Hello, good evening. Welcome to the January CC20 calendar meeting. We are here tonight at PS1 170 which is overseen by principal Hollis Holly Sans. Thank you so much for hosting us
>> recording in progress. >> And N can you please take roll call attendance? You did the U. >> Okay. So, uh we now we start the uh take a roll call. Okay. So, we start take a local uh drum
>> here. >> Yes. So, Elizabeth >> here. May I? >> Oh, she's here. Okay. So, Stephen, >> Fabiola. >> Yeah.
>> Okay. Ramana. >> Carrie. >> Oh, Kennley. >> Uh, Alina. >> Kevin. Kevin. >> Oh, he's going to be late. >> Okay.
>> Yep. So, we have one excuse and one late and tense here. You can hear me. >> You can mute. >> Use what? >> Tonight we have interpretation in
Arabic, Mandarin and Spanish. You should see these interpreters name in their participant list and they will post their information in their chat. They will now share directions for anyone who needs interpretation for the meeting.
Could our Arabic interpreter please introduce yourself? >> Uh, good evening. My name is Tala Abdullah, Arabic interpreter with my partner Mina. foreign.
Shukran. Thank you. Arabic announcement is done. >> Okay, thank you. >> Can our Mandarin interpreter please introduce yourself? complete. >> Thank you. Oh, >> can our Spanish interpreter please
introduce yourself? >> Good evening. The following will be the Spanish announcement. symbol. Gracias. Spanish announcement complete. Thank you. Oh, do we have any other interpreters? >> Okay, thank you. As a reminder of
speakers, please try to speak slower than usual to allow for interpreters to keep up. that I'm going too hard. Sorry, it's okay. >> Sorry. Go up and down. Okay, we did that.
Now we will share the agenda for tonight's calendar meeting. >> Kevin, can you please share the agenda on the screen? >> Sure. >> Okay. And we will now share instructions for our public speaking sessions.
>> Oh, there it is. >> No, it's >> okay. about now. >> Okay, >> I'll check if anyone's online, but I don't think anyone signed up, but the link is in the chat. >> So, there's a link in the chat for public speaking session if anybody
signed up and wants to speak. >> Alexa, >> so we have responses online, but if Alexa, it was a representative, correct? >> Yeah, >> it's a city council member. Yeah, >> she would like to speak then she can speak now. >> So, um, Alexis Aillis's office can
speak. >> She is. >> Hi. Can you hear me? >> Yes, we can. >> Great. Good evening, everyone. I'm Council Member Alexa. Um, glad to be here with you this evening. Um, look
forward to hearing uh all the information that's going to get shared. Uh, so happy new year to everyone. Um, as we are speeding into also Luna New Year, we'll see you uh in a couple of weeks for many celebrations. Um, I just
want to share some quick announcements um particularly around funding as we start the new year. Um, all the funding portals will open. So, I wanted to make sure particularly for our school communities that they're reminded that
um funding applications for discretionary funds for council members uh are currently open and they are open until February 18th and they will close February 18th, I think at 6:00 p.m. very
promptly. They do not receive late submissions. So, nonprofits that are, you know, applying for funds, please be sure to get your applications in so that you can even be considered for reso A funding. Those um applications will be
open through March 13th at 6:00 p.m. and schools will be able to complete those um applications for funding. And also the Brooklyn Burough President um provides capital funding for schools as
well. So that application is open February through February 20th at 5:00 p.m. So just want to encourage everyone to get their capital requests and their programmatic requests in uh through these different portals. Uh just so
folks know, we are hosting again in our office free tax services um in partnership with Brooklyn Grow and uh people can make appointments through our district. Um they can call our office
and make an appointment. Uh our number is 718-439912. Um and then also for residents down in um in the district 20 uh part of our
district um we have office hours where we have a staff member receiving families to address all manner of issues. We host them in Dyker Heights at McKinley Library and the next couple of dates that we will be there are um
January 22nd and February 5th from 1 to 5:00 p.m. We also host in New Utre Library which is a new location for us. Um, and that the next dates there will actually be tomorrow, January 15th,
January 29th, and February 26th from 1 to 5:00 p.m. I'll be sure to send the flyers so you can distribute uh for the families uh in those neighborhoods uh rather than coming all the way to Sunset Park, which we know can be quite challenging.
Um, with that, um, we know there's a lot going on and certainly we are starting a new session at city council and you'll be hearing soon about, you know, new appointments to committees um, and the
start of of a new legislative year. So, more to come and uh, happy to to be here and see you all. Thanks for all the work that you do with our children and uh, our educators across New York City. That's it.
>> Thank you. And in person, we have >> we have Lester Chan and Susan Song. Uh who wants to speak first? >> Who do we stand? >> You are you speak to us? You're all set. >> Okay, that's great. All right. Thank you
very much. uh and uh happy new year for all and we got a next Chinese New Year coming up next month. >> Okay. Uh I just uh want to emphasize of my position here of gifted intelligent program. I stay solid behind that.
There might be talks about that sunset that program. Uh, I have a bill that hopefully to protect that and I will reinforce that bill that I written uh last year and I I reviewed that and I'm going to put some more placement on that. So, it might it'll take some time
if it ever get passed, but I want to make sure just to let you know that I support G&T program and I have a bill out there including protecting specialized high school and any program uh that uh gears towards the most
talented uh folks like maturity uh with merit and and basically is is the parents must have to have a say about this program instead of just playing administrator or school. they have to have parents inputs to to put anything forward or changes on that because
parents have to have a say on on any program and that's uh address that to you and thank you for having me here. Thank you. Sure. We have >> Hi, I'm council member Susan Dwang. Um,
it's very nice to see everyone here. Happy New Year and I want to thank all the CEC members working hard with this high pay job in your free time. And also I'm I'm very happy to see our chancellor here. Uh not chancellor superintendent I
promote you superintendent David Dr. David Fredo here and thank you for the work. um for as I see my colleague council member Alexa Vas already mentioned the new council started and also it's a new year
start I want um my office every beginning of every year we have a PTA breakfast ask all the PTA um parents or CC members whoever parent have time to come to join us talk about
your wishing list for your kids school. Last year, we gave u more than $8 million school uh capital funding to all the schools in my district in it's between CC 20 and CC21 and also one
school in CC 15 and I want to invite everyone again this year our PTA breakfast is January 21st uh between 9:00 a.m. to 12 12:00. Uh address is Jewish Community
House of Bensonhurst is 78th Street and the Bensonhurst uh uh 78th Street Bay Parkway. And I will leave the information here you guys can share. And also um in the new year
I'm always here for me um my priority always education. If anyone has questions or concerns about education um people also know I'm not only just talking I deliver also uh if we everyone
have opinion about different talent program everyone have opinion what need to be done but also it's important for us to bring the resources to the community what we need is money and what we need is the resources and last year
we um fight to get another additional 300 after school programs between CC 20 and CC 21. Hope this year we'll get more and also if anyone has any question concerns we are here to help everyone
and also recently in my office the number one issue is immigration issue. If any parents have anything worried um please come to contact our office. We have free attorney there to help everyone. I even get text message from
Tik Tok. Some kids text me saying um I worry about my parents status. That's really hurt me personally. If anyone worry about anything, we have free attorney. Our office is located on
65th Street and the 20th Avenue. It's on 20th Avenue. If anyone has any concerns, questions, even get second opinion. Every single week we have attorney in our office to help answer all the questions and uh wish everyone best of
luck in 2026. Thank you. >> Thank you. So, uh, public speaking is over, but we also have some students from the school that was supposed to present, >> but then we have the presentation here. >> Oh, they're going to do it first. >> John invited
>> to open the meeting. >> John and I set the agenda right now. It's set to this. >> Oh, okay. So, then on later. Yeah. >> Okay. Good. So, now we're going to do um number three presentation from New York
City Rise and Safe for College Program. >> Hi, good evening everyone. Can you hear me? >> Okay, you we can hear you. >> Wonderful. I am going to share my screen. So, let me go ahead and get that started first.
Um and great. Okay, I can see it on the screen behind you all. Well, good evening everyone. It's lovely to be in community with you. I am a huge fan of district 20 and have had um a long-standing partnership with the superintendent's
office and with your elementary schools on the safe for college program. I joined the president's council meeting in the fall. And so for some of you, you're seeing me again. Um, but really the purpose of this presentation is to
bring additional information to you all as community leaders and families about this program, what it is, what it isn't, um, and how we can really celebrate and get behind our kids' future college and career dreams. So with that I am going
to go ahead and move through a few slides about the program in general for you all just so you can see currently um who the program most impacts. This um initiative started in school year 2122
with the kindergarten class that year. Those kindergarteners are now fourth graders. And so with every year the eligibility for this program increased. So in the slides that follow if you are a parent of a student who is in the
fifth grade or above I will stay on past my presentation to offer a few additional resources to support you all with college and career planning. Um, but the main focus of these slides will be for families who have children in
kindergarten through fourth grade or those families whose children are in preK and or 3K and looking ahead. I do also want to emphasize and this relates to something the council member was just speaking about. This program is for every public school student in these
grades regardless of immigration status or income. It is a program that is created specifically for New York City public school students and their families. And we know our amazing city and the wonderful communities that make
it up are communities of immigrants. So, um, I will include some frequently asked questions in a little bit about immigration status, but I want to emphasize from the get-go that it is for all kindergarten through fourth grade students regardless of their family's
immigration status. So, um, now that I've shared all of that prefacing, what exactly is the Safe for College program here in District 20 and citywide? This program is a partnership with the city of New York, New York City public schools, and the organization I work
for, NYC Kids Rise. This program is created for a few reasons. It was created because one, we want families in New York City to know that they are not alone in thinking ahead for their child's college and career planning. It can be very overwhelming for families to
start thinking about something 12 years from now. But we know from research and data on who has access to college and career training that early planning and um setting those high expectations and supporting our kids is crucial. And so
this program is about making sure that every family can feel supported in that process from day one of their child's kindergarten years. The other part of this is that research shows that small dollar savings accounts, when a student
knows that they have that from an early age, they are three times more likely to go on to higher education and four times more likely to graduate. And that is true even if that small savings account has less than $500 in it. So, this
program was created to support families and to provide every student with a financial asset that will go towards their future college and career training expenses. As I just said, college and career training um can be difficult to think
about for the future. Although I'm sure many families in this space may also have been saving from day one their child was born. Every family is in a different situation. What we do know is that most families or most students do face a gap in terms of the costs that
are needed to cover their education. Um, even after financial aid, other scholarships, work study programs, and what a student or family may be able to put aside, there are often unexpected fees, books, other expenses that for
some students can be make or break as to whether or not they continue or persist in their education. So, this program, while we are not talking about paying for all of college or career training, um we are talking about helping set up
our students for success to address these unexpected expenses. And I see that someone in the chat just mentioned that many of our CUNIs and Sunnis are free for families who um make under a certain amount. And that is absolutely
true. the scholarship account in the program that we're talking about can supplement that in that it also helps pay for things that other that those scholarship programs actually don't cover as much. So it can be books, some fees, in some cases housing expenses and
other things that help those students and those families supplement um what is provided by our amazing CUTUNI and Sunni systems. If your child is in kindergarten through fourth grade and you did not opt out of
the program, then they automatically received a scholarship account from the city of New York and New York City Kids Rise. This is a scholarship account that is owned and managed by our nonprofit for the benefit of your child. It can be
used alongside or complimentary to an existing 529 or other savings account you may already have. This is extra is a city and community contribution for your child's future education. It starts with
$100 and it is invested in the New York 529 plan run by the state which means that it's invested in the financial markets and has the potential to grow over time. It also has the potential to grow by you logging in and taking steps
with the program and by communities contributing over time. You as a family member cannot contribute directly to this scholarship account. It is a scholarship again where city and community contribute for the benefit of
your child and for the city. However, if you do want to save on your own or need support in looking at those options, our program will also support you with that. I wanted to share where we are in district 20 and celebrate. And yes, um
Sylvia and Dr. PTO, I did include an old picture from a few years ago. Um, so currently in District 20, we have um over 15,000 of the kindergarten through fourth graders in District 20 have NYC scholarship accounts today. And within
those accounts, there is already $1.7 million for their future college and career training expenses. This picture is from three years ago. And if you squint really closely, you can see that at that time, the amount in the
scholarship accounts was $689,000. So, as the program expands, as students get that initial $100 allocation and families take additional steps as well as community contributions come in, this is an investment that will grow,
continue to grow for all of District 20's um kindergarten through fourth grade students. Um, really importantly, I keep saying college or career training because while we are the safe for college program, we know there are lots of different ways to
um, focus on helping kids achieve their career dreams and um, whatever they want to be that may also include going to a trade school, going to an apprenticeship program or a community college. These are funds that can be used not just for
four-year universities, but can also be used for any of those eligible expenses in the US or abroad. So, this is really flexible funding again to supplement and help all of our students.
