Good evening everyone. Happy August. We're going to call the meeting to order. It is 703 roll call >> here. Not yet. >> Here.
Amy here. Vincent here. Stephanie here. Anna here >> actually I don't see any type. >> Speaking of >> No, I haven't seen her yet. But okay. So,
is Eddie did you get back from reading? >> Okay. reply back to the email. >> Okay, I'm going to give it one minute. We do have somebody that's supposed to be coming on to present first and I want to give them a quick minute before I try to skip over them because I know they had limited time.
So, let's see. Um, while we're waiting to check on that, guys, I just want to go over a few things since we're starting a new year with the council. We did do our elections last month, but I do want to go over some norms going into the new year. Um, one thing I need to make sure
we are very on top of is being on time. Meeting starts at 7:00. I need to make sure I have by seven, guys. I'm sorry. I need to be able to start because the longer it waits for us to start, the longer we're here and people are waiting. I don't want to keep them
waiting. So, if we can really just try to get here 15 minutes early to make sure we're not late, that would be amazing. Uh, one person speak at a time, take turns. If you don't have anything to add, please don't chime in. Just chime in. Everybody gets equal air time.
Make sure your phones are on vibrate. And we're going to stay on topic and go from there. So, that was my quick spiel on that. So, just going into the new year. The other thing is something I will touch on later. Um, but we don't
see her on, right? Okay, we are actually going to skip the first step for now and we're going to turn the floor over to DYCD. We have Jessica Erinberg with us who is going to speak in regards to
after school programming. >> Good afternoon everyone. Can you hear me well? >> Yes. >> Okay, great. I'm Jessica Edinburgh, one of the directors at the Compass after the school programs uh under the Department of Youth and Community
Development. Um for those who are not familiar with the YCD, I will tell you a little bit about our mission, vision, and services. Our mission is to invest in a network of community-based organizations and programs to alleviate
the effects of poverty and to provide opportunities for New Yorkers and communities to flourish. Our vision is to improve the quality of life of New Yorkers by collaborating with local organizations and investing in the talents and assets of our communities.
Um, some of the services that we provide are related to after school. Many of them are around youth services uh such as community development, family support, literacy services, youth force
development as well. Um I know that many of you have questions around the RFP, the recent RFP. So I will give you some um information and overview of the process. So Compass is
the nation's largest after the school system and serves over 110,000 students in grades K through 12. We offer high quality program and a strong balance of academics, recreation, enrichment and cultural activities all
of which support and strengthens the child. The release of the compass centerbased school RFP for elementary and middle school programs. We also released the centerbased programs. Um it's like the major modernization of
after school contracts in more than a decade. Right. The new awards reflect the voice of families schools and provides consistent as for stability, equality and uh equity.
uh with an investment of 760 million um the city has developed the system and we have added 20,000 compass programs K through five uh slots for uh programs K
through five. Um let me tell you some of the areas and the winds in the system has been an expansion of 71 new elementary schools uh in 32 highnee community districts for
a total of 8,621 additional seats. Um it has a stabilized the system by providing higher rates and wages for the staff. um CBOS new to compass are about 41 new CVOs that have
been awarded um and it has given us the opportunity for an updated model right that includes areas of social emotional learning uh career readiness uh along all of the other pieces of uh the components of the
model which included literacy, science, um sports, academics and leadership. Um some of the decisions and the factors that went into the deciding uh awards
were CBO RFP rating right there were some tie breakers that had to occur between CBOS uh principal ranking were used as an advisement. uh the CVO capacity to effectively offer
it and the services needed also provide a diversity and K2A alignment in a school building. Um there have been some questions about the weight on the principal ranking for this selection. So the team has put
together a set of data that I can share with you regarding uh the overall rating. 61% of the schoolbased awards went to princip to providers where principles rate them number one. Uh 20%
of these schoolbased awards went to CBOS where the principles ranked them number two. 10% of the schoolbased awards will go to CBOS with a number three ranking, right? And 22 schools awarded um were
ranked number three, right? Because they were incumbent CBOS and did not have a score uh adequate for the competition in some cases. In terms of the locations of the programs, we have um a total awarded
slots of 95,851. Elementary um it's 52,473. Middle school 43,378. We are located in every district represented and total number of providers currently stands at 147 41 of
which are new. The total awarded schools are 86 71 of of which are new to the system. Um I will also like to take a moment to tell you about the school partnership
agreement or collaborative planning tool which is a tool developed with the NYCPS and the YCD. It has been released to all the principles in the system uh and the CBOS. So it can be used as supporting
tool to promote intentional planning uh of services. Um, this tool will allow them to define roles and responsibilities, align with the daily school goals, coordinate space and safety, plan family engagement,
support proactive planning and clarify daily expectations. We are currently in the process of meeting with uh principles and CBOS and coordinating the development of the of the tool and make sure that uh it's
submitted and signed by all the principles and CBOS in collaboration. Um the key timeline for notification of these awards started in April and May with awards notifications going out to
CBOS's um and then notices went out to schools. Uh in June and July the contract entry started their stack application process which is the uh child care license through the department of health applications. In
August, the contracts began dedicated planning time. That is the time that we are going through at this moment. Um allowing time for principles and CVOs to meet and develop their work scopes, um their activity schedules, their staffing
plan. They're going through hiring. They're going through community engagement. and soon if you haven't yet uh received notices from the CBOS in terms of enrollment for um a starting date of September 14
services uh that's when we will be launching the first um the first day of program September 14 um there is a series of uh contact information that I can either drop on the chat or provide to you via email
where you can reach out for different uh questions or concerns, right? Um it is important also for uh the group here to know that Compass has a monitoring supporting team, right? That conducts site visits to these programs. They do
frequent check-ins with the CBOS and they have assigned team members for every school and every program to ensure there is um communication alignment. Right? There is also supports put in
place with um with our partners at the uh public schools, right? Uh through the planning tool, but also to reinforce an escalation protocol if there are partnership challenges or concerns.
Um, additionally, the YCD utilizes a platform called uh called Discover DY YCD where parents are able to locate their closest after school services and also uh able to apply for uh spats at
different sites. The applications are not only online but they are also um used uh through different methods uh in collaboration with the CVO and the school principal. um they will define their enrollment strategies and their
enrollment policies and procedures to make sure that there is equitability in the process and and once again I can definitely share the information of discover the YCD and the contact
information for for our team at compass. Um that concludes the presentation. if you um have questions or um would like to um present I I'll pass on the mic to the
hostess. >> Thank you. I'm council members. Anybody have questions? >> I have a question. Um so at the school where my daughter goes, the compass
program is um have a limited number of spots and those are given out by lottery. I was just wondering if that's standard for all the the programs here. >> Each um school and each program develops
their own enrollment policies. So the principal had a say on how the enrollment policies takes uh process takes place. Um lotteryies tend to be um you know a fair sometimes way to
allocate right if there is um a large population in the schools and the slots are not enough for everyone. Um there are some best practices such as um the school prioritizing children in um in shelters or um in
housing conditions and that gets communicated to the CBO uh followed by the lottery and then prioritizing siblings of whoever wins the lottery to make sure the family serve as a whole. So yes, that is one of the strategies
but it's not the only one. And what about prioritizing by income? Is that a strategy that any programs use by family income? >> Uh it it's discussed with the school. It could be one of them, but it's discussed with the school based on the school
needs. >> Anybody else have a question? >> Yes, I have two questions. Um, first off is can we maybe touch base on this RFP? I know there was a lot of things up in the air. There was a lot of conversation, a lot of concern. I know I reached out to
Dr. Mike. Parents did not know this was happening. Is there a reason that wasn't communicated to families that there could be this change coming because now there that's why there's so many parents that are upset, not just not necessarily in our district, but in multiple districts. There's multiple parents that are very upset because they lost a
program that they really like even if the school didn't rank them number one. the the families felt that that was a number one program for them. So why was that kind of not ever notified to parent that this was a possibility to be happening? So there were efforts for notification.
A survey went out to every existent parent and family member or caregiver of participants and role right. Um we understand that surveys are not always uh completed by 100% of the recipients
but the uh there were 299 responses. Um there was also sessions with parents and parent leaders right we have 51 representatives. So there was a concern effort to outreach to parents. Unfortunately, it's it's a large system
and um not everyone gets to participate, but there was a concern effort on reaching out families and parents. >> Okay. I mean, I know as the president of the CC things like that, I was shocked. I never got a survey. My children have been in the after school program for
years. Um and I never got that survey. And I think a lot of from what I spoke to with other council members from other councils, they have expressed that same concern. So I think going forward, if this is going to happen again down the line, obviously every few years I think this is going to happen. I think it needs to be really pushed out a little
bit better and communicated much more widely to families and let the families also have more of a say, not just the principles with their ranking because I don't think that was necessarily fair to the families. I know there's a lot of families upset. I'm sure you've heard about it. Um it's not necessarily this
district specifically. I know my my school particularly they our parents upset but not everybody in the district but I know even in Manhattan I've been speaking to people and they are obviously very upset as well. Um so I just I really think that we need to look at how we handle that a little bit
better going forward. Um the other thing is I know it's lottery based. I know every person is doing their own thing. We got a message um the other day saying the application was open through the school. They sent out a message, applications open. We went on to try to
do it as multiple parents actually went on to do it because we were told you have to do it by Friday the 7th. That's very quick turnaround and we got this two days ago. When we got this working, it's not even working. And we've since been told, oh, there's an outage and now it's going to be extended.
>> So, was this application really opened yet or when is it due to open? >> Yeah, it is due to open. Our work scopes just came out so it's it's about to be open and I wonder if if they were referring to discover the YCD or an
internal application and you can reach out to me directly with the a school name. >> Yeah, with the school name and information and we can look into it. >> Okay. Yeah, if you could put your information in the chat so we have it because I know that it definitely took
us to the DYCD website and that's what it said. Oh, there's no application available. And then it magically was like, hey, outage. It's not working. And people are panicking. They're like, I want to make sure I get my kids application in. >> So, that's another piece of concern that's going on right now. So, I just
wanted to make sure we brought that up and see like what the timeline is because obviously parents want to start planning if they have to find other care. >> Obviously, no, we understand. Um, I will put my contact information. You can send me the information of the school. We can
look into it. I don't know when the notice was sent to you. It seemed like it was sent premature because connect just just openly a few days ago. I want to say two three days ago. >> That's when we got it. >> Okay.
Okay. I I'm not aware of any outage per se, but once again, I can look into the specific situation and the specific school. Okay. >> Thank you. Anybody else have any questions? Anybody else?
