Transcripts For SFGTV Government Access Programming 20180209

Of you that called in. So chris teresa book walter, come on up, jason chan. Hesinka. Lorraine. Chloe wong. Can i just make a suggestion that we ask to hear from students first because its about students . Yes, i thought all of these were students. I have parents on the orange cards. Thank you, commissioner norton. We would like to hear from the students first. Point of order, everybody registered to speak will be granted two minutes if they so choose. No, im telling you that i want to wrap this up in 25 minutes, so you will not be given a full two minutes, but you can coordinate. I think some of the students will say a couple of words. So aerial, jennifer, jacob. Im going to stop there for now. If you can get lined up and come on up and state your name. Go ahead. Hi, im from Abraham Lincoln high school, i belong to the drama club and would like to tell you about our amazing club. We put on two shows per year. Theyre amazing. We have an Amazing Community that helps support us in terms of family and relationships outside of school. We do all the work ourselves. We are a cast and audition and we rehearse religiously and it means so much to us. Last year we put on a show called Sweet Charity. I did all the costumes for the entire show and we had what, 32 kids that were cast, each with three costumes, so that was a lot of work. 30 seconds. I did it all because i love drama so much and it means so much to me that we get to put on these performances every year. Now, that being said, we sell tickets for these shows and it is used as a way to fund our next performance so we can keep on doing these things, however that is not all we do. We are the ones that run the talent show at our school and that gives people who arent necessarily a part of drama club a platform to show their talents and all of their friends and family members come to support during this time. And its after school and we get a great turnout every year and it is probably our number one source of fundraising. Now, taking that away means that we dont get enough money to do things like put on two shows per year and i dont get to do these amazing sparkly dresses and put people in cost actuals all costumes all the time. It would cripple our Drama Department if we didnt get the fundraiser done and it helps to keep us afloat and supports us for the years to come, because again, it is our main source of funding. So it would mean that our club wouldnt be able to do all the awesome stuff it does. My fellow club members are here today. They have a few more points to say and i would really like the board to reconsider taking the legs out from under us, please. Hello, im a senior at Abraham Lincoln high school. To add onto what my friend was talking about, its really unfair for us that sports and other Extracurricular Activities get to charge people to see their games and to see their shows, but we cant charge people to see our plays and performances and thats where where you are money comes from. We dont get a lot of money from the school to put on the shows. And these shows are very expensive. We did a musical last fall as my friend said, Sweet Charity and that was very expensive. And we were already in deep water as it is because of the last spring play, the vagina monologues we didnt get enough money for that, because we asked for donations and it wasnt effective. If we ask for donations for the rest of the plays, were not sure were going to meet our goal or make a profit. And this really this really helped me find myself again, because last year i joined drama and im sorry and it really helped me find myself again and find out what i want to major in life, and i really do enjoy performing and i wouldnt be here right now if i didnt care. Because i care for all the other people who dont know what they want to do in life and drama is an escape to show off who you are and express yourself. I cant find anything that im good at except for drama, so i hope that you consider helping us and yeah, vote no. Thank you. I dont think i can one up that. But, hi, im for Abraham Lincoln school for the Drama Department and i want to say unfortunately a whole lot of students cannot afford anything i wouldnt say anything but they really cannot afford a whole lot. And if that is the case and they want to go to the shows, we have a lot of alternatives, like if they show us they have a free lunch waiver, we can let them free of admission, but letting a whole lot of other students, free of admission, that is nice, but it takes away our ability to put on productions and the ability to put on great productions, because not a whole lot of this is free and its expensive, sadly, but personally for me, i really care about the Drama Department. I really do. Without the Drama Department i wouldnt be here. I wouldnt be standing. I wouldnt have the confidence to say please help us. So please help us. Thank you. Hello, im also from the Drama Department. I am a senior. And again, im just kind of reiterating the facts, but i wanted to more talk about im a senior and this wont necessarily affect me this coming year, but i care so much about this Drama Department and this Drama Department doesnt just affect kids in high school. It affects them going on to college and later on in life. We have alumni here who came with us because they still care about this Drama Department they participated in High