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00137


1 We tried to break down, because
2 there is a very limited budget, how you want
3 to allocate those resources so we can do those
4 things. You could all, as a full committee,
5 knowing at least 13 people would show up, do
6 decide to have hearings in a town hall meeting
7 in four cities, for example, is another way to
8 go, and measure different levels of
9 acculturating Hispanics. New immigrants in
10 Arkansas, Alabama, North Carolina, some of the
11 other areas.
12 What we did here is pick cities
13 the department has an interest in. We thought
14 they would measure different levels of
15 acculturating Hispanics in these communities.
16 Raleigh is very, very new, versus New Mexico
17 is sixth generation Mexican Americans. It
18 would give us a different perspective, one
19 thing I wanted to have from the location of
20 the cities. As for breaking down into smaller
21 groups, it is more cost effective. You can
22 probably cover more ground that way. But the

00138


1 commission can move as a unit and everybody go
2 if you want to.
3 MR. PARET: I don't understand
4 about this proposed schedule of meetings and
5 the attached budget. It seems to me that from
6 a working perspective every subcommittee is
7 going to have to be meeting and convening in
8 some way, shape or form in between full
9 commission meetings. What I am looking at
10 essentially seems to say meeting two,
11 commission, subcommittee, is that one,
12 envisioning one subcommittee meeting and a
13 potential budget allocation for that?
14 MS. SANCHEZ: With limited
15 resources we have to find a way to make it
16 work. You can move the order. Let's say you
17 have four working groups. Four of them can
18 meet at least once but you have to stagger --
19 you can meet one in different cities and then
20 have a full commission meeting in two months,
21 perhaps, or to kind of synthesize, really
22 start working through some of that. Maybe

00139


1 follow-up meetings where you feel you need
2 additional information.
3 DR. VASQUEZ: Maybe there is a
4 subcommittee that has to meet three times.
5 Maybe another needs to meet one time. It
6 doesn't have to be the same time. From San
7 Juan, from Atlanta, probably we can meet in
8 Atlanta. It is halfway between the two of us,
9 something like that. We can work out
10 something to make it easier to travel.
11 MS. SANCHEZ: Absolutely.
12 MR. HANNA: It is a sort of
13 similar question to Francisco. We are
14 supposed to get all of this work done. If you
15 think, if I am the subcommittee that doesn't
16 meet until July --
17 MS. SANCHEZ: You work it out. An
18 example, the special education committee held
19 their first meeting about a month ago.
20 Immediately from that meeting they said we are
21 going to nine cities and they are on the road
22 right now, doing all of that work right now.

00140


1 If every two weeks they are literally -- the
2 whole commission couldn't go with them every
3 two weeks. There is a pocket in Houston,
4 let's say.
5 MR. HANNA: They have funding for
6 that.
7 MS. SANCHEZ: With smaller groups
8 of people it is a very tight budget issue. We
9 have to come up with a proposal what we want
10 to do.
11 MR. HANNA: To some degree, we are
12 going to have to have some conference calls
13 for these committees where the group decides
14 what kind of schedule do we think we need to
15 embark upon and how does that fit within a
16 budget and/or do we need to ask Leslie or
17 others for advice on how we augment that
18 budget. I am not trying to pass that burden
19 on you. I am saying we have to almost, as
20 each separate committee, say, okay, how much
21 of this can we do by telephone and how
22 frequently and when do we need to get

00141


1 together. And how does that fit within the
2 budget.
3 MS. SCHOFIELD: Is this on a
4 proposed schedule? This is what we have in
5 front of us? This is the proposed one?
6 Just an idea. Some of the things
7 I found to be really helpful when I worked on
8 committees is the working committees truly are
9 working committees. We give each other jobs
10 and come prepared for the next one. That may
11 be another strategy we could use.
12 MS. MAZZUCA: I know some people
13 have to leave, already. One of the things we
14 need to decide is, looking at this very
15 quickly, the next full commission.
16 MS. SANCHEZ: When would you like
17 to hold the next full commission.
18 MS. MAZZUCA: We may need to meet
19 again as a full commission to have
20 opportunities --
21 MR. HANNA: Is the emphasis to
22 give the committees a little bit of time to