It does not impact financial aid applications in the future. It does not impact any public benefit applications. And the reason why is that New York City Kids Rise is the owner and manager of the scholarship. So, it is not under a
parent's name. It will never ask you for a social security number or any of that information in order to see your child's scholarship account and and how much money is in it. And very importantly, because we know this is a point of confusion, it will not impact your
future financial aid applications. This scholarship is not under the parents name and we have several material materials that state this in the 14 NYCPS languages if you need to see that in writing as well.
Um I'll just wrap up um here with a few next steps. So, the first step of the program for families, if you haven't done this already, or if you know um someone in your community or a neighbor who has a young child, you can ask them about this. But the first step of the
program, building block one, is to log in and see your child's scholarship account that already exists, unless you chose to opt out. By doing so, $25 more goes into that account. And then there are steps that we can take to support
you as a family. If you want to learn about ways to begin saving in amounts that make sense for you or if you want to connect an existing New York 529 um or other savings um bank account savings program, we do have one banking partner
who um works with our platform. But if you also work with another bank um we are happy to support you or connect you to resources to think about the financial planning that works best for you and your family. I will pause here for a moment because
if we do have any kindergarten through fourth grade families online tonight who have not logged in to see their child's account, um now's the time to do it. We are um in the midst of what's called scholarship month here in New York City,
which is January of every year when our new kindergarteners receive their scholarship accounts and any newly enrolled students in the other eligible grades. So, you can scan this QR code. I will also drop links in the chat when
I'm finished. And you can choose the language that works best for you. In the top right corner, here's where things look with a little bit of time with these accounts and we get to learn from and see where students are with this program who are part of
the pilot in district 30 in Queens. So there are eighth graders who are about to go to high school who were part of this pilot. And you can see how between the scholarship account and in orange what families may begin to save on their own as well as community contributions,
this does have the potential to grow and will be a wonderful gift to our students to help them when they graduate high school. We have weekly workshops in different languages. Again, I will stay and put all of those links in the chat. We also
have a hotline. You can call and request translation support and speak one-on-one with our team or email us if you have any questions or concerns. And with that, I do want to be mindful of everyone's time. So, I will be sure
to um share these slides with the CEC president and team so that they can be made available to you all. But one final note is just um as I said, communities can contribute to these scholarship accounts um whether that's local
businesses, alumni from schools or parents at a PTA, you know, PTA fundraising. And so we are here to support. If you feel passionate about raising funds to support the kids in your community or identifying local businesses who would want to contribute
over time, we have a whole series of resources and support um that make it possible for individuals to give back in this really meaningful way for the future. Um, with that I will pause and see if
there are any questions and just really appreciate the time and the ability to be with you all today. And thanks as always to the leadership of the superintendent and Sylvia and Bill and the district 20 team as well as the CEC for your leadership and support of this
initiative. >> Okay. Um, I got a couple of questions to ask you. Uh I was wondering um are you part uh is New York City RISE part of the DOE? >> So we are the nonprofit partner to New
York City public schools. We are a separate entity. We only exist to manage this program for New York City public schools but I for example am employed by the nonprofit not by New York City public schools. And then on our board we
have um our uh we partner with the chancellor's office and then on our board we are overseen by multiple city departments as well because again this is a city initiative. So um we are that
oversight comes from NYCPS as well as different departments across the city. >> And um is there an expiration date for this program? like if the students don't ever uh use this funding, will it go to
other students? >> Yes. So students um and I I do want to go back um just to clarify. Um so for the scholarship account specifically, which again is going to be city community money, not any contributions
that say a parent might put into their own account that's in their name or their own 529. the scholarship account money. There's 20 years to use that from the kindergarten year. So what that comes out to is about by the age students are 25. That would be when they
would need to use those funds. Otherwise, this would go back into support the current students in New York City public schools. Um we that is set up also to acknowledge that some students take time andor need to work
before going to school. Um, but we hope that students will draw down and families will draw down these funds to help pay for those initial expenses. >> Thank you. Uh, are there any questions from other council members?
>> Okay, but Steve, go ask your question. >> Sure. I have a question. Yeah, you >> speak to speak on your phone. you said that parents can't contribute to this, but you kind of lost me when
you went the first step and then in the second step I think it was saying parents would contribute to a 529. So, I'm trying to get an idea or an understanding. Is that something that's mandatory or with that initial deposit,
can a child stay in the program or are they obligated then to do step two and step three where I think then um that does require parental contributions unless because you kind of went by kind of quick. I was trying to understand um with those building blocks
um open your own account and so that's basically compulsory they have to open that >> they do not >> into that into that account then they would be putting their own the parents would contribute on their own >> I'm really glad you asked this thank you for clarify or for asking me to clarify
and to slow down on this particular piece so >> just hold on one second they're connecting the sound so everyone can hear you in Oh, thank you. >> No problem. >> All right. >> Go ahead. Give it a shot. >> Um, can you hear me?
>> No. >> No. No. >> All right. Try again. >> What about now? Yes. Yeah, you're Yeah, you're off. >> Okay, great. Very loud. Um >> mute mine. My bad.
>> Yeah, yours was on. It's off. You're muted. >> Okay. I think Are we good? All right. Um so, Stephen, to your question. So, first off, um the scholarship account that is provided to every student regardless of
whether their family can or wants to set up an additional account that is there for kids no matter what. The scholarship account stays with students after they graduate high school. They can access those funds. It's also really important um for this program and that's why I'm
glad you asked this that this scholarship and the ability for community me you know community donors in the city to contribute none of that um all of that is available regardless of what a family can or cannot save on their own and also thinking about our
students who are in the foster care system andor may be navigating this whole process on their own this account is going to be there for them regardless. Um there are completely optional steps. So I should put optional
across here um for the future. So if a family and we get the question from some families um who say how do I I want to start saving or I already have a 529 account. How how does that work with this program? So for those families who
want to start saving on their own for the first time, we support them with steps in the program where they can technically earn additional rewards for making their first $5 deposit, setting up an an account that's in their name
for their child. Um, but all of that is optional and it depends on what is best for that family and what they may want to put aside. Um, so I know it's confusing because it's two different accounts, but it is intentional to make
sure that every kid no matter what receives the scholarship and then the next steps or are for those who would like to take them. >> Does that answer your question andor do you have concerns? And I'll also take it a follow-up question though. So if a
family only did building block one >> then that 25 251 100 reward they wouldn't be eligible. Do you have any data or graph showing us that to to compare this is if you went standalone block one and this is if you opt in on
uh the optional program >> the next ones. So, um, we do have data on all of the accounts in terms of from our pilot program as I shared, we're able to see long-term some families who
did take that those next steps and some families who didn't. Um, that is something I don't have it on me, but as a followup, we are happy to look into sharing what we're able to at this point. Um, every student's account, I
will say, is going to look differently for not just the reasons of the building block rewards that might that families may or may not take, but also, as I mentioned, the community scholarship component. So, for example, we have schools where there's a local business
um that actually donates a certain amount for every service that they do. So we have, for example, a car dealership in one district that gives a certain amount per car sold to the school around the block. We have a barber shop that gives a certain amount per school to the students accounts down
the block. So all of those community scholarship dollars go into those students accounts and it's very localized in that way. So every students is going to look a little bit different. Um, and it's our job and what we're
working on as a team is to make sure that regardless of whether families get that extra 175 in building block rewards, they are still getting community investment. Um, and our organization takes zero dollars of that.
We just work to try and actively engage donors and businesses um to give to these accounts as a mechanism for supporting their community. Anybody else has any more questions? >> Yeah. So I have a three questions. So
first one, what is the maximum amount for the for the kids race account? And the second is how to pay the trial college using the kids ra. And third, if kids uh just finished the uh high school and the kids not going continue the
college, uh where's the money going to? >> Okay, thank you. I heard the last question. I'm sorry. I when the camera it was moving. Can someone help repeat the the first or second question? >> Oh, okay. The the second one or third
one. >> Sorry, the first and second question. I caught the third but >> okay uh what uh what's the maximum amount for the account and the second one is how to pay for the trial uh how to pay for trials college using the
using the account >> okay so the first was the minimum amount >> maximum >> maximum oh okay for the scholarship account there is not a maximum um amount um again that's city and community
contributions along with the rewards. We um as I said at the beginning, we anticipate that these scholarship accounts are going to help pay for that gap filler. So, thinking about, you know, the a class, book fees, things
like that. Um we don't anticipate although we would love to have this be the case but we don't anticipate that this money is going to help pay for an entire you know college education although with Sunni CUNI and other um amazing resources it will help with
that. So there's no maximum for the scholarship. Again, that's the city community money. In terms of how the family actually or student accesses this money, we it uses a system that already exists today um nationally, and that's
the 529 account system. So, what that means is that um families and students will be getting communication from us as they go into high school and as they get closer to graduating around exactly how to access the funds. And it's currently
a few different ways. So, it could be that it's a direct deposit to that education institution to help pay for tuition fees, etc. Another way to access the funds is as a reimbursement. So basically, if a student were buying
something for their education, they would submit a receipt for a reimbursement from this account. And that's using a system that already exists today that families use for their children going to college. Um, the last question you asked about what happens if
they don't use the money. If they don't use the money in their scholarship account, this is different from if a parent owns an account for them. if they don't use the money within 20 years of their kindergarten year, so around the time they're about 25, it will come back
and support the student, the current students in the program. Um, and that is because the explicit use for this is for college and career training. Um, and you know, we understand some people may not use these funds. We hope they do
immediately, but it will go to support the current kids in the program. Okay, >> there's another question. >> If they don't use them in 20 years, whatever the parents can contribute goes back. Um, I just had a quick question.
What about kids who join the district later? Like kids who join in third grade or kids who join in fifth grade? Um, are the count set up for them? >> So, as long as they um are in one of these, and again, it will expand to fifth grade next year. So it expands by
a grade each year, but as long as a student is joining in one of the eligible grades, they get a scholarship account. So families who um there are families who have been here since day one of kindergarten. There are others joining this year who are fourth graders
and because fourth grade is an eligible um grade, they also receive a scholarship account. And we also um this account follows that student, right? So, I've spoken with families who were here for kindergarten, left New York City
public schools and then moved back. All of that continues. You know, they not only was the account would the account be available to them if they never returned, but once they return into the public school system, they're right back in terms of being eligible for community scholarships for their school and other
rewards from the city. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Um, let me ask you another question. Um, how are you IDing these students if you're not using their social security number? >> So, the only three pieces of information that are used for a family to log into a
scholarship account are the student ID number, the zip code and date of birth that are on file with ATS. So, families in the fall, um, and we are an opt out program in partnership with New York City public schools. So what that means
is that if families opt out, we never receive any data to create an account for the child. We don't even know about their enrollment in the school, nothing like that. Assuming a family doesn't opt out, which is the majority of families in New York City, then we receive
limited data from New York City public schools, similar to what's on the blue card at enrollment, um, in order to establish this account for each student. But we never have any social security information either for the student or the parent. Nothing. There's never any
banking information required. It is just to confirm that they are a New York City public school student in that grade, which is why the OSUS number is what's used to confirm that. >> Also, immigration status wouldn't matter either. >> No, not at all. Um, and in fact, uh,
this program was very intentionally built with our immigrant families in mind, regardless of documentation status, and we have a lot of extensive resources. And our team loves to support and will support families with any questions they have about that because
we want our families to know that this is meant for their child no matter um, where they have come from or what their documentation is. >> Oh, thank you. Good to know. Any other questions? Thank you so much for your information.
And >> yes, >> and could you put your email in the chat so anybody could email you questions? >> Absolutely. And I'll also include some other helpful links for families um or community members interested in supporting a community scholarship. Um
thank you all so much for the time and really appreciate the partnership. So, we're here for anything you may need or follow-up questions you have. >> Okay. Thank you. And now we're going into um number four, report of the superintendent. Should I mute?
