great weekend. Um, bunch of things for us to do today as always and we will get started with our minutes. So, if everyone could open them up or I will scroll down um for you if
you're unable to to open it up on your screen and we will get everything going. Just take a few moments to read through those minutes. All right, folks. Do we have consensus on the minutes? If you can give me a
little virtual thumbs up if we're good. Thank you, Eden. Thank you, Eduardo. Rob, good. Thank you. Lamar, we're good. Patricia, perfect. Thank you guys. All right. So,
for today, let me just go into our agenda so that everyone is on the same page with where we're going to be moving forward with today. Um, as always, greetings, welcome. Um, we're going to engage in a quick
connection before content. Going to go through some celebrations, updates, and reminders. Uh, we're going to have uh a few minutes to review the changes that we made to the student and parent survey. Um, I want to talk to you briefly about portrait of a graduate.
This is something that New York State has been really working on. Um, now while it is really a an entry point for high school, it does impact us at the elementary and middle school level. Our current fifth graders would be the first
group that would graduate under the current under the new expectations in terms of a portrait for a portrait of a graduate. Um, and I want us to begin thinking about what that actually means for us as a district and how we're organizing to prepare our kids. Um we're
going to begin talking about 26 27 preliminary goals um with the chancellor's um mindset around creating safe uh academically rigorous and truly integrated um school system and what
does that mean for us here in district 25. So we're going to spend a little bit of time doing some thinking today um about our work and how we want to change that. What I would like to have happen based on some of the feedback we received today uh is to begin drafting
our goals for the 2627 school year uh so that we can re begin reviewing them in April. Um making sure that they're accessible to our principles in April so we can start thinking about and planning for next steps. One thing that I always know is that um you know we can always
put a percentage on our goal. It's really the meat of what we want to get accomplished. That's important for me right now. Um so we'll spend a little bit of time talking about that as a um as a collective team. And then uh Gus is going to be talking about progress monitoring, the progress monitoring tool
um and updates regarding um our district professional learning plan and so on. Um so that'll be kind of closing out part of for for Augustus. Then we have our high school superintendent report. Um and then each of our constituents will have an opportunity to share out as
well. Um so I am going to quickly transition over and I do see that we have uh Charlene um joining us today. Charlene if I'm going to unshare just so that everyone can uh have an opportunity to meet you. Uh folks, we had had um
Mo'Nique was uh serving in the DC37 role uh prior to uh to Charlene. And Charlene, you are here supporting and representing District 25. Um so, welcome. And I don't know if you want to just give a quick hello to everyone. That would be great, too.
>> Thank you very much um for inviting me and having me and I'm very happy to be here. >> Thanks so much. Um, okay guys, we're going to we're going to do a quick uh quick share of our presentation today. And you know, when I say quick in mic
terms, it's probably not going to be all that quick. So, we'll we'll go through our um our session today. Uh quick connection before content. Uh St. Patrick's Day is coming up. So, you are you a wearing head to toe headtotoe
green person? Are you just a subtle green accessory person? or you can fill in the blank if you're neither of those two things uh for St. Patrick's Day. So, just take a moment to think on that. Are you a um you're going to celebrate with everyone and wear the headtotoe green?
Are you just an accessory person? Or we can just say you're neither of those two things and you move on with the day. Uh, so just take a moment, be in that space of reflection, and then we're going to pop you guys into a quick little group
um for just a moment for a quick little fun share. Okay? And again, this will be just for two minutes, guys. Just for a little little playful fun. Two minutes and then we will be back together.
Oh, Gus all by himself over there. All right, guys. Welcome back. Any quick comments? Are we wearing head to toe? Are we a subtle accessory or filling fill in the blank? >> Mike, at my height, if I wore head to
toe green on St. Patrick's Day, people would chase me for my gold. So, I don't know. I came to corn beef and cabbage and maybe a pint. That's it. >> Any other quick comments? So, my wife is uh is Irish. Um you know,
my mother-in-law came here from Ireland and um you know, I would love to say that I this is something I'm really not very good at. I I can even lay something out and be like, "Oh, you know," and I and I wound up forgetting uh forgetting that that part of of ensuring that I
have the at least the accessory to go along with it. So, I'll be the one that has like that that hint of green to say that I participated, but not really truly remembering, which I have to do a much better job of doing. Uh, so that my wife doesn't, you know, give me the good old whack, you know, where am I in terms
of celebrating. Um, but at any rate, I thank you guys just for going through that. To me, it's just a light way to start our our sessions, but also getting to know uh the folks around us. And you know, Gus in our group, you know, also gave a reminder that on the 25th it is
Greek Independence Day. So for him, he's preparing himself to be in blue and white uh in celebration of Greek independence. So um you know, making sure that we have opportunities just to recognize those uh that are around us really really just truly important. And you know, in a moment you're going to
hear me talk about um things that are special for this month. And there are so many different holidays that are connected in the month of of March. um which you know really just important to to celebrate those some of those holidays that recently have passed,
others that are in the middle and some that are coming forward. Um you know so really really just important um that we stay connected as possible during um opportunities when we can including women's history month which is something
that we are in the process of right now. So um having said that let's move along uh with our session today. Um couple of things that I want to always highlight for us at the uh at the DT meeting and things that you know are
part of our goals as a district um is around civics for all and project soapbox. So during our latest CEC meeting, um the CEC welcomed uh two of our students, uh Isabelle from 185 and
TJ from uh PS 242. Um and each of them gave their speeches. One was around kindness and the other one around financial literacy. Uh congratulations to them for doing a great job in conveying their message. they did a they did an an amazing job um sharing their
thoughts and their passion around each of these topics. Um and you know our goal is to continue to put this forward and making sure that our kids have an opportunity to have a voice. Uh but not only having a voice but being actually heard. So, one of the things you guys
should know is um one of the speeches that was shared earlier on in January um around digital safety uh that student is in the process of creating a story board for a public service announcement that I'll be joining him on. Uh and that
public service announcement will be shared widely across our district so that we're giving more credence to the actual speech that that child had presented. Um, and the more that we can do that, the more that we show our kids that the things that they value are going to wind up being something that
goes well beyond a speech is important for me and um, you know, hoping that we can continue to expand upon that. And you know, TJ in particular um, and his words. Now TJ is a second grader um and he talked about the importance of
kindness and and how research indicates you know the more we're kind the more positive of an impact it has on the individual demonstrating that kindness to others. So what I would love at some point today um is to talk about how we
can promote this notion of kindness and creating a kindness initiative based on what TJ's uh speech was all about. And my feeling is if a second grader can captivate an entire audience of adults, he can do that for the kids around him
as well. Um so the hope is to continue to grow that across our district and um you know along with the other soapbox speeches that we're able to promote across the district community. So this is also civics week. One of the reasons why I'm also calling this out really
want to create opportunities for our kids to use those voices in a productive way. uh in February we did have respect for all um we many of many of our kids were able to engage in activities um you know across the week that's just promoting
that space of kindness respect uh for one another. This is still even though we do these these wonderful um activities during the week of respect for all it is something that is an an ongoing process that needs to occur in our buildings. Um, as much as I would
love to say that every child that we have and come across has that mutual respect for one another, it is an ongoing thing that needs improvement every single day. Um, and it's something we're going to continue to to push for in our district community. Um, we are in the the midst of uh
