e so we okay great thank you Lewis so it's 6:38 um I will call the meeting to order uh we do not have quorum so we will not be um reviewing and discussing February's minutes so we will table that for our May meeting um we will have
minutes at that point from March um not from March because we had the for candidate forum um February and April at our May's meeting Um so to start off I would like to turn the
screen over to our superintendent Dr Dantona Yeah great Thanks Rachel Hi everyone Hope you're all doing well Um going to go ahead and share uh my screen Uh oh I'm not sure why that's
happening Hold on one second Just is this your first time sharing Yeah On the on the new lap Yeah Dr Mike got a new laptop So you know sometimes it needs permission and stuff like that Move it up in the world I'm very fancy
All right let's see if that did the trick Hold on one second Yep Here it comes Right There we go Just Yep Perfect Just say allow on that thing in the front Yep And then you should we should see your slides Yeah I think it's the third
tab Yeah Perfect Okay So good evening everyone Um I am going to just talk to you a little bit about some updates as typically I usually do Um and we're going to talk a little bit about the ELA sprint that our kids just went through uh in preparation
for the state test And then I'm going to talk to you a little bit about you know things that we have in mind for goal setting for the 24-25 school year Um so without further ado I'm going to talk to you a little bit about some updates and reminders Excuse me Just for our schools it is administrative professionals day
on April 23rd Um just recognizing all the work that um our uh our school staff does for us including our district staff making sure that we have all things together I know that um you know having our secretarial staff you know supporting our work um you know most of
our schools can't function the way that they need to absent them So big shout out to all of our administrative uh professionals day It's really really important work that they do Um also just shout out and uh hoping all of you had a very happy Passover for those of you
that celebrate and happy Easter uh for those of you who celebrate Easter as well Uh tomorrow marks Earth Day Just reminding our kids the importance of keeping um our our planet good and healthy the way that it's necessary in terms of recycling opportunities making
sure that we're doing all things that are right uh around us So just a good positive message for our kids just to keep them mindful of the importance of the things that we can control Uh and that's not taking those plastic bottles and throwing them on on the ground like
unfortunately we do see um pretty frequently And me driving in from from Long Island on a daily basis and looking at what's on the side uh the side of the streets it's not necessarily healthy um space that we create at times as adults Uh and certainly we want to send that positive message to kids about doing
what's right Uh so uh just celebrating Earth Day tomorrow Uh just reminder about our upcoming events We do have a virtual our final virtual mass session around implementing a shared uh curriculum uh on May 28th I'll talk to you a little bit about what that means
moving forward around shared curriculum towards the end of this uh presentation Uh Tuesday June 17th is going to be our final I Ready workshop And then we have June 4th and June the 11th will be the final sessions around Aadians and um the
endyear diagnostics so that all of our families know where it is that our kids are uh in relation to performance by the end of the year Uh enrollment timelines just so that everyone knows high school offers were released March 6th Wednesday April 2nd kindergarten kindergarten G&T
So if in the event that you have people that are suggesting to you that they didn't receive them they should have and you can certainly reach out to us if if there is an issue there Um April 9th just before break middle school offers released April 24th this coming week summer rising results will be made
available and weight list options will also be available in my schools Really important that we're paying attention to that as parents Um so for those of you that that have an opportunity to check in with with those in your community just reminding them that this is coming out soon um in their My School's account
Tuesday May 13th um preK offers are released and the 20th 3K offers will be released Um this you already are aware of but we'll just quickly go over it ELA computer-based testing begins tomorrow through May 2nd for grades four five six
and eight uh paperbased and computer-based options are still available for the other grades April 29th and 30th Those are all decisions that are made at the local school level with school leadership teams around what that's going to look like moving forward for kids in grades 3 and seven Math same
type of scenario Computer-based testing is May 6 May 6th through the 16th Uh and 7th and 8th is paperbased Uh science computer-based testing is May 13th through the 16th grades five and eight are being administered those assessments um during
that time Just a quick little uh refresher in uh earlier in March we held a uh family comic book uh comic book night was really quite successful We really uh brought kids through some some
comics uh that really promote this idea of democracy civic engagement and social justice The nice part about these comics is oftent times our kids when they're asking about books to read they tend to go to graphic novels as a as an option Uh and these texts are a really good
resource So um I encourage you and these things are available right right online for our kids uh or at the school level for for any of our children that are interested in that Um so really good event I encourage you guys to to look at that moving forward um as we will create
more opportunities uh in in the future District 25 wellness day This was really really well done Uh big shout out to Diana Stein from our team as well as Wing Chung for uh organizing uh the event and securing securing over 30
vendors uh to support our district community There were things there from physical wellness mental wellness social emotional learning support Uh we had school food and nutrition uh there talking about health healthy uh food options that our schools have available
to them Uh it was really really terrific and I thank our CEC as well as Common Point Queens our local CBO for opening up their space right in Bay Terrace uh to support our district It was really really great event and it served as the
springboard for future conversations with a uh with our CEC We're engaging in a collaboration between uh parents and the district community to organize um what we want wellness to look like in district 25 So we're going to be talking
more about that next month as as we will be meeting with those members um later on early in in May So we'll have a a briefing for you uh when we come to meet for president's council in the May session Couple of other things just to
let you know We uh this we our kids from district 25 from from um 25 250 185 194 219 uh and 379 uh participated in um in our botchi league uh and our botchi
league is is um about to creating the space of inclusion for our non-neurotypical students along with our general ed population where they're working collaboratively in in sport And I have to tell you it's one of the coolest experiences that um that I get
to have the opportunity to witness uh where our kids are working together in um in this space where it promotes this pride promotes relationships It's just really a great great resource that we have here in district 25 and we're one of only four districts in New York City
that has an opportunity to do this and we do have the most schools of any district in the city that do participate So uh it's really great and we're looking to continue to expand that to as many of our middle schools as possible moving forward Uh District 25 we had our cheer