School Years ago. They came back to support just to support this Little Drama Club they were in, in high school and that was put on by our amazing director who does so much for us. She puts on this amazing department. She puts it all together. She may be whacky, but she makes us whacky as well. So this Drama Department, this is where we get most of our funding. And its really important to us, again as chloe said, its really nice to make this free and their Extracurricular Activities and these are great Educational Opportunities for students. A lot of teachers give extra credit to go to the performances because theyre fantastic and fun to go to and funny a lot of times, but theyre a big fundraiser for us. And its important to get the money for us. And just i talked to the head of the Pe Department this morning. And he said that i said, what are the tickets do for you . Because the sports department, they get funding from the school but what do the ticket sales do . They help support our system. They help pay for the equipment and help pay for the uniforms. And thats exactly what it does for us. Our uniforms are just costumes. Our equipment is tech equipment, the lights we use. For stage that is as big as this room. For our funding is just as important as sports. We dont want it to make it we dont want to make it about sports versus arts. We want to make it about sports and arts, the two together. As a Drama Department, we go watch the sports and the sports come and watch us. Weve had the entire Football Team in the audience and hooting and hollering for us. And we want to Work Together as a community. We want sports and arts together and as i think you can probably tell, drama is very important to all of us and these Little Drama Clubs and these productions mean so much to all of us. And it would really mean a lot o. If you can just help us with this. Thank you. Thank you. Let me just remind you that youve used about almost half the time, and youve had four speakers. I know youre emotional and want to share this, but be mindful of the time. Hello, im from lowle high school and these opinions and emotions are from every single student here, not just the ones speaking. There are a few things there is one thing mainly that i would like to bring up. And that is that while this mainly affect the extracurricular, the after School Musical and plays, a lot of students find their way to choir, to dance, to drama, through the Extracurricular Activities. If theyre not present for students to be inspired by and to learn from, i for one found my way. I entered high school not knowing what i wanted to do, but from watching the school play and musical, i found what i wanted to do in high school. And i fear that if this resolution passes and if people are if schools are not allowed or not able to produce these shows because they simply do not have the funding, that many, many students will lose out opportunities that they could have had. Thank you. Thank you. Im going to read off a few more names. Sandra. Joshua. Bill. Emma. Cleo. Charlotte and james. Hi, my name is jessie, im a junior and i represent our technical theater department, comprised of 40 students. If this resolution passes tonight, our current production of sues cal tt will have to halt, because without the funding we receive from ticket sales, which make up 60 of the audience in the productions, will have to stop all production of our musical. Which is upwards of two months work from the student actors, technicians, designers and musicians and i think it would be a loss to the community that is so strong. And it has brought so much joy to peoples lives. Basically everybody up there is from lowle and if this passes, everybody who is participating in the musical, it will be over. I think thats really, really sad. Could you be please only come up when your name is called. There are a lot of names. Im a senior from lowell high school. Ive been playing football and been in drama, i can tell you that the Drama Program does just as much for kids and building identity as sports do. You can see it here, 50 plus kids. If it pass, we lose a musical. There are kids that cant afford to do outside programs that may want to pursue something in the arts in college. They dont have an opportunity to get that experience. Its a bad idea to cut this funding. I implore you to vote no. Hi, my name is joshua. Im a junior at lowell high school. A lot has already been said, but i will say this and this is very technical and you know probably much more about it. But according to the california Education Code, av 1575, it is illegal a violation of that Education Code to interpret pupil fees as any voluntary fundraiser activity or donation. And what im trying to say here, a lot of these revenue that we gather, its highly encouraged, true, but it is voluntarily and when you get down to it, it is a fundraiser for the amazing programs we have, to continue to inspire the people to go into the arts and really find their way in life. So, not only is it incredibly important to every Single Person coming up to speak, but and again this is where your expertise trumps mine, but it may be against the california Education Code. So if nothing else, i do ask you to consider that in your decision. Thank you. Hi, my name is cleo. Im a senior at lowell high school. I wanted to tell you guys that my most valuable experience in high school has been my involvement in the theater productions at my school. I wanted to ask you guys and wanted to how if measure 6415 passes how its going to promote equity for students if it takes away the opportunity to participate in free theater production. 