for March President's Council meeting. I'm gonna share my screen and the meeting will be recorded. So, I'm gonna Lewis, are you recording? >> I started. Yep. >> Okay. Thank you. Because if I hit again, I will stop it.
Does everyone see my slide? >> Yes. >> Yes. Yep, you're good. >> Thank you. And Rachel. >> Okay. Good evening everyone. Welcome to the March meeting for Pres District 25's president's council. Um we will skip
over the February meeting minutes until we have quorum. Um so that way we can review and approve the minutes. So we will come back to that. We will table that until we get one more general member and then >> we do meet the quorum. Rachel, we just saw PS21 coming in and another parent.
>> Okay. So then I'll turn the floor over to Charlotte, our recording secretary, to review the minutes. >> Okay. Thank you so much, Rachel. Um, so just a recap of the minutes from last month. Uh, we had a great presentation by Sean Blanks for Diala Teacher, which
is a, uh, free service for homework help, and it's their 47th year, so it was really, uh, really great. Um, and they just talked about the services that they provide. Um they do provide multi- language support as well. Um and some of the actionable items were that uh uh Mr.
Blanks was going to send Magnus and flyers to the district office and hopefully um uh according with Jenny uh about getting parent coordinators on board with dial a teacher and just kind of being aware and maybe sending uh some you know uh kind of stickers and things like that so
that >> pencil stickers. >> Yeah. the general, you know, the the students uh can understand and the families understand it's a resource that's available. So, that was a great uh great presentation. Um Dr. Dantona talked about things that are happening uh in the community such as wellness day
um and had vendors like New York so the New York City Soccer Club in USA um and there's a high demand for that. Uh and there will be eventually once the dates are uh finalized that there would be a flyer that would go out and registration details. Um civics for all as well
talked about he Dr. Danton talked about um a fifth grade student from PS22 who talked about uh mental health advocacy uh as well as a math fluency event that had happened which is game 24 that PS 209 had hosted and that did really well.
Um, we went on to another presentation by Antonia Martineelli about PTA link, which is a uh resource for the PTAs to call up and um or to have a sorry a V chat video chat about anything that's
you know PTA related. So talked about bylaws, financial management that they are there basically to answer any questions. And so that was very that was a resource that many of us have already used. But it's great to also see her and talk about that a little bit more for the schools that didn't know about that.
And that's the update for um that's pretty much the minutes for February. Do we have uh approval of these minutes? Either by show of hands or yes. So let me just check the chat. Thank you Annie. Annie approved.
And we just need one more for approval. Thank you, Rosanna, for approval. So, I have two approvals for minutes. Okay. Thank you so much. And uh back to Rachel or Veronica. >> Thank you. So, continuing with um the
slide deck, Jenny, I think next up is we're going to have Dr. Mike. >> Yeah. >> So, Dr. Mike, we turn the floor over to you. >> Sure. Thanks so much. Um, that's weird. Let's see if that works
this time. Okay. All right, guys. Um, good evening everyone. Hope you're all doing well. Pleasure to be here with you guys as always. So, we are going to go over just some some typical things that we do,
celebrations, updates, reminders. Uh, we'll have a couple of goal updates to share with you um tonight. But where I would like to start is a staffing announcement and uh a welcoming of a new member to our district 25 team and
family. Um so I would like to uh to welcome Jessica Viegas u who's going to be serving as our new family support coordinator. She'll be working side by side with uh with Jenny to support families across the district. We are uh super excited for Jessica to be able to
join the team. It's been a long time in coming. Um it's been a while for for Jenny and big shout out to Jenny for all the work that she's had to do over the past uh year and almost a year and a half um on her own. So I'm so thankful
for Jenny and what she's done uh up until this point and so happy that I get to bring on Jessica to serve as her counterpart in this work. So, uh, Jessica, I'm going to turn it over to you just for a brief moment to to say hello and share who you are to, uh, to
our president's council folks, uh, so they get to know you just a little bit. >> Yes. Hello everyone. My name is Jessica Viegas and as Dr. Dantona said, I am the new um, family support coordinator. Uh I've been working in the DOE for the
past 10 years or so and I've had the opportunity to work in different schools and the most recent I've been working in PS24 as a parah. Uh and I'm really excited to step into this new role, support all the families and work
alongside with such a great team and I'm looking forward to getting to know all of you. Thank you. >> Thanks so much, Jessica. And you know, we're so happy that uh that Jessica is joining us for a number of reasons and selfishly aside from just having a
really really pleasant disposition and one that will be able to connect with our families. She also comes with some some background that I think will be really helpful for some of our parents that are just not sure about things related to their child. Uh you know, parents of children with IEPs, it
becomes a really great resource for them uh from the lens of someone who's had to support children over the past 10 years. So, um, you know, really grateful that Jessica has decided to join us and, you know, looking forward to working with her moving forward. So, uh, thank you, Jessica, for that, uh, for that intro
and I'm sure our families will learn really quickly that you're going to be a great support to them, too. Um, okay. So, moving right along, our connection before content. Uh, it is, uh, St. Patrick's Day tomorrow. Um, so quick
little connection before content. Are you someone that goes head to toe green? Are you just a subtle green accessory or fill in the blank? Uh which of those kind of suits you in and who you are? And when it comes to St. Patty's Day, just take a moment for that brief little
um in this little brief space of this or that in that space of reflection. And I know we typically go into breakout rooms, but just for interest of time, if you guys wouldn't mind, just put it right into the chat. Are you a um headtotoe green?
Are you a subtle green? Or fill in the blank with whatever it is that you typically do. Just add it to the chat. Some green, subtle green, usually green shirt, some cute accessories. I love it.
Irish everyday. There you go, Rachel. Yeah, you my my wife is uh is Irish, so um I have to really remind myself I'm I'm terrible at at at these types of days. So, I do need that little reminder to make sure I do have something on that's green. I tend to wind up walking out the door, get in the car, I'm like,
"Oh my goodness, it's St. Patrick's Day. Why am I not sharing in the festivities?" So, um I try to do the best that that I can to remind uh myself of these things, but uh not always successful. I have to do a much better job at it. Uh but thank you guys for entertaining that just for a moment. Uh
okay, so uh getting into it. So, um District 25, we held our winter uh debate um competition in uh in February. Uh we had schools from across the district. We had 12 schools compete. We have an additional two um that will be
joining us coming soon that came there to do a little bit of scouting uh just so they can see what it was like and and kind of prepare for uh the May competition that we have. That's kind of like the the bigger of the competitions of the of the school year. Uh so we do partner with the American Debate League
um and they support um us in terms of um the topics and the resources. So big shout out to PS32. They were uh our first place award winners. We had second place was PS79 and third place PSMS 164.
