Okay, good evening. Uh, can the folks on video hear me? You, someone can put it in the chat. Yes. Good. Okay. Uh, so, uh, good evening. My name is Craig Slutzkin and I am the president of Community Education
Council 2. I will call this calendar meeting of CEC2 to CC2 to order. I'm going to ask the translators to make their announcements if they want to come up. Where he was here? Did he leave? He's coming back in.
Gracias. The following announcement will be in Chinese. Thank you. Thank you. Um, we I would like to start off the meeting with our normal council norms. Uh, I'm asking for civility to one another and
respect towards each other. Uh, hopefully we can show respect when others are speaking. Uh, this goes both ways. I'll ask council members and the audience. Um, not much of an audience, but uh, ask council members in the audience to respect and listen to each other. Uh, I will ask uh, everyone to
let others be heard. We have the right to speak and to also be heard. Um, please no profanity. We may have we do have students here. We do have students potential uh listening at home. Um, and our I'll remind uh the audience that our
bylaws state that discussion and charges relating to the competence or personal conduct of individuals may be ruled out of order. I will also ask that comments in the chat be respectful as well. We do reserve the right to shut off the chat function if needed. I'm going to ask the
uh recording secretary to take a roll call vote. >> Allison Bowen. Allison Bowen is here. Gloria Chu. Gloria Chu is here. Daniela Egro is present virtually. Yes. >> Here.
>> Oh, sorry. >> Uh Gavin Healey. Gavin Healey is here. Aaron Carr is here. Cody Linquist. Cody Linquist is here. Sam Low Sam Low is here. Tall Masilcha
Tall is here. Rust Mlinov Rust Moblinov is here. Tamira Reed >> here. >> Tamira Reed is present virtually. Sabina Serene. >> She made Okay. Uh Sabina is an excused
absence. Craig Slutskin. Craig is here. Rachel Kenny. Rachel Kenny is here. Ethan Quac >> here. >> Ethan is present virtually. So, we do have a quorum. >> And just as a reminder, now that we're hybrid, we do have to have a quorum of
members present in physically present at the meeting, which we do. We have uh voting members 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9. So, we are at nine. And Sabina just signed on. So Sabina will note is present I think.
Could you mute? I think I has to be muted. That's fine. Uh and let me just add that to her. Um and as a rem as a reminder uh now that we are hybrid uh during the public speaker session, people can rem members of the public uh
can uh speak virtually. They can participate virtually. Uh we did put up the signup sheet uh in the in the chat box. We'll put that up a few more times. So, please uh sign up. Uh the first order of business today is the program presentations. We're going
to go this in a little bit out of order because the the Eron Gayant from the uh office of the first deputy uh chancellor is going to be a little bit late. So, we're going to start off tonight with our New York City New York City uh public schools financial literacy
education. We're I'm pleased to welcome tonight Eileen Marks. Eileen is from the office of student pathways which has been coordinating many many of the efforts uh of the DOE surrounding uh financial literacy and improvement across all grades from kindergarten all
the way up to high school. So Eileen I'd like to welcome you. >> Hi there. Uh just making sure everyone can hear me. >> Yes, we can. >> Great. So, uh, yeah, uh, just want to give you guys a bit of an overview of,
uh, how financial literacy has been developed. Um, my name is Eileene Marx and I have been tasked with building a K through2 financial literacy strategy for the past 2 and a half years. And, uh, I've worked actually with um, the middle
school leadership conference under um, Superintendent Kelly Magcguire. We've met with those uh students twice in the past two years to get feedback from their middle school perspective and uh worked with them to think through how to
encourage their principles um uh to offer financial literacy um in general. And then some students really wanted to think through how do we offer financial literacy um with a lens of equity and
access like how does every student get financial literacy and it it's tough it's a it's a tough thing for middle school principles to to attack to make happen. Um so that just want to let you know that um the students in your district uh the middle school students
have actually thought about this um and we've had some conversations and they've been really really um deep and uh the students in your district really care about this and your superintendent has allowed them uh a voice and um time to
to bring up concerns. So, just want you to know that that's been uh a conversation with our office and uh the the uh district 2 superintendent team. Uh but I want to move on to you know what what we've been doing at office of
student pathways. Um you know this office has historically been a 9 through 12 focus but in the past two years uh we have really uh focused more K to2 in all of our programming. not going to talk through every slide, but uh want to
really focus on what we're talking about when we mean financial literacy. Um and that is one of our focus areas. Um and want to talk a little bit about the goals. Um, we know that the New York
State um, education department is planning to transform their education uh, requirements and that Finlet will be a requirement effective school year 2627. But New York City public schools has had
a goal um, since 2023. uh this 2030 goal that 100% of our graduates will have foundational skills for career readiness, computer science, and financial literacy. Um and and that speaks to us. We feel that New York City
public schools, while not having a specific graduation requirement, uh we feel like we've been a little bit of ahead of the state. Um so this uh is what what uh the work that I've been involved in is before we can say you
know what we want from K to2 teachers, parents, um school communities, uh district uh we we want to make sure we're clear what we mean when we say financial literacy. And uh we this is the definition we are going by that it
is the knowledge, skills and mindsets needed to make informed and responsible financial decisions, manage money effectively and build a thriving financial future for self, family, and
community. So we don't want to just focus on those discrete lessons happening in a classroom. We really want to look at long-term economic security and that when students graduate in 12th grade that they have had a progression
of experiences so that they know what it means to be economically secure when they leave us. Um we are also aligning any curriculum and anything that we're putting in front of our students, our parents, our teachers. Um that
everything is aligned with the national standards because right now there are no New York state standards and that they are differentiated by developmental stage. Um and these things on the right hand side uh executive function is early
childhood. Financial habits and norms is what we're focusing on in the middle school and then financial knowledge and decisionmaking skills is really the adolescence and young adulthood. Um so one one big program that you would
see in especially in the K to8 schools uh in district 2 is the save for college program. Uh and that vision is that all public school students have a financial asset for college and career training starting in kindergarten um and support
from every part of their community to achieve educational and economic success. And uh why was it created uh 9 years ago in 2014? Um, part of the reason was that one in three kindergarteners in one of the
wealthiest school districts, um, in New York City, only one in three had a 529 account. Um, one in 115 in one of the highest economic need school districts had a 529 account. So now with this
program in 2025, we have a thousand schools um across districts 1 through 32 um and district 75, which is our special education district. And we have some participating charter schools and um we have $49
million accumulated in those New York City scholarships accounts. Um so that is one of the you know um you know a flagship program um that is grounded in uh working with families, parent coordinators and um the school community
to start students really thinking about college and career and saving for that. So that is a major program that you would see in your district. Um, so as long as a parent or guardian does not opt out of the program, every
student receives a New York City scholarship account with an initial $100 allocation from New York City Kids Rise. Um, that is the body that um, manages the scholarship funds that are invested
in the New York 529 direct plan. Families can also earn additional scholarship funds for their student from New York City Kids Rise. So, this program does have three building blocks um for parents um and caregivers. The
first building block is that you activate that account. The second one is that you open and connect your college and career savings account and the third one is that you make your first deposit into the new account. Um, parent
coordinators are the key player along with um, school principles and other staff to um, to really en engage with parents and engage with caregivers to start this process. But in addition to
that, there are um something called a save for college curriculum extensions which are lessons that teachers in the classroom can connect to what's happening with the save for college account. Um so uh that that again is a very big
program that is happening in our K to8. I think our first class uh in the pilot year uh in Queens which is district 30 who piloted uh they will be going to high school next year. So, at this moment, I do want to talk
about um what the current state of financial literacy in New York City public schools is. Essentially, we're in year two. um according I mean if you go back to the 1960s it's the last time
that New York City public schools had a focus um where students actually had financial literacy um except for our high schools that have a career and technical education track. Those schools
do have a graduation requirement that is career and financial management. Other than that, um, our school system has not had any requirements since the 1960s. Um, so we are in year two of this strategy that I've been building. Um,
and want to give you a little bit of an update of what what our current state for the um, the entire system is, not just district 2. Um what the implementation models that we've seen across our districts is in K to8 not
every school but the schools that are taking on financial literacy are embedding it um in math in social studies in ELA um some uh if there are advisory periods or social emotional
periods some schools are taking that opportunity um some are doing readalouds Um and then we also have some afterchool programs who are embedding um uh an economy um a school economy in that afterchool
program where kids earn points or earn bucks. Some some classroom teachers have an economy with um behavior management and rewards etc. Um the second thing here is the curriculum that we are
seeing in most schools or that the curriculum that we vetted. We had a multistakeholder curriculum vetting project last year with parents, teachers, recent graduates, current students, librarians, and some community
members. Um, we vetted the FDIC moneys smart curriculum by which is no screens, completely tactile, completely um, hands-on and then save for college lesson extensions. Those are the curriculum
that uh, we have vetted and that are standards aligned that are also aligned to those um, milestones that I shared earlier. Um and then another piece that we have done with professional learning is um the library system here for New
York City public schools has something called Sora which is an online library. There is a Finlit collection that our ELA teachers or any teacher can tap into um and we can teach um financial literacy through readalouds through
literacy and we also have free um a free uh subscription to teachingbooks.net net which also has accompanying lessons. Um so there's a lot of spaces in the curriculum uh where we feel that our K
through8 teachers can tap in. Um and then professional learning we have offered PD on chancellor's conference days February break and spring break. The last two years we've had a K through five session. Um and then summer
institutes we we foresee offering summer institutes through for K to5 um in summer 2027 uh based on state requirements that will be happening um middle school our current state the
implementation models we've seen is a lot of embedding in the math curriculum and the social studies curriculum also uh the advisory periods or crew where students are um you know getting that and then there are some middle schools
that have offered an elective um for one trimester or one semester. So we've seen that across the the system. Uh the curriculum that we have seen across that top line is NGPF which is next
generation personal finance, EverFi uh which is again it is available to all teachers through uh our teach hub and again the FDIC moneys smarts. Uh again all three of them have been vetted.
they're all um standards aligned and we also have really shared a lot with our middle school and high school teachers around field trips and the um uh age appropriate field trips that we have seen our Junior Achievement Finance Park
and the Federal Reserve building. Um, so those are some things that we've encouraged teachers to do. And again, the professional learning is very similar when there's chancellor's conference days, February break, spring break, and again, we are hoping to do
summer institutes for our middle school teachers this summer. And we we're about to wrap up. I have a few more slides just talking about what are we anticipating uh from the New York State Education Department.
Um so on November 4th they had um a meeting that was public uh to talk about new instructional requirements for climate education and what they're calling personal finance education. We've been calling it financial literacy
or financial education. uh we're noticing they're calling it personal finance. Um so their implementation timeline that they shared is that 202627 that middle school um and high school
that they would um have a new instructional requirement for uh starting in September and that for elementary and the grade band at the state level is a little different than us uh K to4 would be beginning in 2728.