>> Well, yes, thank you. I appreciate you jumping on because I know this was a topic of concern for a lot of people right now. So, thank you for that. Um, and I will definitely reach out specifically with more questions privately. Um, I will get your information from Egypt later on when she
gets it from the chat. So, thank you and we appreciate you. >> Thank you very much. Good to see you all. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> And if I could just quickly say that this is something that prior CDC's had been speaking with our local electives
for a really really long time um to work on getting more of our schools to have an after school program. It just was not present in many of our elementary schools. Um it was a very difficult thing. You know they all of these things require funding right? It doesn't just happen. You know we all want the after
school program but it wasn't something that was able to happen up until now. The vast majority of our schools now can say that they have a program to offer. It's certainly not always the number of seats that we would want. Um but at this point, all but seven of our schools have
a CBO, which is a really really great progress from where we were. Um obviously more to do, but the vast majority now have at least um the access to a program in the afternoon where before they didn't. So I am I'm excited about that. Um even knowing at the same
time we still have a lot more that that we still have to do for the other schools that don't have it right now. Um but I'm happy that we have there. The part that's a little difficult is like because it is lottery based those of us who have real use for it versus parents that necessarily don't need it that are
home in the afternoon >> might get priority. >> Yeah. >> And like for me I don't get home from work till 5 o'clock at night. Um I'm now in the dark knowing that it's a new company. It's not the same people that I've been dealing with for years. I'm in the dark as a parent myself saying is my
child going to be accepted in the new program and that's one of the things that I think has people so concerned with the lottery part of it is because what how is it being looked at is the after school program just looking at it is the school looking at it with them like what is going into that process to
make sure that parents who really need this are getting the help they need >> instead of trying to go have to rush and find babysitting or friends to pick up your kid or things like that cuz obviously like for me I was 12 for six years now in office. So it's like >> it's very understandable. I mean
unfortunately when we're thinking about some of our schools even with a thousand children yeah >> when they have 150 seats it's always going to be a problem. >> Um no matter which entry point you have there will be someone that on the outside of that that says why am I not also getting an opportunity added. So it
is it is difficult I no doubt on either side of that and certainly I would imagine our principles don't want to be in a place where they've made the selection to say that you can't you can't have it but someone else can. Um, so it often becomes probably the affiliate >> the most fair way for them to say that
there's not a kind of I selected this for you and it becomes principal. Well, why did you do that? I actually have a different situation that means I need it more than so and so. And those are the types of things that can happen. But I hear you. It' be something that certainly I can think about with with our schools to maybe make it a little
bit different than what it currently is. >> Anybody else? I think that that timing this make it more difficult too because you find out it's so late and then you might have to scramble to find some other alternative for after school care. >> Okay. >> And the other hard part is like then it
doesn't start right away. >> So the first week of school parents scrambling oh but how do I get my kid who's going to do this? Like I have to wait till my job this. So it just becomes a whole thing and it ends early at the end of the year before kids are really done with schools. Then we go with that same thing. So that's one of
the things I feel like is definitely a struggle that I would like to see if we could work on looking at changes down the line. Um >> what is the lottery wish like one out of um >> okay >> it depends on how many seats that school has. >> Some some have a little bit more than
than others but typically what I've seen and yes you can correct me if I'm wrong but typically at least 150 125 to 150 seats. Is that typically the norm? >> That's correct. That's the typical number. >> Yeah. Okay. I have a question. How do you how how do
we evaluate the CBO's performance in the industry? Do you have a system? >> Yeah, there is there is a competitive process, right? The RFP is public and you know I invite you to read it. It has multiple components about uh community
engagement, experience, um um capacity, CBO, organizational capacity to develop the services. There is um a number of readers that read the proposals. So, it's not read by just a small group of of readers, right? Um they're rated and
there is a process overseen by the city of New York. So um it is a it's a beating process >> then say it's getting pushed back something got crossed somewhere. Okay. Anybody else have any other questions?
[clears throat] >> Okay we will move on to the next item on our agenda. Um I know that >> thank you so much for having me. Um I will email you the information because I'm trying to paste copy and paste on the chat and it's not going through. So
I will just send the information via email. >> Okay. Thank you so much. >> Take care. Bye bye. >> So our next item that we're going to jump to is meeting engagement. I know that was requested to put that on the agenda.
>> Yeah, I'll give I'll get her in. >> Oh, okay. So Ria and Julian, do you want to jump in now or you guys still need a few minutes? Um, hi there. >> Hi everyone. Oh, perfect. Great. Go ahead.
>> Are you guys good to go now? Because I I'll come back to our other topic. >> Yeah, I'm fine to I'm fine to go. >> Okay, perfect. Guys, we will come back to that discussion. We will let them go over the addition 25 data and separate. Okay,
>> wonderful. Just going to share my screen and so sorry for the mixup, but thanks for having us tonight. Thank you. All right. Hi, good evening everyone. Again, apologies for the mixup. My name is Rya. I'm from the office of district
planning. I am the associate director of district planning specifically for Queens. And I'm here with my colleague Julianne. She's the director. Um, again, we've worked very closely with Superintendent Day Anton for bunch of different projects. Um, and we're
excited to sort of share what we have found in terms of uh, data sort of collected over the last year as well as trends that we've been seeing over the past 5 years. So, we're going to start with telling you a little bit about us and what our
office does. We'll go over some of the highlights of the data summary and then we'll leave some room for questions. Nick, so the office of district planning is actually falls under the first deputy chancellor's division with the New York
City public schools. We are actually now under the same division with superintendent to make sure that we work even uh more closely together for uh planning purposes and supporting schools. Uh our role as district planners is to really partner with
school communities uh CEC superintendent and other uh partner offices uh and also like different community stakeholders to make sure that we have a full well-rounded understanding of district needs and priorities and so that we're also um making sure that
we're sort of sharing some of the data data and trends and that any decisions are informed by both. So this process a lot of times includes creating annual strategic plans to identify some of the local needs to
address some of these local needs and priorities and then also uh provide opportunities for us to be responsive to to needs that are brought up in partnership with the community and with all the other partner offices that would help support. So the way that our team
is structured is that we have burrow-based planning teams. I mentioned in the introduction that uh Julianne and I work specifically with Queens. That's the only burrow that we focus on and there are um directors and associate directors for every burrow and each team
uh sort of does analysis on the bureau. We work with an analytics uh point in our office to sort of help gather some of that data and assess some of that data. And we would be the people who are um helping to manage engagement,
who are looking over these trends and then who would put forward uh potential proposals and working with you all to develop those and lead you through that process. So like I mentioned, we work with many stakeholders including CEC's because we
believe that community engagement is a key part of the district planning process. So we want to have um open and meaningful dialogue with you all in order to sort of develop proposals and ideas that really do address the local
needs and priorities in the best way that we can using all the tools that we have. So part of this is again working closely with superintendent working with CC's impacted school communities their families and again other partner offices to help develop potential solutions.
Like I said, we look at a lot of data, which we'll share with you very shortly, but you know, you all are sort of feet on the ground, and it's always great for us to hear not just what the numbers are telling us, but what the lived experience is. And it can also alert us to trends and give us more information
about trends that we may not have been exposed to in a spreadsheet. So, we want to make sure that everyone's voices are heard. We want to make sure um that you guys are engaged in the in the process, that we're being as
transparent with all of the information that we possibly can, and that you are participating um and we're guiding you through. Yep. So one of the big things I mentioned which I said I was uh guiding through
proposals or generating potential proposals that process is a part of what we call chances regulation A190 and that governs the public review process for any proposal that results in a significant change in school utilization. So what does that mean? So
significant changes in school utilization means collocations uh of new or existing schools, resitings, grade reconfigurations which means maybe going from a K to 6 to a K to 5 or going from a K to 5 to a K to 8.
It includes school merger mergers and then school closures. So things that impact where students are moving uh throughout the building from from building to building. So when we are putting forth any sort of
proposal there are a few things that we are required to do um by law and then there are other things that we do because we want you all as a community members and impacted community members potentially to be involved. So, some of the things that we're required to do is
to publish what we call an EIS or an educational impact statement. Um, and if there's a a charter in the school or if this involves a charter, we would also publish what we call a buck, a building utilization plan. And that sort of
outlines what the change would be in the building and how the space in the building would be impacted and what the utilization would look like and what the plan is. um from implementation in and um like the idea into how it would
impact building utilization, we would convene a joint public hearing. Uh that actually happens very much with the CEC and the impacted school community. And the joint public hearing is sort of the formal place to um for us
to sort of let everyone know what this plan is. It's after the EIS has been published. It's a a sort of way to make sure in a very public forum that everyone understands uh the potential
proposal that's being put forward. Then we it's also sorry an opportunity for families to make a comment. Um these are very sort of structured events and so on top of this joint public hearing we do engagement throughout the year
throughout this process. um so that you all have uh ample opportunity to sort of make your voices heard and give us feedback that we can then incorporate into uh an EIS or incorporate into our planning so that once the joint public
hearing happens you know folks are well aware of sort of what's happening what's going on and can make comments in support or against any potential proposal. All of those comments are then uh actually captured and recorded and then
we public we publish sorry what's called a public comment analysis and that means that anything that you all have said we we sort of capture it and that document becomes public to let um and and posted um and it lets folks know what was said
about this proposal. Did people agree, disagree? Consider it almost like meeting notes. Um, the last step in this process is that we arrange for the PEP, the panel for educational policy to vote on the proposal. And I would just want to
stress that no proposal is finished, done, or goes into effect until we have that PEP vote and it's approved. Okay. The other thing that we manage is uh school resonings and that falls under chancellor's regulation A185.
So a resoning is a process where the geographical areas of school zones are changed and or new zones are created. So our office and the superintendent help develop resoning plans in partnership with the CEC and school
communities. And then the CEC actually votes on those resoning proposals for their community school district. So if we were to do a resoning in uh district 25 because there's, you know, let's say a new school is opening, uh you all
would vote on those lines. We typically like to look at things that would be geographical barriers. um is something we take into account travel to the new school, you know, certain trends of of programs, things we take in so much
information to understand um how to create these zone lines and we work very closely with the CEC and also our our analytics team who helps to draw those lines. So, resonance can typically um help us accomplish a few different
things. One, it helps improve uh access uh to schools, different programs, learning conditions. It can create a zone for a new school option, increase access to quality schools, um increase diversity in or across zones. It can
help alleviate overcrowding or equalize or balance out sort of utilization across different buildings. So, another thing um that I think we should talk about quickly is sort of how do we get to even deciding
a a potential proposal or how do we get to the stage of uh deciding whether we want to even do some sort of reasoning. So, it starts with the needs assessment and that typically happens in the spring, although we can get ideas at any
time throughout the year, but we do a needs assessment and we compile and analyze a bunch of data about every district and we look at that data and say, "Okay, we're seeing these certain trends. We're seeing needs in particular areas." We then sort of partner with
superintendent and other partner offices to review that data and sort of confirm what we're thinking and get another touch point. We then have a a another touch point with the CEC and
superintendent again and we share these district data summaries which we've done um with you all and then we offer each CEC and also superintendent opportunities to discuss that data together and then once we sort of land
on what we really feel like the needs are what we're seeing things that have been brought to us or ideas that sometimes we may propose We hold crossf functional meetings so that we can continue to plan and to continue to discussions to sort of develop initial scenarios to identify
those needs. Then we start sort of pre-proposal engagement. Uh so before a discussion about any official thing happens, we start to engage with the potential school communities that would be impacted by
any proposal. We start engaging with CEC's, local elected officials and other stakeholders to really understand better what the key needs are, what the impacts of these ideas might be. And then we take that information back and we start to refine our scenario with that input.
And then based on how that engagement goes, uh our office along with superintendent determine which specific scenarios that we should pursue, which that maybe we should delay, which need more um sort of insight or workshopping.
And then we start that formal proposal engagement process. And um some of that was outlined a few steps ago with what we're legally required to do. But in addition to that, we also do a number of engagements. We've done town halls, surveys, um meetings like this with
CEC's to talk about proposals. Uh we've meet with school SLTs, school communities. We've held even um engagements for students uh specifically. So, we do a lot of other engagement outside of what we're legally required to do to make sure that we're
working in partnership and everyone's informed along the way. So now we're going to get into a few of the highlights that we've seen from the data summary. So high level what we've seen is over the last 5 years enrollment in district
25 schools has decreased by about 11%. Um we've seen that this decline is largely driven by an overall decrease in K to5 residents and that decline overall residents was 10%. So, it's it very closely aligns um with what's going on
in your district. Uh next, we wanted to touch on elementary school retention. So we were very uh like happy and and can report that district 25 has the second highest percentage of K to5 residents staying
within the district for elementary school which was that number is 79% of your K to5 residents stay within the district for elementary school compared to citywide averages which usually fall around 53%. Also very notable is that 14% of your K
to5 residents are enrolling in non-public school options. So when I say non-public schools I do I'm not including uh charters or other district schools or D75D79
these may be you know private schools, Catholic schools, independent schools, things like that. Um, and I would say that, you know, 4% enroll in other district schools and only 1% of your students enroll in
charter schools. So, that was elementary school. Uh, for middle school trends, we saw um things that are roughly along the same lines. So, uh, district 25 middle school enrollment has remained stable. it's
decreased by just 5% and the decline is also largely driven by a 4% decline in uh district 25's 6 to8 reg residents. So there are less 6 to8 residents there would be there's little less enrollment
on that level. In terms of middle school retention, district 25 actually has the highest percentage of middle school residents staying within the district for middle school. That number is 79% compared to citywide averages of 48%.
