So our agenda for this evening is to go over the for the overview of the number of amendment is to go over some plan highlights. Excuse me. The capacity program, our capital improvement program that we have, for our existing school buildings, the resolution a program, the minority owned and women owned and locally based enterprises or MWLBE program, the CEC priority project request that Craig was referring to, earlier, and field any questions or comments you may have, about the presentation.
So for our November 2025 amendment, under these four categories, we have a total amount of $20,900,000,000. With within the 20,900,000,000.0, we have 6,980,000,000.00 allotted for capacity. This is to it includes funding to provide for new seats. It also includes funding for our facility replacement program, new schools to new, buildings with expiring leases. Healthy schools, 2,300,000,000.0. This includes funding for our electrification program for existing buildings, heating plant upgrades, physical education
upgrades, and funding for learning garden and cafeteria enhancement experience. 7,920,000,000.00 for the capital improvement program. This is our typical program that you see at many of our schools. Typically, you'll see you could see sidewalk shed or scaffolding. You know, this is our exterior masonry repair projects, our roof, upgrades, boiler replacement projects, you name it. I'm sure you've been in many schools, seen work going on there. That's our capital improvement program. And lastly, our mandated program.
So this is, funding that this includes funding for local law compliance, mandated pro, mandates, and building code compliance. Okay. So for some citywide highlights, we have new capacity, again, for 6,130,000,000.00. This is for buildings or for building new buildings and additions to new buildings. Hey, Josh. Let me just stop you for a minute. There is a lag be between what you're saying and what's showing up on the screen. So if you okay.
Now we're good. Guest view. I see it in the guest view. Okay. Gotcha. Okay. I'll slow it up a bit. As I mentioned, new capacity, 6,130,000,000.00. This is for new buildings, additions to existing buildings, and upgrades to existing buildings like classroom renovations to increase the amount of seats in existing buildings. 1,400,000,000.0 for electrification. So these are upgrades that help reduce, our reliance on fossil fuels and aid in
providing for a more cleaner and sustainable environment in our school buildings. 1,250,000,000 for technology enhancements. So this is funding for telecom upgrades to our buildings and helping increase bandwidth of our Internet capacity in the buildings as well. 800,000,000 for accessibility. These are upgrades to existing building to provide for ramps and, where possible, the installation of, elevators. It also includes upgrades to pathways to get to, those, accessible spaces, like widening the doors, upgrading certain bathroom spaces, provide for ADA accessible spaces in the building as well.
40,000,000 for physical space education upgrades. This is funding to improve our existing gyms, and it could include improved lighting, floors, and other additional safety measures like the padding you see in this photo. And the cafeteria enhancement experience for 150,000,000. These are upgrades to the cafeteria lines and survey areas to make them more appealing to the students by providing brighter lighting and fresher looking, food. Okay. I just switched the page. I'm gonna give that a second to show up on y'all screen as well.
Give that just a moment. There we go. One second. It might switch briefly. Just happened to touch the arrow key. It might switch back. But, so under the capacity program for 6,980,000,000.00 that we mentioned earlier under the four categories, again, new capacity for 6,130,000,000.00. I had mentioned that the capacity program also, includes our replacement program. This is the 400,000,000 allotted for relocating, existing schools. We're expiring leases to find alternate, new sites for those, schools to be located. Capacity to support TC removal, 200,000,000.
These are funds that expand our effort of building the capacity to support the removal of temporary structures, especially focused on, schools that are are that are overutilized. 51,000,000 for playground redevelopment. So what this is is funding the the removal of temporary structures where they're no longer needed at the space. Typically, with these playground redevelopment projects, this also includes funding to support the creation of our brand new playground once the TCU's have been, removed. Lastly, under the capacity program, there's 200,000,000 for early education, citywide.
The next slide is District 2 capacity highlights, which should be appearing shortly. We have a PS at 2 Hudson Square with a total seat capacity of four thirty three with the anticipated occupancy for September 2029 and APS and IS at Western Rail Yards with total seat the total seat capacity of six eighty six. Anticipated occupancy for September 2032. Switching the slide here.
Trying to switch the slide here. One second. Y'all can still see the screen. Right? Oh, frozen. Yeah, Josh. I can see the screen. Oh, okay. Yeah. I'm trying to switch it, but it stops. Yeah. The slide isn't moving. I'll see if I can I'll get this presentation. Maybe I'll have better luck than you. So keep trying to, move the screen. If not, I'll try to do it. Yeah. I see my video. It was, like, lagging. One second. Let me just try to turn it off real quick. Is that alright, folks? One moment here. We do apologize. I can try to share.
Are you having any luck, Josh? I can try to share it, the presentation. You could. Yeah. Alright. Why don't you, take down your your presentation? Do you want me to try to do it from my computer? No. It's completely blocked. Craig. I I know where it's sent it to. Right? No. That's fine. I think you sent it. It's in the chat, I think. Right? No. That was the FaceTek. Oh, you want is it the did you send it to me? Is that what you sent me this is what you sent me earlier today. Right? Yeah. We sent it to you earlier today. Yeah. Hold on. Let me let me find it. Josh, can you stop sharing?
Have you been able to do that? Are you frozen? Hold on. Let me go into my email. Stop. Well, it doesn't make a difference. I have to go faster because I'm waiting for my you know, technology, man, when it fails you, you're just not out of luck. So is frozen. Not just the presentation, he is frozen. And for whatever reason, he can't seem to unshare. But Craig is Give me one second, and I will I will I will open it up. And on and I will finish for him, or I'll make make a best effort
to go through this. And we appreciate your patience. Yeah. Give me one second because I'm yeah. It's telling me you can't open the file, so give me a second. I tried to share it. It said the multiple presenter problem. So Like that because Josh is probably still Oh, I think. Okay. He's off. Alright. Did you find the presentation, Craig? I did. I'm try it's it's giving me a problem opening it. So hold on a second. Let me try something else. Save it to my desktop. K. It's not opening it that way. Let me open it up a different way.
Here we go. Nope. The line opening. I'm getting error messages. There must be a problem with the file that you sent me because it's not opening. Okay. I'm gonna try to share where Josh left off. So let me see if I have any better Yeah. They tried opening it in different platforms, and it's Can you see that, everyone? Is there anything visible on your screen? Yes. Yeah. Capital group is on there now. So we'll see how we make through make it with this one.
Okay. So Josh's last comment was, I'm hoping, from this page. Oh, man. Mhmm. No. Not that one. He was talking about your capacity programs. We went through that. We went through that. That was his last, information. So let's go to capital improvement. So the, capital improvement is about work that we do in our existing buildings. And how do, how do these prod how are these projects generated?
Then there are five different ways. One is through our BCAS process, which is our building condition assessment survey. And, that survey is an assessment of all the elements of the building, the mechanical, the architectural, and the electrical elements of the building. We manage, about, you know there are about 1,600 buildings in the portfolio, the DOE's portfolio, and, there is a visit, a yearly visit to all these buildings to assess
the conditions of those elements of the building. After the review, there is an assigned condition, one between one and five. Any condition that is assigned to four or five is reviewed by the SCA, and it has the potential to become a project in the capital plan. The other way is through, DSF, the division of school facilities, making referrals to the SCA on conditions in buildings where they are not able to manage, like a maintenance
condition. If there if it if it's above a threshold that's been determined by them, which is about anything about $58,000, they will then you know? And and also the condition of the, the situation, they'll refer to the SCA. We have mandated repairs that we have to make if there's something that comes through in in terms of the local law, then it needs to be addressed by the SCA. The resume program is a program that is funded by your elected official, your council member, or your board president.
And then there is the CEC request that have been referred to many, many times already at this meeting. I just want to refer you again to the deck that we had reviewed with the CEC. It is now in chat. And what are some of the kinds of projects that, we completed the SCA? These are major, major projects. Exterior masonry, window replacement, parapet replacement, flood elimination, roof replacement, accessibility, playground upgrades, auditoriums, and gymnasium upgrades.
And, you know, it's very likely if you see a shed at a building, it's very likely that there is a current SCA project or a pending SCA project at that building. So those are capital or examples of how and the kinds of projects that become capital improvement projects. So I'm gonna go to the next page. Fingers crossed that this is successful. There you go. So here are district two highlights of projects. And, you will see that there are lots of categories here.
But if you look at the bigger number items, we're talking windows and exterior masonry, the flood elimination, you will see that, this is very much in alignment with the SCA strategy for keeping our buildings watertight. When decisions are made about projects, that is the primary, that is per the priority, for for making an, something a project at the SCA. Resolution a projects are projects that are capital eligible school specific or enhancement projects funded
by a New York City elected official, your council member, or your board president usually. And this is an example of what a reservoir project is. It's a hydroponic lab in a school building. Just wanted to give you some information on the timeline. I need to change my view here. Let's see. The timeline for this Resouae project is quite extensive, actually. It has to do with elected officials contacting schools around the January time frame all
the way to late spring late fall, early spring when a decision is to be made by by OMB, and OMB release of funds. The thing that I want to point out here is that, you know, schools will say, I requested the money. They told me I got the money. Where's my project? It's, a little more detailed and extensive than that. Just, you know, we have to go to people for them to release the funding.
And one of the other things that I'd like to point out is that we don't start projects unless we have the complete funding for that project through OMB. So please keep that in mind for resolution a projects. So here are some of the District 2 reso a highlights. 50 auditoriums for $12,000,000, playgrounds for $10,000,000. These are also examples of, referrals that you can make to your council member, when you're requesting a project.
I know that items came in. You know? I I need an auditorium upgrade. I need a library upgrade. There's a science lab upgrade or a playground upgrade that's needed. This is a very good example of, making a referral to your council member for filing for these kinds of projects. Okay. Change of topic here. MWLBE. The SCA is dedicated to increasing participation of minority owned, women owned, and locally based business enterprises, MWLBE, on SCA's project, including through MWLBE targets on our projects.
We also run a mentor program, which provides key support and access to capital and business opportunity for qualified emerging MWLBEs. So the district two MWLBE highlights is in fiscal year twenty twenty five in school district two. The SC awarded $2,300,000 in prime contracts for CIP work to four MWLPE firms at four projects. This represents 19% of all contracts for CIP work is school district two.
So the topic that has been brought up a bit this, this during this presentation has to do with the priority project request form from the CEC. It's an annual submission. Each November, the CECs are asked to complete a form identifying top five projects in their district. Forms are due in mid January, and there's the email address to, forward your forms. These forms will be coming out shortly, and you will have the due date on
the form. The recommended consultation and review processes as follow. Review capital eligibility guidelines ensuring that your project meets thresholds, cost, trades, areas, etcetera, as determined by the NYSC controller and enforced by OMB. And those details are more in that face deck that I posted in the chat. Review the capital plan identifying what plan projects are already funded in your district. Identify program in the capital plan that projects might be classified as.
Capacity, CIP, healthy schools, etcetera. Review projects with your custodian engineer, your DDF for maintenance and or repair items, and I strongly, recommend that. And consult with your principals about projects ensuring agreement and priorities. The submission guidelines are as follows. You prioritize the five projects on the request form. And, Craig, thank you for, you know, following those guidelines and on, you know, submitting three, and I know I know you have questions about them.
We do we had sent a response. The SAA does not does major capital renovations only. Please make that a consideration. For building maintenance or projects that are ineligible, principals can request repairs from the custodian and or, their DDF through the division of school facilities. Our capital present plan presentation, which we're doing now, is the annual presentation, which provides an overview of any changes to the plan and highlights specific specific projects and funding
in each district. And today's presentation is for not is not for reviewing or discussing individual CEC requests or submission. And you know Josh, I'm Yvette Knight. For any information on ResAway funding, if you'd like, if principals need a quote on something they want to propose to their council member, then mister Brian McGinn is the contact at the SCA. And then we do have an email for which you can send in some, you
know, questions or information on your comment form. And that ends the, presentation. I am going to stop sharing. And please, we can, let me know of any questions. So, hey, Josh. You're back. Yeah. Josh Josh is back. So I'm gonna start off about that, folks. That was pretty insane crash there. But, yes, I'm back. Thank you, Yvette, for covering the the the rest of the presentation. Thanks. So so, Josh and Yvette, I'm gonna start off.
I have I have two questions. The first question is on the, new buildings. This one the second building, which was the, combined elementary's proposed combined elementary into, middle school. I'm guessing it's by Hudson Yards. You list that as a 2032 move in date. You know, doors open. That's seven years from now. Do you have a location? And if you have a location, why is it taking seven years? I I know you have to do design. I know there's permitting, and I know that takes time.
But that seven years is a very seems to be a very long time to go through that process. And one of the reasons why I say that is because that would covers an an area that I think has a need for a middle school, which is, you know, Hell's Kitchen. It's pretty close to Hell's Kitchen. Their current zone middle school is a great middle school, but it's it's further down in the village. So I think that would be a welcome addition to the to the community. So my first question is, why does it taking seven years to get that building up? So, Craig, this is I believe, actually, we are fitting out this space.
So or it's, this the the the the building that we're looking at actually privately owned. I believe it's gonna be a, a lease space. So we're currently waiting on the developer to Okay. Do all the work that they need to do inside the building first before we can actually go in and do the fitting out that we need for the space. So it's currently with the developer. We're, of course, coordinating with them and trying to confirm when they're going to be conducting that work and completing that work. Our best estimates currently is for September 2032, unfortunately.
Understood. So you're at the mercy of the of the landlord, essentially. That's right. That's right. Is is the lease signed, and how long is the lease for? Because if it's not opening for seven years, if it's a twenty year lease, that's thirteen years of operations before you have to renew. They use it for something. You know? How how long would that lease be for? Is that, like, a fifty year lease, hundred year lease? I don't know the duration of the lease, and I'm not sure if the lease has been signed yet. I I can certainly confirm with our real estate team. Yeah. I'll be interested in that. And then the second question I have is a is a more general one.
