Um I am going to uh put the minutes into the into the chat which I did already in case you joined after I put it into the chat I'll do it again. Um, if we can just start with a brief review
of the minutes, that would be great. And I'll put it on my screen in the event that you're having a hard time opening up, >> Dr. Mike. >> Yeah. Um, I did want to mention one change. >> Yeah.
>> Um, Charette Walters is no longer the president of high school president's council. Um, the position was vacant until I think last month they had elections.
Um, so I don't know if you want to just put vacant president of Queens High School's president's council. Um, the new president is Quinton. I'm not sure of his last name. >> Okay, we'll have to we'll have to follow up on that. Um,
>> Eduardo, could you do me a favor and find out that for me? >> Yeah, I put that information in chat. >> Okay, great. Let me just put it in there now so that as soon as you add it in there, Eduardo, I'll put it into the I'll put it into the minutes and we'll make sure that um
if you can also include an email address, Eduardo, that would be great. And Lewis will update the um the DT distribution list. Okay, thank you for that, Rachel. Sure,
no problem. Okay, folks. Any any adjustments that need to be made? Do we have consensus on the minutes? Thank you, Rob. Anyone else? Virtual thumbs up works, too. Thank you, Rachel. Thank you, Eden.
Lamar, we're good. Okay, perfect. All right, guys. Welcome. This is our first meeting of the of the new year. It is hard to believe. We just every year these, you know, these school years seem to to come and go faster and
faster. It's really crazy um that we are already in in mid January. But here we are. Uh today for for my presentation, I will not uh be talking about the data just yet. our schools are just in the process of so our progress monitoring
for uh DC will be um in our February during our February meeting we'll have a breakdown of where we are uh within each of our goals uh from uh for this school year. Uh but for today I'll just have our greetings
obviously welcome. Uh I'm going to share a little bit of um some of the the entry points for our new chancellor, Chancellor Samuels. We'll do a quick connection before content um updates and reminders. I do want to go over the SLT
uh information again just for a couple of spaces that maybe perhaps we can come up with an agreed upon set of next steps um based on said data. uh parent survey. Um just some planned sessions that we have just to share it with you. Uh arts
funding would love for everyone to go over a brief set of options that we have for uh arts connection. Gather your perspectives on that. Uh and then some feedback from you around the save for college um program as well. Uh there
will be one section in here too that I would like to talk to you about around MTSS and things that we can do um as a DT to continue to spread the word and I'll mention why in just a couple of minutes. Um so that'll be through our
our day uh this morning, our time this morning anyway. And we're going to start off with a brief connection before content and I'm going to put it into the chat. We'll do a very very brief breakout room. So, four um four new years. Um are
you someone who likes a quiet reflection or big celebration? Which one? What side do you live on when it comes in bringing in and ringing in the new year? Are you someone who likes um a quiet reflection or big celebration? Which one? So, it's kind of
a this or that for you this morning. Um be in that space of reflection. We'll do a very brief breakout room for all of you guys and we'll be in those rooms just for a couple of minutes just for a brief little chat. Two minutes in there. Are
you a what side of it do you do you live on for yourself? Right. Open those rooms. Hop in real quick. quick little chat and then we will come right back out.
All right, guys. Welcome back. Welcome back. Um, any of you guys wanna want to share out what uh what you chatted with with one of your neighbors, one of our uh DLT members? Quiet reflection, big celebration. I heard a couple of inbetweens.
>> I was sharing with Rob, I am a quiet reflector and I may or may not watch the ball dropped if I'm upgrade. If I'm not, I'll see you tomorrow. Happy New Year. >> Awesome. Thanks for that, Lamar. Anyone else? >> No problem.
>> This is Rachel. I'm middle of the road. I like little uh small house party with a bunch of friends, some good food and drinks, and may or may see the ball drop. May be home by 10:30. It depends.
But um yeah, middle of the road. >> Love it. Thanks, Rachel. Yeah, I could go wrong. >> For my life, it's been uh very interested in the ball dropping and celebrating it to now where um it's just
another day. I go to bed 10 o'clock. What do I care? >> Yeah. I say younger younger me maybe a bigger celebration. Older me not necessarily as much. >> And we go back to work like we go back to work two days later. I can get back with them, man. I can't be staying up late.
This year wasn't bad though. That extra day was actually quite nice in between. We don't always get that, but it was nice this year. Eduardo, did you want to say something? >> Yes. So, uh, Goss and I agree on on a quiet celebration. Um, in the 80s I did
in ' 89, I did experience the Times Square ball drop, but um, you know, just uh, it's one of those things you got to experience at least once in your lifetime, but once you've done it, uh, you realize you're more comfortable at home watching the whole thing on TV. Love that. Thanks, Eduardo. Although, I
have to tell you, I don't know that I ever had any interest in uh in standing in that crowd of people. Uh I bet it was a pretty cool experience for the for one time, but for me personally, I don't know if I can do it. I don't I don't like feeling like I'm uh like a a sardine, that's for sure.
>> They don't let you go to the bathroom, man. >> Yeah. That's what we were actually talking about, me and uh Mary, because I said my ex-husband actually works at the ball drop and he told me like stories about people are like walking around wearing diapers for the night >> because they can't go to the bathroom
because they'll lose their spot and it's like I was like I would never want to be there because of that in itself. >> Yeah. I don't know. I to me it's that I mean I love love it for anyone else but for me I don't know. I can't do it. I I don't think I can do that.
Anyone else? >> I I I'll finish up. So, um >> I said usually we do like a typical family thing like my kids, my parents, me. This year my daughter happened to be six, so it ended up becoming just me and her at home while my parents had my son.
