WEBVTT

METADATA
Video-Count: 1
Video-1: youtube.com/watch?v=yEZORzMdRBM

NOTE
MEETING SECTIONS:

Part 1 (Video ID: yEZORzMdRBM):
- 00:00:00: Welcome and Agenda Overview for the Meeting
- 00:01:03: Review of Meeting Norms and Approval of Minutes
- 00:04:18: Superintendent's Report: Celebrations, Updates, Reminders
- 00:05:33: Fun Icebreaker: Burgers, Hotdogs, or Summer Food?
- 00:07:13: Wellness Day Success and Safe for College Accounts
- 00:10:26: Upcoming Community Events and Arts Partnerships
- 00:12:21: Unified Bocce League and Youth Leadership Summit
- 00:17:54: Diagnostic Assessments and SEL Goal for Student Relationships
- 00:20:27: Public Comment: Improving Student Relationships Through Interaction
- 00:22:50: Public Comment: Structuring Student Communication and Engagement
- 00:25:01: New York State Portrait of a Graduate Overview
- 00:35:35: Public Comment: Clarifying the Purpose of Regents Exams
- 00:36:45: Queens Public Library: Summer Programs and Resources
- 00:53:23: DPAC Updates, City Pack Updates, and Upcoming Meetings
- 01:00:11: Adjournment and Title One Expenditures Question
- 01:01:50: Public Comment: Title One Expenditure Approval and Process


Part: 1

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recorded and I'm going to share my screen. Here we go. Okay. Does everybody see my screen? >> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. Good evening everyone. Welcome to District 25 DACA meeting for

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tonight. Our agenda for today. We'll get our approval of April minutes. We'll also get our superintendent, Dr. Dantona's report. We also have our guest speaker from Queens Library, Miss Lavinia Manuso, who has some great

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resources for our community. We also will have our CPAC updates and some upcoming meetings. And at the end we'll open the floor for any questions. Okay Crystal, it's all you.

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>> Good afternoon everyone. So we have the meeting norms. Start and end on time. One voice when speaking. This is a safe space to speak. 1 2 3 and then me. If you spoke already, allow three people to speak before you speak again. Respect

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all. Be present. Be engaged and involved. Next slide, please. approval of >> Sorry, let me open these minutes up for you. Okay. Can you make it a little bit bigger, please?

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>> Yes. We'll do that. Oops. Okay. How's that? >> Good. Perfect. Okay. So, we have uh District 25 parent uh advisory council meeting minutes for April 2026. The

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location was virtual. Uh the facilitator was Jenny Chang. The meeting was called to ordered and welcome. Jenny Cheng called the meeting to order and welcomed attendees. agenda overview. Uh we had the muting norms presented by

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Crystal Gonzalez. We had approval of minutes for March 2026. We had the superintendence report by Dr. Daytona uh with community building, district highlights, important reminders,

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upcoming events, assessment updates, additional updates, instructional focus, AI and family engagement, save for college program, stakeholder feedback, activities, Padlet discussions, key takeaways, safety,

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Academic academic rigor imple implementation additional inputs superintendent response. We had a guest presentation uh format and duration additional notes.

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DACA updates, security uh secretary responsibilities, city pack updates, New York City kids rise, save for college, pack and DACA elections, DPAC roles overview,

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title one, parent engagement fund, upcoming meetings, open discussion, adjournment. Can I get a approval of the minutes? Motion to approve the minutes. Margaret Donovan. She was

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>> second motion. >> Okay. Meeting minutes approved. Next slide, please. >> Sure. Now we have Let me share. Sorry. Sorry. is having a little trouble with

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this computer. >> Now, we're going to have our superintendence report by Dr. Dantona. Welcome, Dr. Dantona. >> Thanks so much, Crystal. Good evening, everyone. Hope you guys are doing well. Uh, I hope you enjoyed uh this extended

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weekend. Um, I know it was a bit rainy. Um, but for me it it allowed me to to kick up and relax just a little bit more than I probably would have. So I I did I did welcome the rain, although I wish it wasn't the entire weekend. Um, so I have a couple things to talk to you guys

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about tonight as I typically do. Uh, we're going to have a brief space of sharing some celebrations, some updates, and reminders. I do want to share our draft uh social emotional learning goal for um for next school year. uh to hear any of the feedback that you

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may have as parents and um and also just to give you guys a little bit more context around a portrait of a graduate so you know what that looks like coming forward and the work that we're going to begin doing as a collective district on that. So, let me share my screen.

