##VIDEO ID:__f00QsGDyU## um so we'll we'll get started Eden did uh did reach out to me she may not be able to make it this morning um she's going to try her best but um we have uh we have the number of members we need to to get uh get the show going so um good morning everyone hope you guys are all well good to see you and happy New Year to all of you um I hope the uh the break gave you an opportunity to rest and enjoy your families um and taking some of that time to hopefully do a little bit of relaxing I know it's it's not always easy for us to to um make the best use of that time is we're always being pulled in this way that way or another um but um I'm hoping you'll be able to enjoy a little bit of of that time with uh with loved ones so we're going to call the meeting to order uh let me bring up our minutes so that we can review our minutes for today and then we'll get going with our presentations for the morning oh welcome uh shernette I see that you are on welcome to the team we'll do a quick little intro for you in just a moment okay get minutes up I'll put the minutes in the chat for everyone so that you guys can do a quick little review come hopefully come to consensus on them put them in the chat and I will share it on my screen for those that are more comfortable reading off the screen we'll do it both ways it's a little bit bigger oops e e e e e okay folks if you had not Unity to read through the minutes can we come to consensus on uh approval for our minutes today give me a quick little thumbs up yes thank you Rachel thank you Shanette Rob we're good Lamar we're good I'm not sure if Mr Marino froze it looks like he froze that's a perfect time for anyone who wants to take that quick little camera shot of Mr Marino completely Frozen on the screen that way we can share with him later that is awesome I think he fell asleep completely completely Frozen on there let's see if I can give him a quick little text let him know too much Billy Joel yeah for sure Rachel it knocked him right out oh there he is welcome back Rob I just said that we're going to take a really nice little candid shot of you completely Frozen on the screen every 15 20 minutes the uh the Wi-Fi stops in my office I have to click the button again that's what happens so listen I get it so uh we're gonna quickly go through I'll run through the agenda uh with everyone uh so today I'm just going to go through some uh some quick greetings uh updates and reminders we're going to do a dce um midyear review in the sense of just sharing with you guys where we want to be by the end of um the end of this month in terms of progress with our kids um I want to talk a little bit about um our parent engagement policy again I did share before the break um the revised version of that parent engagement policy um so we will uh we'll review that again give it one more once over come to consensus on it as a team and then it'll be our policy for the next two years uh through 2027 um so we'll spend the a little bit of time on that and I do want to talk um a little bit more around just making sure that our parents are receiving feedback on the progress of their children uh we did do that parent survey uh still coming back at 85% uh even though we only received about a little over a thousand responses um it's still a pretty good sample size and we'll we'll talk a little bit more about that shortly uh Gus will go through his C updates um dce posting and accountability of that of the DC we have the high school superintendence report followed by all of our constituent groups being able to have an opportunity to share uh from president's Council our high school president uh president chair um Rachel will have an opportunity as well CC CSA UFT and dc37 and then we will close out with any new business that is uh necessary for today I'll put the agenda in the chat too just for you guys to have it and I will put my presentation in the uh in the chat as well so that you guys can follow along if you rather do it that way than me sharing on the screen uh but a big welcome to uh chanet Walters our Queens High School uh president's council president uh chanet welcome to the team I know that you'll be uh in and out in terms of alternating right whenever I'm not triple booked and and getting my feet planted but triple book quadruple booked I'm sure I said to face I'm like do they not share calendars to know that there's only one of us and you want us to spit four or five but thank you so much I told Patricia I'll jump on today because I actually didn't have any meetings because we have our meeting tonight so Monday so yes thank you much welcome we're excited that you're here to join us today so thanks so much um Mike yeah who's that oh Rachel yeah can we backtrack a set second on something in the agenda yeah um it said that the next M meeting on February 10th is in person oh no that's not true okay unless of course you guys want it to be no that's yeah no that's not in person virtual sorry just wanted to just wanted to clarify that because I thought we were gonna do a June meeting so I didn't know there was another one snuck in there so no that is viral I didn't notice that I that I left that that little part on there when I redid the agenda okay thank you for that Rachel yeah thank you um okay so let's get started I will share my screen okay um so some updates and reminders I do want to talk to you a little bit about project soapbox I'm really really excited about the work that's been happening there uh I want to speak to you also briefly about a wellness day that we are um looking to plan for March um collaboration between d25 uh Community Based organization in common point and the CC and certainly our DLT would love for you guys to be connected to that as well um opportunity for us to kind of build leadership but also um you know promote you know mental physical and social emotional learning Wellness across the district and I want to talk about our winter diagnostic assessments that are going to be going on that are currently going on and we'll be stretching through the remainder of this month and early on um in February uh so spend a little bit of time talking about that and what what our expect expected outcomes are for uh for this month and then when we get into February hopefully our February meeting we'll have the vast majority of kids will have taken the assessments and we'll have a little bit of a rundown if we don't have all of that data ready um we will most definitely do that breakdown in March typically just past past years we usually have most of our kids assessed by that time so I'm hoping that we're able to do that um you know in our February meeting um just a brief welcome back Happ holidays um the reason I we share this is one just to welcome you all back from the new year but all of these were AI generated um and we're kind of posting this in here just for you guys to begin thinking about and I think we do have to have start having deeper conversations as a DLT around how we want um oh there's Mr Marino I like it that actually came really good Rob that came really good um just for us to start having deeper conversations around um artificial intelligence and what that means for us as a district how are we going to start digging into this because the reality is this is not going anywhere uh the advancements in technology happening at a very rapid pace and um for us as a community I want us to get ahead of that as much as we possibly can and start thinking about where are we where are we entering into that discussion uh in our classrooms administratively there are so many things that we can do that'll make our jobs more efficient um you know so we'll start talking more and more about that as time goes on but planting the seed for you guys to start thinking about it um through your lens as a parent through your lens as uh a District representative as a the UFT I know Lamar you're on here and you know we've started a couple of chats about this too and I think it's important for us to start digging in um as much as we possibly can um so just a reminder couple of upcoming events tomorrow um evening we have a virtual special education Workshop Nathan from our team uh we'll be talking about the classification um uh IEP classifications making sure that our parents understand the differences in classification within IEPs uh so he'll be doing a session tomorrow on um uh virtually at six o'clock so I invite all of our folks certainly on the DT to participate if you'd like uh but also to extend that message out to our fames so that they are aware we will be doing another virtual parent uh Acadian Workshop uh for our families to make sure that they understand what's going on uh with their children and the progress that they're making within aadience and just a reminder it's a k to2 um assessment so we're looking to make sure that our families know when they get their reports come the second administration of the assessment excuse me uh that they know what they're looking at and how it what it means for their children and we'll doing be doing another followup with I ready for any families that weren't able to join us in uh October to get another snapshot kind of align these um one because of our parent engagement goal around progress um but two just make sure that they were aligned around the diagnostic assessment windows so that when kids are finished taking those assessments that they know um you know how to access that information so that is coming up in February as well the dates are there um for everyone to take advantage of we are hosting our upcoming math family night is um at 1 129 from um 5:45 to 7 45 these are always well attended we currently have over 300 parents that have registered uh so we're really really excited you know typically with that level of registration uh we don't typically get all of our families to wind up joining but we will have a significant number of people there there is no doubt so I encourage you guys to join there'll be Pizza snacks meth games prizes and so on um you know for those that do participate and it's in alignment with our district goals of of really promoting mathematics um as a community so I encourage you guys to participate just a quick shout out to the Queens Library they are doing a new uh Lunar New Year celebration with a live puppet show uh that is at flushing Library uh Queen's Public Library on flushing so if you have um your community uh please feel free to share the flyer uh it's accessible to everyone in the community uh just some enrollment dates these you already know I like to just touch on it anyway just to make sure everyone's aware um High School admissions obviously the the process is closed uh offers will be released in early March March 6th um enrollment dates for our middle schools that's coming gone offers will be released on uh April 9th um kindergarten application window closes on uh the 24th of January and release offers will be released on April 2nd 3K prek uh the window opens on the 15th of January so this Wednesday they will close on the 28th of February and then offers released on the 13th and 20th of May um enrollment for g&t in grades 1 through 4 Monday April 21st is when it opens closes on May 9th and then releases on June the 11th uh so project soapbox something that I am really really excited about and continue to be excited about as we are a Civics for- all district um this means that all of our schools in District 25 participate in um engage our kids in Civics forall lessons where they have an opportunity to participate in what we call Project saltbox that means kids are are able to do and engage in research based on an area that they're passionate about um and have some kind of a call to action for the community um and what what I really love about this and what we're going to be doing um moving forward and perhaps maybe we can even invite them here um as well as the CC and Rachel maybe even at the at president's Council to invite some of our students to share some of their calls to action that they have some of them very very personal um you know ranging from personal to those that are much larger ones like global warming um but we had some kids share their experiences a second grader that came here and I mentioned this at a most recent principal meeting uh a second grader that came here from China because unfortunately in China he was not necessarily receiving the the care that he needed to support his cancer diagnosis um so he came here and uh with his family and they you know they did all that they could to make sure that he was receiving the health care that that was necessary for him but his call to action was around making sure that Health Care was available to all people that need the support and care and it's coming from a space of his own personal experience which