district of exactly who are the folks that live in a shelter and who are the folks that are really struggling with electronics who don't have access to these things that's great because yes it'll reach the majority but if we are really talking about equity we need to reach everyone and I happen to work with the small group that oftent times has the hardest time

well and and that's that's so true I mean That that's targeted universalism right there. Right. You put in supports and services that allow your most marginalized families to benefit, everyone benefits. Correct. Like the curb cut effect, right? Yeah. Yeah. Um but I think that's such a key point and I mean and and we found that out true with um you know some of our families that are living in shelters. The shelters have very rigid rules. Yes. They have to leave at a certain time in the morning. They have to enter at a certain time and they often times don't have Wi-Fi.

Well, and that like they can't if your SSC meeting is at 6:00 at night, a family living in a shelter isn't going to be a like Yes. If your back to school night starts at 7, correct? You've got families that aren't going to be able to attend. Not because they don't want to, but just because they're not going to have some place to sleep that night. I mean, here's a personal story. There was about um at the beginning of last year, I would get up, we would get up, we would go to school, and I would have food in in there for a family. Mhm.

So that they could come and get food for their children. There was a mom of five kids and they were living on the street. I we helped them get into a shelter. That was really successful. Well, because they had to leave early and she had five kids at different sites, she had to get up really early to drop off the little ones, drop off the her middle children, and then she was hungry or they were hungry. So oftent times we would have food for them in our office for them to just pick up and go like in bags. Yeah. And so that's important to consider because we really we really right now with the cost of living with the current political climate everything and all odds are against our community.

Yeah. We should be a place where that they find refuge solace and safety but it should be across the board. refuge, solace, safety. Maslo's hierarchy of needs, right? Yeah. How do you address those basic like those basic foundational just even like basic human needs of correct? Correct.

Yeah. I mean it's I know that it's a much larger scale problem but within our institution within SFUSD how can we come up with something that is that is systematically that systematically works to provide even a smidge of support in that aspect because I know we're talking about connecting with community. I know that there's a lot of logistical pieces that you know we need to get and walk through and talk through but really at the heart of the problem and the m majority of the SFUSD students the population that composes you know this minority group what are we doing to support that community because we know that they're really active parents we know that there are present parents we know that they are parents that are really vocal But what are we doing for those that are not?

Well, and I think you're, you know, you're, you make a really important point about engaging, you know, some of those basic needs first, right? Like, yeah, we we we used to see that when we did the LCAP data dive meetings, right? Yeah. Or even like when we were first doing our student outcomes focus governance and we were going out to schools to, you know, like, you know, here's what the board's doing. Here's what student outcomes focus is, like a lot of the folks who were showing up, they didn't give, they couldn't have cared less about student outcomes focused governance, but they wanted to talk about the fact that there was no third grade teacher, right? Yeah.

I mean, so like before you can get folks to engage on what we as a board want to talk about, we've got those basic needs. Yeah, it's it goes back to, you know, serving the whole child and the whole child needs to be wellfed,

needs to have a a space to sleep at night. They need to have energy in the morning. And I see it within some of our students at mission. Some of our students are missing half a school day, not by choice, but because of survival, because they need to go to work in order to help their parents pay rent. We talked about that in the last SSC meeting. You know, I'm a parent at Mission. So, yeah. Um, yeah. So, we talked about that in the last SSC meeting because Val, our principal for, you know, you're all district people, you know that. Um, but yeah. So, Val, our principal, was presenting the data on chronic absenteeism and the student surveys and and our new SIPA goals around um

uh around chronic absenteeism and family support. Yeah. But that was, you know, and and me, you know, being the um this was right before we had our guardrail conversation at the board. So I'm like, "Hey guys, will you just like humor me like, okay, chronic absenteeism is up. Can you help me understand why?" And and so that was like the there's a lot of kids who have to leave early. That later start is that later start time that's a state law is actually very very impactful for us at mission. But one of two other things. One, um, cutting funding at the district level for a clerk has been really impactful. You know, very I see it.