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And as we typically do with a um to start off with, a quick little connection before content activity with the unofficial start to summer happening uh with Memorial Day. Uh, are you a burgers on the grill person, hot dogs

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person, or fill in the blank with whatever it is that is your typical entry point for summer type foods and beginning off that that start of summer, feel free to add it to the chat or come off of mute. Which one are you in a this

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or that? Are you a burgers on the grill person? Hot dogs or, you know, fill in whatever the blank is. So, just take a moment just for a little bit of of fun and entry. What resonates with you most? Burgers on

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the grill, hot dogs, or fill in the blank. Oh, look at you being all good and with the the foods, fruit, salad, and salads. Congratulations, Crystal. I love that. Pasta salad, burgers on the grill. Anything on the grill will do for

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you. Burgers, hot dogs. Yeah, I'm good with the with the an cheese for sure. And I like the lightly toasted bun, too. Thanks, Robin. Yeah, I'm good with anything on the grill also. Um, love the love the summertime for that reason. Uh, thank you guys for

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uh for indulging me. Oh, yes, corn on the cob is a must for sure. Love that also. Um thank you for indulging me with that and I encourage you as as always and you have people in this kind of a space uh do it in a little bit of different way actually open up for conversation but just for interest of

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time I will um just do it via that via the the via the chat for today but thank you for engaging in that. Uh so just some celebrations as I talked about last session. We did have our annual well annual wellness day. Uh it happened a little bit after our last meeting, but

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we did have over 400 people uh join us at Common Point Queens uh as well as uh Bell Academy and 169. So big shout out to uh to Common Point for opening their doors to us uh as well as our two

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schools that that uh opened up their space. Um big shout out to Diana from our team, Wing from our team, along with all of the various vendors that we had present. Uh it was really an amazing day. Um you know, of learning an opportunity to connect with some of our

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mental health organizations, uh as well as some of our local athletic organizations that were present and supportive, including um oh my goodness, why am I forgetting the name of it? Uh pickle ball. We had pickle ball present. Uh we had New York City Soccer Club

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present as well as the Auburnale soccer club as well. Uh creating a nice nice opportunity for our kids to enjoy uh as well as Mr. Met. Mr. Met did join. Uh always a big hit with the kids and and our parents. So uh thank you to all of our local organizations for making it a

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really really special day. Uh there are just some images for you guys. You don't look at them right in the moment but available for you to peruse at a later time. I will put in I know Lo put the resources into the chat already but I will put the deck in there as well just so that you have access to if you want

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to hop in. Um this has been been shared uh widely but we are hoping to get as many kids and families registered as possible um for the safer college accounts. uh district 25 has created a little bit of a challenge which will be coming to a

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close uh within the couple of days but you know the activation still is available all the way through the end of the year. We want to have as many families as possible to activate their um their savings account through Safe uh Safe for College. I've shared this a

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number of times with you, but you know, the the goal of this is um you know, to have our kids activate those accounts. And what research says is that for children that do, they're three times more likely to go to college and four times more likely to graduate when a

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college savings account is created as early as kindergarten. Um so this is an opportunity to have, you know, $125 added to an account that can acrue over time. You know, families do get concerned about uh what do they need to provide in terms of information and

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there is very little little information that's required other than their child's student ID number uh their date of birth and zip code. Uh no other information is required. We do want our families to really participate in this uh to really

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build it build those you know that account moving forward for their kids over time. Uh so please continue to spread the word in your own schools especially our elementary schools so that more and more children have access to this uh savings account.

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Upcoming events uh we've had multiple um moving as a community events with uh our partnership with together in dance. Uh we do have one more session that's remaining at uh PS 193 on June 2nd. Uh I encourage you if you guys are available

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and you want to stop in, please do so. Um this as you know is part of our uh arts grant that we received earlier in the year. Uh and our way of not only creating residency opportunities in our schools uh but to create a community-based event. Uh the first four

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sessions have been really really uh really great for our community. Um, we've had, you know, a really nice turnout each time and I'm hoping to see the same uh at 193. Uh, but for members that are part of our DPAC uh group,

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please please try to uh engage in in them in them as well. So on June 2nd from 4:45 to 5:45, we have session first session one at 193 and from 6:00 to 7:00 is session two. So, if you're available and you'd like to come on by, I'd love

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to see you there uh with your children. Uh we also have uh a partnership with Arts Connection, similar type of process, promoting the space of community. Um and our first session with uh the Sambuka Tribe is on Tuesday, June 9th at PS 2011. There'll be two separate

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sessions for that. Um they'll the Sambuka Tribe will also be um at 193 on June 16th. Um and we have the Mexican uh Mexico beyond mariachi at uh 1:29. Uh again, two sessions there. Uh again,

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encourage all of our families to participate. Opportunities to hear a little bit about uh Mexico through music, dance, and storytelling uh storytelling uh as well as the Caribbean. So, really fun events. Hope to see you guys there.