Um although this year was supposed to be with uh a few additional family members that have joined our group and we had to cancel all that once my daughter was sick, but we were literally asleep at 12:01. Yeah, I was saying if not for Stranger
Things with my kids, um I was ready to go to sleep by like nine. Okay, cool. Thanks guys for for participating in that. I'll hop back into the um into the deck. Okay. Um so this is just a a shout out
and welcome to our new chancellor, Chancellor Samuels. Um really excited for uh for the new chancellor to be joining uh joining the ranks in in New York City in this particular um in this fashion. Um Chancellor Samuels was a New
York City superintendent for for quite a while. Um so we're really really excited about uh the the experiences and the work that he's going to be able to bring to to the role and I'm looking forward to working uh for him moving forward. Um, Chancellor Sam Samuels has um a few
areas that he's mentioned a number of times in in his chats and this idea of creating a uh safe, academically rigorous and integrated uh experiences for our for our learners across New York City. Um, what I'm really really excited
about is that uh intention around New York City reads and continuing to push that work forward. um New York City solves and MTSS. As you guys know, MTSS is a big part of our conversation and has been um for a long time here in
district. Um and we do want to keep the ball rolling with that. Um and you know, moving forward as a as a district community, what I do think and when I get to the slide is going to be a conversation around MTSS. We did share
this during our SLT training. Um, but just most recently, even at our CEC meeting, I asked the CEC members, you know, what does what do we already know about MTSS? And you can see like this hesitation that's there around what it
means. So, I want us to have a little bit of a conversation around how we can continue to build on uh on this conversation to make sure that the awareness is where it needs to be for our families across our schools. So, uh, I'm really excited that this is part of
our conversation moving forward, um, as our schools and our kids more importantly need us to to, uh, be in that space of monitoring. Um, and then the other part is around making sure that we're being responsive inside of our instruction, uh, to student needs as
well as the diversity within uh, and across our schools. So, um, you know, making sure that we're staying connected to resources that have been made available to us through, uh, hidden voices and things of that nature. Uh, just making sure that we're making really strong decisions. So, looking
forward to building on that work. Uh, just a reminder, our newsletter is always up and available uh, prior to the holidays, kids engaging in food drives, um, clothing drives, and so on. really really happy that our schools are continuing those those year-long
processes of making sure that we're giving back to our communities. And I'll say a few more words about that in a little bit. Uh we did have our district all-star uh basketball game for elementary schools prior to the break. Um this was really really exciting time
for our kids and um you know so happy that we're able to bring this to our kids in the district community. Uh big shout out to Diana and all of our coaches for the work that they have done. Uh including um you know an addition that has beencome become part
of our work and that's from Mr. Marino school. One of his folks uh also adds to the flavor by bringing his equipment to live interviews on the sidelines and having these things live streamed for our district community to to participate in. Uh so big shout out to 120 as well
for adding on to uh these great uh experiences for our kids. Um arts funding. So uh did want to make sure that uh you guys were aware that we are in process of of organizing um our arts
dollars. What I have done is really connected with our schools that had um their budgets were on the limited side um to give them additional um additional support in terms of residencies in their
buildings. Uh so right now we have 1 2 3 4 5 6 seven schools um that I've been able to connect with. We have purchase orders going out for them. And we have another four schools um that have received arts grants um based on
conversations that I've had with the central team. Uh so that's 2011, 219, 20, and 499. Each of those schools um have received opportunities to to participate in uh arts work. But what I'd like everyone to do right now, and
I'm going to put this into the chat so you have it, and I'll open it up on screen. But this is Arts Connection. And what I would love to do is get some feedback from you guys around some of these options that are here
because I would like to create more community-based experiences where we're inviting families to participate in artsbased events. Um, now typically Arts Connection like these others like Studio in a School and Flushing Town Hall, they
do like to create more of a residency experience where a culminator is with um a family event. So, I'd like to do a little bit of both. I'd like to have more residencies made available to our schools, but I would like to have some standalone just arts experiences for our
district community. So, if I can ask you guys just for the next five minutes, give this document um a look see. There are a bunch of examples of what we can offer to our district community. Uh you'll see some of them that'll say
family event. Uh they're 45 to 90 minutes. They can be in the form of art workshops or um or just um uh presentations where where they're doing a uh a musical type of experience or a theater experience. But if I can give
you guys just the next five minutes just to review and then give your feedback around those that you think would be appropriate or most appropriate for the district that we can offer. And typically they they allow for like 60 people at a time. Um so just take the
next five minutes and put my timer on just to give it a quick review. uh and then give me some of your perspectives of what you think would be best for uh for our district community and then we'll begin organizing some of those um for our district.
Yeah, sorry Gus, we got sucked we got sucked back in. Um any any comments? I I from from our group, we kind of heard a little bit about, you know, um thinking about this through what's the what's the o overarching vision of of the arts for for the
district, which I do think that we uh can come back to and um and connect on for sure. And then there's also just the the spending of of the dollars, you know, whether or not we receive arts funding like this at the district level. Again, we did at late last year, which
was great. um we did earlier this year which was which was great um and now it's about making sure we're spending it uh spending it well. So did any of you have have any thoughts around you know arts connection? So because of of spending
rules you can spend the maximum for any of these groups is up to $25,000. Um which is why it's a $25,000 limit for Arts Connection. Um, in terms of studio and a school, another 25,000 was allocated and another 25,000 for
Flushing Town Hall. The group that has the money that's remaining right now is Arts Connection. Um, some of the schools that have reached out to me earlier in the year because they have were light in funds. So, we were able to support their residency programs um through these dollars. But did anything come up in
your group um that we want to call out based on the items that were present? So, Eduardo and I, this is Lamar, um, briefly had a conversation and >> bad news. Well, not bad news, but the downside, it was probably the most
expensive one on the list. But just on what I feel might be a >> a positive response from the students, the puppetry one I thought would be a really interesting space to delve into. Now, I don't know what that looks like. I was saying I don't know what that looks like in terms of a culminating activity or what that looks like, you
know, if you do this, but it was, you know, you know, I always talk about Andy at 244 and and and the puppets that he makes and I got mine and the kids light up when they just see this little thing. So, like it'd be really cool to somehow give them the opportunity to have one of
their own, you know? Um, I just know that when they see mine, it's like a it's a thing. It's it's it's a it's a reaction. How'd you do that? It looks so much like you. How you know? So, why can't you know, we can give them that space to have a little fun with it. I I I thought that one stuck out to me the
most. >> Thanks for that, Lamar. >> No problem. Gus, >> yeah, I I had uh mentioned uh the possibility of maximizing your resources uh both internally and externally uh and
um reaching out to the Queens Museum, for example. They have free programs. They're a city agency. And then utilizing a connection with the Queen's Museum, maybe Arts Connection, maybe some of the and go after some other funding. New York Council for the Arts
uh is one that comes to mind. Uh there are other uh arts related uh funding opportunities that uh the district in the past has gotten and you could maximize. Uh, I know the uh director of
um um of uh a community group that uh works with the arts and I could put you in touch with them and see whether they uh have some funding or additional uh city law. I don't know if you're familiar with city law. They do um you
know arts related funding uh to New York City related to New York City. So um uh that's basically what I had to say. Thank you, Gus. Yeah, I think it calls to a bigger conversation around other um arts
connections that we can make. Um not necessarily related to Arts Connection, the the company. >> Um that that we can make with uh with some of our local institutions for sure. >> Um I think short term it's, you know, spending these dollars in a way that
that impacts community um is really the, you know, the the the question. And you know, we went through this with um conversation with the CC and they kind of called out, you know, wanting to make sure that there were some family events um as part of these dollars. And um you
know, I think we can certainly identify a number of them through this um opportunity because it's not overly expensive. $475 per family event is not a lot. Um so my thinking was that we can do like a mixture of residencies. I can
tap into some schools. They had asked, you know, our principles in the past whether or not there was interest in residency. Some of our schools are fine with their budgets and they manage it themselves. Other schools struggle with their budgets uh and want these programs, which is why those are the ones that we reached out to first um to
give them a little additional support. Um but any of the other ones that were there that were visible that you say, you know what, these are worth, you know, tapping into. I was even thinking about this for our wellness event that we do um at the end of the year that we can add in a component that's around um
you know something related to the arts where families would have a chance to go um and do something that's connected to it during our uh wellness event that we have uh was also another consideration. Um, but any other any other comments around the arts and the the funding that
we still have available? Anytime I have money, it's like it put burns a hole in me that I I I need to spend it as soon as I can. I don't like it sitting there. >> Eduardo is going to uh talk about uh family arts related stuff um during our
u uh breakout room. He uh he brought that to my attention. Eduardo, you have some examples. >> I don't know whether you heard us. >> Okay. Anyone else? Eden, Rachel, Crystal, Patricia, any recommendations
that you guys have? Our group chose family arts pro the family arts program and our thinking was and we were we were all thinking the same thing. We had the same mindset. Um bridging the gap between families and schools being that we're doing this well miss kindness and
community. Um we thought that the workshops would strengthen that and um it was a great idea and it would include everyone you know. um you just basically hit the nail on the head when you said everything that you said about at the end of the year. Basically what we
that's basically what we were discussing including the families and um having it as the wellness kindness and community like with wellness kindness community. >> Love that. Thank you Crystal.