you know you think about a a seven-year-old being able to stand up in front of an audience to convey this message it's really really powerful um and that's what we really want for our kids that they're able to use that voice in a productive way um so what I would love to do um at our DT meetings is bring some of our kids in to share some of those Sook speeches bring them into our CC meetings bring them into our president's Council meetings so that they can share that voice and get it out there um and to really show what they what they know and what they're able to do as Learners which is really really terrific stuff so uh more to follow on this but really excited about this we will be doing a Civics for all uh day at the end of the year where we're able to consolidate all of the learning from the year uh we'll identify students that are going to be able to come and share their projects more widely um for you know for an audience of parents teachers students uh you know their peers and uh last year was really well done and I'm looking forward to it this year also um but we love your feedback on this towards the end whether or not you think that's a good idea to start bringing some of the kids even into our DLT to share some of the things that they're learning uh District 25 youth leadership team um this is something that we've uh we just started a couple of months ago uh it's an outgrowth of where we where we ended last year uh this is being led by one of our team members Melinda willins and two of our teachers from um from one uh from 379 Amanda solarzano and Elizabeth LaVine uh they brought together kids from across our district middle schools uh to together to really support an action project of their own um around some of the things that we've we've organized with our school survey um as a district and they really want to promote this idea of respect um a couple of the ideas that they have already they want to want they they have a they've engaged in in visits from the Harlem magic Masters and the Harlem Wizards um and they want to be able to bring them in um as a means of promoting that idea of respect as that is message that the Harlem Wizards and Harlem magic Masters kind of throw out there so they're in the process of organizing and they also want to create a podcast with me uh that's going to be you know topic based where they invite guests in and engage in conversations around things that will promote that idea of respect across the district so I'm excited about that and more to follow um on that as well uh District 25 uh Wellness day uh we have identified and I'm going to just put in here it's not in here but this is just a recent addition March TW uh March 15th Saturday March 15th is the day that we have identified and this will be at common Point Queens location in Bayside by Bay Terrace just so that everyone has that on their on their list and the the goal from from this event um is to bring together our community basically in a in a space of learning a little bit more about mindup oural program promoting mental Wellness we have a member from the CC that um is going to help support that in terms of opening one of one of the little booths uh physical wellness we're going to have a number of organizations that are present to do a variety of different physical activities with our kids to promote Wellness in that way um so number of opportunities um for our for our community to come together in a productive way to promote these three areas that are very important to our district community so if I can just take a a moment of pause there just for you guys to reflect um and any thinking that you can have so just give put like one minute minute on the timer just for you guys to think about things that you would want to see you know in that space what is making you think just in terms of uh of the work how it can connect to your own your own space and your own constituency what you would want to be able to bring to that kind of a day do you think there's something that can be contributed from the groups that you're working with to support this um just take a moment of reflection what what it's making you think come back together for a quick chat e okay anyone have any thoughts then we can do a quick round uh make sure that everyone has an opportunity to share go ahead Rob uh I like that you're combining the physical and the mental um activities together in in in the same boat uh I think you see a lot of these things where it's like oh it's mental Wellness day and then you go do another thing it's a physical thing I think that they're both so interconnected the mind and the body that it's important to uh you know build a culture around focusing on both of those things at the same time um we try to do that in all School our our motto is mind body heart so I see that it resonates with me I like it awesome thanks Rob go ahead Rachel having been involved in planning process for wellness days back when I worked in HR um some of I was thinking of like activities I'm not sure exactly what if that's what you were focusing on but one of the things that was always a hit was um having like a five to 10 minute chair massage um usually you can find a few people that'll come in from even just from local uh massage therapists or physical therapy offices um I thought maybe too um as it relates to both mental health and physical wellness having some deep breathing exercises you know it could just be 15 minutes of practicing deep breathing cuz that's um helps clear your mind as well as release physical stress so those were just two things I I came up with yeah I love that Rachel and you know this is kind of an outgrowth of um you know earlier in the year mindup and Goldy hon actually went to Common point they did a whole production Lamar will know this they did a whole production in in September where they invited basically the entire Community it was a community community event and um they had things from yoga their swimming pool was open at the time so they had like a swimming pool a swimming activity they had a slim making activity there a whole range of different things that that parents and communities can engage with um and mindup has agreed to come come again you know so they're going to be there with us engaging our kids in some of those types of activities as you know part of their work is really around that space of brain breaks and taking those those deep breaths so that'll be that'll be part of it for sure I do like the idea of the massage therapists um I'm sure that uh I'm sure that parents would appreciate that a little bit of of space to sit down and get a little bit of uh of of relaxing I'm sure uh so that maybe can be an organization that we try if if Rachel if you know any groups that that might be willing to do that you know certainly extend it to us and we can do some Outreach for sure but I love that uh Gus anything that you want to want to add here anything that you you hear inside of this space um uh the the only thing that I uh would say is that the information gathered um and um you know the the items highlighted should find their way into the C uh and uh the DC in terms of activities and actions on the part of the schools and the district that's what I would add yeah thanks go I think there's a space for that right in our goal number two yeah which is very much connected toal and and you know promoting that space of respect kindness and all that yeah uh Shanette anything that that you'd like to add and you know and folks as I go get to you if there's nothing that you want to add certainly pass if you if you like what shet anything that's coming to mind yes yes um I'm a poetry person and I find with my daughter and other parents sometimes we would read out poems you don't have to make the poem you know you go go and you go around and you pick a poem that you feel touches you that you could share with others you know and we would put and say just give us a poem that you feel connects with uh whatever is on your mind because it could be affecting someone else and just do readouts so like at some meetings that I've gone to at PTA meetings um the parents take like five minutes and they'll read out poems and it changes the mood of the room you know and um I I find that it it opens up for calmness and sometimes if it brings up and Trigger stuff then it opens up for conversations as well so that would love that my thing yeah you do a theme and they come up ahead and they just you know look it up on their phone and they'll read it out on the zooms and we've had um good experiences with that yeah yeah know I love that you know my head you know you hear about poetry goes right to that whole idea of like a poetry slam where kids get get to engage in that kind of stuff love that Monique anything that you want to want to add oh I can't hear you I know you said you were having some audio issues can you hear me now yeah now I got you okay um so just for me I was thinking more like I'm a little concerned with the site um just for downtown flushing families I know there are many buses that do travel over um into Bayside into Bay Terrace but just location if you're trying and not only just downtown flushing but also um you know the side where 29 is um 154 you know and queens were like two three Fair zones not everyone drives so just as far as turnout that's that's what I'm bringing up if we're going to really Encompass District 25 we have to be mindful of the locations where other um family members are coming other you know families are coming from um the other thing is resources um we have an Al order Center I don't know if you guys know it that it's a Rec Center um down in fleshing um where uh fleshing meal Park is um and that's actually um City run we have the pool we have an ice skating rink down there um so maybe getting someone from that facility um I believe parents can join up I think it's a small fee to be a member um and it entitles them to use they have a basketball court a track um big soccer program and flushing you know the soccer um stadium is coming so that's going to definitely um get really big in Flushing um also um I've always worked with the New York Mets they always come out they always show up for us at District 25 um and then just resources like maybe someone from the Educational Department from FDNY um I know a lot of our families who live in downtown fleshing um utilize Charles B Wang Health Center they are always want to come out to the community and provide um whatever information and services um all so I believe I'm not sure they always change names on me but we also used to work with um emblem health Blue Cross Blue Shield they're always willing to come and donate give away free things um book bags uh things like that for the families and also I know many of the District 25 use the Cornell n uh nutrition Workshop so maybe one of the presenters that are being utilized in one of the d25 schools might want to come with some information have a table and things like that that was just my idea those are my ideas thank you cool thank you uh Monique honestly even gives me thoughts around even having the office of school food perhaps even do something being that it's connected with our um you know with the you know it's food always comes up you know nutrition always comes up at any of our meetings maybe perhaps we can even link them in there because it's directly tied to what what happens in our buildings yes and actually I was going to mention that later on they're actually fun ing a nutrition committee to be in every school so I don't know how much information the schools have received yet but we know that um our Union meets with school Foods once a month and so that's their next thing that they're going to bring back I don't know if anyone remembers it but we used to have nutrition committees where it was built with students but I think now they want to broaden them with parents students and bring food talk about the menu things like that so that would be great if you need any help let me know yeah I will yeah I think we have five schools that part of that uh part of that work Monique they're doing it in a pilot group first um that that uh organization that's going to come together for sure okay okay awesome um who did I miss uh Lamar anything that else you want to say in here Lamar about this um first of all good morning everybody so I wanted to add on I was thinking about food as well like a perspective of diet and dieting and the importance of making sure that you have a healthy balance I think it's important that people just be mindful of that and where you can get those foods from you know in your everyday um I think something as simple as just you know those Blended smoothies and putting the proper ingredients in there and juicing how important that is and if you have that