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Couple of other quick uh quick shares, really exciting things. Um, for those of you who do not know, um, district 25 is one of four districts in New York City, uh, that participates in a unified botchi league. Um, this is for both

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neurotypical and non-neurotypical students to be able to come together in community, uh, and engage in sport. Uh what I love about uh this this space is that it brings our children together um you know in a in a way where they can

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compete in a really fun um exciting activity with one another. One of our parents said, and I think this is just so amazing, um, based on the the the needs of of her child, uh, this is a partnership with, uh, Special Olympics

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New York, uh, shared that this event, uh, and we've been doing this now for, I want to say 5 years, is um, the only time that she has an opportunity to cheer for her child in a sports-based activity. And to me, that is an

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unbelievable outgrowth of something that is intended to just bring our kids together. So, um it's really really a fantastic experience and I'm so proud that District 25 is part of it. Um and again, we do this every year. Uh and the culminating event was held um just this

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past uh past week uh at Roberto Clemente State Park. We had uh over a 100 children from District 25 participate in this. uh seven of our middle schools um engage and it's just really an amazing amazing experience. Um we also held um

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our second annual YLT summit and YLT stands for youth leadership team. So, we have students from across the district that serve as youth leadership team members and uh they connect with us on a monthly basis and some of our um

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district leadership uh to organize ways that we can really build on um on leadership inside of our schools. So, we held this summit at Adelfi University. So we had 150 students from across our schools um upwards of 8 to 10

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student council representatives from our buildings uh to come together and engage in partnership um where they learned a series of uh series of activities that they can bring back to their schools to promote relationship building uh and what it means to be a leader. And I'm

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just going to show this very very brief clip and you know we have amazing team members here and they kind of captured the day um in um in a video. So I'm just going to quickly share with you just very briefly what this what this looked

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like. I'm going to do just hop into different segments. >> Welcome to Adelfi University. We are so excited to celebrate our youth leadership team event for our second year in a row. Big round of applause for

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our youth leadership team. We have an amazing day planned for all of you. We're going to be focusing on connection, teamwork, kindness, community, wellness. It's it's going to be a very very exciting day starting out with some um guest speakers. and we hope

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that you all have a wonderful day. At this point, I do want to introduce um our superintendent, Dr. Dan Tona, cuz without him, none of this would be possible. So, huge shout out to him. And here we go. >> So, I'm just going to going to pause

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there. Um each of these members that you see here on stage are former Adelfi uh University athletes um who come back and give back to Adelfi University but share in a spirit of what does it mean to to promote leadership? what does it mean to

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promote kindness uh both in the way that they served as student athletes in the school but how that's now taken them into a future career in nursing um in physical education uh in the world of uh sports medicine. So, um it was just a

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really really great experience. And you see the gentleman here in the wheelchair um has a a physical disability that he had through his entire life and um is a parolympian who played on um wheelchair

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uh wheelchair basketball and shared with the kids the importance of what it means uh to connect with others including um students like himself. And it was just a really powerful message for all of our youngsters uh to hear from uh from these

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uh former student athletes. And what was amazing is at the end of they they were able to also tour Adelfi University as one of the activities. And as they came back from the tour, some of our students, in fact, many of our students

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took out um baseballs and they brought it to the student athletes asking for their autographs. That's the type of impact that these these student athletes had on our kids. And it was just a really really amazing amazing day. Uh, one of which I wanted to share with you

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and and kind of continue to grow on cuz the goal of this is that we're promoting opportunities for student voice and that our kids use those voices for something productive. And that was really the the the the genesis of the uh of this particular um activity for our learners.

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And really just a day was really really phenomenal for our kids and I wanted to share it with you. Okay. Um into assessments. Um as you guys know our diagnostic assessment window is currently um in process. Uh

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Aadian reading um is is ongoing through June 12th. I ready reading and math through June 12th as well as math growth for our children in grade 8 uh that are taking the algebra regions. And uh lastly, I just want you guys to

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kind of linger over this goal, which I'm going to put in the chat. I want you guys just to read it for a moment. So as a um as a district community uh one of the the areas that we really wanted to build on this year um was

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around studentto student relationships. Student survey data um in past years has come back that some of our students don't believe that they're that they have this mutual respect amongst uh themselves and their peers. So we did a lot of work. The connection before

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content type of activities that you saw to start off uh was an entry point uh for that this year. But we are seeing that um we still have a lot more to do uh to build on this work across our schools. So one of the things that I do believe

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that in order to make a positive change, our kids need to take ownership of some of these things. Um so I thought that we would shift our goals uh a little bit um to really build to really support improvement in this area by connecting

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our kids in in an action-based project whereas whether it's our student council or our civics teams or one of our teams in our schools to make sure that we're spreading widely this idea of relationship building and self-management so that we're resulting in more positive

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relationships uh amongst our students in our schools. So, I want you to just take a moment to to reflect on that. Give me your thoughts and and feedback um around one what you think about that particular type of goal. Uh but any adjustments that you think that we should make. So,

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just be in that moment of pause just for for a second and then I would love to hear some of your feedback um around this particular social emotional learning based goal uh that I'm hoping to put forward to our schools um this coming school year.

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just being a moment of that reflection, space of reflection and then feel free to enter anything into the chat. Come off mute um your to hear some of your perspectives on this. >> Maybe it's just me, but I'm not able to see the the uh the screen.