Anyone else? Rachel, Eden or Patricia? Anything you want to say more about? >> I was with Crystal so she kind of did it. Yeah. Okay, good. >> Yeah, we all agree upon that. That right, Eden? Yes. Uh I mean uh we're advocating strongly from family engagement. Therefore, that was our
choice. Eden, go ahead. Yes. Yes, we agree. >> Yeah. The big talk was community and going back to I brought up the fact that CC's biggest focus is like, hey, bringing the communities together and having those family events will do just that. >> Love it. All right. So, what what I'm
going to do is I'm going to organize around um some of these kind of arts based family activities. Um and I'm going to connect with a few more of our schools that um could could benefit from residencies and if they're interested and want to do it um then, you know,
we'll work with them to to create an opportunity in their school. Um, I think in the the the bigger picture, uh, perhaps we need to revisit our, um, our vision statement and what connections do we make to the arts within it? Um, and
are we doing what we hope to be doing inside of that? So, uh, more to more to follow on that. We'll add it to our, um, future agenda, uh, items to to consider and and work through. Okay. Um so the
next space and this I I really want um everyone's feedback on as well. So during our last CEC meeting I had posed this question around MTSS and I'm going to put this into the chat.
It was a very very simple question. Um take a minute to reflect on MTSS. What do you already know? Very simple question. Um, and you know what I found interesting, and Eden, let me know what
what you thought. Uh, but what I found interesting was that there was definitely this this pause either out of discomfort because they didn't want to say something that was not right or there was just uncertainty uh around what MTSS really meant. And what we got
out of that conversation was that yes, it breaks it into tears. Uh but what we heard from some of our families is that that's all that they are aware of that there's a tier one, tier two, and tier three. So my my question for for all of
us here is um what what can we do um to make sure there's a raised awareness for all of our constituents on this? Um and that's something I'm I'm I'm really wondering from us as a collective. what
what can we do as a DT um to continue to raise awareness? I know we did our work as I said on um for our SLT training, but was that enough to make sure we're communicating widely? And if I can ask you just to be in that space of
reflection too around what else what else do we want to do or recommend to our schools to do to make sure that there's clarity around what MTSS really really means. So, being at space of reflection just for a moment and um and then we're not going to break out in
breakout rooms for this one, but just a quick little chat amongst us. What what can we do as a DT to make sure that our communities understand what this is because it's a big part of our work. We'll come back together in just a minute and when you're ready, if you can
just put that virtual thumb up just to share some of your thoughts. All right, Rob, why don't you kick us off and then folks, I'd love I encourage you to to to join in on this chat. What else can we do as a DT to really raise awareness around um MTSS?
>> From my perspective, it's it's always um you know, I'm always aware that while we're doing work around MTSS or anything that when we share the information out about the work that we're doing to support students, it's not just, you know, it becomes like this another
acronym, right? MTSS, right? AIS, um, SEAL, uh, case team, right? And we know what it is. We live it. And we could speak in in a lot about the work we're doing, but how are we making sure that parents understand that what MTSS really
is is just giving children support based on um, you know, the the the data that they've they've they've shown, the the performance that they they're doing, the gaps that they have. Um, and it's really just about communicating uh at the level that parents need to uh to receive that
information and knowing your community. Um, you know, sending out every time a child is in any type of support, making sure parents are aware when that support changes that they're also aware that they're always aware of their children's performance. Uh, not just report cards, but through progress reports, through
sharing of uh assessment data. uh to wayade parents see that uh their children are succeeding or that there are areas uh that need to be um addressed and that through MTSS we're addressing those areas not just in tier one. Um
>> yeah, I think you know the one of the things you just said I think is important Rob is the whole like space of communication but how are we communicating? What recommendations would we want to make for um you know for our SLTs to think about how are they communicating? And it's interesting
there's going to be something that I I want to share just in terms of the deeper analysis of the SLT survey information that might also lend itself to it uh and to this conversation. Uh Gus. Yeah. Uh um this is kind of bread and
butter for um uh my team and my colleagues. Um there's there are two pieces to it as far as I'm concerned. There's the formal structure u as you uh all schools know that a title one they have that annual meeting. Well um you
know what Rob said um speaks very much uh to my philosophy. There are a lot of acronyms, but basically what we're talking about is the extra help program for students in the school. That's that's what we're talking about. That's what MTSS is. It's uh for the students
uh in in need of additional assistance. So, in those annual meetings, that should be a communication to the um uh school community and parents especially about what that program consists of.
then it it's embedded in the uh C the comprehensive education plan and uh it needs to be evaluated uh and that should be part of the progress monitoring structure that takes place on an ongoing basis in the school
and as you just pointed out it should be part of the discussion in every SLT uh meeting what's going on how u what's the program that we have and the materials that we have for helping the students um
improve that especially those that are in most academic need. How effective are those programs? Uh do we need to adjust them? Do we need to look at them again? What's the data showing? So, you know, this those are kind of the formal
structures that u should be put into place and uh deal with this on an ongoing basis on an informal way. Um there's also should be feedback between the support services group uh and the teachers in the classroom and the
administration as to how effective u the the uh supports are uh in terms of social emotional so it's not just always academic it's also you have mindset I think you have other uh you know
programs uh PBIS etc whatever you're using so it's all of that information working together. >> Yeah, thank you, Gus. And I think, you know, the what it's making me think is that, you know, do we have a regular
agenda item that includes MTSS as part of it and our conversation as um as SLT members, you know, um as a DT, you know, making sure that it's part of our routine conversation. And I think that's big part of of this work. Um, so yeah, I
think that that's a it's a it's a big piece in that layer of communication. I think sometimes it's that that overcommunication because it's not that our schools don't um but it's how how are we making sure that folks are actually connecting to it. Um, and that that's the part uh Patricia, go ahead.
>> Thank you. Yeah, I completely agree. That's the first thought that came to mind. communication uh in a in a way that us parents can understand what that means. Acronyms you
all know, we all know uh but uh the interpretation can be different. So making sure uh the parents understand exactly what's going on in real time with their uh child uh and gives them
it's like a it's back and forth because working in collaboration means also giving them the necessary tools to work from home and help the child at home as well. So uh that I'm speaking as a mom I
would like to say this is a wonderful program. how can I help my child and help you uh help us? I don't know if it is the concept is clear right so we need to understand it at a level and a
wording that we can uh comprehend as parents also uh being trans as an immigrant I'm going to always uh uh put on the throw on the table the translation services that I know that you guys provided but comprehend and uh
in our native language that makes a different is a is key in order to hub. So, I think it's uh yeah, tools. We both need tools in order to make our children succeed. So, I think it's a fantastic program need needless to say.