during the day as an adult as a staff member working in buildings just carrying that with you um it goes a long way as opposed to making the quick run to the pizza shop and grabbing something like those quick little pizza runs add up first is bringing in something that's you know energy for you to last through your days and through your weeks I think that's really an important message to put out to folks um and then just the reminders and I don't know what it looks like but just the reminders of bringing home the fact that yes our job is important but our health and our mindset is more important you know we there's a time when you're working I'm thinking home like you're doing this and that but there has to be a certain cut off and sometimes people go beyond that cut off and that's how you're up till midnight 1:00 2: in the morning doing work I know people that do this right and if works you know work starts at 8: a.m. you've only given yourself 3 four hours of sleep at night you can't function that's that's not a sustainable measure so something where people just know make the time to cut off your work self from your personal and family self so that you can it's not fair to either one if you're not putting in the work you know to have either side of you grow something to that effect you know yeah yeah yeah you know listen I I I mean I I know that I'm not the necessarily the best uh best example of what it means to do the the healthy eating that's for sure uh so I'll be probably the first one online in that you know doing what's right by your body thing Dr Mike yeah on that note you um I am Banning you from offering me any Dr Pepper sodas when I pass by the office I'm done with that for 2025 and I love it too but I got I got to slow down so you cannot off and everyone on the call is my witness you cannot off for me any he sodas I I will not okay that's the end of that conversation and I can't I it'll be we'll make sure we have it at consultation no problem you see I'm offering to uh to to take the sodas if he that he doesn't want any nice I like it Rob send them my way and also and Ed W we'll we'll finish up on you and then we'll we'll move forward with the the last two things that I want to do today okay yes I I I agree with with Lamar I I think is important I know that um um um governor huckle was saying and she's going to uh share that um New York state will become um one of the states that offer Universal breakfast and lunch to all students so we're looking forward to that because kids cannot learn on an empty stomach so I just wanted to share that yeah yeah no thank you for that Eduardo there's no there's no doubt there's so many things that go into making sure that we stay well every day and sometimes we take those things for granted right and you know that's that's us as individuals too not not not even necessarily you know to the to the space of uh the children that we're trying to educate sometimes it's important that we remind ourselves too so I appreciate uh the feedback on on this everyone and you know um definitely going to be part if you're willing to be part of the planning and want to and want to assist in any way I would certainly love that um I do know it's on a Saturday so those are that's always tough but um it is something that uh you know the the more people that we can get there the the better in terms of support for a really productive event so um thank you guys for that for that feedback just a couple of other things that I want to mention then I want us to dig into the parent engagement policy just for some feedback before we give that final approval um today because I did send out as I said it was a different version uh than what I shared initially uh but I want to quickly give a quick shout out to all of the work that we're doing with that with Athletics I did share this St CC and I think it's important for everyone to know we have all of these different things that are are available for our kids to promote that space of physical physical wellness um we have our our basketball league which is always quite productive soccer teams have um each of our soccer teams for elementary schools have an opportunity to play in the in the bubble uh by alip Pon Park which is really good um one of the reasons why we identify common point is because they have the out outdoor bubble that they'll be opening for us it's a really huge space and can accommodate lot of people um and there's two schools right across the street that we can we can utilize as well we're doing a a pilot for tennis in grades one through three which we're really excited about we have cheer across all of our work not going to go through this but those are the schools that are participating uh Middle School we have boys and girls uh volleyball leagues championship game is on CH on January 31st uh any of you that wish to participate in any of that feel free just let me know we'll let you know when and where um basketball first ever girls League that we're that we've started uh in terms of a pilot unified Bachi we really we really love Opening Ceremonies in February um we're looking to expand that to all of our middle schools this year uh in the spring we have soccer and Lacrosse for our middle schools as well really trying to create opportunities for all of our kids um and as I mentioned the unified Bachi League already and then lastly these are some of the Partnerships that we have we have nycfc working with our schools um to promote soccer um we have uh Special Olympics New York that really is our unified Bachi League that's the the the league that promotes students with ours along with our general education Learners uh that participate collaboratively in in uh in the unified Bachi League we have dis NY we partnership with the Mets City LAX uh New York Islanders is a new partnership that we have uh bringing hockey equipment to our buildings for promote the promote the game of hockey uh Outdoors tomorrow Foundation American Heart Association n USA um just to to name a couple of them so uh parent engagement policy um I'm going to put this into the chat as well uh this is going to take us just a little bit of time for another once over before we give the the final approval I'm going to put it into the chat just for us to read through again um and we'll come to consensus on it and we will be good to go it's already in the dce uh but should there be any other adjustments that we need to make uh that's fine so I'm going to just put the timer on the clock for um about 8 minutes for everyone to review um I will slowly scroll down on my screen the event you want to look at it on my screen I'll blow it up a little bit um has this been put into the DCP already Yes okay I just want to go over it one more time Gus to make sure we're good and then we're we'll be all set e Mike Dr Mike yeah um in the one section of regarding section 1116 go down where you just were um the second bullet or no yeah the second bullet talks about if anything is not satisfactory to the parents of partic CH participating children will submit submit comments with the plan is this going to go out districtwide for um review or is that basically just talking about those of us that are parents on the DT so yes I mean so this is going to go to to you guys as uh parents of the from president's Council but for and we can always go back and make make revisions on on this correct Gus yeah uh yes and remember um it gets distributed uh throughout the district in various languages and it resides on your website so it's accessible to everyone yeah so once this is done Rachel we have to get it translated and um and share then it gets shared widely for for the community it's kind of like the you know once we get approval then we can move on with that step got it thank you yeah e e e e e e e e e e e Dr Mike yeah on this section D which one d d the first bullet um the transition from preschool to kindergarten should that be prek to kindergarten or should that be 3K to pre to kindergarten because okay got it thanks okay any other comments or things that we see inside of the the plan that you see is uh necessary to make adjustments on um in reading it or questions that it raises for you um as a constituent anyone have any thoughts hi Dr Mike it's Mo'Nique um hi Monique hi there was one small um and I have to go back to it because you had scrolled up but I can find it highlighted and um so I don't want to hold up the meeting um okay yeah if you could that would be great Monique yes so was a typo or something no it just said something about parent coordinators and academics and we don't parent coordinators uh it was um basically the district supporting parent coordinators by having um monthly workshops to support parents uh families with academics um yeah so our role is you know roles as parent coordinators are not I think it just needs to be worded differently because we the parent coordinators don't really get involved in acade mics of a student um or speak to parents regarding the academics so it's it's more um I don't know what the workshops are I don't know what you're referring to as far as academics and just reading it and it's saying academics is kind of like bringing so I don't know if if that wants to be reworded as far as where the support for AC like what does that look like the acad I don't know that it's the way that I'm I says provide monthly if this is the spot you're talking about provide monthly professional development for parent coordinators in order to turn key academic social emotional issues to parents in their schools um I don't know that that is necessarily them doing it it's about sharing information so if we're doing work in in literacy it's just about a PC conveying the message to to folks they don't have to be uh necessarily um you know a pedagogue to be able to share information I look at that as being able to share what you know um I I get what you're saying but turn King academics is not uh the role of a parent coordinator and I just don't you know that's a concern for that to be in there you want to say information because that's what their Ro to me that is what their role is if you want to change it from issues to information I we can do that not it's not um so when you that's what I'm saying like I don't know what the mindset is when you have the word academics there what is the expectation of turn King academics so yeah for me it's you know if we're we're doing work on um on um you know New York City reads and it's PC sharing that this is what we're doing as a school for New York City reads it doesn't mean they have to be the one that's that's uh training others in it you're sharing the information with someone else that to me is here's what we're doing I'm sharing with you as a parent to know that this is what's happening in our school so it should it be instead of like blanketed academic should it just be maybe it needs something else alongside the academics I don't know I mean all of those are the things that are happening in a school you know a PC is going to be aware of that and they're going to share it with parents I you know information well they could be aware of it but they're not the expert when it comes to sharing even if you train them even if you train them it's not their that's not their role like if you look up the definition of roles and responsibilities for parent coordinators it's building relationships Outreach facilitating communication supporting organizations providing information but that's that whole spot about facilitating communication is exactly what that means right so but they're providing information regarding um the things that are happening in context of the academics in a school social emotional learning wise in a school yeah I mean that's all part of their role right so it's communicating specific school information to families including information about supplemental services so that's providing it inform it's providing it's providing information that's what that's what that is it's it's it's about making sure that you know parent coordinators got to convey information about the school here are the school goals you know it's not about them being an expert in it but it's about them sharing what's going on in those areas right needs to know what's happening in that space I get what you're saying but it's just a blanketed word academic so if I'm someone that's not you who did not write it and I'm just coming and I'm reading it and it's drawing a red flag for me it's like PCS are in charge for disseminating information regarding academics so but that's not what it says it says the the issues to parents it's things that are going on to you know in those areas to parents here's what I know about our school we're struggling with our kids' ability to uh to read we sharing here's what the school is doing it's