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I put it in the chat. I came off of I came off of share. any thoughts or perspectives on this call? I have a perspective. >> Yeah, go ahead, Alice. >> Uh, yes. So, the things I like with the student relationships, I find that

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there's limited opportunities for them to uh interact with each other outside of this the friends in the classroom like cuz like a lot of the classes go from one study to another to another. It's always the same class. It's only a

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couple of classes where they share like gym might have like two or three classes that of like different types too. And the way our school is built, there's like three honors class or whatever and then it kind of goes off into like maybe ICT class and then like some of the

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regular classes and stuff, but then like they all stick to each other. So they don't necessarily interact with like you know people of different other kids of different backgrounds or like uh or learning abilities or anything like

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that. You don't get that um diversity. Yeah. >> So all the honest kids are always just interacting with honest kids, you know, and like know. So I feel like there needs to be more opportunities where they all get to integrate and actually learn from each other from a cultural or

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academic or whatever other sense. >> Yeah, I love I love that. um the the idea of making sure that you know and especially in uh in uh some of our middle school programming they they do tend to stay in uh in the same classroom

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with the same group of kids you know dependent on the school some have where there is this more of an individualized programming but um on the whole I agree with you and if they are not able to learn anything about their peers down the hall how can they possibly build a

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positive relationship with them so I I love that perspective effective. Yeah. And I I I agree they need practice in a controlled environment. Robin, what do you what do you mean by that? >> Um I agree that they need like like the uh person before me was just saying like

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you just uh recapped about like they need to like meet the kids in the other classes and down the hall, but like if you just kind of let them loose doing that on the playground, not know >> Right. Right. Okay. to them, you know, like >> communication not going so well, picking

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on each other, things and that. So, I think if they're like with adults and they're actually learning how to speak to each other respectfully um and learning about each other, then I think that's going to help. They they just need like some supervision and some guidance.

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>> Love that. Love that. Thank you for that uh for that additional context. I appreciate it. Um, and yeah, I think that the the space of accountability, Crystal, I think that is part of this, too, is that um, if we're going to if we're saying this inside of our surveys, then how do we put the kids uh, front

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and center around helping make things more positive? So, um, I love that. And the idea of structured engagement, Daffany, thank you so much for that, too. I think that's really important as well. um you know so you you know this gives me a little bit more context

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around ways that we can also build this out inside of our schools so that they're not left to just creating something out of nowhere that they have the ability to here's what we can do as students to make this something more feasible in our school and you know speaking to our counselors about this

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they talked about creating like monthly opportunities where kids can connect um you know in in productive ways so um I think that's really really awesome Awesome. Thank you guys for that. Um, and lastly, the the the the part that I want to discuss with you guys,

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um, which is I'm going to sh it's a lot of sharing, so excuse that. I'm going to do this as quickly as I can just to give you a little bit of background on, um, a portrait of a graduate and New York New York State Inspires. Uh, I did mention this to you in the past meeting, but I

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want to just give you a little bit more context. So, in 2024, um, New York State, and the reason why I'm doing this, guys, is because eventually our our young ones, um, will be going through a change in, um,

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diploma requirements. Um, it's going to be moving from this idea of multiple diploma options to one diploma with different seals that can go on a student's diploma. Um and there are four transformations that New York State has

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outlined to kind of redefine uh the knowledge and skills necessary for students to be deemed a graduate in New York State. Um, and those four things is are excuse me uh the adoption of the New York State portrait of a graduate, the

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redefinition of credits and learning experiences, sunsetting the diploma assessment requirements, and then moving towards one New York State diploma. Part of that transformation one is uh is around what you're going to see on the

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next slide and that's moving towards these six elements of expectation. One that our kids are academically prepared and can align them their you know and demonstrate their their proficiency against New York State

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learning standards that we're promoting creative innovators. that we're promoting this space of imagination, curiosity, that our kids are critical thinkers, uh that they're able to analyze information thoughtfully, evaluate evidence, um and

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address complex issues to help navigate things around them. uh that they're effective communicators, that we're creating confident um confident speakers and writers. Um global citizenship where they're they're able to act responsibly

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and ethically given local, global, and the digital communities that are in front of us. uh and reflective and fu uh future focus where we're promoting this space as self-reflection being able to identify strengths and areas of growth uh as a means of promoting this space of

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academic, social, emotional uh and mental well-being for uh for our learners as they graduate high school as a you because of that the trajectory is going to change around what it means for our kids to be a graduate. So you'll

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see the student on the left earned his graduation uh his graduate um high school graduate um capacity by earning a seal for biiteracy, successfully completing a capstone project um and completing an English composition course

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as an entry point to graduate high school. while the student on the right successfully completed a digital media communications program, passed the New York State exam in English language arts, and completed a summer internship uh for the community newspaper,

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excuse me. So, transformation two would be around redefining credits and learning experiences. So, student learning experience will expand the ways that students can demonstrate proficiency. Um it'll be a focus on proficiency rather than completion of units of study. There'll be requirements

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around uh instruction and financial literacy and climate education. And there's not an anticipated uh change in the elimination of the 44 required credits, but details are still to be determined on that.