6145 will make access to the arts inwe cequitable. Performances should be subsidized by the sfusd for the performances we put on, equalling the ticket revenue for this. If the point is equity, students should be able to attend performances, or exhibitions of student work for free, i dont understand how a fee can be charged for Student Athletic professions. It prioritizes the athletics over the arts department. And lastly, i wanted to say while working on my last production in high school, i was applying to colleges all as a theater major, and it wasnt a path that i imagined for myself beginning high school, but being involved in theater productions is what made me choose that path. Thanks. Hi, my name is velma. Im a junior at lowell high school. I just wanted to reiterate that all of the funding comes from our ticket sales and were barely staying afloat as is. I can see our teachers saying so many of this already comes out of their pockets and they dedicate a lot of time after School Without pay. Im a member of lowell Dance Company and advanced drama and participate in the musical after school. And without this funding, these programs will no longer exist and many students, as well as myself cannot afford to take theater and dance anywhere else. And the Public School system provides really great opportunities for lowincome families that cant afford to pursue their passions in other ways and i think it is inequitable to take away these programs are from students like myself who wont be able to pursue their passion. Thank you. Hi, my name is emma. Im a sophomore at lowell high school. As a student at lowell high school, i can tell you that drama has changed my life. When i first started high school, i barely knew anyone. None of my closest friends were going to my same school and i felt alone. My mom told me throughout my childhood, her starring in guys and dolls in her high school production. When we held fiddler on the roof, it was my first time singing in front of people and putting myself out there. When i was in the show, i knew i had found my family. They welcomed me with open arms and for the first time in high school and the first time in my life i felt i truly belonged. I have finally found by passion in life and it would devastate me to not have it in sfusd schools. Losing this opportunity would break my heart. I and my fellow classmates heard today during school this meeting was going on, we knew we had to be here to talk about how this program is supposed to support equity in our schools, when fast it would be taking it farther and farther away. It is definitely unfair that the sports games and other activities would not get applied the same resolution. Drama and other arts have always been persecuted and this just another example of why this resolution should not pass. Please, please, dont say yes. Thank you. Im in the Choir Program for the last two and standing here as one of my former drama teachers when im asking to you please reconsider your decision. For me, i have always been able to find peace in myself and be able to feel comfortable and my most authentic self when i am on stage, when i am portraying a character that may have no resemblance to anything i experienced in my life, but im involved completely in what they have gone through and my own version of their own story, because i can get on stage and look out at a sea of people and perform something that i have put a lot of work into and care about. Sorry. And this summer i actually lost my mother, which was very difficult because i had lived with her for my entire life. The one thing that sorry the one thing that i found solace in when performing my first show without her being there was knowing that i had a Wonderful Community of people that i already had made and to be able to know they could be just as proud of me as she would have been. When i say this, i mean it completely. You are not creating equity, you are creating borders. I hope you can make your decision, because i couldnt imagine another student who has gone through anything similar to what ive gone through and the department, and couldnt have this outlet to say they could have somewhere they feel safe, so please, please, do not pass this resolution. I thank you for letting me speak. Thank you. So, i think this is probably a good time to take a break. I am ive been asked to first of all thank you all for coming out, its meant a lot to hear your voices and for us to understand the impact this decision would have on many of you. And in consultation with my colleagues ive been asked to pull this resolution at this time. So we will not be voting on this at this time and were going to delay the vote on this and we wanted to just thank you all for your comments this evening on this. And so when will it be brought up again . The next regular meeting. I think we need to have a little bit more conversation around this and get some further information. I think one of the things that we some of my colleagues had asked was if we could get a fiscal analysis on the impact this would have on many of the schools. So thats something we want to be able to research more. Please stand by. So [ inaudible ] 30 seconds, right now. Thank you very much. Ab 1575 does not require the steps that youre asking to take. Its based on a Supreme Court case called hartsell versus conors in which the Supreme Court of california says you cannot charge a fee for participation in a school activity. That is not whats going on here. What is going on here is attendance, being a spectator at what the Supreme Court has said is a spectator activity. The Supreme Court has said you can actually charge for this. Also, in the packet youre looking at, youre citing to 12 on r 02, and you need to be looking at 17. 