>> Yeah. >> Thanks. >> Thanks so much, Leah. I'm actually going to touch on in our DCP. Uh the uh NYC Kids Rise initiative is one of our uh goals. So I'll touch on that in
terms of progress monitoring connected to uh the number of families who complete benchmark one. Excuse me. Good evening. >> Happy new year. Uh and I just want to
just welcome and congratulate our new chancellor. I know it's all over the news. We have a new mayor, Mayor Mani. Congratulations on mayorship and congratulations to uh Chancellor Kamar Samuels who is the new chancellor. Uh I know that we will uh get to have time
with Chancellor Samuels at the CEC's town hall which is upcoming uh on March 30th. Thank you. Which is also my birthday. So my birthday get Yeah, totally. We get to have the chancellor come for my birthday. It's my birthday. >> I should buy the birthday cake. And um we're looking forward to
welcoming the chancellor to district 20 and and connecting him with uh you know all members of the community including parent leaders uh which I know is uh a big priority of of the mayor and obviously of the chancellor. So the first I I want to start with uh just a question that was posed by the
council. Uh uh Kelly Clansancy uh posed a question around the usage of AI in district 20 schools specifically within the HMH curriculum because there has been some dialogue in the community and even at the PEP level around the presence of AI uh in this curriculum. So
I wanted to share you know uh where AI is present and uh and be able to take feedback and just make sure that everyone has all the information. So there are two places within the digital materials uh available within the HMH core curriculum package that uh are what
we call student facing where students are directly interacting with digital tools that involve AI in some way shape or form. uh one has been uh well discussed in the community is currently uh at the pep level in discussions uh which is called a mirror and a mirror is
a digital individual fluency tutor uh for use with students who struggling with foundational literacy. Uh this is a program that's optional for schools to use. They don't have to use it. Uh it's used in district 20. Uh very few students across the district uh engage
with this program. It's a one-to-one program that's uh used very sparingly, but it is utilized within the district. Uh and the contract for use of a mirror in New York City public schools is currently being discussed by the PEP. Uh that's one place where uh student-f facing uh AI uh can be encountered. Uh
and the other place is within Writable and Writable is a digital writing platform where students complete writing tasks uh in ELA. Almost every student in district 20 will encounter writable at some point uh in the school year. And this is the primary platform where
students may encounter uh AI in school. So I'm just going to go and describe a little bit about what that means. So there are two studentf facing AI supports within writable. One is called revision aid and the other one is called
grammar aid. Uh these are both tools that can be enabled by a teacher. They can be turned on by a teacher or turned off by the teacher. Uh and uh they provide AI uh on demand AI feedback to guide revision. That's revision aid. Uh and also they can receive grammar
support uh when this is enabled in their writing which is also uh leveraging AI. Uh students only receive the AI feedback once it's been reviewed, edited, and delivered by a teacher. So before the student receives it, a teacher sees it. Uh and again this is a functionality
that is optional. So a teacher can turn it on and use it or turn it off. Uh so again these two a areas are revision aid. It's on demand AI feedback that's given to guide uh revision efforts in writing and grammar aid which is an AI powered grammatical support
while students are drafting their writing. Uh not all teachers use these tools. Some do, some don't. Um there are options available to teachers. I can't answer how many teachers use them or don't use them uh or to or how often teachers do use them if they use them uh
but they are options that are available to teachers. Those are the only two studentf facing uh AI components uh of writable. Writable also uses a software called turn it in which uh is a function where student writing is reviewed for
plagiarism and I'll talk about that a little bit on the next page. And turn it in software has been used for many many years uh across uh you know universities uh institutes of higher education more so uh recently in you know at high school and now obviously at the elementary and middle school level uh
but it has only recently uh added an AI component to its uh to its uh software. There's also teacherf facing uh AI that teachers uh have access to. Uh they have access to uh assignment prompts uh
suggested feedback, assisted scoring, uh authorship and detection report specifically to review student writing to determine whether or not it was generated by AI. Uh and also uh teacher recommendations. Again, these are options. Teachers don't uh have to use them. We don't have any data on how many
do use them. Uh whether or not uh they're used often, little, not at all. uh but they are available uh to teachers. Just first before I go into the other pieces, I know that was a specific question. So I'm I'm happy to welcome any questions or you know follow-up
comments on the AI component >> question. Um why don't we have data on how this is being used? >> It's not available. I asked uh I asked if it was uh possible to see how many teachers are using it or not using it
and uh I was told that uh there wasn't something that was able to be captured. I don't know why uh but I was told that uh it wasn't something that I could uh that they like had availability was literally the answer.
>> Sorry they somebody in the chat said they couldn't hear my question. Um so this is Kelly Clancy. a member of the CDC. And my first question was just why don't we have data? Like it seems to me like H.M.H. is so intent on capturing data at every point in our students production of
knowledge that it seems really quite shocking to me actually that there's no data on how our students are being taught. Um, so that's surprising. My second question is do you have a sense of sorry I'm trying to make it so
people can hear me and not uh not have the feedback. Um so my second question is is do you have a sense of whether the writing that students put into writable is being used to train AI?
>> No. The only information I have about the student writing that is entered into AI is that it falls uh it falls within the same uh privacy agreements that uh all New York City public school vendors sign on to when they sign a contract
with New York City public schools. Uh that's what I do know about the student writing and any other student information that's entered into their platforms. it it's uh it is subject to the same privacy agreements around personally identifiable information that um all vendors uh must sign on to when
they sign a contract New City public schools. >> Well, my question is less about personally identifying information and more about the intellectual property of students being used as to train AIS and that is that's a violation of New York
state laws um against New York State 2D. And so I guess my question is like can we fi find out because it seems to it's like I would really love to know if uh uh because it see it seems to me like at the point where biometric data is
being collected by a uh it is possible and likely that anything that our students write and writable is being used to train without consent and students can't legally consent to it and parents aren't being asked to consent. It seems like there's a legal obligation to allow parents to opt out of this.
>> So little bit of the little bit that I do know because I'm not an AI expert. Uh I did some research and some digging into this exact question around privacy. The little bit that I did find out about this is that uh that the student data that is entered is not uh stored that's
not stored uh within AI. Uh beyond that I I really can't I really don't know. I can't answer the question. Um I'm you know this more information as I'm learning more about this and you know the you know the different tangents that this can take. I'm I'm asking more questions and you know we'll continue to
bring those answers but the short answer is I'm not sure yet. >> So my next >> my next question is um if whether or not teachers are being given training on how to so I I am I was a teacher for a long time. Teachers are
my favorite people. I trust teachers to be able to give my kids feedback. And part of the reason is because they understand the intent behind what kids are writing. They understand where kids are coming from. AI can't judge intent. AI can just judge right or wrong. And so my question is like what kind of if we
don't even know if teachers are using this or which teachers are using it, what kind of training are they being given on how to mediate the kind of feedback that this AI is giving in order to create the kind of literacy outcomes we want where kids love where kids love writing feel encouraged as writers which
they get from humans and they don't get from machines. I mean, currently teachers receive support from on-site coaches uh in all things HMH. Uh I can't speak specifically to the AI tools. Uh that's
something that we do. Uh again, I've communicated a message in the district around caution around AI tools in general uh within HMH and uh just in general. uh and I've communicated this not just to the principles in the
district and you know the unions we work with but also to all the the vendors who work uh with our teachers uh so you know I don't work individually with every single coach so I can't speak uh specifically to every single interaction that a teacher would have with an
on-site coach but you know all of those people have you know know about uh you know what my message is around AI in general uh so so you know it's something that I'm definitely kind of digging more into obviously uh since this has become
a topic that we've all uh had to uh unfortunately grapple with and uh I'll continue to bring more information as I as I get it. Uh the one thing I will be doing is you know continuing to talk with teachers, teacher leadership uh as well as principles around you know this
very question and you know see in addition to you know asking for you know hard data also just kind of getting a sense on the ground from teachers around you know how has the functionality of these tools to what extent have they been incorporated into practice and how have they found them helpful and what
support uh if needed or necessary or desired uh is something that to look for to get some more information about So my last question for you and I really appreciate your time and I really appreciate your willingness to sort of bring back information to the council. You know so in December by a 102 vote
our council post voted to adopt a two-year moratorium on any sort of studentf facing AI. And so right now even the sort of minimalist description is against the the will of the council as it was expressed in this resolution is against the will of the parents that we've been talking to throughout the
district. is against the will of many of the teachers and the students that we've been talking to throughout the district. And then when you go to HMH's homepage, it builds itself not as a literacy company, but as an adaptive learning company and their splash page is all about how the future is integration of
AI into these literacy programs. And so my question just is like as someone who I who is so deeply invested on a personal level and on a on a civic level in the literacy future of our kids like I don't understand how
how this h how the h as a company is compatible with the values expressed by the c and the values of our district. Yeah. No, I understand completely and uh you know, as I've said before, I >> I have a lot of similar concerns uh and questions uh around AI uh and the life
of it in you know, with our students, especially in elementary and middle school. Um at the same time, you know, like all of us, you know, AI was kind of like dropped in our lap and you know, kind of like, you know, working backwards to deal with it and you know, very difficult to put toothpaste back in the tube as they say. But uh one thing
that I will definitely have to you know as I consider how this uh you know occurs in the district have to work with all the stakeholders obviously I've gotten the message uh from from the council and you know we take that very seriously we're looking to see like how that uh uh is going to you know kind of
move forward obviously come with a response to the resolution uh at minimum uh but also really work directly with the folks uh who are really on the front lines of this in terms of like uh what the current context is in terms of decision-m which is uh you know our
teachers uh and you know that's something that is you know it's a group of people I take you know you know take very seriously and obviously we'll have to uh engage them in different ways uh in conversation about about this to ensure that you know uh whatever you
know whatever road we end up on in this is one that everyone understands not just what needs to happen but also why >> the last thing >> I just want to say for for just to have it documented in the fundra ation and this isn't a UNI exchange emails about but there was a Brookings report that
came out that's the largest report to date of the effect of AI in schools and they unequivocally say that the negative impacts that we're already seeing of AI on children um are far outweigh any of the benefits and in fact the negative
effects are so foundational that they undermine any of the benefits that we might see and so reading this report it feels to me like we have a fiduciary responsibility to protect kids from this. Like it's not just like it would be nice if teachers didn't. It would be good if people didn't, but instead that
like they're calling this instead of a postmortem, like a premortem, they're saying you can put the toothpaste back in the bottle because we have to protect kids from this. And this is Brookings who's a very pro technology think tank. And so, you know, one of the things that Alina and I are going to work on is we're going to have a a meeting for
district 20 parents to talk about like screens and technology and things like that. But I just think that there is more danger in underreacting than there is in being prescriptively overreactive. So, and I and I appreciate
the exchange and I'll I'll leave it there. >> Can I make a one comment, Elizabeth? Is that >> Yes. Okay. Um, yeah. I So, this isn't as much a question, but more of a comment just adding to what Kelly said. I do think it's crazy to think that so we
have HM required across the district. The kids are being required to be obsess uh assessed through that. All that data is being collected and a core part of that program is these two AI bots that are teaching our kids to write and yet
you're saying there's no data on how many of them are using it. So I that doesn't make sense. And I think like there saying there's no data on the extent to which bots are teaching our kids instead of humans. That's pretty disturbing. And I would just add to
Kelly's point and say again if we're collecting data for everything else, it's unclear to me why we wouldn't have that data and why we wouldn't be alarmed at not having that data and want to very much find out. So thank you.
>> Thank you. I I had a question. Um so um you said some teachers are using it and some uh are not. So is are the teachers purchasing it or the school purchasing it for the teacher? >> No, the program is included as part of
the overall excuse me is part of the as part of the overall core income package. So it's included. >> Uh there's no so there's no financial it's it's already paid for. Uh so it's just a matter of whether or not teachers are deciding to use it or not. >> Okay.
>> So the DOE paid for it for >> it was it was included in the core curriculum package when uh schools uh purchased the curriculum. >> Districts have opted out of writable and it no longer is available to teachers and we're choosing not to opt out of it.
>> I'm not aware of other districts opting out of writable and what that looks like and what that would be uh you know something that's not something that I'm aware of. Uh so I'd have to look more into that >> what's happening at district schools and so >> Got it. Okay.