not about them sharing any kind of okay you know as an expert academic or an expert pedagogue it's about them sharing the the information no it's right I understand what you're saying but the in in reality when it comes to academics they should be referred to their teachers that's the thing because the teachers are the ones in the classroom able to answer that so what a parent Coordinator would do would hear the concern and then provide resources as far as how the parent can address their concerns but we parent coordinators should not be dress addressing academic concerns that's what I'm saying to you like I understand what you're saying but I don't I don't know that that's what this says I highlighted I can re reord it but I don't know that that's what what what you're saying is what this says it's about them turn keying a turn keying of informational issues it's not about um necessarily becoming the person the the point of you know if you're having an issue in reading that you go to the PC it's about them sharing the info but I've highlighted it we can I can adjust the language here thank you go ahead Eduardo uh so I have a question at page five uh the second paragraph uh says these annual meetings are facilitated by the DFA the district family Advocate is that a a a a line that is still available I don't know no that should be that should change where do you see that at you highlighted it I highlighted yeah District family Advocate yeah yeah the title has changed the water yes it doesn't I don't think they exist anymore it's either the family leadership coordinator or the family support coordinator yeah correct yeah yeah that's one thing that the terminology keeps changing yes thank you for that Eduardo any other comments Janette I think I saw your hand up too um I was gonna be repeating what you said in terms of the parent coordinator I think the hangup becomes um when you say TurnKey and academics I think if you say sharing like if the principal or an AP says to have a workshop done to support math um redundancy or um promotion ready preparedness then it's the parent coordinator turn keying that information and it's tied to us as parents we see it as you supporting our academic growth but we're not going to the parent coordinator to help us with anything so in terms of the language in the document I think if you say share out as as um uh if you um water it down to say um parent coordinates or will TurnKey information to share out with parents as pertaining to academic success like work and then say examples workshops um so what it say like TurnKey information regarding like if they're given because acemic social emotional issues to parents they don't come up with anything on their own they're given do a workshop do a um put together go and get me a or here's a workshop that's going to be happening in the School share it out so sometimes for some depending on high school elementary or middle school a parent coordinator will work with the principal or the AP says um you said to get you uh someone to come and talk about blah blah blah this is Speaker we got and it's to supportal or math or I ready or how to understand I ready so it's then I think if you put in a bracket example workshops blah blah blah then it's clear as a parent when I'm reading this I know I'm not going to the parent coordinator because because that is not their role they're to coordinate stuff with us parents as the name implies to get us help so it is a matter of changing the the the the word semantics as you know for lack of a word so depending on the language you don't want it interpreted as I'm going to the parent coordinator for the parent coord get frustrated no you're supposed to go to your math teacher no you're supposed to go to AP it needs to be clear that their turn King and maybe maybe that word is too evolved for that um statement just to say to share out you know we like to use words that um in context to one demographics will work but for some demographics it's and I could see the hangup um so as the parents in the room I could honestly tell you it's not every word is not for everybody so it's not like we're dumbing it down but it's call it what it is share so this is what I just shared I said Pro provide monthly professional development for parent coordinators in order to share information regarding academic social and emotional issues um and then in parenthesis coordinating School workshops and access to resources that sounds better ask if she agrees that's better yes it's not it's not an agreement just bring it out because you know as a parent myself reading the document also coming from the world of being a PC that there are already a lot of expectations yeah and so for parent coordinators the academic part as a parent I would never go to a parent coordinator to discuss academics but if I was a parent that didn't know the chain of command and always knew I had my PC I wouldn't have that expectation um of my PC to yeah the the only the only thing and I think just adding in the idea of access to resources the only space that I would would tend to disagree with you with is that some parents their very first point of contact tends to be the PC so parent coordinators need to have an idea of where they go when they are confronted with conversations from a te from a parent that says you know what I've developed a wonderful relation relationship with Miss Lano I'm going to call her because she's going to be able to point me in the right direction sometimes it's not even about the teacher it's about who's going to give me the answer that I need and it's sometimes it's not necessarily the first point of contact being the teacher so it's about making sure there's access to resources I just changed that to like the idea ofre par coordinators parent coordinators especially in District 25 throughout the city they are all the first Contact the issue is we also right and parents just can't also always have that expectation that we are the people that have all the knowledge that we are also supposed to be building them and teaching them how to navigate through the department of education so if a parent came to me and told me that their child was struggling with academics or that a parent didn't understand my next step would be tell me what it is that you don't understand and I will work with you to see if we can meet with the with with the head of the math department or a teacher I'm not saying that parent coordinators aren't the first line they are they I think everyone in the city of New York knows that parent coordinators are the ones that the families go to first so just want to clarify that yes I I agree with you Monique but uh when I was a parent coordinator I was expected to know what kind of academic intervention programs were available so if a parent would come to me and say listen my child's failing math well there is math tutoring going on during lunch and also after school but here you should come and speak to the guidance counselor kind of like just expected to know that the there are safety nets right in terms of academic intervention and I'm saying the same thing as a parent coordinator we know what resources are available in our building we know where to go to we know where to send our parents to the turnkey is the issue I'm not here to teach parents math that's what I'm saying to you not everybody can do that yeah no and and I don't no nor should they though Monique that's not what that's not what the intent of it is I think it's about being able to share information so I think the adjustment there will make that a little bit more understandable thank um because the the the the role is in I do agree with Eduardo it's it's about having not necessarily um the ability to teach a parent all of those things but to point them in the right direction to get the support that they need uh for their children uh okay so moving on oh can we come to consensus other than that other than that change uh are we good with the parent engagement policy anyone have any opposition to moving that forward thank you Rachel thank you chanet uh Eduardo we good yes give me a head Bob Mo'Nique with that change are we good yes Lamar okay perfect guys uh Roba good I don't know if I saw you're yeah okay so we will come to consensus on that we've come to consensus on the adoption adopting the parent engagement policy through 2027 um obviously if there's something that needs to be changed we can always go back and make an adjustment if it's necessary so that is fine and that's great thank you guys for doing that and the last part that I want to go over with you which is really really important for our work as a um DLT is what's coming up in terms of progress monitoring our goals so just so that everyone knows um reading K to2 we utilize the the Cadence assessment reading for I ready is I ready great hold on sorry guys uh reading is um I ready for grades 3 through 8 um math K to 8 I ready and Algebra 1 region for our kids in the e8th grade that are registered to take that um and that window is from January 2nd through February 9th um the expectation for the Moi Targets this I actually adjusted I have to go back into the DCP to adjust thei Target we or we reorganized based on last year's space so meaning um thei that you see here 23 23 24 is where our kids uh performed last year at this at this time our goal is that we are uh for all students 2 and a half% higher than that at this time of the year and 5% total for the year for our subgroups that we' be 5% higher than that what we did initially was we lined it to the end of year Target um and it wouldn't necessarily correspond with Apples to Apples Moy toi we wanted at least 5% higher uhy toi when it comes to aadience and our kids reading at grade level by the time they get uh to the end of grade two grade one or kindergarten so we readjusted these these uh percentages and um we're we're hoping to see by the end of this Administration window that we'll be at that 60% overall for our kids in uh greates K through two when it comes to reading um similarly we did the same thing for um I ready um I ready reading in grades 3 through 8 um again adjusting the overall percentages we want to be able to see that for our targeted subgroups we're 5% Higher by mid year and then hopefully 10% Higher by the end of the year uh but we're utilizing and uh utilizing our I diagnostic information at the same point um as last year to give us a little bit more clarity um you with current benchmarks that we've taken in the past this will be now multiple years that we are being able to see whether or not we've made the progress and uh over the past several years we've we've remained pretty much consistent with where We've Ended up uh this year we're hoping with the more attention on explicit instruction um and use of our work in Standalone ESL work um and use of uh intervention programs that we'll be able to see a little bit of a marked change um in this so that's why we adjusted from M to m than end year and then backtracking uh it just gives us a little bit more clarity on the data um same type of thing for mathematics I'm sorry excuse me same thing for mathematics we're seeing the same type of scenario now math is a little bit different in the sense that our midyear um data does not necessarily reflect how we end the school year we tend to perform at a much higher rate um than what our M Target is so we will continue to keep keep our eye on that and share more when we get to the uh closing of the the uh Administration window parent survey um the goal would be that by the by midyear Target we did get that survey out a little bit late so we'll do our next one probably in March uh to gather some additional data on this we are relatively close to where we were last year at this time uh in terms of progress uh parents being able to make be sure that they are aware of the progress of their child 85 % of our families agree that that's true or strongly agree um we want to make sure that we increase that and I want to linger over this particular goal for a few minutes with you guys um and lastly chronic absenteeism we have met our Mark at midyear um in terms of um chronic absenteeism rates although this number continues to climb um uh winter months often bring us back into a space where kids are not in school with the same frequency whether it's because the of illness um we do know that at times there are some extended vacations that happen you know there are a number of variables but we want to continue to emphasize this across our schools so that our kids are there on a routine basis we are below the rates for each of these areas to date um and this was our our middle ofe Target so we have uh improved beyond that space right now but we want to continue to improve because our numbers have slowly been declining um our