Um, again, 14% of residents enroll in non-public schools, 5% enroll in other district schools, and only 1% enroll in charter schools. So, one of the questions that we feel like is very popular are um questions
about enrollment and capacity. So, here is a chart that shows elementary and middle school enrollment versus how many seats are available in the district on that grade level. there uh about 14,500 elementary school seats and enrollment
for elementary school hovers just above that at 14,600 seats which means that we have a deficit of about 80 seats on the elementary school level. On the middle school level, we have uh 8,300
middle school seats available and enrollment uh for middle school is sort of hovering around the 8,000 mark, which means we have an excess of 248 seats across the district. Um I do want to mention that the largest
amount of excess found on the middle school level in the district is in the Flushing, Murray Hill, Willlets Point, and Q Gardens areas. Um and uh to help sort of address some of the seatney that we've seen on the elementary school level, there's a new
building Q388, also called Waters Edge, that is anticipated to open in 2027 with 547 elementary school seats, as well as new building Q512, which is anticipated to open in
September 2028 with 696 elementary school seats. So to touch quickly on uh district 75 residents, we've seen that uh there was an increase in the number of district 75 residents across elementary, middle, and
high schools um in over the past 5 years. So that means that because there's an increase and typically um typically we see that there there are increases on multiple levels or all levels and that's why we work really hard to sort of
include district 75 across schools no matter if there is or isn't an increase. We like to help reduce travel time and also provide seats um for students in anticipation of an increase.
Uh so like I said, there's a current because they're on the rise. We found that there's actually a deficit of district 75 seats at the elementary, middle, and high school levels in district 25. And so again, we're always exploring those opportunities to open more programs and
buildings that have sufficient excess space. Um I mentioned on the previous slide that new building Q512 is opening. That building actually has and includes design district 75 seats. So the chart below you can sort of dig into more of
the numbers and look on the elementary, middle school, and high school levels and see what that deficit is. In elementary school, it's about 176 seats short. Middle school is 17 seats short. And then high school is about 200 seats short.
This table outlines uh the variety of special programs that are offered throughout the district. If you take a quick look, there are programs you can see that have ASD, Horizon, NEST, G&T, bilingual programs, and we compare district 25 to the rest of Queens.
And then just for your reference, there's a map of all of the lovely schools in district 25. And uh with that, we'd love to open up the floor to a few questions that you all may have. >> Rya, I have one question. Um with the
Waters Edge School opening, I don't remember the answer to this. I'm pretty sure we've probably talked about this before. How many other seats is that going to open for Bell Academy for middle school? Do we know? >> Yeah, we don't have um an exact plan. I
think confirmed for how we're using W's Edge and how that will impact Q169. But I think as we shared last year as well, we've been engaging with both the Bell Academy and the PS169 communities to think about how the new building can best um meet needs and priorities in the area. One idea that we've explored is
reciting PS169 from their current building over to W's Edge, which would free up space in the Q69 building where Bell is. Um, we're exploring with the superintendent and the principal and the community how best to use that um, space. Belle has already started to grow
their middle school enrollment given their robust demand, which is great. Um, and we'll continue to think through whether um, you know, how we'll continue to use the space that's newly available in that building to meet the needs that are coming up. >> Yeah, I think there's there's a few sort
of different potential options and so unfortunately we don't have like the exact seat number yet. Um, but as we sort of start to workshop different ideas, we we would get a better idea of what would be possible and how many seats would become available depending on on what we sort of decide or what
we're trying to navigate. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Um, so going back to the process that you talked about for making these utilization decisions, I'm curious how a decision gets made in the first place to
build an a new elementary school like W's Edge if it hasn't been decided yet which school is actually going to go there or exactly how it's going to be used. Who makes that initial decision? It's too much build a new building and on what basis.
>> So sorry. So, I think I'm I think I got a little muffled at the end, but I think what I heard you say is sort of what is the process for deciding um to build a new building and what grade levels are going to be served there or what schools might be might go there.
>> Um so, I'm curious. It seems like the decision to build the new building was kind of decoupled from how it's going to be used exactly because officially it hasn't been decided that PS169 is moving over. So, I'm just curious who makes that decision
in the first place to build the new building and what are they basing that on? >> Got it. Okay. So, there are a few different ways that a new building can come to fruition. Um, one is the SCA can
come to us and say, "Hey, this is a building there or there's a developer that is building something and there's sort of an agreement that they would add school capacity." Um, sometimes there's an empty building and the SCA says, you know, we can acquire this building. Is
there even a need in this area for for a new school building? Um, sometimes school communities come to us and say, hey, like there's a building here. Can you can you as an office ODP forward this to SCA for evaluation to see if it's even feasible to build a building
here? We would really love an annex or something like that. Um once SCA sort of has any sort of building or an idea, they will sometimes come to us and say again we have this building. Do you need
a site in this area? Do you need capacity in this area? Um and there are times where we say yes. We we definitely are seeing overcrowding here. This can help alleviate that. you know, yes, we
we think that we can use capacity and then SCA will take that information back and they may be able to purchase or acquire that site. Um, sometimes we say no, this is not an area that students are traveling to or there are not many
students in this area geographically. We might need to pass on this new capacity and that's where the conversation may end. Um, and that building may be used for other purposes if the SEA acquires it. Typically what happens is with any
sort of construction or development project, once the SEA acquires a site, it takes about 5 years for that site to become usable and available. So whether they are sort of building it, transforming it, depending on the state
of it, there are a lot of different factors that may impact that timeline, but they are the ones who sort of take on the construction wing of that and help to build it. sometimes depending on um sort of the site size or the need or the information
that we are able to provide them and say listen we think that an elementary school would be best for this area or we feel like there's a a huge high school deficit and we definitely need more high school capacity. They take that into account and and try to understand which
building and and facilities are going to be needed. So it's it's a little bit like a um opening a new school is sometimes planning a few years out um because once that school is built
even if we saw that there was a need for a particular grade level in those five years once the school is about a year out from opening we come back and we reassess the area and say yes actually we do still need elementary school
capacity. here. You know, let's try to plan this as an elementary school. Or we can say, you know what, actually the middle school res population has shot up. We really think this would be best served as a middle school. And then we start to work in conjunction to see, you
know, how to make that work and what's happening. What we aren't typically able to do is say we would like to move a school to a new building like 169 to W's Edge for example. Let's build this building
to do that. Um because we may not have the plan 5 years previously when that school um site was acquired. So it's it's a little bit there are different situations where like let's say we know
we need an annex somewhere and we can say yes like they're building this annex specifically to alleviate this particular school and then there are times where SA will say there's a particular site do we need this capacity here and then we start to figure out
like what can we actually do with it >> I can just quickly add to um SEA has a capital plan that guides where there's funding available for new capacity. It's available online. Um and so when they're out there looking for sites, what guides
where they're looking is where there's funding in the capital plan and that funding is based on where there's seat need across the city. Um district 25 has historically, you know, definitely had a seat need. So that's guided a lot of um where they've been looking and additionally now there's been um a lot of focus on class size law compliance
which has also been guiding where they're looking for new space. Um, and then the other thing just to echo what Rya was sharing is, you know, once there's that green light, you know, there's a seat need, they're going to go ahead with a new site. There is just such a time lag between when the building's actually opening that we will
typically do that re-engagement with the community once we get closer to opening to see what exact use would best meet the current needs of the time. I think like the example I always use for this is COVID like if we had decided five years earlier that we were going to use a building for some specific thing. Um
you know then there was a pandemic that really changed enrollment trends across the city and kind of altered a lot of the recommendations. So um we just don't want to plan it too too far out and not take you know the most up-to-date need um into account when we're working with the community to figure out how a new
space might be used. Yeah, this is kind of part of the process that we've engaged uh both fell and 169 and over the the course of the last um couple of years, but this process even began well before I even assumed the role as as superintendent.
So, prior to me becoming superintendent of the district and my deputy role, this is when this process actually began with, you know, engaging in uh with with the community board and engaging in town halls and conversations around the site and then the purchasing of the site. So a lot of that conversation happened um
you know many years ago and I guess it is around five years now um from when that first began. So um it has been a a you know a pretty long process from the time it started. So the at the time that the decisions were made to build these
two new elementary schools was it not so clear that there was this downward trend in >> so five five years ago I don't know that there was this the the the trend that you see that when they bring up the trend line it you know we've we've steadily seen a you know a decrease in
enrollment over the course of time since that time. So that has certainly changed here in in the district for sure. um in 1920 just prior to co we were at 26,500 students in the district. We are now
just over 23,000 kids. So we've lost over 3,000 students over the course of that time. So that has changed over the last 5 years. Now nothing says that you know that trend line doesn't say you know what have a good day and I'm going to come right back up. You know that there's nothing that that that I can
tell you that would would predict that that wouldn't happen. But they there has certainly been a um a downward slide in enrollment over the past couple of years for sure districts. >> I think that decline too is aligned with what we've seen across the city. Um I think maybe it's actually slightly less
pronounced in district 25 compared to other districts. Um but this is kind of you know generally on trend with what we've seen in other um places as well. >> Um I just want to give a chance Adriana you can come off mute and ask your
question. I know you have your hand up. >> Thank you so much. Um, I really appreciate this presentation. Hello everyone. Good evening. My name is Adriana Alisa. I represent Queen CEC's on the panel for educational policy. I'll put the details for the meeting in
the chat momentarily. Uh during the presentation you were discussing middle school enrollment and how district 25 is unique in that we see the amount of students that stay within the district for middle school is very
very high. I think that's incredibly impressive. Have we identified whether there are any protective factors whether those be cultural things right like families want their students walkable distance for middle school? Um, is it that we have phenomenal middle schools
or phenomenal administrators and staff at the middle schools in this district, right? Or is it something else? Because if we know um if we know the root of it, especially if it is a protective factor like a cultural thing, then maybe we can like take that model it elsewhere and
see this sort of in district success with respect to middle school. I think that that's incredibly impressive and I would love to hear more about it. Thank you everyone. Thanks, Adriana. >> Um, so I will say yes, we do have fantastic middle schools. We do have great leaders. Um, I think having an
opportunity for, uh, middle school choice also helps. It gives parents access and kids access to apply to schools across the district. Um, but I do think it's because of, you know, just the the community that we have, the buildings that we have, and what we offer inside of our middle schools that,
um, you know, creates a space where folks don't want to spend them elsewhere, and I think it's a, you know, really positive thing for our community. But I I do think it has a lot to do with the experiences that they have in our schools. >> Anybody else have any questions? >> Yeah, I got a I got a question for you.