Uh middle school uh Bell Academy took home first place followed by 185 and IS-25. Um this is something that we're it's in the fourth year of of our work and it continues to expand every year. More and more of our schools are able to
participate and grow a debate league of their own, a debate team of their own. And um you know, we're really really uh excited about the direction that this is going. Uh when you're when when you see what happens and I do encourage you even if your school's not in it. Uh as a
parent when we do have this and we'll share the dates with you, you know, moving forward, you know, welcoming you guys in just to pop into the classrooms and see how these kids are really thinking about uh the topic and being able to think on their feet, you know, the the claim and the counter claim of
uh of the debate. It's really just awesome to watch. Uh all the way from our elementary schoolers to our middle schoolers. Um these the topics this year was on AI uh and whether or not generative AI should be allowable and permissible. Um and that was in the
middle school and our elementary schools was whether or not STEM should be a priority in our schools. So it was really interesting to listen to the kids as they made their uh made their claim. So really really cool stuff. and I happened to be at um at one of our schools who had a fourth place award
winner and she came in, she had her medal on and she could not have been more excited about the fact that she was a participant. Um it was the first year her school had participated and she was glowing. She was walking through that main office like it was hers. Um and you
know those are the types of things that and experiences we want to give for our kids. Uh and it's only going to get better. We're going to continue to grow this throughout throughout the district moving forward. But wanted to share that with you. Um March is a really big month for for
holidays and celebrating. Um so uh we have Ramadan that's currently going on right now. So big shout out to any of our families that are celebrating. Um you know, so happy Ramadan for to our folks. Uh March also Women's History
Month. Um big shout out to all of our um you know any of our women that have inspired us so from the past and currently doing so uh today. Um I always say that even though we're we're not necessarily going to be known as historians, there are so many women in
my life that have shaped who I am. Um and I know that you guys are doing the same for your own families. Um that you won't be necessarily recognized in a in a women's history month. Uh but from my standpoint, you all should. Uh so big shout out to all of our all of our women around us. Um national reading month
this month. Make sure that our kids are getting out there reading uh get those eyes on text. And you know what I've said you know many times over is that you know sometimes uh you know we see our kids reading certain things and they like to have to they like to go to the same thing. Um and it's okay. It's okay
if they like what they like to read. We can always encourage them to read something else uh an additional you know a different genre. Uh but what I do know just thinking about my own kids when I when I asked them to do that the attention that they had to the text was not the same. They were not as queued
in. Yes, we want to build them towards other things. Uh but it's okay too. Just a space of knowing it's okay. It's okay that they like to read certain things as well. Um, my son always would tell me and you know a little layer of frustration as superintendent dad that I would I would ask him to make sure that
you're reading and then he would show me uh an article that was on ESPN. Now don't get me wrong, I love that he wants to be a sports guy. Um, but would love for him to to jump into other areas just the same. So uh but needless to say, reading National Reading Month, let's get our kids reading. Um, this is a
couple um um couple weeks ago, but it was National School Counselors Week. um social worker week and I and I did mention this the previous couple of parent meetings. I do want to just continue to shout out the work that our social workers do uh because it's so important to our kids in our
communities. Um so big shout out to them. Um it was Porum. So for any of our families that celebrated Porum, um big shout out to you as well as Holly. Um St. Patrick's Day. We have Eid coming
up as well and spring just around the corner. It's hard to believe we are really in that last stretch for for the school year. It's it's incredible. I say this every time we get to this part of the year. I don't know how we managed to make it to March already. Uh but we are now mid-March and we are in the stretch
run. Um so here we come spring and and let's get it going. So um civics week. This was a really big week for for us that was from um the 9th through the 13th uh where we had our schools and again this is not
just during this week our schools have been working through civics based tech activities throughout the year um but we did have um you know additional events and activities that took place and Melinda from our team is our point
person in all things civics. This is something that Melinda truly believes in and therefore because of that, you know, helps push our schools towards that end where we're really thinking about student voice. Um, and as a result, we we're seeing Project Saltbox, you guys
hear me talk about it every month. We have two kids amongst the thousands that participated in Project Saltbox that are going to be going to main stage at the um the Museum of Metropolitan Museum of Art. um they're among 50 students across the entire New York City with Project
Soapbox and two of them coming right from district 25 which is amazing. Uh so we have a fourth grader from PS 2020 209 ESM me and we also have um an eighth grader from College Point uh collaborative Ethan uh one talking about
insufficient lunch and recess time and the other talking about immigration. uh both speeches uh were were so wellreceived that they were identified to move forward uh in the big competition competition in the city. So really big shout out to to our kids and
our staff for doing this. And I also want to share with you something that Melinda um you know did last year, she did again this year. Just recapping the work of every day what's happened in District 25. And I'm only going to share with you Monday. It's the It's the the
the first day of um of the the week. This does say Wednesday on it, but I'm sharing with you Monday. I like just like the emoji on this one versus the uh the other kind of entry point. So, I shared the emoji uh image. Um but I just want you to listen just for a couple
minutes. I'm going to have to reshare and share again because I didn't click it with volume. Just give me one second. Okay. And of course, it's going to take a long time to load. Okay, there we go. >> Good morning, District 25. Welcome to
Monday Civics Week highlights. The first day of Civics Week was amazing. I had the opportunity to visit three schools across the district to see civic learning in action. I started my day at PS84 where fourth grade students launched their take
action project focused on improving bathroom cleanliness in their school. After collecting data, students shared their findings during morning announcements, highlighting the issues such as paper towels on the floor and toilets not being flushed. The students
then created clear bathroom expectations and designed posters to remind students of these rules. Some fourth graders even visited kindergarten and first grade classrooms to teach the expectations directly to younger students. Student monitors will help reinforce these
routines and the project will conclude with a recorded public service announcement to help sustain the effort. Next, I visited IS-250 where 7th grade students were analyzing voter turnout data. Students compared voting
participation in the United States with other democracies around the world and examined data about who participates in elections. This led to a thoughtful discussion about barriers that may prevent some people from voting, including difficulty understanding
candidate platforms, dissatisfaction with candidates, or the belief that one vote does not matter. It was impressive to see students using real data to think critically about civic participation. My day ended at MS 379 College Point
Collaborative where families gathered for a civics and literacy night. Families learned about the civics work students are doing in school and the importance of student voice. The school also celebrated their Project Soapbox speeches, and we're so excited to hear
that eighth grader Ethan will represent both the school and the district at the citywide soapbox event on March 26th. Families then visited classrooms where they participated in civics trivia and collected copies of Civics for All
Comics to build their own home libraries. In addition to the schools I visited today, many other schools across the district were also celebrating Civics Week. At Junior High School 185, the school community announced the winning
project for their participatory budgeting funds, and classrooms across the school participated in Civics's readalouds. Over at PS129, students celebrated Civics for All Week with activities such as Go Green Day,
