All right, folks. Any changes to the minutes? Uh, could we come to consensus on them? If so, just give me that virtual thumbs up so that I see that we're good and then we can move on. Thanks, Rob. Thanks, Eduardo. >> One quick change for me. This is Rachel. >> Yeah, go ahead, Rachel.
>> I'm the co-president of District 25. It says present. So I just >> Oh, you got it. I will make sure that I make that change right now. >> Thank you. That's it. Okay. Anything else? We good? All right, perfect. All right, guys.
Thank you so much. Uh, and we're going to begin our our work today. I have actually a lot of of things to talk to you about in the superintendent report. Um, as we begin closing out um, this school year and begin thinking around planning for next
school year, uh, we'll have a little bit of an opportunity to look at some data trends um, from the middle of year a little bit more in depth than we did during the um, the March meeting and start organizing our thinking around goal setting for for September. Uh, in
two goals, we'll start with two goals this month and then we'll finish out the other three goals in uh, in May. figure too to do all of them at once. We don't really have a chance to really think and talk about them. So, uh going to bring you through a couple of the of the the spaces for our uh goals around priority
one, which is around all students learn to read, and then priority two uh that all students are physically and emotionally safe so that we're in a in a good space of thinking around those two. Um there'll be some uh a space of talking about uh the AI guidance that's
come out from the central team. I do want to have everyone's eyes on it um so that we can all give some collective feedback on um on that if you haven't done so already or haven't reviewed it yourself. Um I'm going to give you guys a little bit of time to to review some
of the the documents that are on the um the central page. Um and then we can have a little bit of chat about it ourselves. Uh but I do think it's important that we we have our eyes on it on that. And then last month, I asked that we all start thinking about what
does it mean to be academically rigorous here in district 25? What does it mean to be uh physically, emotionally safe in district 25? And what does it mean to be truly integrated? So, we're going to take a little bit of an opportunity to also enter in some of our thoughts and it'll be a an ongoing conversation that
we begin to have not only here with DT, we'll start having it with our principles, APS, our teachers to really make sure that we have a solidified vision for uh for teaching and learning um you know moving forward particularly because the work of Portrait of a
Graduate is now becoming front and center of our conversations um as a not only from the state level but now down to our citywide level and we have to have a very very clear robust set of things that we're thinking about here at the district. So when the c when the the
citywide team uh organizes their thinking around this too that we're all kind of in lock step in in what our beliefs are moving forward. So um that's kind of in a nutshell what we're going to be talking about um today. Um before we get started, you know, we always like
to do our little connection before content um activity and we won't do a a breakout room just because I do have a lot to talk about today, but I'm going to put it into the chat. Um and then for those of you that uh that are willing, I invite you just to, you know, post some
things into the into the chat. So, the food debate, um, home-cooked meal or fancy restaurant, which one would you really more align yourself to? Um, for yourself, are you one that looks for the home-cooked meal and you say, "You know what? I can't wait for that." Or you like, "You know what? No, I'm going out
because I really feel like I need a steak dinner tonight." Which side of it do you lean on? Um, you know, put that into the chat. Edward, a homecooked cooked meal. I like it. Charlene fancy. Okay. Home-cooked meal for Patricia. Ah, that's true, Rob. It does depend on
who's who's doing the cooking. I won't disagree with that. Mom making the uh the the macaroni meatballs. I might have to go with the uh with the homecooked. Uh but uh Eduardo, what's what's the go-to? Give me a quick go-to. What's a home-cooked meal that you say, you know
what, you can't deal without? >> You're on mute, Ruardo. >> I would say the the meat cooked in Burgundy wine, beef borgon. It's a whole meal like you know you add the potatoes and you slow cook it. Oh, always perfect.
>> Wow. All right. So, you're doing the cooking the next time we come together. I love it. Thanks, Roberto. Anyone else want to do a quick uh quick little entry there? I saw Patricia, you said homecooked as well. Anything in particular? >> I love cooking. Uh so for my husband uh
because they took mom's uh his mom's side, my mother-in-law who I called mom too. Anything Italian. Love it. >> Yeah, we're going have to bring you up. And the kids, too. My kids cook. They're very good cooks, too. So, yeah, it's good. It's a whole family affair.
>> Well, it's a nice family family connector. Yeah. Right. I love that. I love that. Charlene, I saw you put put fancy. Where are we going? We are going to one of the best sushi restaurants in the city. I don't know which one it is yet, but when I find it,
I want to, but I love sushi. So, >> I love it. Thank you, Charlene. Um, and anyone else? Rob, go ahead. If it's a Yeah, if it's a home-cooked, who's who's got to make it? >> I'm trying to I'm trying to save some money these days, but I like to eat. So,
I just uh I started going to Costco. I got three inch and a half ribe eyes for 80 bucks would that would cost like 300 bucks in in in the restaurant. I'm getting good at cooking it at home. A little reverse sear action. So, I'm looking forward to being better at home uh as a cook.
>> I like it. I like it. Yeah. If I if my my favorite place I don't know if any of you guys have ever been to it, but my favorite place out on Long Island, it's uh Black Blackstone Steakhouse. It is way too expensive. Uh, but we do typically uh on our anniversary uh every year try to treat ourselves to uh to uh
to Blackstone Steakhouse. That's one of my favorite places. Um but if I had to, I would also love to stay home and have a nice um a nice lasagna, something along those lines. I happen to like to to cook myself and usually around the Italian side of things. Um you know,
grew up with a grandmother and mom that that cook like crazy. So, um, you know, if I had an opportunity, the macaroni meatballs, lasagna meatballs, baked ziti meatballs, and notice the meatballs always in there. Uh, that's my that's my entry point. So, thank you guys for uh
for entertaining that just for a couple of minutes. Um, and I do want to welcome our newest member to the District 25 uh team and family. Uh, but we're really fortunate to be able to add on to our team our family support coordinator. uh
we had been without our uh FSE for for quite a while when Esther moved on into a central uh position uh and Jenny has been uh kind of assuming both roles over the past year and a half but we are really fortunate to welcome uh Jessica Viegas to our team um who will be
serving in that role uh and she's been in the role I feel was it three weeks now Jessica two to three weeks uh oh you're you're going mute on mute off mute Edit's in the chat. It might be your headset. Yeah. >> Oh, here we go. I would have to say this
is going to be the fourth week. >> Fourth week. Yay. >> Yes. That's awesome. Hello everyone. My name is Jessica Viegas and I am the new family support coordinator. >> Yes. Welcome, Jessica. And Jessica's, you know, jumped right into the into the
fun from from day one. So, we're we're really happy that Jessica's here with us. and uh we'll be there to support all of our families and um you know and certainly our PCs moving forward. So uh thank you, thank you, thank you. Um okay, I'm going to jump right into our
um celebrations and reminders and all of that fun stuff. Uh and there are a number of things that we do need to highlight. And you guys know that I'm really um really very much invested in uh our work with Civics for All and our
work with um with our kids in that area. But we do have two children um that I do want to highlight. I don't know that I highlighted them last session. We had two kids that presented for Project Soapbox at the CEC meeting, but we also had two children that earned their way
to main stage um with the Soapbox Challenge. And that is um Esme from PS 209 and Ethan from um uh College Point Collaborative. each of them in their speeches wound up getting to main stage and one of our students uh w is now in
the finals. Uh and that's Esme from PS 209. So she did a fantastic job. We will invite them uh to an upcoming DT so they can share their speeches. Uh so we're really really proud of them and proud of that work. you know, huge huge shout out
to um to Melinda from our team for organizing um our schools and getting our Civics for All work really moving um in a really positive direction. I have to say every year we get better and better at this um where our kids are having an opportunity to use those
voices in productive ways. Um and this no different. So, um, you know, our our goal is to really make sure that our kids are having opportunities to do that research, think about what it is that's important to them, and then bring it to life. So, um, you know, looking forward