Because, as you know, the three requests we put in were denied or at least not going to be done. And my understanding and I was not on the council that term, but two terms ago, nothing was approved either. And I've heard that from other councils as well. And some of us spend a lot of time with our schools, and we evaluate with with the school community, the principal, parent leaders, what are the needs, and then we we spend time evaluating, suggesting, putting this together. But I've heard from, you know, from our experience and from other counsel's experiences that
the CEC requests aren't generally ever touched. They're never approved. There's a lot of stuff that has to be done by the SCA. I get it. There's only a 5 out of out of dollars. But how often are CEC requests actually granted? Because I'm trying to gauge for all the work that we're doing, are we taking are not just CEC two, but how seriously are the CECs being taken? Sure. And for I, unfortunately, could get back to you on the information about how often
CEC requests are actually, confirmed. Many of the so, like, the presentation we gave to you folks the other day, many of the requests that we do receive from CECs are a combination of a few things. One, maintenance items, that can be corrected or directed to DSF to perform those items. Some of the requests are requests that could fall under the resolution a program, which are typically to be you should contact the the council members and the borough presidents
for that funding. The SCA's prime focus is doing capital work. No. No. I I I understand that. I I'm talking about of the actual true SCA. I'm not talking about things that are you're gonna say are not us or not you. That that I I get. You can't control that. But actual true SCA requests and and I don't mean to put you on the spot because if you don't have the information, you know, I'd love for you to get back to me. But how many s c true SCA requests that went to the SCA from a c from a CEC request form have actually been done, have actually proceeded?
That's that's my my question. And and if you don't have the information now, if you can get that's fine. I I get it because I'm just throwing the question at you. But if you can get that information to me, I would be I would just be curious because I wanna make sure that the work that we're doing and all the work that we're spending our time on does actually is meaningful to the SCA. If I'm allowed to just jump in here, we'll we'll get back to you, and I absolutely appreciate the question. What I'm hearing you know? And I've been here for a while.
I've done these presentations in our boroughs. I'm familiar with, you know, as the director now, I I see what's going on across the city, and I do understand the frustration. So we're gonna get back to you, Craig. And, Thank you. I know I appreciate it. Wanna to put voice to what I am hearing is the frustration around why we're doing this if, you know Yeah. Whatever. So I get it. Yeah. I I would also recommend that you give us actual explanations because you gave me
explanations after I had to ask. And I I, again, I know it's your process. I get it. You have a lot of those requests. I'm not directing these this frustration at the two of you, but we get something back as do all CECs that say no. Project not funded. And then I went back to you and I said, I don't understand why. Could you give me more color? And you did. You were very gracious, got back to me quickly. But, you know, know, if you eliminated that step and you just told us, that'll also kinda be helpful because you quite you did point me in a direction, which was helpful. And we're working on that. Yeah. Understood. Working to revise the response.
Okay. And we're gonna be sending something out when we have finalized that information. So, yeah, we get that frustration too. Yep. We understand it's not clear. And you asked us that in our meeting when when we did the presentation. So Yep. We understand. Yes. I get it. Mhmm. I'm gonna allow ask if any of my council member fellow council members have any questions because I don't wanna monopolize the time. Council member Bowen. Thank you for your presentation. I have a question regarding the two, new sites that you put up, two Hudson Square and one in the rail yards. One was labeled as a PSIS, the one in the rail yards, and the one
in two Hudson Square was labeled as a PS. When is the determination made as to what type of school it should be, and who has the authority to change whether or not it gets allocated to be a elementary school, a middle school, or a high school or some other designation. Sure. I mean, it's, it's really all based on seat need for those specific, school for the specific PS or IS. We do all that analyzing between SCA and DOE on what their needs are.
It's a combination of a bunch of factors that we look into on a, on a annual basis. So we're looking at factors of oh, well, particular trends of changes in the community, new buildings going up, people, moving in and out of the community. We look at census data, all these factors that we take into account to determine what the seed it is and what we can anticipate or or and what kind of seats are required for that space.
Again, whether that's PS, spaces or IS. And currently, you know, these are the two low t two, areas of need that we currently have in District 2. Yvette, I don't know if you wanna make any additions. Yeah. The decision, as as Josh mentioned, is a collaboration. There's a determination based on seat need. And, the decision really if you would like to change that, you'll you'll need to address it with the DOE or New York City Public Schools.
They are the programming entity for, schools. But, again, as Josh mentioned, the decision was based on everything you mentioned there, primarily driven by seed need. If you would like for them to make another decision, which I would softly suggest is a little late for those locations, you are free to contact the office of district planning at the New York City Public Schools.
Thanks for your response. I understand that democrat, demographics are shifting over time, and you guys are planning many years out in terms of determining capacity. I do also look at your time frame for 2 Hudson Square, and I think you have underestimated the time for that building to be built and then turned over to the school construction authority for, construction of the the school within the development envelope. It is still a hole in the ground for people who live near that site. So I would encourage you to look carefully at what the time frame is for
that specific site because I think it's well beyond 2029. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Any other thank you. Any other questions? Okay. And just as a reminder for the council, district planning does come in to speak with us. They came in, and I'm working on scheduling that. So so they will come in. Yes. But they'll come in so that we can ask questions. We're working on the scheduling. Okay. So, Yvette, Josh, thank you very much. I appreciate you, taking the time to speak with us. It was a very helpful presentation. Thank you so much. Thank you, everyone. Nice to meet all of you, and, happy holidays.
Happy holidays, folks. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. So, next on the agenda is the first public speaker session. Victor, do you have I think we have four people. Okay. So we don't have a lot of people tonight. Sorry. Thank you. We have a a lectern. Actually, can we share our microphone? Yeah. We're gonna give that microphone there. We'll share the microphone. Yeah. I have spoken at these meetings before. I am a female athlete who wants the girls to have their own locker rooms free from biological males and to have their own school sports.
I'm dedicating my speech today to Tish Hyman, a woman who did not want a biological male in her gym in her gym locker room. And for that, she was kicked out of her gym. It's appropriate today, we're at the Department of Education's headquarters, and this is the same DOE, which killed resolution two forty eight. So it was unnecessary to pass any opposition to resolution two forty eight because resolution two forty eight was already a corpse baby killed by the Department of Education, the
same Department of Education in which former chancellor David Banks resigned because of federal corruption investigations, the same Department of Education which did not inform Sauk School parents of its planned merger. This is the same one, and I think some of the new people might be confused about your role here. You're pretty much powerless, except for maybe zoning. You're supposed to take what people say as the community, and despite what Gavin might want you to think, I am the community, and bring it to the Department of
Education, which I'm doing right now. As I and so, superintendent McGuire, I have a question for you. What about the girls, the biological girls, who are uncomfortable with biological males in their locker room and in their sports. What do you have to say to them? And I ask you, the council, to ask superintendent McGuire that question because he's gonna try to dodge it because that's what he does with every question. The corrupt pharmaceutical industry is after our kids' bodies, which I've said before.
And what I've also said before is that That's time. Okay. My final comment is when you passed opposition two forty eight, all they did was reiterate their affirmation of their gender guidelines, which is exactly what they did when you when two forty eight was passed. And what I meant was when you passed opposition to two forty eight, exactly the same outcome happened as when you passed the 48. Time. Glad to be back here at district two. I'm also glad that, Aaron's feeling much better over the last month.
We missed you so much. Especially, like I said, this side this side of the board knows how to team, how to make a good team. Right? Right, Cody? Yes. But, anyway, thanks. We need we need to, pass, some resolution that would basically that would ban the controversial two forty eight from ever returning again. That's what we need. No more bigotry anywhere. World without. As you know, it's it's been a couple weeks since the, since November elections, and, of course, a former a former council member here lost lost her bid to the,
Manhattan DA. Yeah. We're we all know we're not naming any names, but we know that this this reprehensible person, the author of two forty eight, lost her contest. So and I'm glad that Manhattan reelected the incumbent to four more years as DA. Congratulations. And last but not least, I won't be here next month because I I got, some priorities. But when I come back in January, we'll, we'll, we'll see what the plan is for other things moving forward. So happy Thanksgiving, happy holidays, happy New Year, and, see you all in January.
Am I supposed to look this way or this way? Thank you. Okay. Hi. I'm Jenny Young. I'm a a more a parent at 75 Morton. I also have a, elementary school kid at PS 41. And I just want to say thank you so much to the district two CEC, for giving seventy five Morton's parents and families a space to just talk about our beautiful school. My daughter is passing out a little thank you note. It's just from a little thank you token of our appreciation. We really appreciate it. We heard that, the word is getting out.
We know that there are members on the CEC that when people ask, tell me a little bit about Morton, they said, oh, you should talk to this parent group. So I just wanna say thank you. Thank you so much for just kind of spreading spreading the love. I wanna give you a little update on how our little publicity is doing. We have had, 10 open houses and tours, and they have all reached capacity, which is incredible. And they're still reaching capacity right now, which is amazing because this is, like, at the final run, so much so that we had to add two extra tour dates.
And so the very last tour date, I think, was added, like, a day or two ago, and there are still spots open. So if anybody is wondering what is the seventy five Morton that you're hearing all about, please go to 75morton.org, and you can sign up, for that last spot. Oh, I should tell you the date. It is December 5 at 09:30 in the morning. And then, also, tomorrow, we have an open house. The difference between an open house and a tour is there's no children. But the o it's at 6PM tomorrow, and we're trying to make it so that
everybody who wants to come can come. I think we have 75 people coming, which is amazing. So, but I'm we're trying to make it open for everybody. So, I think that that is what I wanna say. I just wanna say thank you. The word is out. People are understanding what an inclusive school it is, what a beautiful school it is, what an inviting community. People are understanding that our school meets all kids where they are and, then meets them where they are and gets them to that next academic level. So I just wanna say thank you again. Thank you for letting us come, and I'm done.
Okay. Wait. And now I'm passing oh, now I'm passing the mic to my dog. Before you do that, it I believe there's an email address that people can parents, prospective parents can email. Thank you. You know what I'm saying? Thanks, Greg. I do. The email address is, Erica, he would put it in the chat as well, what some of my team members are there. Did she already? Yeah. Okay. It's welovemorton@gmail.com. Thank you. And that will get you to a a parent body. So if you have questions about drama or sports or academics or who knows what, IEP, kids with five o fours, ADHD, which is my family, we will connect you
to the right type of parent that has a similar thing thing, whatever questions you have, and then we'll help you out. Thanks, Greg. Thanks. And now I'm gonna hand this to my really adorable daughter, really smart too. I'm just staying over here. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Hello. I didn't know I was supposed to talk yet, so here I am. I didn't know until today I was supposed to say anything. Alright. I like Morton because everybody is really friendly. Like, you can say hi to somebody, and then they'll smile at you because if they don't smile, then they're weird. And I had some other things planned to talk about.
Oh, the library. Right. The library is I like the library a lot. I especially like the librarian. She, gives me book rec book recommendations. And I'm in the drama group, and I really like having people that, like, get me because I don't yeah. I feel like it's like in middle school, I didn't really have people who really, really got me before middle school, and now I have people who got me. I also like, the teachers.
The teachers teach you, like, they talk to you like you're full people. I feel like sometimes adults don't talk to kids like they're full people, but the teachers here do. So yeah. And, also, I can't think of anything else to say. So Great. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. And that concludes the, public speaker session. I did actually I should have noted this earlier. Council for the record, council member is is here. She was late, but for the record. For the record. Okay. Okay. So next is the president's report. Keep it brief. I hope everybody had a great October and a great November.
Today is New York City Schools oh, well, it's fine. I'll use this one. New York City Schools Climate Action Day, with a theme of waste. I know many schools had initiatives to honor the day the day with actual action. Middle school applications are open, and I know, ma'am, as we just heard, many families are eagerly checking their lottery numbers. Applications closed on February, Friday, December 12. Offers to be released Wednesday, the April fifteenth. High school applications are open. I have heard several issues with the administration of the Chassat. I know there were some computer glitches.
There were accommodations that were not met. If there are any issues and you're not getting the right help, please, please, please contact us, and we can we will try to help you. We've done that with a few people already. So we know that things happen. This was the first I think it was the first time it was it was, computer. So, if there are any issues, please, please, please contact us, and we can see what we can do to help you. We have contacts, you know, in the DOE, that that might be able to do do so. Applications for all other school applications for all other schools, including LaGuardia, close on December
3. Offers released Thursday, March 5. Can do art in applications, are due open up on Wednesday, December 10, close on January 24, offers released early April. Pre k applications on Thursday open up on Thursday, January 15, close on February 28. In our December, DEC CEC meeting, Aaron Gerhant, who's leading the class size reduction planning for the DOE, will be presenting to us, and thank you for, to the superintendent for organizing that. This is gonna be an excellent opportunity to hear how our schools will comply.
We have a number of schools in our district that are quite overcrowded, and we hear about it all the time. And I know I've spoken to several parents at several schools about their concerns of how they're going to achieve this important reduction. So it'll be good to hear from, Erin Gearhead Gearhead. The council will, of course, be able to fire some questions at her, and if you have certain questions that you want, them to prepare ahead of time, to answer, please email me or Victor, and we can get them over to her. Thank you to all the parents and council member Healy. I don't know. Did you speak to him at the p the pet meeting, like, last time?
The last pet meeting on October 29 to speak about about both the busing issue and concerns about the River School. At the last minute, thankfully, there was an extension a temporary extension of existing contracts through the end of the year. So there was no there would be no disruption of service because that was a big risk. There's a ton of work to be done. I think the PEP is actually looking at another contract tonight, which I don't think really makes sense, but I won't I will not editorialize further. But every we all know how bad the busing situation has been for years and years. We have the, resolution on the busing this evening that, council member Lindquist already, already
represented. Finally, regarding Salk, as superintendent Maguire has said several times, and he can probably reiterate it again, the process has been paused while we gather some more information, hear from families, and frankly, see how things take shape take shape under the new administration. So there is no update. And then most importantly, I would like to take this opportunity to wish a very happy early birthday to the woman on my left. Her birthday is tomorrow. She is turning 23, I believe. So happy early birthday just to embarrass you.
And with that, I'm gonna turn it over to superintendent Maguire. Happy birthday. Thanks. Oh, in lockup. I'll see soon. Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I can do this way. I can do it. Okay. Thank you very much. Thanks. Just wait on the pipeline. Yeah. No. I appreciate that. But thanks everybody for having me. You should be able to share. Okay. And turn the microphone off for us. I think I'm on this one. Yeah. So, yes. Thanks everybody for having me, and, thanks, Craig, for the, updates that you shared there. I will say also that, your child's school, if you're looking for questions and answers
to the SHSAT, is a great place to go if you have any questions. We have been, addressing anything that comes up, and the SHSAT team is, they really been fantastic at, answering those questions quickly for parents, so that's great. So a couple of things. I'll share a few updates tonight, and I will share a couple of preliminary items in regard to class size reduction. We are continuing our core curriculum work and wanna be able to answer any questions that you have in regard to that. Our family leadership coordinator and family support coordinator, Tina Yacker and Lolita Kaburi, have been
doing a lot of work around Save for College with our parent coordinators and then, of course, looking, ahead to a few different dates that are coming along. But we had another school spotlight, visit in October. This time, we visited p s forty two. The mission and, the focus for the p s forty two visit was really centered on their NEST program. P s forty two, graduated their first group of students from NEST, just this past year. And what's just really fantastic when you learn about a program that is so well
supported, that holds so many resources, It's, it really tells you, what is possible, when, different, when resources come together and groups of people come together, and there's real vision for serving and supporting, this group of students who are on the autism spectrum disorder or autism spectrum. And so we are looking forward to our next school spotlight visit, which is going to be tomorrow, actually, at PS three. And so we're excited to visit there as well. I did wanna share a couple things in regard to class size reduction.