expo on April 8th So teams from across our district community uh participated in this expo Uh again big shout out You're going to hear me say Diana Stein a few times as many of these next few slides are about the work that she's done at the district level with our coaches with our school leaders and most
importantly our kids who were able to to engage in this work with pride um and really show what they were able to do um as cheerleaders So it was really great work Um and we're going to continue this moving forward into future years There is no doubt about it As I I really value
the the um the importance of sport and what it can do for for our kids in terms of building relationship knowing what it's is to be on a team knowing how to collaborate and knowing how to problem solve when it's necessary So it's really really great work and we're going to continue it
We had our elementary school all-star game on April 9th and April the 11th We had to split it uh across two days because we have that many schools that participate The one great part about this is that we have and we did this also for our middle schools uh for our
middle school students Um the one great part about this is that we bring our kids to a high school uh where they get an idea of what it is to be in a high school setting The the gyms are far bigger than what they're used to So it just gives them that experience of knowing what's coming in the future Um
so this was also a really really job well done by Diana from our team in organizing this work with our coaches from across the district And we also had our first ever middle school girls basketball league Uh they engaged in a tournament earlier this uh in April on
April 10th We had 1942 25 and 185 participate really proud of this and we will most definitely be expanding on this as we move into next school year And the last little update we are working with our youth leadership team We have middle schoolers from across
district 25 that come to meet with myself um and a few of our district team members to really talk about how do we make improvements inside of our school uh in inside of our district school communities and uh they will be hosting a uh an event on May 23rd to really
promote this idea of of um relationship building and being there as a support for one another uh as students And what the goal of this is is that we will have former professional athletes coming to meet with all of our student council representatives from
across the district And from there our student council representatives will be meeting with all of their peers and creating a presentation around what it is to be respectful of one another Um it's really important for me as a district leader to continue to present to our kids the importance of treating
each other with kindness and respect Um you know sometimes our kids do things because they believe they're being funny but at the same time they're being very hurtful Um and that's something that we do need to continue to shift the mindset of some of our kids that at times in the space of humor uh wind up creating a
little bit of sadness in some of our other other students in district 25 So um the goal of this is to really lay the groundwork for that peer support across our schools Uh just a quick little update across our district community we engaged in what we called the ELA sprint We did
this in grades three to five and in grades six to eight uh across New York City Most of our districts did 3 to five but I thought it was important to do this across our middle schools as well Um we did have see a significant number of our children completing the expected
minutes which was 30 to 50 minutes across the week Uh the average pass rate was a 74 and what through I Ready they call for is a minimum pass rate of a 70 Um so that's what where we were in uh grades three to five and a minimum pass rate of 81 uh is what our students wound
up attaining in our middle school Um so this is this is something that we do want to continue moving forward where our kids understand that some of the resources that are accessible to them uh can help support their learning moving forward And we were among the top districts in New York City in terms of
making sure that our kids were on and doing this work successfully Uh so I'm I'm really pleased and uh you know proud of our schools for sustaining this work over the past six weeks Um just setting the stage for our district and parents just as you being SLT members just
important for you to know um and I ask you to just review this particular slide whenever you have a m moment just to just to recognize what it is that our schools are going to be held accountable to And over between now and the end of the year all of our school leadership teams are expected to write their goals
for the 2526 school year So all of our building leaders our school leadership team should really be thinking about what did we do well this year what is it that we need to make adjustments to and how can we set our goals going into the 2526 school year so that we begin that
planning now in preparation for uh next year's work In addition to this particular slide it's important that all of you um have been given access to an SLT DLT training that is being held on Saturday April 26th So I'm hoping that
you did receive that information from um from your building leaders as all of our parents from SLT all of our teachers from SLT and all of our building leaders from SLT have invite have been invited to a citywide DT uh SLT training uh
session from 8 to 3 during that time on Saturday April 26 So I'm hoping as many of you as possible um can be there to join Um and just to give you a little bit of an idea of what we're thinking about as a district um what you see here
is the current breakdown of our English language learners across district 25 We have 6,614 children currently identified as having English as their second language which amounts to almost 28% of our district community 56% of our ENL
learners are Asian 40% of our ENL learners are Hispanic We have 1,236 of our ENL learners have IEPs 46% of them are in an ICT class 41% are in special
class 20% of our ENL are chronically absent which is really really important for us to to know and think about at the school level How are we making sure and it's appropriate that Robert's here to to to also be able to talk to us about language access to make sure that our
families are receiving the information um that they need in a language that's appropriate to them to make sure that our kids are in school on a daily basis Really super important But this information lays the groundwork for some of the things that are really important as a district community as well So when
we look at the middle of the year data as a district things that we know and recognize is at mid year we had almost 48% of our kids currently at that time on grade level already The goal is by the end of the year that as many of our
kids as possible are on grade level Our nonL students 62.4% of our non-L students and then 6% of our L students were on grade level Now when we have that volume of larner that is that is currently not meeting standards and
listen there are reasons why if you're here only for a few months the likelihood of you being proficient English English English in the English language is not likely So we do know that um but it's reason for us to really focus on how are we going to continue to
to accelerate the learning opportunities for our L's as much as we possibly can And what we've done this year was a focus on decodable text And what you'll see as a result of that are real positive outcomes from yearover-year So
this top line is kindergarten through 2 grade Each of these elements that you see here and you'll see plus 9% plus 18% plus 19% plus 12 + 11 This is all comparing phonics-based skills from 2023