to to more and more of this as time goes on. Uh, and there will be a share later in May where we're bringing all of our kids together that have written those speeches and identified by their schools so they can be recognized in a more wide sense. So, big shout out to them. Um,
I'm not sure if you guys are aware of this, but we did have a citywide spelling bee winner. Um, that is Liam from PS32. And I have to tell you, this young man, um, be I'm not sure if you can see, but he's got a red and white shirt on. Do we notice that red and
white shirt? So, that red and white shirt is representative of his favorite soccer club. And his favorite soccer club is Sunderland. It's an English Premier League soccer club. They actually recognized Liam. They got word
that Liam was won the spelling bee and he's become Insta famous. They've been rooting him on. They know that he's going to be uh participating in the national spelling bee. So, they've also made a jersey, a Sunderland jersey for
him with his name on the back and they'll be presenting it to him. Uh this the Sunderland team is coming to New York City in the coming weeks. They've invited Liam to go onto the soccer field and walk the team out um onto what they call the pitch. They call the soccer
field the pitch. Um so he'll be walking the team out. He's been interviewed by NBC. He's been interviewed by um a New York uh radio station. It's just really really unbelievable. Um and you know it's it's really really cool stuff. And
again the spelling be comes to life here also in the district uh with Melinda. She's she's a huge proponent of the spelling bee and we do it every year and host it every year at uh at 185 and you know this was the result. We have a young man who's won the national the the
um the citywide challenge and now is on his way to Washington DC in May. So we're rooting him on and I think we should come up with something that's really special for him as a kickoff to get to Washington DC. So, welcome any ideas that you might have to spread the news across um you know our district and
you know beyond so that he is really really uh you know feels the love going going into Washington. So uh really cool stuff there. Um this I also want to shout out our district. Um so we were um part of a
research study by the center for public research uh in terms of how we organizing ourselves to implement new curriculum. Um and we were published in um in their um in their all systems go publication. Um so big shout out to our
schools. We we had parents interviewed, we had teachers interviewed, we had building leaders interviewed, district team members interviewed. Um, we had folks from PS3 32,79 24 um and our district team uh that participated in this and you'll see us
quoted inside of this document. The link is there. I'm not going to spend any more time than just sharing it with you. Um, but really proud of um of our leaders and uh teachers and and parents for their contribution to this. and it does kind of showcase the things that
we're that we believe in here at the district level and are trying to continue to pursue so that our kids have see the most success possible inside of their work. Um, but really really proud of our folks for that. Uh, we had an amazing district math family night. Big shout out to Beth and
Liz from our team as well as Dr. Bradley for opening his doors at 189. We had a really amazing turnout um at 189 for this math family night. Um well over a hundred folks came to uh you know to really engage with their children um in
a variety of different math games and activities and really really uh quite well done. Uh we'll continue to do these as as time goes on because it does bring families together uh with their children in productive ways. that's, you know, phones are down and they're they're
they're doing some math in really fun ways and getting kids excited with their with their families competing against one another in uh you know in some games that I'm I look at I'm like oh I have to sit and really think through that one myself. So really really positive and
looking to continue to grow that over time. Um we also had our cheer expo. Uh we did this at Towns and Harris. Um really awesome awesome experience. We had all of our schools from across the district had their cheer teams there and
I have to tell you it was really really amazing and you you'll notice that I get to put myself in in these pictures but um and get to take a lot of credit for all the work that happens outside of me. So this is a big shout out to our principles and our coaches um and their
friends on our team. Um, what I what I loved about this expo the most is that the kids on the outside, meaning that we're watching were cheering on every single school that was participating. It was just such an amazing thing to watch.
They were so excited for one another. Um, you know, as they presented presented their hard work to their community and the stands were filled. And one of my favorite parts about this experience was a young lady came up to me and this is the the great part about having this thing out of high school.
She came up to me and she's like uh she said to me, "Dr. Anton, I just want to let you know I'm coming here. This is the school that I'm going to be coming to now." And you know, so aside from the idea of of being able to show their show their um their skills in in terms of
cheer, you know, just the experience of being there at a high school like Towns and Harris really spurred on the idea the the thoughts of them saying, "I want to come here. This is the school that I want to go to." So really cool stuff. Um first in math competition. I am
really really proud of our schools. We we have winners across grades 1 through 8. Um and they will be participating in the Albany competition that's coming up. Um I believe it's in May. I want to say it's in May, but
usually they do the first and math competitions across the city and they count us as one big district that goes to the competition in Albany. But when you break it down, district 25 had the winners in all grade spans from grades 1 through eight. all came from district
25. So, uh, really, really amazing. Again, big shout out to Beth from our team who's really pushing our schools to engage in this work. Um, really, really exciting stuff. Uh, we also had, um, an Ezra Jack Keats award winner from JHS 180, uh, 194,
excuse me. Uh, and that it's Leedi uh, Grace from 194. and her uh book Stray was recognized during this competition and she was a winner. So big shout out to her and congratulations to Julie Santi Sentient Santinelloo uh the the
teacher who supervised the creation of the book uh as well as Principal Miller and her team. Uh so really really amazing work there. Uh we also had in March uh a visit to PS24 with our chancellor Samuels. Um,
big thanks to PS24 and Principal Singh for all of the work that she did to make this experience a really positive one. Our kids performed um for our chancellor in multiple ways. They are a Disney um uh a Broadway junior uh excuse me,
Disney Junior um school and they put on a little bit of their um Finding Nemo show uh for the chancellor as well as their chorus uh singing for the chancellor and their student council asking the chancellor a series of questions uh which were really really
well thought out and well done. So, um, and thank you to our teachers that that opened up their classrooms to a a series of folks, um, who, uh, were in their in their rooms seeing what their what their work looked like on a from a day-to-day basis. So, uh, big shout out to our
school for that. Uh, some summarizing uh, reminder um that, um, the application obviously the windows closed um, and offers will be coming out in the end of April. Well, just again reminding our folks that that
they if they're so taking a seat that they um that they indicate that they will be accepting and that if they accept that they're going to join uh over the summer and they don't take seats from other kids that might want to um to utilize them. Uh upcoming events,
we have our virtual session, next virtual session uh will be on Thursday, April 30th. Um helping your child develop friendships. really really important one. Um and then there will be our last session in the virtual math series around fractions, proportions and
ratios. Um concepts that are really super important for our community. Um as fractions typically is the area that our kids struggle in the most um as learners. Uh we have our second annual wellness
day is scheduled for Saturday, May 2nd. I would love to see all of you there. Um it will be held at Common Point, Queens. There'll be a series of of resources there for our families to take advantage of. Um so if you guys could be there,
that would be fantastic. Okay. And the last part is about giving everyone an opportunity uh to look and review the guidance. So I'm going to put the the timer on the clock. I'm going to ask everyone just to take the next 10 minutes or so just to review the um the
AI guidance that is on our central site uh just to familiarize yourselves. You may have already looked at this, but if there's anything that comes up for you uh that you feel is important for us to also discuss as a district team, that would be great. But I'm going to put the timer on. Again, I know that we get
these things. Sometimes we may have the time, sometimes we don't. So, I want to give you a little bit of that opportunity right now. Um, just to do that quick review and put the timer on for 10 minutes and we will come back in 10 uh with anything that you feel is important for us to raise including at
the very bottom there is a link for you to provide feedback to uh to the chancellor's office which I would encourage us to do and I will put that link in the chat as well.