encouraging students to think about how being responsible stewards of shared spaces connects to civic responsibility. Students also had the opportunity to participate in poster making activities for the New York City Civics for All poster contest during their lunch
periods. We also se received some exciting news. MS 379 and PSMS 164 will soon welcome visits from New York City agency commissioners who will speak with students about their work and the
importance of civic leadership and public service. These visits will give students a deeper understanding of how government works and how individuals can serve their communities. It is wonderful to see the incredible civic learning
happening across District 25. I cannot wait to see what tomorrow brings. Thank you for joining me. >> So, big shout out to to Melinda for I'm sure she was, you know, cringing a little bit. It's a as she heard her voice, as soon as I put it on, I saw her
face. Uh, but thank you, Melinda, for uh for doing that and sharing the recaps. Melinda visited 16 schools throughout the week. um connecting in on their their civics practices, the work that they're doing every day to ensure that our kids really start using that voice
in productive ways. Uh which is really what all of this is about. And I wanted to make sure I took a few minutes to share with you uh what some of the outgrowth of that is. And we're still growing. We still have a lot more to do. Uh and every year we get better and better at um you know creating opportunities for our kids to use those
voices in meaningful ways. Um, and I think the one of the ways that we recognize that is the type of projects that our kids are doing. They're starting to collect data on their own. They're doing the research on their own. They're coming up with potential solutions on their own. And that's
really what we want them to be able to do to prepare them for not only the our elementary schoolers for middle, but for our middle schoolers for high school. Uh, so more on this as the year goes on. And there will be a share fair which I invite all of you guys to attend later on in May. Um, and you're welcome.
Again, whether your child is is uh presenting or not, we welcome you to be there just to see what it's what it's about. Um, because it is really, really good work. So, Melinda, big shout out to you and thank you for all that you do. Um, we also had an amazing opportunity
for our students from PS24. Um, I'm just going to show you a very very ble brief clip and then I'm going to move on. But our kids from 24 were able to communicate live with with astronomers that were in this at the space station in outer space. So they were
communicating and having a conversation directly with with some of the astronauts at the International Space Station asking them questions that were gathered from students from across Queens and the Queen's libraries. So, um, I'm just going to share with you really, really quickly. Whoops. As of
course, I clicked the wrong little button. There we go. >> Just so that you can see this really >> special. And uh, I'm going to miss the opportunity to float around and and do science and technology demonstrations. >> I'm sorry. Let me go back. >> Hi, my name is Safen. This question is
from the Bayside Library. When you are back on Earth, what do you miss most about being in space? Thanks, Nathine. I really appreciate your question. Actually, Chris and I were both rookie astronauts, so we've were up in space for our first time. So, we've never been back to Earth
afterwards. But thinking about it, I'm going to miss all the special times up here floating around with your friends, getting the opportunity to be on the International Space Station is really special and uh I'm going to miss the opportunity to float around and and do science and technology demonstrations.
>> So, just wanted to give you a very brief snapshot of that. it, you know, really what an amazing experience for some of our kids to to be able to connect with NASA. This was all because of our relationship with the with the Queens Library. Um, and when they had this opportunity, they reached out to us
right away and said, "We'd love for one of your schools to participate." And that's what the result was. So, uh, having an opportunity to communicate with a real life astronaut as they're in space, I'm not sure that you can ever get another opportunity like that as a
kid. So, really, really cool stuff and I wanted to share it. So, we also had, again, this is a big news type of fun. We had um Liam from PS32 took home the New York City Spelling Bee um award. He was the the big citywide winner. Uh and
he's now going to the uh the scripts national spelling bee in Washington DC. So this is an incredible feat for uh for Liam and we we are really certainly going to be cheering him on from uh from a distance and and you know hoping he
does really really well uh in the national competition in May. So big shout out. You could see the big trophy and the and the smile on that face of just pride of what he was able to accomplish. So uh really excited for him and looking forward to seeing him do
really really well in Washington. Uh so chancellor, as if in the event that you're you were not aware, the chancellor has been doing listening uh and learning tours. Um Jenny has sent these flyers out widely over the course of the past couple of weeks. Um I
attended one of the sessions on May 7th. um where I got to sit in with some kids from some high school students, some uh some other educators um and some parents to talk about uh the chancellor's priorities around promoting safe,
academically rigorous and in and truly integrated schools. That was kind of the backdrop of it. Uh the chancellor will be holding holding another one in Queens at the Queens Innovation Center. Uh that will be held, excuse me, tomorrow uh from 6:30 to 8. uh if you are available
um you know please feel free to register you can click on the on the link that's in um in the presentation and um you know certainly have an opportunity to kind of listen in and ask questions and so on um I will be there um again
representing our district and if you are uh intending to go love to know uh and we'll see you there if that's the case but the flyer is is there for you if you're available um you know Please, please feel free to attend. Summarizing, as you guys know, uh or I
hope you know, the application window uh has been open for the past couple of weeks. Um the application window closes on March 27th. And this is a really important date because we want all of our families applying by them. We don't want them, you know, getting to March
28th and saying, "Oh, I forgot to apply." um let's get those applications in on time so that there is an opportunity to be part of summer rising if you so choose. The only other thing that I ask parents and this is just for you to kind of echo in to our community
members is that if you are applying and you receive an offer, please don't accept it if you don't attend intend on going. Um because if you do that then you prevent another child from attending. So, um, all I ask
is that if you if you're going to go, please enjoy every moment of it. Take advantage of every moment of it. Um, but don't accept and then not send because then it holds back opportunities right from day one to send another child. Now, there they tend to maybe open up opportunities if there's enrollment
that's low. Um, but we don't want to we don't want to necessarily risk that either. So, if you're going to accept, accept and come. If you're not going to accept, then you can decline. but making sure that we we give everyone a fair opportunity to be participants in this
upcoming workshops. Uh there's an in-person math family night on Thursday, March 26th. Thank you to Principal Bradley for opening up his space. Um and Beth and Liz from our district team. These are often very well attended events. Um kids have a great time with
their families. This is open for elementary and middle. It's not just a middle school experience. Uh so we would love to see as many of you there as possible. If you haven't been to one before um I encourage you to come. Uh we have a virtual parent workshop on promoting positive behaviors. This is
presented by Child Mind Institute. Uh we had a session last week uh also by uh by Marble Health and they did a great job just around supporting um supporting our families with uh with behaviors as well at at home. Uh so really really
important opportunities for for our families to participate in this work. Uh we also have our our next parent workshop in mathematics around fractions, proportions, uh and ratios. That's for Kate to 8. Uh Beth and Liz kind of show the progression across
grades so that our parents can have a clearer idea as to what that looks like. Um so those are events are available that are coming up. I encourage you to attend. Um I know that an uh that Charlotte mentioned earlier around the the the annual wellness day. We have
solidified the date. Initially it was the 25th. It is now May 2nd. And the reason we switched it is because there is a parade that is occurring in Flushing on the 25th of some sort. So we didn't want to impact um opportunity for
families to to come to one or the other. Um so that's why we did make the change. Uh but we do invite uh all of you to to please feel free to register. Um the the link is there. The flyer is available.