So um also um yeah I I also don't like what is the benefit for you know the uh elementary and the junior highs to have this kind of program because I understand the the high school having it to catch uh people like plagiarizing uh
writing but at the middle school and the elementary level the teachers are supposed to teach them to write. So we don't I know why are we having AI helping them to write. >> So again I don't know to what extent
these tools are being used in the district. Uh that's you know one thing you know I'm not going to kind of comment right now on you know uh my feelings of whether or not someone should or shouldn't use them. I'm just kind of reporting out on the tools and their availability.
uh however you know the AI is everywhere uh and the concerns around uh you know authentic writing and plagiarism are just as much present in elementary school as they are in high school. So uh that is one thing that we have already
started to in addition to you know thinking about the presence of these tools uh one real concern that we have uh overall is what do writing tasks look like now that AI is present and uh that comes down to
where students are completing their writing uh and how do we ensure that it's authentic you know the we could have a like a larger debate of whether or not it's necessary but the the reality is is that uh AI is present uh
outside of school inside of school and it is available to students in very simple forms and it's very easy for students uh and adults to utilize AI to create any type of writing task. So one real concern that teachers and educators
do have is around au authenticity and and whether or not uh writing that's being submitted has been plagiarized or been generated by AI. M >> I'm hoping this is my this is the last one. Now when when um you were like you
you were deciding on um which curriculum to you know to choose for our district. >> Did the other curriculums have um AI features included? Hey, I'll be honest with you. AI uh >> at the time when uh we were selecting
curriculum was not uh a uh not a factor that played into the decision at all for any of the curriculum. Uh at the time of selection, AI was uh very early if at all kind of aware of I'm trying to think about when chat GPT was first brought to
my attention. uh and it was definitely after we had you know gotten into NYC reads but to the short answer to the question is that uh AI in general was not a factor or concern when selecting curriculum at all at the time. we were
thinking about a lot of other things. Uh and it was not a factor that we were thinking about nor was it uh something that we were aware was even available as part of uh the curriculum any any of the materials that it offered.
>> Anybody else have any more questions? Any council members? >> Oh yeah. That's uh first question has the program used in the older public school if not uh how can parents find out um find out if their child child
school been using the AI based tool? >> I'm sorry. Can you can you sorry uh the first one or second one? >> Uh the first one. >> Oh um is the program used in the old all new public school? If not >> which program? >> Uh uh you mean the AI AI too? No, I it's
a so it's available every school >> is in the teacher 20 only or >> every teacher has access to the program and the AI components. They don't all use it. >> Oh, okay. >> And I can't and I asked if there was a report to see whether or not I could see
how many teachers utilize it and I was told that that that wasn't available. But if not if not but how can parents fight out if their their child to their child school they're using this program? >> I mean the I think at the current time
the only way a parent could find that out is to ask their teacher directly. >> Okay. >> Also the Google classroom I saw my kids they just use this writable for the um ELA. >> Yeah. No students use all over the
district and all over the city. the whether or not AI is being used. Uh that's that's I think that's the question. Um and just because a student is uh using writable doesn't mean that AI has been used within writable.
>> That's an option that a teacher could enable specifically in those two areas. Uh, and I can't tell you I I I requested a report of how many teachers had, you know, enabled this feature and I was told that there's not, you know, a
capture for that. >> Google Classroom is mean that teacher just choose this tool. The only way >> the only way that we could find out and I'm going to I mean one thing that I'm going to be doing is going about finding out how I can determine how many
teachers have been using this uh is I I'm trying to find out different ways to find the the information out. >> So can you ask can I ask one more question be part of what you try to find out? >> I think there are two levels to this right one level is whether writable is
whether AI tools teachers are enabling AI tools to give feedback. The other level is because HMH has now rebranded itself as an AI company. Even if kids are entering things into Writable, even if AI tools are turned off, are those is
our kids intellectual property being used to train H.M.H.'s model. And I think those are two distinct reasons that parents might want to opt out and have the right to opt out. And and and they're two different questions, right? like to what extent are kids
intellectual property being used to train the machine and to what extent are machines instead of teachers being giving feedback on kids writing are two different questions and it seems like HMH won't give you information about either but you are a superintendent of the largest school district in the
country and deserve the right to this this information like you should be able to demand this information because you are their biggest customer >> I'm just telling you what information I have right now >> you know I'm not going to stop searching for information, but I'm just letting you know currently where I'm at, you
know, January 14th in terms of getting those answers. >> Uh, and I also appreciate you bringing to my attention uh cuz it's not something that is, you know, directly made aware to me around uh HMH as a company uh branding themselves as an AI
company. That's, you know, you're the uh I'm first hearing that uh from you. So, and I and I Yeah, says it right on I I appreciate that. Uh so, you know, my my stance and my message doesn't change. Uh
it just, you know, kind of gives me some next steps in terms of, you know, kind of getting to the bottom of where exactly we're at with this. Uh and as a district, what it means for us. So, more to come. >> I appreciate it. I appreciate your time and I appreciate your good diligence. Mhm.
I'm going to just I'll share my screen. Just continue with the rest of my presentation. Uh just some updates in our uh DCP priorities. Uh shared the goals along with all the DCP priorities. Party one, all students learn how to read well. We
have three goals that are tied to uh the reduction of students who are reading far below grade level. Uh and uh we've talked a lot in the uh in the district over the last year around MTSS and our focus on uh supporting students who are reading far below grade level. So a progress monitoring window has started.
So in January, this is the time when we uh administer the middleofyear literacy screeners universally to all students in K to8. So between the dates of January 1st, which has already started, and February 13th, all students in district
20 will uh be administered the Acadians uh literacy screener in kindergarten through 2 grade and uh the I Ready academic screener in grades 3 to 8. Uh and we use that data to determine, you know, at this point in the year how many
students are reading at, above, below, and far below grade level. uh to see whether or not some of the interventions we've put in place have been uh effective and also to determine next steps for individual students. So uh just parents will be aware that this is the time when uh students are engaged in
the universal screeners. Priority three uh we have you know two uh progress monitoring updates. So priority three is uh the chancellor's priority around all students having a high quality academic experience and we have two goals set in this area. One is
around the increase of uh math proficiency by 5%. Uh the progress monitoring update we utilize the I Ready screener to monitor the math goal as well. So students uh universal screening happens in literacy and math. So all
students across K to8 uh you we use the I Ready screener to uh screen for mathematics. That window is also between January 1st and February 13th. So between uh these two dates uh all students across the district are going to be screened universally in literacy
and math. Uh and our other goal in this priority is around special education and specifically how we're ensuring that all students with special needs are having every single one of their mandates fulfilled and that they are fully served in their IEPs. We are on track to meet
this goal. Uh we had a goal of increasing this by uh 4%. So and we are on track to meet this goal. uh priority four and this we have two uh goals set within this priority and one of them was addressed by Leah Elliot
from NYC Kids Rise. One of our goals is to uh increase the percentage of families who have active NYC Kids Rides accounts by 5%. For the last two years, we've had 50% of eligible students uh in the district have active NY uh 529
counts run by NYC Kids Rise. And we're looking to increase that percentage by 5%. And this, like Leah said, this January is scholarship month. And currently all schools in the district led by Sylvia uh are working with uh and parent coordinators specifically are
working with families of incoming kindergarten students to you know distribute information similar to what Leah was sharing with the council and has shared with our PTA presidents to encourage families to uh you know activate accounts and complete benchmark one.
And then finally, priority five. Uh this is the goal around schools and families feeling more uh feeling more inclusive and responsive to parents. Uh we specifically this year set a goal around increasing uh the percentage of parents and families who indicate that they're satisfied with parent involvement in the
schools as measured on the New York City school survey. Uh and we are looking for a 5% increase from 91% to 96. there's specific questions that are located in the school survey that you know create this uh percentage. And so one of the
ways that we're monitoring progress uh of our efforts toward this goal was to administer uh districtwide surveys uh to all families uh which is so I'm going to share the results of the survey so far. We've had about 4,000 uh families complete the survey. The survey is still
open. uh we'd like to get more families to complete it, but we're starting to get a sense of uh where we're having success uh as well as where we need to uh as well as where we need to um you know focus our our efforts uh in the new year. So, this was as of yesterday. It
went up to uh about 3,800 today and we'll leave it open for a few more days uh hopefully to get some more families to complete it. It only it takes less than three minutes to complete. Uh these are the grade levels of the families who completed it. Uh,
>> everyone still and uh this is the results. So the first question is since the beginning of the school year, how often have you communicated with your child's teacher about your child's performance? This is one of the four questions that makes up this overall goal. Uh so we've got 87%
of parents who are have answered in the you know the the levels on the liquard scale they're going to say whether or not uh this is a positive response and this is below what we're looking for. This was the lowest scoring uh response rate for parents. So this is where we're
going to be uh primarily dedicating our efforts in the district in the new year uh around uh parent involvement. This was where parents showed the the lowest level of positive response. Second question is, how often have you seen your child's projects, artwork,
homework, tests, or quizzes? Uh, this scored at 94% which is more in line with being on track uh to meet the goal. I know how to contact the parent coordinator at my school. This is 91%. Uh it's the middle of the year. uh but
this is definitely an area where we uh look to ensure that uh the response rate uh the response percentage uh for this question goes up and finally during this school year have you attended a school meeting event parent teacher conference and this
response rate was in line with being on track for meeting the goal of 96%. So I mean our focus is going to be around obviously ensuring that parents know how to contact their parent coordinator. Uh we'd like we expect that to be 100%. Uh and also uh looking at
how communication between uh parents and teachers are talking about the performance of their children uh in class. So those are going to be priorities in the upcoming year. Uh and we'll share the individual results as uh applicable with all of our uh district
principles. Uh but definitely as a district-wide priority, these two areas are going to be something that we're going to be really uh you know emphasizing over the next few months. We'll administer the survey one more time uh in the spring uh and we'll have a discussion with the principles with
parent coordinators my my parent my uh my family leaders uh Sylvia and Bill and also with the council the president's council and the title one DPAC around the usefulness of administering this specific survey a second time as well as parents having to complete the annual school survey which includes questions
like this but also includes 50 other questions and it takes a long time for people to complete. So something that I want to discuss with the council make sure that you know our data collection is you know hitting the mark but at the same time is being you know responsive to the the amount of information and surveys people are asked to complete. I
know when you get a survey you know it takes a little cajoling to get folks to complete it. So I understand that. And that's the uh that's the the end of my presentation. I don't know if there are any other follow-up questions to any the other items or any follow-up
questions on the AI. >> Oh, I wanted to ask you a question about u the surveys. >> Sure. >> Do you have a district-wide survey that that shows us the ranking for um CC I mean I mean district 20? >> The so the results of the survey I just
showed you was a was a survey that I created and sent out to families. >> Okay. So, um I'm just wondering if there is a district-wide survey, too. >> The only district-wide surveys there are the ones that we send out. Yeah. >> Yeah. Uh the the annual survey that
parents complete the that is a survey that that New York City public schools develops and all families across the city complete. >> Do you know how uh do you know any rankings of district 20 >> in terms of like how many people complete it >> or um no how many people want to get
into our district? that they don't serve they don't ask that question. >> Exactly. >> Anybody else have any questions? >> I have a follow-up question not related to any of that but it is about HMH. Um I did have some parents at 102 concerned that their kindergartens were
kindergarteners are being assessed every week with HMH and they were told in the fall they wouldn't have to do that and then when the they came back for the new year they're doing weekly HMH assessments in kindergarten. And I think that's highly developmentally inappropriate and I'm just curious uh
what the thinking is behind that and why that shifted. >> I mean the parents should, you know, definitely contact the principal or the teacher. >> Well, they're saying it came from the district. >> We have an assessment plan in the district that runs across K to 8. >> Kindergarten through 2 grade. Schools
have a lot of latitude and decision-m within, you know, how often they give the assessments. And specifically in kindergarten, uh there's been a lot of increased uh kind of decision-m on the part of kindergarten teachers and the team around uh how many of those
assessments are given, uh how they're given, uh and and when they're given. So that's why I I say that, you know, the the amount of assessments that are given and when they're given really varies school to school in kindergarten through 2 grade, particularly in kindergarten. So you're saying if that is happening
that's because the kindergarten teach kindergartener teacher decided to do that office did not tell them to do that. >> I'm saying that my office when we worked with the kindergarten teachers in the spring in developing guidance for the assessment plan uh that we provide that
the kindergarten teachers uh teacher leaders in the district asked for a lot of flexibility uh around what specifically the weekly assessments >> to do that. I didn't I didn't tell them that they had to give >> to do that on >> I didn't tell them that they had to give a a test every week. >> So that's on those kindergarten
teachers. They must have decided that on their own. >> I'm saying that I' I've said yes in a few different ways, but I can say it in a third way. >> Yes, it's up to it's those teachers made that decision. I'm also trying to make sure that when I answer the question
that I'm, you know, representing the full context of the decisions that the kindergarten teachers are making uh within the district as well as within their school. Just want to make sure that, you know, the entirety of the uh situation is captured in the answer.
>> Anybody else have any questions? All right. Thank you so much. >> No problem. So now we have a presentation from the external outreach. Let me share my screen >> have a second one. >> Yeah.
>> Uh Robert Williams. >> Robert Williams. Yes. Can you hear me? >> Yes, we can hear you now. >> Thank you. >> Can you see my screen? >> Yes, we do. >> Okay. >> All right.