Okay, come back in 10 minutes, folks. Okay, just two more minutes, folks. Okay, everyone. I'm hoping that you had uh you know enough time to to review. What I would really encourage everyone to do is um you know share some of those thoughts and suggestions in uh in the the
feedback form that the central team has provided. But I would love to get some just general comments from you know from everyone uh that had a chance to to give it a look just now. Um things that are resonating with you. I saw uh Eduardo put in there that he appreciated the
what it is and what it is not component um to it. I think the red uh the red light the traffic light system I think is is appropriate too just in terms of where we're at with AI right now. But um any any comments from from you guys? Go
ahead Patricia. >> Okay. Hi. Um just quick um and of course I would love to to hear the feedback as well. Um so in in terms of the must be used with human oversight and review specific age restrictions I agree all of
the above al also uh in my eyes um and for what I see with with my kids right and and along the community uh the support and the social emotional aspect because it's not only in the education side but also uh I've been reading a lot
and I'm going to go a little bit to to the bone because you know uh when asking for emotional support to AI and then obviously leads to some behaviors uh that are not appropriate or
unfortunately uh the suicidal rates due to you know um the fact that they don't reach to an adult that can help whoever is is reaching out to overcome those challenges in life and reaching out to AI is not the best choice. So I think we
got to support them and make them understand um have critical thinking which is always an issue to be addressed and um also um how can I put that um
to discern between the facts and the fabrication. So, not only believe and rely on what AI is telling them to do. And of course, sometimes adults we have um
a hard time uh dealing with uh what's going on in life, you know, and go figure in their minds, they're just developing. And I think the support is crucial not only in the uh the education but from our the
parents at home and the teachers and yes you know ask relevant questions and and human uh the AI is is a great tool don't get me wrong I'm not against it but again knowing how to use it when to use
it and uh and as a tool basically. So, um, >> yeah. Yeah. No, I agree with I agree with you, Patricia. I think that, um, >> you know, like most things, we have to be critical consumers of things. >> Um, you know, and I think Eduardo, you put it in there too about about it's not
always being always accurate. I think Gus, you noted that too. Um and you know that space of being critical consumers I think is so super important um in anything we do even even in this context when we're talking about AI and not just interesting
>> when the teachers tell you I know so and so because I've been having this conversation with the teachers and and and everywhere and they saying I know so and so Patricia I put myself as example didn't write that essay that I see essay in the chat because suddenly you know
which vocabulary should come from reading and from interacting in other uh um other in other resources, you know, versus AI writing it. So, yeah, you know. Yeah, for sure. That that's a good example on what's going on. So, thank you very
much. >> Yeah. Yeah. Go ahead, Rob. Um, well, I like that they are beginning to really look at this and they're trying to create, I guess, official operational guidance because, uh, you know, as a principal, as a building leader, you know, we're all always
concerned on making sure that, uh, we are working within the parameters of the rules. And right now those that while the traffic light system is good, that yellow, you know, it it is concerning cuz those are the we don't knows yet. So
it kind of leaves it up to us to use judgment and that can be um you know different depending on who who is looking at that. I like that it's already been established that that Irma has to approve it. Uh there's guidance
around it not deciding grades, uh not writing IEPs. I think that makes sense. >> Um, but you know, there are some things that it says you can't do like with translations. It says you need a qualified linguist. I mean, who are these linguists that were we're reaching out to in every case? Uh, looking
forward to to be completely established so they could be real professional development around this with clear expectations. I understand that it's all new, but it's not that new. So, I'm I'm happy that they're doing it now, but and I look forward to all this feedback being gathered and um there being like I
said, clear operational guidance on uh how we approached all of it. >> Yeah, thanks Rob. Um yeah, I think the um you know, some of some of the the the yellow space I think we always have to kind of exercise judgment though. I
think that that will always that will always be there um in some way, shape or form. And I think you know where where I where I think where I would always error on the side of is making sure that folks and this goes back to the critical
consumer part. It can't be just I I put in a question here was what the output was and here you go kid. Um or from leaders standpoint here's what it crafted for me. Here you go staff. Here you go families. Um, we have to be able
to read what it is that's there, make sure that what is being presented is in fact accurate and that we're not putting things in front of children that um, you know, contradict what maybe a historical reference is talking about just because
it gathered a whole bunch of stuff and spit it back at us. So, I do think that that space of yellow will always be there in lots of different ways. Um, you know, I think the part that I think does need to get out of that mud is, um, you know, the information that we're able to
put in to get information back out. Um, and that part of it I think do think needs to be kind of unpacked more for sure. Um, but yeah, thank you for that. Uh, Rob, uh, Gus, go ahead. Yeah, from the point of view of a teacher in a
classroom, I have I recently had some AI experience in in that connection and it I think it creates a a bit more work on the part of the classroom teacher in that uh what I had to do was I had to
ask uh the same content questions of AI that I was getting back uh from students and Then I what I did was I looked at the language and the content and compared it to what I was getting from the students and it showed me that they
were basically getting the information from AI and regurgitating it back. So that's kind of a a a classroom practice that I would recommend you know um uh teachers would have to do is uh because
uh you know you know that the students are going to go to AI for all you know uh kinds of uh uh content information and um uh you you basically have to go to it yourself in order to be able to
understand uh that um the content you're getting back uh may be just generally, you know, based on what they've re, you know, been able to get from the computer instead of, you know, various uh sources. >> Yeah. Thank you, Gus. And I think that's
that space of ondemand writing experiences versus um giving you time to research so that you get to learn who your kids are as writers uh and thinkers. Um, if we just rely on them to do research absent us as the educator to
see what's going on, uh, then we can assume that maybe perhaps the things that they're putting down on paper was them and that's who they are as a writer. Um, unless we have means of recognizing that and being able to assess that uh, as the educator, then, you know, it becomes fair game. That's
just who I am as a writer. You can say whatever you want, but I wrote that, right? versus being able to really see who they are um as uh as students. So, I think there's got to be a little bit of that give and take around what are the assignments we're actually giving um and
do we really know our kids, you know, um which I think there's a lot more for us to to reflect on because even Melissa, my daughter, she's uh she's a junior, you know, and it's it's not infrequent where she said, "Oh, you know, I just popped that into chat GPT, right?" you know, in fact, she she she wrote me a
whole uh a whole paragraph. We had a little bit of a disagreement around um her use of of money. So, talk about financial literacy. Uh her use of of of uh of money and and how she spent a lot this during this break and not a lot of her own money, a lot of her dad's money.
But she wrote me this this long little this long text and you know, I jokingly wrote to her. I said, "Was that you or was that Chad GPT that wrote that to me?" you know, so um it's just an interesting thing for for all of us to have our mind's eye on and you know
really are we really promoting the thinking component of of the what we want our kids to do and you know I think that's you know certainly an AI thing but it's also about us recognizing our own kids um as parents too we we know
who they are we grew up with them uh we helped raise them we know what they are able to write and what you know what's them and what's not them so I think that's a part of it too around the the parent piece that's important as well and I agree with you the AI hallucin hallucination Eduardo that's that's for
that is a real thing too but I encourage you please enter your your feedback into um into that if you are a parent leader please do so um you know if you're a representative from uh you know from your constituents please make sure that you're sharing this feedback the more
people respond the more the more of an understanding the central team will have uh in terms of really solidifying this guidance document by June. Otherwise, what winds up happening, like most things, and I'm guilty of it too, we get a feedback form and we think about it as
the other person will do it. The other person will share their thoughts and before you know it, a guidance document comes out that you may or may not like, you may or may not think is the best. Why? Because you didn't share your thoughts inside of it. Um, so I know
that feedback forms are often the the last thing that we want to do, but please make sure that you're that you're you're sharing widely this opportunity. The the link is there. Um, and let's get as much feedback in as we possibly can. Uh, but I appreciate you guys sharing and I think a lot of the things that
we're was said aligns with what this document calls calls out already. So, thank you for that. Any last minute things on the AI before we move forward? Go ahead, Charlene. >> I'm always concerned about staffing levels and how people make these
determinations and um what kind of training support staff gets to be able to, you know, if they need to speak to a child and they say, you know, their training might not be as rigorous as other staff in the building and then might, you know, try to deescalate and go to Chad GBT and say, "Hey, how do I
deescalate the situation?" it may be incorrect. >> So, it's for me it's training staffing. Like I said, those food menus, we don't know if they're going to start using that to determine what children should eat, which might not always be the best thing. I think um there's some other questions to be asked. And also, um
schools are not all schools are not evenly populated. We've got space and schools are a little bit underenrolled in the entire system. So, I think like one of the purposes of AI is to expand capacity. I'm not sure if we need to do that right now. We've been hearing we're underenrolled. We're not at pre-COVID levels. So why do we need to move so
fast to build capacity with kids we don't have in seats? >> Yeah, thanks Charlene. And I think um you know I think the the the the real kind of genesis of this is that we we have a
tool that's out there that um still has a lot of questions for us to to answer. And I think because it's evolving so fast you know um you know it kind of brings the urgency to this space and I think once a framework is organized then a lot of those other things could also
be added in um you know over time um you know to kind of answer some of those other questions that might be looked at not looked at as um um you know as urgent inside of the space because I didn't really see a lot of
that stuff that you just mentioned inside of that document and talking about you know the relationships to menus and impact on on um you know certainly impact on on decision-m is there but some of those other things in terms of jobs and and and such I don't necessarily see that in there I think it
should be included as part of the feedback that's shared um you make sure that all bases are kind of covered in the in the framework but thank you for that okay um so moving moving right along into Um
our other thing speaking of hiring uh we will be doing a a you know um a hiring fair for our teachers on Wednesday, April 22nd. Uh we'll be hosting that at PS 169 from 4 to 6. Um we have upwards
of 450 people that have already RSVPd that they will be coming uh looking to seek um teaching positions here in district 25. Um, you know, we do this early so that we can get our eyes on uh those that are are interested and and
want to be part of the District 25 family. Um, and you know, we're we're looking forward to it. We did it last year. It was an amazing turnout. Um, and some of those people that were present on that day did wind up getting themselves positions in our district.