attendance rates um have been decreasing over the past two months so we want to continue to emphasize it as much as we possibly can but I do want to go back to this goal in terms of um approaches that we we can or you think we should be taking to make sure that we're meeting uh parents needs by sharing progress um so we are doing several things at the district level to make sure of that through the workshops that we're offering throughout the year um connecting with our building leaders on this but I'm wondering any thoughts that you guys have in terms of bolstering ing this in uh in our district Community things that you know as a parent that you see as success as successful for you to make sure that you're receiving the feedback from the UFT side CSA side what are some things that we should be making sure that we're aware of so that we can share it widely as a district Community um you know to all of our folks to keep in mind to make sure that parents are informed uh so just take a moment in that space of Reflection from each of our spaces whether you are a parent UFT rep your uh CSA rep you know dc37 rep what what are some things that we we should be considering when we're thinking about making sure that parents are aware of their progress now 85% is um you know is something we want to improve upon um and while we only had a little over a thousand parents complete the survey information is still very very much aligned with what we saw on the the the Citywide survey which had about 14,000 parents completed so the sampling is showing that there it's relatively similar to past experiences but I'm just wondering things that we should consider that we can share out more widely um to our schools to be thinking about when it comes to sharing progress with their with um with parents take a moment of reflection and when you're ready you want to put your hand up or share a little bit about what we should consider more um as a as a district community be any comments thoughts okay Rob um you know I'm just wondering if there's a correlation between parents who feel they're not being notified and and those who aren't yet set up with like the parent portal to receive notifications um I I know that um I mean I I can only speak from my own school and I I could also speak as a parent who has a child in a different district and we get a lot of their updates through uh the gamma portal as a parent and um those progress monitoring uh emails come uh right to my inbox and my Gmail right so whether or not I'm I'm reaching out to the teachers which I do but if I didn't I would at least have that and I could say that I'm being informed right at 120 we have um gamma and parents where but we do struggle sometimes with parents who have not yet um given us accurate information on the parent portal or update their information so something that we're doing now with the lower grades in um in September is we're having parents come in uh on on the on special days to be signed up to make sure that everything is uh in order going forward to try to mitigate some of that because I don't think that our schools aren't trying it's not for lack of effort I think oh no of course not yeah definitely a lack of it sometimes it's hard to you know meet up with those parents in in a in a way that um that works for everyone yeah thanks Rob uh Rachel um well I had two thoughts um the first I know you said we have good participation but maybe um to increase responses having a flyer with a link like a onepage flyer that we could share out um we could share from president's Council you know being the president of president's Council I'm more aware of I hear this two three times but maybe other presidents may not click for them to share with their parents at their PTA meetings so having a one page flyer with that link um again translated that we can share out to our communities um might help I mean I know everybody gets the email but with so many emails you know we don't want that survey to get lost in the you know in the in in the inbox so so to speak and as far as sharing progress I think it would be important to have consistency at at the school level um for example for my third grader you know I've received home uh a print out of her performance um at the beginning of the year um where she stood with you know all the different reading um levels but I did not receive that for my eighth grade um and I only know like his diagnostic scores by logging into his I ready and going through the scores to see what his diagnostic score is but that just gives me the score then I don't have it detailed um and then I actually go to um the website and look up the score the rate the the rating sheets to see where he falls in that with that diagnostic score so which is a separate effort I have to make you know to know where he's falling as far as is he on grade level is he below grade level which I know is something we look at from the SLT perspective from the DT perspective um so I think that's something that should somehow the schools should be able to share that information love that thank you Rachel anyone else any other comments okay you know this is something that we're going to bring back to our to our team to our principles assistant principles just for further communication around you know these are the things we're trying here's where we've been successful um you know we've been able to get more more of our families uh engaged in this process to promote that space of consistency Rachel but also um you know to share some ideas so I think I just you know it just generated the you know a simple question around how do we create a consistent approach to communication um to parents you know uh whether it's through using our engagement time uh apparent engagement time or other measures uh other means um you know how we doing that really successfully and perhaps we can come up with a a collective decision around what that consistent approach can be especially around those progress measures with aadience and I ready and so on um but also the things that we're meeting standards wise in in our classroom so it definitely raises some um some food for thought for future conversations for sure um any other comments okay well that concludes my report um Gus I'm going to turn it on over to you okay uh I basically have updates ladies and gentlemen um first on CS uh and and uh the DCPS uh I had an inquiry I don't remember whether it came from this District or one of the others late last week um they were looking for the Cs online in the public portal and they weren't there so I inquired of Central and they told me that they're in the process of posting them they had some technical issues so um hopefully they'll start posting them this week uh and um if by Friday uh we don't see any um you know I I'll follow up and find out what's going on but I thought that they were going to start uh putting them out on a rolling basis beginning you know uh with the first of the year but that hasn't taken place so I I'm giving you that update um if you go online on the public portal looking for the DCP and the Cs chances are you're not going to see them um unless things changed over the weekend so we'll see um how that progresses uh I got a report this morning on U CPS uh submitted and approved by superintendent I I checked your report and uh you have two CS that still have to be uh approved by the superintendent I assume that you know which ones they are um U which which two go I I approved all I'll um I'll check uh and I'll send you the two um but I I checked before the meeting uh this morning and there were two uh you were almost 100% so I'll I'll check it could be that um you know there's uh something wrong with the report or um that um you know the button uh got pushed but it didn't take but I'll uh I'll send you the two schools uh but unlike most of the city you're almost at 100% And I think you're um you're ahead of everybody else in Queens north um uh uh there are um two of your fellow districts have uh you know a couple left as well and one district has a substantial number so um uh you know Citywide I believe the city is at 60% so um we're doing well in Queens North in relation to the uh entire city in terms of uh C's uh completion um uh and approvals uh the DCP thank you I sent out the docu sign and I see that all of you have been um you know signing the thing and uh I get the um uh the email back that that's been done uh I I will probably have to send it out again uh for any stragglers but uh it's moving along and I appreciate uh that that's being done now the the big piece of course is the um SLT information and the title one information in I plan and that's complicated uh as I've told you repeatedly I'm sure come June I'll still be talking about it because Citywide it's a new procedure and uh it has a lot of moving Parts just let me remind you of the three moving Parts uh to all of this actually there are four one is of the monthly information that every school needs to put in based on its uh SLT meetings agendas invites minutes uh documents Etc and um you know we're not even talking about the quality of what's being put in the fact that those pieces are being put in and I get those reports uh Citywide uh on who hasn't done it so that's one piece and I send that that information uh to all of my districts uh periodically as I get the reports and then you follow up with the schools on that but I I understand that that's uh a new procedure and something that's going to be uh ongoing then the second piece which I think we're almost we're we're we're pretty well ahead on I got a report this morning and that's on the annual meeting there's a box a a tile and ie plan for that annual meeting for all Title One schools um I'm going to send you a report on on that mic uh uh after this meeting um there uh we're we're we're doing pretty well with that but there are still some schools that haven't put in the annual meeting so um uh that is the uh the piece number two and then the third piece is the ongoing just like slts the monthly information that has to be put in by all the packs and uh I get reports on that uh it's usually uh sometimes it's separate I think it's separate from the regular SLT information so I know that Citywide that information is lagging behind and I'll send out a report on that and again that is a new procedure and an ongoing process that I know I'll still be talking about uh in June but I I know that we're doing the best uh we can and like everything else we're usually uh not complete but ahead of uh most of the city and getting this done and then the the fourth piece is my piece putting in DLT information I don't get reports on that um that I sent to the district because um Central holds me accountable personally for getting that done because I'm doing that personally for all of my districts and uh I work with Lewis uh and um you're you're very good because you have all the information on your website so what I have to do is periodically uh go in and put it in um in terms of U all of the um uh DT meetings um which uh I try to keep up with as best as I can and um uh um I follow up on that that's not something that you need to be concerned with unless they ask me for additional information on something um that you know then I'll have to see if we have it um and one of the things that I know they're very keen on is parent information and I um I follow up with the district team to make sure that I have uh any information on parent activities U that are taking place and you're very good because you sent me out this newsletter that I get I think I got something um over the weekend about um what was it um uh on um um uh uh a workshop that you're doing on students with special needs that that has to be put in so um you know that kind of information I get separately from you and I'll put it into the appropriate Place uh for um uh the uh uh I plan uh portal as as well then the last item that I want to mention I'm sort of on I I have a little bit of anxiety over it um I'm on pins and needles State Ed has told us that uh in terms of uh schools in need of improvement and uh District status uh they are not doing any removals uh this uh Academic Year so whoever is uh CSI will remain CSI whoever is TSI is going to remain TSI and whoever is in uh uh good standing that's the question and districts um as a whole or reflect that they are going to do some new uh TSI only identifications by the end of February so I'm hoping that we won't get any in Geographic uh District 25 uh if we do then that will change our district status and then we'll have to uh start immediately implementing um the um interventions for TSI U which uh I'm familiar with and we've had to do um uh for um um you know all districts um uh in um in Queens North at one time or another it it could only be high schools for