and I will be sharing my screen uh right here. Oh, let me go back. So, good evening everyone. Welcome to our January 6 um meeting.
This meeting should take place in December, but because the schedule of December was very packed, we have two meetings scheduled for January. Today is one of them, and then we have one on January 28th. So, there will be two meetings in January.
We do have a pack agenda. Um, I'm going to admit two more people. Hold on. >> I'm doing it. You got it. >> Thank you. Um so welcome everyone and then our first thing is to uh approve
our November meeting minutes and then we're going to go ahead and um Dr. M's going to be talking about the superintendent's monthly report and then we do have a uh vendor here who will be talking about her uh program that might be you know suitable for any title one
schools that are interested to in working with her in the future. And then we gonna go over can NYC kids rise safe for college program if you are not aware we're going to go through that and then we will um reiterate um school spending plan for the title one 1% set aside
funding and then we will go over some upcoming meetings and um open the room for any questions that you may have. Meeting norms uh we start and end on time. One voice when speaking this is a safe space to speak. 1, two, three, and then me. If you already spoke, allow
three people to speak before you speak again. We're here to respect everyone, to be present, and be engaged and involved. Um, let me share the minutes. And is it big enough? Can everyone see the minute?
This is the minute from our November meeting. Again, we did not have any meeting in December. This is, you know, I consider our December meeting. Um, Crystal Gonzalez, our DPAC chair, she welcome everyone. She went through the meeting norms like, uh, what I just did.
Uh, we approved the October um, meeting minutes. Uh, and we had Dr. Michael over superintendent's report. Uh, Dr. Mike mentioned about newsletter and community celebrations. He mentioned about the thanks forgiving walk that was our third
annual Thanksgiving walk for the district 25. And then we have some upcoming family workshops. We did the connection before content activity with our parent leaders. We mentioned some enrollment timeline and reminders for our high schools, middle school, kindergarten, 3K and prek and GNC
programs. We share some district data and reading goals. And we share some special education support and peer mediation mathematic and sense making. And then we have we mentioned about student voice which is our project soapbox
and we will we mentioned safer college program but I'm going to go over a little bit in depth today about the po this program. We mentioned about parent engagement survey. Um we also u mentioned our districtwide uh uh wellness kindness community
initiative and then we invited our we invited a guest speaker which is Mike Hope. He's was a DOE vendor from game show experience. Um in case someone wants to go ahead and plan the one person set aside plan with um Michael
um he mentioned the how his you know how his program can be planned could be um be held in a gym auditorium and all his question could be um customized to any question that's aligned to your CP goals and then we open the floor to question
and discussion and then Crystal Gonzalez depended the meeting. Do I get any motions to approve this minute for November? >> Approved. >> Thank you, Angela. Can I get a second motion?
>> Approve. >> Thank you so much, Stephanie. Um, I'm going to close this minute and then go and turn the floor to Dr. Mike. >> Great. Thanks, Jenny. Good evening, everyone. Uh, hope you're all doing
well. Um, welcome back from a break. I'm hoping you guys were able to take time and enjoy your families. Um, you know, it's amazing. This this was a little bit of an extended break, but it feels like um it feels like we just left and we're back already. You blink and and things are turn the page. Uh, so I'm hoping you
were able to enjoy some time uh to rest and relax and enjoy family. So, a few things to to kind of go over with you all um tonight. And um a couple of things that I'll ask you to do um as we go through this will be a little bit of
of interaction uh here and there and get you into some breakout rooms to do a little chatting um as you know connection before content is something that uh is important to me. Um do some celebrations and updates and reminders and then always connections to some
district goals. Um, so as I mentioned, happy new year to all of you. Um, you know, during uh, you know, prior leading up into the to the holiday season, we had our schools engage in a variety of different things from food drives, tour drives. Uh, there were some trips and
spirit weeks and so on. Uh, we do have some images we'll share with you in just a just a few moments. Um, you know, celebrating some of that work from our schools. Uh, but we're going to get started with a very small quick little connection before content. a little this or that. Um, early bedtime on New Year's
Eve for you or stay up past midnight. Which place do you live in as uh as an individual? I know where I certainly uh live in this space. So, just take a moment of that space of reflection. Are you an early bedtime on New Year's Eve? Um, and look at the ball the next day or
are you a stay up because you got to see it type of person. So, just be in that space of reflection just for a moment and then we'll take just two minutes in a in a breakout room uh to have a quick little chat with one of your um fellow
DPAC representatives. Uh when you get into that small little breakout room, I just ask that you introduce yourself and what school you're from in the event that you don't know uh each other. Um and again, we'll spend just two minutes of time just quickly getting uh to have a brief little interaction uh with each
other. So, I'm going to create these groups, and I hope you don't mind and indulge me in this brief little act. It'll be two to three participants per room. Um, and we will spend um a few minutes inside of
this space. Let me just change the amount of time. Well, this looks so different on this computer. Hold on one second. We'll just spend three minutes inside of the group and we will come back. Okay. And I'm going to open up those rooms and
enjoy. Hi, good evening. Welcome How are you? >> I'm fine, thank you. >> I'm going to have you I just put everyone into a breakout group um with a small little question um around this. It's a this or that. Would you are you
the per type of person that wants to see the ball drop? Are you a go to bed as soon as the uh early before before New Year's? Which one are you? and we just have a just for a small little entry point for all of our parents. Um, so you mind if I put you into a group?
>> Sure, no problem. >> Okay, >> finally. >> Okay, you should be able to join the group. Dr. Mike, I forgot to ask you. Did you see that um that link I sent in the team's chat before we came back from the break? It said, "Dear Dr. Mike," and it
was a link. Oh, okay. >> I figured you didn't since you didn't respond to it. It was a It was a meme about giving us a break coming back to work after a long break. Like go easy on us or we might die.