Um and this will start getting sent out more widely to all of our families. We will have a a greater limit than we did before because we want to see as many families take advantage of it as possible. Um so more to follow on this but we will have uh a series of of
activities from yoga, mindfulness activities, healthy eating demonstrations. Um there'll be local programs and services and supports that are available for our families to take advantage of. Um so looking forward to seeing all of you there. If you can make it, that would be fantastic. I will
certainly be there um you know to to welcome all of our families. Uh so I'm not going to go through this just because I I it would take up uh you know another good 15 20 minutes but I want to share with this this with you. Um this was shared during our CEC
meeting. Um and I will save some time during our next session in April to talk more through this with you and I will invite Stephanie from our team to be here as well to talk a little bit around MTSS. This is a little bit more in-depth than our other conversations um to make
sure that there's a clarity for our families around um what MTSS really means and how does it help to to get a little bit more of an understanding especially if you have a child that does need interventions. Um this is a great set of tools just to have at your
disposal even for you as um as PTA presidents. This is a resource that you can share if you have any parents that express to you, oh, my child is struggling with X, Y, or Z. This is a good entry point to talk to them about um you know, just for yourselves, too,
just to have information. So, this is here and it's in our um in our in the slide deck. Uh will serve as a guide for you to support any anyone in your in your in your district. Uh excuse me, in your school or any of the families across your school community. Um and we are always there too. But I'm just
sharing with this for youformational purposes. Um, okay. Goal followup. Um, this I had mentioned to you that we were going to make some changes to our school social emotional learning survey. Our kids are in the process of completing
this now. Um, but I wanted to show you some of the adjustments that we made. Um, I think it's it's fantastic. Um, some of the adjustments to help support our kids in completing this. So, what you'll notice here, um, we have the capacity to change the survey into
multiple languages for our kids. Um, we have a read option so that if a child needs it to be read to them, the question and the answers can be read to them. Um, we have the ability to do a a scroll over. You see the the words that are uh that may give some of our kids
some difficulty. We scroll over it and it will uh provide them the definition to make it a little bit more digestible. The intent of this of this survey is not to be a reading test. I'm really trying to get to know how kids are feeling inside of our schools. Um, and I that's
what I'm really concerned about. So, as you click through, it's makes it a little bit more fun. You'll see confetti dropping down. Um, you know, making it a little bit more enjoyable for our kids to complete uh than looking at a typical Google form. I'm not sure how many of you have completed a Google form
recently. they can be a little bland looking and not too exciting uh for a kid to complete. Um so needless to say, this is the approach that we're taking. You know, you'll see questions like, I understand my my emotions. Um I can calm
myself down if I'm upset or angry. These are just really good connectors for us to get to know how our kids are feeling. Um, and what we've seen thus far, although we only have about 2,000 kids that have completed it, the results from the beginning of the year to now have
improved. Uh, so student responses have changed to the positive lens, which is a really good sign. Um, upwards of about 15% to 20% change in student perception from the beginning of the year to now. Uh, which is the only direction that,
you know, folks that I like to go. I don't like to see, you know, these roller coaster going up and then we have, you know, fall off of a cliff. That's not uh any kind of data I want to look at. I want to look at data that shows that we're progressing uh and that kids have uh you know that that growth
mindset, that positive mindset is um is something that we're supporting. So early on it looks good. I will give you more feedback at the next meeting uh with a full breakdown so we have clearer understanding of of how our kids responded. Um, but I'm hoping that trend
continues to what it is that I've that I've already have seen. Um, what I didn't go over during our last meeting was our students taking the algebra 1 regions. Uh, they take a different assessment than I Ready. So, I
wanted to give you a brief snapshot of where our kids are. Um, right now in the as of the February assessment, we have 79% of our students performed in the high high average range, which is where we want the vast majority of kids to live. We want them in the high high
average. Um, so it is relatively similar to last year's group of eighth graders. We had 2% more children in the high range than high average. Um, we have 1% more children in average. I'm happy to see that we have 2% fewer kids in low
compared to to last year. So, um you know, reducing some of and narrowing some of that gap with some of our kids that are struggling uh with the algebra content. Uh this also serves our teachers well so they can get an idea of who's struggling. And then more importantly over the next three months
before that regions uh is something that our kids have to take that we can start making some of those strategic choices around help how to help our kids um really navigate that uh the coursework uh and and you know organize ourselves so that they have the best opportunity
to be successful on that regions. The goal for us is to have as many of our kids as possible get to the 80 to 85 plus range on the regions. That's what shows mastery and preparedness for the geometry course which will our eighth graders will take when they get to high
school. Uh so I want to give you a little brief update on that. Um I also wanted to make sure that I'm hoping that all of you uh received this uh parent survey and I know the timing of this was not great because I know you got a school survey from your own school
that is from the city. So I know sending out multiple was not the best of choices. Uh next year I'm going to send it out in January rather than in March. Um but we did send it. We've gotten about 500 responses so far. We do want as many as possible so that we can get
some feedback. Um overwhelmingly thus far the positive responses have been in the mid 90%. Um but it's still a small number of people that completed it. So more to follow on this one too. We're going to continue to send out gamma
messages to our families just asking to please complete it. Uh you may even see a little bit of a video from me asking uh families if they wouldn't mind taking the five minutes to complete it um so that we have more data back. We really did use the first one to design an
entire professional learning uh workshop series around SEAL because of what parents said. So, we we do use the information and I'm hoping that um as many families as possible complete this form um so we have more data and I will
share the the most current data with you um when uh we come back uh together in April. I want to get as many responses as I possibly can uh to give you an actual graph. Uh I don't want it to change so much that you say, "Well, you told me last month we were in the 90s
and now it's in the 80s." Right? So, I'm going to give you a little bit more of a of a clearer um look at what that what that means for us as a district. And I'm hoping that you guys take the time to complete it as well. Now, the last thing that I want to leave
us on, and I'm going to put these questions into Whoops. into the chat. Um so, New York State is making some adjustments to um to some of the policies that exist
for our kids. So, our current fifth grade students uh will be the first group that has a diploma change and the city, the state is moving from uh three diploma opportunities to one. So instead
of having a regent or an advanced regent and a local diploma, all of that, all students are going to have an opportunity at one diploma with a couple of seal opportunities that could be part of the diploma. Uh for example, the uh
seal for civic readiness is something that would be on there. And I mentioned that one first cuz that's what we at the district level have already been striving for and added to a district goal this year. So that our kids when they go off into high school, the goal is that they've earned a point towards
that seal for civic readiness, which would be on a child's diploma. And more and more of our high schools are working towards that end. Melinda made a list. Melinda, do you remember how many how many high schools there were in Queens alone that um that were actually offering the SEAL for civic readiness?