So now like Miss April isn't there like helping get families in, right? Um, and the other thing too is cutting our wellness center budget because Yes. Um, like the wellness center used to be a place where kids could just go to reset and it still is when it's open. But if the wellness center isn't open, there's a lot of kids who would just go and reset in the wellness center and instead of doing that, they're walking out the door. They're well, who knows where. This year, it's really saddens me, but this year I've had several cases of attempted suicide, and it seems to be getting

Yeah. the age group seems to be getting younger and younger and younger. With migrant, we are so fortunate to have an in-house family therapist that we work with directly. So, we have direct contact with that person to for direct support. But folks that do not have that, there are on a waiting list. It's very very very just the need is very dire. I I really try to we see that with our MS therapists and you know trying to families to any type of external you know third party counseling it's it's it's very difficult to get them in it's very difficult to get them evaluated

um and once they are it's very difficult for a followup I've I mean I have walked with our families into general I've walked with our families into these centers trying to advocate for them I am connected to to general hospital so I have a few people that I can like go direct to but it is difficult because you know it's all about money. Yeah. It it boils down to that really. Yeah. Well that's why they say budgets are moral documents, right? Yeah. You've got to fund what you value and make sure that that's funded as a priority, not as a

not as a secondary or third. Yeah. So, I mean, set third is tertiary, right? I don't know. I I I mean, I go to work every day and I never know what my day is going to look like because you just never know. You know, the the admin part, right? You know, the office and the the the responsibilities, but really, you never know because your center is open every day who is going to walk through that door and what need you're going to you're going to have to help with.

Yeah. And often times I think about okay at the beginning it was like don't get too invested because I would get so invested emotionally but now it's like I have to be very professional and say I have to get you help. I have to allow you your space to feel safe and express yourself but I have to get you help. And that's always my goal. Yeah, sometimes I do that too. Yeah. Yeah.

I think that's the like we talked about it at the last APEC meeting. You can't pour from an empty cup, right? So, making sure you take care of yourself to continue to take care of the families that desperately need you, right? Yeah. I've made a I this year I mean every year but I've made such a beautiful connection with the kids and the students and really that's where my heart is you know and and seeing them fulfill their dreams and seeing them get accepted to Berkeley and being part of that journey is really exciting seeing them get full rides and like

you know I've had several students this year that were like my my dad doesn't want me to go to college and I said no we have to do this for you this is important Dad, let me at your dad. Yeah. It's it's such a cultural thing. It's like what are you going to do? It's this is what she needs to do. This is important. And so just I've had several students and I have so many allies at mission that have really helped me kind of guide these students and I'm really happy to say that the student that that particularly she got accepted to me full ride and so that was really encouraging to hear and and have her accept and I was just like a proud moment. Yay you did it.

Yeah. But that's so I mean and and you know as a parent who's launched a couple kids like you know I mean even if you do want them to go launching your kid out into you know the unknown is so terrifying right absolutely it's terrifying. Yeah. Yeah. But like to be able to help make that to help get the buy in to let them actually go that's huge. That's

Yeah. We had another a previous student of mine. He graduated a couple years ago, but he graduated um and is a civil engineer now. And it was like, yes, you guys, you are all success stories. Like, this is amazing. You need to come out and talk to these kids and have them see you. Like, you also struggled. They come from the same community, the same apartment complex. Like, there is a way out. And so, I always think about that stuff because I'm like, I was in your shoes. Like, I did it. Like, you can do it too. But it's hard for them to believe me. But if they see someone like themselves that live in the same apartment complex that right they went to the same high school as you like you can do it

right someone who has that same lived experience. Yes. Yep. That makes So yeah, that's all. What time do they want us back? I probably should have checked on that. Laura says should be wrapping up soon. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Well, and such a and especially this time of year, just such a great reminder. I like I love everything that happens this time of year. The scholarship celebration. Yes. You know, the I love that you said the foster youth celebration right before this. Everything is amazing and I'm so excited for them. Yeah. This is why we do the work. This is

absolutely. That's why I'm I'm always an advocate for let's let's give them that opportunity. We don't know how to get there. Let's figure it out. Let's figure it out. Let's We We just got to figure it out. Let's get creative. Yep. Yeah. Well, thank you. It was pleasure. Yeah. Thank you for all the like I have pages of notes. Uh you know, well, it's you're not really Yeah. page notes here. So, thank you. You're going to hear me reflect. I'm sure we're going to do reflections back when we get back in. So, I'll try and distill it down um into something um hopefully that reflects um what you've said and honors it. Um

no, I think you do great. Thank you. All right. Some rich conversations if you wanted to sit into. All right. They're they're paging us back into the other room. So, thanks everyone for hearing us have a conversation. Yeah. Thank you, Brenda. Thank you, Brenda. I don't know if you heard Christina, but she said thank you, too. Thanks, Christina. All right. Good to see you all, even if it's just your names. Um, thank you all. I'm going to log out. Are you staying on or are you logging out, too? Christina is going to stay on. We still have the chat open in the other room if you have anything to add. Um, but appreciate you.