Um, and I I look forward to the same type of turnout this year. Um, and you know, we'll we'll see what that means in terms of the volume of teachers that are needed. Many of our schools did go uh class size reduction, you know, going into the 2526 school year, and it did
help them with the with the hiring process, and we're hoping the same happens uh this year as well. Okay. So, let me just quickly share my screen and just bring everyone's attention back to some questions that I asked you to ponder last uh last session. And that
was these three things. What does it mean to be safe in district 25 academically and socially? Uh what does it mean to be academically rigorous in district 25? And what does it mean to be truly integrated? These are three questions that our chancellor has posed
um you know over the course of the the last month where he did his listening and listening and learning tour uh across the city and these are wasn't necessarily framed exactly the way that I framed them here but similar in in nature to to this kind of mindset around
what you know how are we doing this here in the city and I think it's important we we also have that conversation as well uh so I did create a padlet um which I will put into the chat. And I'm going to ask us just to take a little
bit of time um to reflect on um on those statements. I'll put it into the chat for us to do a little bit of of entry. So when you think about these three things,
academically and social emotionally safe, um academic rigor inside of our inside of our schools and truly integrated, what does it make you think? Um you know, what should that mean for us as a collective district? So I'm going to give you guys just a few
minutes just of individual reflection. And I told you unfortunately my my my part is a little bit longer today, so I I do apologize for that. But I think it's important that we're all on the same page. So I'm just going to give you two minutes just to do that some independent reflection um and then we'll
we'll have a quick chat in rounds um around each of these things. But to to do some of the that defining of those expectations right into the Padlet. Um so just two minutes for independent reflection and then I'd ask that you go into this Padlet. Um and then just click
on this little plus sign that you see here. uh when you click on the plus sign, it'll allow you to write um some of your thoughts and then just publish uh that way we all have uh an opportunity to reflect on each other's thoughts. So, take those two minutes
independent reflection and then begin adding your comments here. Um and we'll come back together shortly after that. All right, folks. If you can begin adding things into the Padlet. I'm sure you can see me doing that right on the on the screen as um as you had that
reflection time. Just post some things in there around what you think um you know our environment should uh should look like, sound like, and feel like. And then we'll have a chance for a quick chat uh thereafter. Okay, seeing a a couple of entries.
Please continue to add them there. If if you're having trouble with the Padlet, put it into the chat. Um, but I do want us to have a little bit of a conversation around this. So, if you haven't been able to and you you're able to kind of see some of the things that have been entered first, some that
resonate with you already, um things that you you believe can be expanded upon um to support our our collective thinking because I do believe this really really connects to uh the portrait of a graduate work that is coming um that is going to be part of
our conversation and you know we should have a solid base for what we believe as a collective community and you know we've talked about these things in the past and it's part of our of our district vision statement, but um I do think that it's revisiting it and making sure that what we say here actually
aligns to what we believe. Um so at any point you're welcome to continue to add to this. Um if nothing striking you now, that's fine. Uh but I want this to be an ongoing conversation so that we're all uh connected. But is there anything here
that any of you is seeing that you want to kind of highlight as important uh that maybe you didn't write but someone else put into the into the Padlet uh for us to to reflect on? Anything in particular that kind of is striking you
as important? and feel free to to kind of give that uh virtual hand so we can see what anyone that has a comment about any of the elements that were posted. >> Yeah, go ahead Rob. Uh what stood out to
me was the uh the comment around uh students giving opportunities for learners to think critically to make meaning of concepts and skills. I think that is integral to education. I mean uh that's the difference between a passive learner and an active thinker. Uh
someone who's taking responsibility for their learning and actually having fun. Um I enjoy my job every day when we are given the opportunity to think critically and solve problems and approach things from uh our own unique perspectives and children need to be given that opportunity too and and get
get you know get used to doing that and that that's that's what life's all about. You know what? I'm going to just add into this, Rob, just to kind of echo some of the things that you just said. This idea of opportunities for our
learners to become problem solvers. I think that's an important uh component that adds on to the the statement that was already in there. Um I think that's a really really important one. Uh go ahead, Patricia. Um as a matter of fact I would have to
say that everything resonates I believe as collectives. Yes. But um one thing that I would like to um also add to from what does it mean to be safe
academically and social emotionally also um edit what does it mean to be academically rigor rigorous and is uh when you mention um giving space to debate because I do
understand that nowadays is uh the debate is uh one side or the other and they don't know how to agree to disagree and maybe brainstorm and come out to a a um a specific idea that it can become
from both ends of the conversation. uh I don't I don't think the debate the the the the the meaning of the debate is is fully being understood nowadays and it creates a gap instead of coming together like I said brainstorming and
give you different positions which is okay like I like I said agree to disagree I think debate should be part of uh different subjects uh not a specific one in order for for them to
again come up with ideas and uh come to a common ground and uh solving the problems and making this world a better place you know with uh real life uh issues you know I develop the skills to
interact and understand what the other person has a different point of view and it's okay I see when I'm having conversations in general or you put a question under the table and it it's more likely leaning towards creating a gap that debating and uh brainstorming
and said okay we agree to disagree but your idea is great as well as mine and we can come to a common ground. So I will go rigorous academically they should be aware of how conduct themselves on that. So I kind of took what you just said and made this this simple statement of giving opportunities
to reflect on and engage in productive conversation and discourse that allows for respectful disagreement and debate. uh debate across content areas. Making real life issues turn uh uh taking not making taking taking real life issues
and turning them into problem solving opportunities. >> Excellent. Thank you so much. Thank you. >> Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Anyone else? Charlene, anything? Eduardo,
Rachel, anything else that we want to add in here that you you don't see yet or believe should be part of of this. And I do think this is an ongoing thing that we can continue to revisit, but I think it's important, especially as we start getting into our goal setting
process, um, and we start looking at the data that we're going to review right now, um, around how are we doing that for all of our kids? We have kids that are meeting expectations right now, right? Um, but who who are we not doing that for right now? Um, in particular in
in district 25, and how are we organizing ourselves to do better at that? um and kind of brings us to this next layer of conversation uh that I'm going to ask you guys to review and reflect on. But go ahead, Rachel. I saw your hand go up.
>> Yeah. The one thing I was thinking is in reference to being integrated in district 25. Um and it kind of ties into the AI um piece we were discussing is in reference to translation. Um, you know,
as it mentioned that it should be reviewed by an appropriate person. Um, but like Rob said, who is that person? And I know each school has an an OA. um I don't remember what the acronym stands
for um for to help with translation services, but that person's not necessarily going to be qualified to review documents um unless they happen to be by some chance of fluent in that
language. Um, so I think that's an important area to focus on and to bring up because we need to be able to access those individuals and know how to get our documents appropriately translated and when AI is appropriate and when it's
not. >> Yeah. So I noted here ensuring that materials are accessible uh in languages of need uh for I think that you know I can put parenthesis there you know dependent on the situation families and
students in some ways um you know and how are we making sure that they're accessible and during one of the the meetings with the chancellor one of the things that that one of the kids brought up was you know she like at times I'm the translator of things for my kid for
by parents. And that really shouldn't be, right? It shouldn't be on the child having to then explain to the parent because the message went home just in an English version. Um, you know, it does need to be available. Um, you know, for our families and recognizing that
sometimes too, and we learned this the hard way years ago, that there very well may be some of our families that struggle um to read themselves. And you know, we put things out there with the assumption that because we we've sent it that folks can can read it too. And you
know, we had it was maybe five or six years ago, we did a parent student uh literacy um program on on a Saturday and we had it for like six, eight weeks in a row. And um one of the segments was for
parents and kids to read together. And one parent that was there happened to be illiterate. And because she was uncomfortable, she stopped coming, you know, and those are things we just didn't know. You know, we didn't realize that at the time. And likewise, when we
sent home messages, you know, the assumption that they that they are able to to just grasp it is not always a reality either. Uh so how do we make sure that that information is available um you know, in productive ways, too. So thank you for that, Rachel. So this is
I'm going to leave here. I'm going to ask you to kind of bookmark this Padlet if you wouldn't mind and you know share it with with uh others that are that you're around and and ask for some of them to include some of their thoughts too uh so that we have a really working
um tool here that allows us to consolidate that information and yes we could use AI in this circumstance to say you know surface some patterns and trends that exist and those are things that we could review um and as a means of supporting our understanding of how
AI could be a productive tool for us in certain ways and that we can become critical consumers of it too. Uh becoming a model for what that looks like for our kids um you know over time. Okay. So thank you guys. I appreciate you taking the time. Uh and that's going
to bring us into this next segment and it'll be a little bit of time for you to reflect and this is for our priority one. So, our goal this year was to improve outcomes for our targeted subgroups, and those were particularly our black learners, our Hispanic
learners, our multilingual learners, and our students with IEPs. They're all fit into priority one because we did see some opportunity gaps that existed over the course of of time. Last year, we did close those gaps, which was fantastic.
The goal was to continue to improve upon that this year. Now what we what we have seen is and you guys remember this from March you know the amount of progress this year was not necessarily at the same level. So we do have more digging in to do uh which we want you to start
thinking about uh collectively here. And what you'll see from slides 24 through 31 is a little bit of a breakdown. In particular, a a group of learners that we know we still need to to work through, and that's our
multilingual learners in particular. What you'll see side by side here, uh we have a significant population of multilingual learners. It's um nearly 6,000 children uh that we have in the district um that speak languages other than English. And what I would love for
you to do just to reflect on the side by side. What does this look like for our general population compared to our multilingual learners? How are they performing compared? Again, middle middle of the year doesn't mean that's where they're going to end, our learners. Uh but that's where we are middle of the year. And I want you to
look at side by side what that looks like. So from slides 24 um through 31, if you guys can just take the next five minutes, they're not overly dense slides. You might not even need the five minutes. Uh just take that time just to review what does it
currently say in terms of kids and where we are as readers. You'll see K to2 3 to 5 6 to 8 um to get a little bit of perspective on where they are um as readers. So again 5 minutes and then we will come back together.