>> I'll flag it for you so you can see it. >> Okay. >> All right. We should all be back. Getting there. Almost everyone is back. All right, welcome back. Uh, thank you guys for uh for participating in that brief little activity. Any of you want
to quickly share uh are you the a bed before New Year, the ball goes down? Are you someone that needs to make sure that you see it? Any of you feel free to come off of mute? I was saying this was the first year that I went to bed before midnight and I
have to say like I didn't feel like I missed out on anything and I got the best sleep. It was glorious. So perhaps in the future I'll remember that and uh not be afraid of like having FOMO and just get some sleep. >> Oh, that's so funny. Thank you for
laughing. Anyone else? >> Stay up past midnight. Way to go, Angela. Go for I was going to say, oh yeah, um, we stayed up past midnight. Um, as I was saying to Daphne and Tamoy, we're usually late nighters when it's no
school or we're on holiday. Um, in the past, we didn't really let the kids stay up because we felt like keep the pattern of them going to bed, you know, the same time so they'd be ready for school. But then we're like, it's okay. They begged us also. So, we let them stay up a little later. And then I think probably
after 2:00 they went to bed and then we were up a little later. But yeah, we were up late. >> So my my kids have were very into the Stranger Things um show. So um and they needed to watch it with dad. So I I was
up late watching watching the show uh with them. And I don't know if you guys are Stranger Things fans, but you know, these shows on Netflix, they get they they hook you and then it's hard to not continue to watch them over time. So, that was uh that was me. Although, I have to tell you, I think my body was
telling me at around 9:00 that it was time to go to sleep. Uh but I managed to stick it out uh anyway with uh with the kids. So, uh thank you guys for going through that with me. I do these each each month um just to keep pushing the point that when you're in your schools,
when you're meeting with other parents inside of um inside of your own meetings, how do we create time and space for such a small little thing like this little this or that type of question or the conversation cards that I share uh shared during previous meetings just to make sure that we're
creating opportunities to build relationships. It is just so super important um regardless of what constituency you're within in in our school system. uh that we have time and space just for something that is small, interactive, just to communicate with one another. And what you do find is
that there are a lot of similarities in the way that we think and do things. Um and maybe at times not, but we get to respect one another for the the things that you value as an individual. So I encourage you guys to to to add any of these types of things. Take them right from my presentation if you can't think
of one on your own and add it to your own um um presentations that you do at back at the school. Okay. Uh, so thank you guys for for participating in that. I do appreciate it. So, a few things just in terms of our work at the district. Just a
reminder, we do send out our newsletters on a monthly basis. Uh, encourage if you could your uh your own um community members to subscribe to the newsletters as we do share information on a regular basis around what's happening in our
buildings. Um these are just some images from our schools and things that they did with their kids whether it was field trips or doing um you know connecting on toy drives and food drives. Um you know making sure that our kids are active and staying connected with one another. Um
you know during the holiday season, but certainly thinking about it well beyond that space um as uh as district members, but certainly for you as parents. How do we make sure that we're connecting with uh with our communities and staying true to the idea of building out
opportunities for our kids uh to do something that um supports others and I think it's a huge part of our learning that we have to continue to impress upon uh our students and staff alike. Uh we just had our district 25
elementary school basketball all-star games. Um, thank you to our our host 185, which is where I am today for the spelling bee. Um, and we also had um uh Francis Lewis also uh host. Was it Francis Lewis Lewis?
>> I think was it at Townz? Tons. >> Oh my goodness. I'm mixing I'm mixing up years I feel like right now. Um, but >> yeah, I think it was at Let me I'll I'll double check. >> Yeah, maybe it was Town. >> I think it was Townsen. We we did so many so many things and this continues
to grow every single year. Um from a halftime show where they have coaches competing against one another. By the way, you see me there. Unfortunately, I did lose 18 to 17, but I have to tell you, I did hit five three-pointers, so I was very proud of myself um in dress shoes and a suit. So, I still managed to
to uh to put up some numbers. But we also had one of our one of our schools that is very into um creating time and space for our kids to take active roles in interviewing others. They brought their equipment. Uh students were
interviewed during the games. This was all live streamed for our families to be able to connect with. Um and it was really really great uh experience for for our kids for them to showcase themselves um in front of their parents and um as well as the district community as a whole. So, this is a becoming a
staple of what we do here in the district. It's about growing the the the whole child and creating opportunities for our kids to experience um things that they really are passionate about. In this case, basketball being one of them. So, thank all of our coaches
um as well as uh Diana from our team who does an amazing job of uh organizing this work for our kids and our district community. So, our athletic program continues to grow and it's due to the work of uh of our team and in particular Diana. So, big shout out to her and for
all of our folks that make this happen in their buildings. We have every single one of our elementary schools um participates in this. Every single one of our schools has a team. Um and this started off in a very small way years and years ago and we continue to expand
upon it um as a district community. So, really really love this work. salt box speeches. These are all underway. We're really excited about this at the CEC meeting and president's council meeting. Uh we did have an opportunity to hear from some of our
kids. Um two of which uh presented um most recently around uh digital safety. Uh one of our students talked to our parents about the importance of making sure that we know what we're clicking on when we're clicking on it. um and referenced a couple of experiences that
he had himself uh being hacked as well as his younger cousin who um was also hacked and had her Roblox um um skins I think they call it or I'm not sure what they there's a name for it or
something I don't know they lose their points or something along those lines where um the person that the the button that she clicked on wound up making her lose all of her resources Um, so what this is going to become, and the reason why I value this so much is um because