Is u I try to understand your numbers. Um there is uh uh about 14,649 uh students in elementary school and there's only 8,83 middle school students. I mean why why
there is such a large job of the numbers? Do you have any insights? >> Yeah, so elementary schools across across six grades, middle school across three grades. Um, so >> less kids. >> You have fewer kids that you're you're
pulling forward into the middle school than they do from >> more breaks. >> More breaks. >> Okay. All right. >> Any other questions? >> Yeah, I've kind of um I don't know if this is even data that we would have, but is there like is there a reason why
there is a decline in um residents? Like is it just people are moving away? Are there just fewer kids? Um, is that even something that would be captured? Like are people moving? Are the people homeschooling? Like what's going on? >> Yeah, I think I think all of those
things are happening. Um, again, after CO there was a huge uh flight of families out of New York City. That's one thing. I think people are having less children. That's another thing. I think some of uh you know there's some people that are choosing different
schools that are either outside of the district or choosing things like private schools or charter schools. So you know it's it's a number of different factors that sort of lead to a residential decline. They're also sometimes, you
know, neighborhoods, you kind of see this on a smaller scale where neighborhoods might see a residential decline and other neighborhoods get very popular and have huge residential spikes. So again, it's a number of
different factors, but it's it's not to say that, you know, or I should actually say that the fact that many of your students are staying within your district schools is a great indication that you have strong schools and programs that people are staying for despite any residential client that's
happening. >> And does the decline or does having excess seats impact like school budgets? So yeah, the funds follow kids, you know. So >> yeah, >> I mean I think it's the two new schools
combined are going to be adding what like 1,200 seats and the elementary school like deficit was 80 seats. >> So are are we adding essentially 1,200 seats that we don't need? We can also
understand that we are utilizing more than 100 capacity right now. So we're trying to balance out from current school that's going over the capacity. >> Yeah. So not necessarily. So the the school that's going to be um slated to open in 2028
um is in one of our areas in Flushing that is very densely populated. So a school like PS24 for example, they had their addition and they were full in their addition like the next day kind of full. So, um, and this school is kind of
in that in that area where reducing class size would be much easier for a school like PS24 where right now much more difficult for them to do just because of the volume of students that they wind up serving every day. So, um, the it will it will most definitely be a
positive thing certainly in that area for sure. Thanks for >> um I just wanted to add to that to say that you know even though there is an excess of seats in AC this this chart shows sort of across the district right
so there's an excess of middle school seats in middle school that doesn't mean necessarily that every neighborhood or every school has excess seats in the same way that there are certain neighborhoods that may have lost a number of residents for whatever reason
and other neighborhoods have gained gained or exploded in population. It's the same for schools. There's some areas where schools are right at a a great sufficient capacity and other schools are bursting at the seams and those schools would still need alleviation
even though there's excess across the district. It may not be at that specific school or in that specific neighborhood. And in those cases, we do look to open additional capacity to help alleviate that. Um I think the new schools had
allocation for D75 uh seats. Are those allocations enough to address the number of um deficits that we have now or will there still be a deficit of P75 seats?
>> So yes and um it will not fully alleviate uh the district 75 need just with that new capacity. However, it will create a dent. And then in addition, we're always looking for buildings with some of that sufficient excess space to
open new programs. So, the way that we look for district 75 capacity is not just through new buildings. Sometimes it's also expanding programs that are already existing where they're where um they're housed in schools that have
seats. So that uh middle school excess seat, we would work really closely with the district 75 superintendent and their CEC's to say, okay, on which level are we seeing the most um need? Uh in which
areas are you finding the most need? Where is the greatest travel need even for some of your students? And then we would look in some of those buildings where we say, "Okay, this building has excess capacity. Can we open or expand a program and that also helps to meet the
need? >> So the idea is these two new schools might alleviate overcrowding in schools in that area and then that might open new seats or capacity for other needs potentially.
>> Potentially their budget that >> Yep. And we're also always uh you know lately with class size law thinking about how new capacity can support schools that are having trouble with complying. Um but that's exactly right. I think hopefully we get to a space where we have the right number of seats
to serve um the students in the district and then that can free up some space if there are additional needs like D75 or ASD programming um or any other specialized programming that might also be a need in the district. I have a quick question. So, so new
school 512 includes designed district 75C. So, it's just a question that came up with in my head. So, three years ago I had a visit with PS130. They also have a P75 sitting in there, but because of D75 coming in, they're combining they
lost the gym completely. So, they're utilizing a one small classroom as a gym. do they put? So for that kind of um happening, is there any way that we
could how how do you actually plant D75 seeds with the new buildings right now because I just feel like it's not fair for them to lose the gym. I'm not saying we should not have D75, just that will
there be a better way to adjust the DM5 seats. >> Yeah. So, >> oh yeah, right. Go ahead. >> No, it's okay, Joanne. Sorry. >> Yes. So, thank you for raising that um challenge. I think, you know, we
definitely want to make sure that all D75 uh students are having access to appropriate facilities and a challenge with a gym is definitely something we want to address. Um we, you know, within the new building there's designed district 75 space and so we could open a
brand new district 75 program in that space. We could recite a district 75 program from one building to the new building where there is space. Those are both options that are definitely on the table. Um, and we, you know, work closely, like Rya was saying, with the
district 75 superintendent and as we engage with the community, if that need were to be highlighted as something that the community is interested in exploring further, we could work with the D75 team to explore for sure. So, appreciate you bringing that up. The one um limitation here is that we always try to colllocate
district 75 and GE programs that are the same grade level. So, if we were, let's just say, opening a new elementary school in a building, we would open up a D75 program that also serves elementary school uh students so that, you know, for inclusion, those students can be
interacting and be in the same grade band. Um, and then also just, you know, size and space. We always have to keep in mind when we're looking uh at what we might open or reay. >> Yeah. >> One of the too is that schools that have collocations have what they refer to as
a building council. >> Yeah. So that requires building leaders from each of the schools. Sometimes there's even three colloccated scenarios in a building. Each of those principles are expected to come together with a team so that they can organize around space and make sure that whatever it is that they do need, albeit obviously
having a an all-purpose room as a more or less their their gymnasium space is certainly not ideal. Uh but the the way that that building is organized in general is a little makes things a little bit tough. So that's why they do meet. um so that they can uh make the
best out of all the space that they have in their schools. >> Yeah, I just feel like you know they don't have a gym because it was the best time that was my best time in elementary school and also they tried to expand the building but you know as you know school yard is controlled by park so that's
also giving her difficult time to expand. So, okay. Anybody else? Anybody? >> Okay. >> Thank you guys for spending the time with us. We appreciate you and I'm sure
we'll be speaking again soon. >> Yes, of course. Our contacts are um on the screen. Please feel free to reach out to us, send us an email. We're here. We're happy to partner with you all and you know as things move forward in in
district 25, we'll definitely be back. >> Perfect. >> Thank you guys. >> Thank you. >> Thank you all so much. >> Have a good night. >> Okay. So, moving back to what we were going to touch on before. This is going to be a brief conversation for right now, but we can always continue this
conversation. We had talked about wanting to discuss meeting engagement and some ideas things that we want to do to try to bring more people to meetings whether online or in person. So I just want to give you guys a chance. We have open let's talk about it we want to
talk. Um I know you talked about rearranging the room. We tried some different stuff that would really be conducive to what we wanted to do. Um, so anybody want to chime in? >> I think they should do more events. I
feel like like a community events. It's like open to public especially like letting all the elementary school parents know that you know it's some kind of event for parents or children. So more you know they come in really they heard
about us. I think you know more events will not be bus because as you know when we have back to school event you know how many people get I wish all the people come to our meeting I think that's one of the way for us to reach
out you know more events involved like you know >> and maybe attending more existing events there are say back to school I think principles are already running if we could ask to have a table there and just talk a little bit about what we do out.
>> I know um Senator Lou he's having another back to the school um meeting also. I know sometimes 109 prison they do some sort of a back to school you know supply giveaway. >> So it's part of my slides too but
council member is doing a back to school event right down the block. >> Yeah. >> Um she's had it a couple of times and um really very well attended. We're there we give away books. We're there to communicate with our with the with the community just to make sure that we're showing a friendly face, but also to get
people geared back up to school uh to be ready for the back to school. Um we're also at the Kappa event. Kappa hosts event at the the um the library um on casino and um it that one is not usually
as um um there's not as many folks that attend that particular one, although the library is always packed. But I encourage you guys to be there at that too. I typically do a presentation at at that one as well. Um just to get folks in, but always certainly welcome you
guys if you want to be there to to support. I mean I can certainly ask the council member. I know Shane is on. I don't know if um if it would be okay for you guys to also have a table. I would imagine that they wouldn't mind that. Even if you're piggybacking with us being there. >> Hey everyone. Yes, I am on.
>> Of course. Of course you guys can have a table if you want to show. If you want to come, of course you can have a table. >> Shane, just what was the date again? Just so that everyone has it. [clears throat] >> It's September 4th. >> It's from 12 to 3 p.m. >> And I have it in my slide so you guys
can see all the information that's in there. >> We will definitely have a table. We will definitely have a table for you if you guys want one. >> Okay. Thank you. >> And a lot of the events that uh uh Dr. Mike just mentioned, good events also.
The back to school event for Kappa is on Saturday, August 29th at 1 PM at the Main Street Library. >> Hello. >> I'm making fun of your picture. Sorry. >> I know. But the the the owl is looking at the screen because that's that's me.