01. This is department of education fiscal management and advisory in which again they sicite bac to the california Supreme Court. Thats what the city and county of Santa Barbara was doing before they got in trouble. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. [ applause ] all right. Thank you. So were going to postpone this item, have further discussion, and then, were going to bring it back as a to the next one [ inaudible ] so well hear this again in two weeks at the next school Board Meeting. Thank you. So i okay. Thank you please exit quietly cause we still have a lot of business to do. So thank you. I appreciate that. Our next item is science instruction. Miss haute . Sk. This item seeks board approve of policy 6142. Im sorry. Can you please leave the room quietly in were still in session, and we still have a lot of business to take care of. Thank you. This item seeks board approval of board policy 614293, science instruction. This, again is just to codify the legal requirements for science country clurriculum. It now incorporates the board resolution which is resolution number 15526 a 2 in support of expanding Computer Science to all students in all schools. You can see on the cover page the specific language that was included perthe amendment. And can you remind the board the Committee Recommendation . Yes. So the committee forwarded this with a positive recommendation, except that they requested that staff specifically include the applicable language from the Computer Science resolution i mentioned. Great. Thank you. Theres no Public Comment on this. Anyone have any comments or questions . Seeing none, roll call, please. [ roll call. ] clerk seven ayes. Next item, history and social science instruction. So this item asks the board to approve board policy 614294, history and social science. This item also codifies the legal requirements for history and social science curriculum, and the rules committee forwarded this with a positive recommendation, except that they requested that specific resolutions of the board be incorporated where relevant. And i wont read them all to you, but you can see on the cover page the four resolutions that have now been incorporated. Thank you. Theres no Public Comment on this, could you remind the board on the Committee Recommendation, please . This has been forwarded with a positive recommendation, provided that the relevant provisions of the specific board resolutions were included, and staff has now done that. Great. Thank you. Any comments . Commissioner merase . I want to thamnk the staff for their quick turnaround based on the committee discussion. This is the board policy on history and social science instruction. If there are policies that board thinks will impact them, please draft them and submit them to general counsel or the rules committee. We are working on a more raggate way to catalog our resolutions so we can make sure all of our board policies reflect board resolutions. Thank you. Any other comments . Seeing none, roll call, please. Thank you. [ roll call. ] clerk six ayes. Great. Thank you. Next item is 0460, local control and accountablity plan. Miss houck. This was approved by the rule committee. It seeks to have the board approve local 0460. The rules Committee Heard this item, did request that it go to the budget recommended it favorably, but recommended it go to the budget and Business Committee to allow for additional Public Comment. That happened, and i believe the budget and Business Committee referred it with a positive recommendation. Thank you. Any public questions or comments . There being no Public Comment, roll call please. [ roll call. ] clerk six ayes. Great. Thank you. That is board policy. Next item, theres nothing else on that, right . Okay. Next item is Public Comment on general matters. I have actually one, two, three people speaking on this. Let me see what i did with my list. Here we go. So i just want to you to know that Public Comment is an opportunity to hear from the community on matters in the boards jurisdiction. We ask that you refrain from using employee and student names. If you have a complaint about a district employee, you may submit it to the employees supervisor in accordance with district policy. If appropriate, the superintendent will ask the staff to follow up with speakers. So my three speakers are fernando aguilar, joseph adams, and james burke. Good evening, commissioners and superintendent. Im fernando aguilar. Im the director of Creative Arts Charter School. Im here tonight to speak about Creative Arts Charter School for funding to rhenvate the golden gate campus thats currently occupied by Creative Arts. Im here to request that our prop 51 application for funding be placed on the Board Meeting agenda. Six years ago Broadway Middle School was moved across the campus. We have done our very best to maximize all