Um so that is their implementation timeline and the state often has this timeline uh is a roll out that may be over the course of 2 to 3 years. Uh they have not put anything else out specifically
um but it it is over time. The instructional options that they are proposing are that financial literacy K to2 can be embedded in coursework. It could be offered as a standalone course
which most likely would be a high school option. And then in high school as well a career and technical education programming. And I said earlier that has been around for many years um which is a
state requirement for CTE schools. Um so that is all I have at the moment for um our current state and what we have been working on um you know at the citywide level. Um not sure if there's
any time for questions, but you know, we're really excited that we have been working with district 2 um superintendent team. We've had um our middle schoolers weigh in on what they believe um is necessary. Uh but I don't
know how much time is left, but wanted to just uh open it up if there are are any questions. >> Uh thank you. And I I'll open it to my the my fellow council. First of all, thank you for the presentation. I do have a couple of questions and then I'll open up to my fellow council members.
So, um, on the the dedicated financial literacy course, I do know that there are some schools at the high school level that are doing it and doing it very well. For example, I know Towns in Harris in high school in Queens has has a dedicated financial literacy course which is has been very well received.
>> Yes. And that's through a grant with that that I'm running. It's a NextGen personal finance. Yes. >> Yes. And I know the the instructor Jamal is very Jamal is very excited about doing that was very excited. So, uh, and I know it's been very very well received
on the new state requirements, the personal finance education. Is that going to be standardized or is it going to be each district and and I guess district meaning New York City versus other districts, Albany, what what have you, or even within the DOE, district 1,
district 2, CCHS, etc. Is it going to be standardized what they what they're trying to put in? And also can you give me some concrete like what exactly is in the coursework because you're talking about the coursework is embedded within
social studies or or mathematics but just give me a couple of example like what are the kid what from a practical standpoint are the kids actually learning at the m and more so on the middle school and and maybe to some extent uh elementary school level. So um
so there are national standards and um I can I can give you you know some so there's behavioral economics there's budgeting there's um investing insurance
taxes types of credit managing credit risk um and of course I mean and when you think going all the way down to like kindergarten those you know they would be those topics would be obviously
brought down to things like needs and wants, right? Um, you know, things that would be de developmentally appropriate and like some of those curricula that we vetted like the FDIC's moneys smarts um
is it's developmentally appropriate, it's standards aligned. But going back to the state, one thing that I've been following, portrait of a graduate, which is them overhauling the regents and overhauling graduation requirements. Um
it it's it's very unclear but they've you know are looking at oh every district is going to make their own determinations of what they mean by graduation requirements and regents where this climate and personal finance
they have not been really clear on whether the direction is coming from the state that it's going to be coming down from the state that every district has the same standard standards to be held to and by standards I don't mean learning standards I mean like what must
be done by and one thing they did say is they will have um topics and standards by grade that I think that they want us to meet but they haven't shared any actual specifics their timeline is March
the end of March is the timeline where they are supposed to put out a website they're supposed to put out resources. Uh but I personally have not seen anything. I have tried I I have reached
out to the social studies person at the state. Um but we really haven't been given any indication. Uh the one thing there is a feedback period until January 19th and the DOE is working on a big
document to give feedback and especially at the high school level but K to8 as well. We're really recommending that they be flexible in what teacher license can teach personal finance. um that it
doesn't it shouldn't just be business, math, social studies because Jamal from Towns and Harris >> is a fizzed teacher. Uh we have someone at Brooklyn Tech who is a physics teacher and he is phenomenal.
So, you know, a lot of it has to do with the individual teacher and their passion around it, right? But then there's also my role and Central's role in um professional development and getting the teachers who are going to be teaching
this competent and confident to teach it. >> And then the other question that I have is is on the the $100 that you put in the 529, how much of a challenge has it been to get people to actually sign up? And the reason why I say that is I know in in my
school, for example, the parent coordinator sends out emails reminding people and reminding people and reminding people to sign up. And I'm sure there are many reasons why a family would would not sign up. I I may not understand it, may not need it, what have you. How challenging has it been?
And what happens if somebody actually just never signs up? Does do they not get it? Is it reserved for, you know, the next 12 years? And then when the kids in college, they have an accumulated amount. How does that work? >> So, I have not run that program.
>> Um, so I'm not an expert. I know that I believe they have a few years and there is a lot of followup with the Kids Rise program. They're the ones who manage the money, who manage the accounts and then someone at in our office, Sabine Mara
and Max Goldberger are the ones who run the program. I know this that there is tons of effort being made to to really find like the return of investment, the value for parents who don't speak
English, for parents who may not have bank accounts, for newcomers, right? For for breaking down the barriers of understanding like what's the value of this? Um so there's been a lot a lot of
um effort put into that. Um but there's still there's always going to be folks who don't sign up, right? Um and there's also a lot of I think press around and a lot of you know around getting graduates like famous graduates and not so famous
graduates to donate because it is a community scholarship. Um for example, I think there's uh in Queens there's a concert every year that has been done. I don't know who the artist is, but the proceeds from that concert go to a
specific neighborhood in Queens and it goes to every student who has a 529 in that particular geographic area. It goes to their accounts. So there's there's just a lot being I guess um public
education that is needed, but also the education within the school. our parent coordinators um have been trained a lot and the the FLC's uh the family leadership coordinators at the district level. That's another um person that
we've really leveraged to help understand like why this is so valuable and and helping parents who need it. Um and and and and you know district two I don't know what the you know I don't have the that data in front of me. Is it
a district that needs it? Is it a district that wants it? You know, I I don't know. >> Thank you. Uh I want to let my other council members ask uh give them the opportunity to ask any questions. We'll start off with uh council members in the room and then we'll go. I know uh Ethan
and I think Tam have questions as well, but are there any questions from anybody in the room? Any of the council members in the room? Okay. Um so we'll start off with Ethan and then we'll go to I think Tam. I know your hand's not up, but if there are any council members that wish to ask a question, raise your hand. But we'll
start off with Ethan. >> Yeah. So, thank you, Miss Marks. Um, I just wanted to first say that, uh, I think this initiative is really great. Uh, for me personally, I'm also really interested in finance and I actually went to my old elementary school PS11 to do a similar thing with financial literacy to teach the kids. So, I just
want to start off with that that it's a great initiative. Um I think I just wanted to clarify um this sort of related to logistics because I think we can all agree that uh this is a good cause and I think there's definitely a need for this um and you said you set a target for 2030 having financial
literacy roll out for all the schools um in district 2. So my question was uh first I have multiple questions but the first one is how much uh I guess how much power would you say that you have
over because there's obviously multiple moving parts in this whether that's getting the budgeting uh or connecting to the teachers or getting the curriculum and I know you did a great job developing the curriculum but I also wanted to ask how much power do you have to let's say uh have a say in the
budgeting or have a say in which teachers are you going to contract or which uh people are you going to get to teach this? Um because I know um Mr. Sleskin mentioned that uh he had several questions and then you said that there's also the responsibility of other parties
um and you know it's it's up to you having to negotiate with them or try to figure out how you can all coordinate. So my question is how much power do you have um and what can you control because I think it's best for all of us if we could talk about that. So
just like with any subject um or any school, the principal is the lead teacher, right? The principal makes those decisions. The superintendent like I am a thought partner. I do not tell
anyone what to do. What my role is is to make sure that the resources are there, that they are researchbased, that they are standards aligned, and that we are primed and ready to support any superintendent, any superintendent team,
any principal with high quality implementation. So I am a thought partner. Um I I am here to help the district uh envision on a perfect day what does your financial literacy implementation
look like? Same thing for principles and then teachers it's what does what do you need wi with respect to professional development. Um so you know that that is really my role. My role is not I am not
a decision maker in this system. Um and and budget. Um we do have a budget for myself like obviously but we also have consultants that we work with if we need to do citywide PD. We will have consultants that we train that they help
you know make sure that whatever teachers are tasked with teaching this that they are given enough professional development to feel ready. Um whenever that you know like for K to 5 it's 2027 but for 6 to 8 it looks like it's going
to be this coming year. Um does it need to be September 1st or 2nd? No. Um the state is rolling this out. It's a rolling basis. Um, and we can work with districts, superintendent, and principles to find out what is the best
time to roll this out for your district and your school. >> Thank you. Thank you for clarifying. That's great. Um and then my second question would be uh you set the target for 2030 and I just wanted to know what the current progress is looking like and
how many let's say schools have uh been helped uh and how many more do you target and if you think generally on a high level that things are going um to schedule or if there are any other um delays or or >> Yeah. So, I don't have the numbers in front of me, but almost half of our high
schools have some implementation of financial literacy, whether it's embedded, whether it's CTE, or whether um it's a full semester course. Um K to8 is a little tough um because some of our superintendent, and I'm not I don't know
if I you know, um are not requiring teachers to program it or schools to put it in our STARS program. And we are trying very hard to make that clear like if we don't see it in stars the programming then we we don't know if
you're doing it. So that is our plight for the next year or two is to really help superintendent academic performance and policy leads uh at the district understand that we don't know what's happening if you don't program it in
STAR's classroom. Um, so it's it's really it's it's helping schools understand we know if you're doing it that's great, but as a central office, as a system, we can't give you credit um
if if you don't program it properly. And that's a lift, right? That's education for our school programmers, for our, you know, principles and our superintendent teams. Um, not going to say what district. It's not yours, but we have a superstar district K, you know, a
community school district in another burrow that is doing amazing things with Finland. And superintendent said, "Yeah, you don't have to program it. Don't worry about it. We can't, you know, like we can't really highlight, we can highlight you
anecdotally, but we can't actually data wise show anyone else how amazing you're doing because you don't require your principles to program it. So, it it's a battle. It's going to be a battle. >> Thank you. Thank you for clarifying and
thank you for everything that you do. Um, I understand that this is going to be an ongoing process, um, and that we're going to have to work with the superintendents, with the teachers, with the principles. Um, but I just want to say thank you again, and it's really great work. So, >> thank you, Ethan. Um, one of the other
council members did have a question, but they they aren't able to uh access their microphone right at this time. So, I'll ask on behalf of them. And the question relates to ICT and special ed. And and when you're contracting teachers, are you being mindful of recruiting special
ed teachers to teach the materials to students with disabilities and ICT and other school settings? You know, special instruction is actually is very important. We need to be mindful of that. So, how are you incorporating and and that in your planning? >> Yeah. So, um I'm a former special ed
teacher and no curriculum comes with modifications for our multilingual learners um for our neurodeiverse students. Um there's no magic, you know, trick that is going to modify any curriculum. So,
one thing uh we're doing this year and we're going to have to continue is we we're doing something. It hasn't been launched, but we're doing something called Finlet Fellows where we're going to recruit um fifth grade teachers and
eighth grade teachers um to be part of a community of learners where we are going to take the some of that curriculum that we vetted last year um and the feedback was it's not culturally responsive and
it's not modified for multilingual learners or specialist led and we're going to test out working with some teachers um who are maybe working with special ed students. So, how do we modify this? How do we make
considerations for multilingual learners, English language learners, neurodeiverse learners, um for modifications? Um and and we we don't know how that's going to go, but we intend to codify some of the learnings
from those teaching fellows and hopefully come up with some um you know some recommendations and maybe some tips and tricks for and I shouldn't say tricks but like tips for how to modify
these existing curricula to meet the needs of um students with disabilities, multilingual learners. learners. Um, and we do have someone from the multilingual learner office who's interested in collaborating. Um, and the new what what
was called the division of special ed is called dial D I A L. And I always forget what it stands for because it's a new acronym and you know we're full of our acronyms here. Uh but we're hoping to connect with someone in that office to
advise us as we develop these um considerations. >> Um just for the record, it's it's the division of inclusive and accessible learning. Just so >> inclusive and accessible learning. Thank you. >> Yes. It's the alphabet soup of the DOA.