You too. Thank you. Bye.

All right, let's bring it home. So do you think they should do

briefly comment this close? All right. So, thanks all for coming back to the main session. Um, we had a really productive conversation in our small group. I'm sure the same is true with Commissioner Fischer and the

online group just to ground people in in what's going to happen. I know we've been a little all over and I think you know sometimes just doing this organic uh though it goes off script though it goes off of the agenda uh it's a lot more fun. So um so bringing a little chaos so what we'll do is we'll briefly synthesize some of what we what we've heard. We'll then go to public comment uh to hear any any remaining thoughts people may have that uh they want to express. Then we'll go to the actual action item of approving this with the changes that we've heard thus far and then we'll close after that. So all right, who would like to go first with uh sharing some of their comments of what they heard? We and we'll keep this part brief because y'all were here, but uh maybe maybe everyone can just take like a minute or two.

A minute. Sure. Our uh Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Time bound. Um our group was small but mighty and um Brenda, thank you so much for sharing all of your feedback. Um we uh we had the opportunity to spend a lot of time discussing some of the very unique circumstances around our migrant ed team.

Um that was lovely. But just um so and Christina took better notes than I did, so I'm going to try and distill this down, but like the logistics of school outreach and best practices. Um there we talked about, you know, especially for for folks who are not English proficient, you know, with English is not their first language, they're multilingual. Um, making sure that like they they can walk into a school and someone who speaks their language is there, someone who like having that connection is so important. Um, you know, going to parents in places where they feel comfortable. You know, the parent rooms, the food pantries, the elacs. Um, then Brenda gave some great examples about the migrant ed room and always having food available. And, um, you know, they talked about she talked about how Dr. Sue, it was so great. The the team really appreciated when you came to the LCC event, right? And just like meeting folks, especially the folks to feel targeted where they are. Um, we talked about remembering that, you know, some families still use flip phones. You know, some families rely on their elementary school kids for that interpretation at home, right? So, so being mindful about the delivery of our materials, some families are living in spaces that don't have Wi-Fi if they're living at a fixed address at all. Right? Um and so question number two with regards to site engagement. Um if something is being rolled out, you know, especially if we're saying, "Oh, we're doing this as a leadership team, you know, like it's really incumbent on us to actually go to the sites where we think it's being implemented and just do a fidelity check, you know, using the example of, okay, we're rolling out new math curriculum. Are we actually going into classrooms and seeing it in use?" Right? Or are we seeing the material sitting in the hallway not yet unboxed? Right? That kind of stuff. Um, and then, uh, let's see. Um, number three, guidance for schoolboard members when it comes to implementing these initiatives.

Um, I think I said the delivery matters. Um, but I think one of the great points that Brenda made was, you know, if we really want to learn, we've got to step out of our spaces of comfort. We've got to step into that discomfort. That's where we're going to learn and grow. to, you know, paraphrase our educator here, um, the zone of proximal development, right? And then just make sure that we're, um, you know, make sure, yeah, fancy on you. Um, you know, make sure that we're stepping into places where we are learning and growing and not just sitting behind the dis at the boardroom. So that it was a great conversation. Gosh,

Boston is blowing his mind right now. He's very very shocked. Um so um we had a wonderful conversation that ranged um kind of uh anything from feedback on on the actual engagements in addition to just how it can get implemented. Um I think that the the major themes uh I think I'll just lift up the ones that I think seem to resonate were around know this is a graceful elegant first step but are there ways that we can consider um as we kind of go about implementing this how we could like amplify or build on just a you know um a strategy that kind of pulls maybe multiple sites together uh and and what that looks like to be able to expand band knowing just the constraints that we have around capacity and staffing but what can we do to have a multitude strategy if that's possible um there was a lot of conversation around leveraging existing structures and systems like SIP and development processes community school coordinators and family liaison um I think one thing to note there just in our continuing conversation around the balance of capacity and staff time with board board time and all that work is um you know we don't we don't direct staff so this would be this would require intense partnership with the superintendent regardless. But um the as we pull in additional folks, it just it just means something's going to need probably need to come off some plate. So So recognizing the implications of that. Um we talked a little bit about uh structures even beyond these five. So thinking about our governance calendar, thinking about broader communications, thinking about public comment and what we can do to ensure that we are thinking about those processes just as much as we're thinking about the new ones.