24 to phonics based skills in 2425 And you can see that there's been a significant change in our young larners ability to decode words which is really really important and I'm excited about that because it says that we're moving in the right direction um for our L's
and also likewise for I Ready um for our Larners we saw a 15% change in their ability to decode which is in phonics We saw a 13% change in high frequency words which means that our L's are recognizing the words inside of passages at a
different rate than in the past But what we also see is that vocabulary needs to improve This is an area that we do need to continue to grow in so that as we're able to decode words we also need to learn the meaning of them and in context of the text that we're reading So a lot
more to follow on this but I did want to show you where it is that we were this year and why I believe it's important for us to continue moving into next school year So we did establish a couple of goals The first goal in reading is to to
promote this database type of use of the curriculum resources um as a means of of improving outcomes for our for all learners but with a focus on um our Hispanic black and student students with disabilities and also a focus on our
English language learners within the context of what we call standalone instruction So our entering and emerging children they get four periods which is based on building language So we're going to be emphasizing that a great deal more as we move into next school
year um to support our kids as much as we possibly can Uh priority two is around continuing to promote studentto student relationships uh the use of mindup moments that's a relationship builder conversation starters and brain breaks
will be something that we emphasize across our schools uh to make sure that our kids are are really promoting that environment that is uh that we want that safe and inclusive environment for all of our children Uh we'll be using a a district-wide survey to monitor the results of that over
time in mathematics And this is where I said I would want to come back to you on um as a district community this school year Um we developed a district math team that began exploring the three math curriculum that we would have access to uh moving into next year particularly in
middle school Um and that is the amplify math program the illustrative math program and the I Ready math program I know Beth eaten from our team earlier in the year went over this with you uh but as a team and as principles and teachers
um engaged in this process with several of our parents as well uh and they identified Amplify as being the math program that we will be using moving forward So next year you will see what that program looks like sounds like and feels like And in the May 28th session
with parents from Beth Eaton on our team she's going to talk to you quite a bit more about what that program offers and how it will help support our learners in the classroom So I'm excited about that and I think it's going to it's going to be really supportive of our kids as we grow to build their math uh their math
skills moving forward Um I'm also I'm sorry Just hold on one second Please hold on one second Um I'm sorry And also the and this next goal is really around uh promoting college and career readiness
creating that strong pathway to economic security Um so there's a couple of things here that I think are really important One student voice is so so valuable and something that I truly believe in and want to see happen on a routine basis So the goal is that all of
our kids engage in project soapbox across grades 3 through 8 and that's where our children are able to do some research and have a call to action uh to support a schoolwide studentled action project inside of our buildings Nothing
promotes more of that space of college and career readiness than our kids being active learners So I'm really looking forward to that And then I also had a question for all of you around save for college Um which I'll come back to at the very end but I'd love for you guys to to give me a
little bit of feedback because as a district we have fewer than 40% of our parents that take advantage of this free college fund So every child in kindergarten first second and Lewis is it up to third grade kindergarten first second and third
grade have access to a savings account that um through the Safe for College program they they in automatically start as soon as you register and activate start every kid with a $100 in their in a savings account in preparation for college or career moving forward So it's
it's a really great um opportunity for our families and I would love to expand upon this and would love your feedback on how we can go ahead and do that as a district community And this is also another goal that I want to spend a little bit of time with you to talk about Um and that is around
parent engagement Um you know things that we can do to help continue to bolster this I think as a district community we've done quite a bit of work um as as a district team but also as school teams inviting families back into our buildings really doing things like from the space of First Fridays
welcoming Wednesdays Um those types of of environments as well as parent chats are still existing across all of our schools So we've done that part in terms of creating a relational type of space for our parents Um always more to do there but I'm wondering from your
perspective as parent leaders what are some other parent engagement goals that you'd like to see Um are we doing a good enough job in terms of sharing the progress of our children with you Um I know many of our schools all of our schools rather have made a a much more
concerted effort to sharing I Ready results Aadian results progress reports things of that nature Um so I'm wondering what your what everyone's feeling is on that um as well So if I can ask you just for a moment of pause if you wouldn't mind giving me some
feedback around things that we can do uh for this idea of safer college Do you believe that's a goal that we should include in there Um and this idea of really promoting um this space of making sure that all our families understand the progress of their children Are there
other things that you would want to see as a parent for us to do and consider And the last one is around chronic absenteeism this one it will will continue to be a goal until it's not a problem anymore Um we still have 20% of our children under 20% as a district We
are among the top uh attendance we have the top attend one of the top attendance rates in New York City So uh there's only one district that has a better attendance rate than us and in in New York City Um so our attendance isn't poor but the chronic absenteeism rates need to improve Uh so we're going to
continue to focus on that as a district community too But if I could just take that moment just for for parents that are that are on just to reflect on what else can we do for our parents to really promote that space of engagement and understanding around uh the academic progress of your children Is there
anything else that we should be considering as we move into the next school year and then if anyone wants to kind of share and give me some feedback I would love to hear it Uh excuse me uh doc Dr Michael Yeah I'm chin and I have a
suggestion about the district uh you want uh you know uh for example downtown flashing downtown flashing is very uh the wise and they have the most population and they have PS20 PS22 PS
242 PS 120 uh MS 237 uh east west 281 and junior high school 189 uh for example that school is in the middle so around so uh there
there are so many school around it and uh so it's very convenient and for example the transportation so convenient uh so next time when you think about the event uh could you please you know um consider the location first and and then