[laughter] >> Well, you're people disappointed that you're not here physically right now. So >> that's right. >> Anyway, Grace, you were gonna say something. Yeah. So I think that um
meetings or events across the entire year >> because I I feel that we concentrate the most of the events on April to May or June. So it create a lot of conflicts of
scheduling. So I think we can say that pay for the issue. So something you guys might want. So it's also in in the slides just to you guys are kind of making I can that way I can skip it when it comes to it. >> Yeah. >> So as part of the the feedback that I
received from some of you guys around the arts funding some of you asked for an arts festival. So what it made me think about was how do we tap into the organizations that we've been working with and instead of having nine separate events we can invite them to an event where we have separate
locations. So if you want to do work on doing something paint painting or you want puppetry or you want to go and listen to um and participate with Juan for so some of you that were with them or do a together and dance kind of creative dance. We can set up a variety
of different stations so to speak where it becomes an arts festival little bit different than just coming for an arts workshop where we can invite maybe I think we have like 30 35 people that attended each of the individual ones. um that might work out as an in between even the the annual wellness day that
we're also going to have again so that we continue to have space to really bolster community amongst uh amongst everyone. >> Yeah. And also if we can set a plan in the event I know that half of them for them by year
probably like this yeah then people can clear >> I know that when we've done the book thing that's been very well attempted uh we had helped giving out the books plus we also had a table so we were able to
talk to people get their information invite That's the meeting to add them to like a mailing list was the time. >> Yeah. And we will be doing the Thanks for giving walk uh again where we're hopeful that community members bring some canned goods to go to uh one of our local food food pantries. It's always a
nice thing. Community comes out together. We usually have music in the background. Um you know, but what what what I think would be a really smart way for us to do is just make sure that it gets calendared so everyone can see it in advance. We can certainly do that. Um
my team is actually meeting what's today? We're meeting a couple weeks from now just to kind of go over the years um sessions that we have. And part of what I'm going to ask all of you guys tonight is for feedback around each of our priorities and the things that we would want to do as a collective group because
I do believe that you while while I offer things at the district level, I think the more everyone gets seen and kind of connected and it doesn't mean that you have to be at everything. you know, it's hard to be at everything, but even if you were to divvy up kind of the the space of who goes when, um, it might
allow just to have that table of CC, we're here for you guys. What do you, what questions do you have? What do you need? Um, because we do intend to to have, you know, many sessions. I know that you guys, though, some of you I see at every single one of them. I don't know how you do it. Um, but we do offer
a lot, we have offer a lot of resources from from our district. So, um, better served if everyone really truly knows about them, you know, including you guys as a as a CC. >> I think, >> you know, >> the other thing that I was thinking is like I know that meetings go to the
parent coordinators, the schools, but I can tell you it's not shared in all the schools. It's definitely not like I don't get notified about it at my school saying, "Oh, there's a meeting. I happen to know it because I'm going to be here." But it's not something that's shared across the schools. And I think us getting that to the schools and
making that more of a priority to say, "Hey, we are having these meetings. This is what we're discussing at these meetings." We need to find out why that's not getting to them and how we get that. And >> even even when it is being distributed, I don't think parents necessarily know like what does a CC meeting mean? What
is a community education council like? What does it matter to me if you guys are having a meeting? And I don't know if parents necessarily understand what we're doing or what value there is for them to attend. Like I I think some of our highest
attendance to our meetings at least on Zoom was when there were the special education info sessions. >> So that's something we were already talking about earlier. >> Yeah. [laughter] that kind of got like um broadcast as just being specifically for special
education info session and it just so happened to take place during our CEC meeting like they wouldn't have attended the CC meeting otherwise. So, I don't know if that's something that you can consider. Like, are there topics that parents specifically are interested in
and they would be more interested in attending a CC meeting if those topics were being discussed? I don't know if that's something that we can survey families about. >> You know, I noticed um a lot of parents don't know exactly what CC is. That's the first
>> what we have to do. We need to get involved in school more. meaning like maybe we could contact because you know October they is a Halloween so I know some schools they host like a kind of parties and then we could that's when all the parents come out actually for their kids they line up so during those
events we maybe we should be part of it and kind of like you know who we are introduce ourselves we need to be more exposed that's what I feel like but we cannot just do publicly um publicly we have to actually get to that like more
get that we got to visit their school but not just like a principal or vice princip um vice president we need to talk to the more um you know PTA parents so that they're the one who actually going to let the words out so I feel like we need to get more involved in
school activities as well like each individual I know it's a lot of work but we have more than seven people this year oh so our seats are completely filled so we maybe we could take some schools and you know when my daughter's school 194
when they have host any kind of meeting I'll just put it out there you know they're doing this how about you come at you know see maybe you know talk to the parents over there and then just I think that itself is going to I know in the beginning we're not going to have that much of a feels like we're not
going to have that but that build up I feel like that's one of the way for us to kind of spread the word and uh another thing is I noticed that a lot of parents in our district went is very interesting when it comes to competitions or like award, right? So
maybe we could have some kind of award like a writing essay like essay or like you said our mentions like a art, you know, competition that >> doing it in our district >> CC25 we have a funding we have a funding to give make award and give it to our
kids. So one that I noticed that when it's like essay contest and all the parents are interested but it is it's getting hosted by us maybe that's one of the way for us to kind of let them know because once they all come in for a war
ceremony we have a chance to introduce ourselves then they will be more I will say attentive we're listening >> that's just my idea >> I have I have two suggestions uh too and uh and Yeah, this reporter from World
Journal always asking me, you know, when's your next meeting? I like to know, you know, so I was wondering, could we send send out invites like to the reporters, different reporters? I'm not sure what we're doing and to the um
the organ the uh lo local associations association to invite them to come over. Um, so make it a u a monthly thing. Uh, you know, maybe we can do that. That's the first suggestion that I have. >> Well, if you know, so if you know of
anybody that's wanting to get that information, we just need their information and either could put them on the mailing list. She has a mailing list she's created. >> Yeah. Yeah, definitely. I would do that. Um um this week, you can know. Um so and uh and and also do I know Dr. Mike has a
newsletter, right? send out. >> Can we like also have a newsletter sent out as a CC? >> I will be honest. I personally don't have time to create a newsletter, but if somebody else wants to take that on, I would gladly be open to it.
>> Or if something else we could do, maybe Dr. M, we can give you like a little snip to throw in the newsletter from the PE just to add to it. >> Yeah. >> Like a quarter from the PE or something like that. Everybody wants to take each person takes like a month >> and so like it's not the same person
doing every month you know. >> So when we go out you know when we have have a booth we can ask people to sign sign up for a newsletter. Hey, you know, you want that slide out there. [laughter] >> Yeah. >> The the water,
>> right? even if it's just the mailing list to make sure that they find out about our meeting. >> Um, so I think that >> I looked around a little bit and kind of how they're sort of advertising themselves and kind of on the topic of
like nobody knows what we do. I think if we go to these events, it would be nice to have something hand out. So I found this from CC 24. It's basically about like you should run for a vacancy on the council which wouldn't be the focus of ours, but I think they did a really nice job of kind of breaking down like what
is this exactly and why should you be interested in it. So just as maybe inspiration and then I do think I think it mentioned like maybe highlighting one or two things that are going to happen at the meeting like why would somebody want to come to this particular
month of meeting. So I also found a few CC's where I thought that they did that kind of nicely. Um I don't have a lot of these but um and I also found a couple that I thought they did a really nice page if we want to take inspiration there. One
was that was one CC 13 and the other CC8. Um, so I don't know how many people find us through our website anyway, but if they were inspired to look this up, um, I think she's did a nice job kind of kind of just explaining what they do and
then also make it easier easy to find out agenda like that and also to contact you. >> Well, so we have a website. >> Oh, I know. We have a website. And it was people were offered to step up and help design it, but nobody wanted to,
which is why Egypt did the best she could with Louis's help. So if somebody wants to step up and do that, you guys are welcome to, but nobody wanted to. So that is why that did not happen. >> Okay. >> Um, but gladly if anybody is open to
that, you guys can, but um I do want to try to wrap this section up. we continue talking about this like I said, but um I appreciate you bringing those and sharing that with everybody. But hey, if anyone has any additional ideas for
the website um and anything like that, feel please feel free to contact me and maybe work with her on it. Anybody can. But also the newsletter idea, I think if we want to start planning like a little paragraph each month from one of us, we
could then send this to Dr. Mike and he could have it edited. I think that would be a good start. I know I know it's going really long. Um I just had a few ideas. Um I don't know if it's possible, but um the location might be hard for
some families to go to. I don't know if it's possible to do maybe one CC meeting at like a school and that actually brought up as well. >> The location maybe um central flushing might be easier um for families to go
to. Um I go to CC28 and they do a thing where they highlight a school. Um, so maybe if you go to school at a time to like show a PowerPoint and then that can bring in the families from that school um just to celebrate. I don't know. I
know some families really want to know about the middle school um to have information about that. >> Yeah. Yeah, >> a little snippet about each school each time that maybe >> like if we if we're having meetings at
the middle schools. >> So that's what I was talking about last year is actually the parent coordinator at my daughter's school is the one that recommended it saying why not do it at some of the middle schools especially because parents are going to start wanting to know about the application process for fifth grade parents they're
going to start inquiring. I know in fourth grade I was already looking for my daughter. So I know the application opens up then you got to do it. But I think that was one of the things it's like hey do we want to start going to school but then we also have to get the schools to say yeah we we have we'll open the doors and we have to get the security. So it's like it's still the
same thing like it is getting security year but we need to have a specific game plan so that let's say like Dr. B reach out to the school hey DC want to use your building for this month and we can work on it. Um, so that's something that's definitely doable and it's come
up before but just hasn't come to fruition. >> So I think that >> they're always like >> I think there's a couple of things. One, it's if you need to showcase a school that's one thing, but ultimately you still have to have a meeting. >> Right. >> Right. So what is it that why is it that
a parent wants to come to your meeting and what is it that you want to convey? You know, because that's ultimately what you want. You want them to certainly come to the school. You want them to say hi to you, but you also want them to be able to be engaged in the meeting that you're having. So, what is it that you want to be able to really say to the community, I think, is an important part
of the planning. Certainly, you can have it in in any school and we'll be able to help organize around that. I do think certainly middle schools and parents being able to see what they each look like so they can make a choice to middle school planning um is certainly a nice idea for sure, but it's then about what
are you what are you going to say to them that after the tour they want to say and chat um because after the tour, right after the tour, what is it that winds up happening? We even saw it sadly during the awards ceremony where we had
>> a good 50 plus people left in the middle of the award ceremony. Right. So those are just something for things to consider too as part of the the planning. >> Yeah. And I think even like what I was saying before about um we had like high attendance with the special education info session.
People dropped down for that. So, I don't know if this is like So, at my at my daughter's school, they they hold the the PTA meeting first and then they do like the student of the month stuff. They try to hold people hostage. >> I don't know if we >> we did try that actually at my daughter's school and it did not they
had to move things separately. >> They do that at one time as well. >> Yeah, it was something that wasn't working very well. >> Go back to the meeting, >> but everyone I am the meeting. I'm not sure how that's affecting attendance,
but I do it every day. So, if I if you can share the list of Egypt, maybe that might help that I put them like all the people on the list that um you're keeping Egypt. Maybe um that might help.
>> I don't think she heard what you were talking about. YouTube I was saying every month I amplify the meeting but I don't know how much that affect attendance on my Instagram but maybe if I had a list of the people who you have then I don't know if that would happen
>> a list of the people that I have on the >> running list you have of the um people you notify the >> oh it's like 93 people >> I can give you the list 20 but it's like 93 people
>> it has all the PCs of the district. Um, a couple of people in the office here. Uh, like the list I have I had the local the elected officials on there. The list was like curated. So, I just like put it on.
>> Yeah, it was like a started list. She took over. >> The list was curated before I got here. >> So, I just continue using that one and just adding as I get inbox emails like for people who want to receive Can we have like the electives include
info about our meetings in their newsletter? >> Like I know uh council member sent something out pretty frequently pages. >> Yeah, I think they typically send out their own their own newsletters that I I >> we have to
>> Yeah, I mean we have to ask Jen or Shane. I know they're on >> I put I put your median newsletter every every month. >> Thank you. I I think we need to uh give people a why
come for the meeting. Yeah. So maybe to build something together like if if we don't have that why we cannot uh define strateg highlight of of highlight of
Well, I think that to be honest, our meetings could also be more engaging. I think a lot of the topics that are that are are that we talk about could be of interest to parents, but like this room setup, I can't even see half of the graphs that are up there. So, if
somebody were to come in person, how are they going to see these presentations? Um I think uh you know maybe some of them could be a little bit shortened down and maybe with more or less opportunity for
questions. Um I think that there there is an opportunity there to make it more of something where somebody would have uh be happy to to come here without having to sort of be you know tricked into it or have some extra intensive.