example but even if it's only high school as a reminder if it's in Geographic uh District 25 then it jeopardizes your um good standing um you know status so uh I've got a little we do have one right now right Gus uh you are uh but um no you don't have any that's why you're in good standing so but QSI is is off uh the um uh the the uh the school that uh is identified that um uh you are you um uh you're yes that's right you're you're correct because even though it belongs to a different superintendency you are not in good standing u in um uh you're you're one of my um uh two districts in in Queens North that are not in good standing so um uh let's hope we don't get any more uh Mike uh that will um add to the uh to the mix um that either belong to you or belong to anybody else but oh I certainly hope not yeah stay that is going to come out with that in February and um that'll affect you know Queens North as a whole and um then I'll have to work with each individual District um District team My Hope Is I won't get any at all that's my best case scenario but that remains to be seen so um I'm you know I'm expecting that information in February uh either you'll get it first Mike or I will get it uh first and we'll communicate with with each other and share you know the information and see but it's only TSI that they're identifying they're not identifying any of the more severe uh categories and they have this category of at risk schools that um you know has an acronym they may I do some identifications of those as well uh but uh I don't think those will affect um the um um you know uh uh you're already in Improvement status but schools that are not at Improvement status but um that is um is forthcoming and I'm expecting it by the end of February and I'll uh I'll communicate with the district and the uh DLT uh as that information uh becomes available and remember everything is always based on the year before so it's based on you know last years data pretty much um you know going forward and uh takes a year for them and it's two years of of U information um uh that gets you identified and two years uh to get off just to remind you of what the uh the pre procedure is so unless there are any questions that's basically uh all I have to say thank you for uh uh being such an excellent district and keeping on top of uh everything the way you do all right thank you Gus um Eduardo High School report yes uh let me share my screen here we go screen to share okay hi good morning everyone happy New Year uh I want to start by sharing um that um we have a family Forum coming up Tuesday January 28th from 6:00 to 7:30 all the information is on our website uh so I want to share some of the events that happened in the month of December uh in some of our district 25 high schools um the horiculture class at John bound High School prepared this um wonderful gifts to um principles in our school district and so it was a nice activity for them to and then share with the principles in our district at rivf Kennedy we had a blood drive um that was December 12th to celebrate the life of Angel Gomez who was saved through um uh blood donation so that took place uh Thursday December 12th at uh RFK they also had a festivals um in which the students participated and celebrated in by sharing food and also uh staff and parents uh were were present uh they also did a can full drive and a code Drive um this is uh some of the pictures of the students here bringing uh the collected codes all the donated codes to the 107 present at Veritas Academy um students participated and they won five Awards uh two being best delegate Awards and also uh one of the students was elected as the vice president of the Y uh model Congress and in continuing with our uh social emotional uh workshop for parents uh we will have part two on January 16 of conflict resolution um so the information is also o available on our website and uh that's all the updates I have from high school thank you okay thank you Eduardo okay for our Queens High School um president's Council report Shanette do you have anything You' like to share okay all right so Eduardo if you can unshare that would be great oh sure hold on I missed the screen where is it here stop here we go okay thank you my turn yeah okay hi everyone so um for those who are not aware of the Queens High School president's council is what my domain is currently and I'm also the PTA president of Queens gateway to Health Sciences Secondary School in Queen South district and I am uh proud to say that I've now gotten over the Jitters of the 86 high schools that I did not know I was going to be standing over and been very supportive I gave myself three months probation with our board and we're now finally getting the jelly feet out out of the way so tonight we will be having our monthly meeting for January 2025 at 6:30 and we'll be having our Chancellor at our meeting and she'll be talking about coincidentally in alignment with what's going on uh parent engagement parent empowerment and supporting parent leaders so I will share out in the chat our flyer and um meeting link that I would appreciate get shared out with our schools for parents who are wanting to come and to hear how to what the city has in store for supporting us as parent leaders because we're concerned about um aging out parents like myself I've been doing this for eight and a half years I'm counting this year where you know the trust fund and the intellect and support of parents connecting to schools we're recognizing um it's uh going away and we are concerned that the relationships between schools principals parent coordinators ptas it's not as strong as it used to be and should be and we're very supportive of the spotlight on parent engagement in the DC and um the support for families it's a matter of putting shut yeah put up or shut up kind of a situation so we've been sharing out with the chancellor at our monthly uh CPAC meetings which is the Chancellor's parent advisory committee where we meet once a month to let her know know that um parents are not feeling welcomed in our schools uh SLT meetings are taking place decisions are being made you know things are happening and we're on the end of an FYI life and the concern is I am doing a lot of expedited elections because parents are signing up and a month or two later they're quitting resigning not responding and then you're having schools out of compliance with your ptas so I'm encouraging transition schools K through 5 six 6 through 8 cuz they're the ones that end up on our high school doors that if we do not encourage parent engagement and parent empowerment from the younger years we're not going to have the parent leaders for tomorrow so I am hopeful that um her coming tonight and we're sharing it throughout the whole of Queens to support um the parents who stupidly some of us volunteer and show up and we just no we need we need we need you to keep showing up we can't help we need you do that we don't learn we take the licks and then there's some you know good bad and in between because we're all humans and um it's a matter of there's a lot of information that we share at these meetings last month we had Mark rampers the chief operated officer for safety and of our schools and he talked about the new you know doorbell call it doorbell safety um uh door system safer the safer access right and then we talked about you know subway surfing you know and we talked about you know um supporting special ed and the uh middle school and uh High School applications from The Horizon programs The Nest programs District 75 parents feeling you know this detached so our meetings you know we've had College info nights and I'm sure Patricia shared out a lot last month so um we are encouraging parents you know we do workshops how to run um your PTA elections you know if if you don't know what you don't know you don't know kind of a thing and we are recognizing that US schools are depending a lot on the parent coordinators to fill that role and I did a workshop uh for Queens North and South in September telling parent coordinators that's it's not your job it's okay you say no I want them to say no we don't know anything about ptas we just help you coordinate your parents it's not their job to be signing off on certification forms it's not their job to be running elections it's not their job to be vetting parents to see if their family members at our meetings so I am a strong advocate for keeping our lines separate because um we each have our role and uh we want to strengthen that by letting them know if you don't know kick them back to the PTA you know because we are the ones sitting at the SLT table not the parent coordinators we're the ones sitting at the DT meetings we're the ones sitting at the C meetings so when I show up I'm having that Army behind me of parents who don't have a voice we we struggle with documents not being translated you know and for example at my school we're 6 through 12 and there parents that have no clue because stuff's not translated for them so I applaud you uh Michael for translating the DC uh for the district because that's a big deal it's not shared out now they've moved us to the I plan portal you know the city is not posting them automatically anymore on the school City websites and that's part of the problem it's like saying you did it but you didn't do it so no one no one knows I plan portal to go and look for it no one knows that it exists that there's this Bible of a comprehensive education plan for schools so that's the H I sit on and bang really loud yeah no listen I think it's really hard um you know as a parent I have I have two kids I have an eighth grader and a 10th grader and God bless listen I would love to say that that I myth grader I to say I would love to say that that I'm as as um invested and I'm a you know a superintendent of a district you know and it it's not easy being a parent and also being someone who has a job you know whatever that whatever that job is and um you know so sustaining the the importance of of parent leadership is really really important because the reality is yes it tends to be the same people that wind up stepping up over over and over again and then we age out and part of us as as a district is continuing to convey that message and the importance of of folks stepping up it is it is tends to be a struggle and you know it's it's something that we have to continue to to support as much as we possibly can which is why I'm so fortunate I mean Esther is no longer here but um you know she was really terrific at helping supporting that Jenny is terrific at supporting that I know Eduardo works really really hard in that space as um you know a family lead ship coordinator in his own um through the high school so it is it is that constant space of of reconnecting um with our parent Community to make them aware that we need you you know you know we can't do this this thing called school without them but well you should be at our meeting tonight Mr eth and 10th grader parents because we're gonna be doing for the first time breakout rooms for families to do oneon-one with their District teams you know so they don't have to feel sh and talking in the main room you know you have a problem we'll give you 10 15 minutes to talk to your superintendent because a lot of parents struggle where they're not being heard within their schools and superintendant are in that rare air where we don't have access to so we're going to give them the opportunity if you have issues to you come you get 10 minutes 15 minutes talk in private you know share your concerns and then you know you want to share out that's fine so we're we're we're usually pretty topheavy Ed know at our meetings it gets pretty crowded so I am I'm I'm working with what we got so I thank you for the space and um you guys are really appreciated Queens North is being featured tonight so that's yes that's a good yeah let's go Queens North love it yeah we're gonna be we're gonna be the first one internet Hot Seat tonight yes oh I like it internet hot seat so yeah so thank you let it Sizzle Eduardo let it sizzle uh okay Rachel oh you're on mute Rachel our next meeting um has been pushed to the 27th because the 20th is Martin Luther King day um of course we will start off with the illustria superintendence report um we are going to be having two District um Team uh Representatives present on hmh um Anna origo and I I think I don't remember the second person probably Melinda for uh for Middle School I think it's Melinda yes um then Jenny will be talking about the CC elections and the forums that are coming up for for parents to nominate themselves and how small of a percentage of those that vote so we also have to get the word out about voting um I'll be having a PTA update um kind cutting it close but the interim