00142


1 get their wits about them and then have a
2 commission meeting, or is there more a feeling
3 that we should have another commission meeting
4 to flesh some of this out? I think the
5 former.
6 DR. VASQUEZ: Former.
7 MS. ALVAREZ: Maybe some of us
8 will have to rush out of here. Could you send
9 us immediately the listing of the committees,
10 who is on there and then maybe the first
11 person listed on there in each particular
12 committee can initiate a conference call with
13 those other committee members and at least
14 assign what they will be doing between now and
15 the next full committee meeting?
16 MR. HERNANDEZ: I think it is
17 important for the next full committee meeting
18 that each working group brings in a plan,
19 whatever it is.
20 MR. HANNA: We may need at least
21 two months to get that. You were talking
22 about March for the full commission. I am not

00143


1 sure that gives the committee --
2 REV. HOYOS: April?
3 MS. RAMOS: I have a concern about
4 the late date of the subcommittees. Is there
5 any reason why subcommittees can't meet
6 concurrently but in their respective areas?
7 That way you push up your subcommittees all
8 the way to the front so that you know what you
9 are doing and then do the same thing towards
10 the end.
11 MS. SANCHEZ: Some subcommittees,
12 they are so small. They weren't budgeted for
13 seven people. They are so small that you can
14 have two subcommittees meet in the same city,
15 for example, so they really get to go twice.
16 Education and family could meet twice, you
17 know, for example. There will be resources
18 for that. You could cross. You can mix. So
19 whenever you have a meeting --
20 MS. RAMOS: To me it would make
21 more sense to have that subcommittee next.
22 Even if it was concurrently, meeting within

00144


1 that time frame. Then come back to the full
2 commission. You are going to come back with
3 ideas of what you want to do with your
4 subcommittee, your leadership within the
5 subcommittee, and the needs of the
6 subcommittee. That third meeting -- this is
7 our first. Subcommittee is next. And then
8 another full commission meeting. I think that
9 would give you more of a working material.
10 MS. SCHOFIELD: Are we still
11 saying we come together at the same time but
12 we work in our subcommittees at the same
13 place?
14 MS. ALVAREZ: I think we can do
15 both. We can work between now and the next
16 full commission meeting. I don't think we can
17 just sit back and wait until that time to see
18 what we are doing. I think we can do some of
19 it by teleconference. If that particular
20 committee feels it is necessary to meet, maybe
21 that is something that can be coordinated with
22 the cochairs and with Leslie. I think a lot

00145


1 of the work can be done by teleconference with
2 the committee members working individually and
3 then bringing that together to the committee
4 so the next time we meet we will have done a
5 lot of that work. Before that next commission
6 meeting, maybe the evening we come in, the
7 committees can get together, can be over
8 dinner, or can be --
9 MR. HANNA: That is the way a lot
10 of boards do it. Combine the two, have more
11 time together. Next time we have a full
12 commission meeting, we have to structure it
13 where there is time for the committees to get
14 together.
15 MS. MAZZUCA: I think the
16 expectation -- this is reflection -- for us to
17 feel we are even to get to where we are in an
18 hour and a few minutes is a lot. As cochair,
19 I hate having to rush like this, but we had to
20 do it because we needed orientation and we
21 wanted to meet all these wonderful people.
22 For any further meetings I think we need to

00146


1 have it more directed. I know Leslie has
2 promised, Frank and I will look at the agenda,
3 and obviously we are going to take work and
4 put it into consideration.
5 MR. HANNA: We need to get a list
6 out to everyone of the committee membership.
7 And does April sound right, sort of toward the
8 end of April -- that's roughly two months from
9 now -- for a full commission meeting?
10 What a committee starts to talk
11 about, if a committee says look, we want to
12 get together April 1, whatever, prior to that
13 meeting, that's fine. I think to the degree
14 we allow that committee to get together, say
15 we can handle this by phone, we will all get
16 together before the commission meeting, to
17 sort of think that through on a committee by
18 committee basis.
19 MS. SANCHEZ: Do you not want the
20 committees to meet between now and April?
21 MR. HANNA: They certainly will be
22 in contact with one another. Whether they