Ramadan, so uh big shout out for all of our community members celebrating Ramadan. Uh Lunar New Year as we know uh has come and gone in the month of February, but we do welcome 2026 in the year of the horse. Um you know, our schools engage in a variety of different
Lunar New Year celebrations uh across our buildings uh from participating in parades to uh wearing traditional gear and different uh dance activities and so on. Uh so our schools do bring this in
the new lunar year in uh really well. So big shout out to all of our families in that are in celebration. February also marked the 100th day of school. Our kids were able to participate in a variety of different activities to celebrate the 100th day. Uh so big shout out for our schools for
participating in a range of activities. District 25 Debate League Winter Classic. Big shout out to our team. um Melinda and uh Marissa from our team organizing uh with Richard Connelly, the executive
director of the American Debate League. Our debate league is sponsored by our council member Paladino. So, big thanks to her for sponsoring this on a yearly basis. Um congratulations to our elementary school uh award winners. First place went to PS32. Uh followed by
PS79 and PSMS 164. And our middle school uh award winners, first place went to Bell Academy, second place to 185, and third place to IS-25. This year's debate was on um for our elementary school students was on
whether or not STEM should be prioritized in our elementary schools. While our middle schools debated on um the uh the um the concerns around generative AI and whether or not it
should be something that is permissible or not. So uh these two topics really very heavy on the tech field and rightfully so. uh technology continues to advance at uh incredible rates um and our kids having a voice in this really
really important and I have to tell you as as I listen to our students grow in their capacity to speak publicly um they are doing an amazing job and I'm really looking forward to this to continue to accelerate across our district. We have 14 uh 12 of our schools participated. We
had other schools that actually came to observe so that they can learn how to do this in their own buildings. And in um May when we have our final pre final debate, we expect to have even more schools participate. So really excited about that and appreciate our schools
for doing this amazing work. So big shout out to our students that debated and our coaches. Uh March is Women's History Month. um celebrating uh women of the past and our inspiring women of the future. Um you
know, so all through the month of March, this is an opportunity to really make sure that our kids are educated on um you know, those that came before us and those that are currently, you know, inspiring our children and our youngest learners uh for having that voice and
and making sure that they are inspiring the future um future leaders in front of us. So um and I always call out I know that this is this is always about talking about um those that are get to get to have the be in that public eye
and and you know inspiring the future. But you know there are so many women leaders that are around us even on this call that also need a big shout out for the things that they do every day. Um including those that are at home that that support us in allowing us to be the leaders that we are in our own
capacities. So big shout out for Women's History Month. Um, it is also National Reading Month. Uh, making sure that our kids are are doing that that important reading every day and that we encourage our kids to do that on a regular basis.
Um, last week was school social worker week. Um, big shout out to all of the work that our social workers do on a regular basis for the kids in our district community. Um, happy PUM. Um it was uh last week but big shout out to
those that celebrated pur uh porum and as well as Holly. So big shout out to our community members that celebrate. Um Chancellor Samuels um engaged had his citywide engagement on uh Saturday March
7th. Uh I was there in Far Rockaway. Uh he held it at Beach Channel Educational Campus. There is a flyer and a link to the future sessions that he intends to hold. There are uh additional ones in Brooklyn, Bronx, Manhattan, uh Staten
Island, and there will be an additional one on next Tuesday um which is closer uh is nearby um our district community comparatively to Beach Channel. I know that was a little bit of a hike, but I will open up the
flyer for you. Uh, which is on March 17th for those that are available at the Queens Innovation Center on Northern Boulevard. Uh, so if you are available, I do encourage you to register uh to be part of said um event.
Okay, summarizing just to make sure that everyone knows the application window has opened. uh it opened on March 3rd and the window closes on March 27th. So, we will continue to message our families, but I do encourage you in your capacities to make sure that you're
referencing this during uh any of our meetings. So, President's Council or DPAC meetings that we're sharing this and um same for our constituents um that are here from our high schools as well as um uft and CSA that we're
continuing to remind everyone that this is uh a great opportunity for our families to make sure that the messages are going out. Upcoming events for us, we have virtual um sessions that are coming up. Uh Nathan will be leading a special education uh parent workshop
tonight on understanding the kindergarten IP process. Really, really important work. Um for our parents to be informed, we have a virtual math session that's coming up on the 29th. There will be a couple of in-person parent workshops around uh early early literacy
for 3K and preK. Uh that'll be held this Thursday at PS129. Uh there will be a math family night on March 26th at 189. So continue to encourage our families to participate. And we have three virtual uh sessions
coming up to support our parents uh improving parent communication on the 10th. Uh promoting positive behavior at home on the 25th and helping uh children de develop friendships on April 30th.
We have a schedule date for our second annual wellness day. This will be held in collaboration with our CEC uh at Common Point uh Queens. Um the uh the date is Saturday, May 2nd
from 10 to uh 12:30. Um really excited about this, hoping to have a much bigger turnout than we've had in uh in uh comparatively speaking to last year. We will be inviting more families to participate, but I'd love to see all of our DT members there if you are able.
Um, as this is just a nice nice time for us to come together as community. Um, with wellness being the backdrop, we know how important that is for our families. So, there'll be support folks there around uh mental health, around
social emotional learning, nutrition. Um we we do plan on having uh some of our partners there, NYCFC, US Tennis Association and so on uh to make it a great opportunity for us and our families to connect. Um so looking
forward to that as well. Uh we have a date for a district hiring fair. Uh this is actually just something I'm sharing here. This has not gone out yet to the larger community uh in particular our our principles. So, this is the first that we're sharing this.
Um, on April 22nd from 4 to 6, we will be um organizing this more in depth by selecting a location. We haven't even selected a venue. Uh, so this is all really fresh off the presses. And the goal here is to make sure that we have
uh we get ahead of any hiring needs that we may have uh for our district community. Last year we did this and it was a really big success at least from my standpoint. We had hundreds of people come um to that hiring fair and I think
it gave our principles a leg up on getting um you know the the best of the best out there in our district classrooms. Uh so we will be doing this um in uh late April. Um more to follow on it but wanted to make sure you guys
had awareness. Okay. Um, also at the D at the CEC meeting, we had uh Stephanie from our team create a small little guide. Um, we're going to share this widely to all of our uh principles just so that you have access and all of our parent
coordinators. Jenny will share this with our PCs. um you know just to make sure that that you know any parent questions that are out there that we're able to share a little bit of more insight uh so that there that folks are comfortable with what it means and how they can get
some additional support if they need it. Um, so I will just quickly click on the link just so you can see this is in our resource resources from our um, DT um, session today as well. And you'll see
there's just a bunch of different kind of um, anecdotals here to kind of connect with uh, excuse me, analogies to connect parents to what it might mean for them uh, moving forward. But it's just a a little handy resource uh to go along
with what we shared with SLTs at the beginning of the year. But I think it is important for our parents to have this information so it is there and available to everyone as well. Okay. Some goal follow-ups and I'm going to put this in
the chat. So we are in the process of sharing uh the new survey with our families, excuse me, with our kids. Uh this will hopefully go out this week. schools will have a letter to share with families as well in the event that they do not want their children to participate, but we're hoping that
everyone does. Uh there were a bunch of different things that were added to the uh the survey. And what I'm going to ask everyone to do, and I'm going to stop sharing just for a moment. I'm going to ask everyone to go through this survey on their own to give us a little bit of
feedback. Uh very different from a typical Google form. We try to make it a little bit more user friendly for our kids. So just for the next three or four minutes, be in that space of reflection.