>> Thank you, Patricia. Um and there was a a a note too around the idea of, you know, can this be, you know, routinely part of our newsletters? Um and yeah, we can put this in our district newsletter for sure. We can add it in there. Um, and I think maybe perhaps even in our
own school ones, how are we making sure that that's consistently put of it put in there? Um, so that it's not about um just the acronym. And because I agree, I think sometimes we we we have uh um an oversaturation of the amount of acronyms
that that um that anyone could could linger over for any one period of time and we lose sight of the importance of what we're trying to get accomplished. So, um, you know, in listening to you, I'm hearing maybe we can have a standard agenda item, right? Think rethink about how we're
communicating in uh more parentfriendly terms. >> Excuse me, Dr. Mike. >> Yeah, go ahead, Rachel. >> Um, I just wanted to let you know I have to hop off. I have I'm at the school actually. We have a school event now.
>> No worries. >> Um, President's Council, um, we are having our meeting on the 26th. We will have a representative from food and nutrition services there. And I believe we will also have updates from the CPAC
meeting um, that took place last Thursday um, by my co-president uh, Veronica. So, um I will see you there if not before. >> Okay. Thank you, Rachel. >> All right. Bye, everyone. >> Enjoy your meeting.
>> Thank you. >> Um so, I have a standard agenda item uh communicate um in more parent friendly terms and then uh perhaps also include in our uh in our district newsletter for
for our families. Um, and I do think that this is part of recommendations that can then go to our um, SLTs um, and to the chairperson of each of our SLTs. That's something that we can link in and make sure that everyone has a little bit
of clarity on um, on agenda items and part of if you have uh, if we're talking MTSS, here are some things that you can talk about just as a space of a guide uh, for our for our schools to think through. Um, and that's something that Umein and I can organize and and make
available to each of our SLTs as an entry point for future conversations. Um, so thank you guys for that because I do think uh it's an important part of our work and we're all spending a lot of time organizing our practices to that end and
if we only we are the only ones who know what it means then it's not effective. Um, so we'd have to make sure that our families have a clarity around it. um as well as our students. So, thank you for that feedback. Um couple of couple of things in terms of
upcoming events and let me share my screen just to make sure you guys are aware of it. Love to see you there if you can. Uh we do have um we just had a recent um multilingual learner session. This this evening we have our second in our
special education series um that is um available to our community. And for any of you that have folks that you know um where parents might need to have a little bit of understanding around the classifications uh in an IEP that this is a a great opportunity for them to get
information from Nathan. Um we had our second um session for our multilingual learner families that was last week exclusively in Mandarin. Uh we did have a number of families there that asked some really great questions. So, um,
encourage any of your families, uh, in in your schools for that, too. We have a math session, uh, coming up as well as a math family night event. This is always great. Love to see any of our DT members there and present, um, to, uh, support
129, but also to support this work around mathematics here in the district. So, uh, if you're available, I'd love for you guys to be there. um diagnostic assessment window is happening now. Um vast majority of our kids will be done by our next DT. So I
will have our progress monitoring set for each of our goals from that point on. And now I just want to bring us to the SLT survey. So during um last month we had an opportunity to review some of our slides. I broke this down to like
the top two or three strengths and areas for growth. Um some of the things that were evident in there we did have a high level of agree and strongly agree in terms of goals being developed collaboratively which is a really good thing. Uh there was that space of
procedural compliance um that was evident based on communication and there was evidence that data is being used to inform uh decision-m whether that's around use of chronic absenteeism reports or ELA math
benchmark assessments. that was pretty clear in terms of feedback from our SLTs that those are things that are happening on a regular which is great. A few things that were surfaced uh was around clarity of title one status and funding. That was something that was um not
prevalent across each of our groups and granted if our school was not in title one school they might not have as much knowledge about it. Uh but I do think that this is an area that we can continue to grow through and then bridging the gap between discussion and
C goals. Um there seemed to be a disconnect between the issues discussed and what was in the C based on the um based on the form and and then communication to the wider community in terms of transparency of information and
how it's being shared. So given these three components, um I'd love for us all just to take a few moments just to reflect on these three areas of improvement. What do you what can we identify as things that we can do as a DT to share with our SLTs to
improve upon these components that were called out with the SLT health survey that we created. So I'm going to put these into the chat, these three areas. I stop sharing just for a moment. And from your perspective, what can we
do to improve in these three things that we can share with SLTs widely? So, I'm just going to put timer on the clock just for two minutes, just to two-minute reflection.
What could we do as a district community to help support um these areas that were kind of on the lower side in terms of ratings from our schools? Mike, this is just for members that are the SLT or this was uh all >> this is just the SLT. Okay. And what I'd
like to do is just add some of your feedback into the document. What do you see as ways that perhaps that we could support? In large part, guys, our results were really good, right? So, this is not that we have major issues with our SLTs based on that survey. Uh
these are areas that we can maybe perhaps tighten a little bit. Um I know title one always becomes an issue in terms of of what it means and you know I know we do our meetings you know the frequency with which those meetings have huge turnouts is always a question and whether or not that info's comm
community that information gets communicated more more widely. Um but just given those three areas is kind of being the ones that were a little bit um more challenging for us than others. any
any comments that you guys have and I'm going to add it. I have a blank slide on slide 21 in our in our deck that I'm going to add it to just for my own notes, but any comments what are things that maybe we can do as a DT to help support that
any of these three things. Uh I was thinking maybe like a one-pager that we could encourage schools to have at the beginning of uh even the school year indicating you in a very easy to to express way the title one status uh the
the the work that the school is doing with the C and the expectation for what the SLT is going to contribute to that. Um you know maybe a template that we can hand out to school say you don't have to do this but this is how we envision this communication. These are the gaps that we are seeing in understanding uh and
these are the areas that we could uh support you in making sure that uh your SLT has the information they need um moving forward. >> Yeah, I love that, Rob. >> Anyone else? Any other thoughts?
communication being more widely shared. Lamar or um or Crystal, Patricia, Eden, anything from those three areas that you want to call out. I'm thinking like with the communicate with the school. Um
maybe we can like uh my thoughts like more surveys and also um being more proactive like making it
known that to parents like focusing on parents um letting them know when to expect information so they won't have the misunderstanding about uh what's like when things are going out like instead of annually
monthly like maybe weekly or maybe every two weeks I think weekly is too much every two weeks like let them know like something you know look forward to this coming out >> I don't know just to >> yeah little little reminders and I think that kind of >> kind of calls to um you know something
that Rob just mentioned the form of kind of that that one pager that maybe highlights all of those things and then it just reissued >> uh reissued for families just to kind of stay connected to. Um cuz listen, I think I think we do go back and forth on on title one a lot. You know, did we have our meeting? Do parents know what
that means? How was that? How is the the title how are the title one dollars being used? All of that. I know it's always a struggle um in terms of making sure that information is not only communicated but then held on to and understood. Um uh Eden, go ahead and
then Patricia. So just looking at all these um I know for instance being on two SLTs separate from DLT there the meetings happen and we have our stuff and obviously the meeting minutes are available to everyone but I feel like people don't even know necessarily
what's going on during an SLT meeting other than the people on the SLT and I don't think the school community is getting that. So that's one thing that I really feel like needs to be more widespread. Like even when we have a meeting, like sharing, hey, there's an
SLT meeting. Yes, we have a people that are there, but like you could sit in, listen, learn more. I feel like it's not shared enough. And that's why people then feel like they're not knowing these things, especially like related to the C. Like people probably don't even know what the C is a lot of families.