Available Space at the golden gate campus and have developed a positive, strong and collaborative working relationship with gateway middle school. Five years ago, i came into this very hall to ask for approval of our charter petition. The board voted unanimously. Our charter stated that cac would grow from 256 students to our current enrollment of 440 students. And each year since then using the prop 39 process, Creative Arts has very clearly communicated to the district that we are simply running out of space. As the district has not offered Additional Space to us, we have been actively and creatively looking at ways we can stay at the golden gate campus as we are proud to be part of the Western Addition community. Over the last few years we partnered with the district to explore the possibility of expanding our current site. After multiple meetings with various people, we came to the conclusion that expansion would be possible if Creative Arts could secure the funds, and we have done exactly that. We have applied for and are on the cusp of approving a total of 14 million. We qualify for 7 million in funds from the state, with a matching loan of 7 million that we Creative Arts would take on. As part of this process, we were assured a commitment of 2. 2 million in funds from the district and a recommendation for the approval of an agreement with the sfusd board of education. So im here tonight because we were just notified that district personnel would not notify approval of any construction at the golden gate campus, and im here to respectfully ask that you place railroad resolution on your next Board Meeting agenda. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you all. Hi. Good evening. My name is joseph adams. I have two children in Creative Arts Elementary School right now, and im also the Vice President of the board. I wanted to speak a little bit on our prop 51 application, just give a little bit of the procedural background. Im also an attorney here in town, and weve been working very closely with the district staff on our application. Our application at this point is just a preliminary apportionment. What we would be asking for the district to approve is literally that just the application and the project itself. Eventually, the project is going to have well have to come up with a memorandum of underi understanding and lease agreements for the facility ongoing. The district has already done this with other high schools, like leadership. And we have a great outline for that. Were running out of time now with this 14 million. The 7 million is a grant that this district will get to put directly into its own facility. Creative arts will take on that other loan. The other things about a longterm lease and those types of things, we can kick that can down the road. We dont have to decide on that. We dont have to, in the next couple of weeks, sign leases, sign memorandums of understanding. All we need is the board says this application, this preliminary application is okay with us. If we come to those bridges where we have to try and agree on memorandums of understanding to occupy the space, and we cant do it. No big deal. Then we just walk away, and we try something else. This resolution, this approval by the board is not going to commit you to one single penny. But what it will do, itll get us to that next step where we can say hey, can we afford this 14 million . We can afford the 14 million we only need to afford half of that. The seven is going to be given to the sfusd, 7 million. Lets not just turn our backs on this. I promise you well be able to Work Together to come to an agreement, and i promise it wont cost the district a penny. Thank you. Thank you. [ applause ] sorry for my bluntness ahead of time, but somehow the board sfusd has ticked off every p. O. Teacher in the district with what has happened recently starting on december 20th. Im a p. E. Teacher at idab. Wells high school. We recently were able to create a gym and curriculum that has changed perceptions of p. E. For their students. Im a student of sfusd. I now have a masters in kinesiology, which is the study of Human Movement and fitness. I am up to date in all the research and legal battles when it comes to p. E. And especially of this district. Kids that are physically inactive as youth will likely be as adults. Physical inactivity leads to high blood pressure, obesity, high cholesterol, certain cancers, cardiovascular diseases. Recently obesity among youth has doubled. Some of this generation will not out live their parents due to physical inactivity, and physical inactivity has resulted in knocking off at least 20 from peoples life. We get a memo from the high school lead office on december 20, 2017 addressing the latest board policy changes for p. E. Behind every p. E. Teachers back. Heres from highlights. Students 16 years aold with tw years of high school can exempt p. E. This means all the work that went into idab. Wells high school and the gym that we put in for after school is going to be used for nothing. Students can fail nineth and ten i get grade p. E. And then exempt out. My question of everybody here is are we allowing students to graduate without learning p. Ha matter. Are we trying to promote as a district that p. E. Is just not important, 134g we should not care it. Students think that physical fitness are not important to policies such as this. This is a step in the wrong