Good evening everyone. My name is Robert Williams. I am the external outreach specialist for the Office of Language Access. Um, this PowerPoint is going to guide you on how to navigate the NYCPS Hello web page for families where you
can um request if you need an interpreter for PTA meetings or graduations or if you need any parent um documents translated in your preferred language. Come on.
So on the agenda, we're going to talk about the NYCPS background, our commitment to NYCPS families, raising awareness in our communities, the schools.nyc.gov, hello family web page, and if there are
any questions, there are over 1 million students and over 1600 plus schools that speak over 180 languages. Approximately 30 38% of the New York City public school households speak a language other than English at home.
And our non English covered languages are Albanian, Arabic, Bangalore, Chinese, French, Haitian creole, Korean, Russian, Spanish, Ukrainian, Erdu, and
Usuzbek. We provide free language assistant services to ensure all families can access important information and communicate effectively with school staff. These services include interpretation for all types of meetings and interactions with school staff
whether it's in person, virtual, and over the phone. Translation of critical communications to ensure parents remain informed in their preferred language. And the office of language access is dedicated to supporting both staff and
families with the resources necessary to effectively communicate in languages other than English. So now we're going to talk about how we raised awareness in our communities. We have done advertisement on MTA subways,
the buses. Um we have done some print ads in supermarkets, laundromats, salons, barber shops,armacies. We have also advertised over the radio. Down below is an example of our
advertisement at the MTA bus shelter and at the MTA subway. We have also done some direct parent outreach through robocalls, emails, text messages, and we have sent home mailers. If you are saying that you have not
receive one or any of these direct parent outreach, please make sure that all your information is updated at your schools. We pull from the same system that schools enter information in. I know we tend to change phone numbers or
um change addresses. So just please make sure that all your information is updated so that you can receive these direct parent outreach. So when you type in schools.mn.gov hello web page,
the first thing you're going to notice is that at the top right hand corner there will be a Google dropdown. You'll select whichever your preferred language is and the entire website will translate into that language. Right underneath that you'll see you
will see a short video. I'm not going to play it now. It's just basically basically explaining the same thing that I'm explaining to you now. Here's a little activity that we ask parents to do. We ask that you can just go on schools.nyc.gov hello
webpage now save it as a bookmark so that it' be easy for you to reference to it later on. And for those of you who would like to just use your phone to scan we provide a QR code on the right and it'll take you
directly to that website as well. As you can see on the left hand side, there are several dropdowns that's on the website. I'm not going to get into all of them, just a few that can benefit you with the language resources.
The first tab I'm going to talk about is going to read helpful resources. Here you will find a multilingual get help in your language notice. On the right hand side is an example of that notice. You will also find the ISE card. Now,
these ISP cards come in all of our covered languages. You just select whichever language you prefer. On the right is an example of the ISP card. You just cut out um a little portion of it, bring that portion to the school, and the school
must provide communication in your preferred language. So here we have our translation and interpretation service request form. But before you fill out this form,
first you need to go to your school for support first. They are your direct contact for language resources first. Now staff, you know, come and go. You may have a new staff member that's not aware um of our resources. If that is
the case, then you can come to this form, fill it out. The process is that once you fill out the form, I'll receive an email notification. I'll forward that to the principal, the parent coordinator, and whoever
break me up. I don't see. >> Oh, wait. He's there. But he's flat. His screen is flat now. Oh, there he is. See that? >> Robert Williams, we can hear you. >> Can you hear me now? Yes, you can.
>> Okay, let me share my presentation again. Jesus. Sorry about that. Not sure what happened. Okay. All right. Um, as I was saying, at that point, I become the middle person
between the school and the parent. And the school has between five to seven business days to respond to my email, let me know that they supported the parent. If not, I have to escalate it to the superintendent's office. Um, so far
I have not um escalated had any escalations because schools, you know, they like to respond to make sure parents are receiving the services. You will find that form under the tab that would read request language services and you would just click on the
translation and interpretation service request form. Um families can also call 311 to make a request for language assistance services. interpretation over the phone is available in over 200 languages
and the language um services varies depending on the school or program that the student attends. So the next tab will read how to request sign language interpreting service. This office is separate from our office and because of that they ask that you
contact them directly. You can email them at oslischools.nyc.gov or you can do so by calling the 212 number and they also have provided a video phone number as well. Just want to make sure cuz I know um a lot of people
think that we are in the same office but we are not. These are two we are two separate offices. So here is our contact the office of language access. If you have any questions or concerns and you just want to reach out to us to ask us any
questions, you can do so. Um we provided the QR code as well. If you want to take out your phone to save it, you will find that form under the tab that would read connect with the office
of language access. And then you would just click on the visit the contact Ola link. You can contact your school's parent coordinator or the principal and you can also call 311 and they'll help you fill out the
form if you need assistance as well. So here's our translation and interpretation feedback survey. Here we would like to know how schools are doing doing with supporting you in your preferred language. Um, we want to hear some of the good things
as well so that you know we can ask those schools to model for other schools who are having trouble supporting their parents. So we also have provided a QR code. You can fill out this form with your information or you can do so
anonymously. It's totally up to you. You will find that form under the tab that would read share your language service experience. You just click on the translation and interpretation feedback survey link and that form will populate. So for those of you who would like to
take out your phone to bookmark this um feedback form, you can do so now and just scan the QR code. You can fill it out at any any time. You can fill it out for um some other parents who may need assistance. Like I said, you could do
this anonymously or you can leave your information. The last tab we read will ask, are you having difficulties obtaining language assistance services? If you are, you can um submit a claim through our translation and interpretation services
complaint form. This form is separate from the um complaint form that's on the New York City public schools website. That's a form of complaint. This complaint form just comes directly to us so that we can monitor and become the mediator between
the school and the parent so we can kind of solve things before it actually reaches the formal complaint that's on the website. And with that, are there any questions? >> Questions. >> Can you can you hear me, Mr. Williams?
>> Yes, I can hear you. >> Hi. Thank you for this and I'm always so proud to be a New York City residents and see the amount of ser effort that goes into including all parents. So I really appreciate it. My question is is a sort of a strategy or a
best practices question for you. So my kids go to a school where it's extremely linguistically diverse. I know that you put on your slide that Ukrainian is coming. Those are languages that are spoken a lot in our school. And I guess my question for you is what do you see
parent and um and parent groups and administrations doing that's particularly effective in making sure that uh what kind of services is sort of best practices from your office's position to make sure that parents um feel meaningfully included in like
decision making and events and things like that like what what do you think we could be doing better? So this year we've actually made it mandatory that each staff member um has to fill out the mandatory we learn training about the language
services um and that's because of a lawsuit um the Garcia lawsuit um which whichever staff member is designated by the principal as a language access coordinator of the school they have to attend a hour and a half two hour
training with us which they receive a whole bunch of uh resources that we you know ask that they turn key information back to their school and now I am aware not everyone um is a presenter. So for those who are shy or
not comfortable with turnkey information I let them know they can just request me to come to the school and I'll present to the staff as well. Um and I am I I come to any parent engagement whether CC meetings, PTA
um meetings wherever there's parent engagement and I'm asked to come I will come. >> Thank you. Uh could you leave your uh name and email in the chat? >> Thank you. >> Thank you so much for attending our meeting. >> No problem. So next we have a
presentation from program director for the compass after school program at IS-62 >> and who >> are they online? >> Uh >> yes hi good afternoon
>> Adamson. Am I saying it right? >> Yes. Chevel Adamson. I am going to present um share my screen. Thank you. Hi everyone. I want to thank you for having me today. Um, my name is Shabelle
Adamson. I am the program director of the Compass after school program at Junior High School 223. Um, where I work with a group with a team of activity specialists to ensure a safe and supportive environment for children to explore, learn and develop
various skills. In addition to that, my passion of bringing awareness to and celebrating cultural diversity through community building activities. And this is my contact information. If you um would like to get in contact with me, please um feel feel free to do so.
I work um at counsel um with counseling in schools and counseling schools was founded in 1986 and counseling schools is in over 70 schools throughout the New York City um to throughout New York City. Counseling schools currently offer
after school programs. Um there are currently two compass um after school programs within the um district 20. One of them was recently open at um DM middle school um and being um led by my colleague Derek Kierney who was not able
to make it today. Um they also offer mental health um support service during the um during the day to students where um students are pulled from the classroom and offered um mental health services, professional development opportunities, community engagement and
internship opportunities for um um high school students, undergrad and graduate students who are um attending who are either in social work field or um the art therapy field, mental or mental health Yeah.
So um with with our compass after school program we create we the focus is on positive youth development and it's a space where um children will given the opportunity to explore various activities and expand their interest through sports and recreation steam
leadership and community exploration um and through positive youth development. Students learn to um develop um um resilience, social communication skills, emotional competence, positive relationships with peers and adults, engagement in school
and community, and the sense of belonging. Some of the activities that we offer in our after school program are home workout, sports leadership, um exploring futures, cooking, steam, DIY, fashion, film, field trip
opportunities and many more. So within our after school program we have um and being counseling schools being a mental health organization we put a big emphasis on act um social emotional um learning skills within each
activities. So social emotional learning helps students to understand and manage their emotions build positive relationships make responsible decisions and develop empathy for others. Um, is important because it helps students feel safe, confident, and supported. When
students develop strong social emotional skills, they are better able to handle stress, communicate effectively, resolve conflicts, and stay engaged in their learning. And we engage this, integrate this into our daily activities through group discussions, team building, games,
reflection, exercise, reflective, reflection, exercising, and supportive check-ins with staff and students. We create a safe and inclusive environment where students can um practice these skills, build resilience and strengthen pos positive um peer relationships.
Um with our curriculum, we also have a a great connection with connecting the classroom with the world. So some of the um opportunities we offer are field trip opportunities where um um two of the field trip opportunities are students um attend going to city tech where they
were able to learn about um applying for college and on um college opportunities. Students were able to go to FISA where they were able to learn about the vac um vaccines and so forth. community services students. Um we were um able to partner with um a foundation called the
co cancer foundation where we um do did a sock drive and thank for thank you for um the contributions from the CC. John was a great help with that um with the um with um with the socks we were able to collect over 200 socks and we're able
to come to donate that to the cancer foundation. Um we also in partnership with the Mazbia food kitchen where students go and they learn to you know give back to the community where is they pat they are able to pat back um um make food and give out to the community. We
are on we had working with middle school student um students we had to en ensure that we are on top of the trending topics in in order to um keep them engaged. And one of the biggest um activity that we had was Squid Games which um we also um integrate um
financial literacy in that where students were able to play some of the on the games that were in the movie and also learn about how to manage um money and learn about um financial responsibilities. cultural awareness. Students were able
to um on a monthly basis we have an activity called um community day where students are come together as one community and we celebrate a an um celebrate something that's within the month. Um >> this is a reminder
>> it's back time. >> We celebrate something that um um a culture or some awareness that's going on within the month and students were able to share their students are able to share I'm sorry about that. Students are able to share
about their culture as well. So we are all learning about from um all learning from each other as um we go by. So with counseling schools, we are also offering um a collaboration in action
which is a youth-based mental health conference. is going to happen occur on March 5th to 6 where your um anyone can who are looking forward to um earn continu continue education credits for
licensed social worker licensed clinical social worker or um LCAT um or therapists or mental health therapists who need um continuing education credits they're able to if you would like to attend um the conference feel free to um
share it. Feel free to visit our counselingchools.org or scan this QR code where you can gain more information on that and how to learn uh um how to learn more about it and be a part of the conference.
So that is it for me. Um thank you for having me here today. If you have any questions feel free to ask. Um so this your program is open only to the students in 223 or is open to every
student in district 20? >> Um because we're in partnership with the um with MTOK we are um it's only currently students who are attending MTalk are able to attend but um we do offer summerrising program as well. So when summer rising open anyone who are
within the district who are able to um apply they can apply and um get a seat. >> Okay. Thank you. Any other questions? >> Um and just I'm sorry just to add we are also we are a UICD funded program. So
yes um students who um we are open to all students as a matter of fact. I'm sorry you want to clarify that. Yes. Tamar. >> Yes. >> Okay. Because I know you mentioned
something about internships. Um is it internships for for high school students? How would they apply to do internship with the program? >> Um so we're in partnership with a um with a program. So my colleague who who
can share more information about that um who is Rebecca Seir she is here um and can share more about that on the internship. >> Good evening everyone. Um thank you for allowing us an opportunity to speak and present our organization today. Um so in
terms of our internship programs, we partner with various schools and organizations um to host interns. Um so when it comes to the high school level interns, we usually have some schools who are looking to place their students. Um usually the students either have to
complete community service hours or the school has um an opportunity to provide them with stipens and so we partner them with our programs and their interest. Um and then for our undergraduate and graduate level interns, um we have a variety of students. So undergraduate
level um we have social workers, children and youth studies majors um kinesiology majors um because we're very big on the pipeline of mentorship for our students and our staff that are working with us and then the graduate level um as a mental health organization. Shabelle shared um we have
creative arts therapists, social work interns, and mental health counseling interns. >> Is is there any way you could put your information in the chat? >> Yes. I'm I'm the PTA president of a high school. So >> Oh, that's great. >> See if I could connect you with my
school. >> Absolutely. Drop it in a second. Thank you >> so much. >> Any further question? >> Any further questions? Uh, no. Thank you so much for both of you for taking the time to speak with us.