last month uh junior high school 189 host hosted the math night and is really a big success we have uh Mr So Sarin there we have Louis there and you know uh the auditorian room was fully filled
with uh families students from other schools nearby schools and it's a big success and the next day the next day is the uh SLT uh meeting date and our uh school leader team shape would like you know to have the opportunities to host
more event in our district and uh our principal Dr Bradley said both the evening and weekend available and our teachers they do like math you know they are considering that maybe next time they they will communicate with they
would communicate with the teachers uh in other schools nearby schools in once and they could made plan together they g I think that they're very open and they really would like you know to host the event so please consider to give them to
build the junior high school 189 time more opportunity for that Thank you Yeah thank you so much for that You know we we're we're trying to as much as possible get to as many schools as we can Yeah Um over the course of the year I think we did hosted four district math
events We we did three district literacy events We have noticed that Yeah A to school they have the opportunity But I would like to express it that junior high school 189 they would like to devote more if you have Yeah like they they
they really you know very open I don't think it's a burden They think it's a good opportunity Yeah I love it I think it's great It's great for our community and I have to tell you each of the math nights that we've that we've hosted have been really really successful Kids have
uh kids have come out and parents have come out But the most important part of it is that they're not only coming out but they're actually doing the math together and they're having fun while doing it So it's been it's been great But we will most definitely keep 189 in mind as we as we move forward For sure Yeah I I think the teachers you know
they think ahead think next time not only for math there also you know some events about EA or science they hope that they could communicate with especially elementary school teachers So they could do a very good bridge uh to help uh elementary school students to
prepare for middle school they just to look ahead and I think they really really you know uh they really really know you know uh would like to contribute to the event to to help all the family the student in this in this district so consider that thank you yeah
I love yeah I love that that's terrific and you know just another example of that that I didn't share earlier we hosted a a literacy event at uh 169 where uh they also had some book giveaways we did the same thing at 21 um where they also engaged in a variety of
different reading based activities with families Uh so the our goal is really to create as many relational meaning parents kids and school um events as we possibly can But I I hear you I love the idea of bridging between the elementary and the middle so that everyone has a
chance to see what each other's doing I love that Yeah Yeah That that's not actually my idea That's you know the the teachers the teachers in junior high school 189 their idea If they think about that be ready you know to do something to help all the students in our district And we could see that uh
with the the event uh went down the more uh families they joined when when they hear maybe from their friends their neighbors Oh there's the event in junior high school 189 And very quick for them to come here to to come here from their
home because the location is very convenient Okay Yeah I love that And and you're right There are so many schools right there 100% Yeah Yeah And also the parents they talk about that that district 25 this year they hold a very very wonderful event They really you
know like that Thank you so much Oh you're welcome Thank you so much I appreciate that I see a couple things in the chat I'm just going to quickly look to see what we have here Okay I can help with these questions too Yeah I think this one was about um
around the safer college program Yeah So so your school's parent Yeah Your school's parent coordinator has access to a dashboard which lets them see for each student in any eligible grade levels if they've gone through um it's
called building block one which is basically activating and setting up your account So they'll be able to tell you um if you're you've gone through that process completely Um if you're not getting notifications about it it's probably because you did set up your
account and they're no longer bothering you to set up your account Um so that is the best way to do that is your parent coordinator has access to a report that they can check Yeah Yeah And I think it's it's also
important for for for us to continue to emphasize with parents um you know what it's all about I mean I think sometimes I agree with you Sometimes it just might be a lack of knowledge around what it is and how it can benefit them and you know maybe perhaps even sometimes language is
is problematic with that too Um so the more that we can we can share I just feel like it's an opportunity that you know it's not it's not every day that you're just going to get a you know 100 bucks added to your added to an account that can acrue over time for your kids that you didn't have to put there
yourself you know So it's um you know and you know for for for schools the cool part is is that if you chose to as a as an organization parent organization to um to organize an event those proceeds can actually go directly into
into savings accounts for kids if that's what you wanted to do you could legitimately do that um and build on savings accounts for your learners so that by the time they get into um into college maybe there's a few hundred bucks or more or whatever it turns out to be Uh but it's a nice nice little
extra amount of money that they wouldn't have had uh to begin with So it is a nice opportunity and I'm hoping we can take more advantage of it going into next year And not only does they make the initial contribution they also will match if you
set up your own contribution they'll m I know up to second grade I'm not sure My daughter's now in third grade but um I think they'll match up to like a $100 or something I don't remember the limit So that's even more money you can get um
for you know for the future And I had two things I wanted to um suggest One is I agree with um Jennifer about the language access Um I know in our school we have a large Asian
population and so having um translation available you know we use it for communication but I think it would be it'll be good to know how Robert can expand our knowledge on what language access is available because you know I
would love to have Chinese translation available for our PTA meetings I think it would greatly increase attendance Um but I don't know exactly how to go about doing that And then one other thing um I was thinking of was regarding to college
readiness is um you know we have we're a prek to 8 school Um so it'll probably work differently for other that aren't that same population but I have a parent of
uh a freshman who just graduated and is very interested in what's still going on and we're in conversations to try and bring up some kind of like alumni um program to bring back you know so middle schoolers could bring um
elementary schools could bring back middle schoolers to talk about the middle school experience where we have middle schools so we can try and bring back some of our high schoolers which of which I have one so I would of course strongarm him into coming back too Um
and I think that that would really be a great opportunity that we could try and do as a district You know maybe some schools might have it and have some type of framework that would help I mean as starting out I'm not really sure how to go about doing this but I think it's a
