San Francisco Youth Commission
Education Committee
Held jointly with Student Advisory Council Representatives
Minutes
Wednesday, September 19th, 2012
5:00-7:00 p.m.
City Hall, Room 345
1. Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Pl.
San Francisco, CA 94102

There will be public comment on each item.

1. Call to Order and Roll Call

Chair Brian Chu called the meeting to order at 5:10pm. Youth Commissioners present: Rachel Brodwin, Brian Chu, Ariel Yu. Student Advisory Council representatives present: Kristen Sinclair, Cecilia Young (arrived at 5:25pm).
There was quorum.

Staff present: Mario Yedidia, Youth Commission; Phimy Truong, Youth Commission; Judson Steele, Student Advisory Council.

2. Approval of Agenda (Action Item)

There was no public comment on this item.

Commissioner Brodwin, seconded by Commissioner Yu, moved to approve the agenda. The agenda was approved unanimously by acclamation.

3. Approval of Minutes (Action Item)

A. Friday, September 7, 2012

There was no public comment on this item.

Commissioner Yu, seconded by Commissioner Brodwin, moved to approve the minutes of September 7, 2012. The minutes were approved unanimously by acclamation.

4. Public Comment on Items not on Agenda (Discussion Only)

There were none.

5. Business (All Items to Follow Discussion and Possible Action)

A. Overview of San Francisco Unified School District
Presenter: Kevin Truitt, Associate Superintendent, SFUSD

Staff welcomed Mr. Kevin Truitt, Associate Superintendent of SFUSD, to the joint Education committee. Mr. Truitt then provided committee members with an overview of the district’s Student, Family and Community Support Department, which is defined by the broad range of specialized skills, services, and programs delivered to support students, and their families and communities.

Committee members asked some clarifying questions.

There was no public comment on this item.

B. Overview of Coleman Advocates Education Equity Campaign
Presenter: Pecolia Manigo, Education Justice/Education Policy Campaign Organizer,
Coleman Advocates for Children & Youth

Mr. Yedidia shared with committee members that the presentation from Coleman Advocates would be postponed to a later meeting. However, staff recommended that the committee spend some time looking over data, and discussing the achievement gap within SFUSD. Committee members then drafted the following next steps on work around the achievement gap:

• Assess the quality and accessibility of the district’s various credit recovery options (Rachel Brodwin and Cecilia Young)

• Advocate for increased credit recovery options (that are of high quality and are easy to access) – especially for those students who are most off-track (Rachel Brodwin and Cecilia Young)

• Assess the “why” of off-track students – i.e., Are students off-track because they are failing classes or because they’re not signing up for the right classes (Ariel Yu)

• Why is the achievement gap in San Francisco so bad compared to other places? What are other cities doing to address the poor academic achievement of African-American, Latino and Pacific Islander students? (Kristen Sincliar and Paul Monge-Rodriguez)

• What do we do about those teachers that some students steadfastly avoid? (Brian Chu)

• How does the district’s new focus on restorative practices when it comes to discipline complement the district’s work to close the achievement gap?

There was no public comment on this item.

C. Supporting Commissioner Brodwin’s Education Conference work

Commissioner Brodwin updated her peers on her work around the Redefining Education conference planned for November 18, 2012. The conference will now be smaller and for 50 young leaders attending either public or private school throughout San Francisco. At the conference, various youth leaders will participate in workshops and come up with a list of projects and activities to roll out in the Spring of 2013. Commissioner Brodwin encouraged her peers to still participate in the planning of the conference.

Committee members asked clarifying questions.

There was no public comment on this item.

D. Review committee goals

As there were only a few minutes left of the meeting, committee members decided to take some time to reflect on committee goals, and for now focus on work for the achievement gap project.

E. Set regular committee meeting date

Committee members decided to set their regular meeting dates to the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of each month, from 5:00-7:00 pm., at City Hall, in room 345. The next committee meeting is set for Wednesday, October 3, 2012 at 5:00pm.

6. Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 7:01 pm.