budget reports for our ptas are due by January 31st so just a reminder to all the presidents to follow up with their treasurers to make sure that that happens um and then I did have a question for the DT based on something that came out from in the CPAC meeting the Chancellor's parent advisory Council um one of our districts um brought up to the chancellor about um how many budget appeal schools they had in their district and how to best support them which led me to wonder how many um of those schools do we have in our district I know personally at 499 our budget is extremely tight um so I didn't know um I don't know if that's a question for you or for Gus about budget appeal schools in District 25 yeah we we do have a handful um it's not as extensive as um some of the other districts in in New York City we have um I want to say 22 I think it is now Title One schools so typically our Title One schools are schools that do not have um concerns budgetarily uh but we do have a handful of schools that are um that have had to go through the appeals process I have to just go back and double check which ones before I I don't want to give misinformation but um I have four or five that pop into my head right now now um but I can double check on the specific ones Rachel and give you back a number um but I don't want to do that off the top of my head I wasn't um you know in that space to to to NE pull that out of the mental uh out of the archives but we do have a handful of schools that are are appeal schools mostly because of the size of the building um and the the number of children enrolled uh that typically is the reason um while we tend to have those appeal schools and then in conjunction with that how can we um as president's Council support our parent leaders if there's any way that we can support them or if that's simply something that's at an administrative level um and what in whatever that process is um just as a followup to that yeah so yeah go ahead go ahead no and that's it oh thank you Rachel yeah so um a lot of those we you know we're we're a community that's blessed with a really amazing um you know budget director um she really works really hard with the schools to make sure that whatever it is that they need to sustain um you know the environment you know um she works really hard with with our building leaders uh changing money you changing funding lines and all of that organizing so that they have uh what's necessary to sustain a uh productive program uh but places in terms of supports from from our uh Papas always certainly welcome you know wherever that additional support can come in for you know other programs that the school might not necessarily ordinarily be able to sustain on their own um that certainly is helpful um you know but but yeah we can we can talk more more through that and I'll kind of organize the the list of schools that's in that circumstance but it's not a huge it's not a huge number in d25 that's great okay thank you that's all okay uh CSA Mr Marino hey Mike uh nothing really pressing uh pretty much every principal in the district is looking forward to uh putting together some Luna New Year celebration of some type uh I know we're working on that and all my colleagues are working hard on that celebration uh we're looking forward to hearing back from the city on those class size um reduction applications uh just piggybacking on what you said before in the beginning about AI um that application was long and some of my colleagues had said that it had taken many hours to complete and those who used uh some type of AI assistance were was they were able to greatly reduce the amount of time and even increase um how well it was filled out um if you know how to use the some of these tools so I'm looking forward to being a part of any type of work associated with productivity and um and and and artificial intelligence uh and be on the Forefront of that and uh that's it awesome and yeah listen I would love for any DT member that's interested in and we can even organize ourselves a separate Rob and I talked about this um a couple of months ago just about organizing maybe perhaps a a subcommittee of sorts that just starts exploring um a little bit around AI because it does create uh an opportunity there's no doubt for uh efficiency for um you know and that's just for us but it there's so many avenues for kids um you know was actually believe it or not having a conversation with a group of my friends this this P this weekend and um they were talking about even concerns for the world of our actors and actresses because kids with their own hands could enter in their own little story that generates a whole movie with characters that look like human beings beings but are made up they're not actual human beings and they're going through their lines and their scripts as though they were an actor or an actress and that's the reality you know do we need actors and actresses anymore if I can generate you right on my computer so you know those are the types of things that um are at our fingertips that can help our kids go to that next level of of um of thinking and creativity so but anyway thank you for that Rob I see uh Shanette and and um Rachel then Gus okay okay so I'll lower my hand okay so the whole AI wait not raising my hand so I I was um happy when you mentioned it earlier but you know it got opened up right again now saying we're going to hold the conversation but I have a quick story my ninth grader she's like you know sometimes we forget how our kids are in their levels of education but apparently my kids is somewhat you know smart with reading so she comes home and she says mommy you know in the middle of me reading ilot the teacher the English teacher gives me Animal Farm to read I'm like oh wow you're reading Animal Farm great yay so we had a test and she showed us a video unfortunately for some of them it was chapters one through six and she didn't align the video right and showed the ending of who got killed so kids were falling all over the place they never got to the end of the book so the test was Thursday she showed the video Tuesday to get them caught up to capture chapters 1 through six here's the kicker she comes home she has a 99.5% average in this class Ela ninth grade because that's her thing she reads she gets in trouble for reading right it's a good problem I have so she said Mommy I know you're GNA get upset but I'm letting you know it dropped to 85 I'm like I don't understand what you just said what is an eight and a five in whose World in my house and I'm I'm that helicopter parent it's not my fault you know they love that phrase I'm like I don't understand it's 20 Questions Animal Farm you know in your sleep multiple choice what happened she says the teacher gave them a test using AI usfc says so I said what I don't understand so what's the problem she says the quotes were not in the book and she went to the teacher and said these quotes that you gave these questions are not accurate and are not in the book my child read anal farm when she was 6 years old it's one of her favorite books she knows the book inside out so I was like I don't understand what you just said what do you mean AI did your test I then go to the principal and she says oh yes which was news to me as a parent and I think this is part of the information sharing that we talk about that I'm not going to say ufd I'm not going to say District but Educators and principls got a training on using AI in the schools the only group not allowed to use AI in the classroom is for AP classes and I understand why so then I said to the principal how then will my child feel that she got five out of wrong out of 20 because the quotes as far as she's concerned is not in the book but she got it wrong what is the accountability to us as teachers and as humans CU I use AI I'm a tech person that's all I'm going to say if you not understanding of how to use the tool you could hurt your audience so when you now have imparted to children quotes from a book who probably aren't reading it in details as they get older they might be talking to someone who has read the book will look at this human and say we my teacher said so we give our teachers the role and responsibility to be the smart ones in the room as these kids are concerned but my daughter went to the teacher and she said this is not in the book the teacher yeah Shanette I I think you know you know point point certainly well taken I think um there's a way to use a tool yeah how you when you put the thing in you have to say to make sure the quotes are exactly from you have to put it in it's a programming language yeah it's not just yeah it's not just using a tool for Tool sake right it's about how do we use it well and I think like any other resource that we might come across have to careful it's not just yeah it's not just okay I I generated and I don't look at it right it's got to be I'm using it for for purpose I'm reviewing because we still have to be the knowing others right it's right you know what happens to that classroom as Educators we're not having our principals selfcheck our teachers because the teachers are you can't control the lesson plan or the test given but a kid not knowing that you know whoever got killed he didn't get hung he got shot but the quote says by the way he died you are now putting that as a fact in that child's head to continue their educational journey and they'll be in a class let's say college and they'll blurt out well he got shot they were like what are you talking about he he got well that's what my teacher said in you got it wrong because you never read it's it's a bad version of cliffnotes and I think it's the the responsible the responsible use of this information which is why I mean and sounding by the by you know your your entry into last week entry into this chat is that you know if if you guys are interested I would love to to start having deeper conversations around more or less what's the vision for that you know for the district Community you know before we can start getting it deeper into schools I think we have to have our own solid definition of of what that Vision should be um that we then bring to our building leader is being to our assistant principles principles to our teachers so that we're starting to build uh our mindset around it so that we have as few examples of um inappropriate use as possible because listen the reality is it's there um and you know sometimes you know it it works out great and other times it's not goingon to because we haven't learned it well enough yet you know just because it's there doesn't mean we're experts in it yet you know it's something we have to grow and learn through um you know so I you like I said if there's an interest I think that's something we can start beginning that conversation from the layers and I love it from the layer of parent you know building leader teacher so that we're all organizing our thoughts together and then it could become and chette you probably haven't seen this but we have a our our um modotto is around this idea of strong roots strong schools and and the tree is the is the model uh but what what I've started to kind of play around with is starting to make the all of the branches on our tree equivalent to some kind of space whether it's AI social emotional learning uh mathematics literacy and we're kind of conveying our thoughts and our vision for each of those areas within our overarching strong group strong schools mindset right so you know more to more to follow on that but I would love it if those that are interested in in deep getting deeper into this conversation it's not going anywhere no the the the reality of of the Technology field is is upon us and we have to start learning how to use it really really well and responsibly inside of our class rooms thank you just adding on that I'm an elementary school uh principal and I don't see the use of it by students right but we could I'm confident that once they go to middle school they will begin using it and I think it's incumbent upon me as an elementary school principal to start teaching students the ethical and responsible use of AI so that when they are faced with um using it in a way that maybe uh is is against their best interest whether they know or not that they're familiar with it um and I think that adults need to be ahead of this curve um especially in in the lower grades while we're able to really as as they're growing and and um and their ethics are developing I think we need to expose them to this and and I think that uh right now in education people are just shying away from it like don't use AI let's get away from it it's scor Society it is it is what it is now is the worst version of it right every day it gets better and more difficult to identify and and and um we need