Education Committee - February 20, 2013 - Minutes

Meeting Date: 
February 20, 2013 (All day)

San Francisco Youth Commission
Education Committee
Minutes
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
5:00-7:00pm
City Hall, Room 345
1. Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Pl.
San Francisco, CA 94102

There will be public comment on each item.

Members: Brian Chu, Rachel Brodwin, Ariel Yu; Student Advisory Council Representatives: Kristen Sinclair, Carmen Chan

1. Call to Order and Roll Call

The meeting was called to order at 5:02 p.m. Commissioners present: Brian Chu, Ariel Yu. Student Advisory Council representatives present: Kristen Sinclair, Carmen Chan. Staff present: Phimy Truong. There was quorum.

 

2. Approval of Agenda (Action Item)

Commissioner Yu, seconded by Commissioner Chu, moved to approve the agenda. This motion was approved unanimously by acclamation.

3. Approval of Minutes (Action Item)

A. February 6, 2013
(Document A)

Commissioner Yu, seconded by Commissioner Chu, moved to approve the minutes to the meeting of February 6, 2013. This motion was approved unanimously by acclamation.

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

Valquinia Modesto, introduced herself and thanked the committee for allowing her to be present.

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

A. Check in

Commissioners checked in by sharing one good thing about their week. There was no official action taken.

B. Work on committee priorities

Paul Monge-Rodriguez, as the Education Justice Policy Associate at Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth, provided a brief update on his work exploring the school district’s credit recovery programs. He expressed interest in continuing to provide the committee with information on Coleman’s education priorities and requested to be involved as the committee plans for a community meeting around education.

Commissioner Yu then provided her peers with an update on her research in the school district’s special education services. Commissioner Yu had met with Elena Hillard, a teacher at Mission High School, who was piloting a special inclusion model in her classroom. Commissioners asked clarifying questions. Commissioner Yu then welcomed Margaret Farruggio, an Administrator for the San Francisco Unified School District’s Special Education Services department.

Margaret Farruggio, Ms. Farruggio spoke about inclusive education practices within the school district. There is a need to increase special education students’ time and success in the general education classroom. Currently, the school district is piloting several classroom inclusion models at different middle and high schools. Student Advisory Council representative Chan spoke about her personal experiences of being isolated in classrooms and asked her peers to continue to explore how to best support student leadership in special education classrooms. Commissioners asked clarifying questions.

Commissioners then reviewed their committee priorities and directed staff to prepare materials to aid members in planning a community event. SAC representative, Kristen Sinclair shared that the SAC’s student delegates will be bringing the resolution urging the school district to evaluate credit recovery option to the Board of Education meeting on Tuesday, February 26, 2013. She asked her peers to attend the meeting and speak in public comment, as the committee had worked on this resolution together. Commissioner Yu, SAC members Sinclair and Chan agreed to attend the meeting.

There was no public comment. There was no official action taken.

6. Items to Report to Executive Committee (Action Item)

Commissioner Chu, seconded by Commissioner Yu, agreed to report to the Executive Committee the following items: the committee would continue to explore credit recovery at the school district, specifically at what options would be available to students in the summer; continue to research special education inclusion models; to explore the 7th period school day as an option for students to recovery credits; and to plan an offsite youth commission meeting related to education priorities.

There was no public comment.

This motion was approved by acclamation.

7. Executive Committee Report (Discussion Only)

There were none.

8. Adjournment

This meeting was adjourned at 7:12 p.m.