BILINGUAL COMMUNITY COUNCIL
MINUTES
DATE:
TIME:
LOCATION:
January 28, 2013
6:00-8:00 pm
Hillcrest Elementary
810 Silver Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94134
ATTENDANCE:
Members Present: Kim Garcia-Meza, Cindy Choy, Flor Ramos, Maria Teresa Ponce, Darlene Anaya,
Edwin Yuen
Members Absent: Leonor Jackson-Flores, Gladys Soto, Sam Rodriguez, Elvira Ebalo
Member of the Public, Jennifer Fong, Christina Wong
AGENDA
1. Human Resources Presentation and Discussion
Scott Gaiber, Human Resources, came to answer BCC questions about Paraprofessionals and Substitutes.
General Information: Paraprofessionals
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Classroom Aides, Outreach Workers, Parent Liaisons, Attendance Child Welfare Workers and
Security Workers are the positions listed under the umbrella of Paraprofessionals. The District has
hired over 700 Paraprofessionals of which 156 are E.L. Classroom Aides, 34 are E.L. Special Ed.
Classroom Aides and 51 provide outreach or security to E.L. and their families. Level One Salary
is $11.50 per hour.
Currently, there are 26 Latinos & 8 Chinese Classroom Aides assigned to E.L. Special E.D.
students. Cindy Choy asked why more Latinos than Chinese Classroom Aides. Christina Wong
stated the percentage is reflective of the demographics. Mr. Gaiber explained the hiring of Special
Ed. Classroom Aides is driven by what is written in the I.E.P.
Paraprofessionals must possess the following to be hired:
- High School Diploma
- 48 College Units
- Associates Degree (Community College Degree)
- Pass a Language Test
- Passage of CBEST examination (California Basic Educational Skills for Teachers)
Concerns:
 There is no district-wide training program for classroom aides. It is left to school staff to invite
them to participate in ELD teaching strategies training. Multilingual Department has approved
accommodations when the school staff requests it.
 District wide paraprofessional positions are decreasing rather than increasing with the exception of
T19 Security Workers. Schools are in a state of emergency when the security worker does not
report to work. Substitute teachers have been assigned to supervise rather than teach students.
For this reason, the district will be hiring soon 5 to 10 T19 positions and will have a list of
substitutes.
General Information: Substitutes
 Mr. Gaiber reported the District has hired 111 substitute teachers this year. Hiring new substitute
teachers has not happened in several years. There are about 800 teachers in the pool.
 Substitutes go through the following hiring process to insure the quality of applicants:
- Paper screening and using a rubric to evaluate documents.
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- Applicants with a passing score will then move to the interview process.
- Must pass a language test to work with E. L. students.
Most of those hired have teaching credentials.
The average pay for first level hires is $132 per day. Must work 12 days per semester or
36 times per year to maintain good standing.
School site administrators evaluate substitute teachers. Parents need report to the site administrator
when the teacher’s behavior is questionable. The administrator must officially report the behavior
to Human Resources. Mr. Gaiber also recommends reporting “good” teachers so they can be hire
when teaching openings occur.
Concerns
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At the beginning of the school year, 92% of classrooms were covered. Now, 95% of the
classrooms are covered. There are still classrooms not covered when teachers are absent.
Cindy Choy and Kim Garcia-Meza have received complaints from parents, English speaking only
substitute teachers are assigned to immersion classrooms. Mr. Gaiber stated the district has an old
system/program, which does not allow adding crucial information. Most data gathering is done
manually allowing for assignment errors. Right now, substitute teacher do not have complete
assignment information: Name of teacher, grade level, the Pathway, etc. Human Resources are
trying to work on a grant to get a new system. The cost $100.000.
BCC requested the following Information from Mr. Gaiber
 How many substitute teachers
- Have credentials?
- Are bilingual? (List by language.)
 Do T19 security workers receive training? When?
2. Review and approve minutes
Approved the minutes for the following meetings: 3/19/12, 2/17/12 and 4/30/12
Missing are the minutes for November and September 2012. Jennifer Fong will send an email to remind
Eleonor Jackson-Flores.
3. Ongoing Dialogue with Internal Oversight Committee
There was no report. However, Christina Wong reported on the documents School Board Members will
receive during the BCC Board presentation.
Kim Garcia-Meza asked the question about the new changes for implementation of the CELT test, since
this change will have implications for parents and schools. Christina Wong reminded us the legislation
changed two years ago. The District is waiting from the state guidance to implement the test for school
year 2013-2014.
4. BCC School Visits
Discussed focus for school visits. The emphasis will be looking at the status of Long –Term E. L.‘s 4th
and 5th Grade by Pathways: Spanish Immersion, Spanish Bilingual, Chinese Immersion, Chinese
Bilingual and English Plus. Maria Teresa Ponce suggested having a subcommittee meeting to go over the
evaluation instrument, select schools and set calendar. Christina Wong will send data on Long-Term E.
L. students by school.
5. Set agenda and location for next meeting
Next meeting will be February 18, 2013. at Monroe Elementary School.
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