So, currently, as a system, we are at about 64%. 60% was the goal for the system this year. In District 2, we are not at 60%. We're at 48%. But the additional funding and reconfiguration and reprogramming in many of our schools did reflect a 22% increase in the number of classrooms that were in compliance, that are in compliance this year. As you see from these numbers, 42% of middle schools and 58% of elementary schools,
those are the rates of compliance, that are in effect right now, but our schools are currently in the process of looking to the following year, and I'll talk about that on the next slide. But we are gonna have another opportunity, as a system this year, and schools are gonna have another opportunity to really try and meet these two benchmarks that are coming up 80 next year. And then the following year, we are to be 100% compliant, as a system. So the city is going about the process of helping having schools apply for additional
funding, and support to achieve that 80% or have us work toward achieving that 80% system wide. Principals received a survey that all principals are completing. Last time around, it was really only schools that, felt as though they had a plan that they could put into place, and, so those were the schools that received additional funding last year. This year, since we need to get to 80% as a system, all schools are, going to be completing this survey.
And there are a few key points that are on that survey. So, on the left hand side here, in which I said a survey to every school that's due on December 3, these are, like, the topics that are discussed in the survey. And then on the right hand side in in regard to questions, those are really the specific questions that are, being addressed. So, the survey, generally speaking, asks principals along with their teams to evaluate space ability availability in the building, really consider the resources of human resources, the people, that might
be needed, and that they currently have in their building to help to, implement class size reduction. There's also a special, part of the survey that asks schools to consider whether or not there are any room conversions that might be needed, to support additional classes. But and by room conversions, what we're really looking at are, a couple of things. If you wanna consider, like, a very large room that could be split into two classrooms, we are not talking about converting, library space into classroom space.
But large classrooms that could be split into two, or some of our classrooms have built in furniture that is getting in the way of being able to, fully, run a classroom in it, so the removal of a a of a of a science desk or a demonstration table. They're asking schools to estimate, the percentage of classrooms that can that they feel as though they can bring, into the mandated cap for the following year. And then also, in the previous year, if there were a school that had received,
funding, estimate and give a little bit of a report on whether or not any changes are needed. So these specific questions these criteria here, on the survey translate into specific questions, including what is your goal, what's the level of compliance that you think that you can reach, assuming the same space and no change to to program. So some schools were asked whether or not they could, their their their physical plant could accommodate
A temporary building, or whether an annex could be built on. So, this is not, taking those things into consideration, just really thinking about what level of compliance do you think that you can accommodate in your building, as well as the staffing that is needed and, any funding. Of course, principals don't have to come up with a specific dollar amount, but they do have to indicate whether or not there are classrooms again, that need to be converted. So all of that is going to go into, a report, by or around December
3, and then myself and our team will be taking a look at those reports, ensuring that they're completed, ensuring that all the questions are answered, and then going back to schools if we have, additional questions. We really are, encouraging schools to, be creative with their space. Over the past couple of months, what we have done, superintendent deputy superintendents is that anytime we get the opportunity to stand in front of we are bringing in, principal
colleagues, in our district who have been creative with their space. So just this past Monday, we are at the Battery Park City School, and Battery Park City School is a very full school. And but that principal, was able to do some creative programming and, work with her team there. And they've achieved very close to 100%, compliance with class size reduction. Next week, Martin Woodard from p s one eighty three, has, is bringing in a
couple of ideas that he has, for his building. His building did not. He worked with his SLT over the past year. He didn't, receive additional funding for class size compliance, but he's got a few plans, that he's gonna be bringing to his SLT tomorrow. And then he's also gonna be bringing to, our principals next week to share some of that out. So we're trying to use the resources that we have and the good brainpower that are in our buildings. Of course, every building is different, but the more, examples of how principals are doing
this, the better. We are continuing our work, as you know, around, Witten Wisdom and Foundational Literacy, that phonics based program. I wanted to just share this slide to give you a little snapshot of what is happening here. You heard last year that we had a lot of support from instructional and curricular coaches around the Great Minds, implementation as well as, the foundational literacy or phonics based program that is continuing this year. But you just see here, that the number of days, that Great Vines, is working
with teachers teaching Witten Wisdom is, quite a bit less. Last year, the number of days was closer to sixteen to 18, days per school. I also wanted to note here that we have six schools that are have six middle schools that have taken on the wit and wisdom curriculum. And, we have really been fortunate enough to be able to work with Grapevine, and they're providing some direct coaching. We're also visiting all of our middle schools, as, cohorts of teachers. We take teachers in each of these six schools and say that we are gonna
go and visit, the Spruce Street School. Or earlier this year, we visited Wagner Middle School. And so we've been able to bring teachers along, do some work with the great minds coaches, and talk about how the Witten Wisdom curriculum is rolling out in these middle school, in these middle schools and the middle school pilot schools. Similarly to last year when we are in our first year of NYC Solves, we had more days with new visions, and that's the organization that has been serving as our, curriculum coach in middle schools.
That number of days is smaller, but we are, really working to build capacity on our district team so that we can continue the professional learning and coaching of, teachers in our schools. We also note that, in elementary school, NYC Solves has not extended to elementary school yet. So we've been doing a lot of work, with our curriculum coaches who have been facilitating workshops at different grade levels, as well as providing, direct, in class, coaching as
well for our teachers. I did just wanna give people a little sample. You hear that, you know, these six schools are middle schools are working on, in the wit and wisdom curriculum. Obviously, these text this text is way too small to be reading on this screen, but we'll share this, slide deck, publicly. I did just want to highlight the, module one, for each of the three middle school grades and just share what the general topics are, for each of the each of the grades. So resilience in the Great Depression, identity in the Middle Ages, and poetics and politics
of storytelling. So and then underneath that are each of the, general questions or, broad topics that are, taught in each in that first module. Again, this is just the first module, the first, two to three months of the school year, and what is being taught, at each of those grade levels. As I mentioned, the Save for College plan is a a big part of the work that we are doing with our parent community. Our, family leadership coordinator and support coordinator, they meet monthly with our our, parent coordinators
across the district, either in person or virtually. We just wanted to highlight a few stats here, from district two. We've got a little bit, over a million dollars that have gone out, to our district two students in scholarship accounts. 42% of families have completed building block one, which is, essentially all kids who, as soon as they enter kindergarten, do have funds that are entered for them, into a 529 account. But when families then, acknowledge that 529 account and activate it, then additional funds come
in. So we're only at about 42%, and we're really trying to grow that, percentage of families that go into the, the New York City scholarship account, activate it, and have additional funds, that are brought into their child's, $5.29 account. And I'll mention something about that in the next slide that I think is really important, and kind of, provides a little bit of the reasoning behind why this whole save for college thing is is even a thing. This number here, a bit under a $127,000 is, these are funds that are waiting
to be claimed. Funds are provided directly to the New York City scholarship account. But alumnus from district two schools, people who wanna make donations, to our, students five twenty nine accounts, all of those, are, can be contributed to students' 529. So we have a bunch of money sitting there waiting. That 127,000 has not yet been transferred into students' 529 accounts because not all of our of all of our students have opened.
Families have opened the 529 account for their child. So I was here last year. There was a family from p s forty, that had gathered and donated a bunch of money to, current p s forty families, and, some of those families had activated their account and added that those funds to their, child's 529, and some of them hadn't. So, I'm assuming that a portion of that is sitting there in that So, so we really are working with PCs to get that word out.
And I think that this is just a nice slide to help to emphasize why this is important. So, if you're looking at different school districts in, New York City public schools, we see that in the wealthier school districts, about one in three, families have opened a five twenty nine account for their children. In some of the districts with the highest economic need, that number drops, to one in 100 115. There are strong data behind, students having just a small amount of funds, in a
529 account as being critical, in kids moving, into college and considering post secondary options. So it's a it's a real goal that we are working toward, as as a system. That's similar to what I was just saying there too. This is a similar slide to what I shared last last, month, but I did just wanna say that we started our ELL multilingual learner pilot. These are the schools that are a part of the pilot program. I was there earlier today, participating in a workshop that was workshop that was run
by National Geographic. The real goal behind this English language learner, multilingual learner pilot is to introduce students who are entering and emerging, the earliest, Ls that are in our school district and really trying to fill up their day, with great content, with great curriculum embedded vocabulary. And so this, this program is being, done right now. PS fifty one, it has started the pilot, PS three has started the pilot, PS
three forty three PECSLIP has started the pilot, so we're expanding that, this year. Again, this is curriculum that is, being done when English language learners are, participating in instruction with their E and L teacher. This is not a part of the core curriculum. English language learners are part of all the core curriculum, but, they have additional supports, that are provided directly by their E and L teacher, and, so this is the
curriculum that we're using with them. Again, the font is too small here. I had a rule once that you're not supposed to dip below 20 points, and I clearly have done that. But, again, knowing that this is a resource that is, gonna be available to families here, I wanted to, make sure that we had the dates in regard to pre k, kindergarten, middle school, and high school, when the application has opened, when families can expect, to see, their child's we did have a question during our last, CEC meeting
around, whether or not there could be more predictive data that is provided to families, to help them make a good choice based on their randomly assigned number. And I have this for families who have applied to high school, they may be familiar with this, kind of, Wi Fi looking three bars here, on this slide. That is a tool that, the office of enrollment is really seeking to expand. They were hoping to expand it for this year, but they are partnering with DIIT
and MIT who runs the algorithm around the enrollment process, and they are going to work toward including more predictive data, in upcoming processes. So looking again, they did weren't able to do it for this year, working toward that for next year so that families do have more, data and information, that they can use to help them make a choice, around, middle middle school because that, data and that tool is available for high school.
And, again, just some final dates, here for the, toward as we're moving into the winter. And thank you very much for opportunity to share. Thank you. On slide 13, just one quick one very quick question. I knew as soon as I closed it that you were gonna ask it. No. No. No. It's okay. It's fine. You have something, and it may just be a type one. I just wanna make sure because I don't always know the acronyms. Which one is that? On the ELL program. Oh. On the last bullet. I think it was 13. It's the one. Yeah. And the last one, is it do you mean e l l in the last
bullet, or is e I l or something something? No. You're right. E l l. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Or it could be a lowercase l. Okay. Just let me know. Not, though. No. You know, I was just having a conversation with the other fellow that acronym's I'll keep it up just in case. Okay. I do have two questions, and then I'll open it up to to my fellow council members. Both relating to the class size. The first is on the principal survey, that's supposed to be discussed with DSL am I correct that that's supposed to be discussed with DSLTs? Yes. I'm sorry. You're ensuring you'd say yes or no. Yeah. Yeah. How are you ensuring that that's happening and not only happening, but happening in a
meaningful way? Because if I'm a first year SLT member, never been on an SLT ever before, and my principal I'm I'm not pointing to any specific principal, but my principal says, okay. This is my answer to the survey for your information. I wouldn't know that I could challenge that principal. So how do how are you ensuring that there's meaningful conversations with the SLT? Yep. So there is a, a button that needs to be clicked indicating that the principal has consulted with their community, around the, around the survey.
Now is that meaningful? Not necessarily. Right. And I and I understand that. I think that, you know, what we are trying to do, and I think that, class size reduction has become such a topic Yeah. In the city and in the system is that we are trying to publicize this survey it's being written about. I will share this survey. We're trying to, get out conversations and and recognition that this survey is coming. I think that, the, I think that, you know, this is an opportunity for families
to question principals and ask them, you know, how is it that you are conceiving of this? We have also, during these meetings in which we're, you know, asking principals to share their ideas, we are asking principals to share how is it that you have engaged with your community. So we're trying to provide good models for how that how that works. But, we're not we're you know, there we have 50 different places where we need to go to have these. So we're not participating in every SLT meeting, although we have participated in a bunch
of them. One thing I like, that could be done is a targeted email to every SLT member. And this is not a d two thing. This is really across the city. A targeted email to this to each SLT member, which I don't think would be hard to compile those email addresses, saying, there is this survey. You're on the SLT. Your principal has to consult you. Right? Because what you're saying, and I get you're acknowledging this, that the principal is checking it off. So you're basically relying on the principal to do their job. Most, I think, would, but there may be some that would would not or would
skirt the issue. So my suggestion is as a targeted email to all SLT members explaining that they are supposed to or they have they're entitled. I don't wanna say supposed to. They're entitled to have meaningful conversation about this survey and about the process. That's just one suggestion. And then the other question I have is on exemptions because my understanding is they were just a lot of exemptions issued. I don't know if that's more on the high school of I haven't looked at the individual schools. I know there's one there's a list. How is that affecting district district two district two under you, district two schools?
Is any who's applying for exemptions? That's going, I think, through the union also. I think they have to be part of that, I think. But if you can explain that process. And are there going to be a lot of schools, do you think, in our district that are trying going to try to get away with the exemption go the exemption route? So the exemptions that, were publicized recently are not exemptions that the schools have applied for. The principal didn't have, anything to do with applying for an exemption, nor did the community have anything to do with applying for an exemption. These it seems to be that these are exemptions that are being applied to spaces
where there are, construction projects, and plans that have been in the works, to provide more capacity, at that school building or near that school building. We have just a very small number of schools. I think it's three or four. And, frankly, there are not necessarily three or four that, require, more space. So, I think that this is just a first phase of, how it is that
the the city is looking at schools that, don't necessarily or looking at schools that could take advantage of the additional capacity that's being, built or provided in the area. But we have not we are not yet at a place where schools are, again, working with their communities and trying to decide whether or not they are, going to apply for an exemption. That is that hasn't happened yet. Okay. I wanna give an opportunity for my council members to ask questions, and I just
wanna remind the two students that you are entitled, just like the rest of us, to ask questions. So if you have any, please shoot please shoot. Tim, do you wanna start off? Hi, Kelly. Thank you for, that share. I'm I'm wondering when it comes to the small class size mandate and and being in compliance with that. We have, some middle schools I know about in particular, and a couple of, pretty big k through fifth grade schools who are over enrolled over enrolled with incredible, space
constraints to the point where libraries are being closed and being used as instructional space, as classrooms. Other resource rooms for students with disabilities are being used for offices, for teachers, or for many classrooms. What are we can we prioritize or focus or add give extra support? Kinda like Craig was saying about the SLT, actually knowing what the hell is going on, right, and being engaged in those conversations. But can there be oversight to those over enrolled schools, particularly when you have a
high number of students with IEPs, and you know that ICTs are out of compliance. It's not sixty forty. It's fifty fifty. We have 17 kids with IEPs in a class of 34. That's not the least restrictive environment for any kid with an IEP, and it's hurting everyone who doesn't have one too. And so how do we get those kids into compliance, into an ICT that actually supports them under the law when there's no space in the school and they're not cutting the amount of students that they can let into the school.