Okay, just one more minute. and in the event you don't have the the presentation, I'll put it in the into the to the chat just so you guys have it. So, if we can just talk a little bit about what did you notice? What do you what did you see inside of uh that small
little little data set? Anything that's calling out to you? >> Go ahead, Rob. Um, I mean very encouraging in the lower grades when the when it comes to foundational skills. I think that uh you know I'm seeing that in the district it's 25% L's you know 120 we're over
50%. So, um you know that we we live this every day and we see so uh so many gains in the lower grades, but you you look to the upper grades and and I guess it depends also when children arrive and and they enter our school system. But the older you are, the more difficult it
is clearly to apply those uh skills and have them translate to um students who are uh you know closing that gap in in in language proficiency. Uh so that all the more reason for all of us to really make sure that
students in the lower grades are doing as well as possible and uh we're closing those gaps so that they are prepared to use those skills to to learn not just learn to read but you know read to learn and become successful. >> Yeah. Thanks Rob.
I think um one of the one of the things that's pretty pretty clear especially when you look at some of the some of the kind of the implications around uh around information particularly when we're talking about the I Ready um domains there you know the our larners
and listen they're rightfully so in some cases they just got here in some of the cases our kids are brand new learners you know so the command of the English language is not present yet um but the reason I showcase This is because we have so many of our multilingual
learners that and we do comparatively speaking to other districts across the city. We do we do well comparatively, but it's still not nearly enough, right? We we we have to be able to do better um at accelerating as much as we possibly
can um the learning experiences for for our kids across grade levels. And I think it's most pronounced in when we get to the upper grades. Uh go ahead, Patricia. >> Well, now uh I totally agree with what you're saying. Uh definitely I came over
when I was 28. So uh I have the the challenge uh to uh immerse myself in the culture uh learn myself first uh including
reading comprehension was part of the that's why I've been part of the queen's library system for so long and uh I I what I wrote is I cannot emphasize enough in the collaboration between parents and the school teachers and school staff and al
among the community to provide necessary tools in order to help there at home because you do a fantastic job in school but then when they come home how we can uh help them uh to continue expanding
that knowledge you know and practicing uh I think it's fantastic to speak more than one language language in general it's uh it's it's it's it affects it affects your brain in a positive way but
also then you know here you speak the language English the English that's what is uh about I mean I speak Spanish and many languages in the house but at the end of the day your your work is being done in in in English and again I mean
reading comprehension is very important included for math because to solve math problems here we go again you have to comprehend what is being written and what is being asked for so um I will also take into uh consideration uh
helping the parents in the household which I'm not saying it's easy it can be done I'm not saying it's easy I know myself but you know uh I think the working in collaboration and make the parents which I do a lot understand uh that they got to put themselves out
there, right? Even when I I figure people make fun, for instance, I'm going to say something as an immigrant. The way you pronounce something, okay, you got to say thank you. May you please help me how to pronounce instead of getting, you know, intimidating, which
is not easy. It's a different scenario from for all of us, you know. um uh it's not even like I said if I compare uh Spanish with uh which is Castellian with uh um Italian some words are even the same but then you come with you know
Greek and with English and you know Gus you're here and they call or any other language and you're kind of lost in translation so you know I think uh make the parents understand and break the ice and go for it and be bold and really
want to understand because from my experience the minute I really want to learn English and immerse myself in the culture there was no one person that didn't help me >> and I'm so thankful everybody jump in and you say yes you know and whoever bullies or you know I say we wish them
the best and we move forward in order to learn but this country gives you the best opportunity but the working into collaboration it seems to be a little bit of a hassle for most of the immigrant parents so I I think I think the the question is how do we become
even more bold in our approach because I know our schools do uh try to connect with our families in in lots of different ways. Um but I think it's it's about how do we start thinking a little bit differently um about that to maybe help support it a little bit more. Uh and the one part Patricia that you did
you that you did point out and um was hoping that you guys were able to see here is that the part where we're where we're doing a good job is we're building some of those foundational skills. And Rob, you kind of alluded to that. Um, that the foundational skills are getting built. Um, but when we look side by
side, the part where it's it's from being able to decode to the space of understanding are two different things, right? So, K our kids are starting to get a better understanding of how to read, but what they've read is still
becoming, you know, like looking at a blank page. So, I was able to make make, you know, be able to read the word by decoding it, but not being able to make meaning of what they just read. So, it's like that that old typewriter. You type and by the time you get to the end, it slides all the way back and you're like,
"What the heck did I just read on that first line?" Uh, and then you have to go back and reread it. I don't know about you guys as adults, but I find sometimes when I'm not really focused, I can read an entire page worth of stuff. I'm like, "Oh, man. And I got to go back to the beginning cuz I don't really I read it but I don't really know what the heck I
just read. And I think that happens for our kids too is that you know they they've now learned better how to read the words on the page but they're not reading to make sense of what those words are. Um you know so it's you know celebrate the success of them being able to get across the page but now it's
really about helping them build that understanding that's really necessary for them to be feel like they're successful readers. Um, and that's a big part of what, you know, what that data has told me anyway. Um, that we need to do, you know, really balance this, that
that that whole seessaw part of it, you know, that we're not just doing the the one part real well, but that we're balancing it out so that our kids are not only able to decode, but they're able to make sense of it, you know. Anyone else? Any any other comments from
from those slides? Go ahead, Gus. >> To reinforce uh what Patricia was saying, one advantage that we have um being in the 21st century in America is that English is not only our language of
this country, it's the international language. It is a language that's spoken uh all over the world and really is the international communication um uh system. Um I if you think of
airlines for example um I think pilots all over the world and every airline and every airport um I mean the way they speak to the tower etc etc is in English and in so many other areas English has
become the um means of communication not only for Americans but for people in other countries as well to talk to each other. So there is an advantage to you know honing your English language skills not only domestically but
internationally as well. >> Yeah. Thanks G. And I and I do think that there is a part too that um you know there is got to be an added emphasis on the importance of multilingualism. Um, you know, um, I think sometimes, you know, even even here, some of our families that come,
uh, they're good with their children being part of a dual language program, but only to a certain point, um, a certain grade level, and they're like, "No, let's just go into the into the English language." Um, you know, they're and then what happens sometimes is our kids start losing sight of the importance of the language that they've
learned throughout their childhood. Um, and it's no longer emphasized. And we hear from parents all the time that say, "Well, I speak to my child in in Mandarin and they speak back to me in English." Or, "I speak to my child in Spanish and they speak back to me in English," you know. So, I think that we we also need to make sure that we
continue to to to not only yes, continue to build our kids as um, you know, as readers of English, but also to demonstrate the importance and the value in being able to speak and rage as well. Um, I think it's really valuable on both sides of that. So where
I want to where I want to kind of bring everyone to is this space. So from that information, these are some of the things that we noticed. Um the the gap that we do need to address is that the coding alone is not going to produce the readers that
we're we're really that we really need to see. And you know we've talked about the science of reading in the past and scar scarboro's rope talks about building those foundations that phonics the phmic awareness uh those high frequency words and then into the the
the space of really that understanding part of it which is the vocabulary knowledge the understanding of complex language um our abilities to to discuss and review complex pieces of text right those are the sides of it. So from decoding to understanding, analyzing,
applying, you know, and what this information tells me is that we do need to spend some time thinking about that balance between the foundational skills and the meaning making part of our work. So you'll see a little bit of that in the K to 5, but you also see a a lot of
that in our 6 to8. what happens here in the district. We do a really good job of of preparing our kids when they come to us in kindergarten, first and second grade. But like Patricia, not all of our kids are coming to us in kindergarten, first and second grade, they're coming to us in fourth grade. They're coming to
us in fifth grade, sixth, seventh, and eighth grade absent English language. And then we're thrust into an environment where they we want them to learn that tomorrow, uh, you know, tomorrow. We should be, you know, we should be know how to do that already. um which is not always realistic. But
what is realistic for us is to start thinking about how do we elevate and how do we escalate and um enhance what we're doing to make sure that our kids that are just coming to us are given the best opportunity as possible. Cuz what I do know is when they leave us in 8th grade,
if they're not ready um for the complexities of the text that they're going to need to read in high school, they do become tomorrow's dropouts um as multilingual learners. and that's not something I want to be able to see. Uh, and we need to do better uh from elementary school all the way through
middle so that our kids are able to make sense of what they're reading. Um, so you're going to hear me talk a lot about this idea of meaning making. So thinking about from decoding um to the our kids ability to to make meaning of text. Does that make sense what what I'm saying
there guys? Anyone, you know, think think differently about about that idea? the the the data does say that foundational skills are present uh but not so much on their ability to to make sense of it. >> Right. Go ahead, Charlene.