Uh click on that survey link and then we'll come back together in about four minutes um to hear some of your feedback. My goodness, where's my clock? Okay, timer on. Just the next four
minutes, guys, if you wouldn't mind just going through that survey um and then share some of your perspectives and please click on the links too that you'll see at the top of it. Um so you can give us a little bit of feedback. >> Dr. Mike, the link won't open for me. I
keep saying page not found. >> Yeah, Dr. Is this a special link for people that don't have DOE accounts? Oh, that Yeah, >> it's not. >> You know what? I will I will share my screen at because this is for is intended for kids. That's probably why
you can't. So, I will share my from my screen. If you have it on your own, you can look on your own. Uh but I'll give you a little bit of a of a sneak peek for those that can. And let me make my screen a little bit bigger
so that you can get a better view. So, it does have a read option just so you can see and it will read out loud for kids. It has a um a little hover over button. So, if there's a vocabulary word that might be
a struggle for our kids, you'll see I'm hovering over strengths. And then above it, it'll say things you are good at. Text size. It'll change the text size. And then there's a feature here that'll allow kids to change the language of the
question so that they can read it in in a language that's more comfortable. Also, when you click on a response, you'll see some confetti come down. Right? There's a back button in case they went too fast. They can change
their responses. And I'll just go through the questions right now to just so that you can see what it is that our kids are being asked. I think the one of the parts for me I think that I that I really do like these there's this hover option so kids can
get a better idea if they're not sure about what the question's asking. >> Back to Mike, there's one thing that I'm just noticing as you're scrolling through. Um, I know we have strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree. Is there like some kind of like neutral midpoint for the kids to be
put in there? >> So, so Eden, we removed that um because of we actually got feedback from from DT on on this to remove it and from from our counselors and our youth leadership team as well. um and they kind of felt
like sometimes kids just went with the neutral to kind of in that space of of avoidance of responding there. So, uh really encouraging one way or the other for our kids to give us uh a little bit of a response, you know, what side of it
would you what would you be on? So that um you know because sometimes they it they our our kids I found and what they've shared was is that you know because the neutral was there if it didn't really affect them personally that's what they did but we're we want
them to say well if it was then I would click this is what I would say you know >> makes sense. >> But that's a good point though Eden thank you for sharing that. Yeah. So you guys have been able to kind of see just through my screen or if you were doing it on your own, I'm hoping that you were able to kind of uh get an idea of what
those questions were like and how we modified it from the first go round. Uh just based on my clicking, what is it that you guys see? What do you think about the new format? Um you know, and we'll go from there. Go ahead, Rob. >> Uh uh first of all, it looks great.
Really great. Great. Like I can't even believe it. Like how nice that looks. Uh, I haven't seen surveys like that. Um, there's no back button. I was wondering if a child does go forward and then says something. >> No, there there is there is a back button. I think I just enlarged the screen too much. Rob, you couldn't see it. It's there.
>> Couldn't see it. One thing that I just that isn't sitting right with me are the emojis. Um, it's almost assigning um like good or bad. >> Good or bad. >> Yeah. I don't know. Like if I put don't agree then that means that what I'm putting
>> that I made a bad choice versus a Yeah. I get that. Yeah. >> You know since I've been you know coming I have an interesting perspective working with the little kids from having not worked with them for the first time of my career that I really got into their heads of of like what they think
when they're doing stuff. >> No that that's an that's an awesome awesome uh space of feedback Rob. Love that. anyone else things that you noticed any other feedback that that was great. I think that you know is absolutely true
and I can see kids avoiding maybe perhaps clicking disagree or strongly disagree just simply because they it might give them the perception that they've done something wrong by clicking on it. Yeah, I love that. Any other thoughts or feedback?
Uh I just agree with Robert in that regard. That just came to mind as well as I'm looking at the emojis and uh so I agree upon that. Other than than that agreement with Robert, I think the visuals are very good. Yes. Very
engaging especially for the kids. >> Yeah. You know what, Patricia, and I I'm glad you said that last part because we we were having our own team meeting and you know, um, one of the things that one of my team members was talking about is like, you know, what what about the
actual form is exciting for a kid to complete? You know, when it when it comes to a Google form, they're very very bland. So, um, you know, Mr. Sarin, you know, kind of took that feedback and then ran with it and which is why it looks the way that it does now to make
it a little bit more at least visually appealing for a kid to want to do >> and so yes, I agree on that. Go. Yeah. >> Yeah, that's great feedback. Thank you for that. Go ahead, Gus. >> Yeah, I thought you had very some very good questions. I thought the questions were excellent.
>> Oh, thank you, Gus. Yeah. gonna just say like the vocabulary piece I really like because there are kids that'll be like >> what does that mean or this word's a little harder for me and especially with younger kids like I think that's really going to be able to help them understand
how to answer the question better. >> Yeah, honestly sometimes even for adults Eden you know we think about this even for kids sometimes we you know we look at a question or a statement like that and we interpret it our own way um and we can only hope that we're we're responding in that same way too. So
yeah, I think um I think that's really really great. I I I when when Mr. Sarin added that, I was like, "Oh, that is pretty that's pretty cool." Um and even for our surveys moving forward, you know, how do we make sure we keep using and and taking advantage of the the tech
in a positive way? Um like that. So love that feedback, too. Anyone else? So we're going to look at the emoji part. uh make some adjustments there to the emojis because I agree with you. Um we'll make that adjustment. The hope is
that this goes out this week for our kids. Um and get that feedback from them in short order so that we have the next two or three months uh to put some additional things in place to really support uh relationship building across our district as you know it it is a
hugely important part of our work. If I'm in a classroom and I don't feel good about being in the classroom, I'm not learning the same way as someone that feels really good and confident. Um, I'm just not that's the that's the reality of it. Um, so, you know, hopeful to get
some really positive results from our kids so that we can make good strong decisions moving forward. Okay. All right. Let me go back to our slide deck. Okay. Uh, so our math data, I did want to
bring everyone up to speed on this. Um, so as you know, we do have um our learners participate in the algebra regions for our for our eighth grade children. Uh, I wanted to give you a brief little update. last last month's
uh state of the district, we did not share the results from uh from the MAP assessment. Um and what you'll see here and the map is different from I Ready. So I Ready organizes their data differently. They have mid or above uh
early on, one grade level below, two grade levels below, three or more grade levels below. MAP does it differently. MAP has five areas as well, but they organize theirs in high, high average, average, low average, and low. Um, as a
district, we have similar results to last year with the difference of 2% more children in the high range compared to the previous year, which was um 61 to 63, 18 to 16. We have 2% fewer children
in the low range, which is which is good. Uh we have about 1,400 of our eighth graders that are participating in this. And the goal from our map is to make sure that we can make some strategic adjustments for those kids in that low average and low range. We want
as many of our kids as possible um performing in that 80 and above range on the algebra regions uh so that they are ready to go for geometry next year as uh 9th graders. So um more to follow on
this, but I did want to give you guys an update on our MOI map assessment data. Now for our parents, this one all of you guys should be able to review. I'm going to put this in the chat so that you can see
the revised version of our parent survey. Let me put this in the chat. Just take a couple of minutes to review our parent survey and really grateful for the parents that completed it in the past. We have about 100 uh 190 to 200
responses already. We shared this on Thursday uh with families, but I'm going to put that in the chat. And if everyone could just take two or three minutes to review uh the parent survey and any feedback that you would have on this for us
um as a district team. I do feel like this one is much more appealing visually than the the previous one which was a typical Google form. So just take two minutes, give that a quick review. Okay, we can come back together. Some thoughts, perspectives on the parent
survey. Go ahead, Rob. >> Uh, I think it looks great. I like the questions are fair. Uh, um, I would just say that the responses as far as the colors, they're inconsistent. I like the yellow for no, for disagree, rather. Uh,
I think questions 3, 4, 13, and 14, the it's it's red for disagree, and the rest of them are yellow for disagree. So, just for consistency, I think the yellow is better. I think that the red really connotates, you know, anger. We don't want to we don't want to support any any
parents getting upset. >> Great feedback, Rob. Anyone else thoughts and these questions in in many ways do mirror what what parents see in a in a school survey. I just don't want to wait all the way um
until um you know, June to to hear from our parents. This will be kind of immediate and we can make some adjustments. Now, >> one little drop of feedback as far as timing is concerned. Uh while the parents and the teachers even but mostly parents are filling out um the uh the
parent survey from home >> if they are given this survey at the same during the window >> they may feel like they already did it like or vice versa they might do the district one be like I finished it. >> Taking two of the same may confuse only because it's in the same window. You
know, maybe the district survey after the window closes >> or in January. Do it in January so that it's Yeah. >> Yeah. Just we don't want it to mess with the participation rates inadvertently. >> Agreed. >> Any other thoughts from some of our parents thoughts?