>> Yes. >> Are there any other qu Thank you for that. Are there any other questions, follow-ups from the council either online, members participating virtually or members in the room hearing? None. Eileen, thank you so much
for coming. We really appreciate it. >> If you could share your presentation with me because I'd like to uh put it on our website so members of our community can take a look at it and uh if they have any questions, we can follow up on their behalf. >> All right. Thank you. It was wonderful to be here.
>> Thank you. Thank you so much for your time. Have a good night. >> You too. >> Um, okay. So, hi Erin. Okay, so Erin is here. Hi Erin. Nice to see you in person. Okay, so our next speaker uh is Erin. Erin is uh
works uh in the division of the f first deputy chancellor. Uh and she is one of the uh senior members of the of the DOE that is working on the implementation of uh class size. As we all know, class size uh reduction has been is the law
and it's being implemented 20% each year for the over a 5-year period. Um yeah, that's fine. That's good. >> Um the uh yeah, she wanted to give a she wanted to provide an update for us uh this evening as it pertains to uh CEC2.
So Erin, thank you for joining us. >> Um thank you. Thank you for having me. It's nice to see you all and meet you all in person. I think some of you I've met um in different capacities um maybe through some working groups, some public commenting um on both like the class
size and the um the class size and the fair shoot funding working group. So um my colleague Elizabeth is logging on um and I'm going to ask that can you Okay, you'll make her a host. Perfect. And then she can screen share um the screen
share the deck. Um so until she hops on I'll talk through without a deck but um uh and then actually if um how do you want to run this format? Do you want me to go through the presentation and then offer >> time? >> Um let how about I start and then if
there's pressing questions we can pause and take them and then otherwise we can take them um at the end. >> Okay. >> Uh but did Elizabeth? >> She should she's uh she's a host. >> Oh perfect. Great. Um, so again, thank you for having me. Um, I do want to to
frame I I think many of you at this point are very um aware of CLA of class size law um and have been a part of the planning process and many of your schools for the 2526 school year. So last year a good number of schools from
district 2 went through the planning process, engaged our SLTs, submitted plans through um our preliminary schools up process. Um and uh through that work we invested um in about 750 schools
funding for 3,700 teaching positions. Um so again that was our our our big push. I'll talk through kind of what we had done prior to that. Um and then also today talk about where we are in terms of planning for 2627. Um this is a very complex issue as I'm
sure many of you all are aware. It is uh an incredibly complex policy implementation that's impacting basically every division across this agency. Um and so there are questions that I may be able to answer and there are questions that I can't I might not
be able to answer. Um so that's Elizabeth is on. She'll be tracking and taking notes um throughout uh the process. So um and then we can bring them back because I know the chancellor and the first deputy chancellor are very invested in hearing from families on
this issue. Um so Elizabeth, are you ready to screen share? >> She should be able to as a co-host and she also should be able to unmute herself if she needs to. I see you're on. No.
Okay. Um, you know what I can do? I think the slides are really important. So, we'll give her >> Oh, she Yeah, she she's definitely on. >> Okay. Well, oh, now I can unmute. Can
everyone hear me? >> Yes. >> Excellent. All right. Give me a second just to share. Hi everyone. I'm Elizabeth Gynan. Good to be with you. >> And I'll actually while she's waiting to put this on, I'll also introduce myself. So I'm Erin Jiant. I um I work under the first deputy chancellor right now. Prior
to this, I was working under our chief operating officer, Emma Vera, and spent the last three years working on um class size. So, I started under Emma doing the fair student funding working group and then that um evolved into the class-size working group and then eventually implementation of the class-size law.
I'm a New York City public schools parent. I'm a former teacher, former principal. So, I'm bringing a lot of expertise. I've spent a lot of time not in this building in the system. Um I also have spent a lot of time in this building in the system and I think both perspectives are really important in
something as um complex as as this. Um so, perfect. We're ready to go. Um, great. So, if you want to go to the next slide, wasn't it? Great. So, this is the class size law. Um, we've shared this
slide many, many times. Um, if you were on the CPAC call like two months ago or so, you'll probably recognize most of this presentation. Um it's been updated because since that time we've um we've submitted our implementation plan for or
sorry our implementation report for the 2526 school year. Um but just a reminder of what's in the law. Um K to3 classes are now required to go to 20 students per class. 4 to 8 are at 23 and 9
through 12 are at 25. Again um this is a phase in process as well. Also, not all schools at this point would have these class sizes. Um, PE and performing groups are um are pushed down to 40 uh 40 students per class as well. And so
the reductions were required to start in 2324 um and grow 20% each year um uh to reach 100% compliance by September 2028 um after the 2728 school year. Um so where we are now um we measure our compliance
based on data taken um on 1031 every year to submit to state ed for a required report on November 15th annually. So as of this most recent report um we've reached a milestone of 64% compliance that does include exemptions. Um we've always been clear
that exemptions are part of the law because they are part of the law. Um so again the the um the law allows for four types of exemptions for space overenrolled students license area shortage and severe economic distress which we've interpreted as a system
issue. So if the system is undergoing severe economic distress not an individual school um situation. Um as written in the law all exemptions uh must be approved by the uft and the CSA. So the uft is the teachers union. CSA is
the principal union. We are a tripartite group um that has been meeting essentially weekly for the last three years almost to plan and work around um implementation of the law. Um if we are not able to reach agreement on the
exemptions, the law mandates um that we go to arbitration over them. So this year we were able to reach agreement with uft and CSA on um two categories of exemptions. one under space. Um so any schools that are impacted by planned
inside capital plans received exemptions. Um and then uh all the specialized high schools um were exempted um for in in the 1031 data. Um while schools received exemptions that
counted towards the overall compliance calculation, we did communicate with principles that in planning for 20627 that they needed to continue to reduce class sizes um even if they received the exemption. Um
there was something else I was going to say, but it will come back to me. Um great. Any any questions on kind of the overview of the law the way that we've laid it out here? >> Okay. >> I have a question for overenrolled students exemptions. What What is that?
Is that a school that is overenrolled? >> Um the law is not very specific on what that means. It just says for overenrolled students. Um so for the for this year the way we interpreted kind of
a category of that is for the specialized high schools >> and what >> Sam sorry can you so this way the people at home can hear and you got to press the button you speak >> and does that also apply to schools that are not specialized high schools. So we
have to reach agreement with both unions on what the categories would be for the exemptions that fall under that broader um part of the law. >> Okay. So because um for example um there's a
D2 G&T school >> that is very overenrolled and do they fall into it's it's an elementary school. Does that fall into this category of overall you know overenrolled students or exemption?
>> So it not in the way that we defined it for the 2526 school year but as a part of the uh planning process for 2627 we asked all schools to complete the survey and there was an opportunity for schools to indicate if there was a scenario that
they wanted to be considered or that they think the central team discussing this should consider. um we allowed them to share that. But I think you know it's something and I I can imagine the school
that you're talking about. Um and I I mean I think this is the opportunity we can take that back here and kind of bring it back to the central team that's negotiating it. And we had a good conversation about um uh with Craig and Daniela um about what that you know
recommendations that you guys had on those exemptions. And I we will be taking those back to share. But again remember we have to agree on all of this with uft and CSA. Okay. Uh yep. >> Um so
so my question um my question relates to um the uh the first exemption first category about about the uh the spacing. Um and so I know in in district 2 we have three elementary schools that
received exemptions I believe under that first provision. Um there's this spruce street school which is PS397 and there is PS33 um Chelsea and PS51 um in house kitchen. And I think that for the street school,
it received the the exemption relates to a planned um uh Hudson Square um school uh which which is which is not yet the construction has not yet started and um and I'm not sure about the the distance requirement as well because I understood
there was something about within a mile from the school though I know that that site is actually I think 1.4 miles away. Um, and then the other two, the PS33 and PS51, I believe the exemption, this relates to the sort of planned
development at Hudson Yards. Um, and and we know there was already a school that was, you know, promised in the first phase of that development, but was not delivered. And then in the now in the second phase is actually contingent on I
think $2 billion of subsidy coming from the coming from the city government which I think is pretty um which is pretty questionable at this point. Um so I guess I'm wondering about those those exemptions for schools um related to
school developments that have not yet been constructed and at this point are kind of maybe pie in the sky a little bit. Um if maybe if you could speak to that process a little bit. >> Yeah. >> Um we also believe in those cases they
didn't ask for the exemptions either. So that that's something that I think is relevant too. >> Right. So um a couple things I think um there's a lot I'm going to answer your question quickly. So the 60% milestone
is citywide, right? So, as a function of it being citywide, when we apply exemptions, it applies to the citywide total. And that's why I said when the when schools receive those exemptions, it was counting towards that overall 60% target. But when we communicated back to
principles, we said, "You all need to continue to plan to reduce class size, right? Because we got agreement on these classes being exempted for the purposes of of reaching our overall compliance milestone." Um but that that doesn't mean that the school should necessarily
stop planning in that case. And these cases are exactly that, right? Um it's it's just a function of how the law is written um kind of constrains us to um to do them in this way, right? And so I mean we tried to be as transparent as we
could and the fact that you know exactly which schools the DBNs and the classes and the schools are connected to the capital plan, right? that that's what's written in the law. So the law space exemption requires um acknowledgement or whatever the word is in the capital
budget. So that that was our process of getting to that point. Um as far as the nuances of like the miles, I I think if we want to go deeper into the team who does that, so it's at Gold Street and we could ask if you guys wanted a followup on kind of how they're doing that. Um we
could ask and see if if they could come and talk a little bit more about that. Um, with regards to Hudson Yards and then the dependency on the city subsidy, um, we drew a bright line and it's