>> So I think just a lot more education around all of that is very important as well. Yeah. And I'm wondering too, Eden, the the relationship between the the the meetings that that we have. So, you know, we have our president's council meeting, we have our CEC meeting, we
have the DPAC meeting, um, which present really nice opportunities also to reconvey what's happened during the SLT. Um, and I'm wondering maybe perhaps we can also try to include some some good agenda items for for during those meetings for you guys to also talk about
cuz I that's not something that I've reviewed. Honestly, I haven't reviewed what does a, you know, a president's council uh, you know, a PTA meeting, >> right, >> agenda look like, nor would I, you know, interfere in that. But maybe perhaps we can recommend that these are some of the
things that we include in there whether it's the PTA president or their representative whoever sits in on the the SLT does do that that share and are we sharing it or are we just saying guys by the way here's what we did during SLT you know so I I do wonder that a little
bit but I think that's an important point. >> Yeah, >> Patricia. >> Yes. Uh actually I'm going to piggyback on that. Uh a couple of things. um based on our experience now Rachel is not here but as you all know uh by now we are
co-presidents so president's report we mentioned SLT Rachel happened to sit on SLT while I'm sitting on Queens High School president council uh therefore I always sign which is going to happen today as a matter of fact as an observer as I'm having a conversation within the
district I say what do you mean you shouldn't be there isn't Rachel I say yes but I'm an observer observer although so they have no idea that some meetings are public you can be an observer I mean knowing the rules
right so we do a report on SLT we have recently the scanning the metal detectors where the vote for was a no for requesting them okay so waiting for the backlash of course from the parents rightfully so but they are aware of
what's going to happen and then whatever are you discussing SLT if they want to be there as an observers you're welcome they're welcome too but knowing that you can be part of and the newsletters and yes I agree with the rest I'm I'm always
going to go back to communication for sure but yes PTA meetings it should be addressed since the principal is sitting there we always you know turn the floor to the principal and she can say what or he can say whatever he's allowed or feels
to share. But yes, I think that that will be um way different ways to let the parents know what even SLTC forget about it. They have no idea. >> Yeah, because I feel like I feel like there are so many opportun opportunities. Thank you for that,
Patricia. I feel like there are so many different ways that we can communicate. >> Uh it's just that are we are we making sure we're taking advantage of it as much as we can to say the things that we want to say. um often times and I think why there is this there's this notion of disconnect between what we're discussing
and what the C says is sometimes you know we do want to talk about some of the things that are upcoming events that do get into the conversation and maybe those take up more space than what my C goal the impact of my C goal um you know
I do think that that happens at times too all right Crystal and Gus and then we'll move on >> so I had a I I had a question and that went it went Right along with what she's saying as far as being an observer, can we at our PTA meetings offer parents to
come sit on a SLT as observers? Like is that an option for us to do? >> Well, I don't know that you have to offer them as a as an observer. You can let them know that, you know, SLT meetings are are public meetings. um they can certainly if they if they so
choose um can certainly be involved, you know. Um >> but yeah, there's there's there's nothing wrong with with that. There are open meetings. >> Okay. And now another question like what is the maximum amount of people that can sit in that's you know with space
limited? >> Um I mean I I don't know that there I mean it would just be if if folks are are going to come out in in droves like that. um you know we would one that would be amazing if we had that kind of that kind of number. I think um I don't
know that it would end up that way but if it starts to then you know the the forum starts to change a little bit >> um to accommodate but I don't know that we would get to the to the space where on a monthly we were having to accommodate that number of observers.
Um, in my experience over the years, it has not been that uh that significant. Although, you know, you hope to see it, but it's not always that way. >> Okay. Thank you. >> I think it's how do we make sure we're sharing that information once once we c once the meeting is over that we we
share it widely enough for folks to hold on to because work schedules and and such get in the way at times. Um, which is true. You know, not everyone can manage to do what you, Crystal, are able to do and you I feel like you're on everything. Absolutely. >> You're you're always at you're always at
you're always managing make your way at a meeting, you know, and um which is fantastic, but not everyone can do it. >> Understood. Totally understood. >> Yeah. Uh Gus. >> Yeah. Uh you um you surfaced this uh
issue in terms of the survey uh that it came up in the survey. What I was wondering whether you can um whether there's a mechanism for finding out uh two things. one um is there a a particular group of schools where
there's an additional there's more of a need than others and then um what um what kinds of issues or what kinds of information would um uh those particular subset of schools or the the district in
general want to know about Title One and about Title One programs because I'd be willing to work with u your team in designing a uh targeted training or targeted support uh of whatever type you
you you want to have that's more specific and uh targeted than just the general training that we do you know for SLTS. So um you know uh I don't know whether a mechanism exists for that. um
even if your principles at a principal meeting um there may be some principles that are more aware of um you know SLT title one related issues than others um that might be a form of discussion but um I'm I'm always happy to work on more
targeted uh support and additional support for my districts and my superintendent. Yeah, Gus, I I I would definitely take you up on that and maybe I uh you know, you can work with with Jenny on that from the perspective of of the parent lens. Um you know, and and
the staff lens, you know, we can certainly generate something and unfortunately that the the survey is is anonymous. It was not a uh the only thing they had to indicate on it was whether or not they were parent, staff, or administrator. Uh there was not a question around what school you came from. So, I can't break it down in that
regard. Um, but I do think creating a um, you know, a presentation that's available, uh, maybe even recorded and then schools can hop on and and do their own little snippets. You want to pop in here. Here's where I'm talking about um, you know, Title One parent involvement
money. Here's where I'm talking about, you know, use of those Title One dollars as a building leader. We can certainly break it up along those lines for sure. >> Okay. Um, All right. Any other comments on on this? I I we talked about it last month.
I didn't want to go through and and just leave it be that we did a survey. I want to make sure we're doing something actionable with that information that now that we do have it. Um so these were a couple of the areas what what uh what Uman and I will do. Likewise with MTSS,
we'll organize, you know, a few little touch points for our schools, including, you know, as Rob mentioned, maybe we'll craft a one-pager um that you guys can review during the next meeting that we can then share with our SLTs across the district as a springboard of moving
forward throughout the remainder of the year. I know that there is the month-by-month calendar that the city already provides, but this can be a supplement to that uh to that tool. >> Bless you, Gus. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Um, all right. Thank you guys. Um, next thing I do want to mention to you,
uh, from the parent survey that we had shared, uh, we've tapped into a couple of organizations that are going to be doing some training, uh, for our families. Um, the one the first one is through the child center of New York. Uh, it's going to be around balancing the books and the bonds, stress
management strategies for academically focused parents. um you know so it is um an area that I do think is important and interestingly you know during our CEC uh meeting there was a a young man
that's part of the C uh the part of the CC who indicated um how stressed he was feeling because he had a math test the next day um you know so this this level of anxiety that that gets built up in our kids which then gets built up in our
parents is real stuff. Um it was evident in the survey that there was a call for this. So we will be doing that and there'll be another session in in March. So the next one the first one is on February 10th as you see here. Uh there'll be another one that's going to
be held on uh March 10th uh through Marble Health. Uh the topic is yet to be determined but we will share that with you in February. And the goal is to have another session each month based on the feedback that we received from our parents. Um this will be shared certainly widely
with our principles and our uh parent coordinators so that any of our families that want to hop on uh they're able to do so. Um the feedback I've received around the child center of New York has always been positive. So um I'm looking forward to a really positive session with them. So that's just as an FYI.