There was a bunch. >> All of them. All of the high schools in Queens offer the seal along with >> the specialized high schools with and the big three, Styverson, Bronx, Bronx Science, and Brooklyn Tech. >> Thank you, Melinda. And the the reason
why I'm bringing up those three questions that I put into the the chat, one is because it's aligned with the chancellor's vision, but it's also about thinking through and I'm going to give you a more in-depth presentation during next month's session as well. It's this
idea of a portrait of a graduate. So the state is moving more towards this idea of a portrait of a graduate which means that in order to graduate um high school a regents are no longer going to be an expectation. Now kids can take them but
it is not going to be a requirement for graduation. So, what it means is that there are other ways that kids are going to be able to demonstrate their knowledge other than just taking a regent exam. Now, there's still going to be many kids
that take it and they'll still be able to take it, still be able to do really well, still be able to get credit. All of that stuff still exists, but it won't be necessarily a requirement. So, what we're going to start thinking about as a collective district, at the district
leadership team, I'm going to ask you guys to help me think about this as president's council members. Um, I'm going to ask our DPAC representatives, parents as a whole, is what do we believe a graduate should look like for us even in elementary school by the time
they leave grade five? What do we want our kids to be able to do by the time they leave grade 8? What do we want them to be able to do? um so that we have a clear picture of going through K through 12. Um what that should mean when we're thinking about what does academically
prepared mean? What does it mean to be creative innovator, a critical thinker, a communicator, a global citizen, and reflective and future future focused? Those are the six things that are within the portrait of a graduate that I'm going to talk to you more about. This is
just kind of an overview uh to give you an idea that this is the direction that the state is going to be going. And because the state is going that direction, so too will all of the schools in New York State in alignment with those uh with the expectations
that's laid out within a portrait of a graduate. So the very first thing that I would love for everyone to think about um as we go into towards the end of the year is um and these things can be aligned with uh with the chancellor's
expectations around what does it mean to be safe in district 25? What does it mean to be academically rigorous in district 25 and what does it mean to be truly integrated in district 25? And those are the types of of conversations that I want us to have so that we can
really define for ourselves as community members. Um that we're all doing this with the same mindset. Uh and approaching things through the same mindset as collective schools, but not just because Mike said so, but because here's what we believe as parents in our
community. Here's what we believe as teachers in our community. Here's what we believe as kids in our community. and then we come together and organize all of that information into a very clear statement around what we want for our kids by the time they leave us. So, I left those those questions in the chat.
Would love for you guys to think and reflect on it and then when we come back together, I'm going to have a a small little um uh digital tool for everyone to start entering their thoughts uh in. I'll give you a little bit of time and space for those that are are willing to
do it. Again, it's not a a mustave. It's an ask. Uh I invite you guys to to give me some of those thoughts and feedback so that we can all support goal setting moving forward by the between now and the end of the year and then certainly in years to come. Uh but that concludes
my my presentation. I know I said a lot. Um so if there is anyone that has any questions would certainly love um to hear any of any of those questions from you. Well, thank you very much, Dr. Mike. Um, if you guys have any questions, you can
put it in the chat or you can come off mute and ask um directly and of course you can always contact um Dr. Dantona through the district office um through the website. >> Yeah, anytime. Espec I would love to hear what you guys think about some of
these things and um I know how busy you are and I know how you know among the the the work that you have to do for for yourselves and then add on your children and then this role I know it's an incredibly a large amount of of work that you have to do but uh if you have
thoughts would love to hear it and partner with you guys because in the end we're all here in service of you and service of your kids. So, how do we do better? You know, and those are the things that we'll continue to work on. Um, you'll never hear me say anything is perfect. We always have to do better
tomorrow. So, um, would always love to entertain some of your thoughts on this stuff. >> Great. Thank you so much for joining us tonight, Dr. Mike, and it was a wonderful presentation. Thank you. >> Sure. My pleasure. >> Oh, go ahead, Veronica. You got one for me? >> I do.
>> Yeah. What's up? I I definitely uh am interested in collaborating and I think we all are. I'm like thinking about what a portrait of a graduate looks like for a child in the fifth grade or what does that look like for a prek graduate or a kindergartener. So I definitely think
that hearing your thoughts about how you're planning to gather feedback not only from the ones that are like from all of us that are here in this space but from the other PTAs that are not participating. I I I would love to figure out a way for all of us to meet
since many of our children are either in elementary going through the grades and graduating to fifth grade or they're going into middle school or they're going into high school. Obviously, you want to adjust the goals as you know as the child develops socio emotionally. But I I was really interested in
figuring that out because as I think about even within my own PTA is like figuring out how do we get information that connects parents to socio emotional learning strategies? How do we bring speakers to come and speak to kids? How do we embrace them? How do we create a
space that allows them to not just be recognized by a diploma but by recognized by the skills and abilities that they have? And how do we bring opportunities? So I definitely would love to figure it out how do we incorporate everyone who is not here into a space where we can all collaborate in one way or another.