>> Formerly, I was a parent coordinator and what I noticed as parents, I'm a woman of a certain age, parents are way younger than me. Um the challenge is that they did not learn to read the way that I did. And so during the era of um Bloomberg education which my son then went through reading
was not taught the same way. Now we are returning to it. But that gap of children that learn to read that way they did not have a lot of the skills that we want to give to their children now. >> So not only um families who don't speak English as their first language but also
families who do speak it as their first language who didn't learn to read this way. It's very much a challenge because that's where the shortfall is. So, in that respect, I just want to highlight we're all in that bubble together because all of these children have come through that same pipeline even though
they were in school at that time, their parents were. And it it's going to take a little bit of different teaching to kind of reverse engineer how their parents understand along with coupling social media where they don't have to decode their parents
>> because the information is fed to them more rapidly and that is a little bit going back to the AI. How do we slow that down so that kids can learn these skills because they won't really feel the need for them and learning is based out of necessity a lot of times. If we don't feel the need for it, we're not
going to look into it. Yeah, I love that. That's a really important uh point that you bring out um Charlene around the you know the the the the fast-moving realities of some of our some of our parents happened to grow up in the age when you know this was not
necessarily done the same way or I I do think some of the programs existed but it was not done with the same type of intention as it is now. um you know so things like uh foundations was was used in the past but not necessarily the same way that we're asking them to use it
today. Uh so I love that that's really really important feedback for us to kind of reflect on in terms of the the supports that we're providing for our families. And you know, one of the things that we actually got noted for in that all systems go um document was many
of our schools are opening their doors now to families to come in and actually see the practice unfold in the classroom with their children. So they have a better understanding of what that means for them as a parent. Uh but that's not to say that we don't have miles to go, right? There's still miles and miles to
go. Uh but love that feedback. Really, really good. Um so this idea of students being able to decode accurately mentioned that still having this lack of vocabulary development uh to support comprehension. Um student reading
experience uh exposing students to to topics maybe perhaps that uh are disconnected which impacts their ability to hold on from one to the other. Um and many of our kids are simultaneously learning English while learning to read in English. So um some some gaps that do
exist there as well. Um so what what we're hoping to do is bringing us to this set of goals and just want you guys to ponder these for a little bit. Um and it's a little bit of a a
different change in the the the mindset from last year and not too much because I do want to keep things consistent. Uh but by June 2027 that all schools will strengthen explicit instruction. uh still sustaining our work on that uh and refine our MTSS practices. That means
when we see kids that are struggling outside of that sphere of success, those kids that need additional intervention, whether it's tier 2 or tier three, get it. Uh but also around tier one, the most important part uh with a focus on continuing foundational literacy because I don't want anyone forgetting about the
importance of decoding and and phmic awareness. We do need to continue to sustain that. but also to emphasize meaning-making that, you know, why did the author choose to do that? That space of debate that Patricia was talking about earlier. We can't do that if we're not really asking those questions uh
inside of our classroom. So, creating opportunities for our kids to really become um you know, critical in some ways of the things that they're reading, you know, really talking about and engaging in in depth around what what they just read. Uh really super important with the idea that we're going
to continue to close gaps. uh for our targeted groups of learners. So that's one of the components of it. The other part of it is um the implementation of a new standalone uh program for our entering and emerging multilingual learners. So this year we piloted a
program that unfortunately we did not see as much success as we wanted. Um and the the city simultaneously piloted another program where there has been some success that has been seen and that's in this reach program. It's from National Geographic. What excites me about National Geographic is that it's
all contentbased. And what we do know about our uh multilingual learners is that the the best place for us to accelerate learning is inside of contents like social studies and science. Um where we're where we're we're building some of those foundational skills while also teaching
some really important content. Um so the the goal is particularly with our schools that have higher populations of multilingual learners that we engage in this reach program uh with the goal of of uh reducing the number of kids that are uh in that entering and emerging
space um so that we're improving by that one proficiency level at minimum. Um, so just take a moment and reflect on both of these goals. Um, and any comments or feedback that you might have cuz again this is just the beginning. These will be presented to principles as well. I
wanted to share it with the DT first. Uh, our principles will see this next week uh for some of their feedback and and comments on um and then we will kind of go from there in terms of solidifying. Hopefully, we'll be all done by May um with uh with this goal as well as the next one I'm going to
present uh that share with you some data in just a moment. But any comments on these two preliminary goals for 2027, >> I think they look good, Dr. Mike. >> Yeah, it makes sense, Rob. Not right. not too far away from where we were just
thinking more more in depth around making meaning. >> Yeah, I mean I'm reprogramming like my entire upper grade around uh MTSS blocks to make sure that we have the infrastructure and capability to address these gaps. Um these are great.
>> Awesome. Anyone else? Any thoughts? And I think they're very relevant to the high school level as well. So, aside from even creating goals that are primarily a a community district focus, I think they're very relevant to the
high school level, too. >> Lamar, any comment, any thought? >> Mike, I just want to add as like maybe something to attach to this. I wouldn't put it in there, but definitely >> the more opportunities that schools have to train their teachers in the uh
approved MTSS programs um because we jumped all over it this year whenever you put something out. >> Yeah. >> And with new staff being hired every year, uh you know, earlier and and frequency of of those trainings help. >> Yeah, I think that's a that's a really
important part, Rob. the the action planning process is creating time and space for any new people um inside of the action plan so that we don't we don't lose any ground on people that might need um some of that additional skill in in implementation of some of
those uh tier 2 and tier three programming. Yeah, I think that's great. Maybe more on the action plan, not necessarily inside the goal. Okay. Anyone else comments? I think this looks like, you know, tenatively look like uh at least on the right track. It
makes sense. Okay. Awesome. Um the the next one I do want to bring you guys to and call attention to is around the physically and emotionally safe. And I I hope you guys uh you know, indulge me on this because I told you I was going to have a
longer one than usual today because there's just a lot of stuff. Um, but this the information I'm going to put into the into the chat. This is from our most recent social emotional learning survey across the district. This is shared with kids and I wanted you to see
what the results were for midyear. Uh, so you're welcome to click on that link. What you'll see here is from the winter survey. The the C column is what students strongly agree with. The D column is what they agree with. E column
is is disagree and the F column is strongly disagree. You'll see over to the left hand side are the questions and the and the actual kind of domain area. So you'll see community agreements which was a big part of our goal this year, connection before content, relationship
skills all the way down to uh supportive school environment with the questions in the next column that you'll see right beside it. So they'll have your question 26 27 and then the associated responses from kids across the district. So there's a thousand there are thousands
of children's uh children responses here uh across grades 3 through 8. Just takes the the the next couple of minutes. Anything that's drawing your attention. I conditionally formatted it so you can see anything that's in red or or orange are things that we probably
want to take a closer look at. Um, and maybe call out in terms of goals for next school year. So, I'll just take again the next four minutes. One more minute, folks. Okay. All right. Let's come back together. Um,
anything that kind of, you know, resonates with you as something that we should be, you know, really thinking about as a as a district um based on some of our student responses um from the survey. We did make adjustments to the survey uh from the the fall to
winter. So um you know I think that we've gotten you know some some really quality things to be to for us to support our thinking. So um yeah go ahead Rachel we'll start with you. >> Excuse me. Yeah, I noticed that um a
couple of the areas that were in that were identified in red were um in reference to self-management and selfawareness. Um specifically about being able to calm oneself down when angry or upset and
then also specifically about being stressed over things at school. I know coming up we've got the state tests starting tomorrow in our school. Um, and I know that's something personally that my own daughter has been stressing over.