Um and now here we are with this part of wellness kindness community. So, kind of a so what, now what? Started talking about this with our CC members. And here's something that I'm wondering whether or not uh what you guys think.
So, how can we leverage uh our civics for all practices to establish a communitywide meaning a district 25wide um entry point for an action project? So, I'll tell you what I mean by that.
So during our meeting um we had a young man present from IS-250 and his topic was and I'm going to put this into the chat this question. We're going to spend a little bit of time talking about it. Um but he came to the
CC to present his civics uh his um soapbox speech and his soapbox speech was around um gateway drug use. Why? because he his uncle who started off with, you know, cigarettes and um
and things like marijuana, wound up unfortunately passing away from from um more and more um addictive drugs like cocaine and things of that nature, uh resulting in losing his life. So, this young man's call to action was around
raising awareness, making sure that kids knew what the impacts of um said things were like vaping and cigarette smoke uh to avoid, you know, having, you know, longer term impacts. and he cited uh the idea that
because the brain is not um is not mature enough when children start it, it has even greater impacts on uh on our ability to make decisions, which I thought was really really a a great um research space that this kid went
through in order to convey what his interest was. So it got me thinking around each of our schools does a do soapbox speeches. They get identified based on a rubric around where they are. But my thought was that maybe between
the CEC and DT, we can pick through those that maybe serve as a communitywide action project that we do. How cool would that be if we all got behind um you know doing public service announcements that were related to this? and nothing that's that's so crazy that
we're we're you know um impacting the amount of time that our schools have or anything along those lines. Um but I thought it might be a really cool entry point into doing something that's really community truly community- based uh but out of the mouths of our children not
based on what we say as adults. So I'm wondering what you guys think about that. Number one. Number two, um other things that we can be thinking about to really promote wellness, kindness, and community across our district schools. So, just take a minute just to reflect
on on that. You know, how can we leverage our civics for all practices to ex to establish communitywide projects that are associated with wellness and kindness? Take just two minutes. Mike, I'm I'm listening to you. Can you repeat the question again just so I
could process it a little bit better? So it's how can we leverage our civics for all practices with project soap box and taking action projects >> to like these bigger community based projects where maybe perhaps as a DT and CEC we look at each of these soapbox
speeches and then with the help of our principles and APS and maybe even kids say here's the one that we want to pay attention to as a whole district um and that we do some kind of community- based action uh along with it. So it's really how can we leverage our
civics for all work to support communitywide projects. In a cultivistic model, >> I would think that um it start with the needs of the community are of course are are are a lot of a lot of needs. Uh but
the main focus what the community needs specifically at that moment and make a selection uh where you can you know um present that soap box what whatever it is uh
including civics for all in other words I don't know whatever the community needs is at the at the time or is been going on and uh so you can present it to to everybody body through that. >> Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for
>> a tool, right? It's a tool >> uh to show the community uh how you are supporting them and brainstorm and see how can this uh make it better. >> Yeah. So, I'll give you an example. We had a kid talk about digital safety um
and how he clicked on the wrong button on his computer and wound up getting hacked and losing a bunch of his things on his computer. Um, and from from me, what I intend to do is work with him and the school to create a big public service announcement that goes out to all of our schools. Um, that we can
certain try to get behind as as community members. You know, that's a a a smaller example of what I mean, but I feel like our kids come up with really great things. Um, and I'd love for them to be become even bigger where we're doing something that's really helpful
for for our community as a whole. I'm going to give you a quick example. In our in our PTA meetings, they were uh sharing uh how uh vaping affects body and mind, right? I'm going to just
make it brief the whole presentation from our school and the parents could not believe it. Let alone like you said, the brain is not developed. The the students don't understand. they understand even less than that and when
I had the feedback from the parents that like >> I didn't know the d how dangerous it was it was right or they vaping you know whatever they they they adolescence the impli what it implies right and the
consequences right ended up on the ER with respiratory problems that was a shock for the parents all right So now that C if it's a shock for the parents and and we can tell the kids what's going on and
sometimes they don't listen. Now coming from your peers it's a whole different scenario. So that's and piggy back on what you said before right the parents were shocked and you might think really you're an adult you can do your research. Well you know what I have news
for you. They had no idea. All right they knew what was going on kind of marijuana. Okay. You know, but so listening from the parents is a re a totally a a a realistic approach versus when the
parents or the school staff or the principal, you know, okay, blah blah blah. Same old song from Yeah. Coming from it happened to me personally. It's a different story. Yes, absolutely. >> Quick question. >> Yeah. Go ahead, Crystal. thinking about
what she just said and that was I was going to comment um ask this question. Do we have something or can we make some a a group like you see how we have DPAC CC can we make a youthbased group like that where will come from the kids like
a a student advisory council or something like that? >> Yes. So we do we have a district-wide youth leadership team. It's made up of uh seventh uh seventh graders from across our district. They meet once a month. Um they are actually in the process of reviewing district data to
help support decisions at the school levels. Um so that does happen. In fact, that just gives me a space of asking them to come and present to you guys what they're doing. So you have a cl have clarity around what they are doing. Uh so yes, we do have that uh Crystal. >> Okay. So now with thinking about
everything that you asked, how can we uh bridge the gap from just schoolbased or you know um locally to the whole community maybe using the students and what we have right now with the district level um with the student what is it
called? I'm sorry. >> Youth leadership team. >> Youth leadership team. maybe allowing them to present what we have um hearing it from students as opposed to hearing it from the adult. >> Absolutely. We can for sure.
>> Yep. >> Love that. >> Any other any other comments? Well, just just so you guys know, this is going to be something I gonna I'm going to continue to work on. I really want these uh action projects for our kids to be as authentic as they possibly
can be that they're doing something to help someone else. Um and you know, I think there is so much learning that happens in that. Uh but it's in both the the academic side of it but also the social emotional side of it. You know,
we learn what it means to do something for someone else. It just it has a a a a different impact than um you know, than just writing a uh a speech and then sharing it. It's very different when you're able to actually do something uh
that you believe in. So, uh, the goal is that we continue to build and, you know, as the year goes on, hopefully we can establish some really awesome ground rules going into, uh, next school year where we make these things come to life a little bit more than what they already are.