>> Yeah. So what we what we typically do uh Veronica and listen it's not the best. Um you know ideally you know having everyone in front of you is the most you know impactful way of of connecting but you know our lives don't always allow it. you know it, you know, sometimes a
virtual space is the only way and even at that it can be difficult, right? Our our schedules are hard. They don't always allow uh for so you know creating digital spaces where where someone can complete a form or add to a padlet. We do we've done many times in the past. Um
so there are ways that we can get that info. It's just a matter of you know creating the platform for it and then allowing people to respond. Um, you know, there's no best way, unfortunately. You know, there are just too many schedules that are that con conflict with being able to be there.
And, you know, I think about myself. I mean, I'm a I'm a dad, too. And I can't tell I wish I can tell you that I'm at my kids things. I unfortunately, I'm at these things. I'm not at my own kids things. Um, I thank God for my wife every day that she's able to to manage some of that work because I'm not able
to do it myself at times, you know. So um it's hard you know but my thing is that we can create avenues and then gather all the information from each of those spaces and then kind of merge them together summarize trends patterns and
then here's what we think that should be and then all schools can then start thinking about it through their own lens. Here's the big picture and then through our own lens here's what it could be if that makes sense. >> Oh yeah 100%. I'm in alignment with you. I think that there is different venues
that can be pursued to get the information out. The idea is just to get everyone to at least be exposed to the information whether they fill it out or not. It's very different, but it's just making sure that the information becomes available and that we're all in one way
or another participate in this process because I think it's a portrait of a graduate can be very different for every child. It's very unique. >> Yeah. No doubt about it. Yeah. And I think I even think about the the the the digital tools almost kind of like the new bottom of the school bag.
If any of you have a a child that might be a little bit uh of a struggle bus in terms of managing their documents and then if you remember the crumbled up pieces, think about my own kids, the crumbled up flyer that's at the bottom of the bag that you had to dig through and finally got two months later. You know, the digital space is almost
becoming like that in some ways because how many emails do you get? How many dojoos do you get? If it's not dojo, it's a reminder. If it's not a Remind, it's something else. If it's parent square, if your school uses parent square and you know in an effort to be
communicative sometimes, you know, even for families like, oh god, a message from the school that can happen too. So finding out really clever ways of little maybe little video snippets or things like that just to get it a little bit more exciting and appealing. Uh maybe perhaps we have to start thinking about
that too. But at any time guys, don't hesitate. Reach out to me. If you don't get me, reach out to Jenny or Jessica. Um, and you know, we'll filter through that information so that we can make some really smart choices for our kids. >> Sounds great. Thank you so much.
>> Okay, next up on the agenda is include NYC. So, we have a representative here um to talk about that program and their services. So, I would like to turn the floor over to you.
Yes. Hello. Good evening. I'm just going to pull up my deck, but um it was also really insightful to hear um from one mic to another. I was enjoying, you know, listening in on that. So, thanks for having me in the space, everyone. I'm just going to pull up slides. We'll
get ourselves going. Alrighty. So, include NYC. You may have heard of us, you may not have heard of us. Um, but again, thank you, Jenny, for the invitation to join tonight. I'm just excited to take a few minutes just to share a little more about include NYC
and how we could serve as a resource to families like yourselves and the families um in your school communities all across District 25. Um I will send out this information um digitally. I actually already shared it with Jenny, so she'll make sure that it goes your way as well. Um but feel free to jump in
questions. I'll keep my eye on the chat or anything like that. I'm happy to answer. So, include NYC, we are a parent training and information center, specifically the family and community engagement center for all five bureaus of New York City. And we are one of the
leading sources of training and information for young people from birth all the way up to age 26 with either known or suspected disabilities, their families, and the professionals that support them. So again, we work with families with kids that have um
disabilities or diagnoses such as autism, ADHD, speech and language impairment, um among many others. We also work with families who their child may not have a current diagnosis, however, they have concerns about their
child's development and are interested potentially in evaluations or the special education process. Um, and we've been around for over 40 years all across New York City supporting thoughtful inclusion at school, in the workforce, and in the community.
And we are excited to share that we have directly served over 15,000 children with disabilities and their families through our programming, which I'll take you through in a moment, as well as reach over half a million individuals through our community partnerships. Um, we are partnered with the New York City
public schools, but we are a separate nonprofit parent center. Um, we are, however, listed on every IEP, every individualized education program as a parent resource, which, um, if that applies for your family situation, you
may have seen our name there. So, in terms of what we do, um, starting at the bottom left here, we operate what's called a helpline where families can call us for any special education or disability related concerns that they have with their child. Again, all the way from birth. So, we speak with
families who are involved with early intervention um, all the way up through post high school. So, we um, speak with families of young adults all the way up to age 26. Um, and you could speak with us, one of our family educators like myself, one-on-one, absolutely free, um,
and confidentially, um, in over 50 languages via our interpretation service. And on the next slide, I'll show you some more of the common topics just in case, um, you know, families who would benefit or in your own family situation. Um, secondly, we offer workshops for
families as well as professionals on a variety of topics, um, including things like understanding your child's IEP. Again, that's an individualized education program. Uh we also do a workshop promoting positive behaviors. Um as well as we discuss navigating
transitions in services. So from preschool uh to kindergarten as well as from middle school to high school. We have specific workshops on how that transition looks um if your child has an IEP. Um
and thirdly, we're also um fortunate to offer individual transition planning to over 150 young people per year through our program called Project Possibility. Um the only criteria is that you have to be at least 16 years old and you have to have an IEP
um and have a post-secary goal in mind to achieve. So that could be something in the area of uh college or career readiness. And lastly, we have a ton of events that I'll talk about in a later slide.