written very clearly in our class size reduction plan which was published in July 2025. Um, that and I think it says planned and cited, but I think if you want to look at the exact language, it's in there. But again the bright line was when there was um funding allocated in
the capital plan because that's the best that we can do in terms of understanding that a project is in play right is in the capital plan. So at that point SCA has committed to that funding there and so we are then enabled to then trigger
the exemptions that way. Um, but again, I I I think like if you re read the law, which I assume you probably have because you knew that space and capital plans were connected. Um, and then you read our our very detailed spreadsheet. So,
thank you for reading that. Um, we we are constrained in a lot of ways by the language of the law. So, this was our best effort and I think the teams did like an exceptional job doing very detailed work down to individual classes. Um, but I if you want to hear
more about the the approach, maybe we can we can talk more. If you want to do like a side session with the folks from uh district planning, they're brilliant and amazing and um you know are trying to make this work in the best way possible. So, okay, we can probably go
Elizabeth, do you want to move to the next one? Um, so here you can see how dramatic the shifts are in terms of class size. um you know kindergarten five kids shift but in one to three you're you're
12 kids fewer than we had before. So prior to this law class sizes were governed by the uft contract. The law came in and changed um the class sizes here and this is where we are now. There are again significant reductions across
the board. um 20 in K to 3 and 23 and 4 to 8 and then 25 in in 9 through 12. Um and we'll keep we talked about this, right? So we can go we can go to the next one, Elizabeth. All right. So here's where we are in
terms of compliance. So you can see our map. Um this is compliance as of 10:31 2025. So again, we take that data that's like a standard data collection date for us. Um the report is due to the state on
November 15th. That fell on a Saturday this year. So we submitted it Monday the 17th. Um but we we have a pretty tight turnaround to get the data from schools um and get it analyzed and up to the state. So as of uh again 10:3125
district 2 is at 65% of classes underneath the caps. That does include the high schools. The way this is cut it includes the high schools in the geographic district as well. Um but you can see where district 2 stands um kind of relative to the rest of the city um
in um that second uh cortile. Okay. Do you want to go to the next one Elizabeth? Um and then this so uh again as I shared at the top many of you guys or many of you all were involved in the planning process at your school. If you
sit on the SLT, you would have partnered with your principal as they developed the plans last year um and really grappled with how do we implement this change in a way that makes sense to our school community that doesn't limit access to programming for our students
um and that is doable within the constraints of the space that we have right now. So, as a result of that um that funding, again, as I shared, we invested $450 million um across 750 schools. Uh and district 2
saw 17% increase in the percentage of classes underneath the caps. Um and so you can see too, some of our largest increases were in Staten Island, South Brooklyn, and parts of Queens um where classes are were um are large. Um but we
did we did a clear analysis here on on our approach. Um and uh schools that were awarded teaching positions through this process increase compliance by 27% um at or 27 points as contrasted with seven points for schools that did not
receive this funding. Um so to us that shows that when you invest in school communities and you partner with SLTs and principles and folks on the ground in the schools um they understand how best to implement this very very complex
um process and undertaking. Okay, thanks. Um so again here's uh here's a breakdown of the um change uh each year. we saw the largest change in K to3
um almost 30% um uh increase there um grades four to five we saw 23% uh and then in middle school 20% in high school 16% um and so you can see how it's broken
down by 1 to three over four to five over and six over so that's something we really wanted to take a closer look at um so Elizabeth if Do you want to go to the next with the highlights? Um so again the elementary grades saw the most progress. Um
and and I just shared that middle school high school grew but again to what I shared about the the number of kids over the caps um just a well a third of all the non-compliant classes are only one to three kids over. But the way that the
law is written um like they don't count as compliant. And the story I always tell is my daughter's in kindergarten. There are three sections of 21 kids in each class. None of them are compliant even though they're a lot smaller than they were previously. But that one kid over means that that class is out of
compliance. So again, looking at that across the city, 30% of our non-compliant classes are in the range of one to three kids over. Um the other notable point, so if your child is in a one one of these schools that had a lot
of um very large classes and they did receive the funding, we did reduce the number of classes that were six or more kids above the cap. Um that was 29% in FY25 and now it's down to 17%. Um, and again the point that I shared on a
previous slide, schools that were awarded teachers through this process increase compliance a rate of 27 points versus 7.2 points for schools that were not awarded teachers. So again, that shows us when we make the investments, there's an impact in schools. Uh, okay.
And we'll go and this is again just a history. This is not a one-off. We did not just start doing this work last year. Um this has been been going on since 2023. Um so we first convened the class size working group. Uh I think it
was early 2023. Um again this was a very complex undertaking. Chancellor Banks at the time was very invested in hearing from the school communities to understand implementation. We spent quite a few months kind of digging into the law, helping people understand the
impacts um of implementation uh and then worked with the unions to develop our first class size reduction plan. And then we're at a point that year where we exceeded the 20% benchmark. The following year we made um over $180 million investment in schools
um and met the exceeded the benchmark at 46%. And then this past year, we did our largest investment to date um with $450 million and 750 schools um funding for those 3,700 teaching positions and 100 APS. Um we again it was the first year
we we were able to negotiate exemptions and we reached a 64% um with exemptions, 59.5 without which is pretty significant. Um okay. And then um has anybody been involved in the planning process for
2627 in their schools? >> Sit on the SLT for our school, but we >> I sit on the on the SLT for our school, but we seem to have a unique situation in that we're >> um
we're a self- selecting school. >> So it it seems that the the class side class size reduction doesn't apply in that way like that it's somehow exempted from being smaller
classes because families choose to go to that school similar to I guess specialized high school situation >> um and also it's a colloccated school and it's a very it's I think that particular building is the most overutilized building >> in the city as far as I understand so
our school being the colloccated school uh lower level 77 house to expand into. So >> there is that nice playground though. No, I'm kidding. >> Just a joke. >> So there wasn't really um an opportunity to apply for additional funding, right?
>> So we're kind of stuck. We don't know what to do with that, >> right? And and I think that's where um in that case there are there are clear options under the law. We could either um limit the kids coming in, right?
Reduce the number of kids in the school to fit the the new numbers with the existing space. We could pursue exemptions. Um or we could build an annex, right? And it's, you know, that that's time, that's money. Um so again,
like the the law is pretty clear on the different pathways for that. Um, so that's something that again like we're we're getting to the point where we have to think a bit more strategically about that when we're getting to 80 and 100%. So just know we are thinking a lot about
that. Like I said, I don't have any answers on like what to do because again, we're we're in the planning process right now. Um, but it is helpful to continually hear from families about these concerns. But to that point at this point the at this time which of
course everything can change but the policy of the department of education is no enrollment caps. >> That is correct >> right. So no school in New York City will say well we've admitted a class of 70 in previous years we're going to go down to 60.
>> That is a clear policy. Um the the um you know chancellor has been clear in terms of family choice is very important. Um, and enrollment will is not being limited. So, thank you for clarifying that. I don't I don't want anybody >> And that's at every level, kindergarten,
>> level, middle school, high school, >> for the 2627 school year. Yes. >> And it's just for the 26. She's only stated that's the policy for 2627, but not for beyond. I'm >> I I mean that we've we've only discussed that to this point because right now
we're talking about planning for 2627 and this has just been the approach that we've taken to date. Um, so yes, that that that is where we are right now for 2627 with regards to enrollment. >> Okay, >> thank you. I need to go ahead and work a
microphone. Um, one of the things that I'm curious about, we have a lot of schools that don't have the space to expand and um, I know Sam was talking about one of them. um and therefore they're sort of limited and I imagine that the way it's working they might be
the last ones we figure out what to do with. One thing that I'm um curious about um if you have schools in the area that had the space to expand and hire more teachers and are now compliant. Um,
does that mean that the schools in the same area that aren't able to comply yet because of space constraints, are they getting the overflow? So, if anybody, you know, let's say it's a a a lottery school or a a are they getting more
students in because they're not compliant and they're trying not to make >> you're you're you're not touching these two or these three schools that are compliant, but this school can't be compliant yet. So, are we overloading them? I see what you mean. So, now we've got 20 kids in kindergarten at all these
schools and they've all we've tied a bow on their school and they're all set. and then the other two schools in the neighborhood can now balloon to 26 in order to leave those so that percentage-wise you're compliant with the law. >> I get I get it. So we have um I I the
broader enrollment questions I would want to defer to to a colleague of mine who's an expert and again we can we can come talk to you about that if you guys want to hear more. What we have done was um implement the last two years a cap and overflow policy where all schools
are able to and this is not limiting incoming enrollment. It's there's a specific which Kelly can probably tell you about the capping and overflow process better than I can. Um but um where schools can list in ATS where their reduced class sizes are. So again,
if they were um if if last year they applied for funding, they hired a fifth grade teacher and a fourth grade teacher and they then reduced classes across fourth and fifth grade, they would indicate that in ATS and then uh enrollment would see that um and not
send necessarily over-the-counter kids. I don't know. Do you want did you have any capping and overflow cases like that? >> We do, but only when it reaches the contractual. >> Okay. Okay. I mean, I'm I'm specifically talking about the Hell's Kitchen area because we have a lot of students in
temporary housing. That is, I think, where the majority of students in temporary housing in our district are and they've all the schools have been sort of shouldering the burden of that. And then I know um you know, I'm just curious as to if if those if certain
schools are capped, >> you know, because it's it you see what I'm saying? You have a kindergarten class three blocks down the road that would have 28 and one down the street that would have 20. >> Yeah. >> Rather than sharing the burden and having each of them have 22.