to be on the Forefront this is I was fortunate and Gus was there for this too uh and then Rachel I'll get to you uh they they held the C the um oh my goodness it wasn't it wasn't titled C but they had a whole uh session around the comprehensive education plan earlier in in I want to say November I think it was uh they had us at Brooklyn Tech and they had Sophia the robot uh was presenting to the audience right and you know part of the questions that they were asking Sophia the robot was around that how do we prevent children from doing things that are not aligned with what we would want to see them do I.E plagiarism and so on and you know what the response was was that we have to start thinking about how kids present information differently so it's not so much that you AI generated your response but now talk to me about explaining it explain your thinking that came from that because it that says whether whether you learned the concept or not it's not just that you were able to generate this but now explain what it is that you've learned and that changes our assessment of student learning um changes too in this process so all of the thinking that's got to go through this is is um still has to be developed in my opinion you know we're certainly not there by any stretch but um I think it's now allowing us to generate some really important conversations and would love to do that with all of you guys for sure uh Rachel and then Gus and I think we just have Mo'Nique to kind of close us out with uh dc37 um I had actually had this on my list to cover and I forgot um we had the fortunate uh privilege to have our resident genius uh Lewis at our um December president's Council give a um a demonstration of how to use AI to create meeting minutes and I shared that video portion with my personal PTA recording secretary and she had the meet the minutes done in less than five minutes and was ecstatic to be able to utilize this AI in that purpose and remember one of the things that we spoke about during that meeting was and this goes back to what our uh reviewing it um High School president Council was talking about we don't just take that and send it in it's just a a starting point and a human still has to go through it and do it y make sure for accuracy yeah but to have the format done that quickly without sitting there and typing all that and all the bullets and how to summarize and um you know considering the fact that for president's Council we went three months without a recording secretary having this type of AI um feature would now hopefully prevent something like that because it's going to make that that task which could be onor um a breeze so from a parent leader perspective it was a wonderful a wonderful uh foray into uh AI for the first time yeah love that love that Rachel um Gus yeah uh uh two things um one uh a technical one that I forgot to mentioned during my uh presentation and Rob reminded me of it is that schools all schools now have to do progress monitoring so um there are um a number of schools that are lagging behind on the progress monitoring I sent a report out last week I assume I'll be getting another one so um schools will um have to be reminded uh you know to um uh uh do that uh and um it's all schools now as opposed to a subset of schools as it was uh in the past and then on the AI issue um the real challenge uh in my mind is that uh the um the the difference between uh reality and simulated reality is being blurred and uh students uh and Educators have a real challenge uh in uh equipping uh students um with the tools to be able to distinguish between uh what's real and uh what is uh a simulated uh reality and um we already have a big challenge in education uh in having students and young people and lots of adults distinguish between fact and opinion what's a fact and what is actually an opinion about something so this is a great challenge going forward and um we um as Educators and as an educational system I think it's really important that um they begin um that systematically um education begin putting tools into place that will help students be able to make that distinction um between reality and simulated reality because going forward it's going to become really more and more complex yeah thank you Gus and you know just uh real quick that you know progress monitoring piece one of the the learnings that will have to be there and it's not that our building leaders didn't enter was the vast majority of our building leaders did enter the progress monitoring unfortunately there are there it's just being aware that if you leave a field blank because there's not any information to share and don't put in the na it came up as incomplete it wasn't that our schools were not progress monitoring they had all the fields with the exception to one because there was not anything to enter um and it came up as though that they weren't progress monitoring so um all of those schools have been communicated with I do suspect that the next change that you see in that report will be very different uh but it wasn't because schools weren't progress monitoring was because there was a field that was blank um and it comes up as incomplete for the whole c um so that's something just for your awareness Gus that that should be different the next time you go actually you pointed that out to me and I I thank you for it uh it's a technical issue I have a meeting with Central this afternoon and I'm G to point that out uh to the um Central team so they're aware of it uh and um they should take it into account if they can in terms of these reports or at least you know um warn uh all of my colleagues that this is an issue well yeah the only way that they would know because as soon as I got the report I went to everyone cep you know that's that's just you know what what I do I go in and I want to make sure that I see what's going on and you know when you see a report where you have so certain number of schools that are being come being identified is not doing something that's just not our district so you know it's it's the it wasn't that there was not something happening it was because there was a field that was was blank um so but anyway thank you for that thank you Dr Mike for for finding that out yeah you got it uh Mo'Nique uh close us up on our constituent reports okay um so the office of food and nutrition is currently changing the way that they are hiring for kitchen staff um anyone who's interested needs to visit and this for families and your community um schools.nyc.gov FNS um scroll down to there's a place where you can scroll down to and complete a form um they just want to control the amount of number of people that are coming to the long is City location for interviews um also they have changed the criteria for managers um they are short um managers throughout the city of New York not just District 25 I don't know if District 25 is but I know there are other districts that are so it before you used to have two years of college um now they're asking for a high school diploma and 5 years of experience in food services that could be hotel that could be fast food um so anywhere um that you have five years of experience in food service so all of that can be there is also a link on the ofns website um they also have um uh an Instagram account um so but it's on the doe website you're going to go to schools.nyc.gov NS um and so they're looking for managers and they're also looking for kitchen staff um dc37 um a thank you to Alison pone I know she's not on this meeting but thank you to her for helping me organize and my colleague organized Queens districts um uh for the new employee orientation um it's very difficult for us to capture everybody in all these different schools so whenever we have opportunity um we're scheduling a specific date I'm hoping to do another one either the be at the end of January beginning of February to bring in all the new employees that were hired um so that we can share with them kind of do sort of an onboarding not so much for the doe but there is some aspects of Department of Education in our presentation um and thank you so much for uh we utilize lynen Place believe we were on the I want to say the fifth floor not 100 six four or six probably yeah sixth floor um so thank you to the HR staff at um District 25 for helping us put that together um and I believe that is it I mentioned the um that we were made aware I know you have a pilot program there are a few schools but the goal is to be in every single School the nutrition committee um so that's going to be taking place in a kind of a process of over the next um 5 years um so funny that you say I was just I just met with uh one of my one of my visits School visits and one of the kids said c can't we just meet with the with the uh the the the nutritionist in the school so that we could talk to them about the food it was really really cute a it was a third grade student that actually said it believe it or not which was um you know really really interesting but you know Foods always comes up it always always comes up and what they have to say is very important because I mean I know for me as a parent I was never happy with the food that was being served um it was there but you know kids have opinions they have likes and dislikes they're the ones that are eating it yes they're the ones that are eating it exactly and I've been to the CE kitchens which unfortunately elementary schools are not part of that program but those are the enhanced kitchens where um they upgrade the kitchen it's a grab and go um there's more of a selection um the menu is more detailed um and more oriented towards different foods salads um you know with pasta and they can come up and choose whatever they want to choose instead of it just being put and then it comes along with brand new um cafeteria Furniture so but it's really geared towards middle and high school and hopefully if it's successful enough it'll get to the elementaries but awesome yes so Monique something that we might want to even just touch base wave you can just share all the information uh or maybe even want to take a a quick little visit to we have the d79 program uh it's ESL classes as well as um you know moving towards a GED um program we have a lot of parents at at um is237 some of whom have have shared that they would love to go into the field of some something connected to food um that maybe perhaps might be a little entry not you know uh for for some folks that are right within our community that might want to apply oh okay yes definitely yes I can reach out to ofns and see if someone can come out maybe and speak it might be a nice thing they can add as part of their program they want to just maybe pop in and and share um I don't know I don't know might be a nice opportunity for some of the folks that are looking to one build their language but also have an opport an employment opportunity um you know what language though we think language is necessary I've been to several kitchens it's not you know it's not mandatory you know we have many many um yeah no but you know what I think family per perhaps some of the the Young adults cuz it doesn't necessarily have to be a parent it could be a anyone that's 21 and older corre from within our district is participating in the d79 program that we have that very well might be interested you know they come they're coming to learn but maybe they want to get an employment opportunity at the same time so that's true so what um what do you know what days is is 237 they're there they're there every day oh every day yeah they're there every day okay all right but I can connect with you more on that so if you if you yeah it doesn't have to happen right the second but so I just as you were talking I just it just connected with me that might be something that's nice for um some of our community members that might be interested okay thank you I appreciate it give you more information Monique about the time schedule at is237 great thank you Johnny okay so that brings our meeting to a close in terms of all of our constituent groups uh does anyone have any new business that they would like to bring up okay it is 12 after 11 um can we come to consensus to close out the meeting getting a thumbs up perfect um our next meeting is on February 10th uh we'll send out the information to you guys I typically do it the Friday before our meeting just as a reminder you'll have the presentations and the the agenda available to you guys but thank you so much for the info and again if you're interested in participating in some kind of an AI conversation let me know um I think that would be a pretty cool one for us to start talking about okay you can have a great day everyone have a good night bye guys enjoy bye bye bye have a good day bye thanks for everything Dr Mike thank you