Um, and I think any anything else? I I'm actually gonna turn it over to Superintendent Sue, especially because staff has been invoked so much and and uh I appreciate President Kim as a as a former staff member was very uh very diligent at making sure that we that we protect staff time and recognize and acknowledge uh uh the efforts that are required and we see that in in this committee itself and all the tremendous work that staff have done. So, uh, I'm going to give it over to to Superintendent Sue.

Thank you, Chair Gupta. Um, yes, I I really appreciate um all the wonderful work that Sher Gupta and the entire committee as well as staff have put into into both quoting Emily, streamlining um all of these items and obviously very thoughtful in thinking through what these things um can look like in terms of improving um the board's engagement, but then it actually also reflects on the staff's engagement. Um, but speaking in terms of staff time, I do worry about um what this would mean for our our staff. However, a lot of these things our staff are currently doing. So, I really do appreciate uh what staff have have already brought up of just maybe if there is already an existing uh meeting that we could set aside a time for commissioners to come and and join. that would be um we would just be able to leverage some of that. Um I imagine that when we announce this to our schools, a lot of our school community will be really excited about that. But that means we need to make sure that our site leaders, which are all of our principles um and administrators fully understand what this means. Um and and we do know that uh all of our schools have regular conversations with their school community. Again, creating space for for um

commissioners to engage. Um I do think that uh anytime we do engage, we need to think about what is it that we're trying to get out of it. um and and whether or not if the board is engaging does it also fulfill something that staff is also needing to engage so that we don't duplicate the work so that instead we are unleveraging and aligning the engagement and so then it's not duplicative and it doesn't mean that staff is doing extra but I really encourage and thank you I'm really encouraged by this process and I thank you for the opportunity Thank you, Superintendent Sue. Um, so I think I mean I think we we we covered a lot of it and just acknowledging that this is going to be the first year that we tried this out when we do things like implement um the call for schools and I appreciate the call out to making sure that it's inclusive that we're lowering barriers to encourage that school participation rather than potentially setting up barriers and making sure that we are uh we're engaged. who are coming from outside of the back of the dis to actually engage with school communities to make sure that that this gets done uh and leveraging where we can our our school communities. So uh and our and our staff and our existing processes and structures uh that are in place. So bless you. Um so I think with that what I'll do is I'll I'll transition over to public comment. You heard our some of our synthesis. By no means exhaustive and again we have Thank you to our scribes that took notes on these meetings. Much appreciated Christina and Laura for for doing that. Um so we have all of these notes and and that will be public. But if there's public comment that other people have, we would love to

hear it. Uh and just as a reminder and you know everyone's been great about following this the last three meetings public comment is restricted to the content of this meeting. Any thoughts? Anything we anyone would like to emphasize or also reiterate or share. So good. Miss Robinson,

thank you for allowing um staff and um others to engage in creating uh and supporting and working with this process. Uh it's very reminiscent of um old times where uh even if it wasn't perfect two way communication there definitely was some twoway communication happening and so I look forward to seeing this happening again. My uh wonderings are um what the process will be for the public engagement plan for SFUSD and if it will mirror this process um as an intern well who am I today? I'm I'm a staff member. what that process will look like for us to staff. Um and will it mirror something similar to this? And um and then uh my other question or wondering is um when will the B decide on their their guard rails and their goals or their things that are guiding them and supporting them that um the public can hold them accountable for? I think knowing that would be super helpful before going out on a really um intentional and purposeful engagement plan. Uh, do we have any online public comment? Please raise your hand if you have any public comment online. Okay. So the next item, so we have two more items. One is uh the action item. Believe it's under D1 to approve this and it will have certain track changes and then after that we're u just going

to do a close. So the action item, let me just make sure I have called them board learning group. Is that right?

Okay. So the first on three whereas it was board shadow days it is now B board learning walks for those following at home. And then uh for item five, engagement with community- based organizations, CBOS, in the description, I have the board holds three general listening sessions with CBOS. And I added in per school year. Uh oh, maybe actually it should be with CBOS that work with the school district per school year. So adding per school year to make it clear.