00147


1 physically get together, right now this
2 schedule shows one of those subcommittees
3 meeting.
4 MS. SANCHEZ: What might work is
5 if the subcommittees speak to each other, come
6 up with the criteria that they would like to
7 at least have a framework for and see what the
8 possibilities -- once we see all that
9 information, we can pass that through, at
10 least look at it, see what the possibilities
11 are. You might get a better sense of what
12 kind of meetings or initiations you have
13 before then. I don't want to wait two months
14 when we realize three committees can meet
15 right before then.
16 If you set a time frame, lets get
17 the criteria at least of what you are thinking
18 two weeks from now or something like that.
19 MS. MAZZUCA: We need to have a
20 time line and we need to know who is going to
21 be the leader of each subcommittee.
22 MS. ALVAREZ: The cochair can

00148


1 assign somebody. They decide that person is
2 better suited --
3 MR. HERNANDEZ: What you are
4 saying, by the end of March all of the
5 committee presenting their draft plan --
6 MR. HANNA: I think that is a good
7 idea. That keeps us moving. That gives us a
8 date.
9 MS. MAZZUCA: We can certainly
10 assign. I know a lot of people have to catch
11 planes. We can certainly assign, say why
12 don't you be the leader and if you don't want
13 to argue amongst yourselves.
14 MS. RAMOS: Leslie, your office,
15 since you have gone through all these reports
16 and we haven't, could you draft something,
17 perhaps, like points you think each committee
18 should be looking at, or give us a feel what
19 it is we should be looking at within each
20 committee? So we will have a little guidance
21 there. Maybe even what your expectations are.
22 MS. SANCHEZ: Sure.

00149


1 MS. SCHOFIELD: I would love it if
2 we could disseminate it for everybody, even
3 though I am not on the government --
4 MR. HANNA: Absolutely.
5 MS. SANCHEZ: We will do one
6 document.
7 MR. HANNA: Anything else?
8 MS. ALVAREZ: I think if we are
9 talking about meeting again in April, we get
10 that date set down as quickly as possible. I
11 am sure everybody is like me that has really
12 bad schedules. Get that out as soon as
13 possible.
14 MR. HANNA: During next week I
15 think we need to have all of it done out so
16 people can start planning. Obviously, if
17 eight of us can't be there, we will put out
18 another date.
19 MR. CANCHOLA: Now that we are
20 officially commissioners, are there going to
21 be something coming? Because the last one
22 says you will be nominated. Is there

00150


1 something that will say you are a commissioner
2 now?
3 MS. SANCHEZ: From the White
4 House?
5 MR. CANCHOLA: Yes.
6 MS. SANCHEZ: I know you will get
7 a certificate, trying to get those done. I
8 can check on that. The White House made an
9 announcement yesterday so we will go back.
10 They made an announcement yesterday.
11 MS. MAZZUCA: In closing, this
12 meeting is now adjourned. Let it be noted.
13 MS. SANCHEZ: We have members of
14 the --
15 MR. CANCHOLA: Madam Chair,
16 Mr. Chairman, I think the one thing we missed
17 is, I guess, we are supposed to be open to the
18 public and maybe, before we close, is there
19 anybody from the public that wanted to make a
20 comment on anything.
21 MR. HANNA: That's why we had
22 Dr. Flores here earlier.

00151


1 MR. CANCHOLA: There are other
2 people sitting here other than Dr. Flores.
3 MR. HANNA: That is true.
4 Normally -- I am just afraid we are going to
5 have half our members having to go catch
6 planes. Certainly, commissioners will be here
7 available for them to speak with.
8 MR. CANCHOLA: Being a former
9 mayor in my other life, I guess there is a
10 thing called call to the public prior to
11 closing meetings, starting meetings, protocol.
12 MS. SANCHEZ: If you would like
13 to.
14 MR. HANNA: Is there anyone that
15 would like to make comments to the commission?
16 MS. SANCHEZ: Representative from
17 Senator Hutchins' office.
18 MR. HANNA: Welcome, thank you.
19 MS. SANCHEZ: A lot of
20 congressional support.
21 (Whereupon, at 11:59 a.m., the
22 proceedings were adjourned.)

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