of the work of of um this particular student is that we we do plan on creating a public service announcement that is a partnership between myself and this youngster where it becomes broadcast across the district. And the goal of this is so that the voice that
we have inside of our kids becomes amplified and it becomes an authentic experience for creating a positive change. Now, it doesn't always um happen where the things that we we value and this is the other part of a message for our kids is that it's just not about
creating a speech. It's if you if you value it, how do we continue to pursue? Um, so that's all part of this work and I'm really excited about uh the speeches that I've heard so far and look forward to hearing more moving forward and we will bring them to you um in the meeting
that we have on uh the 28th of January which I think is the next um the next uh DPAC meeting um for you guys to hear a little bit uh from our kids. Uh, kindergarten applications are open just to make sure that everyone is
aware. Uh, applications are due by January 23rd. Uh, so that information is there and accessible for for you. Um, I do want to congratulate um our new chancellor, Kamar Samuels, um, on his recent appointment as chancellor for New York City public schools. We are really
excited about um uh Chancellor Samuels um and the work that he intends to do for us as a um as a citywide community, but certainly for us here uh at the district level. Um so really really looking forward to it. He does intend on
visiting every district across the first 60 days of uh of his tenure as uh as chancellor where we'll be visiting schools. Uh there will be invitations to um to community members to participate in these visits that he has to our buildings. Um and when we get more
information on that, I will certainly share it with you as DPAC representative so that there is uh clarity around what is coming forward. I also do want to extend uh big thanks to our former chancellor uh AAS Ramos for all of the work that she has done on behalf of New
York City public schools as well. um and wish her well in whatever those future endeavors are. Um she did a a great job in that role during her time. So, thank you to her as well. Uh so, Chancellor Samuels has a couple of things that he
is going to be emphasizing. Uh this idea of safe, academically rigorous, and integrated. These are three components of his work that he'll be talking um a lot about over um in the short term, but certainly long term. uh making sure that all of our kids are in in a safe
environment where we're promoting that space of social emotional learning. Um you know across our buildings which you know as you as you know from us as a district community that's something that we do emphasize and look to continue to grow in so that all of our K kids feel really great about being in the
classrooms that they are in every day as well as the school setting as a whole. Academically rigorous. So, you're going to hear uh the chancellor talk about um continuing to sustain our work in New York City reads and New York City solves, which I am excited about. Um as
well as a continued push around MTSS. Um all to say that you and I'm going to talk about MTSS in just a moment. All to say in as part of this is a this idea of truly integrated is making sure that the kids that we serve are all being seen
and supported um and that we're being responsive to their needs and uh being culturally responsive. So these are things that we're going to be sharing more um more and more as time goes on. But I did want to talk to you guys a little bit and ask you this question
and ask you to reflect a little bit on MTSS. What is it? What do you know um about MTSS as individuals? What do you already know? What would you like to know? Um and then we're going to just take a take two minutes um just to
reflect. We don't have to go into a breakout room for for this one. Uh although I did set it up to be as such. We'll just take ask you to take a minute of individual reflection. Uh what do you know currently about uh about MTSS? Um and what would you like to know? So, if
you can just take that minute uh just to indiv individually think and when you're ready, start adding into the chat any of the things that you already know about MTSS um or what you would want to know uh about it. So, one minute I'm going to put my own little timer on and when you
are ready, feel free um to add it to the chat. just 10 more seconds. And if you're more comfortable, you want to come off of mute, share either either in the chat or come off of mute things that you already know or things that you might want to
know about MTSS, either side of that. And don't worry guys, this is not a quiz. Um, not trying to test you. I promise. any comments? So, this is good. I'm glad that that I'm
I'm bringing this up so that there is a raised awareness if in the event you're not sure uh around what MTSS stands for and MTSS in Yes. Yes. Thank you, Robins. Multi-tiered system of support. Um and there are three tiers to um to MTSS.
Tier one, which is in the classroom. This is something that all of our students receive um from our core curriculum. Uh, tier 2 are for children that are what I refer to as falling outside that sphere of success. Uh, some of our learners that are not necessarily
there yet that need some additional intervention. Um, and there are uh children that fall into this space. Um, and I'm going to explain to you just in just a minute um who are the kids that we're really paying attention to inside of tier 2 and then tier three. I want to
just briefly share with you what are the programs that we're using as a district so that there's raised awareness uh for you as parents um and parent leaders. So if you do come across a parent that says, you know, my my child is really really struggling with uh that it's an opportunity for you to talk to them
about making sure they're connecting with their schools. Um are we are we talking about the programs that we have available to them to support um next steps? So I'm going to go back to to sharing my screen. and then bring you through a couple of
the next set of slides. So, here in uh in the district, we have those three tiers as I mentioned the highquality standard-based ELA instruction for all of our students using the core instructional resources that we have. When we're thinking about our children in um grades K through five, uh our
children in those grades have three programs. Hearity which is around phmic awareness foundations which is around phonics and then HMH is around building those reading skills um and then our middle schools also HMH but theirs is their programs called into literature.
So those are the programs that we're using there. In terms of tier 2 um all of our schools have really worked hard at building out um opportunities within their instructional day um to offer tier 2 supports for children in
small groups. The programs that we use for children that are still struggling with phonetics are sound sensible, uh spire for phonics and then phonics for reading. Uh those are primarily our elementary school programs. And then we have programs like rewards and just
words and phonics for reading has a middle school uh program to support the children in grades 6 through 8. Those same programs are also available for tier three but just in much smaller groups uh and much smaller settings.