>> Thank you so much again for having us today. Um, it was great. Um this was a great opportunity. Thank you. >> So to uh next we have a presentation from the youth and schools organizer and transportation alternatives and they
will introduce themselves. just introduce yourselves. >> All right. Hi, I'm Kaid Nardi. I'm a freshman at Laguardia High School. >> And I'm August Wade. I'm a sophomore at Bart Manhattan. Um, we're part of the Transportation Alternatives Youth Committee, which is a organization of
high school and college students who are committed to making safer streets and transportation justice. >> Oh, next slide. >> Thank you. >> Uh, so our campaign uh, Expand Student
Omni has four main asks. The first one is for Omni cards to be given to all New York City public school students without eligibility limitations. The second one is for unlimited rides on student omni cards. The third one is for more
communication around the deactivations of student omni cards. And our fourth is for um faster replacement of student omni cards to schools. >> Next slide. Okay, we're not the first to suggest
improvements to the Omni program. Um, Senator Hoy Seagull and Kavanagh have made letters to the MTA and the New York City public schools. Um, and in the 2024 to 2025 school year, there has been seven CC's that have passed resolutions
regarding Omni. Um, but they haven't covered Yeah, >> they haven't covered what um, all of the things that we're talking about today. Uh so so far we have launched our petition back in May and now has over 200 signatures. Uh we've met with the
MTA as well as the permanent citizens advisory committee at the MTA uh about the issues with tsunami and whether uh the PCSC could support us. Uh we've received supportive resolutions from CCHS, CC30 and CC8. and we've connected with the office of
people transportation at the DOE uh in order to uh uh discuss uh modifying the student omni program and in the future we're hoping to get more supportive resolutions from uh CC's like you and uh
to explore for the um issues with um student omni even more and to advocate for digital rollout of student omni cards. So, one of the problems we have is universal access. We want right now if you live in half a mile from your school, you won't get a yellow um an
Omni card or if you ride the yellow bus, you won't get an Omni card. And this is really unfair for students because students not only use their Omni cards to get to school, but to get to things like internships and programs and other things. Um 73.5% of New York City
students are economically disadvantaged. Um and this puts additional financial burden on them to cover transportation. Um so currently we estimate the cost that expanding will cost $50.5 million and
this is a lot of money but it is only 1% of the DOE budget. >> Our second ask is for unlimited rides for all New York City students. Um many other cities including DC, Denver, uh LA, and Honolulu already have um unlimited rides for their uh student
transit cards. So New York should be trying to catch up to them. Uh we already have fair capping on student omni cards or on regular omni cards. Um with these regular omni cards, you don't have to pay after 12 rides in a week, but then students have to start paying
after 28. and students just have more places to be than four rides a day often allows. Uh we should be allowed to explore the city without restrictions. >> So currently a lot of students are facing the deactivation of their
omniards and things like bugs. Um actually a lot of our council people in our council have faced like the the MTA turning off their cards so that they can't use them anymore. Um, and there isn't a lot of communication from the MTA on why this is happening and how we
can avoid that. >> Yeah. >> And our final ask is for a faster replacement process. Right now, it takes uh over two weeks for new cards to arrive at schools after schools uh run out. And so when, as we've already seen,
students cards are often deactivated or lost. um schools will be um will quickly run out of the replacement cards because so many students need new ones and when schools do run out then students have to either pay out of pocket or fair aid uh
while they're waiting for a new card. Okay, so um we have a couple asks. We would love for you guys to draft a new resolution or um look at the resolution that we sent to you guys. Um, and we would love for for a push to update the chancellor regulation A81
that addresses issues about eligibility. Uh, we also have a um a form that if any of your students or any of your kids have any issues with Omni that we would love to have like that kind of story and that kind of data on people having
trouble with that. >> Um, yeah. >> And uh, so thank you. Uh oh >> no you just here >> I know. Sorry. No I was just gonna point to that. >> Okay. >> So we have a QR code right here for
if you would like to scan your application or sign it. You can do that if you'd like. U but yeah what we're hoping for is we sent along a sample resolution. Uh if you guys would take like to take a look um
that we're wondering if you guys would like to vote on at a future meeting uh that supports our campaign. >> No questions. >> Yes. >> Well, I'd like to thank you for coming down here because I myself have a very
personal interest in this since I'm the parent of a district 75 student and receives bus service and it's not the MTA though. I went to a meeting. I spoke with the woman that was in charge of the army for the air prepare for the seniors
and she said it's the DOE that has decided and put these regulations on distance and sometimes with age depending on what how old they are and how far they travel other than the district 75 children that
are training for transportation children similar to my son get the they're excluded from it. >> Yeah. And what that means is during Christmas break, the students that have it, they could go to a cultural event, any type of afterchool activity and
participate in that. And I I I'm very happy to see the three of you come down to help shed light on this. I look at it, it's kind of like the free lunch program. When I was young, you had free lunch, reduced 25 cents, and then 55
cents is what we paid. So it shows how old I am. Um, >> listen to me. >> But then New York City decided that no one should be hungry. But by denying equal access to transportation,
your mind, your ability to share in these things is being starved. If you really look at it, the same way we feed our bodies, we got to feed our mind. So, I really appreciate you coming that down and for this because uh this is something that I'm really like with I've
spoken with Dr. Pto at this at these meetings in the past and to shed light on it. So, I hope you can really beat that drum and it's our uh city leaders that need to get it done because it the DOE is quite aware of it. They
say our children are double dipping, but these are electronic cards. So the I don't know about programming. You put something in there, Stephen, why why was your son's card used at 11:00 in the morning? And then you have to provide an explanation because he's in school. You
know, if you game the system, there has to be some something in there. But so many things are computerized. I'm sure that that's something that can be done. So I want to thank you again something before uh other council members are speak. Um,
if if they get caught, the students, maybe you should say ask the MTA to say that if they show their student ID from New York to let them go. That question because sometimes, you know, like the fair because
>> they kind of pick and choose which students that they will stop and arrest or bring in. So, that's something I want. and Tamara. >> Um, thank you for being here. Um, are you guys your group? Do you um have like
accept other people, other teams that are that are interested? >> Absolutely. Yeah. >> Okay. And and another thing, this actually explains what happened to my daughter because like her card wouldn't work and we were actually going to um a New York City like an event, a transition fair and like we couldn't
figure out why she couldn't go and she couldn't and the school didn't have ideas. So like this actually explains why card wasn't working at all. It was deactivated and we just didn't know it. >> So thank you for this and um >> I'm hyper and >> that's part of the thing. They're just
very vague about it and then >> Oh sure. No, I just want to reiterate and say thank you similar to what Mahoney was saying. Um it is something we've talked about. I think it's amazing that you all are here advocating for an issue like this and that shows a lot of
civic engagement. And I will say that we would love to see if you could share the sample CEC resolution because one powerful thing and and Kelly and I are doing this around AI actually is if you can get a a whole bunch of CEC's to pass
similar resolutions, you then could take all of those and go to the spend time CC pass like we have a lot of support. That's exactly it. >> Okay, perfect. That's a good strategy. So, if Yeah, if you guys can send us the text, I'd be happy to um sponsor the
resolution and I'm sure there would be a lot of support from council. >> I think we did. It should be in like the just the CC20 email. >> Okay, perfect. >> I think I mean I don't know that I have anything you need to say, but I I love the fact you're here. I love the fact
that you're organizing about this. I think that uh this presentation was fantastic and really well researched, really well thought through and I think this should be a model for how kids organize around issues in general. And so I'm just extremely pleased that you're here. I'm so glad that you
decided to come to South Brooklyn uh and share this with us. Um and I agree with Elena that I'm sure that we will be able to get a resolution together. Um I really appreciate also you taking the initiative to write a resolution like that's not something that's to do. Um,
and the other thing that I would just say is that I think that Steven's analogy of school lunch is absolutely right. Like one of the things that I think we are starting to learn as a society is that means testing programs is actually more expensive than just providing universal access. And so and
also the way that it's done right now doesn't meet the needs of families. Like so kids who ride buses in the morning can't stay for after school activities and go home for free. And so there's a whole host of inequities that I'm so glad you're addressing. And it would be really nice if the adults that make
decisions actually could produce good results. I think Fabola has a >> Yeah, I saw in the chat in the virtual they have a >> Yes, thank you. Um >> guys, I just want to say thank you for
doing this presentation. This presentation is amazing. I'm more than happy to either lead or co-lead the resolution. Uh I think it's really important that we highlight that
a lot of our kids of color that they use transportation, public transportation for um extracurricular programs uh in the afternoon. it it is a burden for some of us to pay for uh Metrocard,
especially now it's $140 a month. So, let's get it done. Thank you. Thank you so much. And a big shout out. I know she's not she's not here today, but a big shout out to um to the person who
lead uh the youth at TA. Thank you so much, Lorine, for all the work you do. And thank you to you guys, too. And also about your thing about um G75 students who read the bus not getting uh omni cards. We have worked with G75 in
the past because they have a they're working um with an organization to try to improve access to omni cards for yellow bus groups. So we've worked with them a little in the past to try to start our campaigns. And also, it wasn't us who wrote the
resolution, but Juniper, who emailed you did, and he's really good at writing resolutions as you was a long Okay. So now we are doing the ranking of the school construction authorities
request >> has a copy of the currently stand. >> Oh okay. I personally is there anyone from the SCA here? Okay. Um, I think that it's a waste of
time for us to sit here and talk about this. We did this I think once or maybe I watched you guys do this. It may have been before I was on the council. The SEA does not approve any of these. So, it's like a proforma performative >> fake exercise of us discussing of
something they're not going to approve. And I don't think we should waste our time. I think it's ridiculous that they make us do this. >> What's up? >> Do justice to it. >> Of course. Of course. But it's not real. The entire thing is fake. So we can sit
here >> like I mean we we should give respect to the the >> wrote the emails, you know. >> For some reason. >> Yeah. Hi. Sure. >> Uh we should um respect uh the the
schools that did send out an email and still rank it. I mean it they most most of the time they don't do anything with it. >> They've never done I can't find >> because they said there's a whole bunch of >> single one that they have funded because the the because of these CEC
conversations. It's no shade on the school, Elizabeth. Of course, someone's also wasting the school's time, >> but I think they're masters at doing fake performative engagement to then do whatever they want to do. >> And it's ridiculous. They waste everybody's time. And I I wish there
were someone here from there for us to say that point blank to because I think they're atrocious. Um, they're not. But I suggest we do not waste our time on a fake conversation that they're not going to do anything about. It also play
hunger games where you know like bathroom kids all kids need access to bathrooms. All kids need access to auditoriums. All kids need access to safe circumstances. And then the idea of picking the top five and then out of those top five none of them getting
funded feels like you are just asking for competition that will never actually result in anything. I I honestly have to agree because um I I move out way too many times and I also
feel as one of the parents I also feel that certain school gets more funding because there's there's been certain studies that have numerous like structured numerous things that can fix and like there's other schools that haven't had anything you know so like
like how is that decided like that one school is for like the time and the other isn't. You know what I mean? And this is why like I recommend that you guys really fill out that school fill out the um the bur president
>> application and please contact your city councilman because like you have more more of a chance of actually getting funding easier and like you you could push for it. Yeah.