Eden, Patricia, any comments on this survey? >> I got nothing extra. I think Mr. Marino's kind of spot on on everything. >> Okay, cool. >> All right. So, we'll make some
adjustments there as well. Um Oh, thank you, Crystal. Um, we'll make some adjustments there as well. And then um and then kind of make sure that you know that we we already had some some feedback from some parents, but I do agree maybe just
making sure that we're messaging that this is an addition to the one that they've already gotten so that there's not confusion um from either side. Okay. Okay. Okay. Now, to the part that I'm really really um interested in and we're going to spend uh a good amount of time
talking about now is um well, I'm going to do a little bit reverse order. I want to make sure that everyone has a little bit of a picture of what is being talked about in terms of portrait of a graduate and then we will shift into some of the
things that um Chancellor Samuels has been talking about and I would love for us to get into a conversation as a collective um on how we're going to be organizing our own goals based on some of the things the
chancellor is talking about. So, New York State and let me just quickly share this. I'm sorry. Just lost where I was on not that one. I just opened it. Where did it go?
Okay. So, New York State is going through a uh a process to reorganize um the approach for graduation for our uh for our high schoolers. Now, it's not
going to take an uh an immediate effect. This is something that will happen over time. Um and our our current elementary school students will will see the this come full circle for them um when when they become high
school students. So the the transformations that they're referring to is the adopt New York State portrait of a graduate is the redefinition of credits and learning experiences, the sunsetting of diploma assessment requirements and moving towards one
diploma. Now there are multiple diplomas that are accessible to um our high schoolers. The goal is that that shifts into um a different scenario um where kids earn one diploma. So the the
portrait of a graduate and where that kind of lives is there are six elements that they've identified as what a graduate should um should have available to them. So it's being
academically prepared, creative innovators, critical thinkers, effective communicators, global citizens and um future focused. So, I'm going to just quickly blow this up a little bit so that you guys can see. And
when they're talking about academically prepared, they're talking about demonstrating strong foundations, and being able to align their their learning to the high school standards. Um, making sure that we're promoting imagination, curiosity, flexible
thinking, um, ensuring that there is an opportunity for kids to analyze and become thoughtful, uh, evaluating evidence. and so on. So, there are a lot of things that we're doing inside of our schools. And I'm just showing this just as a quick entry point. Our conversations are
going to really build over the course of time, but this little blueprint here, and I just blew it up for you. It's in the slide deck. I would love for everyone just to spend a little bit of time between now and our next session just to read through this. I'm not going to read this to you now. Uh, but it is
important that everyone has a little bit of an idea of what this looks like so we can start building out what we mean as a district 25 community when we're talking about a portrait of a graduate. Something that you're going to hear chancellor Samuels talk a lot about over the coming weeks, months, and years. Uh,
to ensure that all of the work that we're doing in our schools is reflective of this expectation in our buildings. So transformation one portion of a grad graduate defines the skills and knowledge students are expected de to
demonstrate in order to graduate uh from high school. Uh it's going to redefine credits and learning experiences. Um so the the one part I just want to make sure I emphasize here is there's going to be a sunset of
diploma requirements. Students may continue to use state administered exams to to satisfy f uh future diploma requirements, but they will uh not be required to pass regions exams in order to earn their diploma. And that's something really important for everyone
to know. Uh state assessments will continue to be administered as per federal requirements. schools going to be operating under current region exam requirements uh until New York State proposes and adopts specific changes to um to New York City public schools uh
local guidance uh and that's expected for fall of 2027. So this is a future uh mindset but I wanted you to be aware of it and move to one New York State diploma. So, New York State currently defines three tiers of diplomas, regions,
advanced regions, and local. Uh, all students who satisfy future requirements will earn a New York State New York State high school diploma. Advanced uh designation will become a seal or endorsement. Uh, among other potential changes to endorsements, New York City
public school diploma certificates already follow these conventions. seals are added to our standard diploma uh certificate for special designations. So, and this is kind of the timeline that you'll see here. Uh we are in the space of releasing details of new credit
requirements. Um and this will be phased in over the course of time um for our for our learners. So again, this is nothing for us to necessarily have full knowledge of now. I just wanted to give you a little bit of an understanding
that this is forthcoming. uh for our district and we do need to start planning for and towards it um starting now. So I'm giving you some information. We will dig more into this as time goes on, but I wanted you to be aware of it um at the very least.
Okay. Now into this set of questions. So the chancellor has three buckets and we're going to spend some time talking about all three. Um we're going to break us up into two groups. Um, and these are the questions that I want us to really pay attention to. What does it mean to
be safe um, in district 25? So, the chancellor's message around making sure that we're promoting student safety across our schools. What does that mean here in district 25 and what should it mean? Um, and this is something that we're going to then organize within the
current context of our goals to create our goal for moving forward in our district. What does it mean to be academically rigorous in district 25? And then lastly, what does it mean to be truly integrated in district 25? So those three questions are ones that I'm
going to ask us to ponder uh reflect on and then give feedback towards um today. So we're going to spend the first uh five minutes of time. I just want everyone to independently reflect on what should it mean to be safe in
district 25. Um so when you think about that whether it's through the being academically safe or social emotional learning safe uh mental wellness all of those things inside of that bucket what should that mean for us here in this
district? Um so be in that space of reflection just for a couple minutes independently and then I'm going to put us into breakout rooms for um for a little bit of time just to get some everyone's perspective and then we'll come back together as a group to share
widely. So just two minutes for independent reflection. Stop sharing and I'm going to put that question into the chat. Okay everyone, I am going to um open up all the rooms.