Right? We've said that before. These are popular schools that everyone wants to go to, so we can't cap admissions. But we're not in compliance when it comes to the civil rights of these kids. So can you take a look at those numbers of I u ICT numbers, and target those schools? Like, put them at the top of your list. Like, what are you doing to alleviate the situation in terms of small class sizes? Thank you. Sure. So anytime there is a, a compliance issue that is related to special education, there are a couple of different, structures that are in place in order to hold the
school accountable and then also try to work to fix that. We hold the school accountable, and look at, the balance of, students with disabilities and not in a classroom and work with that school to correct that. The UFT does that as well. I will say in the places where we have really worked to, come into compliance with class size reduction, the balance of sixty forty, sixty percent of students with without IEPs, forty percent of students with IEPs, that has, in the vast majority of places
been, maintained, in our ICT classrooms. There are some places where, the school has really struggled to do that. Whether it is, that there are additional students who are enrolled into a zone school and the zone school is required, to enroll those students. But, for the vast I mean, one of the things that has been, I think, really remarkable to see is that the number of classrooms in which we have reduced
class size and have been able to sit stick within that sixty, forty percentage is far outweighs out of compliance. And it it's a difficult it it was difficult, but the principals and their teams worked really, really hard to do this. If there are particular places that, you think are not on our radar, I would, like, be very, very happy to look at those and have them be on our radar so we can take a look at it. But, you know, in most of our schools, as in most of the schools across
the city, the, enrollment has decreased. And, you know, our enrollment in our our district has decreased since the start of the year, as a lot of families and students, who are seeking asylum in our city, have left. And, so thankfully, we have just a couple of schools that are, enrolled beyond their capacity. But for the vast majority of them, they are within or below capacity, and we have additional capacity. And they worked really hard to, get their classrooms, into compliance.
But, we are not perfect, but, we are working to be perfect, I would say. Yeah. Councilman Yelli. Thank you. This is also on on class size. You mentioned that the, some principles have been creative with with use of of space. We know that the the DOE has also been creative, in terms of the compliance numbers because we know that without the exemptions, the the DOE actually is is is not in compliance. It's actually below the 60%, if we don't count the exemptions.
So my question is, are there middle schools and elementary schools in District 2 that did receive exemptions? If so, which ones? And if so, how would the numbers you gave us different about, you know, 4248% overall district compliance, 42% middle schools, I think 58% elementary grades? How would those numbers be be different if we, if we didn't count the exemptions? Yeah. It's a really good question. And I'll be honest that I'm not entirely sure how as to how to answer
that because, I, know which schools of ours that are exempt on the spreadsheet. It's a publicly facing spreadsheet, and which grade levels within those schools are in compliance. But I don't quite know how it if those were the schools that were figured into this, overall citywide rate of, of compliance. So, I don't know that I can say that exactly. I will say that, as I was saying, you know, during the presentation is that
some of the schools that were received exemptions, that are on that spreadsheet actually have grade levels that are in compliance already because they have, you know, 20 or 23 students in the classroom. So, I'm not quite sure what the hell that the they'll those figured into the overall city number. So I'm sorry. But but I'm hoping to learn more. There could you how many schools, did receive exemptions? I think it's just three or four. I mean, it's three or four that are on this publicly facing spreadsheet.
I think it's three or four schools that have exemptions. But, again, those are not exemptions that came from the school community or were asked for by the school community or asked for by the district. They're exemptions that are a part of a, a a broader plan. You know? They're listed as being related to a school construction authority authority plan. Just for the record, could you could you say which are those schools? I knew you're gonna ask me that.
I, I know three of them right offhand, but I think that there are four. Fifty one, p s fifty one, p s thirty three, and the Spruce Street School are three for sure. And I think that there might be one more, but I can't recall it right offhand. I didn't look at the spreadsheet that carefully because, you know, we have some other data that are, you know, a bit more detailed for us that say, you know you know, at P S 212 in Class 303, here's how many, you know, students are there and here and whether or not that is a school that is in
or a classroom that's in compliance or not. So those are the data that are most important important to us because we are trying to work with the school to ask the questions or, you know, how is it that you could reduce class size in this room? What would it take? That's we're a we're a little bit our hands are a little dirtier with that kind of data. Yes. I was just gonna ask, will those details be will those data be available to SLTs when they're looking? Yes. They could be they could be available. Sure. Yeah. K.
Council member Lundquist Lundquist. Just to piggyback off that, I think the point we're getting at is next year, we're supposed to be 80% compliance. It it could they just exempt 30 schools and then be like, yay. We did it. I guess the the point that we're making is we want the actual data, and I understand that you're saying that we don't it's a little squishier and that this wasn't coming from you guys. But it is just for the record, it's hard for us to be like, we're in compliance and to not have the data to actually be in compliance is if
we just don't want that to be yeah. It's frustrating. No. I understand. I mean, I think that, we have one of the strongest accountability measures for that in that, you know, parents have been talking a lot about class size reduction and, you know, where people were concerned before the law was enacted. People now that the law is enacted think, like, smaller classes, pretty good for my kids. So, we know that we need to work to make it happen. Ethan. Yeah. So thank you, superintendent Maguire.
And my question would be, like, a follow-up in addition to what she was saying is that how much is being put into, into a data driven approach? Because I think it would be helpful for the council members and for you to all agree on a certain set of statistics, rather than anecdotal evidence, I think. So what is being done to make sure that we are gathering more data, more more accurate data, so then when we have these meetings that we can talk about the resolutions without having to debate what is act what's the problem?
I would just say that the data is most certainly out there, and it is, a very simple report that every single school can push control p and receive the number of students who are in each class. So, those are data that, school leaders, should be sharing with their, SLTs or other organizations within the school so that everybody is on the same page and that the process is transparent, but it is they aren't data that are hard to get.
They're they're certainly very available. I think that, you know, this question, more broadly about how it is that the rate the percentage was arrived at citywide is, one that we're gonna learn more and more about. But it was just, I think, produced over the over the weekend, I think, was when it was first out. Thank you. You're welcome. Sam, answering your law. Hey. Thank you very much for your presentation and answering all our questions. This is kind of along the lines of what Tamara was speaking about earlier with regard to orenrolled schools. What happens in the case of collocated schools, where, you know, enrollment may be over
enrolled for one of the collocated schools, but they were historically a lot of lesser space. And then, you know, the existing school may have had a larger footprint, but they had lower enrollment. But due to, you know, Hunger Games application for exemption or resources, they were able to acquire more of the space to expand into. How is that managed for equitable distribution of space in those cases? So I just there are different ways that people think about over enrollment.
There are building capacity numbers that are produced. There are numbers that are produced that are, in alignment with the, contractual agreement with the United Federation of Teachers. Can't go over 32 students in first grade. Can't go over 25 students in kindergarten. Those numbers actually are still very much in place even though we are trying to come into alignment with the state law. But until the state law requires us to be 100% in compliance, those numbers are still really important.
There are just a couple of classrooms around the district that are above those, contractual numbers, and, those are not made because there are too many kids in the zone. Those are made because more kids who were offered a seat showed up for the seat, and the rate of, attrition was not consistent with the historical numbers. So but to go to your question around just, who gets what room, in different
buildings, there is a master plan. When schools are collocated, it is called the Blue Book. There is a team of people who work, in the office of facilities and district planning, that worked to designate one classroom for school a and another classroom for school b. That is the, plan that, begins the process. Over the years, there may be different negotiations, between which classrooms are, for what one
one school or another. And, frankly, it comes down a little bit to, you know, what is the current need in the building. And, some of in some situations, there may be some very difficult conversations that need to be had. And, but I, you know, point to a school like, the lab building where you have lab middle school, museum, lab high school. There's a diff small district 75 program. And, all of those schools were able to reduce class size, and, figure out how
it is that space allocations could be, used. For the most part, those schools kept to their historical space, and I think that that is, the kind of, like, the rule moving forward is that what you had in 2025 is the same what you have in 2026. But that's not to say that there's never gonna be a discussion around, space in some places. Thank you. Thank you. You Tam, did you have a follow-up? Okay. Are there any other questions? Oh, Allison. At what point, if any, can principals opt to decrease enrollment in order to meet
the class size requirements? I understand that you can't decrease enrollment for your incoming class in order to get the funding, but can principals opt to do something differently which will allow them to decrease enrollment? And if so, what? Yeah. Right now, it's a nonstarter. So, there's no choice that a school based leader has, to reduce their school wide enrollment. I think that's really good for parents to hear you say that because I think there's concern out there that on some level that principals have that choice, and it's
good to hear you say as a superintendent, they don't have that choice. They do not have that choice. But but just to be clear, just to be clear, they don't have that choice now. That could change January 1 when we potentially have a new chancellor. Is that correct? I I I understand There's been no speculation of I understand that, but I'm just saying the policy that you're stating, I just wanna make sure, That's the policy now. That's not some law. That's just the policy from the chance the current chancellor. Is that I just wanna make sure I understand that correctly. The the policy is is that there is to be no reduction in enrollment or
capacity in the schools, and there I have never been a part of any conversation in which that's Cool. But what I'm saying is in a with a new chancellor Yeah. That policy could change could in theory, this is what we're talking theoretical right now, that policy could theoretically change. Lots of things are possible theoretically. Absolutely. I understand, but it's not built in a law. It's not it's not somewhere built in Not into the law. That's that's what I'm trying to get at. Yeah. Right? It's a policy, not a law. Yeah. Okay. Go ahead. May I switch the topic to academics if if we're done with talking about class size? It doesn't it's whatever question you have. Okay. I just wanted to continue the thread of the conversation if anyone else wanted to
ask on class size. Wit and wisdom. I saw that you said six schools are adopting it for middle school. Is that the choice of the principals, or is that a district initiative as a pilot with the intention of, potentially rolling it out across the district? It was the choice of the principals. Could you share which schools are doing that? Man. I may I may phone a friend just to, I'm looking beyond you to see if so, Wagner Middle School. Oh my gosh. Spruce Street Wagner Middle School, Spruce Street School, m a t, Roosevelt Island, seventy five
Morton. I might need how many friends do I have over there? I might need better friends. I said I did say Wagner. And then there there was another school that was gonna do just module zero this year, which is module zero is kind of like the entry I'm sorry? 289. Yeah. Thanks. Yeah. Any other questions for the superintendent or for either of the two deputy superintendent? No problem putting you in the hot seat. Okay. Well, thank you very much for your report. Much appreciated, and we look forward to hearing continued discussions and hearing from you, in December as well. Thanks.
Thank you. And, next is the re presentation of bylaws proposals. The last meeting, as a reminder, we had bylaw proposals which were voted down. In conversations. We did remove two sections. I'm not gonna go through everything that we changed from the original bylaws proposals because we we've talked about it now on two different meetings. The difference between what was proposed previously versus now with the elimination of two diff two distinct paragraphs. There was one paragraph that talked about hiring and the ability of the council to hire an outside parliamentarian. That has been struck.
And then the first paragraph of, I believe, the second to last section, which talked about, the respecting the chair to settle disputes, that has been struck as well. All other change this is present we are not voting on this as a reminder. We this is a presentation because because the last one we voted them down last time. We have to present again and then vote in December. So I'm trying to figure remember my months. So, those are the two changes that we've made. Hopefully, next month, we can, deliberate and and hopefully pass, but we'll we'll see.
Any questions? K. Wait. Those eliminates? Those two that I just said. That's the Yes. It's that was a right so what I just mentioned, the two that I mentioned, were changes from the previous bylaws proposals. So the previous bylaws proposals already proposed eliminating that. So what you have in your packet and what's on the website does reflect those changes. If you look at the section I don't remember the section number. It's the section number that has the, agenda. I don't remember which page I could look if you like. It is page 10.
Yeah. 10. That hasn't changed. That did not change. Can we motion to add something to these proposed, by law revisions? You can make a motion. So I'm gonna make a motion that, we actually change the speaking time from two minutes to three minutes, and that would be that would conform to the deface, template for CEC Bios. K. Is there a second? I'll second that. Any, discussion? Let's take it to a vote. Sorry. Recording secretary. I'll ask the recording secretary to take it to a vote.
So just just as to to frame or not frame. Reiterate what, council member Healy's proposal would be in in on page 10 to well, I think it's, no. It's not page 10. It is sorry. I wanna get the exact section. Sorry. It is thank you. Page 11, section oh, section page page 11, the second paragraph. So it's, section two to change two minutes to three minutes.
K. Okay. On the motion to change two minutes to three minutes, Allison Bowen? Allison Bowen is a no. Gloria Chu? Yes. Gloria Chu is a yes. Daniella is absent. Gavin Healy? Gavin Healy is a yes. Aaron Carr Aaron Carr is a yes. Cody Lindquist Cody Lindquist is a yes. Sam Lowe Sam Lowe is a no. Tal Maisel Shea? Tal is a no. Rustum? No. Rustum is a no. Tamara? Yes. Is council member Reid is a yes. Sabina Saranese?
Sabina is a no. And Craig Slutskin. No. Craig is a no. Oh, so I could be too. Oh, I'm so sorry. No. I And Rachel Rachel is a no. And Ethan? Ethan is a no. Okay. So this is So this does not pass. We had five yeses and six nos plus the two student members. Right. K. Thank you. Discussion of resolutions.
So we'll alright. Discussion of resolutions. So here is the time when the council met the council will deliberate on each of the three resolutions. The first one is resolution two eighty eight urging the New York State legislature to pass s eight one three nine a nine zero eight to help address the needs of students experiencing homelessness, enforced care, or temporary housing. And just one point of explanation just in case anybody is wondering what those numbers mean. When is a bill in the legislature? It has to go through both the senate and the assembly. So the s is the New York State Senate bill number 8139, and the a
is the New York State Assembly bill number, which is 9048. That's what those numbers mean in case anybody was was wondering. Are there any comments or questions to this res comments to this resolution? I have one, but I'll I'll wait to see if anybody else has. Okay. So it's it's more of a question if one of the sponsors wishes to answer. They don't obviously have to. So I'm try I I I kinda wanna get inform more information about what this does because the resolution itself says you know, has all of these warehouses, which are very good and very informative.