So, I guess um let's take a vote of of who wants to rank them and who doesn't want to rank them. And if there's the majority, then we won't we won't rank at all. Can you say something? Because I I don't feel like
um I know like district 16 has been able to get all their sea funding like all their schools funded for like a lot of stuff like back to back like is there and maybe we could reach out to to them to see how they're getting it done. >> You said 15
>> 16. >> You know what I mean? Because like you know cuz I've had meetings with Ncoan and like he's like all their all their things that that were were picked are getting funding and I'm like how are we doing that and we we picking five
>> that aren't funed anyway. >> Yeah. >> I Yeah. I don't know for our I I thought that was across all the districts. So I don't know. I can't speak to that. The only thing I know that makes him do anything and he's an organizer is being loud and being a problem
>> and maybe he was got parents together. But that's the only way you'd even hope to get a response to an email. But I think you have a good idea people want to talk or not, you know. >> Just to note, the final submission is
this Friday after >> also. I I feel like we we we should just do the vote because it's it it it it hardly gets passed, but it's still the last day is January. So, we should submit something to to have it on record
that we constantly submit so that you know then we should it's it's proof you know >> the current um ranking right now is based on John. So that's why we love to not Yeah. So, let's just go what John's
saying because we don't want to waste the school time and we don't want to waste our time. >> So, so should we have a vote to see that it remains like John's ranking? >> Yeah, >> I'm not sure if John wants to answer to that, but
>> that was the >> Oh, the top five. Sorry. So, oh, just to note, the top five are taken account. Everything else is um >> which was >> review after the top five are >> what are the top five? >> Let me let me do >> you have it right here.
>> Oh, these are it. So they're they're already in order for us. >> Just the top five. >> Okay. >> But those are viewed first and then everything else is viewed the same after the top five. >> Wait. >> Yeah. >> It looks like it was reorganized on the
website again. Oh, I give it to him to use. >> Kevin to use. >> So, it's 204 2011 >> 204 2011 1029. >> Oh, okay.
>> 069 >> the CL and 223. >> Are you looking at the email or the >> Well, the the is it the PDF on the email? >> No, that one's the old one. >> Okay. But then the link is just in uh
date order. >> Are you in the zoom chance? >> And the capital project is just in date order. >> Click on the sheets. Copy form sheets. >> There you go. >> I don't want to
But like what are >> these people want? We're going to give parents to these people. I just don't think >> so. So then we should we should we should move it around, right? I mean or I don't know like I don't think that we
are the body that should hold this like I don't think >> I know but once they put it on they'll still there going to be another vote in their in their end to see whether they're going to take the job or not. wasn't going to say that.
>> You know what? I I feel like PS1 170 um the exterior sanitary is more important. >> Yeah. Let's just let's let's let's just pick some uh five out out of let's pick one out of all of this that you think is
important and we'll vote on it. like one each one of us pick one >> and and then we'll >> okay >> because I feel like um the school surveillance camera like she said it's not as important as other things
>> actually they might be able to get funding to another avenue so yeah >> you know what I mean >> so we'll just do the ones that we think are important I feel like the PS1 170 the sanitary is something we should be looking at because that That's something
>> he's been there >> that like the toilet rushing out. That's that's disgusting. >> Disgusting. >> That's um >> exterior sanitary. >> So that I think should be important.
>> This whole thing could be >> coming up through the toilet. It feels like maybe it should be something that we don't vote on and somebody just fixes it. like it just feels like >> how is this something that they have to apply for funding for instead of this city just fixing?
>> Well, we just have to put it in. >> And I I feel like uh the glass panes are something very important. >> 748 I bill 170 the exterior sanitary 748 the glass panes. I don't know. Uh, three
more. The the PS69 one is about an upgrade of the equipment that controls the clocks in the PA system. It's called a low voltage like low voltage upgrade.
>> Low voltage low voltage upgrade. Yeah. Oh, okay. Yeah. a lot of school. >> I just have a question if a system cannot be clearly. So what is the purpose of the safety drills? >> PA system has to work in order to
operate the safety drills. It doesn't say here that it that they're unable to conduct safety drills. That would some that would be something that would get escalated immediately. Uh, it sounds like they've I don't know. I'd have to look into whether or not what they're saying here in terms of requests
to repair the system have been unsuccessful or whether or not they've requested to have the system replaced and that's been unsuccessful. That I don't know. But the short answer to your question, if they couldn't conduct safety drills because the PE system wasn't working, yeah, >> we would be with that today.
>> But Dr. Po, what about the one that has sewage coming up in their toilet? Like why is that? I can't speak to every single one. Yeah. I mean >> I mean but those things feel like they shouldn't >> Yeah. They >> spreadsheet but instead they should be just like >> what I do know around facility repairs
is that there are some things that are the scope of DSF where DSF has the uh resources and the people who can fix these things. And there are other things that are larger that are within the purview of SCA like that.
But yeah, but things like that are those are in this >> Yeah. >> I'm not a plumber, but that's like that's kind of like the general idea. >> I hear it's being wild to me that kids are going to school with sewage and it's on a spreadsheet
and we might be able to like not rank it five and then kids will still go to school with sewage for another year. Well, you shouldn't. I mean, that's what Alina is saying is that the system doesn't make any sense. And so why? But like, you could literally pick any five and forcing us to rank equally valid
concerns and forcing schools to play hunger games when all kids need access to safe bathrooms is just a system you can opt out. >> I mean, like I think if we're going to play, we should get the five. She said, >> "Yeah, I know."
>> Yeah, but but the ranking like the cameras like the sewage is more important than the camera. >> There's one school who like the circuit breakers. >> Yes. And the circuit breaker that should be important and they're taking testing
and during the during the summer months like they have electrical outages. Like how is But it should be fixed. Like it shouldn't be something that's out of script. Yes, we know that >> if you opt out of the system, if you say we won't do it this way, it forces them
to make an excuse. >> Or they just don't use the funding for our district and move it somewhere else. >> But they don't do it anyway. >> Some sometimes they do. >> Yeah. But it's it's it's still
something. Look at look at >> I mean if we don't if we don't put the >> long list of things electrical safety sanitary kitchen and cafeteria >> they're looking for ADA accessibility like
>> all of them deserve to be funded. We should we should send our kids to fully funded schools that have fully funed infrastructure and that should be our demand. We're not a policym body and so we should our stance should be all of these deserve to be funded. They all deserve to be funded.
Obviously, >> kids deserve to go to school with without being risk of educated, without being risk of sewage, without being risk of that. >> But we should put our five choices in so they could see. But we should also put a note that we don't believe in this. You
should write somebody. We should write a recipe. the part that we think and I think we should somebody from the department of um the facilities and like we should all be touring the schools and looking at the
the issue in like in color to to really see it's different like putting on a piece of paper. Yeah. But then actually walking through these and seeing the damages and things that need to be fixed.
I have four. >> All right. What What are your four Tamara? >> Well, of course I um into the um the building
for the group will benefit um the school and 161. Yes. 775 students. It will extend the size of the cafeteria actually have a gym for students with physical education. It will add additional classroom for students as well as create a science lab STEM room
all to a music room. That's one I think 186 with the exterior >> hand just to like say that somebody online. >> Okay. Sorry. >> Yeah, but you can finish. I want to rank
my five. Um, but Sam, you can finish. >> Um, it's broken and outdated um playground equipment. They want accessibility barriers that are >> No, I don't think we're done. >> No, with the meeting. Is there anything
else? >> No. No. Uh, I don't think so. um >> second >> and then the one um PS7 with the story like >> and then I have 10 I'm going to op my kids out that and so
which means that I don't want teachers typing what they say I'm like completely opting out To be perfectly honest, I'm not like defending them. I don't know if they're looking >> at what are your five
and now they're like we're going to teach your kids to If you don't get put in this way, complain that way. Maybe just complain that way already. >> Sorry, Elizabeth. It's just that everyone is >> ask on chat. What is the one of the
things I saw? Yeah. >> Can you hear me? >> It's fine. >> No, no, no. I'm black. I don't >> think that was one of the tal before. >> I'm not >> Everyone is unmuted. Everyone is here.
>> You know, like in the beginning they said, "Oh, we have >> some schools there, you know." >> Yes. 19. >> Oh, nobody's arguing. >> No, no, somebody said it.
A lot of students when they're doing something they just shout out to other principles, hey, we got this. Can you use it? >> Yeah. >> Which one is 192? I don't see 192 sign for Tony. Was she saying
>> Elizabeth? Can you hear me? It's everyone is talking. >> She wrote down PS92. >> Got this. >> Which one is PS12? >> Probably from res >> the magnet school for math and science inquiry. >> That's
so 192. Okay. Elizabeth, can you hear me? I know it's over and this is one of the ways >> electrical >> that could be the scenery in the back. Yeah, you could save a lot or
>> unless it not Okay. >> And tell to go. >> Can you hear me? >> Yeah, I can hear you. But everyone was talking in the background and I was trying to get my five.
>> Can you hear me? Yes. >> Okay. So, um 31 which is PS 192 and um 34 PS 192 electrical.
That's the two. Um, and I'm not sure if you guys familiar with um 936, but I think um I want to rank them because I know they need outside um
outside space. Um it's a beautiful school, but unfortunately right now they don't really have an open space for their students. So we'll rank also uh number 24 20k 936
and um one two three and I think you guys say PS748 Hey, no, I didn't see. I was looking at that, too. Um I I just feel like um the Senator
sanitary which is 17748 with the glass coming out there they're safety issues that we should fix now all the other schools they could try apply for all the other um funding that they could get uh like for me for safety is the most important
thing so I will pick 170 748 105 for electrical 186 also and 192 too. Anybody has um I mean you picked 186 also cuz I was using from your thing. So I feel like we
should just pick those five to make it easier for us all. >> Yeah. So 748 was glass, 170 is the um flooding in the toilet. 192, 186 like you said, and 105 are all electrical.
Everything else like the expansion that could try to they could probably apply for other fundings and go through other avenues like like you said the portal president and Susan Song's office also said that they had openings to apply for some funding also in her district. So I
know 205 could go through that way. So these are my five and I feel those are more safety issue and more pressing concern which shouldn't go through the do uh CC's but they are >> so we should put in the notation we submitted that these are what we are
just trying to do but every school deserves funding in our district uh anybody has a ranking that they want the five schools that I put out >> you have anybody body has anything else
to say. The five schools I pick is 170, 748, 192, 105, and 186. >> Fabiola. Oh, I guess some of our schools as well. >> Um, no, those are majority of the ones
that she she had said electrical, which was 192. She did say 192. >> So that was >> Yeah. So I think since nobody else is saying it and tomorrow, me and you guys all said this is it. So yeah, I think
that's the ranking. >> 170 748 192 105 >> and 186. >> Okay. >> All right. Thank you. >> Yeah. So roll call vote for approving the current top five essay ranking list. Sean Yeah. What's up?
>> Are you gonna vote yes for the current ranking? >> Yeah. >> Okay. Elizabeth, >> yes. >> When Mingchan, >> yes. >> Nalin may function. >> Steven Maloney. >> Yes.
>> Fabiola. >> Yes. Kelly, >> yes. >> Ken Lee, >> okay. >> Alina, >> yes. >> Kevin Zo is excused. Okay, so it passes.
>> All right. And now on to uh our second public speaking session. Anybody sign on? >> Second one. >> Hello. >> Yes. Hold on. what?
>> Hi. Uh, you're elected staff member. Could you introduce yourself and which uh >> which good evening everyone? My name is Hanan Bajget. Um, I'm with the New York State Assembly. I know that he had uh two other representatives, Assemblyman
Tus had Andrew on and Mike Capatelli. Not sure if they're still on. Um, but I personally work for the New York State Assembly Minority Conference, the Minority Leaders Office. Um, but I do represent the six members in New York City in our conference. Um, and usually,
like I said, I'm here for Assembly Mus, but today I'm just representing the minority leader. Um, I'm not sure if you guys are aware, but they're back in Albany for the start of session. Um yesterday the governor gave her state of the state address and she had outlined her priorities for the upcoming year and
the assemblyman is reviewing these priorities and should anyone have any questions any specific you know concerns you've just feel free to reach out. I'm going to leave my email in the chat and just a side note I know that you guys just took a vote on these um capital
projects. um state is usually kind of limited especially in our conference to funds but we do have something called the SAM/crest grant and that's specifically for capital projects. Uh and we also have school bullet aid. So I would suggest um you know for schools
that need smaller amounts of funds to reach out to their state elected officials. Um >> could you repeat yourself again? Sorry, somebody didn't hear you. Uh could you repeat yourself a little louder and slower? Thank you. Could you also write it in the chat like just your your that
the that funding that apply for? >> It's called SAMCrest grants and uh every assembly member is allocated about $200,000 um every year. And um I would just suggest that if there are schools that
are interested in it um for like a dean or someone that is a representative for the school to reach out to your state elected official. Um that way they can prioritize that school uh with a plan or
such, you know, a proposal. Um that way, you know, they're ahead of the game as far as funding for capital projects. Oh, did did you write it in the email that particular funding name title? >> No, I didn't I didn't type anything up. I'll type when I'm done speaking. But
yeah, thank you. That's all I just wanted to say. >> All right. Sorry about that. Don't worry. >> We have Richard Conn. >> Oh, she finished. >> Okay. Richard Connelly. You see? >> Yeah, Richard.