often supported by um out of classroom intervention teachers. Each of these uh programs um are intended to be supported through progress monitoring, making sure that we're keeping track of if you're a child that's inspire, how are we performing
over the course of time to make sure that we're making progress in those targeted areas. Um so that our children that are struggling start approaching those levels of proficiency more and more each each day, each week, each month, each year to eventually get to
the point where they're we're caught up to meet expectations. So some of our schools use the um assessments that come right from the programs. Others are using what we call ALO. It's a platform that allows us to keep track of progress over time. Now, each of the programs that we have,
and you'll see them here, um it's kind of an if then if our students are struggling with ph fun phological awareness um or beginning phonics instruction, those children receive a program called sound sensible. These are really for our kids in uh our early
childhood grades. Uh for children in grades 2 to five that are struggling with that, uh space of decoding, um we utilize a program called Spire. And for children that are above that space and need a little bit more TLC, particularly in grades three and up, we have a
phonics for reading program uh that we do implement for our kids that are in need. So, this is something that we are have been spending a lot of time on and we're going to continue to get better at. I I do think that uh there are things for us to still learn and grow through um as we implement this work
across our buildings. Um, but these are the programs that we are offering inside of our schools. And I did want to make sure that there's that raised awareness particularly for you as parent leaders because one it's going to be an EV point of emphasis from uh from our new chancellor
and I do want to make sure that we consistently bring you guys that space of awareness um that these are the programs that we're offering and then moving forward we will share um opportunities of family facing types of uh presentations for families around each of these programs so that you know
what they do how they do it um especially especially if you're a parent of a child that is receiving said intervention in their schools. Um but I did want to make sure that you are aware of it as parent leaders. Upcoming events, um we do have um a few
events that are upcoming. Uh we have our next special education uh session uh with Nathan from our team. It's going to be around understanding disability classification. So for any of your families in your in your school community that do need some additional support and understanding around um
around different disability classifications, I encourage you to to encourage them to attend. We do have um our next session around uh of supports for our multilingual learner families. This one is exclusively in Mandarin. Um, so for any of our families
that are specifically Mandarin speaking, this is a great opportunity to hear from one of our team members uh who is not only an L um multilingual learner teacher and educator herself, uh, but she speaks Mandarin. So, the delivery will be directly from someone who is an
educator that supported a dual language program in our district. So, it's a really great opportunity for uh for our parents to participate in. Uh we also have a second session in our math workshop series for our families at
the end of January as well. We will be hosting a math family night at PS1 129. I encourage you to encourage all of our parents to participate in these events, those snacks, games, prizes. Um this this the past couple of
years we've been doing this uh through the work of Beth Eaton on our team. she is our math point. Uh and Liz Jones on our team who is our also our math point. Um these events are really great. Um our kids get to experience a whole series of
math um practices. The uh cafeteria typically is set up with a range of activities for parents and our students to participate together. And that to me is the most important part of that is that um our kids get to experience mathematics uh in really fun ways with
their parents. So, I do encourage you guys to uh encourage others to participate as well as yourselves. I hope to see you there um on January 22nd as these are typically really fun events for our community.
Uh just reminder, upcoming diagnostic assessment window January 5th through the 13th. Uh the links that are here are from uh the K1 and 2 Acadians assessment windows. I'm going to change these links so that you can see what that looks like
for um window two as the assessments are different for our kids in K and one and in grade two when it comes to Aadian. So I will change those links um for the January 28th session so that you can see what that looks like for the midyear
assessment. what is in front of you is from the first assessment um so that parents have a clear understanding as to what the assessments are calling for uh and what they mean for you and your child. So these uh these videos are there for you and and available to
support uh your needs as individuals but also for your for your community as uh as a whole. This I'm not going to spend too much time on. I do this every month. They're available here for you. These are just our enrollment uh reminders and windows just so that you know um we are beyond
the space of uh high school applications. Uh that window has closed. Offers will be released in March. Similar for middle school application window uh middle school offers will be released in April. Kindergarten application as I mentioned
to you is open. That window closes on Friday, January 23rd. Uh and March 31st the offers will be released. 3K prek window opens on January 14th, closes on the 27th of February and releases will
happen in May. G&T April 21st is when it's opens. Friday uh May 8th is when it closes and Thursday June 11th um G&T offers will be made available. Um district goal updates. This is just
around our parent goal. I just want to make sure that everyone is aware based on the feedback we received from our seal survey. We will be having a couple of sessions that have already been organized. One from the child center of New York and the other one from Marble Health uh to offer sessions for our
parents based on feedback that we that we got from those surveys. Uh the first one is balancing the books and the bonds. I really like the title of this is stress management strategies particularly for um for our parents of children when it comes to
academics. I can tell you as a dad of of two uh I have a ninth grader and 11th grader. This is hard, you know, and I'm an educator. I've been doing this for 28 years. Um and sometimes I would say I would never hire myself to deal with my
own kids when it comes to comes to their academics because as a parent it's just different you know when it's your own children the stress levels and the ability to um uh to remain present and calm with your own kids is not an easy thing you know I struggle that with that
mightily with with my own kids and and um you know what this particular session is about is learning strategies on how do we manage some of those experience when experiences when uh when our kids are being are stressed with academics or perhaps sometimes we stress them uh with
the academics as well. So on uh February Tuesday, February 10th, we'll be holding a session with them uh with the Child Center of New York um around this space of of mental health support. Really, honestly, that's what ultimately what it comes down to is how do we how do we
stay balanced as parents uh for our kids when it comes to striving towards that academic excellence. Uh so there will be a session there. We have another one that will be held in uh on March 10th from Marble Health. Uh we are still organizing around what that topic is going to be. Uh but there will be
another one that's coming soon. Um and we will build on this as the year goes on uh with additional topics um based on the feedback we received from parents. But I did want to let you know that there is one that's upcoming uh based on that parent survey. And it's so
important that you guys know as parents that when we receive the feedback from you, we're going to action. We're going to create an action set of action steps to support um you know and likewise for our schools when parents say something uh what are we doing to organized to make sure that our parents' needs are
being met um you know to support our kids in the best way possible. So that's just an FYI. And the the last part I want to spend uh with you is just in a space of reflection. Um our previous CEC meetings uh have been
about really defining what we mean by community uh by wellness, kindness and community. And these are the three statements that our teams have established um to support that. So I just ask you guys just to take a minute uh to reflect on these three statements
around community, around kindness, and around wellness. Um, is there anything else that you would want to say uh that we should include inside of these three statements that's not already there? Um, just as feedback for me so that we can finalize a set of statements. You'll be
the last group that we've need to get feedback from. Um, and then we will uh solidify this and then start sharing out widely with our school leadership teams, which is the last part that I am going to ask for feedback from from you guys on tonight. So, if you take just a
moment um and uh read read through these three statements, is there anything here that you would want to uh to adjust um or need more clarity on? Let's just take two minutes.