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What will be coming in fact as early as next year for students in grades 4, 8, and 12, um is an amendment to expectations that students participate in personal finance education uh and climate education by the by the end of

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the last year of each grade band. So what does that look like? So students for personal finance education uh beginning with 2627, all students in grade bands between 5 and 8 will be expected to participate in

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personal finance education and all students in grades K through 4 beginning 2728 for finance education and climate education beginning 2728 for all students in grades 5 through 8 um and in

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high school as and beginning with 2829 for all students in grades K through 4. So you can see that there is a shift in terms of expectations for our learners and what they should be engaging in um as

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required by New York State. So learning experiences in order to participate um in order to make sure that we are aligning ourselves with the portrait of a graduate. So, approved work-based experiences, capstone

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learning projects, early college, um, high school experiences, uh, New York State credentials or seals like the seal for biiteracy or the seal for civic readiness. Uh, two of which, uh, one of which that we're really focused on here in the district already,

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which is that seal for civic readiness. uh high school courses. New York State approved CTE programs, participation in the arts and approve participating in and passing approved assessments.

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So students can still take regions exams when this, you know, moving forward, this is not sunset yet. Uh students can still take and pass regist exams, but moving forward they will no longer be a requirement in terms of earning a

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diploma. State assessments will begin continue to be administered per federal requirements and schools should continue to operate under current regions exam requirements until New York State proposes and adopts specific changes uh

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expected for fall 2027. And then the last transformation is a move from multiple diplomas which is the regents advanced and local diploma to one diploma um with special designations

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um which you will see in just a moment. Uh hold on let me go back. Um, so there'll be advanced designate designations uh will become a seal or endorsement among other potential changes to endorsements. New York City public school diploma certificates uh

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already follow these conventions. Seals are added to to our standard diploma certificate for special designations and those are what I just mentioned the seal for biiteracy and the seal for civic readiness. So here is just a timeline for for

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students in terms of these expectations. So students starting high school in 2324 or prior to the current diploma requirements leading to one of the three diplomas stays in effect. Students starting high school in in uh 2425 or

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the class of 28, class of 29 or class of 30. current credit requirements uh with diploma assessment requirements sunset fall of 27. Students will graduate with one diploma advanced designations uh will be added in terms of a seal of

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distinction. Class of 31 and 32, there will be new credit requirements and subset diploma assessment requirements, meaning students will no will not be required to pass regions exams to to graduate. And students will graduate with one diploma

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with redefined seals and endorsements. And students starting high school in 2930 and beyond. Uh students proficiency in both the learning standards and the portrait of a graduate will be required. And students will graduate with one diploma with the redefined seals and

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endorsements and a state trans statewide transcript will be required. So why am I sharing this with you? It's just to have your have information uh so that you know the direction that we will be going moving forward as a state but also New

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York City and district. So what we will be working on together over the course of time is gathering feedback from you around what does it mean to be academically prepared, a creative thinker, a critical thinker, effective communicator, global citizen, and

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reflective and future focused here in district 25. So we will begin these conversations. we're starting them now, but leading us into the future so that our kids are prepared for the high school expectations that are going to be upon them when they get there. Um, and

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that they're ready to earn those credits to be uh a high school graduate here in New York State and in New York City. So, that was a lot of information that I just shared with you. Uh, the intent was not for anything more thanformational. We will provide more time moving

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forward. I just wanted to give you a little bit of a snapshot of what is in front of us um as a district, city, and state. Um so if you have any questions, feel free to pop them in the chat or come off of mute. As I said, this was

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intended just to give you a snapshot of information for what's coming forward here at the uh district, city, and state level. Did anything hit home with you that you're like, I need to know more about that? or um you know I'm not sure what you

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mean by um as this is an ongoing process from the state through all of our districts across New York State and New York City and there'll be more to follow guys. So don't don't worry if there's nothing hitting you right now. Um

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but that's where we we currently are um as a district uh in regards to this future planning with New York inspires. Um a lot more info to come but wanted to give you this snapshot so you had a little bit of info.

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And if there are no questions that will bring my report today to a close. >> Actually I do have a question. ignorant but if the regent is not required to get a diploma what is the purpose of the regent exactly is it for

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assessment of the school >> so it will still be able to be you uh um students can still use it to uh as a means of high school graduation but it won't be a requirement meaning there will be that element of choice so some

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students can still take the regent exam as a means of uh of earning high school credit to graduate. Uh it will just no longer be a requirement. So there will be some there will be some that choose to do that. Uh they would ra

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much prefer to take the regent exam um as their latter towards graduation. Others will not. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Sure. >> Thank you Dr. Mike. very informative and very >> You're welcome. >> You're welcome. >> Yeah.