directio directio direction. They believe this policy will make a difference, but with putting our future Students Health on the line. Thank you. Your time is up. Thank you. Next item is section g, special order of business. We have a special order of business from sfufd to unites workers of San Francisco. I need a motion and a second. Motion. Second. Good evening, board and superintendent, representatives. Tonight, i just want to read the initial proposal from the San Francisco Unified School District to open bargaining to the united administrators of San Francisco. Theres been an initial notice, and itll come back to the board in two weeks. Great. Thank you. I have one speaker for this item, richard magi. Richard, is he still here . Mr. Magi . Okay. Thank you. All right. Any comments from the board . Seeing nome comments, roll cal please. Oh, its coming back at the board. Well, this is the initial we have to give notice of this sunshine this, and then, itll come back in two weeks, public sf in two weeks. Sorry. My script says roll call, please. [ inaudible ] okay. Got it. So well see you in a couple of weeks. Okay. Very good. Thank you. Thank you. Next item is item h, discussion of additional issues, there are none tonight. Id j is an introduction of proposals and assignment to committee. We have one item, board policy 6415, athletic competition. This resolution is referred to the rules policy and legislation committee. Can i please hear a motion and a second for First Reading to the board policy . So moved. Second. Thank you. So itll go to rules. So second k is proposed action on suspension and rules. There are none tonight. Next item is Board Members and reports. Can i get a report from the committee as a whole . Vice president cooke. Ill do that at the next Board Meeting. Okay. A report from curriculum and Program Committee, please, commissioner norton. Yes. The curriculum and Program Committee met on the 17th of january. We had two informational items. The first was a report on the current state of our language pathways, which was a good it was good to declare where we are, where everything is. I think we all continue to have concerns about these programs and, you know, where they are, the student assignments issues related to them, the facilities issues related to them, so it was good to get a a good data and update to them. We also had a great report on African American history in sfusd curriculum which was really extensive and i you know, i cant do it justice in a board report, but you should look at the powerpoint which i think all of you got. Theres just some really great things going on. I one thing i will highlight is the class at mission for African American girls that will now be expanded, theyre going to try and expand it to a second semester. Theyve had a one emster pilot last year, and again this year, and the idea is to develop a second semester for that course. I think its been valleyy impactful and valuable for students, and its great to see thats what were doing. The next meeting i cant remember when the next meeting. Ill have to update the board at the next, yeah february 19th. Yeah. Okay. Great. Thank you. Commissioner Vice President cooke, do you want to do a quick report on your committee as a whole . Yes. We got a staff update on middle school redesign, went over where we are currently at and some of the challenges and how we are looking at expanding grades to include more electives for students. Okay. Great. Thank you. Commissioner haney, a report on the budget and Business Services committee, please. Sure. So we reviewed the local our board policy around the local control and accountablity plan and forward it had ed to the bh a positive recommendation. First was the fiscal analysis for the Homeless Youth resolution, which we took action on tonight. We spoke for a bit about the governors proposed budget for 1819, which actually looks pretty positive. Some of you may be aware that he has sped up the implementation of lcff, so we are going to see, you know, more significant increases to k12, k14 funding than we had expected, so that was positive. And im sure well obviously be hearing more about that as a full board soon. And then, we talked about the general lcap Development Process for 1819. Great. Thank you. Item 2, board del gats to membership organization. Any reports at this time . Seeing none, all of the reports by Board Members . Commissioner merase . Thank you very much. I want to announce that five keys Charter School graduation. There is the in custody graduation thursday at the hlll of justice. Ceremony begins friday at 9 00 a. M. For any of my colleagues who havent had a chance to go to this event, its incredible, see our inmates get a lot out of our inmate Charter School. Theres a graduation on at the scene, february 6th at 11 00 a. M. , also for five keys Charter School. The association of public chinese teacher, the public library, and the San Francisco Asian American department is presenting angel island immigrant voices, a prop a funded professional development on Asian American studies, the immigrant experience saturday, february 3rd, at the milton marks branch of the public library, 351 north 9th avenue. Its from 9 00 a. M. To 1 00 p. M. Please get in touch if people are interested in that professional development. And then, finally, csba is having a Leadership Institute july 13th and 14th for school Board Members, and its going