Stop sharing just for a moment. Yeah, thank you for that already. I I actually just included in the parenthesis just to make sure that it was it was clear that that came as a suggestion. Um that was included in so those parenthesis will come off. So I appreciate that. Thank you.
Okay, those two minutes are up. So, I would love to hear um some feedback from you uh around anything else that you believe these statements should say, I'm going to put it into the chat. So, in the event that you want to reflect on it just a little bit more,
uh but would love to see you guys come off of mute or add to the chat. anything else that you believe is important. Um that these three areas should say that maybe they don't already. Um or maybe perhaps something that you appreciate inside of those statements.
And we're feeling good about these, I'm assuming. If so, you can even do a virtual thumbs up if they look good. Thank you for that already. I appreciate that too. So the the the last the last part um
that I want to just mention to you before I bring my portion to a close and I know that I probably Jenny's going to probably yell at me because I took up too much time. Um is really thinking about this idea with the within the context of our school leadership teams.
So, it's one thing to talk about wellness, kindness, and community at this level, but I also think it's important for you as parents to think about how are we promoting this inside of our schools and what are some ways that we can do that.
Um, so I was at a school um I want to say about a month ago and part of my conversation with with the school was around something that the kids had done and they called it the peanut butter brigade. And within the peanut butter brigade, students in the
school came together and they made b a whole bunch of peanut butter sandwiches to be able to be donated to a uh a local a local organization, which I think is fantastic. And what I asked of the school is um how do we take that
idea and build upon it so that students and their parents are coming together to do something like that? um as well as staff where we're coming um coming together as as a collective community to do something that's positive for others inside of our
community. Cuz to me that just raises the whole idea of what we should be thinking about doing collectively on a regular basis. You know, how do we design things that's about serving and supporting uh others around us that might be in need for this reason or that
reason? And I liken it to the idea of a food drive, right? So oftent times food drive, it's okay, we're going to do a food drive. Um, Angela is going to do a great job and send in the canned good, right? And that's our job. That's all we
that's all we had to do to contribute is turn in the canned good. Now, how different could that be is if everyone that is going to participate sends in those canned goods and we work together to create these little kindness kits that go out and that we've organized together to send out to a local
organization. It's just very different because we've done something more than just saying, "Okay, I took this out of my cabinet and I'm going to then hand it over to the school, you So that's my my line of thinking and I would love to get your perspectives on this as we roll this out to our school leadership teams.
It doesn't have to be a now thing, but I do want you guys to really think about how do we build out this space of wellness, kindness, and community where we're doing something uh together to promote it across our schools, across our district. Um, these are the same
conversations I had with President's Council, same conversation at the CC, excuse me, the CEC, and the same conversation I'm having with our building leaders and staff. So, um, we have a long way to go before we get to those types of meaningful events and activities, but
it's something that I want to put out there to you guys so that we can start making these very, very real. Uh, and I know our schools do some amazing things already, but they stay in our schools and they don't get shared widely. Um so I do want to create these times and spaces even in these meetings for you
guys to come back and share uh share out the wonderful things that are happening in your own buildings that promote wellness that promote kindness that promote community uh so that we're living in a space where that whole idea of safe is being um present more and more every day inside of our buildings.
So that is it for me. Um I appreciate you guys and your time. If there's anything that you need from me, please don't hesitate and let me know. Uh, I know I took up way too much time during this meeting, but I wanted to share a couple of those updates with you tonight. Thank you guys. That's okay,
Dr. Mike. Thank you so much for being here. >> All right. Um, our guest speaker, the next guest speaker is a um Ji from um Sutra. She is the uh CEO and the um um
the founder of her company. So um do I say your name correctly? Ji >> Okay. Okay. The floor is yours. So >> thank you. >> Please share with you um about your program. >> Yeah. So first I would like to say thank you for giving me this opportunity and
good evening everyone and a happy new year. And I was really impressed to hear what Dr. Mike was talking about with the community the kindness and wellness that's being shared across the school system and I feel this is so important
me as a mother of two boys who are now in college one is already done with his engineering and another is in college I feel it is so important to have the voice of the parents being shared while their students are getting those kind of education and spec es especially like
I'm a I'm an immigrant so you know like coming from uh that kind of background and having a say in the family uh having a say of the family in the school system I feel it's so important because you want your student to feel pride you know to be proud of what who they are and
that builds the personality so okay enough about all those things I would like to share about why I'm here today so I'm su and founder of a purpose-driven enterprise own sutra uh the parent name is Kusho's enterprises and we partner with schools to provide a
family centered workshop and engagement that strengthens the family voice and supports social emotional learning and promote academic success through interactive bilingual workshops. And as a certified MWBE, our work focuses on building trust between families and
schools while providing practical tools families that the students can use for their success. So, uh, can I get to >> Yep. I'm gonna make you a co-host. >> Okay.
>> Hello. Perfect. You can see my slides. Yes. >> Okay. Let me have this icon small. Okay. So, we are a certified MWBE and a DOE
vendor and today we are focusing more on the family engagement workshops that we want to offer uh to the community of district 25 schools. We partner with schools and district to support family engagement, social emotional learning and academic success.
Our work is interactive, bilingual and rooted in equity. And we don't just deliver like one size fits all but we curate the workshop based on your u goals and that is aligned with your goals and based on the needs of the school.