great opportunity to keep kids looking forward You know what's the next step before college Well high school and how do you approach it You know we start talking about it in sixth grade Well seventh grade is the important year for high school and then eighth grade now
the application process and the Shazat And so to bridge that next step into high school I think would be a great opportunity Yeah I love that Rachel And you know you know I I think one of the things that we would have to figure out once our kids
in 8th grade move on beyond us we we lose the ability to keep track of even where they go We can know where they went to high school Um but I even think about it even what what happens to them in college what happens to them even after that and they've now have a profession How do we sustain that and
invite those folks back in I really love that I think that would be awesome Um so I that that maybe perhaps moving forward we can talk about what we can make that look like even if we started small and then got big over time so we can see what how to do it um and do it well and
then we can expand it to other schools But I really like that idea I think that's great Did anyone else have any other other thoughts about the goals that um were were briefly shared and you know in particular that that space around sharing progress If there's anything
else that you think would be beneficial I'd love to certainly hear some of your thoughts on that before uh Robert comes on and shares around language access All right guys Well I I will be on So if there's something that comes up feel free to add it to the chat Um or at the end if something comes to you please
feel free and I'll be be happy to answer it or entertain any of your suggestions that you uh that you have for me But other than that have a great night everyone Robert I'm looking forward to hearing your presentation Thank you so much Dr Mike It's a pleasure to have you with us as always
Okay so on next on our agenda um we've mentioned it a few times we have Robert Williams with us from the Office of Language Access So Robert I'd like to turn the meeting over to you Thank you Thank you Rachel I'm just going to ask if I can be made co-host so that I can
share my screen You don't need to be co-host Oh no You may sh You may share your screen Yeah you're already set up Well it's good Thank you So good evening everyone My name is
Robert Williams I am the external outreach specialist for the office of language access which means I am the point person for all parent engagements Um this PowerPoint mimics how the parent
website is So once you see this PowerPoint you'll be able to go to the website and go directly to if you need to request any translated documents or request any inperson or virtual
interpretation for your parent engagement On the agenda we're going to talk about the New York City public schools background our commitment to New York City public schools families the schools.nyc.gov hello webpage raising
awareness in our communities and we'll get into any questions So there are over 1 million students in over 1,600 plus schools that speak over 180 languages Approximately
40% of the New York City public school households speak a language other than English at home And and the New York City public schools top covered languages besides English are Arabic Bangla Cantonese
French Haitian Creole Korean Mandarin Russian Spanish and Erdo Written translations are also available in both traditional and simplified Chinese And our office is dedicated to
supporting both New City Public School staff and families by providing the resources necessary for effective communication in languages other than English So here's a little snapshot of D25's
um top 10 preferred languages Besides our covered languages we also have a good portion of families that speak Gerati and Hindi So when we having these
parent meetings or we send out any flyers or communications to families you want to make sure that we keep in mind of these families as well because you know I've read in the uh chat how you know it would be how can
schools actually reach the parents that speak a language other than English One would be we each school should have a language access coordinator This person is designated by the principal It could be the parent
coordinator um school guidance counselor ENL teacher It's whoever the principal designates and that person attends a two and a half hour training with all of the language resources that are provided for schools
to support families Now I am aware that not every individual is comfortable with turn key turnkey information and presenting to um their colleagues So I offer myself I
would come in and present to the uh school staff population to let them know of the services available for parents so that we can try to close the
gap between the schools and the families There are over 13,000 um parents who prefer to be spoken in their preferred language and over 13,000 who prefer written communication in their language So again like I said we
we train staff to make sure that they translate documents not only um for like parent engagement Let's say like for this virtual meeting if you if a school
sends out a flyer in English to a family who speaks or or reads Gerate why would they attend this meeting Cuz they can't read or write English So you shouldn't expect them to show up
So we you know suggest to schools you know every month you have this um PTA meeting or um your calendar for most schools your calendar is already filled out throughout you know the beginning of the school year so you know what's coming up
submit those documents in advance so that by by the time you're ready to send out the notification in English you can send out the same notification in those preferred languages languages as well So that families can feel like you know um
involved because they're reading their um communication in their language So it makes them oh okay Um and on the fly you you in their language you want to put down that you're going to have Well we
we tell schools that on the fly you should have that you're going to have these uh language lines If you're doing virtual events that you're going to have the language lines in their preferred languages as well so parents can feel comfortable with attending and knowing that they
will understand what's going on in the meeting And the same goes for in the person You want to promote that in their language so that they can understand that when they come to a meeting it would be in their language and they can feel included Our office has three large
teams Our largest team is the translation team They provide written translation services in the 10 non-English languages and works in close collaboration with our contracted vendor to extend services for languages beyond
the capacity of our internal resources Our interpretation team works with our contracted interpretation vendor to ensure schools receive services for in-person virtual and over the phone for parent engagement and our
outreach and data integration team We we focus on promoting equitable language access services to schools and empowering New York City public schools parents to understand and advocate for their language access rights We also collaborate with
advocates to identify needs and address language barriers in our in our everchanging communities We engage parent leaders to enhance the message of language access to our communities We pursue innovative ways to engage with and receive feedback from families such
as online portals emails robocalls texts direct mailers We leverage technology to continuously enhance the interpretation experience for families such as virtual meetings We ensure translation quality such as
professional translation tools and we keep a post of citywide parent language data and translation interpretation service outputs So the the New York City public schools free language services