And then it gives a short blurb, very short blurb that says, and we're gonna pass eighty one thirty nine and we're gonna recommend passing 8139 And 9048, but doesn't actually say in detail what a s eighty one thirty nine and a nine zero four eight actually does. The way I initially read this was we're just asking the state to give more money to students in temporary housing and and which which sounds which sounds great, You
know, that certainly needed. But I think it's and I and I'm trying to understand if I'm correct. I think it's a little bit more than that. And this is what I'm trying to get at, and maybe somebody can can explain. If somebody could admit I'm not in the room. Okay. Thank you. When I took a look at the bill, because I actually started reading the underlying bill, the first thing that I think it does is it it designates foster kids or kids in the foster system as as students in temporary housing. I don't know if that was not the case before. It it makes sense to me. If that wasn't, it it makes sense to me because it's clearly a temporary tent
temporary situation. Could become permanent, but it's it's not necessarily. So that that that I get. But then it sounds to me it's actually changing the formula. And for those who don't know, there's this there's a fair student funding amount, and that gets distributed out per student to by by school. And every kid gets a weight. Every every student has a weight. So let's say if a child who's in who's gen ed, nothing else, it might have a weight of one. And I'm making up numbers right now. A child who is an ELL's designation might be a 1.2.
A child who has an IEP might have a 1.3. And I'm making up those those weights, but that's basically what it is. And so and that's how schools divide up the pot based upon number of students, in each designation. If I'm understanding this correctly, what that's what this bill these bills do is it codifies and correct me if I'm wrong. That's why I'm asking the question. It codifies that more weight will be given to certain students, which means, because there's
a finite pot, less student less weight goes to others. So you're basically shifting the numbers. I'm not and I'm not passing judgment on it. I just wanna make sure I understand and everybody else understands what exactly this bill does. It sounds to me that this is shifting from some students to other students. And then I'm curious if that's the case and if that is true, what is the impact on schools? Is there a way to figure it out? Because let's say a student a school doesn't have a lot of students in temporary
housing or students in, that are designated with the ELL. Are they now going to lose funding? So potentially losing an enrichment teacher, a special teacher, or or an aide or something else. So I'm trying to understand and, again, I could be wrong. I'm just trying to understand because the bill, I I read it four times today, probably more than that. It's a little bit hard hard to understand. So if if one of the sponsors can talk about that because it's not really spoken about in the resolution, unfortunately. Yeah. I'll speak to that. I think I think, your questions are coming from, from some confusion between Fair Student
Funding and Foundation Aid. These are two completely separate pots of money that come from two completely separate different separate places. And you spoke about Fair Student Funding, which is a a city, city money. This is actually foundation aid, which comes from the state. It comes from Albany. And increasing the actually, increasing the wait, I believe increasing the wait for students in temporary housing will not decrease the diff funds available to other students. As I mentioned, I think the main reason why the state legislature over overlooked providing
a weight for students in temporary housing, students in foster care at the state level. To see, the city would not do this in doing calculating fair student funding, which is a completely separate thing, because we know that we have a 150,000, you know, students in temporary housing in New York City. So most of the students statewide who are in temporary housing are in New York City. So it's easier for at the level of Albany, to to overlook those students. So this is not fair student funding.
It doesn't change the fair student funding weight at all. This is foundation aid. This is a separate separate pot of money. So how do the weights come into play then? Because there is a weight in the bill that specifically says, I think, 1.53 or something to that effect. If it's if it's not affecting others, but it's a weight, just mathematically, aren't weights affecting if you change the weight on one, just talk to me about that and explain that to you because I'm just trying to understand how that works then. Well, I think overall, this is actually quite beneficial for New York City as opposed
to New York State since, you know, those students the vast majority of those students, like, 95 plus percent of those students are New York City public school students. So essentially what we are asking for and what this bill is asking for is for more weight to come to New York City public schools. So New York City public schools will benefit from this. This. It's true that perhaps, you know, schools in some school in the Adirondacks might, you know, that has zero, you know, students in temporary housing might, you know, but they
might have students in foster care too. But, but I think New York City is would net benefit from from this additional weight for students in temporary housing considering we have a 150,000 of those students. We have 95% of those students. Yeah. I mean, admittedly, I'm not concerned about the Adirondacks. I mean, I'm sure they're very good people, but we're here to we're here to advocate for the New York City and and District 2, obviously. So I I understood. I I think we're saying the same thing. But I'm just trying to understand within New York City, how how it how it
allocates. And you're saying it doesn't affect. It's just more of the formula just for students coming to New York City directly to the pro. It's gonna direct more funding. So is it is it a sorry. Is it and I apologize because I just wanna make sure I I understand it correct completely. Is it basically a flow through that it basically it's coming to new this is additional money that's coming to New York City that will get specifically flowed through to students in temporary housing. So that's why a student who's not in temporary housing is not really affected by
this. Is am I understanding that I'm just the mathematician in me is trying to understand that. So I was just gonna say that, you know, I think that it's it's it's not as black and white as that. I think that part of it is that we're looking at schools. Some of the schools in districts who have 90% of the kids living below the poverty level, and we've seen, like, with the government shutdown that there were schools reaching out to the CECs, reaching out to community boards that had real needs. So I think the idea is that that that money is going to schools where they have a high number of students in temporary housing so that they can have
some extra support at that school for those students, which in my from my perspective, benefits everybody at the school. Right. No. No. I and I'm not I'm not debating the merits. Don't get me wrong. A school that has 90% deserves more should get more money. Right. You need the supports. I'm just trying to find out what is where is that money coming from? Is it coming from The state? The sorry. Is it coming from the school that in New York City that is not at that same percentage? If it's a It's not being taken away from others. It's no. It's not being taken away from other schools.
It's that they're allocating more budget Okay. To New York City for that. Issue on. Yeah. Okay. That's what that's what I mean, that's why it's important so that the state sets aside more money specifically for that purpose. My my suggestion for the sponsor sorry. My suggestion for the sponsors is that and we can I don't I guess, mechanically, we can figure out how this is done, that a paragraph be added to clarify that? Because when I read this, I didn't I wasn't sure. And I think it's more explanation and more clarification is helpful in this.
That would be my suggestion, but I'm not a sponsor, so I can't I can't tell you what to do For the five I think there are five of you that sponsor. I mean, I think the confusion is just what that's reinforced their funding and foundation. People under a foundation, they live from first. Right. But Right. And then the local Right. But a a a parent who's reading this may not know what that mean like, may not know. No. I I you can write you can write three sentences about it about it. So same thing. It's a very good initiative. Right? But, so we need to be 100% sure that other school student groups, like, are not affected.
That's that's that's the question. So that there are no reduction, for example, in ELL group or something else at the same school. If it's an external funding, extra funding, it's definitely good. But let's let's let's be, like, a 100% sure that no other groups are affected. So so if, if a small bit of funding did go from other students, then this is not acceptable to increase the funding. We're trying to figure out what that is. If it's a small number, that's one thing. If it's 500,000,000, it's another. I I don't know.
That that's that's really what I'm trying to get at. It's it's it may be too many things. And having that number or at least an approximate number, I think is important as people are deliberating this bill and this this resolution. Not just saying, we may move money and we're not gonna tell you how much. I I don't I think it does a disservice for the people who are trying to evaluate whether or not to approve the the resolution. It may not matter for people, but it may. And I don't But we're already sort of at the liberty of their formula. Right? We don't choose the weights. We don't choose how it's allocated. We're just saying these people are important.
It wasn't overlooked. It was an oversight. As you're sending state money, New York City needs more of that because we need that. So I'm just saying we don't have we're not in the nitty gritty of the algorithm that they're making in Albany. That's just not part of how they allocate money to us. We're saying don't forget New York. We have the vast majority give us a little bit more to take care of the kids we're already taking care of. Sorry. Ethan, go ahead. So I understand what you're saying that in terms of the nitty gritty that it's not up to us. But I do still think it's important to be precise in our recommendations, and make
sure that, obviously, at a higher level, giving more funds to people who need it more is a good thing. Right? But I definitely think that it's important to be precise, and especially for people like families who don't really know what's going on. I just think it's important. Well, they're precise. They're precise in the senate and the assembly, and we're saying, yay. We agree. You know? They're the ones that are coming out with the very specific legislation, and we're essentially saying, yeah. We agree with you. Please give us more money for kids in temporary housing and foster care.
So I'm just saying we aren't in charge of the algorithm. They are they wrote it down. We're saying we support it. Yeah. I I understand that. I I just still think that, you know, if we're gonna make a proposal that we should we obviously, we don't have the power to enforce the policy or really make the policy like you're saying. But I still think it's important to be precise in what we're I don't I'm gonna be redundant, but I I appreciate your feedback. K. Any other comments or questions on this resolution? Yep. Yep.
If there was an amend To this, resolution tonight, will we still be able to vote on it, or would we be pushed back to next month? If we if, you know hold on. Hold on. Sorry. Hold on one second. Sir. Okay. There's one sorry. There's one more. Sorry. I'll get I I promise I will I promise I will get I I promise I will get for the mic, and then the two of them can share and we can share after that. So, I think if you know, unless there's an objection, if we have a framework for it, it's gonna be two sentences just explaining what we've just talked about unless there's an objection. I I think if if everybody's okay with that, if anybody objects in that, that's
we can have that conversation. I I don't I don't wanna wait. Like, if this is what we wanna do, I don't wanna wait a month just to to do that. If that's okay with people, I don't okay. You too. You share. I'll share with Russ. I think it's I think, Cody, what you said is really important. Right? We're we're we're advocating for more money. How what that looks like? Like, there nothing is a 100%. We can't get like, nobody sitting at this table can give anyone at this table a 100% guarantee of what that funding coming in from the state state level to
the local level to support, you know, a 150,000 kids that are homeless right now. Right? We don't know what kind of slight impact of any impact that's gonna have. We can't give you a percentage on that, but they're not even at that point. You know? Or just saying, hey. We have a 150,000 kids, and families are affected by homelessness and poverty. Right? No roof over the head. No clothes. No food. This is serious. This is bad. This has never been like this in my time in New York, which has been more than half of my life.
You know? And I know what it feels like to be housing insecure, and it fucking sucks. Don't. Sorry. It effing sucks. We're we need this for our kids. You know? Like, we don't talk about this population of students enough. So we're saying, hey. We're in crisis. Please help. You know? And you have 95% of the population of homeless students lives in New York City, students in temporary housing and foster care, that's an issue. That's bigger than the town I come from. That's bigger than the place I grew up. That's bigger than most school districts. Right? A 150,000.
That's a population within a population. These are the children that we represent. We're just asking for them to consider giving us more money to help them. We're not advocating for them to take away money from all students or from students with disabilities or from gifted and talented programs or what have you. Right? We're not even at that point yet. But if we don't ask, we didn't ask. Those are families we represent. Like, I wanna be on the record as asking. Right? Thank you. Go ahead. Go ahead. And I was just gonna add, I mean, if this is you can see find
this on the Internet. I have worked with unhoused populations in the the past, particularly with adolescents. And one of the things that I think is so important for the school environment as a whole is that when children are in housing insecure situations, whether that's foster care, temporary housing, or staying with relatives, and they may also be experiencing food insecurity, it affects the culture and environment of the entire classroom. It affects their ability to learn. It affects their ability to pay attention and be engaged in the classroom. And so it it benefits every single student in class from my perspective and doesn't
take any money away from what we already have in place. It's just asking for extra money from the state to support this very large population of students who have far less than, you know, the other students in the district. And I think that that'll will benefit just classroom environments in general. Does this number speak to district two for the I'm sorry. Could you repeat that? Number speak to district two or is that City New York City public school. The the entire city. Do we have any numbers in district two?
I don't I don't I don't Yeah. I'd love to know. I don't know if Han Kelly might know. Are are you saying that the 154,000 are you saying on the the 154,000 students number? Yeah. Yeah. That's citywide, but it's being that District 2 is such a large district, and we I imagine that we have a a good chunk of that here. Yeah. I can tell you that, for example, p s fifty one, which is on 44th Street and, like, 10th Avenue and p s two twelve, are two schools.
P s one eleven as well. Yeah. I know that p s two one, p s two twelve is, like, 40% of students. If they're enrolled, there are students in temporary housing, and p s one eleven answer. Is probably also I just But p has Yeah. Yeah. 1,200. He just makes it. He's hungry. Yeah. Does that include? 1,200. It doesn't. So just for the folks at home because he doesn't have a mic, superintendent so super superintendent McGuire noted that there are about 1,200, roughly, now students in temporary housing,
but that number does not include students who are in the who are in foster care now. Is that correct? K. We don't know. We're not sure. We're not a 100% sure. Okay. But but and that's percent of our of our District 2 overall enrollment. So that's 5%, you said. Okay. Ethan, and then, hopefully, we can move Yes. Sorry. I I I just wanna finish up. Like, I don't want to come across as being against this bill. I just wanna say I agree with the proponents of this bill. And, you know, I I think I would be evil to try to not give funding to people who need it more.
I'm just saying, like, my question is, what is the harm in making it more specific? Because if we want to pass this, I'm sure we can vote on it. My question is, what is wrong with being a little more specific? Because I completely agree with you that it needs more exposure, but that's not being lost at all. I think what we're saying is we can't be specific on the numbers of money we're asking for because we don't have that capacity. What we're saying is there is a law that is currently trying to be passed in Albany and where's that that has those specifics, and we agree with them.
So it's not that we're trying to be vague. We're just saying we agree with Albany coming up with something that sends more money to New York. So yeah. I think and I think, you know, we can add a sentence or two in there, but But there that's what that's what we're trying to do. Okay. Do you have a question? Okay. Okay. So you're you would be okay with adding a sentence or a a generic one or two sentences just to explain? Okay. Yeah. Okay. Is everybody okay with them doing that? Is it no. You know what? I I actually I mean, I drafted this. I don't you know, I I can't really You can say no.
It's fine. It's Oh, okay. I have the floor now. I can't really read your mind what you want. You know, I don't really know what is the sentence that's gonna satisfy you. So if you have a proposal for a sentence and you can you can motion and you can add it, but I don't really know what the specificity that you require to to vote yes on this. So I think we should just go go forward and and take a vote. That that's you can you've you, as the lead sponsor, can say no, and that's fine. Does anybody have a sentence or two that they want to add to like, maybe
even Yeah. Thank you. I would just probably clarify that we are in accordance with whatever policy they're coming up with in Albany right now just to make sure that everyone's clear on that. I I'm not gonna comment. It's fine. It's not my right Yeah. Can we add something like for example, like, we expect additional funding for this, and and we're asking for additional funding, and we're asking and, we're asking for confirmation that no other groups or students will be affected, something like that. What do you mean by affected by the? That to be specific.