Wait, are we changing that? We were going to do No, we were doing once per semester. No, I thought it was different more. Yeah. So, we're we're having a conversation up here because there's we weren't sure if we we may have heard different things. I I thought for school set engagement we had discussed sticking with that school in the So, we're seeing the same school twice like an adopt a school model.

It's an adopted school model. Yeah. So, instead of seeing one school once and then going to another school another time, right? This is Jansen's feedback was if we stayed with the school throughout the year, then it would be one commissioner, one school all year, right? I the way I I thought that then based on the feedback of the community in the last meeting, we changed that because the a lot of what we heard from community was no, we want you to attend, we want you to visit more schools, right? And so rather than adopt a school, we want you to be able we want you to be able to hear from more of us across school sites. I thought that

Yeah. I I I heard the same thing and I feel like from um not to discount Eugen. Yeah. I think it was enough for the six maybe.

So, so to clarify two of the two of the comments in the group which were really good comments. One um was a comment and I'll just because you've been referenced Jansen it was to align with existing structures and processes in place such as the development of SIPA which also incorporates a lot of other groups like ELAC like some of the focal populations. I mean there's a lot of work that often happens at school sites that then engages members of the community. So it lends itself naturally during that process for us to see and interact and and and understand the data that is going into that SIP process and hopefully then is synergistic and reduces the amount of additional staff time that's required. Um Jansen also mentioned that for example there are two ELAC uh walks that happen once in the fall and once in the spring. So that would lend itself if there are say for example two different two different groups. There was also a comment in our group where we want to you know how do we push the envelope in terms of being able to hear from more schools. So I also want to acknowledge that. Um, so I would be in favor of keeping it at least at 14 as a starting point as we figure out if that would that's uh

and then based on the the comment I walked in at the end of your so to leverage that maybe those 14 schools like a couple of them could be middle schools where all the feeders were invited or someone had mentioned maybe a high school where you know they're geographically located throughout the city and more people and it could just be more like a community event. Um, but yeah, in in lots of lots of ways. Yeah. Did I did I get all the red lines in this? I think those are the

motion to adopt the item with amendments. Second. Second. Okay. It has been properly moved and seconded that the committee approve item D1, board engagement plan with the amendments. Uh, comments from the committee? anything. Okay. All right. The debate is now closed uh on the motion to approve this item. I read the amendments. Roll call vote. Miss Dunig. I I I Yes. Just got to be different.

All right. So with that, we have approved D1 approval of the board engagement plan. Um I want to give a huge thanks first to the community members that have engaged in this process with us from meeting one, meeting two, meeting three, meeting four. Especially for those who've engaged with us through the entire thing, for those online, for those who've spent your time with us, we recognize that there are many other things you could be doing tonight. uh that you could have been doing through all of these evenings and you're here with us Jay-Z. So, um thank you for that. Um I also want to give a shout out to my fellow commissioners who have done a phenomenal job and have made this a tremendous experience and have really brought a depth of knowledge as well as just a real love of community that has grounded this process.

Great sass and spicy sassiness and spices. Thank you, superintendent, for coming coming to these meetings um being here and providing your feedback. Thank you. Thank you for allocating staff and big big thanks to our staff for all that they've done in this process. We could not have done this without our staff. Um Christina, thank you so much

for everything that you've done. Laura, thank you for all your work on this. Uh, our interpreters, we really appreciate you. Our our MVPs in a way are our family liaison, Jansen, Marishia, and the family liaison that are not currently here, but have played such a critical role through this process and helping to facilitate our small group conversations that have led to such rich feedback. Uh, Davis, thank you. for being here. We appreciate you all these evenings. Security staff a few times. We appreciate you. Danny's downstairs.

Danny, we'll give a shout out to Danny. Um, and last but certainly not least, thank you Chris for all your work in putting this together and being the man behind the scenes to to sort of make sure that everything is working. Um we really appreciate it and I know um Hungme is not here. I want to appreciate Hungme and then also Marin and uh Laa who are are no longer with us but significantly contribut no longer with the district to this.

Sorry. Yes. Sorry. No longer with the district. Apologies. Apologies. They're they're alive. So anyway, thank you all for the wonderful process. Thank you for this. We look forward to bringing this to the board. We will do so in June.