>> There there's no from from like our central level. There's no gaming happening in terms of like prioritizing like certain schools to be the overflow schools. So they're going to be the ones that way. There's no policy of that. I think a lot of um the the specifically the capping and overflow policy is
really living with the superintendent. Um our intention in that policy from central is to say look we invest the money in your schools. You want to keep these class size reduced like we're not going to we're we're sending a signal to central the central enrollment like
these classes are reduced. You're going to respect that. Um, but as far as kind of the nuances of of those specific issues, I I can go back to enrollment and ask ask them if there's like any sort of >> Yeah, I think specifically for certain schools that have a fluid enrollment
number because a lot of the schools, you know, they're neighborhood school and they just have a certain amount. But some of these schools where we're getting a lot of new students a lot, um I think that's that would be something interesting to to look into. Okay. >> To make sure that it's equitable and you're not overflowing one school at the
sake of another. >> Yeah. I mean, I haven't heard any cases of that. That doesn't mean that's not necessarily happening. But again, those policies primarily live at the superintendent level, but from and I'm sure you know, Kelly's working very diligently and closely with all the all
the schools, but again, our central there's there's no strategic kind of gaming happening here. Really, again, our our goal is we we are allocating money to schools based on the plans that they're putting together with their
communities to do this in a way that works for their communities and trying to kind of adjust the central levels to make um to make sure there's coherence um across the system that way. >> Sorry, we have a council member online that wanted to ask a question. Daniela,
did you want to uh raise a point? >> Yes. Thank you so much for the presentation. Um, you use the term overenrolled schools a few time and I'm just curious if there is anything on the law in the law that defines what is an overenrolled
school. Does that just mean a school that now has class sizes that are larger than what this law now mandates? So that that's part of um the the
challenge in kind of us figuring out how to implement this law. Um the the the language of the law pretty certain only says um I looked at it yesterday, but uh I look at it like three times a day usually, but um it it says overenrolled
students, I believe, is what it shares. And that's about it. Right? In all of these cases, there's not a clear criteria for what um what that would mean, right? And I think in our
conversations and in our collaborative um planning with the unions, this first um agreement around exemptions, we utilized um that um that part of the law and and called out specialized high
schools first. Um, so I think as we consider um the need for future exemptions, um, you know, I think that's part of our conversations to understand what else could be, um, uh, kind of defined under
overenrolled students. Um, but but the law is not prescriptive in that. >> Okay. And um and guess I'm curious because of that because the the three districts that you said actually are in
compliance I think you said 16 23 and and 32 right in your presentation. >> Do you want to go back to that the map? Um >> yes >> 32 23 and 16. Yeah. So these are three of the top five districts that have had
the largest drop in enrollment in the past 20 years. Like district 16 lost 60% of its enrollment. So they are in compliance because you know families are not choosing these schools. So that's very easy to comply. It's very hard in
schools where the way I see overenrolled schools are popular high demand schools schools where everybody wants to go. So every single seat is filled right. So I think that is the challenge of now you like the law has been implemented
where it can be but now it's going to be very hard uh without uh ruling out what chancellor has said which is like limiting enrollment and and that was my second question was so this is a position that chancellor has
had in terms of okay we're not going to limit enrollment in the schools that you know um are not being able to comply. Um but how but that is not in the law, right? So it could also change. We might
have a new chancellor, you know, in a month. And so that could change, right? Because there's no provision in the law that like would say, okay, the schools that are very high demand, um we should not be limiting enrollment in the
schools like incoming enrollment. Um the I mean the law doesn't say anything about limiting enrollment as a means to reduce class size. I think what we have learned over spending again that first almost year working with the
working group deeply understanding the language of the law knowing our system right that that is a that is a path to doing that but again to this point that has not been something um that any of the administrations that I've worked
under with the class size implementation um in particular the current chancellor has been clear we're not limiting enrollment Um uh but the the law the law does not prescribe that one way or another. But again there is no um there's no
intention to do that. Yeah. I mean I just want to say to the parents who are watching like if you don't want to see less kids getting access to the most high demand, the most popular, the highest performing and the most low cost because the schools all
have very low per people funding. We need to make sure that the new chancellor, if we have a new chancellor, um continues this policy because I think it would be very problematic if now, you know, so many schools are told you cannot accept as many kids because
there's no space in your building and there there are people who are actively uh promoting this idea and and I think very dangerous and it would really limit access to our kids to the schools where people want to go where parents are very happy with large last night that they
don't want to see this law implementing because it would be disruption. It would really have an impact in the budget of the schools and uh and I think would be detrimental to the entire city. >> And I I do want to clarify one thing.
Thank you for the question. Um I I want to clarify one thing. the the while this chart shows um percentages um by district, the only percentage that we're that we're measured on is the citywide percentage. This just gives you
a sense of how it's distributed across the district. So, there's no district that's in compliance or not compliance. It's the entire city. We are in compliance. 64% compliance uh now but this just shows you um kind of the school uh at the district level how that
how that breaks down. >> So I have a question I first of all we know that according to the DOE survey of parents who left the school system we know that who went to go to charters to private schools or moved out of the city we know that 82% said class size was a factor and 58% said this factor
contributed a lot to their decision. So, so perhaps with uh increased compliance with the class size mandate, we will see some uh changes in enrollment for the for the better in certain districts. Um but my question relates to um prek and
and prek seats. Um I know that last year principles in overcrowded schools were allowed to ask to um to to shift some some enrollment um to to CBOS because some of the CBOs I know in our district have have some extra capacity. But I
understand that this I believe this year they were not allowed to to make that that ask. So I'm wondering what's the rationale for that and will they be allowed to in the future um request to move some of their 3K and prek classes to CDOS's? >> Um we I think were clear on on our
approach for this year is we didn't want programming limited um that programming includes 3K and preK and access to those in school buildings. Um, you know, this has come up a lot. Um, and I think there there have been
some oneoff cases where there were shifts where it made sense in terms of um, how early childhood was looking at demand and available seats. Um, but by and large our rationale this year was really in this planning process, we
wanted schools to not limit any type of programming uh, any access to programming for kids in the school building. Yeah. No, sorry. Yeah. Yeah. >> Um, I want to I Council Member Reid, who
is not here, had asked me to read something into record for her. D2 high-performing schools should not be exempt from class size reduction for many reasons. Overcrowding and high performing schools create some of the most serious and least visible
inequities in our district. When classes are overcrowded, success isn't evenly shared. Focusing on broad averages masks deep disparities within our high-erforming schools. Students who need more support, students with disabilities, English learners, and
children without access to tutoring or enrichment outside of school are historically the ones who pay the price for overcrowded classrooms. Many, if not most, IT ICT classes in quote unquote high-erforming or popular schools are wildly out of compliance, creating even
greater barriers for students with disabilities. Teachers are doing their best, but there's not enough time or capacity to meet every child's needs. In the case of overcrowding, IEPs and 504 plans become harder to implement consistently or at all for that matter.
Crowded classes undermine inclusion, which is unacceptable and flatout illegal in some cases. As a parent, it is deeply concerning to hear that a school is quote unquote doing well. While knowing many children inside those classrooms are struggling quietly and being overlooked, I see it firsthand
every day in D2 schools. Children with disabilities are experiencing varying levels of educational neglect due to overcrowded classrooms. High averages hide real harm. They mask which students are falling through the cracks. We also can't ignore the impact this has on
educators. They're overextending themselves to the point of burnout. Burnout leads to teacher turnover, which we all know hurts students, especially those who rely on stable, experienced teachers. And even for students who are doing well academically, overcrowding limits the kind of learning district 2
families expect. Writing, discussion, feedback, and critical thinking all require time and individual attention. Smaller classes don't just raise test scores, they deepen learning and strengthen relationships. As parents, we should not have to choose between high performance and humane learning
conditions. Appreciate that. I think that underscores two um two points, right, in both of those those comments about um the approach, right? um and the thinking and I think from the beginning it's been
very clear um as I shared it's uh complex it's contentious when we ran the classiz working group I think we received there was a recommendation around um limiting enrollment and we received I don't know like 1 1500
parents responding and either via direct emails themselves or an overall petition about concerns related to limiting enrollment um you know so but again as we get closer to needing to meet 80 and 100%
these we've been at a point where we haven't necessarily had to make significant trade-offs but you know Chancellor Banks at the start was quite clear that at some point trade-offs would need to be made um so appreciate that perspective I think Elizabeth has
it but again that just illustrates right here these um very different viewpoints on how to implement this law. Yeah. So, like I said, I don't have an answer for everything, but I do appreciate it's it's important for us to continually hear from all perspectives around this
issue as we um figure out how to move forward this >> here. Move the >> prek classes. Say that one more time. Is there any plan to move the pre preK classes or enlarge their facilities so
that the schools will have more space >> at at this time elementary? I mean, >> yeah, for for for the 26 27th school year, we there was a decision not to limit um access to programming. Um you know, again, I think this is something that's come up. It was in the classiz working group and it's come up
repeatedly. Um, you know, hearing from you all that this is something maybe that we need to continue to consider, I think is helpful to hear it and Elizabeth will take that back and it's something we can um again bring back to um our conversations here centrally at
at DOE and also with um uh with our union partners as well. >> Thanks. Yeah. >> Oh, Danielle, your hands up again. Is that your Yeah, go ahead. >> Yeah. I know I just want to say that G25 already passed a resolution saying that
they will move all 3K and preK classes out of their schools because there's no space. So I think this is already in the works because their only options was either they move the the 3K and preK classes or they would have to like use
limit and art rooms and music rooms. And so uh they already passed a resolution on that. I wrote about it. I'm going to put a link here. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. And I think, you know, hearing the resolution being passed, I'm sure that will make its way to us. I haven't seen
that one yet. Um but, um, you know, at this time, it's not being considered, noting that it's been raised many, many times. And I think again as we get closer to 80 and 100%, you know, we're we're going to have to think of um more
strategies than than we've employed to date. >> Ethan, did you have a question? >> Yeah. So, thank you so much for the presentation so far. Um I just had a quick clarification and I apologize if I missed something but for reducing the class sizes I just had a question
because in terms of just like supply and demand if there's a certain demand uh for these schools and then you cut the supply the amount of seats uh what is going to happen to all those kids are more schools being built and like where would they go? I apologize if I missed
something. Yeah, I I mean that's that's the simple that's a very simple uh understanding of exactly what what the fundamental challenge would be in those cases. Um so we're working closely with school construction authority but again as we all know New York City um is a
complex uh place to find space to build space. I think we all know real estate in district 2 um is its own unique um something whatever. Um and so finding you know there's not empty lots
everywhere to build the schools or to build annexes to existing schools. Um so that's kind of part of part of our predicament, right? um is that if kids aren't able to access the schools they're currently in um at the volume
that they're currently going to, they need to be going somewhere else. Um and and again, at the elementary level, we would want it would need to be near their homes and things like that. So, so it's a it's you've hit the nail on the head in terms of exactly what the root
cause of of what we're trying to solve. Um and again, school construction authority are are important partners in all this. But again, that that is in and of itself um uh takes a little bit more time than the law allows. We had 5 years. It takes sometimes longer than
that to build buildings. Um so, um this is why we're trying to do the work that we can given the resources that we have and the space we have available. Um but but that's a great question. Thank you. Thank you for asking. >> Did you have another question, Ethan? Okay, you don't have that.
>> Oh, yeah. I just wanted to ask another question, but I just want to say something else, but thank you. Thank you for that answer. Um, I just wanted to comment like in in my personal opinion, I feel that um like I I respect Miss Reed's opinion uh and I think she's great that uh she's definitely highlighting the need for inclusivity.
Um and obviously I think if you ask anybody, vast disparities aren't great for in any society, especially in education. Um however like for myself I do feel like um with putting our shared morals on the table and thinking that we want to improve the education of all
kids and it's given that the kids can be at different levels whether that's ICT or gened or G&T or or so on right um I I feel like um me personally I try not to view it as like a zero some thing where
if certain kids succeed that therefore other kids must be punished. Um, and I definitely I'm all for in increased inclusivity for kids um who are in ICT who need more learning support, but I don't necessarily feel
that decreasing the amount of seats in these extremely um competitive middle schools or high schools that that would then somehow address the disparity and that yes, sure that if there are ICT kids, let's say my old middle school,
Clinton, um, that they could get more attention. I feel that um there could be different schools for different purposes. Um and if there are certain schools that are going to be for more higher achieving students who are um not
necessarily in ICT that I feel that I'm all for supporting ICT students, but those who can do advanced course work shouldn't necessarily be uh punished for that. Um, but I just want to again go back to putting the morals on the table
that I am 100% for inclusivity and increasing um the amount of engagement that we have for ICT kids, kids with disabilities. Um, so I just want to say that >> I just quickly want to say that um a lot
of students with disabilities are very high achieving. So I just want to make that clear that it isn't about academic level. It's about Tam brought this up in the chat. It's about um not receiving certain services. So, I just want to just separate those two things.