Now I gotta get really specific. No. I understand. So because we can't say I can't say that they're not gonna take a librarian away from the, from, you know, from Irvington. I don't know. So So that's that's that's what that's that's what I hear, Jess, right now. I see the resolution. It's it's it's, like, absolutely important. It's absolutely important. But as far as I hear, it's a lack of information because I hear about the bill. I hear about the formula. I'm so kind of into maths as well. And I hear some different numbers, like 1.4
for ELL students turns to 1.2. So as for me, there are different numbers. So I don't see the bill. So I just see the resolution. I just want to be 100% sure that there is no reduction for other students groups. That's it. So So in reading the bill for the senate version, at least, it says that right now, the ELL weight for the last year was point five. This proposal is to give extraordinary needs counts additional funding. So instead of just a point five that was received for ELL weight, we're now
going to receive point five three to accommodate for the additional homeless people and special needs hazard. So it is a reduction? No. It's an addition. Addition. It's saying that instead of getting point five weights for your funding, you're getting point five three now to account for the people in temporary housing. That's the weight. That's the weight. Yeah. That's the weight. That am I saying something wrong? It's it's adding to the weight for an ELL student from point five to point
five three. Do we have this bill here? It's you can pull it up. Yeah. The if we reference the reason I think It's a very confusing one. We rep the we reference the bill in the resolution, and we say we support the bill. So I think all the specifics are in the bill. And if you guys wanna read the bill and decide if you support that but, basically, like, I we're saying that we support the bill. So, I mean Because it adds it adds funding based on the fact that we
have such a high number of students in temporary housing. And, again, this is state funding. So we are saying Yeah. I understand. Yeah. Anybody? Anybody else have anybody else you have? Okay. So where do we wind up with I'm not gonna propose any additional statements. Somebody if the client if the they don't want if the, sponsors wanna do it. Sorry. If the sponsor doesn't wanna do it, that that's fine. It's it's not my it's not my resolution, so I'm not gonna propose anything. I I I understand that there are there are objections, but it sounds like from what I'm hearing from from Russ is that Russ is Russ is a no.
There's a no on a on additional funding weight for students in De Perehouse. So, yeah, he hasn't said that, but okay. Ethan. Sorry. Sorry. Go ahead. Ethan. More later. I think one question with a simple yes or no answer, I think, would help clear up a lot is for the promoters of this bill, will this new funding take away funding from others? And if that's no, that's a no or that's maybe, I think that's why people are concerned. That's right. That's what that's what we've been asking. So so, I mean, it's clear that if there is money coming from others, then
it sounds like you are not. I didn't say that. I'm just asking. I'm just asking. So I just need an answer. That's it. Because we we we have two roles. Do you should we table this till everyone has read the bill? Because a lot of this is in the bill. The the bill doesn't the bill is confusing. And that sorry. It is confusing. And I I mean, in that case, it's vague. And it's it's vague because this algorithm of how they allocate money is a little squishy. I mean, it's a wait, but I don't understand it. I'm not So so you know, in charge of doling out money. We we could table it to I don't I don't know I don't know this,
but I'm assuming they're not voting on it in the next four weeks. I think it was just issued. We could table it for a month, but I I don't wanna it's it's, again, it's yours. You're the sponsors. You can you can do it. I don't I'm not gonna propose propose doing that. If you wanna do it, you can. But we we could do that, but I can't I don't know when this is coming up for a vote. And if this is coming up for a vote in the next three weeks, we we can't we can. Right? Right? I will say too just, you know, as we're doing all the waiting of different needs of children, it is, you know, it's a wait system. It's a small amount of money comparatively.
It's not like we're taking $500,000,000 away from library programs for, you know, gen ed children. That's not the so we're saying it's a weight. We're adding more weight to people that need it, and it's, again, state money. I'm just gonna say something really quick. Could we add something that says that we advocate for not taking money away from any other group in the waiting formula? That's that's it. Like, say, like, we we want we would like the extra funding for to support students in temporary housing without taking money away in our weighted system from any other
group. I I just wanna say I agree with that. I'm not saying I we're I agree with that. We're asking Yeah. We're just we're just advocating, so we cannot tell them what to do. But we're just advocating. It's not one of the Please. Yep. In addition to They can't hear you. Put this in between the two. Sorry. I don't have time. That's okay. We're getting money. Right? We're not so we have that pot, and then we're getting additional funding for this particular population of students to support them. So I don't understand how that foundation aid, right, would would affect for student funding
at all. So I don't know why there's like, how would that even work? Like, how would getting more money give less money to everybody else? If you are so that's what we're trying to get at. But how would that even work? If it's if it's a weight, right, then something if if something is gonna take I have a have a larger proportion, then something is gonna have to have a less proportion. If it's a weight, that's what that's the definition of of weight. But they're adding money to the pot money to the pot from the state level. So it's not actually affecting what the the baseline is for first time funding at all. Anything better are they increasing aid?
State. Okay. So the state is increasing Yeah. From their operating budget. So Yes. Previously, if it sorry. I'm just trying to make sure I understand. Sorry. Because we're all confused. I think it's previously made up numbers. If the state was giving us $1,000,000,000 in foundation aid, According to you, if I understand this, the state would now be giving us $1,100,000,000 in foundation aid, of which that additional 100,000,000 Yeah. Goes to students in temporary housing.
That's what I'm ask that's what we're trying to find out. Or that that's what we're saying. Right. Right. Because there's a dis there because there's a disproportionately higher rate of students living in a temporary housing in New York City. Right. Let me let me finish my comment, though. So because I think the disconnect is, is it what I think it sounds what we're hearing, which could be wrong, is that it's staying at the $1,000,000,000 in my made up in my made up numbers, right, donation aid. But now certain kids are having higher weights, so it's gonna be there's gonna be a reallocation. I'm hearing that there's added money.
So I said that's not there's no reallocation. Right? I I thought it was no new monies, and it's But that's whatever but that's at the local level. Right? Adjusting the weights to benefit. With this money, with the additional funding from the state. Yep. I think the foundation money is, you know, a fixed amount that has already been budgeted. You know, this was supposed to this was proposed back in, like, May 2025, and it was passed in July. Right? So I think I'm not positive because I I don't know enough about state budgeting, but my understanding is that this is no new money.
It's not like they're allocating more money from whatever budget they are That's what I asked for, though. What what my my reading of this bill is that it's it's, there was an oversight where they did not include students in temporary housing and foster care as part of the waiting system as a part of the the foundation pot of money that is sent to New York City. So now they're saying we need to calculate that in. And and it's not just New York City. It's you know, districts are No.
I gotta say that. Right? And then it it's a net positive for New York to have this added in there. But there's re redistribution of a fixed budget of money. You know, it's not gonna be coming from New York City students. More will be coming to New York City students, but other districts around the state will be infected. That's my understanding. That's not my understanding. But, Gavin, you're My understanding of it is that they're because of that, they're asking for additional funding in the pot.
Do if that makes sense. Right. What's the question? If if yeah. Because well, I don't know I don't know when the the timing of the budgeting has taken place. And No problem. Given that we're already in November and this was all back then. So I mean Rachel and then Ethan. Yeah. I just think this kind of sounds like it's at people. It just sounds like we're asking for, like, more accessible language, like, was what Aaron was saying, with just, like, something that directly states our intentions with it. Because, like, at the end of the day, like, more money for people who need, like, need more support, I think, we're all advocating for.
But, I don't think the specifics of the bill are the issues, like, or the specific. It's like the lack of accessibility in the language. So just having something in this resolution to quickly outline and make that information more easily understandable and accessible seems like it would help. Yeah. I agree. And I think I'll try to ask the question again, but I think it would clarify if you could give a one word answer is, will this bill take money away from other kids? Yes, no, or maybe? I think we'd at simply add a sentence to the resolution that says in asking
for this, we do not want funds to be taken away from other groups of New York City's public school students. I would agree, and I would vote for that. So okay. So that would be the sentence like, one sentence to add to it that clarifies we are We have kids with disabilities. We have other A 100%. And I'm not I think that that I mean, from my perspective, that's Okay. Yeah. But I think that we're asking them to that we we would like this to go through with the understanding that no money is taken away from other New York City public school students. Well, one thing I think that makes this challenging is we do not have next
year's New York state budget in front of us right now. So we can talk about weights, but in terms of numbers, we don't have the budget available to us. So we're asking for an additional weight in that budget. So I think step one is for us to ask for additional weight for these students who are students in need, who are in our city's public schools. Like, 95% of the those students statewide are in New York City public schools. It's probably more like 98%. But, anyway, it's a lot students, a 150,000 students. So the first step is to ask for the additional weight.
And the next step after that is gonna be, you know, the all the trials and tribulations in the spring in Albany, like, the fight fighting for more money. So let's let's do step one first, and then we can do step two, and we can advocate for more money. And I think that's something we could do as a CEC, as that budget comes out is to ask for additional funds. But if we don't start now with the additional funding we, that money won't be in the budget. That money won't will not be in the New York State budget that comes out in, you know, in the new year.
So do you want are you proposing or not proposing? I mean, I would propose just to add the clarifying sentence, but I have to also defer to my cosponsors. Right. You you would have to make a motion, but that's up to you. Well, I okay. I'll make a motion. Yes. Okay. Oh. I'm not I'm not much I don't know, actually. I don't I don't I don't know. I had to ask legal, but I don't I don't know. I I'm not saying no. I just I actually don't know. So I'm sure there's a legalese. I just I'm not I don't know if anything So so I I think adding
that language about we want no, you know, reduction for other students, I think it's still, it's still conflating the funding weight with the actual, you know, budget numbers, which are are different. So I think asking for more funding weight is is step one. I I really am very uncomfortable with, this this resolution being conditional, in in that way. And so I would I would vote against any kind of amendment like that.
Yeah. I just wanted to add. I mean, what Gavin started off with earlier on was that this is a net positive. And because it's like a the pot of, I guess, found if I understand correctly, foundation money is for all the districts within the state, not just District 2. Right. And since New York City has, like, the overwhelming majority of, students in temporary housing, that influx would be more to New York City.
You know? So there might be other districts in the state It's a little louder. Sorry. There might be other districts in the state that are that are impacted, but it wouldn't be New York City students. You know? So it's you know, we're not we're advocating for our city's students. So I I regardless of whether or not that line is in there, I think the the goal was really to kind of push it towards greater funding by having that weight, which benefits New York City. That's that's my understanding of it after, like, all this discussion.
And also just to say, you know, the student doesn't get the money. It goes to the school. And so, again, as we were saying, these populations are part of a community in the school. So my son doesn't live in temporary housing. My son doesn't have an IEP, but he's benefiting from the money at his school. He's benefiting because everybody is getting a better education when they get more money. So it's not like the kids are getting the money specifically. It's just raising the level, for the whole school.
So the whole community is benefiting and the whole city. Are you gonna make a motion on that? Well, I I feel like I I'm gonna if that if that a consensus, then I won't make a motion. Alright. So moving forward. We'll move on. Resolution two eighty nine, improving busing service for students with disabilities in New York City. Are there any comments or questions on that? Make it a little I know I have some real life. So it's Okay. I've been waiting. Sorry. I won't say a lot. You guys have read it. Right? You can talk about I mean, maybe Gavin or other, you know, cosponsors, Craig, Sabina can speak more to the contract piece, which is actually being discussed at the PEP
meeting right now. New York City has a history of ignoring, the rights of students with disabilities on multiple holds. Right? So when we talk about IEP students and we talk about noncompliance, busing is a part of that. It's it's part of their IEP. It's on their IEP. Right? So this is a critical mandated service. I can't remember a time when busing works the way it was supposed to work. And we have students that are on buses for two hours to go three miles. We had a student in New Jersey die last year, a six year old, because
her para was seated in a different seat. The student's equipment failed. The student died. We have no working ACs, no heaters. We have buses that are 15 years old. But most importantly, we have ignored it. It's like, oh, that's too bad. It's too bad. I feel sorry for you. If this is happening to gen ed students, it would be fixed. And that's the truth. These are medically fragile, extremely, you know, vulnerable at risk students already. They're missing instructional time.
They're not able to access their education if they can't get to school. It's not like that's not oh, you missed a period or two. You just missed speech. You missed OT. You missed PT. You're coming in. The day's already started. It's not equal access, and it's gross. You know? And that's the bottom line. We're dealing with these these big companies, these bus vendors. Right? These bussing contractors, these vendors who have done a crap job. They've done a crap job, but why would we sign another five year contract with someone who's not not delivering the service? Clearly.
Right? And it's on record that they're not delivering the service. So why would we give them, oh, yeah. Go another five years. Even the bus drivers are pissed. The bus sorry. I don't know if that was a bad word. But the bus drivers are angry. They're unionized. They are having double, triple routes. That's why it's taking two hours for a kid who lives three miles from school to get there. You can't have a para. You know? You can't go on the train with a para. You have to take the bus to have the para. Right? You can't go to school if your para doesn't show up on the bus. They're overworked. They're tired, and they're taking the most precious cargo with them.
And also we need a better, you know, a contract for our bus drivers union. We need a better you know, for all of the people involved in busing. And this is not it, people. This is not it. In this contract, there's been a one year extension, and now the pup is deciding tonight, a vote that we didn't even know was scheduled for tonight. Backdoor meetings between OPT and the bus companies, the vendors on a three year contract locked into more of this dysfunction where kids are not getting to school.
It affects their lives, like, their lives. You all care about education. You're here. You know it has a big place in your child's life or you wouldn't be here. Right? So we can't get more of the same. Why why get more of the same? We this this is asking for at most a two year extension and no more than that. And, you know, stipulations, look at the last chunk of it. Look at the last little piece. Right? Working in that two year contract period in a way that is meeting all of the demands that the union has, that the students have, that the advocates have, that
the parents have, that we have. Right? And not just sitting on it like we've done for decades. We've used NICE bus. And there's thousands of complaints. That's it. Thank you. Thank you. Any other comments? Oh, okay. Resolution two ninety, resolution authorizing CEC two to hold hybrid. Any comments? I'll be brief. Council council member, core. I'll be brief. I just think this is a basic accessibility issue. It we have, you know, even on our own council, parents who have students with
disabilities who may not be able to be here in person, but still want and deserve, the chance to participate. In addition, I believe that people you know, as as a parent, we all know I mean, I have the privilege of being here because I have a spouse who is at home with my child. Not everybody has that privilege or the money to pay for childcare, or they may have a child that cannot be left with, you know, just a babysitter or, you know, there are a lot of extenuating circumstances.