Our workshop objective is to create and strengthen family school partnerships supporting SEAL and academic success building sustainable engagement systems where the families are engaging and help
in the improvement priorities. All of our workshops are interactive and uh it is it connects with the pillar of the student success culture academics attendance volunteering and leadership. We feel it's important that the parents are involved in the school
system so that they can help their students while they're home in their academic success and also in their personality development. And the outcome of each of our uh workshop are both family focused and schoolwide. It helps
in increasing the trust, builds stronger communication, improves attendance and engagement. We have a few different kind of workshops that I have listed here. These are like building school culture through family voice, strengthening social
emotional support at home and school, family engagement that boosts student achievement, family as volunteers and as school partners. Attendance matters that is a very big chronic uh issue that we are facing and that's how the families
can work as an attendance champions. family relationship to others is to inform the student success and personality. So the first workshop we have is building school culture through family voice. This workshop elevates family
voice as a critical part of school culture. Families explores values, equity and respectful communication that emphasizes when families feel heard and trust and collaboration increases. This is interactive and we have
materials that is being provided for the families to take home so that they can do these activities at home as well which helps in the community value map, mindful circles, vision board creation that helps in more inclusive school
culture and increased family trust. Our workshop two strengthens social and emotional support. This equips families with skill to support children emotional regulation. Connect seal directly to
attendance behavior and learning readiness. These are things like beads, jars, stress tools, affirmation cards. It it is not only like seal about it also helps in understanding the mats
you know when you're using the beads how you're making the jewelry and helps to calm down emotions and guided breathing are part of this uh interactive uh activities that have we have in this workshop that reduced anxiety related absence and improved emotional
regulation workshops number three is family engagement ment that boosts student achievement to clarify that families are not expected to teach curriculum. They are here to support learning routines literacy and growth mindset at home. It
is very important for the students to talk about what happened in school so that parents can get a better perspective so that they can help with the school homework or any challenges that the child was facing in their school and it really helps in family
learning plans, reading at home toolkits and home routine mapping and it helps in building the family confidence. This way the child also feel confident with their family while sharing what's going on in school. Whatever challenges and outcomes
they have whether it's about their winning or about their losing workshop four is about family as volunteers as school partners. It is important that the families stay involved and looks different for every senate. This workshop reduce barriers
and expands the definition of volunteering beyond the school building. We talk about skillsharing circles where the parents can come and share about the skills they are uh that the skills that they have that
can help the school system as well as the other students and helps in building the commun uh connection between the two children two students and also like engagement like having a playd date for example. Why it's so important? Because if the child has a good friend in
school, it really helps them in their attendance as well and also for them to have a better understanding and feel good about coming to school and gives more confidence and it helps in higher participation and stronger school and family partnerships.
Our fourth uh fifth workshop is more focused on attendance. Why attendance as a goal setting is important and then the barriers that are there for the students not coming to school. Sometimes it's about the stress anxiety. Sometimes it's
about the dress that they are wearing. Sometimes it's about the issue they had in school about bullying or something going on and the challenges or they are not able to understand the subject. So there are so many reasons that the
absentism occurs. This is what we are focusing on in this workshop number five and the outcome is to improve attendance and increase graduation readiness. Our workshop number six is about family
leadership and advocacy. It's important for the parents to share their voice what's going on in home, what's going on in school and how they can uh share their voice in building a better school system where there is more clarity, better communication among the
parent, the student, the teacher, the parent coordinators and everyone involved. And we have the interactive activities sectors like parent storytelling, school action planning and leadership reflection. So our workshop is very customizable and
we are flexible based on your needs. Our minimum is like a 45 minutes to 60 minute and each starts with a grounding like a meditation uh breathing exercise and then we have about icebreaker so that the people
around can connect with each other like introduction who you are and then we come up on the core learning that we have on based on the workshop that we are doing on that given day and the activity each of the activities are
hands-on and very interactive. So that the people can open up, the student can open up with their ch with with their parents and their families and then they can share and also like it at the end of this activity we have like reflection
and voice sharing about what they learned and how they feel after they are done with this workshop and what was the outcome for them, how they feel different and what they felt before and after they took this workshop. And also like any other questions and
answers they have and they have this interactive uh survey that we take always to make sure that what we are focusing on has been achieved and if not what we can do better and we offer uh like uh even after the workshop is done
people can reach out to us if they have any questions. So we have like you can say like a 24/7 uh they can uh reach out for any kind of questions they have. This is the workshop selection matrix where the school can look into the needs
they have and we have recommended the different workshops here based on the goals like the attendance need or family engagement priorities. So like you uh see we have here like positive school culture and equity,
social and emotional safety, student achievement, literacy and learning at home whether it's maths or reading uh parent volunteer engagement, chronic absentism and attendance and parent leadership and advocacy and how each of the workshop aligns with those needs and
how it and aligns with the title one uh the family engagement program and how it is impacting the student and their families. is uh so each workshop has its own uh impact that we shared here. What makes our workshop different? Our
workshops are very high impact and low barrier. You don't need any kind of prior skill to come to attend our workshops and it is designed for the families and the students together. And it is each of the workshop has mindfulness and embedded and has like a
hands-on activity and it is inclusive to all culture like I see that we are looking for like uh bilingual like Mandarin if those are the needs we are there to fetch those needs as well and creates a positive school experience
that families remember and it is adapted for across the school system whether it's for middle schools for the elementary school students and how it is important for the families. After the workshop, the families leave
with tools, confidence and clarity and not just information. It is very important to after the workshop is done. How you're imple implementing it in your daily life is important. Not just you're not just here to learn but you are also here to
learn and how to implement in your daily lives. and how it is impacting the school community. Through our workshop, you will find improve in attendance and the school will find more of the family participation and better school
experience and better interaction between the parent, the teachers, the parent coordinator and the educators along with the students feeling more happy, more more contented. Why it is important for the district? How it is important? It helps in the
literacy and the learning goals. Seal the safety, equity and inclusion, parents voice and leadership attendance. Why own Sutra? So our workshop is being offered by
certified team uh like experienced professionals and these are flexible and very sustainable in a way and aligns to title need of uh social emotional learning where we focus on maths we
focus on English learning literacy and also like how these workshop can be implemented in day-to-day life and make things more better for the school community. How we can work together.