>> Okay. So, sorry guys, I hear all the ideas. I wrote down some stuff that we discussed. Um, I also put out there things that you guys are welcome to jump in and do as well, but we do need to move on. >> Um, but I think we should move on. We can always revisit this again. We can
continue that in our chat as well. Um, but I would like to move on if everyone's okay with that so that we can turn it over to Dr. B. All right, guys. Feels like it been so long, too, that you guys together, right? >> You weren't
>> You were You were on the camera. >> I was still on the camera. >> How did her tournament go? >> She actually played really really well. Um the it went four and five at the the national tournament, so they won game under 500, but they they did really
really well. um for for her club team. Um that was the best that they had done in the national tournament. So it was really good. Um okay, so couple of things. Um this we will just bypass just because of interest of time. But if you wanted to think about what you do to
beat the summer heat, beach day, pool day, or how would you fill in the blank? You want to shout that out, you're welcome to as we as we go on. >> As he's going in, I'm going to just share what I said to him on the deal meeting. I went to the house in the AC all day. [laughter] It's pie out. Um so this is just a quick snapshot from
summer rising um that we had. You can see our little kindergarteners here that um were were presenting on habitats. They created their own little diaramas for um for presentation amongst their peers. And the reason why I highlight that is because it it aligns with where
we're going and you'll see in the next slide with one of our priorities. We're adjusting some of our thinking in um in our modules for HMH. Still using HMH. nothing to change there in regards to the modules themselves, but just in terms of thinking around uh making sure
that our kids are getting really really active inside of the units. So, this was towards the end of this particular unit and we got to practice a little bit with a unit that's not used during the school year. So, that's what you see happening over here. And I got this this middle one from um from PS24
uh just today. She said this was one of the one of my best pictures of the of the summer rising program. And you could just see the joy that's in the the faces of these three young ladies. So, it was really really cute. Um, and then this young man here was um uh was being
recorded to kind of support the work that we're going to be doing into next year as well. So, we did some videotaping this summer just to kind of capture some of the moves that we're hoping to see in our classrooms throughout the year. Um, and you know, I just wanted to highlight a couple of them with you. Uh, these are the back to
school events. We have Kappa um that will be on August 29th um at the library as uh Lewis had already shared. Um and we have uh council member's second annual back to school uh block party that they're doing right down the block
from 12 to 3 on September 4th. Uh just a reminder the calendar is uh is up. I just wanted to make sure that we had these first couple of days uh in mind and that we didn't lose sight of this which I'm sure you wouldn't but um we have first day of school September
10th um Yamore is September 23rd and then we have our evening parent teacher conferences for each of the um the groups. Now just a reminder I always say even with the parent teacher conferences you touch base with your school because that first one of the year sometimes they engage in votes at the school level
to change those dates. So, just make sure that you follow up with your school on that. But those are the uh the general guidelines for the be for the beginning of your um important dates. And there is the calendar for you just in general. I linked it there for you in the event that you want to see the rest
of the school year if you haven't done so already. Wellness, kindness, community collaboration. If you haven't, I would love your feedback around when we can meet. Uh, you know, last year we had um scheduled it just before our meeting
dates. Unfortunately, um that didn't really work out. Um there were times that we would get there all the way up until the time that we were about to meet and maybe there were two of us that were there to engage in the conversation. Made that whole part very very difficult to to actually truly have
a discussion about the wellness kindness community work. Uh so if you haven't done so, please give me some feedback and then I will begin organizing a monthly time frame for that. If you are also willing as a as a parent to help formulate the agenda so that we are
clear on what we're doing that can be communicated with everyone else. Um so be it. I would love that as well so that you have as much voice in the process as possible. Currently this is what the the it looks like in terms of day of the week. It looks like Tuesday is the most
preferable um so far. And it looks like late afternoon was also the most preferable in terms of time. I will make anything work. So, it doesn't really matter to me. I'm going to do this based on what everyone has capacitywise. If you can't make it, it won't be the end
of the world, right? We'll do the best that we can and then report back during these meetings so that everyone can know what we talked about. Uh but if you haven't, I'll just flash this. This slide deck is there for you to go and revisit. um whenever you can to fill it in, but sooner rather than later would
be great. So, priority one, just so that everyone knows, this this particular slide is directly from um from the central office in terms of what we're looking to get accomplished in this school year. And you'll notice at the top it says all eyes on text. We want to make sure that our kids are actively
reading throughout this school year um and practicing so that we're becoming fluent in what we do. And then for us to make sure the children that are falling outside that sphere of success are receiving intervention supports. So what that looks like for us in the district
is this particular document. So we've taken the city um kind of the city kind of expectations and we've organized ourselves around these three buckets. Reading uh the critical content that's available inside of our units of study.
Making sure that kids have opportunities to discuss and develop their understanding. and then creating routine opportunities for them to write a little bit about what it is that they've just read so that we have a full opportunity for our kids to start absorbing the content. What we're what we have seen
and what I shared with you um prior was that yes, our phonics is improving. If you guys remember the slide deck that I shared last uh last month, I think it was last month, our phonics is improving, which is great, but we're not seeing the same thing happen with our kids ability to comprehend the text. So,
while kids are being able to decode more, they're not holding on to the content, and that's what we really, really want to build on this year. So, this slide kind of indicates all of that um for you guys to to peruse. I'm not going to read through each of these bullets, but it's here for you to look at, and then certainly ask questions um
at um at another time. So, here are our goals. Um this I shared with you already, so I'm not going to spend too much time. Focus around MTSS, focus on foundational literacy, and meaning making. Those are the backdrop of our of our literacy work going into
this school year. Um, consistent space of explicit instruction. We're still going to be talking about that for sure. But with this idea of balancing between skills and content, we're getting too heavy on skills. That means our kids are not thinking enough about the the modules
that we have that we're presenting to them. So, we want to try to balance that out as much as we possibly can. Um, and the implementation of the REACH program. This is a program from National Geographic specifically targeting our entering and emerging children here in
the district. You guys know that we have a very significant multilingual learner population here in the district that we need to do all that we can to continue to accelerate their learning. Um so this is goal um number two within priority one.
Now, what does it mean in terms of engagement of families? And this I really would love your feedback and where we can piggyback um some of your meetings in terms of what we do at the district level. It's just about identifying what you would want to hear as a CEC, but also what you want to
communicate with our families. So, what I do know is we need to continue to communicate around MTSS. I think we learned that just as a CEC alone when we brought that up and I asked, "So, what does it mean to you?" it was kind of very very hush when we got to that conversation, right? So, we need to
build more of our own capacity in that area so that we feel comfortable as CEC members. Um, making sure that families know what the assessments are that we're giving and more importantly what they mean about their own children. Uh, resources to support foundational skills and meaning making, making sure that we
have a good bank of information for our families. uh reach curriculum orientation particularly for our entering and emerging children. Um and then creating relational opportunities for our parents uh and children in a bi. So out throughout the year what do we
want to do to connect with our families? And you know my kids are obviously in high school now. Emily going into her senior year, Matthew going into sophomore year. And one of the things that I think about often as a parent is did I really do enough to make sure that they were getting an enjoyment out of
reading were did I do that well enough? And I can tell you the answer is no. I could have certainly done better at or working with my own kids, let alone kind of reinforcing that for the 23,000 kids here. I probably do that and echo that voice better with the 23,000 kids that
are here than I do with my own two children, sadly. But the the idea is how do we create relational space where parents are interested and invested in learning what we have to share so that their kids are better for it and making sure that they find something that they like to read and let them read it. We're
often times kind of choosing for for our kids and we might say well why are you reading that graphic novel again? Well because they like it. They enjoy reading the graphic novel and it's okay. Does it mean you can't introduce other genres? No. But it shouldn't be that we discourage the reading of the things
that they like. So that's something that we have to do more on. We love your feedback on things that we can add to this puzzle piece of making sure that parents are engaged in this journey of making our kids readers uh over the course of time. >> Poor librarians and schools would help.
[laughter] >> Certainly 100%. I I don't I don't disagree with that. If that's something that I would be able to enforce on my own, I would be happy to. Um, but there are many options for us. Are we taking advantage of even the the um the library
bus that's available? Can we create those opportunities and experiences for our kids with the public library that have resources that are probably very untapped on a regular basis from the majority of our kids in the district? Um, so anyway, there's more on that, but would love for you to think around
priority one. What are some of the other things? that even for you, let alone parents on the outside of CEC, what would you want to also hear about that would help you feel better prepared as a parent to help your children, right? Okay. Similarly, you're going to see a similar
pattern trying to make sure that everything that we are doing is in alignment with one another. Uh, and I'm only sharing this with the first two goals with you today. uh sensem little different in mathematics. Same idea meaning making and reading sense
making in mathematics aligns with the instructional shifts but the idea of problem solving discussion and writing about mathematics making sure that our kids have an opportunity to think that they have an opportunity to practice and that they have an opportunity to write
about some of their explanations. Really really important for our learners that they're that they're able to do that. Um, and why we've talked about this a number of times that if kids only think about procedure when they're confronted with something where they actually have to do some deep thinking, they tend to
shut down. Right? So, it's about us giving more our kids more experiences and thinking through problems, having conversations with peers, and then explaining their thinking. Okay, here we went through this. Goal is to improve um the implementation of rich
mathematical routines and tasks that promote problem solving and meaning making of key concepts. Goal is to improve outcomes always. Uh but you know, most importantly that we're getting our kids to become become math thinkers. We're going to continue our interactive
work. Beth did a fantastic job last year with all of the virtual math sess sessions. Those were very well attended too, Christine. We had a good hundred people each time we did those. Um the virtual math uh I mean, excuse me, the math family nights also very very well
attended. Uh 150 plus parents and kids came to those. Uh we do intend for that to happen. Probably and EOI. I don't think we'll be able to squeeze it in at the beginning of the year, but we'll definitely do in the middle and at the end of the year. Uh this year we're going to continue to unpack curriculum
with parents. We want to make sure that everyone knows, as you guys know, we're going full Amplify next year across District 25. So, we'll make sure that we have opportunities for you guys to hear about that and also to learn about the assessments that are within the program. So those are just a few small bucket
areas that that I intend to do this year. But if there are things that you want to also engage in, piggyback on, I think the things with our family nights would be a fantastic way to do that uh for you guys as CC members to to be there to participate and engage in the
math yourselves. Um so I encourage that if you're interested, but I'm open to any ideas that you have in terms of engagement and share them with Eden. And when Eden comes to represent the CC during our DT meetings, then we can add them to our uh conversation at the
district leadership team. Okay. Priority three. Um the goal here is to improve on this space of respect for one another between kids. Uh making sure that we're really promoting this. This is very much aligned with our SEAL work. Um and ensuring that our kids are able
to manage those emotions and they're connecting with their peers on a regular basis. um different this year. I'm asking our kids to really look at the data that comes from the surveys that they complete. So when they look at that information, what does it tell them as a student group of students and what do
they want to work on as a collective school? So if we're having a hard time with mutual respect, what is it that we would want to commit to as students where they are helping lead the charge and not necessarily always us saying, "Okay, you're going to do this task today." the more ownership that our kids
have in this in this space, my feeling is the more that they are apt to follow along with the expectations from it because they were the ones that helped create it. So there there's more to follow on this and this is also something that we can bring students here to talk about the things that they're learning from the data and what
they want to improve upon in their own buildings. And I don't want these things to be massive. I want them small. You know, a just say hi initiative is something that's small that can be really really transformative in a school where you have kids that just don't necessarily treat each other with kindness all the time. Uh and that's
what the ultimate goal is here. Um want to make sure that families are engaged in as authentic partners in this space kind of creating that space of that opportunity for inclusiveness inside of our schools. Routine opportunities for our families and students to engage in connection before content.
Really really believe in this. I think it's something that we need to do at every single one of our meetings. Making sure that adults can connect with one another. You've learned so much about someone just in a small conversation around, well, why Eden, do you really love the air conditioning rather than going to the beach or the pool? It opens
up a whole conversation. I mean, we didn't have it today just for time. But in general, I think at any CC meeting, DT meeting, president's council meeting, all of our meetings that you have in events, there should be some way for our community to actually communicate with one another and not just be in isolated
spaces. Uh so that is one of our spa parts of this and engaging in our annual wellness kindness community um event um as we have done the past two years. This year is much more well attended than the previous one and I think the coming year will be even better than um than last
year. Priority four. Okay, this is a big one. Um something that we're going to be working working towards this year is taking advantage of two particular programs that we haven't used nearly enough and that is uh the black studies
curriculum that New York City has available as well as the hidden voices curriculum um that covers a variety of different ethnic groups um where our kids are able to see themselves inside of the the curriculum that we're implementing particularly passport to
social studies. So, we're starting with grades four and seven. Goal is to implement at least three different opportunities throughout the year where we're integrating some of these resources into our social studies curriculum, but also to then gather some feedback from our kids around do we
actually see that present in our classrooms. Um, so there there are multiple facets to this, but the goal is to really create that culturally responsive curriculum that we want to make sure that our kids have access to every day. Civics for All. That one's going to continue the way that we've had
in past uh past years. We've made a lot of strides. Um with the Civics for All work. Take action projects have been really taking off. The project soapbox has been has been really taking off as well. And the goal is to get to a point where we have 100% of our eighth graders
earning a point to the skill for civic readiness. Very much aligned with New York inspires and a portrait of a graduate. really want this to become something that we can um really uh put a stamp on that this is something that district 25 does really really well think it will serve our kids really well
for their future in high school and beyond. And then lastly, safer college goal is to get to 80%. Everyone, we did not come close to that. We got to 46% this year. We're about 2% below our goal of 49%.