include interpretation for all types of meetings and interactions with New York City public school staff translation of general documents into the New York City public schools top covered languages And some examples of those documents may include a parent
newsletter or event flyers translation of individualized documents into a parents preferred language upon request And some examples of those individualized documents will include like an IEP which is the
individualized educational program section 504 plans which is a medical accommodations and foreign transcripts So for IEPs and foreign transcript we translate into any
language not just our top covered languages So when you go to the New York City public schools website you're going to notice at the top right corner there's a Google dropdown You select whichever preferred language that is yours Once
you click on it the entire website will translate into that language But please note that automatic translations are not intended to replace human translators and are provided as a service to users of the website
Some content such as images videos animations etc may not be translated due to the limitations of the translation software So the very first thing that you will see when you look when you go on to the schools.nyc.gov hello web page
there will be a a little short video It's just explaining and guiding you where you can click on to submit um to request a translated document or to request an in-house or
virtual interpreter That video is translated into our 10 covered languages And also at the top right corner you will see the Google dropown that you can select your preferred language and change the whole
website Right underneath that video the very first tab would read helpful resources So you may print or cut out the I speak card in 10 languages to request language assistance services when communicating with the New York City public school
staff Language access for New York City public school families brochure advises families of the availability of language assistance services You may also request one at your school And also in this tab you will find health forms notices special
education early childhood communications and enrollments forms But let's say you want to click on the language access for New York City public schools families brochure This is how the brochure looks You will notice at the bottom there's a
little cutout portion for each language Whichever preferred language is yours you would just cut that portion out Bring that portion to to your school and the school must provide communications in that language Also if you do not
see your language that you speak we have a blank portion as well It just reads I speak and a a little line underneath you can just write in your preferred language The same process Cut it out Bring that portion to your school and the schools must provide communication
in your language The very next tab would read request language services Families may complete the translation and interpretation service request form to request language services The New York City public schools office of language
access will forward your request to the appropriate school office or committee on special education But please note language assistance services may vary depending on the type of school the student attends Families can also call 311 to
make a request for language assisted services and over the phone interpretation is available in over 200 languages Let's say you wanted to click on the translation and interpretation service request form On the left is a little snapshot on
how the form look It's just a few um few questions You just fill it out But before you fill out this form we ask for that you go to your school first for support So
um as I mentioned before each school should have a language access coordinator at that school to support parents And we we we suggest that it's not just one person that it's a team of people because if the principal
designates an ENL teacher to be the language access coordinator and after I you know you um had this presentation you go "Oh I'm go to my school I want to speak to the language access coordinator." And it turns out that that person happens to be
the teacher Now the teacher cannot be pulled from their classroom So that's why we suggest to schools that it's a team effort It's not just it can't just fall on one person Um and primarily we would like for it to be the parent
coordinator because they are that that's their title They deal with parents on a day-to-day basis They are the liaison between the school and the parents But ultimately it's up to the principal But let's say you went to the school
and somebody was new and they wasn't aware of these services So then you can just come to this form You could fill it out This form is available in our 10
languages And we also provided a QR code So once you fill out this form I get a notification in my inbox I'll just read to see what the issue is I'll forward that to the principal the language access
coordinator and the parent coordinator of that school Let them know that hey Robert fill out this form They said that they tried to get um an interpreter you know to to to a meeting and the school did not provide it You
know can you please Now one thing I'm I'm skipping a parent can fill this out anonymously or not So if if a parent fill this out anonymously then it would be just a general email to the school
letting them know that you have a parent who speaks let's say Gerate and they said that the school did not provide them with any language resources So please all your Gerate um speaking families please make sure that you provide interpretation for them at every
parent meeting So that would be just a general email because that parent did not provide the information Now the parent did provide the information and then the email would be a little bit different It's like hey Robert um mentioned that they didn't receive
the services um can you please respond to this email so we can you know go over some best practices because maybe like I said maybe the person was new at the time they didn't know So I will just go over some best practices to see what is the disconnect between the school and
Robert and why Robert did not receive these language services and the school must respond to me within um 5 to seven business days or I have to escalate it because you know if it comes in as a complaint
to our office we take that serious So the very next tab will read connect with Ola If you or someone you know needs help receiving information or communicating with a school staff member in a language other than English please tell your school's principal or parent
coordinator or you can call 311 or you can click on the contact Ola form Once you click on the contact ola form on the left is a little snapshot of how the form looks and it's the same process if
you fill it out It's available in our top um 10 languages and it's the same process uh email the principal parent coordinator and whoever is the language access coordinator is of that school Let them know that this parent filled out this
form The very next tab underneath that will read "Share your experience with the New York City public schools language assistant services." You may also provide feedback on the New York City public schools language services by completing our translation and interpretation feedback survey or
you can do so by calling 311 But let's say you wanted to leave a feedback You would click on translation interpretation feedback survey On the left is a snapshot of how the form would look And it's the same the same process I email it I forward it to the principal
parent coordinator and the language access coordinator Now we don't want to just hear what the school is not doing for you We would like for you to share some of the good things as well so that we can possibly ask that school to model for other