to be held in San Francisco, so i would encourage my colleagues to consider that for july. Thank you. Thank you. Any others . Oh, Vice President cooke . The personnel of labor and affordablity committee will be meeting on thursday, january 25th, at 5 00 p. M. Great. Any other Calendar Committee meetings that youd like to announce . Commissioner sanchez . The rules committee will be meeting february 5th monday, february 5th. Okay. Thank you. Budget and business is. Yes. Our next meeting is going to be the first wednesday, which is the 7th. Wednesday, february 7th . February 7th. Okay. Grounds will be next on monday, february 26. Commissioner merase . The Ad Hoc Committee which meets their regularly will be meeting thursday, february 8th, at 6 00 p. M. Here. Thank you. Vice president cooke, your committee on personnel matters. Thursday, january 25th. We are going to have a meeting sometimes in february on the district ad hoc joint committee. Section n is memorial adjournment. There are none tonight. Section o is closed session, so the board will now go into the closed session. We will were back. Following the closed session, were resuming the regular Board Meeting. The readout for january 23rd im sorry, yeah, january 23rd, 2018 closed session, a goord board by a vo seven ayes. Approved the contract of one assistant principal. Section q, we are adjourned. Thank you. Hello, im the Deputy Assistant manage and project manager for the control system bureau i consider any department as my extend family i know every member of my department the folks are that that talented and skilled and have their credentials since the people in the site are coming to before theyre put in operation its a good place to visit we share information and support each other the water system is a program we got 26 National Level with regards because of the dedication of any team the people are professional about their work but their folks they care about their community and the project i did this is a Great Organization with plenty of associations in you work hard and if you really do your job not only do you enjoy it but the sky is the limit we had a great job a way of life in San Francisco. When the next major quake hits, the city hopes a new law requiring seismic upgrades to five story buildings will help keep more residents safe and sound. Tell me a little about the soft Story Program. What is it . Its a program the mayor signed into law about a year and a half ago and the whole idea behind it was to help homeowners strengthen buildings so that they would not collapse. Did you the soft Story Program apply to all buildings or building that were built in a certain time frame . It only applies to buildings built in the time frame of 1978 and earlier. Its aimed at wood framed buildings that are three or more stories and five or more units. But the openings at the garage level and the street level arent supported in many buildings. And without the support during a major earthquake, they are expected to pancake and flatten ~. Many of the buildings in this program are under rent control so its to everybodys advantage to do the work and make sure they protect their investment and their tenant. Notices have gone out to more than 6,000 owners of potentially atrisk properties but fewer than onethird have responded and thousands might miss an important deadline in september to tell the city what they plan to do. Lets talk worst case scenario. What happens in a collapse . Buildings have the tendency of rolling over. The first soft story walls lean over and the building collapse. In an earthquake the building is a total loss. Can you describe what kind of strengthening is involved in the retrofit . One of the basic concepts, you want to think of this building kind of like rubber band and the upper three floor are very rigid box and the garage is a very flexible element. In an earthquake the garage will have a tendency to rollover. You have to rubber band analogy that the first floor is a very tough but flexible rubber band such that you never drive force he to the upper floors. Where all your damage goes into controlled element like plywood or steel frame. So, here we are actually inside of a soft story building. Can we talk a little about what kinds of repairs Property Owners might expect . Its a very simple process. We deliberately tried to keep it that way. So, whats involved is plywood, which when you install it and make a wall as we have done here already, then you cover it with this gypsum material. This adds some flexibility so that during the earthquake youll get movement but not collapse. And that gets strengthened even more when we go over to the steel frame to support the upper floor. So, potentially the wood and the steel it sounds like a fairly straightforward process takes your odds of collapse from one in 4 to one in 30 . Thats exactly right. Thats why were hoping that people will move quickly and make this happen. Great. Lets take a look. So, lets talk steel frames. Tell me what we have going on here. Well, we have a steel frame here. There are two of these and they go up to the lower floor and there is a beam that go across, basically a box that is much stiffer and stronger. ~ goes so that during the earthquake the upper floor will not collapse down on this story. It can be done in about two weeks time. Voila, youre done. Easy. For more information on how to get your building earthquake ready,