>> Yes. Hello. >> Yes, you can speak now. >> Oh, sorry. I just came back in. Um, uh, can you hear me? You can hear me. All right. Sorry about that. Hi, it's Richard Connelly, American Debate League. It's great to come back to CC20
and speak at American Debate League, where debate changes lives. I'm coming on. I know it's late, so I'm going to be less than my two minutes to just say we're so happy to announce that BSI or uh Brooklyn School of Inquiry and IS-187
will be competing this year for the first time at Harvard University in February 13th through February 16th. Um, and we're so excited. We're going to send pictures, everything. I'm going to send email to the CC and to the
superintendent to let superintendent know. I hope this will also help us to also even get more uh district 20 elementary and middle schools to join actually uh PSIS 180 I believe will be joining us soon. And we're hoping to
have one or two more uh district middle schools so we can host a tournament in district 20. We're really looking to host that on a weekday or during the day or an afternoon. We will let the CC know and the district superintendent. And
lastly, I would like to ask when is your um legislative breakfast or if you already had it because we love to attend and help support uh and sponsor those events. So, thank you. >> We we had our breakfast already.
Oh, >> hasn't it's to be decided yet. >> To be decided. >> Oh, to be decid Okay, great. Um, but thank you again and like I said, I I'll send information to the superintendent. Hopefully, we do well. I'll be sending
you information after we come back from Harvard of home. Oh, and lastly, I would like to ask um we I don't know if it's possible, but I would love to see if the CC andor superintendent could uh maybe give certificates or somehow acknowledge
them at a meeting or so um at the at one of the CC's, I guess, in March or April. I think that would be a great idea. We're doing that with all the CC's that we're working with um throughout the city. And then finally on
March 14th, Saturday, and I'll send invitations to district 20 will be represented by Brooklyn School of Inquiry and IS-17 at the Brooklyn Burl Championships where we have about 7 to 8 Brooklyn districts represented. will be
in district 19 to see who has the best uh schools, who has the best district in um in Brooklyn. Last year, Superintendent Terry won from district 18. We're hoping this time district 20 takes it. So, thank you.
>> Just a minute. >> If there's any questions, I'm available. If not, thank you. >> Thank you. Uh now we're we're uh looking for the approval of December calendar meetings. So Kevin So we have approval of anybody need to
change anything. So approve. So uh good night everyone. Thank you for coming. Um William, Sylvia, Sean, and David Ple. Thank you. And now that's good night and we'll see
you next uh >> next business meeting February uh 11th. Right. >> February 11th at 264. >> At 264. Good night everyone. >> The business meeting. >> Thank you. >> A motion to adjurnn.
>> Yes. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Okay. Motion uh meeting is adjourned. >> Okay. So, so on to the business meeting everybody. All right. So, do we do the uh translation again?
>> Yeah. Usually they do translation. >> Does anybody want a break or we just go straight? >> All right. Good night. >> All right. Uh >> okay. Uh trans um >> good evening. Welcome to the
>> January >> to the January 2026 um business meeting. >> Uh Nelin, could you take roll call? >> We start the local business meeting.
>> Here's the chair. here. >> Okay, that's >> okay. Tonight we have interpretation in Arabic, Mandarin, and Spanish. You
should see the interpreter's name in the participant list and they will post their information in the chat. Um, could our Arabic interpreter please introduce yourself again? Uh, sure.
Thank you. Arabic announcement is a joint. >> Thank you. Uh could our Spanish interpreter please introduce yourself? >> Yes. Spanish announcement complete. >> Thank you. Could our Mandarin
interpreter please introduce herself? Mandaring complete. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. >> The business minutes. >> Uh so all we have is the business uh minutes to approve from last time. The
approval of the December business meetings. just say or we're going to do it next time. >> We have no plans for that. There's nothing planned yet. >> Okay. >> Education committee as well. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Just a brief thing. I wasn't going
to go into detail, >> but if you want to speak about that, if you want to confirm it, let everybody here know. >> Yeah, we do the minutes for us. >> Right. Spin it. Approved it out. >> Uh minutes motion to approve the
minutes. >> Motion. >> Okay. All in favor? >> I >> I now you can make your >> Okay. So, we um John and I decide to do the meeting. um next month
>> special >> because we came we all came back from break and we weren't sure like are we really going to be able to like attend the meeting and we and because it's the open meeting we want to make sure like we're in a venue where like if people want to come but they'll attend virtually so we were thinking of maybe
having a um PS um 939 you know what I mean so um right there and they they having um with the ASD NAS program, especially when we're talking about education, it makes sense. >> You know what I mean? To like really
highlight that school. So, we're thinking about like the first Tuesday in February because it's such a short month at 6:00. So, and we basically going to be talking about um just discussing like what we can do to help um bring um all these new
special education programs that we have in district 20 and the ones that probably come going to be coming online later. How to get more of our families into the school and and advertise it in a way that really brings more more of our students to keep them in our in our
district. You know what I mean? like what we can do to like to like really highlight these new programs. So that that was the plan. >> Yeah, >> that's good. >> February 2nd, I believe it is. >> Yes. >> On t uh Tuesday, February 2nd. Yes.
9:39, Special Education Committee, the first committee meeting. >> Yes. >> Oh, what was it? What date again? Sorry. >> February 2nd. I'll send out notice again. >> February 2nd. >> Yeah. Tuesday, 6 p.m. >> All right. No, no, no. February 3rd. February 2nd is a Monday.
>> Oh, February 3rd. Okay. >> So, are you planning to do this every week or every month? >> Um, well, we we could decide to like maybe like have it every two weeks. >> And will it be once a month? It depends on the turnout. We we want to make sure we actually, you know, have like our
special education families attending at least 75 parents >> attending. You know what I mean? Really letting us know like what we can do to help serve us some families. Is it gonna be a hybrid? >> Yeah, hybrid. >> All right. So, I hope you bring send out the link.
>> Yeah. >> Well, that that's also why we want to do in February, we want to give it um enough time to get um >> to um access to the school and then give our families time to actually like keep it on their calendar and then attach. >> Yeah, you should like our schools and my kids school is a nest school and so
sending it to them and making sure that distributed to nest parents is a really good idea. Good. You guys all heard uh Tamara and John will be doing a presentation. Well, well, that's the stuff we want to
ask Miss um the principal nan if she could like really talk about like what the program entails at her school, you know, like how we can make sure that we get families interested in the program and um just like highlight the school so we can get more of a D75 coming to the
program because this is one of the reasons why we we push many of us um parents in this district have pushed to um include a lot of these par these programs in in our current school and our new schools going forward. >> All right, good.
>> A future location you might want to think about having it in is the building that touts BSI and ABLE. So in our building is my school, which is the next school and able school to the D45 school and then Alena school, which is BSI. And so you could get the principal from Abel
and the principal from my school to talk about how they've had this shared vision around the building to have like a spe a D75 school and a desk program in the same building. >> Yeah. That's a good idea to highlight to highlight.
>> So our building it's a campus location. So it's the building that's >> Yeah. And so so I was just saying that like in the building is BSI. Uh my kids go to TAS which is a nest program and then there's an ABLED school in there as
well. Uh so that's D75. And so it would be interesting to also invite the principles from those schools to talk about sort of the way that they collaborate on >> the way they collaborate on things. interesting that you mention that I was
able to visit four schools >> and I said collaboration >> so what I've been noticing 75 schools doesn't have some music like they just spaces 75
the main principle you know that collaboration I don't really see what he said you know 77 it's an old
But they partition they partition the 75 classrooms >> and then they they're not pulling the kids out for speech PT and it's in there. >> Meanwhile, the kids with an IEP that go to 164 they have their own room and I
left her with half the room is empty. There's like sharing things. So that collaboration >> yeah I agree there should be more I mean there should be more collaboration. It's, you know, I think this
>> Ferguson is alive and well 75. >> Okay. Um, >> let's get this offline and uh are we u meeting uh we're going to adjourn the meeting. >> I got closer to the microphone. >> Let me shut this off because I don't
want feedback. >> All right. see how low tech guy in a high-tech world. >> So I had um I I've gone to three or four different
um parent uh principal breakfast where I have parents from various district 75 uh schools say for 230 when they're at different sites. Um just uh last week I'm writing on a piece of paper and
they're taking screenshots so they I can pass my information on. I mentioned to John, Kevin said that we can't do business cards, which I don't understand why not because supplies is one of the things that we're allowed to have, but it seemed because John made
his own business cards because I'm not talking one or two people. I'm talking there was I think 15 people there. I was at another one where there was like 30 people and you know like to get a scrap of paper, a napkin >> and walk around.
I had three um parents. They spoke either Mandrin or Cantonese, very little English and I didn't have I wish I had like because I don't want to give up somebody's information but that would you know it's like I wrote my stuff and I says but if
you call me like I'll try >> to you know see to help them because they were very limited in their English. So that's something I think that any of us when when we participate in these things some of you might might be around so everybody knows your information they
don't know mine our district 75 parents don't know what you know to be educated in your own community. >> So what's the second thing? >> Well basically I don't know if business cards because John said that Kevin was saying that's not but we're allowed supplies. I got John ended up because I got a parent say, "Well, when's your
next CEC20 meeting to get some district 75 parents to see whether to come in here?" And I think a flyer was uh I basically asked them take a screenshot of CC20's meeting notice. We got to get
flyers to these schools. And then even to me if I go to one of these events to give like if if you're not going to do business cards then give us a flyer with the next CC20 meeting with all our names on it. >> You could direct them to our our our website. So it'll be more
>> right. But but when you're sitting with 20 people all right you just go to Yeah, I know. See CC20. Click it on. That's what I did. And I'm talking to a principal. I'm talking to a parent coordinator. asked me, "Well, maybe you you can cut and paste it because I can't because I says, I don't have a fly. You
can take a screenshot of it >> and we have >> and and we're supposed to be get sending flyers to all these community organizations whether by email, >> but sometimes you need pay. Look, the same way we got this, >> could you just could you just make a
flyer with like our names on it and a QR code and then we make a hundred of them >> and then if if if he wants it then he could hand it out like or show them, right? So you don't even have to give >> like I would hear that idea if we if people are like when John's having the
coffee nights and if there's like a thing that has just like a flyer that says and here's a QR code and then here's your contact >> like maybe a couple pages. >> I'm just thinking now if you want to business card just business card a QR code in the middle with our website a
contact page has everyone's email. >> Yeah. I I think his point is that like >> and then like if there's a flyer sent down I would forward it to the coordinators like I called up like one assistant principal she says send it to me because they have it's I don't what
you have in general like but dojo >> so do you have uh what's the second issue you have that we we uh second issue that you want us to talk about? Oh, no. What I was going to say I business card and flyers. >> Okay. Steen. Stephen. Kevin's gonna fix
your life. Next meeting. He has exactly the >> Okay. And is there whether yourself or one of the other ladies or gentlemen? >> If like like if I run into that situation again, if it's like like I had these three women, they didn't speak much English and so they took a picture
of it. But it was a little bit >> because uh remember we have that presentation with that guy if you if you say yeah you could contact him and tell them to give you translators if they need it. >> No no no it's not translator it's just like you're sitting at someone. So
tomorrow I say my name's Steve Mahoney and here's my information. Did he like I'm asking if any if any of you like you or any of the other ladies I'll say you know what because then whatever their problem or issue may be >> I'm not going to understand
>> but then you could direct them to somebody that can help me >> well I think his point is if they want to reach out to somebody on be good for them at that it's a a parent
self-support group. >> Yeah. >> And as far as like if they if they whether it was busing whatever it is or >> just might have came because >> but you know a lot of the CC members we we we are just going to uh we don't have
all that information. So then it is better to work with the school and to ask the school to get that translated whatever information they're seeking or help that solution they're seeking. Usually in district Yeah, you're right. In district 75, but if it's a a busing
issue, yeah, it's OP and yeah, you could get a reimbursement or whatever it might have been. Maybe they want to reopen up their IEP or something. >> I'm going to at least if >> I'm going to adjourn, >> you guys like I speak Spanish. I hope they speak Spanish. That's about it. >> Oh, Steve, I'm going to um adjourn the
business uh business meeting if that's okay. >> That sounds great. >> So, uh we're adjourning the January 14th business meeting. Good night translators. Thank you for your help. And uh do we have a motion to adjurnn? >> Motion to >> Okay, so
>> meeting is adjourned. Thank you.