>> Okay. All right, guys. And lastly, I just want to mention to you around the safer college program. Right now, we're at 41% of our kindergarten through fourth graders that are um have completed building block one, which
means they've activated their account. We have $143,000 in unclaimed money right now in the district by our district families. Just want to say that number again. $143,000 that's in unclaimed money that parents
could have in an account. Now, I I get there might be concerns on it. We've been doing a lot of work with CEC member with one of our CC members and Jenny. They've been visiting schools. Uh Rob, I think they just came to your school recently for um you know, for an
awareness event for for our parents. We want to try to get this information out as widely as we possibly can. Um, if there are any recommendations, I'm going to start putting out a monthly little email to our kindergarten through fourth grade parents just to remind them of of
this opportunity. Um because it what what research does indicate for families that do have accounts already created for kids in their first few years of of uh of schooling, they're much more likely to go to um utilize those dollars in in a
productive, meaningful way when college time comes around. So, um I just want to put this out there for you guys and and make sure that we're continuing to raise the awareness wherever we can. Um Rob if it's at C CSA
meeting or Lamar at a uft meeting or Eden, you know, you and I will continue to do it at CEC. Uh but Crystal for DAC and um for um Rachel for President's Council, any of our K to4 families, we
need to continue to press uh and impress upon them that this is available. Most times I believe that we're not doing it. We're only at 41% because families are just not aware. I don't think that we have 59% of our community that says that
they don't want to create a $100 account for their kids. Um, you know, there there's it's not one of these things. If you do it, um, here's what you have to give me. It's a an opportunity that's made available to all of our students in K through 4. Um, and we should most
definitely not be leaving $140,000 on the on the on the table because people aren't aware. It's one thing if a parent makes a choice they don't want to do it, that's their choice. Uh, but my feeling is is that it's because of a lack of awareness. So, I'm going to be putting out um
information on a regular, but I ask that all of you within your own constituencies to add this to a conversation on on a routine basis as well that we're encouraging our families to um if they're not sure, ask a question. Just ask the PC. Um you know,
if the PC is not sure, ask us at the district level. We'll be happy to help. But I do want to see that improve. Right now, we're at the midyear point. The goal was to get to 50%. Right now we're only at 41, right? So we have a we've only improved by one plus percent from from last year.
And Jenny's been going from school to school, you know, trying to raise awareness. We need to continue to push this uh because I just think it's a good opportunity um for folks to start an account for their kids. Okay. All right, guys. That concludes my my report for
today. Um we're going to now move on to Gus who share a little bit about him. He's got a very light agenda today. Uh so Gus, turn it over. >> Yeah, I don't have that much today. Uh going back to your earlier um comment about the student projects and uh
getting out to the community, it occurs to me that you have something that is special in in your your community in district 25, Flushing Town Hall. Flushing Town Hall is kind of an umbrella organization, isn't it? Uh it
occurs to me that maybe what you could do is link up these student projects uh and ideas with Flushing Town Hall and they could act as an umbrella for reaching out to uh the community as a whole. Uh just an idea uh because what
you're looking for is a mechanism it seems to me. So going on my light agenda items. Um the DC um if it has not been posted, it soon will be. It's completed. Um we're waiting for the progress monitoring tool
uh that will be coming on the DC um to um uh get launched and uh that's expected in the near future. I have not sent out a DC signature page on docysine yet. I hope to do that tomorrow. Um, so
look for my email tomorrow and please uh respond. I know it takes a couple of times going back and forth, but um, you know, Central is colle going to be collecting those, so we want to get them done. All of the CS should be posted or
um or um uh will be posted shortly. Um, I don't know if anybody's checked on their school C to see whether the new ones have been posted or not. Um, I know that they were going to do them on an ongoing basis. They might be a little bit behind, but um hopefully those are
all there. If um I if you continue not to see a school posted, let me know and I'll get a hold of the I plan folks and find out why it's not there. Um I sent out um um uh yesterday a whole bunch of
reports from I plan uh about um various and sunundry things like the SLT monthly items that need to be put in about the title one pack uh elections about all of the different pieces that need to be put
into I plan and I know that the district team will follow up on those. One thing that I did not do uh and I uh uh I had a technical issue that I hope has been resolved. I got an email about it this morning is on the PRT tool for schools
whether the progress monitoring tool whether schools have done that for period one or not. Um, so I'm going to look for that report and hopefully by the end of the day I'll get it out to u the district team so we can get a sense of if there any schools that are behind
on uh on that piece. Um and um title one um was part of our earlier conversation. Um I will um uh hopefully be at at Lyndon tomorrow. I'll touch base with Jenny and if there's something that we
can do in terms of getting more uh information from SLTs as to you know what needs to be done in terms of u title one um we can work towards um additional training or resources or whatever we can do uh to support the
schools. That's basically it folks. >> Awesome. Thank you Gus. Um and yeah, that's something we will we will certainly follow up with all of our schools regarding the um the updating of um of I plan with our minutes, our um
presentations and such. Um I know many of our schools have stayed on top of that. I know some of them may have had a couple of gaps here or there. Uh we'll work with them to help them kind of close those gaps over time. Um you know, it's not that our schools are not having uh having the meetings. It's just a
matter of making sure that we've have a clear system to once the meeting is done to get it up onto the my plan portal. >> And just so the district team knows, uh, you know, I sent out six attachments to every district yesterday. And I realize
folks, that many attachments and that much information is u is is a heavy lift. So um uh I understand that it's a process and that you're uh going to work on it. My my goal is to get the information to you and then um to assist
in any way I can uh you know to um help any schools that have fallen behind. >> Okay. Thank you, Gus. Um now going through our groups. Uh Rob, anything from CSA? >> Uh yeah. Um, I mean, basically CSA is is
excited to work with the new chancellor and uh the new mayoral administration. Um, making sure that all of the uh new initiatives are thoughtfully implemented and and and carefully funded. Uh, keeping in mind the best interests of uh
our our membership, our leaders and and our schools and children. Uh, but that's about it. looking forward to, you know, the new ideas like a 2K for all is something I just heard recently and how that's going to work. Um, so we'll see. Oh, it's 3K for all is in
the schools now, but now they've just dropped it down to 2K. >> I did not hear 2K, but I'm sure they'll be hitting a a theater near me at some point then if that's what >> Get your bottles and diapers ready. Party's starting. But that's great. We're looking forward to more support
for our families. >> Awesome. Thanks, Robin. Uh, Lamar, >> um, same as we've been working on. We've got a couple big priorities, uh, union wise. We're working on our big tier six campaign. Um, making sure that the new,
they tend to be the newer members, the younger, the newer members who are in tier six. Um, making sure that they understand what that means. And we're on a space to do some tier six reform. We're having a rally in Albany on March
8th. So, um, had I remembered to come to the CEC last Thursday, I would have made mention of that, but I'm saying it today. So, we're just really making sure that I'm I'm going from school to school doing a lot of talks with the tier six members and getting them to know that
yes, this is a union initiative, but, you know, we're going to need your we're going to need your voice and your presence, right? No one goes to, you don't join a membership and just because you join the membership, you're going to get six-pack abs, right? You got to put some work in. So, that's our message to
our members. And then the power professionals, we're working with our par professionals on the respect check. It didn't go through during the last city council session, but we're starting a new session now. And there's a new speaker seemingly it seems like it's going to be Julie Menon. Um, and we have
a good rapport with her. So, we're going to start the machine and rev it up again. Um, the good news in our district in relation to that is all of our council members um have signed on. They signed on last time in 25 for the
respect check bill and we have no reason to think why they wouldn't sign on if we get to do this again later on in the year. So, that's a good sign. And um also in my visit, you know, Sam Burger went to 193. So, we had a great uh conversation with the assembly member
out there and you know, in my travels going into the schools, it seems like the the district is doing great. You know, it seems like there's a lot of good things happening. There's a there's a lot of good energy from the staff members and speaking to them and having conversations. So, in my through my
eyes, we're we're in a good place. >> Awesome. Love it. Thank you, Lamar. >> No problem. Um um Eduardo, superintendent, high school superintendent report. >> Yes, I have a brief update. Um one
second here. Let me share my screen. >> Okay. Am I able to share my screen? >> Uh Louis, can you give me access? Okay. Here we go. Screen four. Okay. Uh can everybody see my screen?