schools who are struggling to support parents cuz as we all know it takes a village The very next tab underneath that is the sign language interpretation services Um this is a separate office It's not
with our office And because it's a different office they ask for you to contact your school's parent coordinator or you can contact them directly at osischools.nyc.gov Excuse me The last tab will read having difficulties obtaining language
assistance services If you are you can click on the get help or click on file a complaint Now if you click on file a complaint this does not come to our office This goes directly to the district This is a formal complaint So we have done some advertisement in
schools grocery stores laundry mats near here and barber salons,armacies And what's not on here is that we have done advertisement inside the MTA train stations and on the MTA buses We have done direct parent outreach
through robocalls emails text messages and postcards like the one you see on the right If you're saying you have not receive one or any of these please go to your school um speak to school secretary Make sure all your information is
updated because we pull from the same system that schools enter your information in you know we can you know we we tend to change phone numbers or we have a different address Just please make sure all your information is updated With that being said are there
any questions And actually I want to add as well because I know that um there are some of you who may wear different hats So if you're
actually on the if you're sitting on the CC board your direct support would be the district If you are the PCA president your direct support would be the parent coordinator Um some schools do not have
a parent coordinator So it would be the administration of the principal or um AP And like I said we have trained um a lot of staff members on these language services So if a parent just let's say
if a parent just wants into into the school building and they speak a language that the secretary does not understand We have supplied schools with a phone number that that they can just call on demand They don't have to schedule um just call anything they just
pick up the phone dial the number tell the um prompter which language that they need and within seconds they will get an interpreter online to speak with that parent So we try to make it real easy
for folks And for documents um up to a thousand words if a school submits a document to our office up up to 1,000 words that would take 3 to seven business days From a,000 to 2,000
words it take 7 to 10 business days So Robert if we were interested in having um translation services for a PTA meeting our first point of contact would be that language access coordinator at our school and also the parent coordinator and the
parent coordinator Okay Cuz in most schools that would be the parent coordinator Um but if you go to the parent coordinator and the parent coordinator is like um for some reason they said that they don't know how to do it then you ask them oh well who's the
language access coordinator Because we train them to turnkey information Like I said we not everyone is comfortable with turnkey information I do understand that Um so we're trying to our our goal is to train every staff member in every school
But you know that's our goal But we're not there yet But but that's our goal And would they then reach out to you your office Yes Because translation Yes Because parents can't request directly
to us Has to be the school Okay They go to the school The parent coordinator and the parent coordinator will send us a request on your behalf Okay And also it's not only with PTA meetings it's at graduations Um cuz I know there was some
parents that was not aware that they can have interpreters for the gra for graduations as well Oh okay We have a comment in the chat Thank you for this information We'll reach out to the school to figure out who the point person is Language access is a
huge barrier in our community And I echo that because it's also um you know we have WhatsApp chats for our various grades and apparently there's a wechathat just for um Chinese speaking
parents and so this is something we weren't even aware of that a parent takes it upon themselves to try and translate some of the things that the school sends out So if we could be able to access these parents with our communication directly and know that you
know I mean we do use um Google Translate when we send out like PTA emails but um you know having accessed at our PTA meetings would be would would be huge to be able to promote that Okay
And our office we don't use machine translation We have live people there because machine translation accurate You say accurate Yes And and we try to tell schools really not to use it as much especially if you don't have anyone to
proofread it because you're not um aware of what's being said right Um but and as far as interpreters we don't have interpreters at our office We outsource with the contracted vendor So oh and I don't think I mentioned this but to
request an interpreter for in-person or virtual meeting the school must request it with at least 10 business days in advance Okay And is there a fee associated with that if you're using a third third party
Glad you asked Yes So um requesting an in-house or virtual interpreter is a fee to the school but the school does not have to use their regular school budget They can use our
translation interpretation funds for that So it's a separate budget for school And and I know not every school I don't know if cuz millions of dollars go back to you
know to to the government because a lot of schools are not utilizing those funds Um and I understand because they may have bilingual staff to help out so they don't have to use it or like you said you have parents who who can get here But you know our thing is why not give them a break You know it's it's free
money to you just utilize it You know give them a break so that they can relax Okay Okay I'll open the floor if anyone else has any questions I don't want to monopolize your
time Well we really want to thank you for being here Robert Um this was some great information Um I knew about the website but um that's that's just amazing all the languages that are spoken within the New York City public
schools So thank you for being here at our meeting tonight Well thank you for having Robert could I ask just one quick thing I just noticed that you had simplified on there as well in terms of written Yes translation Yes Um so there's because I know that's been something that's been brought up at the
CEC meeting about getting I know that you're probably familiar with that That's why is that now added as an option Yes it's now added simplified and traditional Yes Oh they're going to be thrilled with that That's great Okay Awesome Thanks Robert You're welcome
Okay Well thank you so much So we will um move on with our presentation I will share my screen now So just a reminder as to um where we are in the community and citywide education
council elections Um we are still in the candidate forums but coming up this week the voting window will open Um parents will vote online through their New York City Schools account Um and again each
parent that's registered with the New York City public schools um is entitled to a vote Um and then in June the results will be announced and the term limit I mean the term that they will
serve for is July 1st 2025 through June 30th 2027 Again to vote it's through your your Nixa account Um if you have any issues or need help with getting access to your Nixa account because to create an
account you do need a creation code you should see the parent coordinator at your child's school Um they will help you to get that code so that you can open your account and you just need one account for all of your children Um once