So our workshop is uh not only like in person, we can do it virtual and hybrid based on the needs you have and we look forward to partnering with the district 25 schools. These are our uh pricing structure here
which is uh very flexible based on your budget and your needs. So our single workshop is uhund like 825. If you're looking for three series, it's 2400. And for full series, like workshops, like if
you're looking for the more extended one, our workshop is like 4,650. And if you're looking for a bilingual support, we have an extra fee for that. And each of the workshop is aligned to your goals and customized to your needs.
And we uh we will make it flexible whether you're looking for inperson, hybrid, or virtual or bilingual support. So uh thank you so much uh for giving me this opportunity. Let me know if you have any questions and I will share uh Joy's um contact
information with everyone on this call. So everyone on this calls are our parent leader in within title one. Um they have a voice in um in that 1% spend spend spending fund. So, I know the deadline to submit the spending plan it was
December 23rd, but we're going to keep exploring um new vendors to see if we come across any programs that you think might fit your school more. So, we're going to keep inviting and exploring new, you know, new vendors and new programs. And this is one of them that I we came across and Judy reached out and
I felt I find her um parent sessions very uh useful and aligned to our C goals. So that's why she's here today. So if anyone have any questions, please um give Joy a call or email her. All right, Joy, thank you so much for being
here. >> Yeah, thank you uh for giving me this opportunity to present my company. >> We appreciate your time for being here and your program could benefit um our title one schools. So thank you so much. >> Thank you. Let me know if you have any
questions about the workshop and how we conduct >> and >> okay. >> Okay. Thank you so much. And I do have a a copy of all the modules programs in case any parents are interested. >> I can share that with Okay, I'm going to go ahead and share my
screen again and thank you again. Joy too. Let me share my screen. Um, so here's J's uh contact information. Again, everyone here um have access to this PowerPoint that will be shared on
the district 25's website. Let me go back a little bit because um I want to introduce everyone all I title one DPAC members again. We have Crystal Gonzalez Torres. She's here on this call and we have Jamie Wong who's also here on this call. But we do have a vacancy. Our DPC
secretary is vacant. So if anyone is interested just you know just raise your hand say hey I'm interested uh in becoming uh a DPAC member um and your responsibility will be you know preparing meeting notices agendas and signin sheets and record the meeting
minutes and so on. So if anyone's interested please let us know okay uh we will we will mention this every every uh meeting that we have. I'm going to go over the save for
college um NYC kids rise program. I'm just curious does anyone have anyone activated this program? Was anyone on this call have activivated uh the kids rise safe for college program? Please give me a hands up.
Oh, Dorothy, thank you. Yay, Bethany, Jamie. Okay, we do have a few parents. So, I'm glad that we're bringing this up because this is for for your awareness. Um, let me remove my video. Okay, so what is
the NYC Kids R safe for college program? NYC Kids Rights is a nonprofit organization based in New York City that has partnered with the DOE schools and some charter schools who chooses to participate. The Safe for College program is a scholarship program, a
saving program that helps families, schools, and communities with a way to save for college and career trainings together. So, who's eligible? Uh this school year, every kindergarten, first, second, third, and fourth grade students enrolled in the NYC public schools,
including charter schools who choose to participate are eligible to participate in this program regardless of your income or your immigration status. So to activate this account, you will need to provide some informations. We do
not ask for any personal any sensitive informations. All we need need to know, all you need to give is your zip code, your date of your child's date of birth and your child's nine digits Osis number. That's what you need if you need to activate if you want to activate this
account. So again, NYC kids rise will not ask for any personal and information um informations. This account is managed by NYC Kids Rise. So you do also not need to report it to IRS. Um the save for college program was
created to help families start saving and planning for college and career training from the very beginning of your child's journey. Very um every eligible child which is K to4 they automatically receive an NYC
scholarship account with $100. And if you chooses not to participate you can opt out. Uh there's two ways to opt out. You can opt out via Nexa account and you can opt out by filling out an opt out form. Study shows that children with even a
small saving account of1 to $500 are three times more likely to enroll in a college and more four times more likely to graduate. This co program is designed to help make that dream to a reality for your child.
Um, let me next. Oh, let me go back again. I do forget something. So, local businesses and organizations and community members can also add money to this account through uh something called
community scholarships. If you choose to stay in this account or if you choose to stay in this program, you will need to activate and view your child's NYC scholarship account and watch the money grow with your child. Activation only takes a few minutes. We call that uh building block one which is
the first step. Uh the first step is to activate it so you will have access to watch the money grow. Again all you need is to provide your zip code OS number your child's Osis number and the child's date of birth. Uh as mentioned be before this account is owned and managed by NYC
kids rise. So the funds are invested um based on the US stock market and because it's managed by them, you will not uh be able to add additional money directly to this account. The money can only be used by your child when they graduate from
high school and when they are college ready and training or any higher educational um it can go to any um career trainings or any higher educational expenses. If you wish to save your own money alongside this account, there's a way to
do it. Um, you can open your own um, separate college saving account, for example, 529 that you own for your child's uh, when they're college ready. That's called building blocks 2 and you link it to this account. When you create
your own and link it to this account, uh, save for college will give you additional $25 as a reward. So, if you complete building block one by activating it, you will also receive a um $25 reward with this one. With building blocks two,
you will uh link those two accounts with each other and then you will receive another $25 reward. So to receive all rewards, building block one, two, and three. Building block three is if you make your first deposit into the account, the saving account that you
open, that you own, and that you manage, they will uh give you a additional $25 in reward. So building block two and three are optional. So you can take these steps when you are ready.