So I think that this is, like, every major industry has accessibility for this reason, and I think that we we need to get on the same page. So many other CECs have, have hybrid meetings so that there's speaker participation, so that if if one of of us is traveling for work or our child is sick, that we can still participate. We will still need to have an in person quorum, but we'd still be able to vote. So I I think it's a no brainer. Thank you. Any other comments? K. Sorry. Okay. Second public speaker session.
I think we have my understanding is we have two people. Do we do a timer? Okay. Is Joe still here? I I guess. Yeah. Hi, Joe. You have two minutes. I spoke in the previous session. My sign says CIS equals can't imitate sex. A couple of meetings ago, the council passed the opposition to two forty eight, which would have allowed the conversation to happen about biological males playing on girls' school sports
and being in their locker. And, tellingly, superintendent Maguire did not address the question. I think some of you passed that opposition because you didn't wanna see me again, but ta da, I sit through some of the most boring and ineffective meetings of my life, and I'm still here. Superintendent Maguire does not care about biological girls in schools. Otherwise, he would have addressed the question. And tellingly, none of the people on the council asked him the question.
And as I said before, your primary role is to bring community problems to the superintendent. And today, you failed, but then spent an excruciatingly painful, boring amount of time with an effective, I guess, conversation. Like I said, when you passed the opposition to two forty eight, all that was going to happen was that the corrupt Department of Education was going to reiterate their gender guidelines, which is exactly what happened. So you have the Department of Education bureaucrat named Katie Jerklinik, and she says, As
a reminder this is her talking. As a reminder, I am attaching our response to the previous resolution, meaning resolution two forty eight, and confirming that statements made in this response remain accurate. And then she goes on to say, our policies and guidelines are appropriate and aligned with applicable laws and regulations. But no, they're not. No, they're not. There's an executive order which has the strength of federal law that says, Okay. Let me complete my sentence that says biological males are not to compete in girls'
school sports. And there's a lot of talk about money today. Let's see what happens when that money is rescinded. Jules. Is Jules still here? I think she left. Okay. Okay. So we will now take a vote on the resolutions. Okay. We'll start off with resolution sorry. We'll we'll start off with resolution two eighty eight, urging the New York State Legislature to pass s eight one three nine a ninety forty eight to help address the needs of students experiencing homelessness in foster care or in temporary housing.
I will make a motion to approve do Do I have a second? Second. Second is Erin Carr. I I make the motion for all of them. It's fine. Okay. So let's take it to a vote. Okay. On resolution two eighty eight, Allison Bowen? Allison Bowen is a no. Gloria Chu? Yes. Gloria Chu is a yes. Daniella Egorov is absent. Gavin Healy? Gavin Healy is a yes. Aaron Carr? Aaron Carr is a yes. Cody Lindquist? Cody Lindquist is a yes. Sam Lowe? Sam Lowe is a yes. Tal Mazel Shay. Tal is a yes.
Rustam Mavlanov? Abstain. Rustam is abstaining. Tamara Reid? Yeah. Tamara Reid is a yes. Sabina Serenice? Sabina Sereniz is abstaining, and Craig Slutskin. I would say, could you come back to me with that when you would you would back to me? I'll say yes. One. Craig Slutskin is a yes. Rachel Kenny. Rachel is a yes. And Ethan Kwok. Ethan abstains. Okay. So we have eight yeses, one no, and two abstentions, so the resolution passes. Thank you. Resolution two eighty nine, improving bus services for students with disabilities in New York City.
I'll make a motion to approve. Do I have a second? Second. Second is Erin Carr. Take it to a vote. On resolution two eighty nine, Allison Bowen. Allison Bowen is a yes. Gloria Chu. Gloria Chu is a yes. Daniella Egarov is absent. Gavin Healy Gavin Healy is a yes. Aaron Carr Aaron Carr is a yes. Cody Lindquist Cody Lindquist is a yes. Sam Lowe Sam Lowe is a yes. Tal Mazel Shay. Tal is a yes. Rustam Mablinov. Rustam is a yes. Tamira Reid. Tamira is a yes.
Sabina Serenese. Sabina is a yes. And Craig Slutskin. Yes. Craig is a yes. Rachel Kenny. Rachel is a yes. And Ethan Kwok. Ethan is a yes. It's a unanimous yes vote. The resolution passes. Thank you. For the record, eleven zero zero. Resolution two ninety, resolution authorizing CEC two to hold hybrid meetings. I'll make a motion to approve. Do I have a second? Second is Gloria Chu. On res I'm sorry. Resolution two ninety, Allison Bowen. Allison Bowen is a yes. Gloria Chu? Gloria Chu is a yes.
Daniella Agarab is absent. Gavin Healy? Gavin Healy is a yes. Aaron Carr? Aaron Carr is a yes. Cody Lindquist? Cody Lindquist is a yes. Sam Lowe? Sam Lowe is a yes. Tal Mazel Shay. Tal is a yes. Rustam Mavlanov. Rustam is a yes. Tamira Reid. Tamira is a yes. Sabina Serenese. Sabina is a yes. And Craig Slutskin. Yes. Craig is a yes. Rachel Kenny. Rachel is a yes. Ethan Kwok. Ethan is a yes. That is also unanimous, so that's 11 yeses. Zero nos and zero abstentions.
Thank you. And that concludes the vote on the resolutions. In your packet, you have the draft minutes of October 25 CEC two CEC two meetings. Thank you to, Victor for preparing them, as he does every month. It's a lot of work, so I appreciate the, appreciate the work the hard work on that. Does anybody have any corrections or comments on the minutes? Sabina. Nope. Just kidding. Hearing none, the minutes are stand approved. New business. Then, can I get a are we okay with adjourning? Can I make a motion to adjourn Second? Yep. K. Should we go directly into the working business meeting? Yeah.
Okay. So we're gonna I'm not gonna call this call to order. The working business meeting, it's 09:15 of Community Education Council two. My name is Craig Slutskin, and I'm the president. I'm gonna ask the, recording secretary to take roll call. Allison Bowen. Allison Bowen is present. Gloria Chu, Gloria is here. Daniella is absent. Gavin Healy. Gavin is here. Aaron is here. Cody. Cody is here. Sam Lowe. Sam is here. Tal. Tal is here. Roostom? Here. Roostom is here. Tamira Tamira is here.
Sabina Sabina is here. And Craig? Here. Craig is here. Rachel? Rachel is here. And Ethan? Ethan is here. So we have 11 in Best. 11 here and one excused absence. K. Thank you. So we're gonna start off with the treasurer if you can pass this out. Yeah. If we can start off with the treasurer's report. As a reminder, at the last meeting, Russ was elected treasurer. Mazel tov. We have to the first order of business that we need to do this year with for the treasurer is to approve a budget. Russ and I worked on a on a budget based upon some of the numbers from last year, which it's off the bat.
Go through. Yeah. Thank you so much. Thank you so much, Greg. Yeah. A brief update. So the budget you see is a projected budget based on the last year numbers. You'll notice reductions across many lines. Most of them cut by, like, 80%. You see that simply to reflect what was actually used last year and to keep the budget realistic and responsible. So the main cost remains, remains the member reimbursements, and that line says stays the same as last year because it, like, follows DOE guidelines. And, the total of the year is projected at eighteen six five o.
As we know, in previous years, several members didn't use or even never used their reimbursements, so this number usually comes in lower. So the rest of the lines, tax supplies, staff transportation, equipment, and so on were adjusted based on last year actual spending. And, nothing unusual here. Just aligning the numbers with real usage. We can still revise the budget. So give the comments, please. I'll just make two Yeah. Two, comments on this. First is just as a reminder because you talked about the CEC, the member the
member reimbursements. That's a that's a DOE policy. The policy is, there's we we as members can get reimbursed for each for each month. It's up to a $125 for each member. President is up to $200. And those reimbursements can be for things like if you want a magazine subscription, your telephone bill, if you take a cab to a meeting for, you know, in your capacity as a CS two member, including this meeting, up to up to that amount. That actually, when you think about this big group, because we are a big group,
it cuts into a lot of the 25,000 budget that is allocated to each CEC. So that's why the number is high. It's not that I'm Russ or I am pulling this number out of air. It's it's an actual number. You don't have to take it, but you are entitled to take it. Now we can make once we as we get along through the year, if if these numbers if people are not putting in money and we don't think they're going to, we could make a we could make amendments to it. I will say last year, most members did not put money in until the last week. So it was very hard for us to actually say where we were tracking because,
I mean, there was one member who put in it was Victor. I think it was, like, 04:00 when it was due 05:00, like, the whole year's expenses. They put it in at, like, 04:00, like, an hour with an hour to spare. But 08:00. You can literally wait. Now I would not recommend doing that because it's a very well, it's not even that. As Victor Victor will tell you no. No. No. Right. Right. Right. The the reason why I wouldn't do that is because no. No. Because he will tell you that the DOE is very strict in how things are
processed. Like, if you have it in the wrong line and there may be two or three iterations that Victor will have to go through, don't wait until 05:00 because somebody did wait last year and they didn't get reimbursed. We ran out of time. The other thing I wanna mention in here, you'll see on the last line something new. And and I generally don't like to think about anything in the budget just for one member or one school, but it but this is very specific, and I and I wanna I I wanna speak to it because I think it's very important. So one of the schools in our district is forty seven forty forty seven, which
is a school that is that focuses on one of their focuses is on students ASL, American Sign Language. And they have a lot of students who are hard of hearing. And I think it's very important because that's a pocket case. It's a one it's one of to have our liaison to be able to have at least some level of communication and have training in that. There was a very inexpensive but potentially very effective training. The the liaison is not gonna come out of this fluent. It's just not gonna happen, but at least it's gonna be some introduction. So I would like, just for this one instance, my rec my suggestion and recommendation
is that we do allocate the $250 for the liaisons at 47 to take this course for better communication. I think it's also sorry. It's also also a community that in the past has felt and I don't think it's this I think it's a few councils ago, but it it doesn't make a diff it's not that important which council. I think they felt neglected by previous councils, like, two or three ago, not not this current one. So I think it's also a nice gesture out to to improve the relationship between the CEC and and the parents and and faculty and community of that school.
So just wanted to throw that out there also because it's new. Sorry. Excuse me. It's new. It's not you know, it we didn't have it last year, but I think I think it's important. Just my suggestion. That sounds nice. My question is what's a p card? P card is the okay. So a p card and where's Victor? Because Victor It's Victor's credit card. It's it's basically a Victor's credit. Victor gets a credit card that he can use for miscellaneous. Like, if he buys more like, anything that it's, like, miscellaneous that we don't know. But it's a the p card is the DOE's credit card. Debit. Wait. I think it's a Victor, is it a debt? Where is Victor? Who's your step out?
Actually, we actually, he didn't. He didn't use it. I I've I've never seen it because it's I don't have it, but I think it's like a I think it's a credit. It's essentially a credit card. I don't know if it's actually a credit card as opposed to, like, a Yeah. Yes. It's not for it's not for me to, like, take the earn out. But the budget was 1 but the budget was 1,000. So last year, the budget was 1,000 for that card. And, we didn't use it. I cut it to 500. Victor, the question that we had is what exactly is what is the we didn't use the peak part last year, but is the peak technically a credit card?
Like, is it actually Yeah. It is. There's, like, so many limit time. Right. So we put a little bit of money in, but we didn't put it. Yeah. That is good. Right. And we can reallocate later if we find out that fine. He's not using it for anything. Right. Is it? If you're not able to use it, does the funding get lost? So any so anything that we don't use in our budget, it's use it or lose it. I don't. So we don't it we can't roll it. Like, let's say we used 20,000. It's not that next year. And this is a year to think. This is not a two year thing. Mhmm. Next year, we get 30,000.
It's use it or lose it. Oh. The staff, transportation, is that also for That's for Victor. Cool. And, we got it. If if if if it was for, like, let's say, for May. Right. That would be mem that would be the member. And, actually, it was $1,550 last year, and now we cut it to 500. He didn't use it all. Yeah. He can. But he didn't pay card money. Kind of a tough, sorry, treasure. And just to be clear just to be clear, Rachel and Ethan, you have the right also. It is you you also yes.
We would not we would we we wouldn't take cars taxis home and send you in a bus because that would kinda be rude. But, yes, the two of you are entitled to it as well. What's that? Logistically, Victor will figure it out with you, but but but you you're entitled also to it, to reimbursements. So I just wanna say I didn't I didn't take any reimbursement at all the last two years. I don't I don't intend to going forward, so I'm happy to give my money over to Victor who he's you wanna go to go to vacation and take care of your family? I don't think that'll get through the, the, the counseling.
Without a word. Sorry. No. It's cool. My voice is loud. Just thank you for, I know you haven't voted on it yet, but thank you for the ASL help. I've been on YouTube. It's not a good teacher for me. I look like an air traffic controller, so I'm really embarrassed. I'm trying. This is a school that I feel I I think we all feel needs more support, and I think it's it's nice for them not just to see that their liaison is is doing the work to go in there, at least have, like, some basic like, I can say a few things, you know, making the effort even if
I look like a fool, but that this council this council supported it financially. Like, that is an effort, and that is showing that we are serious about bringing them back here because they said they've would never come back. Right? So I just wanna say thank you. In advance. What? In advance. In advance. We gotta vote. You know? Oh, god. One more thing. Do we put your new business? No. We're still on the budget. Okay. Go on. Alright. Okay. Are there any other questions on the budget? Okay. Can I make a I'm gonna make a motion to approve the budget?
Can I get a second? Can we take a vote? Good enough. I think I have more if I need more. Okay. Okay. This is a vote to approve the budget. Allison Bowen. Allison Bowen is a yes. Gloria Chu. Gloria is a yes. Daniella is absent. Gavin Healy. Gavin is a yes. Aaron. Aaron is a yes. Cody Lindquist. Cody is a yes. Sam Lowe. Sam is a yes. Tal Mazel Shay. Tal is a yes. Rustum? Yes. Rustum is a yes. Tamira Reid? Yes. Tamira is a yes. Sabina is she had to leave early. She's not right. Craig Sutskin? Yes. Craig is a yes.