you are into the account you'll be able to add if you have more than one student in the New York City public schools you'll be able to add them all um and see more than just voting on CC you can see attendance grades um a variety of of
options there through the NIXA account So just a reminder for our president's council meeting dates um our next meeting will be Monday May 19th And then um uh just a reminder that on Monday June 16th will be um the
elections for next year's um president's council board So and I'll get into something about elections in a moment um the district 25 DPAC meeting The next meeting is Wednesday April 30th So
that's for all of your um title one uh chair persons The next CEC meeting will be on Wednesday May 7th 2025 That will be um there in person at the Lynen Place Um I
believe there's also an online option for that as well So just a reminder for elections for the 2025 2026 PTA executive board Um the nomination meetings should be held this
month for elections in May It must be run by parents that are not running for a position So we recommend reaching out to um any graduating parents because obviously they cannot be running Um that's generally at my school where
we're able to form our nominating committees is through um parents that are um ex exiting out of the school We recommend that elections are held in May so that the elected presidents can be elected for nominated for president's council board at the June president's
council meeting A reminder that election meetings must be in person or virtual Hybrid meetings are not allowed for the elections and the meeting should be run by the chair of the nominating committee Um and again that person that
chairperson cannot be someone who is running for a position If anyone is um in need of help with um running an election you can contact President's Council and we will provide you support
with that um whether it be virtual or in person And last I'd like to open up the floor to um any questions that anyone has I will stop sharing my screen Just a reminder again next month's meeting is
on May 19th um at 6:30 and the link is the same link um as how you got it here tonight So um now's your chance to ask any questions you might have whether it be
regarding elections CEC nominations I mean voting Um I know the district is asking all schools to have voting parties Um that's something that the administration is should be setting up Um they may ask for PTA assistance So be
aware that that's something that um you may I have not yet been asked but I know ours has been scheduled but so I'm looking forward to at least supporting in person even if we they don't need any support from the PTA Okay Well if there are no questions if
no one has any other David has his hand Yeah David has his hand raised I didn't see that Hey David go ahead Go ahead Hi guys Thank you for calling on me Um so this doesn't really have much to do with the elections but it's more
of a uh a question that impacts everyone um staff students families So the C30 process as we know is basically a process that decides when assistant
principles and principles get hired and it's made up of various stakeholders parents students teachers administration etc Um and and other staff My question is right now the way at least in my experience with the few that I've been a part of or that I've heard about it's
pretty much a form like a formality and the stakeholders don't really have a voice It's pretty much the hiring manager whether it's the principal or superintendent chooses regardless of what the recommendations are Um I was wondering what your guys thoughts on
that are and whether or not as um parent leaders you would be willing to try to push for a more equitable C30 process Um I'll defer that to um Dr Mike Um as president's council I'm not sure what um
types of changes or anything we could implement at at our level Um Dr Mike could you speak to his his question So there's there the the C30 process governs the the whole um hiring of assistant principles and
principles Um the there there's always an initial meeting with me as well as the school leadership team to discuss what the process is Uh we send out information to our district community around um there's a Google I don't know what what school
you're from David I work at Flushing High School Okay Um so the the the process at least I I can't tell you what your own experience was but the way that uh that that I've always kind of organized it here even as
a deputy and now in the superintendent's role um certainly as a principal we send out a Google form to all of our district community um within that school to gather what what are some of the qualities that they would like to see what are the questions that they would like to ask and then it's incumbent upon
the C30 committee to organize around those particular scenarios um ask the questions and we we I haven't had an experience where anyone other than what the committee has identified as the selector the person that should be selected um to be chosen for the role So
I don't I can't speak to necessarily your own experience but that's been mine So um you know does it have I seen scenarios where uh where folks that maybe perhaps were in an interim acting
role that did not receive the role Yes I have seen that 100% Um where the the the person that was initially slated for for the role and slated meaning the person who assumes the responsibility to begin with doesn't earn that right afterwards
um based on parent feedback and teacher feedback and and uh and leadership So um it in general the process is intended to provide that voice Now they are an advisory committee It does not mean that they make the the sole choice as parents
or teachers So the C30 is intended to be advisory Uh but in my my experience there has not been c there have not been candidates that you know are not the person that's identified that wind up getting the role by the C30 So the C30
group typically is uh the group that identifies the candidate I I just can't speak to your own experience with it Uh but that's been that's been mine inside of the role Got it Thank you Yeah I do think that the questions are important that are
devised I don't know if you're sitting on as a parent or as an SLT member um as a teacher Uh but the par the questions that are are organized are important and then the conversations that exist during the C30 process is an important one Those are important parts of it Um you
know and any of the ones that I've conducted over time that's been uh you know those debriefs are really really important inside of the space I agree Thank you very much Yeah you're welcome Thank you Dr Mike I know the few C30s I've been part of um the
recommendation of the group is generally I've only been a part of maybe three but in all three the recommendation when we came together as a group is what was um decided upon but that's only three out of many happen on a regular basis
So all right If does anyone else have any questions Let me just check the chat I don't see anything in the chat I'm sorry I missed your hand David So thank you to Lewis for for noticing that Okay If there's no questions if I could get a motion and state your name to adjourn
the meeting Anyone can make a motion Okay Shen Chen Um Junior High School 189 meeting Thank you If I could get a second and state your name for the minutes to to join the meeting
I'll second David Ginsburg Thank you so much Okay it is 7:53 and the April meeting of the District 25 President's Council is officially adjourned We look forward to seeing you back in May Um again if you need any support with your
elections throughout the month of May um hopefully you'll be able to get them done by the end of May so we can see you all for the elections at President's Council's level in June So thank you all for attending tonight and have a good night Thank you Thank you