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>> Um, up next is our guest speaker from Queens Public Library, Lavinia Manusu. Welcome, >> Levvenia. >> Hi. I am so glad to be here because

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uh we also have a gazillion programs planned for the summer. But I want to remind everyone that a library is also a quiet place and you can go and chill and

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just read what you please and get your thoughts together. And I'm going to tell you about all the programs, but I also want to tell you that there's free Wi-Fi, there's free printing, there are free computers, everything at the Queens

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Public Library is free. And so, please take advantage of all of those opportunities. You don't have to participate participate in a program to use computers or some libraries have 3D

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printers. It is really amazing and it is important to check out what's going on at your local library. Uh I want to say that the slides I'm using can be shared. You

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can use them. Miss Viegas will send them to you if you want. And at the end of the slide presentation is my contact information and the person in charge of all the summer programs. So reach out to

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us if you would like us to make a presentation at your school either in person or virtually and feel free to use these slides to make your own presentations. Um, so one thing I want to remind you,

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if you want to find out what's going on at your nearby library, just go on to the website, uh, Queens Public Library, go on to calendar and then location because each library is

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doing something a little bit different this summer. So I am going to try sharing my screen and if that doesn't work, Miss Vijas will share hers. So here we go. And let's see if this will

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work. Is it working? >> Yes, it's working. >> Okay, great. So uh the theme of the summer is what's your story? And we have formal programs, uh, podcasting, a memory project, but

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also we want people to feel free to tell the librarians their story and find out exactly the right book or exactly the right program for them. Librarians are trained not to do reading tests, but to

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help people find the book, the just right book for them or the just right program or class for them. So, uh, let's see.

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Here is a map of the Queens Public Library system. And if you have a Queens Public Library card, you can go to any one of these libraries and take out books. And you

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can also return books to any one of these libraries. So if you take it out in Flushing, you can return it anywhere and get credit for it. They will send the book back to wherever it belongs.

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You can also request books from the library nearest you and they if it if they don't have it, they will get it for you from another library in the system. So, as you can imagine, there are

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thousands and thousands and thousands of books. So, the book you want is will be yours in a week or two. Uh so summer at Queens Library,

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uh we have all kinds of things going on and the libraries are open for everyone's enjoyment. They're all airond conditioned. Uh I mean, it's a wonderful place to hang

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out. Uh long ago when my son was small, we used to hang out at the library. Uh sometimes we go to programs, sometimes we just sit around looking at books. Uh one of the reasons to make sure that

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kids read over the summer is that it not only maintains their reading ability, but it helps them get ahead. And one of the unfair things about reading is that

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kids who like to read and read a lot effortlessly become better readers, become better writers, and become better testers. So, it's important for kids to do some

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reading over the summer. And I don't want to disparage those reading lists, but the most important thing is for kids to read a lot of what they like to read. Now, this research is old. There is new

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research that confirms this. The um the 2023 NAPE, the National Assessment of Education Progress, found that the kids who maintained or went ahead on their reading scores were the

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kids who read for fun on their own time. So, that may not be possible during the school year because I know the kids are buried in homework, but during the summer, kids should be reading what they like. Maybe it's manga, maybe it's picture books, maybe it's ya murder

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mysteries. Whatever it is, is they want to read it and they can read it. It's more important to enjoy a book that you know how to read than walk around with a book that you're supposed a good book.

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The definition of a good book is from the reader. If the students, if the children think it's a good book, it's a good book. And then uh we have a number of kickoff events that will be starting in June and

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there will be book giveaways and all kinds of celebrations. Again, go on the QPL website, go on, click on calendar and location and you will find out

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what's happening right down the block. We have all we hate to say this, but the Queens Public Library is a cradletograve operation. We have programs for babies. We have programs for expectant mothers.

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We have programs for senior citizens. And so some of the most interesting programs are the programs for small children. Uh we have toddler story hours. You can read this. We have a program that gets kids ready for

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kindergarten and then everyone is concerned about STEM. And the truth is that kids love science projects because they're real. And this summer's focus is on dinosaurs. And you know, if you have

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little kids, they love dinosaurs. So take advantage of these summer programs for very small children or for all kinds of children. We also have summer clubs. The clubs usually go together with our

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free lunch program. And then we also have programs for Did I skip a slide? No. Here we go. Uh we are always trying to lure teens into the library

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and so we have a lot of maker clubs. Uh apparently teens love to do the crafts that we grew up doing. We also have a very intense college readiness program where kids can even get individual

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counseling for um their college plans. And then as I told you, we have podcasting and social media projects which are for kids and by kids because we want to empower the teens as

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the superintendent said to take charge of a lot of their activities. And then we have volunteer opportunities. Uh here is a a link and you can go on the website and find it. So if you have

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teenagers who don't yet have summer jobs, see what they can do at the library. You would be amazed as at how many people who work in libraries either as librarians or administrators

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or helpers started by volunteering at a library and then they liked it so much they spent the rest of their life in a library. It libraries are fun places I have to confess.