Rachel Kenny, Rachel is a yes. And Ethan Kwok? Ethan is a yes. So that is passed unanimously with 10 votes, zero nos, and zero abstentions. Thank you. Moving along, a couple more things. Looks like we'll get out of the time. On the committee structure, thank you all for your committee requests. As I discussed, everybody decides you know, everybody can determine what they would like is to be what committees they would like to be on. So thank you for that. I just wanna thank in particular Ethan, and Rachel because they are gonna be on committees themselves. So so thank you for that.
I wanna congratulate also because, I got several people showed interest, in, chairing committees. So I do wanna, unfortunately, there was there was some overlap so we we had to move a little bit around move a little few things around. Student Temporary Housing Committee, Cody will chair that. The Multilingual Learning Committee, Russ will chair that. The School and Safety and School Climate Committee, Erin will chair that. The Zoning and Capital Improvements Committee, Daniella will chair that. Students with Disabilities Committee, Tam will chair that.
Admissions committee, Sam and I will co chair. And the academic affairs committee, Allison and Daniella will co chair. But, all of you gave me your request. That's, you know, in terms of what you wanna be on, that is what it is. So, what I'm going to do is I'm gonna set up a shared calendar. So this way, if the committee chair wants to hold a meeting, that we can actually, like, reserve dates because one thing I would like never to happen is that two committees meeting on the same night. I just don't think that's a good thing for a whole bunch of reasons. I don't think I need to get into that.
But, and, you know, let's talk. I'm I'm ex officio on on on every committee. That doesn't mean I'm gonna be steering anything. Committee chairs should should do as they work with their committees to decide agendas and things like that, but I'm certainly happy to be your thought partners on this as well. There are a couple of committees where we don't have a ton of members. I just want to remind everyone, just because you're not on a committee does not mean that you can't participate in that committee. You're, you know, it's a public meet they're public sessions anyway, committee meetings, so anybody can attend any committee.
And certainly, you know, if you have a particular interest but didn't want to commit to the committee, definitely please participate. Virtual meetings procedures. So one of the things that we are required to do, this is by by law, is have formal procedures. In your packet, and it it was online also, is the procedures for member video conferencing pursuant to public officers law. It's very boring, but it's it's what's the the only change I made from what is actually provided by the face, which was provided by the Committee on Open Government. The only change was that instead of saying enter counsel here, I put in CEC
two. It's I didn't make any wording changes aside from identifying who we are. I don't know if anybody got a chance to take a look at this. Again, this is not something I I I think that we it it is what it is, and this, complies with open meetings law. Does anybody has any questions or comments? No. This this is for hybrid. So when you're in doing hybrid, you have to have this procedures which have to be on your. So we have all I will just say this. All of our committee meetings with the exception of one over the last term was
video. It was comp it was not even hybrid. It was virtual. I'm just gonna say that that's what we did. Oh, you're not open to the public. Yeah. Yes. Right. They're not conducting business or taking votes at the community meetings, so they're not, like, I guess, covered by local meetings. There is yeah. There there is some discrepancy in interpretation. I will just say, in terms of it has to be both, I will just say virtually every CEC has their committee meetings online and none of us have gotten
arrested. I'm just gonna say it that way. Interpret it as you wish. I will bail I will bail you out. I will come and bail you out. Some of that budget from the p card. I've I've done it before. I I I have bailed people out of my me. Don't ask about don't ask, but I have bailed people out. Okay. You don't wanna know. Okay. Liaison school reports. I don't have a two sentence. Okay. Yeah. Sorry. So before we do it, I just so this is the time you don't have to, but if you have had your liaison visits or if you've had communication, things that you wanna bring up for your liaison schools, this is a good time to
do One thing I will ask, I know you wanna speak I'm going to ask you to speak about PS fifty one if you can because I know that's your school. We did it we did a Facebook and and Twitter thing and I know, superintendent McGuire did something as well. So I'll ask we'll let Erin go first, but I'm gonna ask you to speak about it. This is very brief. One of the, my assignments is for the three k and pre k centers, which we haven't done in the past because, technically, we don't really cover them, but they don't have any representation or connection to community education councils. So, actually, last week was here.
There's a location here at Tweed downstairs, and there are two principals who manage the nine centers. I'm meeting with the second principal on Monday, and I'll have more of a report next time, but I just wanted to let everyone know that. Go ahead. Well, first, I had a lovely liaison visit with PS forty one, which is one of our council members homeschool, and it was really nice to meet the principal and the parent coordinator. I got a little bit more about, some building needs they might have in the future, really warm, wonderful community, wonderful elementary school.
And one of the things that the parent coordinator brought up to me just to shout out again, seventy five Morton, was just how much a lot of, people from that school go to seventy five Morton, love seventy five Morton, and what a great community it is. So they wanted to shout them out. So I'm shouting out their shout out. And, yeah, I just had a great great meeting, and it was really nice to get to know them there. And, hopefully, it'll be the beginning of a good relationship, with that school as well. One of my other liaison schools, PS fifty one.
So In the Hellscotch community, which is the community that was the hardest hit with asylum seekers in the last few years, just because the proximity of the shelters, a lot of the hotels in our neighborhood have been used as shelters and have been slowly closing down, throughout the city. And in District 2, that's where most of them are centered. We still have one large shelter. It's, 3,500 people, I believe, The Row Hotel on 8th Avenue. There are three elementary schools in the neighborhood, where the majority of those families go
to school, PS two one two, PS one eleven, and PS fifty one. PS fifty one has shouldered the largest, amount of these students. It's one of the last remaining asylum seeking shelters, and it's closing. And it's closing faster than we were told. It's actually currently closing before the end of the year. Originally, they said it was gonna be April, and now they're saying it's going to be December. So this is a a four alarm fire for the elementary schools in the neighborhood because, PS 51 has 40 of their, population going to that school.
So if you think about, the fact that 40% of your school population might not have a place to live or if they do, might not have a place to live in the neighborhood. It's gonna be detrimental for the students there. And, of course, obviously, this is above our heads in terms of the mayor making decisions on when to close things and contracts closing down, but, it is a huge, huge problem in our neighborhood. And, so PS 51, we posted places, as resources for families if anyone wants to
donate, monetary donations. And just to say an awareness on this, you know, these are school communities. If you think about it, it's not just affecting the kids that are living in the shelter system. It's affecting the kids that don't. You know? Just to think that one day you might show up and 40% of your class isn't there, or maybe they are there, but they had to take a two hour bus ride to get to the school that they've been going to every day. These are families that are well integrated into our community. We see them every day, not just in school, but the playgrounds, at the grocery
store. So I just wanna put that emphasis on that, as we're thinking and moving forward, especially right before the holidays, which is really, really sad. So I just wanna give some love and shout out to p s fifty one, any ways that we can support them, and we're discussing and trying to figure out ways that we can help them out as a CEC and just as a community of New York City public, school families. PS two zero two has some families there as well, and I'm not quite sure what the number is at PS one eleven. But, you know, we've seen our in Hell's Kitchen, we've seen a huge shift in
our populations. And it's just something I think we should all be aware of, as we're moving forward. So And there's more information about it on our website on the homepage, www.cecd2.net. There's a link to what they need, Amazon wish list, etcetera, and more more details about this. We put that on so you can go to our website, also our Facebook page, but you might have to scroll down a little bit. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Wait. My iPhone I'm so I'm sorry. Well, the people at home So oh, yeah. That's right. PS three has a school spotlight tomorrow morning.
You got an email about it from from Seven emails about it. We've gotten several emails about it. Check it out if you can. Go to p s three. It's it's a really amazing place with some problems right now. So I think we should show up and and investigate and support and do all the things. Yeah. I think it's at 08:15 in the morning. Sleepover, we sell today, and then we go over in the morning. It's it's 08:15, but I my guess is 08:15 is breakfast, that it doesn't actually start until, like, 08:40.
Five. That's just my guess. Alright. Well, don't talk to me till I have coffee. If you see me there, please. Okay. I have a cup I I did do do, a couple of liaison school visits. I was at PS two, which is in Chinatown. Very good school community, decreased enrollment. It's a very it's a brand new principal. She was one of the folks who presented, I think, it was last meeting or or the meeting before, Rachel Rosenbaum. There's definitely some structural assistance that they need, in the auditorium, in the gymnasium, and
we're we're connecting them also to, council member Marte because that's the he's he's their council member. I also did my visit at, Baruch Middle School, also a very good middle school, not to take anything away way way from, Morton. Sorry, Erica. It's it's a great school as well. Morton is great. I'm not taking anything away, but but, Morton, Baruch is also pretty good. That's a pretty old building. They do have accessibility issues. They need they really do need a ramp, in the front to at least get students in the first on onto the 1st Floor.
They've had issues where students have had to leave because there was no accessibility in that building. So we're working working with, on that as well. So, those were the liaison school biz oh, Gavin, go ahead. Couple of things. Actually, Aaron and I went to the community board too, education community meeting, and we heard a presentation from, families at Morton. And, actually, the the, community board education community meeting was held at Morton. So it's interesting to learn a little bit about the history of the school or about the advocacy, work that went that took place over actually quite a long period
to to get a zone middle school, to that neighborhood, which, you know, they did not have one before 2018, so that was interesting. Also, also, Rustam and I visited the River School, and I've had a number of conversations, since then with the River School parents, and and the work there is is ongoing. There is definitely a lot of work that needs to be done to, ensure that the the principal is in compliance with the students' IEPs, that there are protections for
staff there, and, I look forward to hearing more from from Kelly's team as well, from the district team about how they're ensuring, compliance with those things. Thank you. Any other reports? So, I had an opportunity to visit, PS 59 as well as PS 340. Both of these schools are, very healthily enrolled. It's a pleasure to be able to meet both the principals. PS fifty nine has a unique playground situation where their playground is located on the
roof. It's a k to five school, and they had a, capital improvement that was in the making for about nine years. It was I think they put in a greenhouse, and so they didn't have access to their roof for an entire year, and they just got it back this year. But now there's a different improvement that's on the books, for their playground, accessory, like the the jungle gym and things like that. I think they're just either expanding it a little bit more or, replacing some of
the older features. And, originally, the principal was trying to petition for the work to start over the summer, but I think they're gonna they're planning to start it in March. So she's a little bit concerned that, you know, the the kids just got their playground back, and then it's gonna be gone for, like, another year, after having been gone for another year. Yeah. So I was a little curious to know, is there any way to speed that process up or work with the SCA to Is it SCA that's doing it, or
is it facilities? Because it's it's two separate things. So we first I guess, the first question is, who is doing it? Is it find out who is doing it? And the second question the second and then from there, we can we can try to find speak to somebody in SCA or facilities to see what the story is. Sometimes sometimes there is nothing. It it is what it is because it's permits and they have schedules. And, unfortunately, like, we my school, you know, 03:40, we lost our gym for almost a year. We got it back for two months, and then they had to fix the underlying problem. So we're gonna lose it for another year.
And then they're gonna give it to us for two months, then there are gonna be upgrades, and we're gonna lose it. In two years, we're gonna lose it for a little bit of time as well. You know? And you would think that they would try to do everything together, and they there's a there's a bunch of reasons why they can't. So Right. We we can make inquiries, and we can see what the reasoning is because sometimes there is reason, and sometimes, you know, there's not much we can do. Okay. Alright. We'll talk about it offline. Yep. Yeah. Sorry. On the virtual meeting procedures that I just talked about before, can we just take a a hand vote by acclamation if everybody's okay with those procedures?
Does any or does anybody wanna discuss them? It'd be very interesting. Okay. I don't know if you wanna stay late to discuss this. Okay. Is every is everybody okay with it? Yes. Okay. Okay. Good. New business. You had something? Yeah. So interesting. Goddamn. Sorry. Council member Reid. This was for the students. I'm just I'm and I know you said that you were looking into it or you had this exact question today. I'm curious about what their actual role is in terms of how much participation they are allowed to access in the meetings or express in the meetings because I I
didn't realize that students because we often don't have student members on a lot of councils. I know on CCSE, we they came and went. Right? I didn't know you couldn't make a motion I I don't know. Or a second. That's what I'm saying is that nobody knows. And so the fact that they, you know, are reimbursed for transportation, obviously, they're like a full member in that way that, you know, their votes aren't counted, but we take their votes, that they're able to participate in every other way. I'm wondering about the governance part of it and, like, if we can get clarity on it. I think that would be helpful for across the board.
Right? I think it yeah. For everyone. The only thing I will say is they they obviously they they we let them we we ask them to take their vote. We off we allow them to vote. They're not required to. We let them vote, although it doesn't count technically in in our vote count. That's that's state law. That that is what it is. The other thing that we discussed we we looked at last year, and I got legal input, is they cannot be one of the three sponsors. Like, they they can they can join, but they cannot be one of the sponsors of a residential show. Just, like, written out. Got it. Is there a chancellor's reg? Is I mean, who have it? Base?
Base has it. Base just on their own, pulling it out, or did they base it on chancellor's reg? They based it on Chancellor's regs. I don't think it's specific it's their interpretation of Chancellor's regs. The the the the the voting is is that is that's state law. We know the voting The the reimbursements the reimbursement is actually in the is is in the face handbook. Like, you know, the handbook we get. They they they're entitled. Right? Is there a way to do that before we proceed? We can we can see that. You have to. But The the the thing is there's always gonna be more, you know, to the extent that we know, like, there are gonna be questions that come up. But in terms of participating in the meeting, we've always allowed I mean, this is
going back way well before May. I I I I don't want I'm not I don't know. I'm I'm not a governance person. Just I don't know if Ina's still here. But Sorry. We this is this is we're not in public session, but we'll look into it. Because I'm I know. I just think it's good for all of us to know because that made me feel, you know, weird that I don't know that. Ethan. Like, you brought up an excellent point. Sorry for the space in on your name. I know you're proper back. Ethan. And, you brought up a great rally, and you were, you know, both of you students were, like, very active in that in the the discussion about resolution.
Thankfully, we, you know, we, like, we might not always agree on things. Like, they're heard, and I love that. But you basically were trying to make a motion, you know, to make an amendment, and it it was like Yeah. Is Xena still here? Yeah. Cool. Like, you couldn't actually do it. So I wanted to try that for you. Well, I'll talk to Yena tomorrow. Yena is early as until to legal, and and we'll we'll we'll work on that. Okay. But, you know, they participated fully, and I'm glad they did. Anything else? Okay. Well, happy Thanksgiving. Have everyone have a happy Thanksgiving. What? I was laughing because she was laughing. Happy Thanksgiving, everybody.
I think this was actually a good meeting place. I I think this was excessive. It worked out well. Thank you everybody for your participation, and, see you in a month. Thank you. Yep.