I keep telling her, "Don't worry about it. Do our best. It's not going to affect her ability to um, you know, move on to fifth grade." >> But still, there's that. I mean, she's still stressed to the point that she put it in her prayers to to help her, you
know, do well in on the state. So, I wonder too if around this time of year that would be an increased um that would affect the numbers as far as increasing that um that stressor that area of stress. >> Yeah. Yeah. Pretty pretty clear. the the
whole schoolwork space seemed to have consistency in in terms of kids that um you had more to say in that disagree or strongly disagree space from um you know feeling prepared or staying engaged or
being able to handle the stress that comes with the work. Um that was pretty consistent in that particular one. um in general that one was highlighted as as the probably the the most in orange of the of the groups uh with the exception
to one particular component in supportive environment uh that I noticed too. Uh but go thank you for that Rachel uh Patricia. Well, exactly what Rachel said uh also and I
come comes interwined with uh yeah I can calm myself down and then treat each others with respect. So I went Q124 Q21 and uh I don't think in general that's not I'm not going to
be specific with the district although we are speaking on that regard. I don't see that they know how to deal with frustration and that's a key uh uh component on you
know and you can't calm yourself down. I think that the the stretch ma the the ma uh stress management is not being addressed. I'm saying in general across the board and all ages you know age appropriate as well of course you talk
differently and depends on the grades but I think that the fact that they do not deal don't they don't know how to deal with frustration and speaking also my 17 year old and that you know it should be that way not always you know
the challenges life is not always the outcome that you want so that leads to stress you know and you can calm yourself down. I don't know where the tools are and the skills that they should develop at early age. I think the earlier the better uh in order to like I
say yeah deal with the frustration that the overcome uh the outcome is not always what you expect and lean into having expectations and it's okay it's a learning experience and we move on uh you know based on what
we learn from whatever uh the the the issue is also I go back again you know uh parents interacting and let them understand that you and not everything was being handed you know uh uh financial literacy I go back to what you
say you know yeah you got to earn your money too it's okay you know that's what life is about I mean real life issues and I I will say yes that's what it came to mind right away they don't know what to do with themselves which is okay because we all here to learn we went
through that being done you know being there and done it But uh I think everything is being handled is not helping you know and treating each others with respect who cares about the other person. The empathy component
being empathetic with the other and being somebody else's shoes, >> you know. Uh >> yeah, >> being humans. >> Yeah. One one of one of our schools does a project called it's called the invisible backpack. um you know kind of
making sure that that everyone around you know each of the kids around each other knows that there's something that I might be carrying that you don't know um and you know how do we it's basically around a self it was a self-management type of process so the kids recognize that you know you have to be mindful
that uh that others may be going through things and you know you have to learn how to how to make sure that you're you're accountable to your own actions in that regard too >> consequences for your actions as well. You know, when you disrespect another peer, whatever your behavior has
consequences that you have to deal with and go through and navigate and again and learn, you know, you can't just frustrate and th it happens to us. Well, who are we kidding? >> We are learning too. We have to be able to and how do we model that as best as
we possibly canact um and I think that's the important part and we do have programs that we've been implementing. It's question whether or not they're truly having the impact on our kids the way that we're hoping. Um so that that by the time they get through middle school that we've built uh built our
kids well enough at least through the lens of what we do as as educators um to know what the right thing is. You know, you know, piling on a kid just because you feel you can is not the right thing. so that you can have walk around the
hallway with your you with your you know um your chest puffed out so to speak where you know you don't have to worry about how you just made the other person feel you know so I think there's some of that too um you know that that contributes to it um we do have we do
have one leader in me school um Charlene uh in the district it is not a district-wide uh scenario though uh go ahead Rob >> uh yeah I mean I coming from an elementary school, uh I would like to see this broken down by
the 3 to five and then seven seven to six to eight. Um but you know, just recognizing most the word most when it comes down to most kids is kind of subjective. Um but it's you know the most vicious uh creatures in in the world are I do believe it's the uh
American honey badger and a seventh grade student. They're both pretty uh they're all they can be really awful to each other. And and that being said, you get a class of 30 kids, all it takes is two or three kids to be fresh. And it then all of a sudden it feels like all
the kids in my school, you know, cuz who's laughing at what they're saying? Who's not standing up for for the for for what's right? Um it doesn't take a lot. So the you know, the work is ongoing when it comes to this with that age group. And I could see in my own school, if you look at my third grade, I
think it's 91% positive responses to it's in the 60s by the time they get to fifth grade. And I'm very involved and I could tell you it's only a couple kids in each class. That that that could be really fresh. But it gives that feeling. It could change the culture of a class of of of how you feel when you're coming to school. And when you ask the question
like on most kids, it's it doesn't matter if it's one or if it's 20. It the feeling is there that I'm feeling I'm experiencing disrespect. I don't feel safe maybe to participate. Uh I'm not looking forward to go to lunch or gym. Uh it's really important that we uh
address it at uh constantly. Um this type of work. >> Yeah, thanks for that Rob. Uh Gus and then Charlene. >> Yep. Just quickly I just want to point out that the treating uh each other with respect issue is not just a district 25
issue. I see it across Queens L North in all of the surveys that um I have access to. >> Yeah. And the the goal this year, the whole connect idea behind connection before content was to start getting creating space for
um you know kids to get to know one another and know that um you know we have a lot of things that um we have in common. And I mean, just listening at the very start with the idea of fancy fancy dinner versus home-cooked meal, it just created a small little space for us
to to really get to know one another um in a different way. And that's what the whole idea of that was this year, too, was to kind of spread more of that opportunity for our kids across our classrooms just as a way of relationship building. I think um you know, it's an important part, but clearly we have to
do more and do things a little bit a little bit differently perhaps. Uh, and we're going to get some feedback from our principles and APs on this too around how do we address this in a in a different way. And I think there are there is this this layer of frustration that might exist with our kids. Maybe
some of it's home, maybe some of it's school, maybe it's a combination of the both. And then the result becomes maybe a little bit of venom that comes out on their peers creating this space of, you know, feeling like there's this lack of respect. Because what I thought was
interesting when you look at community agreements, community agreements in our classroom that we're respecting all of the rules, 80 plus percent of our kids agree with that, but then when you look at do they respect each other, it's a different story, you know. So, it it's a it's an interesting little um uh
difference there in in yes, we're respecting the rules of the classroom, but maybe not each other all the time. So, more to work more work to do uh to do there for sure. And Charlene, uh close us out on this one. Just two points. One is on um children
coming out of what was a co period with lost time and not really knowing how to interact with each other and keeping same of some of those same tools that they would have used virtually. They didn't largely come out um I guess back into like a living world. They came out still on the internet, still interacting
um virtually. And I think that has a lot to do with how they respect each other in person cuz it's a different dynamic and you have different emotions and maybe some um more opportunities for them to come together in person and kind of give them a script of what to say because I really feel like they they don't know.
>> Yeah. And what I would what I would love for for all of you guys to think about is what would we want our district goal to be when it comes to this? What would we want to prioritize amongst what the kids have said? This is what the kids have said. We get some feedback from our
principles APs as well. Uh to add in what you know what Rob said is totally true. It could be just a couple of kids that are creating this space of not feeling respected but in general they feel pretty good about being in the school right and I think that in large part is the case. Um but at the same
time we shouldn't have to feel that way. You know kids shouldn't have to feel that they feel disrespected at any time during the school day. And if they do, this is the bigger part. How do we deal with that? Right? How do we deal with it when?
Because all of you on this call know there's going to be someone at some point in our kids' lives, the 23,000 children that we're serving, they're going to come across someone that's not nice. They're going to come across someone that says something that's insensitive, they're going to come across someone that's just flatout mean.
That unfortunately, that is the reality. And how we handle that as adults now is a little bit different perhaps than our kids are able to handle it themselves currently. And those are skills that we have to be able to build. That resilience of knowing that not everyone
is going to be kind. I mean, I think about my own children. Emily, there's nothing you're going to say to her that's going to bring her down. It's just the way that she is. I can't tell you that I did anything about it, but that's just who she is. I have to do a lot more work with Matthew on that than I do with her. She walks in the room,
she feels like she's the most confident kid in the world. I don't know how it happened, but it's it's what it is. Matthew, not so much. You know, things are going to weigh on him differently than they weigh on her. And likewise, a lot of our kids have that same type of experience. Those kids that are ultra confident versus those kids that are not
so much. And when a child that is not overly confident gets confronted with, how do we help them manage that? you because it does weigh on shoulders differently. It just does. Um and we have to be able to work through that a little bit a little bit more so that
we're building that confidence that that sense of self um for our kids in deeper ways so that they don't feel as though um even when there's this layer of disrespect that they know how to manage that too. So, what I challenge you with is that let's think about what we want
this goal to be so that we can really all be on the same page with growing this out. Go ahead, Rob. And then let's close this out because I know I'm over time. >> Yes. Fine. I just I just really quick wonder if there what um to what extent we could put a parent component to something like this because uh you know
schools often try to teach a certain way to to tackle these types of problems and often times parents are aligned to that but sometimes that's not the case. Um, I know even at home like Robert's come home from school where he was upset about something and I'm trying to give him some support and then my wife is
like, "Maybe you should punch this kid in the face." And I'm like, "Hold on, hold on." Because we get we have parents that are >> Yeah. different extremes. >> He bothers you, you hit him or something like that. And I'm just not just in this way, but in so many ways, I'm thinking
of uh an approach to to re really communicate with parents on how to re uh not just social emotional, but all things. >> You know what, Robin? I think this is a goal that maybe we need to extend a little bit more outwardly to the to the community on you know really getting
more feedback and even from the DT and during the bigger meetings our president's council um to really get some of that additional perspective because uh I agree with you there are there are some cases where some of our folks want to take it to extremes you know um the extreme direction whatever
that is you know conflict you know consequence is that child should never be in the sight of my child ever again um you know should be suspended for for months at a time. you know, those are the extreme, right? And they do exist. Um, you know, so how do we how do we
balance through that with with a goal? It does seem to me like, you know, relationship building is still an area. Self-management still an area. Um, and I think us kind of digging through what we're currently doing versus what we can do, I think is important. And some of that might layer in how are we doing
this with our families? Are they really truly on board with what we're saying? Um, I think that's part of it for sure. So, if you guys can really think about this one a little bit and the priority to me, it sounds like it's it's supportive environment space and
self-management. Um, if you guys think that would be a a good entry point, that's terrific. Um, and you know, we'll go from there in terms of crafting. Um, yeah, and certainly our neurode divergent uh children for sure. Uh, Charlene, love that you pointed that
out. It's certainly really hugely important, especially in our schools today. uh more and more of our community schools uh have children that um that do have um have needs that, you know, need to be met differently. For sure. Love that.