>> Yeah, thank you. Thank you for that clarification. I didn't mean to come across in any way as trying to um increase disparities or try to sew dension. Um thank you for clarifying that and I didn't mean to do any harm calling people labels.
So what h get getting to 20% 40% 60% yes there are exemptions but schools can do that like I look at my school and my school had room so it wasn't that hard for my school because my school was underenrolled but when you get as you know as you get to the 8020 that's even
harder because those are schools that have tried and just have had difficulties Sam school for example might be an example >> so you may not get there it might have been easier to get to step one, two, and three, but four and five in the next two
years, the next year and then two years might be much more of a challenge. I think probably it's going to be a great challenge. What do you do? And what are the ramifications for that >> if we don't if you don't >> reach it? I mean, right now, if we don't >> That's all right. Because I I do think
that's a real possibility. And I guess the question and this the what I'm getting at is are there going to be is there any push in the current administration which I know could be different 10 days from now but is there any push to try to adjust to add more
time? I think Senator Lou has spoken about this that you know if there's adjustments that need that the DOE wants to make they should propose them. He'll he'll he'll consider it as the chair of the committee as the chair of this the state senate committee. you know what is what are the ramifications and what are the discussions internally that are
happening on that. So, I think right now we're we're preparing for transition um uh of the mayor um and uh the chancellor's been clear in her commitment around um reopening the classiz working group which she shared
um she shared this week um she shared I think she was on TV this week um sharing that but again she's serious about that. Um, as far as exactly what that will look like, I think, you know, as we're going around, we've spoken to to you all, um, we've spoken to folks in, um,
from CC1 as well. Um, you know, uh, and and again, the intention of the classiz working group originally was to understand implementation of the law. Where we are right now is a very different place than we were in 2023. Um so I would imagine that any work um with
that uh will would kind of take into all these um all of the contexts right now right including what it means to go from 64% to 80% given the current space we have um in the time frame that's given
right so I think that that's where we are right now um what we have done is um I think a pretty significant milestone that I do want to shout out There's a lot of folks at Central that are working behind the scenes right now. Um, we surveyed every school in district 1
through 32. We had 100 or 1,532 responses from principles and in consultation with their SLTs on what they need to become compliant. Um, they reported back on their available space. Um, and again, this was done at a level
that we've never done before. um because I think folks recognize the um kind of where we are in the process um and this need to get from 64 to 80%. Um so we have a very comprehensive data set right
now that's been informed by principles. Um again 100% of respondents uh of of principles have responded which like that never that never happens. Um, and uh, 100% of superintendants and their teams have looked at all the responses,
right? And I'm sure I don't know how late Kelly and team had to stay up doing that, but you know, thank you. Um, you guys you guys came in before the deadline, too. I just want to shout you out for that. Um, and I I think with that data set, we have a lot of
understanding about where we can go um, and kind of what what would need to happen. Um, so that coupled with thinking through how the class size working group would help us understand the current context and how we need to move forward um is really kind of where
where we are right now. So yeah, great. >> Um, is there additional funding that the state might provide in order to meet compliance or if you don't meet compliance to release funding? What? Yeah. Um, so I don't I don't know the
answer to the first one other than I the I think the board of regents is proposing funding through additional funding through just generally additional funding through foundation aid. I don't know how that would trickle down um to us. Um I do know in the law
if we do not meet um compliance our contracts for excellence funding is at risk and that's hundreds of millions of dollars. Um so it is quite urgent that we figure out um we uh are working to
get to compliance. >> So basically you have an easy two years ahead of you. >> That's why I'm going on vacation next week and then take a break and then I'll be back in 2026 to kind of pick everything. Yeah. >> Yeah. We have a lot to do.
>> Are there any other questions? I have one more. >> Go ahead, Danielle. >> Are there any reszoning of schools being planned in order to be able to accomplish the class size law? >> There are some where I believe um in
school in in areas where we've built new schools, there have been resonings. Um I can't speak to if um annexes have triggered resonings. Um, but I do think in our language around exemptions, we
talk about resonings. But again, if we want kind of a deeper dive into that with district planning um about that, we we can come back and and talk to that. Um, but again, where there's new schools being built, they are being uh there are resonings um to address this.
>> Thank you. >> Any other questions? for now at least because I'm sure they >> uh well thank you very much for coming. We appreciate it and I'm sure we'll be talking more in the next uh over the next few months. >> Yes. >> Enjoy your vacation. If you >> you guys are going on vacation, too.
>> If you could send the presentation over to me and >> we'll send it um by tomorrow morning. If not, yeah, >> that's fine. >> Thank you so much. We appreciate it. >> Sweet. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay,
moving along. So, we're now in the first public speaker session. Um, >> one person. Okay. And then, so there is nobody that signed up online. We have one person that signed up who's who's here. We have nobody who signed up who's
online. Is there anybody and you can use the raise hand because this is the first time we're doing this that was unable to sign up using the link because I want to make sure that if there was a problem, you can raise your hand. Okay, I'm seeing none. So, we have one
uh speaker tonight um in the public in the first public speaker session. Um we have the uh online timer which I'm going to now spotlight. Okay.
Um, we used my computer last time, but then they started walking all around. I will It's one person. I'll manage it for this time. >> Yeah. No, no, because what I did is I put my my second computer over there, but people just kept walking around. We'll have to manage manage that. Nobody
listen. Nobody. Okay. Uh, Joe, uh, Vitali. >> Hi, Joe. Welcome back. Hello. We're going to switch gears now and talk about the corruption of the Department of Education. And it's appropriate that we are in the headquarters of the Department of Education because I'm bringing it right
to your house. And part of the reason for all the turnover of good teachers in our schools is because of the corruption of the Department of Education. And that's also why you have things like physics teachers teaching finance. I'm dedicating my speech today to May
mailman who authored the executive order that says that biological males should not be competing in girls school sports. So I'm dedicating my speech today to male man. And so the Department of
Education killed resolution 248, which would have allowed for the conversation to take place about having biological males compete and shared the locker room with biological girls. And last month, I directly asked Superintendent Maguire to
address the question. And the question again is, and you will probably have the reflex to repeat the gender affirmation guidelines, but that's not an answer. The question is, what do you have to say to the girls, the biological girls in
our schools who do not want to compete with biological males and share the locker room with them? And if you are silent on that question, the answer is you don't care about the biological girls. So the problems don't
go away council. Problems don't go away by ignoring them. I don't know what world you live in where you think problems go away simply by ignoring them. But I live in reality and that's not the world I live in. I don't expect ideologically captured people to agree
or see what's really going on here. It's the cancellation of women as our own biological sex that excludes male biology. And last month, and I will conclude with to all my women who understand what's
really going on. They are trying to play us out of our position, gear up. The Department of Education is not our friend. >> Thank you. That concludes the first public speaker session and we move on to uh my report.
Uh and I'll make it quick because I know uh people want to get out of here. I hope everybody had a great November and first half of December. Uh kindergarten applications opened up are open uh and they close in January 24th. Off was released April 2nd. Um one notable
change this year I did want to point out to folks that the lottery numbers and this is just for kindergarten admissions. This is not for middle school or high school. Lottery numbers are not going to be released until after the application period or is over. So, if you're looking for them and you can't find them, it's because the DOE is not
is is not releasing them for for a whole bunch of reasons. PreK applications open on the Thursday the 15th of January, close in February 28th. For both kindergarten and preK perspective families, if you have questions or concerns, there are many resources. I just want to talk about this for a
second. schools, the parent groups. If you go on Facebook, there's a lot of parent groups, upper east side parents, upper westside parents, Tribeca parents, etc., uh, and more. And you can always feel free to contact us because we're here to help. One thing I do want to
point out, one suggestion I want to make is that you should not always rely on my schools for tour dates because things get updated. So, if you're interested in a school, I highly recommend you look at the school's website to see for the most up-to-date information. uh if you have to sign up and something is closed,
there's there's you can always email the parent coordinator uh to see if you can still get in. Couple of uh fun things I wanted to mention. An activity sponsored by our schools is 2026 DOE Battle of the Burrows Minecraft Challenge. This is new. This exciting
citywide esports competition invites students to reimagine their communities with innovative designs that promote progress, food equity, and collective action. And this is done at the school level. So, it's not done in your child can't do it on on their own. They do it at the school, but it is for everybody, for all schools from kindergarten to
12th grade. And round one submissions are due January 16th. So, if you're interested, you can email minecraft at schools.nyc.gov. That is a real email address uh and you can get more information. On a more serious note, uh, and I think
it's timely given that some of the conversations that have been happening, uh, over the past, uh, 20 minutes or so, uh, earlier this month was the 50th anniversary of IDEA, which is individuals with disabilities act. Uh, which in this ensured a free and appropriate public education for all
students. The DOE does strive to do that and has made many wonderful strides, but we all know there are still a ton of work and many unfortunate gaps. And that's one of the reasons why we are here as a CEC. If you feel something that is not working correctly, that your child's or your ch child's needs are not
being met and you need assistance and you don't think you're getting the right assistance, please contact us. We can try and help. Uh the division of inclusive and accessible learning, which is dialed, we spoke about that earlier, oversees many of these programs. Council member Reid, the chair of the students with disabilities committee, and I have
already talked about having Dial come in over the next few months to present to that committee about the rights and procedures. So, please be on the lookout for that. I also want to mention a really good program that DOE has, the New York City Teen Space, which offers teens ages 13 through 17. So, many of
our middle schoolers would would apply and certainly high schoolers. It gives them an opportunity to connect with a free online therapist. It's a really good service. It's free. Folks should folks really should know about that. So you can learn more at talkspace.com back uhnyc.
Um for council members, one bit of uh administrative uh information. So I did receive notice notification that we have to get our top five picks for the capital improvements to SEA uh by January 16th, Friday the 16th. Uh with the remaining picks due in April. So we
can still list as many act uh requests in in April as we want. I'll coordinate with Danielle and Cody because they are the chairs of the zoning and capital projects committee uh to try to set up a committee meeting for that week so we can get those picks done since our meeting our meeting isn't until late January. That being said, I think that
if you have a very high priority project, please plan to have them listed or be able to send them into us by Janu Wednesday the 7th at the latest. We'll talk about specific dates, but I think just let's let's plan at the latest the 7th. So this way we can all rank them and and and all that. Again, this is not
the all exhaustive list and I think we've spoken and I've certainly I've spoken about how seriously I think SEA takes our lists anyway. Uh but we can submit as many projects as we want by April. All projects according to the SCA
will get considered. Um come January, just want to conclude. Come January, we'll have a new mayor, possibly a new chancellor, possibly the same chancellor, and I'm sure there's going to be some policy shifts which are going to lead to some very spirited conversations at CEC, too. And I am actually looking forward to these
conversations. And while I'm certain that the 14 of us will not completely agree on things and more likely have huge disagreements on policy, I'm sure the debates will be lively and hopefully productive. And hopefully uh we can all look forward to that. Uh, as we conclude 2025, I do want to thank each of the
council members for their hard work over the past six and in some cases 12 months. People don't always realize the true time commitment that comes with being a member and that we're all volunteers. I also want to thank Superintendent Maguire and his team uh for all their hard work uh and the many
wonderful administrators, teachers, and support staff at all of our schools. I wish everybody a happy and safe holiday season and new year. And with that, I will turn it over to our superintendent Thank you very much. >> Um, you allow me to unmute myself.