So, we know that $100 may not seem like a lot of money, but this can grow over time with future collaborations with local businesses and organizations. It will grow even more. So here are some examples what the money can be used to
like tuitions, fees, textbooks, any high educational programs or any vocational training such as the culinary schools, massage therapy, beauty schools and etc. Another important things that I want to mention is that NYC scholarship account will not
effect if you are receiving any public benefits or financial aids. Again, um this NYC Kids Rise account are managed and owned by uh Kids Rise. So, you do
not need to report it to IRS and having this account will not affect your family's current or future public um uh benefits or financial aid. So, we want you to spread the word because we want all K to4 parents to activate this
account to be aware and get access to the money. And I'm here to support you if you guys have any questions about this account. And you will also be, you know, you can also reach out to your parent coordinator at the school level. They are also, you know, trained and knows
this information. Does anyone have any questions about NYC kids rise same for college program? Okay, let me share my screen again. So to activate this this account, you can go to their website or you can just
scan this QR code and it will bring you directly to their website where you can activate it. Um I'm here to support you if you have any questions or you can call NYC Kids Rise directly. They do have a hotline. The phone number is listed on this website and they have an email address
as well. So you can email them. Let's circle back to the school spending plan for title one. Uh the deadline to submit it um was December 23rd. It was extended for December 16th to December 23rd.
And we hope if you haven't submitted the um I plan um the title one set aside funding plan to I plan portal we kindly ask you to sit down with your school principal and have a discussion to fill out this spending plan and submit it to IP plan portal because the deadline has
passed and it needs to be um signed by the principal and by the title one chair. Does anyone have any questions about the 1% set aside plan? I I do actually a little bit u related. >> Okay. >> I don't know if I'm jumping ahead, but
um just wondering I don't know if this is a standard pro protocol >> or uh school specific, but when we hire the vendors, do we how do we pay them? And um is there like a protocol that we
have a strict rule that how we pay them? And also um is there like a requirement for DOE um approved list? And then how what do we do? Do we like ask for documentation or number? DOE number. >> We have to make sure they are DOE
vendor. they have a number because when they have a number, the school secretary should be able to look them up through FAMAS, which is the system they use to pay those vendors. >> So that Yeah, we have to make sure they're the DOE vendors. >> Okay. Okay, that helps. Thank you.
>> You're welcome. Um, let me pull up my screen again. I don't know what's going on. I'm frozen. My site is frozen. Can you guys hear me? >> Yeah,
>> I can see you. But let >> I'm frozen, so I can't >> share my screen. >> I can only see you at this point. >> I don't want to close everything. Okay, I'm good again. Sorry. >> It's It's whirling or whatever. That's
>> Yeah. So, um >> Yeah, I can't see it now. >> I still have We still have the um you know the two pages. what title one 1% spanicide you know set aside plan can be used for and not use for so that I we
discussed last month and I still going to add that to our powerpoint so in case you want to go in and see it so it's still listed here and again that 1% set aside fund is remember it's parent voice so make sure you sit us you sit down with your school principal and decide on
how that money can be spent on it's not the principal's decision it's the parents decision So make sure we know this and this money has to be spent on something aligned with the C goals and include all the families, students, anything that can improve students
academic achievements gap but parents have a voice on this 1% set aside and you are the voice representing your title one school. These are our title one schools. If you are not listed here, please let me know and I'll add you.
And this is our list for our vendors that we have been used. Some of our schools have been used. Um we're going to keep exploring new vendors and add them to the list so we can you know um I know um the set aside fund has been has
to be submitted but most of our panel leaders on this call are two has two years terms. So if you are not able to use them or you know this year maybe we can give them a call next year to see how you know what programs they offer you for your school and that fits your
school's needs. Uh upcoming meetings next DAC meeting will be January 28. Again we have two meetings this month because we didn't have one in December. President's council meetings are also um
held monthly. The next one will be January 26 and that's where all our PAP parent leaders join and get the most up-to-date information. And the CEC meetings is uh in person at Lynden Place, but there's a hybrid link where all parents and community can
listen into. They take place uh here at Lynen Place on every um these Wednesdays at 700 p.m. And then that's just our next meeting. I'm going to stop sharing. Does anyone
have any questions before we um we vote on adjourning this meeting? Any title one concerns? >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> I had a quick question. Sorry. >> Yes, Wendy. I'm here. >> What? Yeah. What happens if we can't
host uh a meeting the month? like I'm trying to reschedule it, but what happens if we can't host it when we would usually be able to host the meetings? >> So, title one schools, if you are on the pack, you are uh required to hold ninth
meetings a school year. So, for example, we are also entitled to hold nine meetings in the school year because we couldn't do one in December. I choose to have one. Me and the DPAC members choose to have two in January. So we are required to have nine meetings
in a school year from October to June. >> So essentially I would be able to do the same thing like to make up the meeting I could host two in in one month. >> Yes. But make sure when you send out the notices to your school community it needs 10 days you know in advance to
notify everyone. >> Okay. Great. >> So when you yeah when you plan something just make sure that you have 10 days to send out that notice before the meeting takes place. >> Okay. Great. Thank you so much. Thank you, Wendy. Anyone else? Everyone have the camera off, so it's
just weird for me to talk to a screen. Thank you, Angela. Like me looking at the pictures. I don't know. I don't even know where to look. >> Sorry. I'm I'm multitasking. So, but I'm I'm I'm listening and watching. >> I It's just I'm not used to all cameras are off because I don't know where to
look. I'm looking at Louiswis's picture. I know it's a it's a AI picture. It's not him. They said the AI picture. I know that for sure, >> right, Lewis? Please confirm you use AI to generate your beautiful
profile. >> It is now 6:21. >> It's good to see everyone's face though. >> I know because I was like talking. I don't know where to look. That was a little bit like I don't know something something I need to get used to. But thank you. Thank you so much for being here and thank you so much for turning
on your camera so I can see and get familiar of everyone faces. Aritzi, I'm here for your call in a bit. Yeah, she has some concerns about title one. So, I'll wait for Richie when when the meeting is adjourned. Can we get a motion to adjourn this meeting?
>> Motion to adjourn. >> Second. >> Thank yay. Thank you. Thank you so much. And I'll see you all on FE January 28th. Please call me if you have any good night. Please call me. Please do not
hesitate.