>> Yes sir. >> Okay. So uh on Saturday, January 10th, we had our first um parent empowerment conference. Uh we had over 30 organizations join us. Uh so this is how we uh framed uh the day. Uh so we had a
welcome then we also had a um a couple of workshops uh working with conflicts and challenging individuals. Uh and this was also an interd district um initiative because we had um family leadership coordinators from district 28
um also uh help us conduct some of the workshops. Uh we had um another workshop uh for parents exploring uh parent leadership roles in public schools such as PA, PTA, SLT and title one. And at the end we had a closing and a giveaway.
Um I'm going to show you now some of the pictures from the event. Uh we uh face was um there at the at the event on Saturday, but these are um the organizations that uh join us. And so we were able to connect our parent leaders
with different organizations. Um our um our main sponsor um was Emblem Health. Um they pay for the food um from um uh the a place called the door. Uh we have this is the artwork that I was
slowly collected from different events and materials for the arts. So we were able to do a um a giveaway at the end. uh superintendent to address the crowd. We had the Queensboro president uh there. So, this event was held at the
atrium. I don't know if you guys have been to the atrium inside of Queenboro Queensboro Hall. It it's a really nice uh space to hold an event. And so, we had um we fostered connections, celebrated with our parent leaders, and
um we also had principles in attendance. So, it was a very very nice event. Um, actually since we have Patricia Levy here, I'd like to uh for her to share her experience. >> Patricia. >> Okay. Okay. Now I unmuted myself. Uh,
amazing to say the least. um being in person, meeting the parents, understanding their needs, uh and giving the resources to them was excellent the whole event. But I would like to
emphasize on that because uh parents are were coming from all over. Here we go again. Communication is key. They were not aware of all the resources that we have in our schools. uh how can we how we can work in
collaboration with the school staff. It was a mix of parent coordinators, superintendants, everybody together. It was fantastic. Um I mean it was a great event and I know it's going to get better and better
every year. But uh I commend you all for the wonderful organization and yes yes it was it was it was positive and productive which is not uh uh it's just a big deal you know but I think all
together I felt that the parents so I asked questions as you know me Eduardo how do they feel the feedback besides the QR code that you you put up there which was very helpful as well is the fact that how parents felt you know and
then we can all relate. All right. Uh you superintendent are available, principles are available to us. We were all together as a whole, as a community. That was what the event also was about. You know, the food was delicious of
course. Uh but yeah, I think they felt closer to all of us committees and school staff. I thought it was wonderful. Yes, that's my my take and the parents feedback. >> Thank you. Thank you. So, that's all uh
my update for the high school. Thank you. >> Thanks so much, Eduardo. Um Eden CC report. >> Why is it so important? >> Yes. Good morning, everyone. So, we had our meeting last Wednesday. Um we
actually went over our SEA um selections for this year of the projects that we are submitting to SEA. they were sent in already. We had a resolution that we passed and we started discussing two additional resolutions for this year. Um
we had some lovely PTA presidents join us on Zoom. We had some parents there again. Um we had soapbox speeches which it's been great to listen to those. Um the children are a little afraid when they first start and then they kind of took it out of their shell and they're
amazing. Um next month we will be receiving the state of the district from Dr. Mike. Um, we will be voting on some resolutions and we will also be discussing filling one of our board vacancies in addition to hopefully filling a council member seat. We are looking to do an interview because we do
have a member that resigned. >> That's it. >> Awesome. Thank you, Eden. >> Uh, Crystal, anything for >> Deepac? >> Yes. Uh, Deepac, we're Deeppac and Jenny. Um, we're trying to invite Elena, the district, uh, the budget director to
our DPAC meeting on January 28th to talk about why some spending plans get rejected. So, we'll have a better understanding on how to spend a title one set aside funding. >> Thank you for that, Crystal. And that kind of goes right to the to the um, you
know, that initial part of of making sure that we're raising that awareness around Title One, make sure people feel good and comfortable about it. So, thank you for for that. Um, uh, Patricia, anything from Queens High School President's Council? >> Uh, we have our meeting uh, this coming
Monday. Uh, robust agenda. We are going to have uh the usual guest speakers uh Katherine Zapata from Queens Board of President um president's office. We working on our college fairs as usual.
The uh we going to do it twice again this year. It was a huge success also. We are having Mark Ramperent. Uh we are um a lot into safety. Um so he's going to be speaking to us
you and I as usual. Uh we had a meeting with the superintendent too for Queens North. Um we are focusing among many things and that will reflect on um also
elementary schools because we are uh diving into literacy. um we see at high school level that is becoming a big a big concern. Uh so we start uh we have to start we must start
at the lower levels. So even though we're high school president councils literacy for all at this point and I'm going I'm I'm very involved since I came to this country so oft public uh library uh not only as a
supporter uh but also I am twice or three times a week there. I have two um 19 and 17 years old that are avid readers. So I know it works. I know what it takes. Even in math, reading comprehension is crucial. So, we're
going to focus a lot on literacy. So, you're going to hear from us because this is have to be in conjunction with everybody else. You know, it it starts from the lower levels and and we work we'll build it up. So, yeah, that's um what else? We have dinner in Broadway
show which I will recommend it again uh to get the tickets uh to work with the Broadway shows to for for the the the students to go and enjoy the plays and then it's going to be a part of the discussion at home as well as in school.
Um and yeah, I mean I'm commending our new president Quenton and Maline our treasurer. We revamping this Queens High School president council wasn't easy. However, uh we cannot thank enough for the
support from everyone and I mean it. The minute they they by the time they realize, you know, what was going on, they were they came full force to help us uh thrive and now we including loose letter. I mean we are in constant
communication with all of you. So, uh I mean I have nothing but uh optimism for a wonderful year for uh yeah and we're going to succeed once again as a team. >> Love that. >> Love that. Thank you. Thank you so much
for sharing, Patricia. >> All right, guys. Um does anyone have any new business that they would like to talk about or anything that we should be uh thinking about before we um put it out there to come to consensus to close for today? All right, seems like no new business.
Looks like we're going to be giving the gift of time back. We'll give 10 minutes of of your time back today, which is great. Um Umid and I will be organizing around the things that we just talked about this morning and we'll have some things prepared for you uh for February's uh February's meeting around
some potential next steps for our SLTs um as well as uh ourselves. And I'm hoping to have a date for our wellness day uh by that time too and hope that you can all put it in your calendars because I'd love to see everyone uh present and there for that day. Uh,
other than that, everyone have a fantastic rest of your day. We have consensus to come to a close. Give us a thumbs up. Virtual or not? Yes. Thank you, Eden, Rob, Trisha, we're good. Thank you. All right, guys. Great meeting everyone.
Have a great day.