We're going to have about five minute chat. Um, I ask that everyone take an opportunity and do this in rounds so that everyone has um has space to share some of their perspectives. Um, and what I would really love is then to identify
one person that's going to be able to share from your group some of the key points that you feel like we should be thinking about and considering uh when we're talking about district 25 and our vision for what safety should be here in our in our district community. Okay. So,
just take the next five minutes. I'm going to put you into groups. We'll do this in rounds and then we'll be back together shortly. Okay. Thanks, guys. Okay, guys. We're back. I know some of you might have been mid-sentence when when that uh when it pulled you back,
but we're back. So, let's let's hear from you guys. What are some things that uh being safe in D25 should mean to you? What came up in your in your group? some comments. >> Well, in in our group, I I said um so
what it means to to feel safe, it would be uh being able to thrive in school, partake in extracurricular activities and uh seek help when whenever I feel I need it. So, it it comes down to developing trust between the student and
the school. Thank you for that, Eduardo. >> Um, also in our uh group and I would like after me Robert to emphasize it was also as important as uh Eduardo uh said um I'm going to go for uh you do well
when you feel safe and children can trust the school. Uh in fact, you know, when you don't feel safe, you go uh all the time this alert mode around the school and you're not focused academically on anything because, you know, you just got to be constantly
aware of your surroundings and that that's not beneficial and it's a school responsibility to make sure uh the kids are safe. Uh Robert, can you just also say some wonderful things as well? I
think you said it very well, Patricia, and and and Eduardo, we were all together. Um, but it was about like feeling from my perspective as a New York City public school student who didn't always feel safe. Uh, and my schools did not have their finger on the pulse of my uh my feeling, nor did
anybody give me a survey or ask me if there was an adult in the school that that I trusted. Uh, and I think we do a much better job of that now. I think children, you know, in the morning need to wake up and feel excited about going to school and wanting to learn. And they can't do that if they don't feel safe. That, you know, at at its core,
education to the human brain is is a luxury. It's not uh more important to the brain than feeling safe emotionally or physically. And we have to solve the emotional physical safety portion of a child's day before we can expect them to be enthusiastic about going to school or
want to do electric activities or actually want to come. Um it has to do with attendance. It it affects uh concentration. Um you know, as Patricia said in our group, you can't be in a state of of of concern. You can't be in like a primal fight or flight panic and
then expect to, you know, look at algebra from from a different perspective. Um, so, you know, I think we do a so much a better job at even wanting to to really look into what it is that children are um concerned with and making sure that
children are respecting each other and we do that from a young age in elementary school and I know my colleagues in middle school tackled that in a in a great way as well. But as Mike, as you said, you know, there is an issue about kids not respecting each other the right way. And we have to just from from every angle possible and and I'm glad that we have the right
personnel in our district and that starts with you, Mike. Um to all and all the way across and down uh to look at this, but to come up with a definition, you know, I look forward to doing that with you guys for this work, just fleshing it out. >> Yeah, that's awesome, Rob. And I and I do think that, you know, we we've done a
lot of of work when it comes to SEAL and um you know, I think and even for us as adults, if we're not in a good headsp space, something going on at home, it's harder for us to even do our jobs, you know, um and manage our
own work, you know, let alone now thinking about that through the eyes of a of an eight-year-old or a 10year-old or a 12y old that's having that struggle just on the way in. And at the the chancellor's event, you know, I was fortunate to sit with three three high school students.
And you know, part of the conversation that they were having is like, you know, there are some days that, you know, the bus being late puts me in a space, you know, right from the that small in the smallest of of of ways, just the bus being late and then not being able to
get to school on time, I'm already in a headsp space. and how we respond to that, you know, as the adults in the building, what they were saying matters. You know, if they get called out for that rather than checking in to see how are you? I see that you're you're a little bit late today. Was everything
okay? Different from I'm going to get on you because you were late and you don't know the whole story of what caused me to be late, you know. And I thought it was really a very important perspective that the the young lady that shared that shared because, you know, if we're not
in the headsp space to think about how am I connecting with the kid um and go right to a a space of of um making some kind of an allegation that the child is doing something wrong. Um then you know what, we just destroyed that entire day
and maybe week and maybe month for that kid, you know. So um I think that that part of it really really super important and how we managing each one of us has to do that. Um so thank you for sharing that. Anyone else
or Lamar? Well, I don't know if Lamar wants to share, but I like the point he made in our group about following up and the importance of following up. So, when there is an issue, um, you know, obviously we as parents, um, Eden and I
both talked about issues that our 10-year-olds have, our fourth graders, and bringing it to the school's attention. And then um as Lamar said, making sure to follow up on that, not just to bring it up and then let it go and hope that everything is, you know,
miracally cured um in that respect. >> Yeah. Making sure that there's alignment amongst uh amongst constituents that we're all on the same page with of support, you know. Um cuz you know, it's interesting. And one of the other things that a young one of the young ladies had
said and was about using her voice and she said, "You know what? I I really wanted to bring a program to my school." So I wrote the principal an email. And then she said, um, but I never heard back.
Right? So if we have this feedback loop um where if we share a concern that we difference between having voice and then being heard, right? You know, I was able to use my voice, but was I really heard in the process or did I just give you the opportunity to say, "Yeah, you can
share it, but whatever happens happens with it, right?" Two very, very different things. So, um and followup becomes an important part of ensuring that children are safe in our buildings, too. So, I love that. Any other comments?
So, just a couple of things for myself. Um, you know, and Gus mentioned the idea of physical safety. um you know and that looks like different things from you know uh from having our our safer access doors and all of that but to me physical
safety is also about what do are our rooms uh inviting? Do they set the stage for our kids to come in? Um are they printri? Are they are there spaces for our kids to to calm themselves if they need it? So I think that physical part
really really super important. uh just in terms of learning environment um from the word go as soon as you get to that building does it say I want you in here or does it say you know what you can come in but it's it's in that space of
feeling cold um you know so I think that physical part is you know when I come into the building how does it make me feel I think is the the first part of this whether you are a parent you are a student you are a staff member you are someone that's coming in that supports
the school, how does the building already make you feel uh from the entry point? So that includes um from our school safety to our school staff, how do we make you feel when you come in? If you walk in and the first thing you feel is like I can't wait to
get out of the school that we're not doing a very good job of making people feel connected. So I think that you know the whole physical safety um starts with the physical environment and are we are we creating that um so that's one one
part of it. Um are we routinely using the resources that we have um to make sure that our kids um feel social emotionally safe um mentally safe inside of our classrooms. Um, you know, so Rob
Rob talked about the idea of having that adult that you can go to. Um, do our kids know it. Do they feel it? You know, it's one thing to have a name on paper uh that we can say that that person's the the go-to point, but are we really checking in? And that go kind of goes to
Lamar's point around followup and check-in. Um, so a lot more here to unpack, but I'm glad we have a few things for us to think about, you know, as a as a district so that we're doing this really well. If we do this well,
we're setting the stage up for a positive outcome for kids versus uh versus if we don't pay attention to it. So really, really important. Okay, question number two. I'm going to put into the chat and again I want you guys to be in that
space of reflection and this academically rigorous goes to priority one around reading and priority three around mathematics. Um you know and those are the only I'm adding those two because those are our two primary goals this year. Obviously rigorous goes to
social studies, it goes to science, it goes to the arts. It's all connected here. Um, so what does academically rigorous mean to you um as a DLT member? Um, and I we're going to ask our kids
this these questions too so that we have a really robust set of goals for uh for this for next school year. Uh, but if you wouldn't mind just taking a few minutes independently to reflect on that, jot a couple things down on on a post-it or on a piece of paper or in
your phone. Um, I'm going to put the timer on for 2 minutes for that independent reflection and then we will break back out into our groups to gather some of your feedback. Okay, one more minute and then we're
going to break you guys up into those groups. Again, small little chat. Let's do this in rounds so that everyone has an opportunity to use that voice. All right, guys. I'm going to put you into those breakout rooms again. Five minutes and we'll come back together. Let's get a nice robust list of things
that uh it means for us in terms of academic rigor. Okay, welcome back everyone. Um I'm sure if it was your group, this is the second time I I started speaking so I might have not set the timer with enough time. Second time that I got
sucked back in mids sentence. So my apologies to my group uh for that. But did anything come up from uh from either group that we want to kind of call out uh in terms of what does academic rigor mean for us here in district 25?