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And then we are going to have a reading challenge uh with a game board. And it really is just reading for 20 minutes a day. Not you don't have to read what's on the suggested book list. You can read

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anything you please. You just have to log that you have read so many minutes a day. We want to make this as user friendly as possible and communicate that all reading is good reading.

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We also have summer meals. Uh I know the schools have summer meals. We are part of the same initiative. So, um, if you know, rather than go to a school, uh, and be in the cafeteria,

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come to a library. And a lot of the club programs or a lot of the special programs either are before the lunch or after lunch. So, you can combine a nice eating experience with another activity.

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Or you can just sit and read what you please. So I mean this is our story. We have 63 branches. There are five dedicated teen centers and then we have a mobile library. If you would like the mobile

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library which is a mini library in a bus. You can get library cards, you can take out books, you can return books, you can use computers. Um you just have to sign up for it to visit your school.

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So, um, go on the website and look up Mogul Library. If you can't find it, email me and I will send you the link. And you can also get an ecard. I mean,

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in addition to the gazillion books and magazines and uh and records and videos that you can get at the library. You can also get a lot of these things on the

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website virtually. You can get an ecard just by going on the website and filling out the information that's required. Uh the and you can get a physical library card by going to the library and I

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showing your address. Uh you can when you're through your library card, you can have access to a culture pass and you can also get some homework help from Brainfuse. Uh, the culture pass will

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help you get into theaters and museums, but I want to tell you that most museums that have government funding have a little tiny statement that says you can pay whatever you please.

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So, I know that most government-funded museums like the Museum of Natural History, the Metropolitan Museum, the Museum of the City of New York, the Queens Museum, look for that little tiny statement that says, "Pay what you

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please." And then, believe it or not, you can borrow up to 50 items. You don't have to take out 50 items, but especially if you're going with

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children, take out 10 books and have your kid look at them. The ones that they don't like, just return them. There are no late fees, but you must return the books. Sooner or

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later, they're going to ask you for that book back, and you have to pay for it. But there are no late fees for I mean when I was a child I was terrified of not returning the book on time. That

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anxiety is no longer. So I mean take out as many things as you want. Maybe you say, "Oh yeah, I really want this." Or maybe I'll take a look at it. You can borrow it on one library card. You can

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borrow 50 items, magazines, videos, books, what have you. Anyway, here is my contact information. I am Levvenia Manuso, the coordinator of

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my library NYC. Here's my email address. Here's the QPL website, which takes a little bit of navigating. It's not totally user friendly, but it's worth the effort. And then, uh, Melissa

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Malanuk is the dire the assistant director of all of our children, youth, and family services, and we are at your disposal. We will go out and visit your schools. Contact us, call us, please

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email me if you want some if you have questions or if you want to visit either virtual or in person. So, do you have any questions? Do we have time for questions, Miss Vijas? >> It's to the end, but if they do have any

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questions, they can always email you as well. >> Right there. I am. Any questions now? Okay, I'm going to stop my sharing >> and

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does someone have a question? Or you can put your questions in the chat. I'm looking at the chats. No questions for me. >> No questions. That was so informative. You covered so much. Thank you so much. That was great.

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>> Okay, be in touch. And remember, if you want this slide presentation, just ask Miss Viegas. She will send it to you and you can use it yourself or you can have us come out and do it for you. So, have

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a wonderful evening. The sun has finally come out. So, enjoy it. Bye. >> Thank you, Miss Manuso. Very, very informative. Thank you so very much for all of those resources that you shared with us today. >> Thank you.

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by go to the library. Hang out there. >> Okay. So, now we're going to have um title one DPAC members, Crystal Gonzalez from uh MS379, DPAC chairperson, and we have Jamie Wong

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from PS29, uh DPAC alternate, and we have a vacancy for the DPAC secretary. The DPAC secretaries uh uh duties and responsibilities are

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uh the recording secretary shall prepare meeting notices, agendas, signin sheets and record the minutes at all meetings. And now we are going to have the city pack updates from Jessica.

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>> Jessica. >> Yes, thank you so much Crystal. So yes, we attended the city pack meeting and uh here are some updates that the parent leaders should be aware of. Uh they have provided the citywide priorities for the new school year. And

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if you notice, instead of having the family engagement priority, a priority, they embedded it into each priority group. So each group has a family engagement. For example, priority two

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for math, they have the engage families as partners in understanding math learning progress progressions providing multilingual communication and school-based opportunities to connect with family to the real world and family context.