So, this is more info on our helpline. Um, there is a QR code. Um, but again, I will send out um the information from this deck and all of the brochures later on. Um, but these are some of our most popular topics. Personally for me as
someone that takes calls from families, um preparing for upcoming IEP meetings is very popular. So families calling us just to understand what to expect in an IEP meeting, the information that they should expect to hear or want to share
um and maybe answering questions about things related to uh services, placement, and things like that. Uh we also talk again about a lot of these including behavioral concerns as well as special education procedures. So I do want to note we are not legal
advocates. We're not lawyers, but we are parent information specialists who provide families like yourselves with the information on the laws and procedures to help you better advocate for your child um and their needs. Um, I will say the large majority of us at
Include NYC are former um, special education teachers, social workers. I was a school psychologist prior. Um, so we do have that background um, both inside and outside of the New York City public schools that we use to bring you
this information um, in a way to level the playing field and make sure families know their rights and what they're entitled to. Again, these are some of our popular workshop topics. Um, workshops typically last about an hour to an hour and a
half. Um, and uh they come with materials as well as the slide deck for your reference. They're held seven days a week. Um, I would say the majority are held virtually, but we also do partner up with schools all across um the city in
particular. Um I know personally I've been in a lot of district 25 schools doing family workshops collaborated with parent coordinators as well as social workers. Um we also hold them during PTA meetings as well as like a little connector at the end or at the beginning. Um so most of them again are
about an hour but there is the one in bolds at the bottom that I wanted to highlight um for you all as um presidents of PTA um is the special education 101 training of the parent member. This is a 5hour workshop. It's a
lot lengthier because it trains families to become a what's called a parent member. Um, parent members go through a certification process with us so they can assist and support other parents at IEP meetings. Um, I do want to note that
parent certified parent members are paid an hourly rate um, when attending IEP meetings. It's not a full-time job. It's on an asneeded basis. Um, we are offering a lot of dates for really all of these workshops. So the link is going to be embedded at the bottom and again
when you get sent out all these materials you'll be able to access it also when I stop screen sharing I'll drop these links in the chat as well. Um and again I spoke about our youth programming. I'm not going to go into too much depth because I know that um uh
it's mostly kindergarten through 8ighth grade or pre-K through 8th grade here. Um but we do have some youth programs for teenagers and young adults um with disabilities or with an IEP. Um so that info is here if you are interested. Uh we not only are a partner with New
York City public schools, but we actually um are partners with New York State's um office of special education partnership um which supports and empowers schools, families, and communities to improve outcomes for all students with disabilities. So what this looks like is we look we work directly
with families as well as work directly with school professionals in the New York City public schools um through training and coaching to again improve outcomes uh for students with disabilities of all ages. These are our biggest events um yearly
events. Um we have our include NYC fair uh which is held every year in Hudson Yards. It was held recently in January where we bring together about a hundred organizations and about a thousand families um to connect with offerings related to special education
um attorneys related service providers, summer camps and recreation for children with disabilities. All of that under one roof. So again, you'll have the events calendar. You could always check it out later on. We also do in June we have our outdoors
for autism event in the Bronx. Um it's a fun sensory friendly day of activities. We partner with Bronx Children's Museum, the Bronx Zoo, Special Olympics. It's a lot of fun. Um and that information is on our events calendar. I believe it's
June 1st. Um and then we hold a annual colleges possible event to expose families and young adults with disabilities about options that they have whether it's uh 2-year, four-year and credential programs. Um
we have a ton of resources that I'm going to drop in the chat after this. But again, we have ready-made things on a variety of topics such as helping families request evaluations from their child's school, navigating difficulties with busing, as well as um step-by-step
guidance in applying for um outside agency supports such as OPWD, which is the Office of People with Developmental Disabilities. And we again, we have dozens and dozens of these sheets on our website. And our website is great. That is what
that shares. And um this is our helpline number. The one on the left is in English. The one on the right is in Spanish. Um but again, we are able to interpret in over 50 languages via an interpretation service. When families call us, they speak with someone uh one
of our intake team who will um set up an appointment later on with a family educator within 48 hours. And again, up to an hour, they could speak with us about anything special education. and it is all kept confidential. We do not inquire about immigration status. Um, it's totally
free. All of our services are free for families always. Um, and that was the overview. So, I'm going to drop some links in the chat box, but again, feel free to come off mute, ask any questions, any of that. But I just appreciate the space to share out with
you all. And I'm going to drop some of these in now, specifically our events calendar, um, as well as our helpline. And again, that phone number where families can call and get support in things like preparing for IEP meetings and things like that.
>> Great. Thank you so much for joining our meeting tonight and for this wealth of information about all of the available resources. I know a lot of our um PATA pair presidents will appreciate this and be able to bring this information back to their parent community so that um
everyone can take advantage of these services. >> Absolutely. I'm also I didn't say this earlier. I'm just going to drop my personal email in the chat too if you had any questions or anyone wanted to follow up privately afterwards. I'm happy to do so. Feel free to reach out to me. Um so I just dropped that in as
well. And again, I'll make sure you get all these brochures and materials through Jenny somehow that you'll have them. We do have our brochures of offerings in English, Spanish, and Mandarin Chinese um to share out. >> Okay. So, anything we share at this meeting will also be posted on the
D25.nyc's website under public meetings and then under sharing documentations. So, it's public for all our parent meetings. >> Sounds great. Sounds awesome. >> Thank you very much. Okay. Okay. So, if anyone has any questions um you can either email him or
you can put it in the chat um or you can come off mute and ask directly. Um otherwise, if there are no questions, we will move on with um our next agenda item. >> All right, that was Michael Bervini. Thank you so much, Michael, for being
here. >> Yes, always a pleasure, Jenny. Thank you again. Have a great night, everyone. You too. Thank you. This is a reminder of your president's council executive board members. Veronica Pedra Leon and myself are your
co-presidents. Mao Pacheco is the treasurer and Charlotte Chuah is our recording secretary. And now I'd like to turn the floor over to our CEC president for district 25, Eden Rubenstein. Sorry, I was trying to find my unmute
button. Good evening everyone. Um, not many updates here other than our next meeting is the first week of April and we are in full swing planning for our awards ceremony. We will have the public library coming to our next meeting to kind of talk about that, talk about
people getting library cards for their children. And we will also be working on planning wellness day with Dr. Mike. Uh, one of our members is going to be doing yoga. So looking forward to hopefully seeing you guys all on our next day.
>> Rachel, you're muted. >> Thank you, Jenny, because I was talking to myself. >> Thank you, Eden. And um hopefully some of you can join either in person if not virtually because the my meetings are available hybrid.