>> Oh, >> you never know. It might happen once I do, but >> yeah, sorry. >> Might just go on and on and on. But, um, thank you so much, uh, >> CC President Slutskin. Um, thanks everybody to the council. Uh it's nice to be here with you uh this evening and
um to share a little bit of the work that's happening here in our schools. Um we're very very proud of the work that has been uh going on, the way in which the city uh in the way in which our district has been progressing. Um I have a shorter uh presentation tonight because I know there are lots of
questions that people have uh around different things that are happening in the district uh and across the city. So I'm happy to uh make sure that we have time and space for those. Um, but uh we did a recent visit to one of our prek centers and I just want to get share
this sign with you and uh see if you can figure out what it is that is said here written by a three-year-old uh in one of our prek centers. Any ideas? Any ideas? Uh well, maybe I can just give you a hint. Uh not sure. Are you getting it?
Okay. All right. If you don't get it from that picture, then you know, maybe this the uh yeah, stackable uh washer and dryer. And yes, this is the E76 totally clean laundromat. And I thought that that was just really fantastic. You know, we try to be careful about
pictures of kids that we put into um the presentations and are shared publicly. But um this was just a really beautiful thing to see at East 76th Street. And I'm really happy to say that um many of our uh district 2 preK center uh sites
are completely filled um with uh incredibly happy uh three-year-olds and four-year-olds and um just couldn't be prouder of that program here in the district. I also want to say that we are working as we've been talking a lot about um the core curricula and the way
in which we're implementing core curricula illustrative mathematics eureka squared witten wisdom foundations really great reading you fly um but I did want to just take a quick moment to highlight uh some of the ways in which our schools are making sure that those
programs are accessible to all learners. Uh in this upper leftand corner here is just a quick snapshot of the way in which our ASL school uh PS 347 is integrating American Sign Language into the teaching of Witten wisdom. Um in
some of the other pages here you're seeing the ways in which our teachers are making sure that uh students with disabilities, English language learners have access to the same great grade level content and texts. uh and that even if you're are a student who's
learning English um that uh we expect and want to create access for you uh to participate in our class discussions um today I was at a school in which uh there were some kids who are brand new to our country uh who have been uh participating in Socratic seminars and
it was just fantastic to observe and see that in action. I also want to note uh the ways in which some of our um teachers are working really hard to make sure that uh the lessons and activities are extending for students beyond who are working beyond grade level. And this
was just a really great thing that I saw at one of our schools here where it says break apart and distribute. Um the teacher had prepared a bunch of different post-it notes uh that were um that she just quickly uh put down in the students notebook uh after they had finished solving the problem in one way.
Then she challenged them to solve it in another way. And then finally here on the right hand side um we have students who are uh either in need of specific direction. Visual cues can help to support students students who might be non-verbal who are in some of our
classes. Uh and I took this picture of a um communication board uh that one of the PAR professionals was working with um in our general education classroom. uh a student who uh was doing a great job in keeping up with grade level
content. Uh and um this was a support that the teacher had put into place to make sure that uh the child was able to communicate and that that the paraprofessional and teacher were able to make sure that they were um providing uh communication in a way that was accessible. So just some really great
things that are happening in the district, not just um uh the way that we are looking at implementing core curriculum um uh as a general structure, but the way that we're really uh enhancing that to meet the needs of all kids. We also have been really partnering uh
doing more to partner with our uft um United Federation of Teachers. There's a person who's working on our team as a part of the uft teacher center and she's been running a workshop series on wit and wisdom for our paraprofessionals paraprofessionals working in general
education classrooms working with in special classrooms and um this month she's run uh a new series 140 parah professionals have been participating in that uh weekly witten wisdom workshop series and it's just a great example of
the ways in which we are um partnering uh with uh uft to make sure that the implementation of this core curriculum is going well. Uh I also want to highlight uh we had the uh PS3 spotlight visit uh the day after our November um
uh CEC meeting. So um this is coming uh between that time and this time. Um the PS3 uh building and community um really put on a fabulous spotlight visit uh in which they were uh highlighting the ways in which they are making curriculum, their programs accessible to all
students. The way that they're really building curriculum and working on teaching the whole child, something that PS3 has a very long history of uh doing. We started the day at a community sing where every single one of the kids from
PS3 uh came into the auditorium uh and was led in a singalong um by a group of students and one of the music teachers. We also had the opportunity to visit their horizons programs as well as their art programs that have really um grown and developed there at the school. I
remember when the school that I was principal of was uh on the top floor of the PS3 building. It was called Greenwich Village Middle School at that time. And um the clay program was this little closet that was connected to um the cafeteria and it's was pretty
fantastic to see how that um evolved. So the spotlight visit at PS3 was uh a big success. Not to beat a dead horse, but I'm going to continue talking about um class size reduction because it's been a big thing for us in the district. Um this is the
same slide that I shared in November, but just to make sure that um you were aware uh and a reminder of how things are going here in the city uh as well as going in uh district 2. And some of the data here, you know, clearly map to the
data um that Aaron had shared earlier um especially around elementary schools being uh a bit more incompliant than our middle schools. uh and then certainly the benchmarks um that we're expecting for next year and the year after. Um
what I did was that um we pulled together the uh all of the different class size reduction submissions that were uh completed by each of our schools. Um, and so we've got some data and information that I wanted to share
uh in relationship to or as a direct result of the information that principles shared um and put together on those class- size surveys. Um, so as Aaron said, 100% of our district 2 principles completed the class size
reduction survey. Uh, they all submitted a plan. Um in looking at uh those plans, um uh the schools really did put forth a very strong effort um to try and achieve
greater class size reduction in the 26 27th school year. And one of the ways in which I'm highlighting the impact of uh that those proposals is that if the city receives the funding and support um
needed uh to implement the class size reduction plans as put forward in these surveys, um our district would need about 300 more teachers. Just as a quick comparison, uh we hired about 120 more teachers for this school year. So uh to
uh meet greater a greater rate of class size reduction in 2627 uh would require a significant um increase in the number of teachers that we have uh in the district. If we um if those proposals if
the plan is fully funded in the way that um uh schools um indicated in their class size survey, then 29 of our schools, we have 48 schools, 50 principles, 48 schools. Two of those principles work with preK, so that's
where we get to 50. Uh but 29 of our schools re would reach 80% of compliance. uh and 24 of our schools would be able to reach uh 100%. So five of the schools um would not be able to reach 100% um but or five of five five
of the schools that uh would be able to reach um the 80% compliance uh next year would not be able to reach 100% uh but 24 of our schools about half of our schools would be able to reach 100% compliance in 2627.
Um so this uh these proposals um were very creatively um done um principles that um I uh thought would just felt like they were stuck between a rock and a hard place. Um if that's a technical
term to be able to use to describe this. uh just they um they really did come together with their staff, with their community members um and they did a great job of figuring out ways in which they could uh increase the rate of compliance and everybody is saying that
you know now is the time to really do this. We see larger numbers of students um in our kindergartens than we've seen in the past few years. Um we do think that um we've got more families um that are uh impressed by the work that we're
doing in district 2 and want to be here in district 2. Um and we recognize that uh these we need we should work with the numbers that we have now to try to reach as much compliance as we possibly can. And so that's why I think that our schools uh really went allin on trying
to um achieve uh as great a rate of class size reduction as possible. Um but as you see here um and you posed some of the questions to Erin earlier in the meeting but as you see here um even with this really great effort uh we are not
at 100% of our schools reaching 100% um of compliance. Um so I assume that there will be additional questions that will be coming up in relation to that. I'm happy to go back to that slide or share additional information that I might have. Um, one of the things that uh,
Eileen Marks also shared was a bit about our college savings program. Um, this was a slide also that I shared similarly in November, but the number is slightly different. Um, our family leadership coordinator, Lolita Kavori, and our family support coordinator, Tina uh, Yaker, they have been working really
hard with our parent coordinators um, to try to increase participation in the Save for College program. Um that participation just since last November has resulted in 3,000 3,000 more dollars being claimed by district 2 students um
for save for college programs and we are hosting uh an event with the save for college team uh in January at PS347. Um PS347 is a school community in which um the parent leaders, the teachers uh
and uh school leaders uh really want to put forth a strong effort uh to get as many of their students and their families signed up for Safe for College. So we're hosting uh a special event there on January 28th to try to increase participation.
We have a few key dates ahead. Uh these are probably not huge surprises to folks except for that um it's not the end of December that's the middle of the school year. It's really the end of January. Uh just know
important note to share there. Um and as some people may know uh we have to celebrate our dear friend and respected colleague Renie Fong uh who has been principal of PS130 for uh the past 11 years. Renie's last day um as principal
will be January 30th. Um January 30th is our second community coffee and conversation event. Um that will be taking place in lower Manhattan, will be taking place at PS130. Um and so we are doing it there in part to celebrate um
the hard work that Renie has put in as principal um and as computer teacher there for 18 years. um and uh we are going to uh miss him but uh are very much um congratulate him on this next phase of his career which he says uh
there's more to come. So um that's great too. Um but with that I'm happy to um take questions and uh thanks so much for the opportunity to speak. Okay. Sorry. So, if I if I look at the compliance,
is there anything in the schools that are reaching compliance that would give pause to parents? So, they're saying they can cut compliance, but there's not going to be a science room or they can cut they can get into compliance, but they're going to cap and I I know we're
not capping enrollment this year, but they can get into compliance if they cap enrollment. Is is there anything that if I was a parent looking at that school, I would say, "Oh my god, they're doing this. Well, I'm less interested, you know, gives me pause about the school."