One thing that everyone should know, and this is really, really awesome that the city's been able to do this, they have now shifted kindergarten to all kindergarteners having access to $1,000 in their account. That's not across all grades. They're starting this again,
starting in kindergarten. $1,000 by activating their account for college and career preparation, which I think is fantastic. So, I think the window usually opens in January. Jenny, are you still there? January. >> Yeah. Yeah. Incoming kindergarten
families are able to activate an account in January. >> In January. So, you know, and I know there's always a lot of reasons why we might not want you, but I feel like $1,000 is that's a lot of money to not take advantage of as a parent. Um, so I
want to put that out there for you guys, too. And wherever we can communicate that, if they're not sure, if they have questions, they don't know why, is this safe, is it this, is it that, ask us. and we'll get get them the information so that people can feel comfortable about it. And that's often the feedback
we've received is yes, but I don't feel comfortable. Where is this information really going? Can I is it going to impact my ability to get um financial aid for my child when they get to college level? And all of those things come up and we want to be able to support anyone with the information. But
this is really really a great opportunity um especially for our kindergarteners but likewise for our kids in first and fifth grade that they have start with 100 $100 in their account and then get bonuses of $25 for doing other tasks. So it's a great it's
a great opportunity in my opinion and I'm hoping that more people take advantage. Yeah. >> Do we know which schools have like higher activations and fewer activations? >> Yes. So we have three schools that manage to get over 80% of their children with they're fourth graders anyway with
active accounts. >> Um so we do >> so to me the the the thing that that is the most important with this is personal communication. It's you know getting on the phone making sure that someone feels com comfortable. We're able to build trust with with our families. Schools do
have trust but when it comes to this there is a little bit of that uneasiness right. So, it's it's about making sure that we have that constant communication. We've had a couple schools in the 70s, many of our schools in the ' 60s, and then we have a few that even go further down the line. And
um what I found is that that personal communication, we have here actually did a whole um uh walk was the run or combination of either walk or run where the fundraising actually contributed to go right into the counts with New York City Kids Rocks, you know. So, there are other ways to even augment the money
that's in there. It's just about making sure that everyone feels confident that what they do there is not going to impact them in any negative way in the future. >> Schools had like workshops and stuff specifically to go through how to do it like what the benefit is, answer any questions that people had and I don't
know if that helped to drive um more activations or not. Yes, there's more that could be done. >> So, in uh April and um April and May this year, we saw a significant change just because of the attention we were paying to it. Um but even at that was
only another 10% change. It wasn't a drastic difference. Uh but 10% was big just in two months. They if we can do that over time once we get to 80 we're good you know in the sense of meeting the goal. That's hard. We're always going to have that plus or minus. You know some families are just not interested and they've told us that. And
for me we have to respect that space. They don't want it. They don't want it. That's that's every individual parent's choice. My goal, as I said all of last year, is that I just want to make sure everyone's aware of what it is and then make an informed choice rather than one that is based on what we presume to be
true. Yeah. Okay. Anyway, uh that's that. Um we want to make sure that families will continue to be informed. We will continue to raise awareness at the district level. We will have events throughout the year where we will include a safer college kind of
table so that if anyone needs to know, we will make sure that we piggy back all of our work on that. Uh but we'd also love to continue to bring our kids to CC meetings to share their projects, to share what their soapbox speeches were so that we are um really endorsing the
their work as um as um activists in their own schools. Um, priority five, we have um attendance. Oops. Attendance. This one, guys, is so
important. Some of our schools um do experience really, really high chronic absentism rates. Um, and when we get to a point of 20% chronic absenteeism rates, it is quite a challenge for kids to keep up. This will continue to be a goal. One of the things that you'll
you'll you may hear throughout the year, and we'll talk more about it. Austin from our team will be leading this for the success mentors attendance plan. Um it's something that we are piloting across a number of schools with really high chronic absenteeism rates so that um we can make sure that the families
and the kids are receiving the attention that they need to feel really great about coming to school every day. Um so that is on the docket but the the goal is to reach that that reduction rate. We were great from September through late November. Then December came and we no
longer were meeting the goals. We were meeting every single subgroup through November. After November, we started to see a a steady decline over the course of the next four months of the winter. Um and it really really impacted the number of kids that were chronically out. And having said that, that means
we're still three in the city in terms of overall attendance rates and chronic absentism rate. So we do very well comparatively, but this this is something we're still going to continue to focus on. Okay. our funding. This will be quick. Um, based on on feedback
that you guys received, I saw school level residencies was an area that was identified as a need. Community- based events was also an area that was identified as a need. Broadway show tickets is an area that was identified as a need. And it was also a couple of things in terms of doing like more
individualized small group, but that becomes a little bit harder because it's only $80,000. It's not a lot of money. Um, while it sounds like it's a lot, once you do a couple of residencies, most of those funds wind up getting soaked up. So, um, we I connected with
Flushing Town Hall, Arts Connection, Studio in a School, and Together in Dance. What I created was a form for all of our schools um to create an application one so that they can indicate why it is that they want these dollars that are coming from the
district, how it fits in with what they want to get accomplished in the school so that we have a way of deciding around who gets it other than me saying, "Oh, I think you know, Grace, your school would be the great one for it." Right? So, there's a little bit more meat behind it and that will be something we review at
the DT. uh Eden will have a chance to to kind of see what that looks like and I'll certainly present that to you guys too. Um but that in a nutshell would be for residencies thinking about that community family event that that a number of you actually put down as a as
a a want uh resident uh and Broadway show tickets. So those are the three things that I'm hoping to get done with those dollars going into next year. And the last thing I want to mention to you is um the district problem solving pilot. So, uh, we're going to be going
I'm going to be going on a central collaborative review meeting, uh, in the near future to talk about things that we can do a little bit differently, uh, to make sure that our kids are receiving, uh, the best experience that we can possibly give them. And we do have some of our schools, and we were talking
about enrollment earlier with, uh, with Ria and Julianne, we do have some schools in the district that are very, very low in enrollment, very low. And part of the conversation we're going to be having with this particular group which is made up of of Edith uh Veronica
from the president of president's council uh Jamie who is the uh DPAC president there's three principles there's three teachers uh there's three members of my team will be coming together to br to to brainstorm and problem solve around how do we help
boost enrollment in these spaces so that um kids are be are are given a really really robust cost experience. When you have fewer children, it also, and I know Christine mentioned this earlier, there's less money. When there's less money, there's less programs that are
able to be offered, which means the experience is different for some of our kids. And that's something that we want to be able to work on. I just want to make sure that we I bring this to you guys each time that we have an opportunity to meet so that you're kind of aware of what we've been discussing and ways that we can contribute
differently in those areas to to bolster uh or make different choices around um you know helping increase the um experience or improve the experience for the kids in those areas. Okay. And that concludes my presentation. If anyone has
any questions, be happy to answer them. Anybody have any questions for Dr. White? >> So related to ascendants dropping off in the winter. Um would there be any um let's say issue with having um like a
mobile uh boo and co shots kind of station to be given out at schools. Obviously there need to be parental permission forms, but is that a possibility? >> I can definitely look into that. Sure. Yeah, I don't want to say yes or no. I would definitely have to touch base with
um the office of school health um and see what it is that they say about that. I think keeping kids healthy is certainly really really important. So, and it it does contribute. I think the the trouble with chronic absenteeism is that there's so many variables. You know, flu is one certain one variable,
but we also face, you know, families that choose to go uh you know, on a vacation 5 days early and then come back 5 days late. Once that happens, 10 days out, you've already missed a a significant chunk of schooling. So, we
do face that at times. Um, we do have other health scenarios where families, you know, asthma, we hear often some parents that get concerned that with their asthmatic child and, you know, sometimes they don't always realize that there are ways to establish a school plan with the school nurse, principal,
and so on. Um you know so sometimes that becomes difficult and you know that's al also you know the the trouble with having just an answer. It needs to be multiple answers. Uh which is why that whole success plan is something
that we're we're looking to pilot and and kind of scale up because it gets down to like the individual need of a parent and not just um a thing that that may help you know but not necessarily get to the root cause of why the folks were out. But I love that idea. I think
I can bring that forward and see if that's something that we can do. >> Okay. I wasn't suggesting you could completely solve the problem. >> No, no, no, no, no. I I'm just saying that there's just so many variables. That's the that's the hard in it. Uh but I think that's a great idea. No.
>> Anybody else? >> Okay. Thank you, Dr. Mike. >> Sure. >> So, I just have one thing I want to bring up. We are waiting for confirmation because the email that we got was a little bit different than what Angela and I were told on our meeting.
>> We were told that this is something we have to do in 2026, meaning in two months from now. Um, we have to have a chancellor town hall, which is something we do every other year. Last one was November of 24. Most of you guys were not here for that. Surely knows what we
go through. a big undertaking of planning, making sure we have the right school, making sure if there's going to be any presentations, if there's anything we want people to give out that day, that's the chance where we get our name out there. Also, it's us on the stage with the chancellor getting to ask questions. Also, family submit questions
that we will use. Um, we had a certain amount of time to really engage and have that conversation. So, right now, the two dates that we were given are Tuesday, October 13th or Monday, October 26th. So obviously this will be separate from our monthly meeting.
>> Um which I know is a lot to add to people's calendar. I >> I was not happy with the dates. I was trying to aim for November, December to give us a little bit more time to plan. Um we did find that that was more beneficial. >> If we can't come to a common ground or
end date um that will work for everybody, I can go back to Helena and we can talk about it more, but these are the dates she was given. So, take some time, look at it, message me this week in our group chat, >> October 13th, which is a Tuesday, or
October 26, which is a Monday. >> But the email we got >> said 2027, but it's probably not 2027, probably 2026. Um, because from what Angela and I, we we jumped on that call with Helina where she wanted to go over the stuff u
related to Bas and she said it was for this year. So, I think she had a typo in the email, but we're just waiting for confirmation. She's out of the country right now, but if you guys can just text me which of those dates would be better for everyone throughout the week, but this way I can start kind of piecing that together. And I did ask
>> Yes, email. Just ignore the uh 2027 part for now. >> You can just reply all to the email which date works best for you. >> And then I've asked Dr. Mike to see if he can identify a school that might be that's our go-to for everything.
And is this like an evening meeting or >> Yes. >> Just to cut them on our inbox. >> We do a doodle for you then. >> Love doodle. >> I don't know how to use it. >> Doodle. >> Yeah. They're really good.
>> Um, what about 499? We haven't been there in a while. They have a larger state. >> They have a beautiful apartment. >> I know. We when I first started on the capital, we did something there. I think it was up there. >> Um, yeah. I'm not opposed to anything. I mean,
>> I just want to give like a school a chance. We haven't been to in a while. Like 185 we've been doing a lot at 184 we've been doing a lot at. So, I want to try to find a different school. Um I don't know Bell Academy is on the other side. I don't know how people get
there like because we were talking to like the flushing community and stuff like that. It's open for parents to come things like that also. >> So like ideas >> but yeah I asked Dr. Gangers to give us some ideas.