Um all right, so guys, that's going to bring my my portion to to a close. We covered two of the five priority areas that that we're going to really dig into for next school year. One of them, I feel like we have a good uh entry point for a goal. I think the other one I
think we just need to tease out a little bit more and I ask you to do that between now and next month. Uh, go ahead Rachel. >> I just wanted to ask you for the constituency reports. I could go first because I'm actually at a doctor's appointment that I >> 100%. We'll let you go right now if you want
Rachel. Go ahead. >> Okay. Sure. Great. Um this month in our president's council meeting, we are planning to have speaking of soccer for the the spelling be winner, we're going to have the New York we're going to have a representative from the New York uh
soccer club. Um talking about fundraisers or just having events for the school to bring the school community together. Um and then we're going to focus on um elections because we're coming up on election season for the new
school year's uh parent leaders. So helping the parent the president's councils know what to expect and how to run a great um election and have a full board in preparation for um the new school year. So that's what's coming up
in this month's president's council meeting. >> Love it. Thanks so much, Rachel. Uh Eduardo also just had to hop off. He just said his only update was that there's a social emotional learning workshop on conflict resolution on April 23rd from 6:00 to 7:30. Uh so thank you
to uh to Eduardo for that. Uh Gus, did you have anything else? I know most of it was kind of already done with with my report. >> Uh no, I I don't have much to add. Um um as everybody should know uh I plan is
closed currently and u we expect it to open uh probably in about a week I hope by the end of the month certainly um I will not be getting uh I think any reports uh to share um you know based on
the C's and the DC uh I have a meeting with central on Wednesday and I'll get an update I uh I expect that when they open they will share the new template for the C. Uh and I don't expect it to
change dramatically. There will be some tweaks I am told and uh I will get uh updates on that. That's basically it. >> Okay, awesome. Thank you, Gus. Uh Rob Ca. >> Uh real quick, we just want to recognize last week was uh AP week. Unfortunately,
we were off that week, but uh you know, we recognize all the work they do in their roles uh to make schools run. Um and uh I wanted to I mean, you you took the cake on it. We were talking about how all CSA members are going to be
giving feedback on the AI um on the AI survey as we're we're studying it now and meeting together to really try to give as much uh thoughtful feedback as possible. >> Awesome. Thanks, Rob. Yeah. And listen, I I encourage you guys to to add in those thoughts. You know, the better we
get at it, the the more productive our use will be. Uh for sure. Uh Lamar, anything uft? >> Yeah. Hi everybody. No, nothing to report. We're actually quiet on the Western front. Everything is good on this end. >> Love it. Favorite thing to hear.
Charlene DC37. Hi. Um, so I'm making a round to uh all the schools in district 25. I have quite a few to go. Um, I will start to reach out to some of the principles to see if I can actually schedule at site meetings. Uh, members come to me break
time and lunchtime. Um, it's a lot of benefits questions I'm getting. There are some other things that come up that we're able to address. I'm just um I just asking if everybody can just get back to me. I know it's busy, but if they could reply back with dates and times at work. um popins are a little
bit different. I'm not really um there for that long, but site meetings generally take longer. So, >> you know what, Charlene, that they don't they don't necessarily know you yet. So, it might be that they they're not recognizing even who this email is coming from. We have had three separate people over the last uh last two years
from um oh my goodness, who was I don't know why her name escaped me, but we had Mon'nique just prior to you, but there was also one prior to Mon'nique. um you know so transition maybe perhaps we can bring you to one of our meetings just to introduce yourself >> um so that you know just so that you
have faces to names for anyone else who hasn't been able to connect with you yet. >> Um so we'll share some dates. I know you and I are meeting on Thursday. So um you know we'll share we'll share you know some meeting times that that maybe you can just pop on and just say hello for anyone else that that hasn't been able
to connect with you yet. >> That'd be great. The other thing is I'm motivating um all of our members to get to the home stretch. I know June is right around the corner. This sometimes becomes a very difficult part of the year because you know kids are kids and they start to you know weigh on you.
>> Spring spring fever it's a real thing. >> Yeah. So that's a part of some of the conversations I do have with our members as well just to keep them motivated and going. >> Yeah. No, it is a real thing. I don't as soon as the weather starts getting a little bit warmer things start changing in one's mind's eye and I don't uh I
don't know what happens and I think sometimes adults too by the way it's not just it's not just kids sometimes adults too start getting that spring fever um but Patricia and you roll I think uh close us out on um on chat today
>> thank you hi everyone I just have a couple of uh events to share I have the flying here Wednesday April 15 Queen's gateway to health sciences. Uh we have tough questions from Queen students. Uh so Queen South and Queen's
North students come together. uh the student leader student leaders and e every it's across the board all the the the the subjects will be public transit safety around schools um city council education budget school priorities and
we have special guest John Louu uh NYS Senate um education chair um we have city council education chair too Eric uh Alden Foster we have many many guest speakers and also they going to ask the
questions including um uh after school employment pay and pain we we going above and beyond answer the questions and um this is going to be like I said Wednesday and April 15th it's going to be at 5:00 pm and then we have the
parent symposium uh which is going to be on May 5 uh 14th is an evening of inspiration connection and shared purpose for parents by parents and uh Superintendent Vaness is hosting. Uh we have him guest speakers. All this is
going to go out on the flyers and also as per uh Queens High School President Council, we have a robust agenda for tonight. Um again um community leadership and uh supporting all the parents. Um,
I want to emphasize the amazing job that the team uh is doing in order to uh go to all the events including with the chancellor that we been in in like four or five at least. Uh uh we make time or
you know as a team we work it out and working in collaboration with all of you and we appreciate your support and your feedback. So I'm going to drop in the chat our uh Gmail uh because we want to know how can you we support all of you
and do better how can we improve uh from our end right because for us is crucial to work in collaboration but we need the feedback we need the criticism right and what positive changes we can make in our community that's what we here for and uh
and again I'm extremely proud to be part of uh uh to um besides of course Cardoso and part of this community and working with all of you. You know a lot of progress we had made and we came together but again we couldn't make it
without you. So yeah more events to come and we'll see you tonight in our meeting. >> Awesome. Thank you Patricia. My pleasure. >> Um all right guys that that's going to bring us to a space of coming to a close. Um again just I ask that you
reflect on uh the things that we that we talked about um today in terms of those goals, anything else that you would want to do to make a change uh particularly in our reading um uh our reading goal um as well as feedback around what you believe our social emotional learning
goal should be. that whole idea of physical and emotional safety. Um, I think it's a it's a really good opportunity to reflect on some of the things that that you believe as parents we should be doing. Um, Charlene from your perspective, DC37, Lamar from your perspective, uft, Rob, yours from CSA,
and how do we really kind of get on board? Because I my feeling is and what I not even my feeling, what I know to be true is that if our kids are coming into our classrooms uh without feeling good about things, they're not learning.
They're just not. Um it's so much harder to learn when your mind is thinking about what person A said to you down the hallway, uh or the look that you feel like you got. um you know, learning tends to stop, you know, and we need to be able to help our kids navigate that differently than what they're able to
currently. Uh so I ask you guys to really reflect on that, share some of your thoughts, share that Padlet with uh with some of your constituents as well to get some additional perspectives on uh what we believe learning should look like inside of our district community. But other than that, I thank you guys. I
appreciate you. Um do we have consensus to bring this meeting to a close? Yes, Rob. Yes, Patricia, thank you. Charlene, we're good. Lamar, good. All right, guys. Thank you so much and we'll talk soon, everyone. Have a great day.