>> I start with uh our group uh Duardo and Robert and they're going to jump in. Um we figured there was many layers to this but rigor meaning uh work harder piling on more work. Robert came up with that. That's the first thought that came to
our minds as well. Um, Eduardo says, uh, got to spark interest in the curriculum. Um, you know, um, and anything that includes critical thinking, asking relevant questions. Um, that leads to per them to the students
to perform better on any given task. Robert uh concludes as well. Uh, they got to explain their thinking and being thoughtful in the process. Um, apply their learning. So whatever they learned be a being able to apply it and uh more
so application on the to the real world and uh I think this is key thank you Robert for that theorical to permanent law knowledge. So it means that they really learned um uh and then um making it engaging and
enjoyable too uh through the process. we gave uh examples of some subjects that we really don't like. Uh and so uh Rob came upon the fact that yeah, you shouldn't be hating any of the subjects. Um
but if they make it engaging again and enjoyable, you you go through a little better. So um Robert and Eduardo add please. Just to re Yeah, just to restate, you know, coming coming from a child of the 1900s, as some of my new uh
my newer employees refer to when I the century I grew up in. Uh what it is not is is not more work. It's not speed. It's not let's, you know, pile on all this uh work for kids so to the point where they're frustrated or it's, you
know, at the level past their frustration point. And what it is is everything that Patricia just stated. You know it's uh doing the thinking, explaining, defending, asking questions, analyzing, comparing, solving, justifying, and then applying your learning.
>> Thank you, Rob. >> Not necessar not necessarily amount, but the quality of learning. >> Love that. Thank you, guys. Uh, anyone from my group? I'll chime in since I didn't speak during the group um in the middle of
transitioning. Um I think the rigorous learning like the thing is that in some cases especially when we do decompartmentalization in the upper grades in elementary school that they lose some of the other core subjects other than like their ELA and their math
and like science is now like science but like social studies like I was just talking to a teacher the other day like she's like unfortunately it kind of gets pushed on the back burner and it's like when they get to middle school now they have a special class for each subject and I'm Like I look back then I'm like
well shouldn't they still have that same amount of instruction now in the elementary level with the way they split up the subjects. So I feel like that could be a little bit differently. And then something I've brought up to Dr. like during a CC meeting is just like I know I ready is like the tool that we use but sometimes I feel like the 40
minutes of math 40 minutes of reading for kids is is a lot because they aren't doing actually work other than the I already and sometimes that's not necessarily on target with what they're currently learning and the fact that they like they're not going to appreciate and understand as much what
they're learning if they're not practicing it more and more. So I think that's like the perspective that I would have chimed in with that I didn't get to share with the group. So, >> thank you, Eden. Anyone else? Gus or Lamar, Rachel,
>> you're on mute, Gus. What uh what I I I brought up um uh earlier, I would express in a different way. Uh for me the two most important skills that if we could impart to all of
the students in uh district 25 and in public school in general is two things. Understanding uh what is called scientific method uh thesis um uh synthesis uh and analytical skills and
the difference between fact and opinion. I find that nowadays u it's increasingly important to be able to distinguish what is factual and what is just a opinion whether it's informed or not and
distinguishing the two. Uh so it really is critical thinking skills. >> Thank you Gus. you know, and and for me, what what uh and the the parts of the the work that I want to be able to see more of inside of our inside of our
classrooms and for our kids um is the opportunity for kids to make meaning of the concepts that they're being taught. Um and having, and a number of you mentioned this, the space of something that's actionoriented related to it. So, what's
applicable about what I've just learned and made meaning of um to do something with it, you know, and I think that's a a part of the work that's really important, you know, um we we do make sure that kill kids get taught skills,
but skills absent opportunity to apply them to something real and meaningful limits our kids ability to grow through that work. So really really important that we are able to continue to to push
that space of meaning making um you know for our for our learners from lesson to lesson and unit to unit um so that we can continue to push our kids to do the type of thinking that's necessary for
them to be prepared for high school and beyond. Um and I think at times we we we may limit those opportunities for application and I think we do need to kind of grow through it uh in the form
of project based types of scenarios. You know when our kids are more engaged in in project based work um the more doing that they will actually have an opportunity to do u and hopefully keeping them as connected to learning as possible.
So, thank you for that. And you know what we're going to do is we're going to get a summary from what you guys said based on this recording and organize it so that we're ready to go for for April. Uh Mr. Sarin and I will will begin creating some goals that are connected
to what was just shared. Uh we'll be able to review them and then hopefully uh be able to share them more widely with our building leaders going into uh April, May, and June. So this last one just for time we will save but I want you guys to think about
as we get into next month as well and that is what does it mean to be truly integrated in district 25. Um that will be the last question I leave with you but just looking at the clock um
we will wind up running out of time to get through everyone's work. Um, so I'm going to leave it in the chat. If it turns out we have enough time to revisit it, we'll do that at the at the tail end. Uh, but that is the last of our questions that I want us to work
through. And what I would love is if each of um our constituents um you know bring this back and I'm going to do it anyway when I meet with President's Council, DPAC um and the CEC. We'll raise these questions and get some feedback from uh each of our groups
uh including our students. We have a youth leadership team. We'll be asking them as well uh to get perspectives from from each of our groups um you know to to really help formulate goals that that make sense based on our beliefs. Okay.
So I thank you guys for that. Oh and the the one thing that if everyone could just take this date down um this is primarily for all of our leaders. This will be for Lamar um for Rob any of our parent leaders. We will be having a
visit by the chancellor on March 31st. So if everyone can just jot that date down, March 31st. The chancellor will be visiting PS24. It's one of our elementary schools in Flushing. We expect that he will be there by
around 10:30 um but I will ask that everyone's there much earlier than that so that we're good and settled um to greet the chancellor. There will be time for our parents to ask questions um then myself and and the principal will go along with
the chancellor into some classrooms. Uh but just so that you guys have that date, it would be great. Uh if you can if you are able to be there and represent um our district for the chancellor when he does uh when he does come. Um so if everyone can have that
date in in mind and secured in your calendar, uh that would be much appreciated. Um okay, so I'm going to turn over um this next part to Gus for any updates that he has to share. um and
we will move on with our session from there. >> Thank you, Mike. Uh the first thing uh that I I'll mention, it's not on the agenda, but you mentioned Women's History Month. So, I wanted to uh uh just call out a uh book that I used uh
when I was a social studies coordinator and it has a very I think a very clever title, which is why I always remember it. It's called her history as opposed to history. And it's uh all about history from a woman's perspective. Um
putting women at the center of all events as opposed to um leaving them out. Uh I used it in the 1990s. Uh I don't know whether it's still available, but if it's still available, I would uh highly recommend it. Um there's a lot of
good stuff in it. So, uh, just going to my usual, uh, agenda items, the CS and the DC, uh, should be posted online and I plan already. Uh, so look for them. If
uh anyone looks uh for their school or is unable to access the DCP, uh shoot an email to uh the district and they will let me know and I'll run after the technology people and try to find out uh why that's the case. Uh in relation to I
plan April 1st, uh they're shutting it down. Uh so um if um our schools uh need to get something in or the um uh packs need to get in information etc. Uh it'll be shut down for maintenance uh April
1st I think it for about a week um and um just keep that particular uh date in mind. If you go in on April 1st or beyond and you can't get in, it's not as if there's something wrong with your
access. It's just that the the plane is shut down for maintenance uh for that period. Um the um new C template I'm told is coming by the end of the month or probably the or you know right after that shutdown in April. So um I don't
know um I uh we have a new administration. So, uh, you know, when we there there's the new administration, there are changes, but I have not been told that the template's going to change dramatically in any way or the priorities are going to change, etc.,
but I haven't seen it. So between now and then I uh expect that central will share it with me and I will um be able to tell you um you know a bit more uh next meeting if we it has not already
been uh issued um you know in um uh in the principal's uh weekly or digest um and the superintendent haven't uh received it yet. Uh but uh that is coming. I'm told that it's uh imminent and they've they've they've uh worked
things out. Now, um as um I think I mentioned last time and as the district knows and the DT knows that um you've already done a lot of work with progress monitoring on the DCP. Um you just share data. Uh you share data all the time. Uh
I believe the uh deadline is um uh at the uh this week. I think it's the 15th if I remember correctly. And uh I have a PowerPoint that um Central has given me. Uh let me see if I can share my screen.