>> No problem. Um, I have not used Google. I will see what I can come up with for you guys to get me answers, but we'll go from there. That was all I had for my report right now. Um, does anybody have anything for public speaking? Anybody
online have anything you want? Okay, then we get a motion. >> Motion 97. Okay, >> we can get out here. >> We're going to call the business order.
It is 9:09. If we can go through roll call. >> Eden, >> yes. >> Charlie, >> yes. >> Here. >> Sorry. Angela >> here. >> Amy >> here. >> Vincent. >> Yes.
>> Stephanie >> here. >> Yes. volume. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Awesome. Okay. Can everyone take a look at the minutes? See if there's anything you guys notice that we need to update
or change anything like that. Just let us know. If not, can >> once you guys review it, we can move to adopt the minutes if there's no changes. >> Oh, yeah. email whatever you have reference what I have on there and then
um then it'll come here anybody else. Yeah, I signed in like one thing, >> but um I labeled it. You try putting in those keywords if you could find but um maybe I think on
Monday I was meeting. >> It's okay. It happened. It was okay. It happened. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Okay. Um, anybody see anything that needs changing? I know there was one
thing I gave Egypt in advance, so that got updated already. Um, it was just a little missed. I don't know already. I don't even know how that happened. >> I think it's just from last. >> Um, does anybody see anything? We adopt
minutes as is. Yes. Nobody has any uh issues with admitted. Okay, we are moving on. No worries, Sha. Go ahead. Okay, so the budget haven't spent very
much money so far. Um reimbursements um is the only one that has some funding so far. So balances are 14,850 for reimbursements, 3,000 for meeting expenses, 500 for key card,
4,000 for supplies, 1,000 for equipment repair, 500 for equipment. Okay, next on the the agenda is the bylaw committee discussion. I know we had people that volunteer to be part of the
committee. Stephen does want to meet um about that and I we had a meeting with Helena. Um me and Angel were on that meeting. She did share with us some information to help us. So
um if you did not see that that email did come out, I can resend it out to everybody. I do have that Kent, Shirley, Stephen, and Angela were going to be on the committee. I myself am not going to
be a part of that committee just because with the DT and everything else I got going on this right now and I'm still adjusting to a new job. I will not be able to add another meeting onto my calendar right now. Um so I apologize if I can't but I'm trusting all of you to
plan a meeting, schedule it, make any changes, then come present it to us. We will share the information that we got. Angela has the information. Um, but meetings are supposed to be held in person. So that's the only hiccup that you guys
need to just kind of come to an agreement together on when you would like to fall, >> right? >> So like if one of us wants to come on and we're on Zoom and we don't need to be here because you guys are just having a quick brief meeting, it's fine. But we
do need to make some movement on it if we're going to make any changes. Um, so Ken, I don't know if you and or Angela, one of you guys want to get the group together. I know Stephen messaged me earlier when he was telling me he was
sick that he would like to meet. So maybe connect with Stephen, seeing what you guys can figure out in the four of you. Um, if you need me to jump in here or there, I don't mind jumping in. I just can't commit to being on that right now.
I'm sorry if I missed this and need to be changed. >> There's some wording that needs to be changed in regards to and so how do I >> the wording needs to be changed in
regard to like absences attendance there like little things that need to be updated a little bit better. We just did an update not that long ago um before all of you joined the council. Grace knows also. Um, but then Helena has been going over it. So, legal gave
her some pointers and gave her some other visuals for us to use to make the changes. So, she came to us asking us to look at it to make the changes because of that. >> Oh, she had um >> she did send information. >> She did create like a little power.
>> Yeah, that's all the information we shared with us during the meeting. So, there is a poweroint. I I have it. Oh, okay. >> Yeah, that was what we >> I don't think it's being like changed. I think more so like just like
>> Yeah, it's a little bit >> just little edits basically more than anything. The majority of the bylaws can remain as is. It's literally some minor edits that will just change some little things. So that is where we're at with that.
>> Yeah, I think I think clarification where we were like what is that? >> Yeah. So it was just it was obviously only the two of us on. Um she's willing to [snorts] go over it again with people if needed, but she did send out that information. So take a look. But it really is just like a little bit of
wording stuff. Very simple changes. It shouldn't be a big thing. Once you guys put that together, you bring it to us, present, tell me it's ready, we'll present it at our business meeting. Once we say we're ready to go, we'll move it up to the calendar meeting for same way we do with a resolution and then we can
but we do have to give time for discussion. So that's why we have to bring it up at the business meeting and then bring it up the next meeting. So that's where we're at with that. I guess nobody did any school visits because we're in the summer. So I'm going to check that off my list. If you guys went visiting,
great. But I doubt that was going on right now. Um, but now moving on, we do have another resolution that is being proposed by Angela. So, Angela, if you want to speak on that real quick, >> so the city council on English language
learners >> Oh, you don't have to read the whole thing for this part. You could just That's when we do like the vote. Just give us like a rundown. the and then we'll go through whether we're going to put it on the agenda for next month. >> Um, so you want to just give a rundown of what it's about
>> the basic. Yeah. >> Okay. So, I changed the language so it's not directed and it's more soft. It's author. Um, I put the dates in chronological order
and I added some where and um be further resolved. >> What is the So, can you clarify for everybody what the resolution actually is focusing on, Angela?
>> Yeah. There's a copy of it. >> Yeah. >> No. Okay. >> Angela, are you okay? >> Yeah. [laughter] I think not. So >> basically it's to
uh have transform uh all the things you can >> just let me know. >> I think she's waiting for you agenda. >> No. >> Oh yes. >> You're waiting. >> Okay. So it's basically
providing consistency across all CC's CEL CC HS and it's addressing the differences in eligibility requirements. Um
also wanted to make the process easier to understand and and expand opportunities for qualified parents to participate. So, that is resolution number 12. Angela did send out saying if anyone wants to co-sponsor, let her know.
>> Um, >> I'm sorry, Stephen, but it's not here. >> Okay. Um, >> I know someone else here. >> So, yeah, if anyone does want to co-sponsor that, let us know so we can update that. And then, are we okay with moving that to a vote for next month's
meeting? >> Yeah. Okay, thank you, Angela. Okay, so last thing for the night is planning for next month. Um, town hall conversation will definitely be a huge topic of conversation. Um, I'm checking
on one other thing that I was just asking Dr. Mike about, so that's why we were kind of going back and forth a little bit. Um, do we want the special education thing in September or October? Because I feel like earlier in the year is better for parents that might not know. >> Entirely up to you guys. We typically
have had it in October, >> but now we have all edited >> beginning of the school year, but >> we can do that whenever it is that you guys feel like, you know, I'll just touch base with Nathan long as it doesn't conflict with anything that he has. >> Does anybody have anything that they
wanted to cover possibly in September? It's Well, something in about C4E, but we did it already. So, I don't know why it would say like that we're supposed to do it as full um admission offense, middle school,
>> the admissions process usually not until until October. Lewis, if you're still on when Let me see if you're still there. >> Can somebody maybe come talk about that September in preparation for it? >> Uh we can have we can ask Nicole to come. >> Yeah. And also, when is the specialized
high school event? It's also October, right? I believe October, November, beginning of November. >> I will have to get the dates. I don't know off the top of my head. Sure. >> A couple of parents were asking about it. >> I don't think they've announced it yet. I think it's usually November,
>> like beginning of November or something. >> So, let's work on something for middle school admission process because I know that that's definitely going to come up very quick. >> I know I'm going to be going through that this year. I'm sure other people are as well. >> Very interesting, by the way. >> Yeah. I'm not looking forward to going
through it. >> Cry. >> Oh, I'm not going to cry. I just don't I'm just I hate doing application processes and all that stuff. Um, is there anything else anyone wants to throw on >> you something for the October meeting?
>> Not yet. We're planning September. >> I don't know about the the meeting if you can attend on October 15 or >> we're going to talk about that next month also. I'll come back this month on the 13th so she can just confirm on my birthday. >> Yeah. As soon as she gets back, I'll get
information. >> Okay. >> And then I'll know for sure. And then September, we'll definitely be discussing it. >> Okay. >> So, by then, Dr. Michael, let me know about a school. We'll have figured out which date is more conducive to the group. >> And I'm actually surprised they would want to do it that quickly only because
you guys have to develop new questions, all that stuff. But >> like the whole thing doesn't add up. Do we have the Do we have last question? >> I do have stuff. Yeah, >> I have a bag with all my stuff from the last couple of years over there.
>> Um, but in the meantime, we'll start playing, but it is kind of quick notice what we had in the past. >> Schools school be ready and all that stuff. >> So, Dr. Michael will work on getting us to school in the meantime just in case it is that quick. Um if we are able to
push it back, we'll push it back. Um anything else? Anybody else to bring up for the next month's meeting? Okay. My bylaw committee, do you guys want to try to meet before next month's meeting and present anything next month
or do you guys think you need a little bit extra time? What do you think? >> We have to talk about it when we get all together because since it's in person. >> Yeah. And if you guys decide to do it in person, >> you just got to live in Egypt notice so
that she can everybody know. >> We can't do hybrid. No, we have to also >> have to come over here or it >> has to be in person. >> This location though. >> It doesn't necessarily have to be
>> it doesn't have to be necessarily >> they have to have available for people to join. >> Yeah. Oh yeah. >> So you could do it somewhere else, but those links have to be open so that people can join. So let's say like Vincent wants to come on from home and he's not on their committee, he can still join. >> Yeah.
>> Or John down the street for you. You can open up your plates to the entire public to be open for public. So public access has to be [clears throat] there. Please serve. We can serve anything. >> I mean, if any of you wanted to arrange with your schools that you guys are at,
you could ask the school if you borrow their space, things like that. >> And then just have the Zoom link ready. So, there's different things you could do. >> I like it here because there's a parking lot. >> That's why I like stay with our doing stuff here like parking is a huge thing for people.
>> Which is why we haven't really, I think, >> yeah, >> migrated to the whole school thing even though we've talked about it. Um, we can continue talking about media engagement more for next month. I know that was something we wanted to talk about more, but I wanted to try to limit the time. So, if anyone wants to start thinking of
different like contest ideas or events, things like that that you guys brought up um or even the highlighting of a school, >> I definitely would do writing contest because kids needs to write more, I feel like. >> Um, yeah. So, come up with like an idea. >> Okay. So you know,
>> okay, >> so come up with some ideas, bring that to the September meeting. So I will put that topic on again. So this way we can actually kind of make a game plan of like things we want to do >> to get her fur out there, >> right? And to get more people coming stuff because we won't have soap box
features for a while. So [clears throat] till soap box features start, we want to engage kids and parents other ways >> like writing companies like pumpkin >> or like an art related thing because we're pushing the arts. Marissa is already on um organizing for um for the
kind of arts festival. We'll try to get dates available to you guys as soon as possible so you can see what the progression will be throughout the year. >> Okay? >> At least for our the bigger the bigger events. Virtual ones will be the virtual ones. I encourage you to be at those too.
>> Um yeah. So that's so we'll put meeting engagement back on there. We'll revisit it um with those ideas. If you want to connect with Egypt about website ideas, let me know or let her know. Whatever you want to do, that's fine. Um, does anybody have anything else or do we want
to go home today? >> That's it. >> Who's going to do it? >> Who's going to second it? >> I heard Stephie first. Uh, 9:26. >> I think a fantastic 2627. Let's have a
fantastic year, everyone. Enjoy the rest of your summer while you guys have it. >> Next time you guys come back, it'll be after school. >> School will have started. Adriana, thank you for joining today. >> I know. Then then you're going to blink and you're going to be right back in the seat talking about planning for 27 28.
>> I can't wait. The crazy part of it.