And this is the date for the next meeting, April 15th, 2026. And if to view any of these meetings, you can go to the district website, d25.nyc, and click on the date and you'll be able to view the meeting a recording of the
meeting. or they can come in person to Lynen Place on April 15. All meetings will be held at Lynden Place at 7 o'clock. >> Jenny, this is you. >> Okay. Awesome. Yeah. I would like to say thank you to all our parent leaders for turning in the for completing the PAP
financial report. It's, you know, it's a lot of work for you guys. I know you are all volunteers and you guys also have a life besides being a PAPA parent leader. So, thank you so much. I know our PCs have been calling you guys non-stop stuff for for stuff that we need to have
in place enable for the schools to stay to remain in compliance and the PAP interim financial report is one of them. So, thank you so much. We are at 99% at this point. Just one school didn't turn it in because they don't have a parent coordinator and I heard the PAP has been
struggling, but we are here to support them and they know we are here to support them. So, but thank you so much for all your work. Bo, I'm going to give it back to you. >> So, um some reminders for our PAPAS. Um
I'm not going to go over the interim financial report because we already um discussed that. Uh just a reminder for the end of year, the annual financial report is due by June 30th and this is for the entire school year July 1st 2025
through June 30th 2026. Um just like was done with the interim financial report. All income and expenses um was must be reported on the form. The starting and ending balance must match the bank statements. Um and it the form
the completed report does need to be signed by both the treasurer and the president and submitted to the principal and then once it's been approved the report would be shared and reviewed with the g general membership at the next monthly meeting. So that could possibly
be in this the fall depending on how um when your meeting schedule is. Um, also we want to remind everyone to start now to prepare for your spring PAPA elections. Um, in April you would hold your nominations meeting if you're
able to form a nominations committee, which you should be doing now at your March meetings, forming that nominations committee. Um, it's always a good idea to have three to five parent leaders, I mean parent members that um are not
running for a position on the PATA for next year. Um, it's a good resource to tap into your graduating parents since they're obviously not going to be running for another position since they will no longer be in the school. Um, and
the district office has um resources for um there's a word that it's not coming to me. Um like a outline that you can read from um >> have a template. Yeah, >> template. Yes. Thank you.
um for the pro process of the elections and that way you let the parents know that you have that and they will not feel intimidated by the prospect of running the elections in April or May depending on when you schedule your your
elections. Also, it's very important that if you have not already, you notify your pres your principal of the date and time and format for your elections. Again, it they have to be all virtual or all in person. They cannot be hybrid.
Um, so you need to decide how you're going to hold your elections and make sure that the principal is notified of that. >> Just going to put some, you know, keywords to as a reminder. And the reason why
it's important to have the me the elections by May is so that the then if there's a newly elected president, they can attend the June president's council meeting and be elected into position for the 2026 2027 school year um for the president's
council board. And then lastly, a reminder um it'll be here before we know it. Um in June, you'll want to have a transfer of records meeting. This would be a meeting between both the outgoing board and the incoming board and it needs to take
place in the presence of the principal. This is where you will turn over all relevant materials um so documents such as minutes, current bylaws, um keys, passwords,
um monthly reports, all financials. Uh again, you have to keep financial records for the last six years. So they would you would want to make sure that the incoming board knows everything that
they need to know about what happened in the previous years, where to find it so that if we are ever audited, I know Jenny had to go through a lot of work recently during an audit to have up-to-date bylaws. Um, so making sure that the new board has access to the
current bylaws is very important, especially as they need to be updated every 3 years. So in order to do that in a timely manner, they need to know what time, what year were the last um bylaw updates made. >> That's why me and Lewis have kept a copy
of everything, the bylaws, we've been, you know, asking for the financial report. So we keep everything and save everything on file. So going forward if we do get audited it will be much more um easier for us to provide the uh the materials. So thank you all for
providing >> and then again this needs to form needs to be signed by both the incoming and the outgoing and incoming president secretary and treasurer as well as the principal. Rachel, can I add one more thing? So we
mentioned that we would like to have all the spring elections in place also because once the schools have elected their parent leaders we can also go ahead and conduct our president's council election in June. So and we can't do that if schools are still you know if majority of the school haven't
conducted their PAP elections it will be harder on our end to conduct our election. So yeah. >> Okay. Just a reminder that PTA Link is uh a resource that is available and free and every week on Thursdays from 10 to
11:00 a.m. They have what they call office hours where there's a Zoom link. You can register and join the Zoom call and ask any questions that you may have regarding all areas of PAPA life. Um, and if they don't have the
answers, they will get the answers and get back to you. So, um, that's just a reminder of a resource that you have available to you. And this is the uh schedule for our DPAC meetings. Um, DACAs are having monthly
meetings just like just like the PAPAs and our president's council. The next meeting will be on Tuesday, uh, March 31st. And the PAC meetings is for all our Title One parent leaders. Um, who who gets to decide on how to spend that
1% parent engagement money that's already been um that was already been in place since the due date to finalize that spending fund was in December 23rd. But we are we are inviting guest speakers, vendors, you know, anyone that
we can come across to come and present so they get some ideas on how to, you know, what um what school activities they can form and h on how to spend that money so we don't lose that money. If it doesn't get spent, we will lose that money. So this is what the DPAC meeting
is for and you guys are welcome to join as well. And this is the calendar for our um president's council meetings. The next one will be on April 20th. And I'll do my best to uh work the with the president's council to send out
reminders. >> Okay. So, now we open up the floor if anyone has any questions. Anything that's affecting your PAPA. Um anything any questions about anything that's been discussed at the meeting? Um the floor is open to either you can type
your question in the chat or you can raise your hand and come off mute. Um however you'd like to um raise your question or comment. Annie said thank you very insightful. Thank you, Annie. >> All right.
>> Okay. Well, if there are no questions, then if somebody could make a motion to end the meeting and state your name for the minutes. May Annie makes a motion to adjurnn. If somebody could second the motion and state your name for the minutes, please.
I'll second Rosanna Galia. >> Thank you, Rosanna. Okay, it is 7:45 and the March meeting of District 25 President's Council is officially adjourned. Um, we look forward to seeing everyone at our April meeting on Monday, April 20th at 6:30 p.m. And have a
wonderful spring break and we'll see you shortly thereafter. Have a great night everyone. >> Good night everyone. Thanks so much. >> Good night everyone. >> Good night, Dr. Mike. Dr. M.