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Um they also provided uh central has created a timeline for the schools to follow the C development. They have included the dates with each activity and also the monthly as well. Um, this can help to be more organized and to

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plan ahead for the school year. They also have updated the chancellor's regulation, the A665. Uh, they've added the fourth mandate member uh who will be the pack chair. So they will go from the three mandatory

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member to now the four mandatory members. Um they are also having student members mandatory in the middle school and high school and they encourage students in student members in the elementary school. they have clarified the

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procedures by which students um shall be selected by the SLT. Um and they made it more clear for the procedures and steps to select for those students. Um and they are making more explicit

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requirements for the SLT that must follow the open law, open meeting law, excuse me, and have meetings in person as well. And they've clarified the types and amounts of renumer sorry that's tongue twister

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remunerization that is allowed during the summer months. Um they've also have um if the b so the del delineates consensuous based on decision making as the c and

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school-based budgeting. So if the board cannot come to a decision, they will try two more times and after the third attempt, it will be a majority vote. Also, when filing election grievance, school must follow the same procedures

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as the A660 as well. And uh there's training and support that are provided by the DTS who are supported by the division of school leaders as well. We also have our DPAC election coming up which is a two-year term. We have our

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chairperson which I do believe Miss Crystal will be running again. >> Yes, I will. >> And we'll have our alternate which will be Jamie Wong who which she'll it will be her last year on her two-year term. And we'll have the secretary which will

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is vacant. We also have our reminders of what that 1% engagement fund can be used for and we have the examples up for all and we have examples on what the expenditures cannot be used.

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Uh these slides will always be provided for you for any of support. These are our title one schools. We have 26 title one schools out of 36. And this list keeps growing. We also have our parent engagement um

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list of parent workshops and training providers. These list are is a list of DOE vendors and training providers that can help cons that you can consider utilizing when it comes to your title one funds. We have our next DPAC meeting which will

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be Wednesday, June 26th at 5:00 PM which will be our DPAC elections. You can these will be um on Zoom and you can go on to our D25 website to go on to that link.

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We also have our president's council meeting coming up as well in June 15th on Monday. That also be our president's council election on Zoom at 6:30m which you can also on the link on D25

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as well. And lastly, we have our con our CEC meeting which are in person. Next one will be June 10th on Wednesday. And if you'd like, you can also go on Zoom and be attended there through the District

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D25 website. Okay, Crystal >> and we thank you for participating in our DPAC meeting. The next DPAC meeting and it will be elections also is June 24th, 2026. Um you can log on to D25

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to see all of the information and uh to log on to the Zoom uh for the meeting. Thank you all for coming. Thank you. Is there any questions? >> Oh,

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just a quick point of clarification, guys. The CC meeting on the 10th is their annual um student student event. So, it's not the typical meeting. They're still holding a meeting, but this is more of a

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celebration of of students and staff. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Mike. Can we get approval for to adjourn this meeting? >> Approve. >> Thank you, Robin. Can we get a second? >> Approve.

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>> Thank you. Thank you. Okay, our DAC meeting has ended. Thank you everyone for attending. >> Have a great night everyone. Jessica, can I ask you a quick question? >> Yes. >> Um,

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let me >> Hi, Bright Lights. So, um, I have a question about, um, Title One expenditures. My question basically is um my school was is interested in um doing an event in

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like October, November, like earlier in the school year than we usually do, but we're wondering if we can get like our um if we can get approval for that like >> in September >> or September. I could find that out for

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you, Robin, if I can just >> you can just email me. >> Where do you normally get approval from? From the principal or from someplace else? Um, we usually fill out the form. Um, the form. Um, my gosh, I'm new to this. We usually fill out >> It goes It goes to the principal though, right? >> Yes. Through the principal.

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>> Yeah. Yeah. If you guys have a plan uh the budget the budget is there. It's there over the summer. So, if you have a plan, you can definitely try to introduce that as soon as possible. >> Okay. So, we would do it the same way

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like fill out the form and submit it. >> It just it just would be the timing. you know, you want to get it in as soon as possible with respect to the big the busyiness of the beginning of the school year, but um yeah, I think I don't see a a problem with that. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Okay. I I just wasn't sure like

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how often they're like reviewed and whatnot because we usually submit it like in like December, I think. So, so you're saying it's fine submit it and >> Yeah. >> Okay. Awesome. >> You know what the allocation is? >> It doesn't change too much. So as long

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as you know whatation is usually parent involvement uh then you can go ahead and start make sure that you're you know I'm not sure if you are you guys going to have elections for uh for your own >> Yeah, we are actually. Yeah.

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>> So a lot of that would have to go through whomever it is that serves. Um, so you can kind of plan forward, but ultimately it's got to be the next group that that chooses what that's going to be. >> Ah, yeah, you're right. Okay. Okay. >> Okay.

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>> But definitely you can get that is submitted though in September with that new group. >> Yeah. Okay. So I can we can have it all ready to go. The new group is elected and then boom, it gets submitted under them. Okay. Awesome. Okay. Sounds good. Thank you so much. >> All right. Thank you. All right. Thanks. Take care. Bye.

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>> Bye. Any other questions? Okay, thank you everyone. Have a great night. >> Good night. Good night everyone. Good night.