Notes from a marathon BOE meeting

A bit more stream of consciousness than usual – tonight’s meeting was long! I guess I’d better get used to it.

• Gateway HS‘ charter was unanimously renewed for another five years;
• There was a moving appreciation of departing Commissioners Mark Sanchez and Eric Mar and their eight years of service on the Board. Both were at times a lightning rod for criticism of the School Board, and each certainly got his share of flak. What is indisputable is that both Mark and Eric took their positions seriously, worked very hard to achieve a vision of equity for our district, and built advocacy organizations that will continue their work now that they’ve moved on. I am only just beginning to get my arms around the demands of this job, and as I see Mark and Eric depart, I admire them both for their dedication and years of service.
• The Board passed resolutions establishing the goal of aligning SFUSD graduation requirements with college admission requirements; making honors classes open to all students who wish to enroll in them; and expanding opportunities for students to earn academic credit. These are all worthy goals and it is high time we set them for our students. The concern many people voiced–and it is one I share–is that we will not commit enough resources to help students and teachers work towards this goal. These are plans which must be monitored closely.
• The Board passed revisions to the “P120” policy streamlining and providing better guidance for the work of the various advisory committees. In general, this is something we needed to do and I agreed with most of the proposed policy.  I spoke in opposition to two provisions, however — first, an attempt to exclude charter school parents from serving on committees that advise the Board on policies applying to district-managed schools, and second, the establishment of term limits for advisory committee members. In the end, the charter provision was deleted and the term limits will stand, but termed-out members will be able to apply to serve additional terms after being off the roster for one year.