Um uh and uh if I can. Uh let's see. I think this is it. Yeah. Can everybody see that? >> Using the district proging tool. >> Yes. And this is in this is in our share drive as well everyone. >> Okay, great. So you know basically um
it's very simple PowerPoint. It's not long. You access it the way you normally access it and it's very similar to what the schools are doing. So you know they try to keep things consistent and aligned. So you enter um you uh put in
uh the um uh district documents. You go to district documents and uh it's arranged exactly uh the way the schools are arranged by priority. So you go to priority if you click on priority one and then you enter the progress
monitoring data. What does it say there? Three uh 13 okay is the um is is the deadline. uh unlike the schools there are two periods with the um uh district the DC and you they what they've done is
they've prepopulated your goals so your goals should be prepopulated uh and uh you should u uh list that the what you're using for your data should be there as well and your uh baseline
and uh what u yourou middle which stands for middle of the year uh should be there and you you just enter the information. It's not complicated. It's it's very simple to use and you enter the progress monitoring
data and uh as it says there if um uh your district's current progress indicates that the is not on track is is uh is on track um not on track or almost on track. So, if you're not on track,
then you have to enter more information. If you're on track or almost on uh if you're on track, you don't have to you you enter less, put NA. Uh and uh if you're almost on track or not on track, you have to put in uh information. It's
exactly the way uh the schools do it as well. And um then you're um uh you're going um uh uh to um uh you can go back to the district documents. You can uh
use um the highlighted areas in terms of the progress monitoring. U period 2 is 6:30 26 and um uh the timeline is there you see it 6:30 26 uh for period 2. what it
covers. And uh that's basically it folks. It's not not complicated and you all have access to it. Uh you should be able to see it. And um uh you can also leave comments just like you can for any part
of the DCP or um you know the information in I plan. Uh so that's basically it. Uh any questions or comments uh on this stuff? And as I said, this the the district and
the um the the superintendent have gone over um your data. You've already discussed it. You should have a good sense of where you're going and where you are on uh these various pieces. And um I'm confident that most uh if not
everything will be on track based on our discussions at the DT so far. And I'm confident you'll get it in on time because what they'll do uh after the 13th, it'll start issuing these uh these lists of um pe the districts that are uh
behind and haven't filled it out. And we're not going to be on that list. By the way, um uh Mike, I'm uh I um am going to work out Friday. They did a PRT report uh for the schools on the CS. And
I'm going to after this meeting, I'm going to send you um what that looks like for for our schools. >> Great. Thank you, Gus. Uh okay. Uh Eduardo, high school superintendent report. >> Yes. Okay. I'm going to share my screen.
Um guess it would be screen one share. >> And Eduardo, I'm going to send that out to the uh to superintendent 2's team as well. >> Thank you. All right. Welcome everyone. Greetings from Superintendent 2. Uh so
we are in March and I have some um of our um midyear data uh performance uh in our district. Uh we're not going to do a deep dive but it's all positive numbers as you can see uh from 2025 to 2026 our
numbers are up in English um global history and algebra 1. So the performance for students with IEP as well, those numbers are up. And here you can see how the district is
is progressing. Um so we also have the performance for English language learners. And uh the data is here. All as you can see all positive numbers except in history we are uh at the same
algebra 1 14 up. And so the biology performance uh we couldn't really have a an accurate number because the population of students that took the mock regions in 2025 we couldn't really compare it to our January regions in
2026. Um this is our map growth. I also want to share our district calendar which can also be found on our website. Uh we had our annual transition
fair which was a success at Johnbound High School. Uh we have a upcoming um know your rights presentation and we also have social emotional workshop for our parents. uh the the these series of um um workshop for parents are um
offered in Spanish uh Mandarin and Bangla. And so our next one will be March 19 from 6 to 7:30. Then we have more uh know your rights. So please visit our website if you um if you're interested in um taking part of on these
uh know your rights or social emotional workshops for parents. Uh we're also um we're going to be offering uh financial literacy in 12 of our schools. And so um this is coming up and and so uh teachers
will um will be given a stipen to teach the um GAFL NYC course. Uh students will receive stipen to start their financial literacy plan and schools uh will fund to host a family uh financial literacy
forum. So, I'll keep you guys um updated with how this um literacy pilot um um concludes in our district. Uh so, we also have coming up April 24th will be our youth empowerment conference. Uh
it'll be at Queens College. Uh Friday, April 24th from 9:00 a.m. to 300 p.m. Uh also, I want to share on our website. Um so, we have great news for District 25. Uh the New York City uh school
construction authority uh began the expansion of John Bound High School. Uh this project is uh slated um for uh it it has a budget of 48.4 million to contra to construct the annex
because right now John B High School is at 122%. Um this will add 630 seats um to the school uh and um it'll be utilized for programs in healthc care, nursing and
culinary arts. You can read all about it on our website and that's all for me today. Thank you. >> Mike, can I just You reminded me something Edward. >> Thanks so much, Eduardo. Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead. >> Yeah. Uh um I want to make sure I'm
proud of the fact that in Queens North we have very good alignment between high schools and uh our community school districts. So um obviously all the DT members should have access to the progress monitoring and the DCP for
superintendent 2's uh schools. So um uh ladies and gentlemen, if you uh uh are trying to access the high school um u DC and data uh in I plan and you don't have
access, please let the district know and I will make sure that you have access. Thanks. >> Thank you, Gus. All right. Uh Mr. Marino CSA, >> you're on mute, Rob.
>> Sorry, Mike. Nothing really this month. No, nothing uh >> overtly popping out. Just getting ready for the test and uh >> you know, actually start the plan for for next year. >> All of us, >> we are at that time 26 27 soon enough. Crazy, but that's what the reality is.
mid-March already, folks. Um, okay. Lamar, anything? UFT report? >> Um, yeah, we have a few good few good reports. So, um, today it's um, with great great pleasure we're announcing that our power professionals are having
their uh, you've heard me speak over the past year maybe about the respect check bill where we're looking towards um, paying power professionals an additional amount of salary on top of their current salary. Today is the day that we're having a hearing um with the New York
City Council at City Hall. It's a big deal because last year we didn't even get to this point when we first presented the bill. So, we had to start all over with the new with the new um city hall the speaker some new city hall electeds and really re refamiliarize
people with our purpose with the bill. So, that's a great great sign. today as we well about a little bit later on this 10:45 maybe about noon or so the um bill will be presented and that's the first step to it going to a vote. We did our
second round of conversations with our um Queens City Council members of course that in our case that would be council member council member Paladino and so forth and they were all in support of the bill. So that's a great great sign going forward. So fingers crossed on
that. We're in a great place. Yesterday we were in Albany and um we had well over a thousand members citywide and in our district 25 we had well over 50 of our members take the trip up to Albany for a fixed tier six rally about 17,000
m municipal employees cuz it wasn't just teachers. There were nurses. There was the firefighters union. Um there was PET. They were there as well. and it was over 17,000 people filling out the MVP arena and really trying to reform what the current um retirement system looks
like for newer for newer members. If you were in teaching after 2012, you're in tier 6. And as you've heard me say before, the current structure is that you'd have to work 40 years at this point as a tier six member to be eligible for full retirement. So our
goal is to reduce that 40 to 30 and take that number 63 age 63 and reduce it to 55. That's the plan. We know it's not going to be we had one rally yesterday. It's not going to be fixed today. This is this tears um for lack of a better
word their fight to um this is their fight and me as a tier four uh will definitely be supportive of them and standing with them. I'm I'm done in less than 10 years. Just feel the need to say that. But um we're definitely going to be supportive of the tier six people and
it's of course it's our job to guide them through and get them to understand the importance of this and so forth. And the last thing is um I actually have a colleague of mine from way back when from undergrad St. John's days who is um
going to be um is is a judge is a civil court judge in Queens. And in our conversations, she lives in she lives in district 26, but she definitely knows our you know, she's very well familiar with 25 as well. We talked about having kids and I'm putting this out there, Dr.
Mike, we can further up with a conversation, having students from our district come visit her over at um Queens Boulevard at, you know, over at the courouses in Queens. I would like to use 2011 as it's easier access. That's
my home school. So maybe after testing sometime in miday we can get that ball moving. But if this is successful and there's some teeth to it, I'm thinking maybe we can do something district-wide and have students from different grade levels come on down to the courts and
meet the judges and see how the system works and get a tour of the courouses. So I mean again very very very very early but it's an idea in my head. So um >> I love it. I mean it's very much aligned with the civics work we want yes >> our kids to learn and understand. So, um, yeah, I'm all for that. We can
certainly pilot it, provided, uh, Principal Simpson is on board, which I imagine she would be. I think that's a great idea. >> So, that's where we are. So, I'm hopefully hopefully in May, midmay, if we work this out, we can we'll be the first and then we'll see what we can do
for next year and years ahead. >> Sounds good. Thank you, Lamar. >> No problem. >> Okay, Charlene, anything? Uh, DC37, >> everyone. Well, our lobby day was last week. Um, we went up to Albany to definitely fix it. Tier six. I'm a tier
six victim myself. Um, we are finding that that really does um hurt um getting a recruitment effort. Um there are many uh support roles uh within DC37. However, they're not the highest paid and then having such a a high uh you
know retirement age um does not help. Uh so we definitely um are going to reform it so that it's more equitable and give people some more incentive. We have a lot of people who um are actually um serving in support roles in schools is
their second career and right now the length of time their time is not feasible for us to even um continue to get people in. So uh we had a lot of talk about that. A lot of talk about um the use of AI um making sure uh that we have uh actual
human beings especially in in food services and um and those support roles so that we can um have a thriving workforce and um besides visiting schools um hopefully trying to schedule some site visits um with members. That's
been about it for this month. >> Thank you so much. Um, yeah, tier six is a is a big thing. I know that it's a it's it's something that you guys have been working on. So, I I I get the importance and not that I'm going to gloat that I'm a tier four
like uh like Lamar, but you know, um uh but I do understand the the reasons behind it. Um okay. Um high school uh president's council. >> Hi. Hi. How are you everyone? Good morning.
All right. So per as per our report uh we are working to connect and support our parent leaders. Uh we keep supporting each high school by visiting their facilities uh where they showcase their um wonderful programs as well as you know
we getting to know the students as well as stuff. Um we went to um Hart High School in Cambridge Heights. We had a visit. uh we usually showed up most of our team members but otherwise I gotta say we are
in constant communication so whoever uh can be there because it's not easy with our jobs uh we give the report uh not only among us but also in our meetings so uh we are very solid and strong team and I'm very proud to be part of it uh
we join also Queens Border uh President Donna reaches women's impact awards dinner and took place at the Queens Museum. It was a great experience and uh also we continue in establishing clear communication and collaboration with all the superintendent
and we're having a guest speaker in our meetings. Uh upcoming meeting on Monday is Stephanie Leblanc uh Godfrey and she will speak about bridging the gap between AI and real life uh what mother
at the time. So we are definitely looking forward to her presentation and again we had a wonderful feedback and support after we just came to the new um membership um new board and uh and
connect and um in conjunction with our membership. We always looking forward to improve and get better and serve our community. So yeah, everything is going well. uh and thank you for your support is very important for us and your
feedback as well so we can you know improve. That's what we're looking forward to positive feedback. >> Thank you so much Patricia. Appreciate your report. Thank you. >> Um uh Rachel, >> so we have our meeting coming up the end
of this month. We will be having include NYC as a speaker at our meeting. Um and of course our illustrious PR superintendent report. Um and that's the
plan for the meeting as of right now. If we add any speakers um if we at our last meeting we had PTA link which we were able to give all of our parent leaders information on where to find resources, where to find answers
to questions. um which I think is very helpful because we don't want to recreate the wheel if someone's already created it. We just want to use the same wheel. So, it was a very productive meeting. We also had
dial teachers um present so um parents or parent leaders can make sure that their constituents are aware of that benefit. >> Okay, awesome. Thank you so much, Rachel. then um I will certainly be there at the next president's council meeting to do my report. I will be
adding in some of that MTSS work just to make sure that all of our community members have it um as well. So, thank you for that. Uh Eden CC. >> Sure. So, we just had our meeting last Wednesday. Uh during that meeting, as
Dr. Mike shared, we did have a little bit of a presentation about MCSS blooped in with Dr. Mike's report. We also had uh state testing presentation. We had two of the soap box speeches and right now we are in the planning stages of
what we're doing alongside the district for the wellness day as well as preparing for our June awards ceremony that we do every year. So our next meeting will be the beginning of April. And please feel free to come or jump on Zoom. And yeah, that's it from us.
>> Awesome. Thanks so much, Eden. Um, okay guys, this brings us to uh to some closure for our um our March meeting. Um, what I do ask is if you guys can really think a little bit more on the questions that we presented today. Um,
and I I will follow up with a with an email to you guys just in terms of being mindful of of those questions because it will help us organize our goals um moving into uh into next school year. And I want to capture as much of your thoughts in those goals as we possibly
can uh just based on today's conversation. There are things there that we can definitely pull um into our goals moving into next year. So I thank you guys for that. But please keep those questions in mind and you know be prepared with some some feedback um you
know for us. The more that we hear from you the better things are for our collective um collective work. So um I thank you guys always as always for being uh so attentive during the meetings and contributing throughout the uh throughout the session. So uh Mr.
Sarin is actually in process. We will have our progress monitoring um tool completed within short order pro. Is it already done? Yeah, it's probably already done. We got about maybe 10 more minutes of entry and we're finished with our progress monitoring tool for
ourselves. So if you go on uh it is there for you. Um, and I know that our schools have been doing the same. Um, so lots to do folks, lots more on the horizon. Please make sure you have those dates in your calendar. Would love to have you guys there when the chancellor
comes on the 31st. Um, as well as um our uh wellness day event in May. Uh so if you can be available for it, all the better. It doesn't mean you have to stay the whole time, but would love for you to be there in part for that as well. Um, that'll bring our meeting to a
close. Do we have consensus on closing out the m the the meeting right on time? Yes. Yes. Yes. All right. Perfect. Thank you guys. I appreciate all of you and uh we'll talk to you soon. Have a great afternoon. >> Bye everybody. Bye. >> Bye all.
>> Bye everyone.