>> Yeah. I mean, I think that um some of those conversations have been had at different school communities and um you know, the chancellor has made it uh a priority to say that um yes, we are not clapping uh collap uh cutting uh
enrollment at a school, but um she's also made very clear that she does not want schools to uh uh think about um the use of special rooms, um libraries, uh art rooms, um studios. Uh she doesn't want to uh
schools to approach class size reduction um in uh by uh closing those classrooms um and turning them into you know traditional classrooms. Um there are a couple of spaces where I think that um school communities have been able to ask
the question um is there a way that we can both maintain the program uh that we have uh and um during times in which certain spaces aren't used that we can repurpose some of those spaces. Um, an art studio could make a great
opportunity for uh a small pullout group or an ESL class that might have smaller numbers of kids. Uh there may be rooms in which um uh computers that are um a school that does their computer
science programs um on laptops might be able to be uh moved to different spaces so that um those computer science classes can continue uh in spaces like a library uh or an art room um where they hadn't previously been used. Um, we made
pretty clear that this was not something that we wanted schools to propose. Um, and I do think that, um, the special rooms, theaters, art rooms, uh, libraries are really really important to
families. Um, and so, uh, the the plans generally would not, um, uh, generally h have not, um, resulted in any loss of those spaces. I will say that um the uh an example of something that I
think has been um tough is that in some spaces um uh a school that um has a art program uh and an but doesn't have a dedicated art studio uh may be moving that program to um a cart, right? Like
we say art on a cart, right? A more mobile version of the um of the arts class. Um, but I do think that that's in part like why engaging with your community is so important around this. Um, we had uh there there were a few
schools that have recently received grants for um hydroponics labs and they were very clear there's in no way that we are thinking about moving science from room to room to room now that we had this like beautiful hydroponics lab. Um, of course not all schools have
hydroponics lab and not all schools have robust science programs. Um but it really um I think varies from school to school. So the decisions are often best made um by people in that building. >> And no trailers. >> No trailers. Trailers are um you know
there was a there was a discussion of it. Uh I'm not saying that it won't ever be a thing in district 2, but generally speaking um trailers are not viewed as um something that is really viable in our district.
Oh. >> Um, I guess that's a good thing to be coming from a school that doesn't have a front-facing yard. It just has a small terrace in the back. Yes. >> No, you can't put a trailer there. Are there any questions for the superintendent? I'm going to let my other council members ask. Gavin. Um,
so, so actually I'll start with this one first because it kind of relates to the trailers, but I know that coming up there is a deadline, I think January 31st to apply for open streets for schools for starting for the summer and then I think it's March 31st if it's starting from the the the next school
year. And I'm just curious like how many of our schools in district 2 are taking advantage of that program and and then how many are maybe planning this year to apply to the Department of Transportation? take advantage. That's my first question. >> Yep. Um I don't have the exact number
that have uh applied in the past for open streets, but I can definitely get that number. Um it's been a growing number. Uh and it's just it I mean it's fantastic. Uh if you've ever visited a school that has open streets, uh the way
that they're using this space not just for recess, but for arrival and dismissal, um is just really wonderful. But I'll get that number. Um, and I um have heard of schools that are going to be applying and the scenario in which I
have heard of schools that don't currently have open streets looking to apply for open streets is um schools that have gimmatoriums and um they might be moving a theater program um uh that's currently in a
classroom to uh that gym or they might be making use of the stage um uh as a a classroom space. Um and so we can't use that as as a recess space. Um so I do think that there's an increasing number of schools that are going to apply.
>> Um I just want to make a comment because we looked into this um I looked into this for two schools uh that my children have gone to and it's really a money issue. um in order. So it really a lot of the schools that um have the open
street either have PTA funding. Um one thing that I think would because you have to find someone to run it in the morning um if somebody needs to get in and out. You can't just put the barricades out. You have to someone put them out and take them away. So you either have to have PTA willing to have
volunteers or um staff someone that's willing to do that. Um, but one of the things that uh we ran into is a barricade, which I wonder if there's any possible way that that you know higher up in the district this could help. Most
of the schools have crossing guards >> and you're not allowed to ask at the school level the crossing guard to move. The crossing guards assigned to where they're assigned. I think the principal can say like, "Oh, it should be on this street or not that street." But there
was a a roadblock that, you know, because it seemed pretty obvious to just be like, can you have the crossing guard who's already there man the open street >> barricades? But because of um I think because of union rules, we weren't allowed to interact with them or ask
them for those things. But >> it it could be really cool if there was a way that we could partner with the crossing guards at the district level. Um I think it would make it a lot easier for schools to apply for the open um street and consider it because again it
is a wonderful way to use space um schools that don't have the space for a big playground. It is a really really wonderful thing. So just something to think about. >> Um just just another question. Um going
back to teacher recruitment. Yes. Um, so you mentioned looking for you'll be requesting for 300 plus teachers. I'm just curious about like where are our new teachers coming from and to what extent are are you as a district or as a as a system kind of utilizing the the
the CUTUNI network graduates and also utilizing the District 2 alumni network because one thing I noticed on on a few different school visits is sometimes you hear from a teacher who actually like attended that school in in the past and to what extent can um the district leverage that sort of alumni network to
try to recruit some of our our former you know bright graduates. to come back as as teachers. >> Yeah. Um yeah, I uh really appreciate the focus on um Kuni graduates um and bringing them into the fray um or bringing them
into the fray bringing them into our schools. Um yeah, they're fantastic. And um we actually recently um resurrected some relationships with um CUTUNI programs um
as well as one um at uh teachers college um that uh was really centered around um this idea of um teachers serving as interns or students as interns um uh who are able to obtain an emergency license.
Um and some of those teachers were the most fabulous folks who came into our schools. Um and so uh we reconnected with them. Um our teacher our new our teachers this year really have come from a wide
variety of places. Um some have come from you know different parts of the city. uh a lot. We're here a lot and I think that sometimes this just stands out when you hear that so and so just recently moved here with from Texas with their family or from Chicago or
something like that. Um but um I will say that uh I we continue to hear again and again that um the new teachers that have uh been a part of schools where class size reduction um was uh really
put into place with uh in a robust way this year. that those folks have had just a a fantastic impact on um the school culture, uh access to resources, um new um ideas. Um and I think that
that's showing up in a few different ways. Um we are seeing an increase in attendance in our um schools. It's up by about a percentage point. We've seen a huge reduction in the number of um suspensions and level four and five
incidences uh in our district to date. Um and um generally speaking uh they're just the the cultures appear like very very uh wonderful. I think that you know for schools that went through class size reduction for this school year uh it was
not an easy process. Um these are not easy plans to put to together, but the rewards have really been um uh felt um inside the school communities. >> Tam, do you want to ask a question?
>> Okay, go ahead. I'll allow it just just so members know because just from a procedural standpoint, Tam Tam can't speak. She she had an an issue this week last week. So, she's it's difficult for her to speak.
So, we're allowing we're allowing this. >> Okay. Tam says, "Hi, Kelly. Would it be possible to get the number of full-time, one school, and part-time multiple schools SA SAP providers in D2 for our next meeting? Additionally wondering if
you could speak to how the recent gutting of SAMA programming, budget, workforce reduction has impacted D2 student access to inschool andor wraparound mental health supports, treatment resources, etc. Thank you so much. >> Can you just repeat the I got the SAP
part, but after that, what was the program? uh speaking to how the recent gutting of the SAMA um the mental health support um I I don't know the full full acronym SAM HSA
>> um >> SHA >> yeah I hope that that's something that I can come back to as well with uh because there are multiple agencies involved with the program and so um but I can definitely get um information on that for the our next meeting or share it
with the council uh via email ahead of that time. >> Thank you. >> Yep. >> And and uh just because it was mentioned, um do you want to explain what SAP is because it's another one of those, you
know, initials that people may not know and just want to make sure the council understand. >> People don't know that acronym right up. I >> I that one I do not know. I I know what it is, but I don't know the acronym. I know what they do. Well, it's the first two are substance abuse, maybe inter Oh, all right. Kate Rachel, please. I'm
phoning a friend. >> Intervention specialist. >> Awesome. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> Um, >> Clinton has a full-time service. >> Okay, great. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so what was the question? Just what does it stand for? Is that what you're >> No, that was I just wanted to make sure I know you're getting some information,
but >> since it was asked, I wanted to people people to understand what what was being asked, what what what that was. >> Yeah. And so this is another uh individual who serves in the school. Um and yes, initially when the people in that that position were first hired, it
was uh entirely around um substance abuse prevention and intervention. Um but um as the um and that can take on like a lot of different uh you know definitions um um uh clubs and mental
health and counseling and um uh community building um there's a lot of work we don't I think that some people might hear that and they just might envision a counselor working with a student who is um having a substance abuse problem but there's a lot of work
um as the P stands for their uh prevention um that goes into uh their work. >> Thank you. Uh are there any other questions for the superintendent from the council? Anything on uh from the council members
online? Okay. Well, thank you. Appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Uh next up is the presentation of the the bylaws proposals and the voting. As a reminder, we did propose we did present the bylaw proposals in
accordance with our bylaw, our existing bylaws at the last meeting and tonight we will we can we can debate if there is any comment uh and then we will vote. Um we have I we've talked about what the bylaw's proposals are two times now. So
as as I'm not going to re I don't unless anybody wants me to not going to represent it represent it. I think we all know what what they are. Um, are there any Well, I guess procedurally I'll make a motion and then we'll go into comment from there. Um, I'll make a
motion to accept the bylaws proposals and we'll we'll we'll have opportunity to comment. But there's a second uh seconded. Are there any comments? Okay. Hearing none, we'll take it to a vote.
Oh, sorry. No, no, that's that's that's fine. >> I should probably have >> Okay. On the bylaws proposals, Allison Bowen. Allison Bowen is a yes. Gloria Chu.
Gloria Chu is a yes. Daniela Egrov, >> yes. >> Daniela Egro is a yes. Gavin Healey, Gavin Healey is a no. Aaron Carr is a yes. Cody Linquist. Cody Linquist is a yes. Sam Low Sam Low is a yes. Tall
Misel Sha. Tal Melch is a yes. Rust Mlinov. >> Yes. >> Rust Mavlov is a yes. Tamira Reed. She She had thumbs up. Yes. Tamira Reed is a yes. Sabina Serene. >> Yes.
>> Sabina Serene is a yes. And Craig Slutskin. >> Yes. Craig Slutzkin is a yes. Rachel Kenny. Rachel Kenny is a yes. Ethan Quac, >> yes. >> Ethan Quac is a yes. The motion passes with 11 votes for yes
and one for no. Sorry. >> Thank you. Um is there where's Victor? Anyone sign up on the second session? Okay. Um, I don't see I will again allow for this
meeting if anybody I don't um where's my spreadsheet. Sorry, it's reloading. Oh, somebody did sign up for this. >> Uh, hold on. Okay, so I think Mitch signed up for the second. Okay, anybody
>> and Joe? Okay, so we're still going to We have two people for the second public speaker session. Um again it's two minutes. We'll start with the the person in the room and then we'll go uh virtual. So the first person is uh Joe
Vitali and where is the blue? Did we lose it? >> Thank you. I spoke in the previous session. I asked Superintendent Maguire to answer the question about what does he have to say to girls in our schools
who do not feel safe sharing their sports or their locker rooms with biological males. And again, he ignored the question. Instead, he talked about singalongs and he talked about engaging the community. But I am part of the
community. Unlike you, I am a lifelong New Yorker and I live in the community. So this problem is not going away just by being ignored. There's girls who have come to these meetings just to sit next to me to feel my confidence emanating
towards them so they could feel a little bit more secure about feeling unsafe in in situations where they're sharing their locker rooms in their sports with biological males. I do not think the council is going to ask Superintendent
Maguire my question for me. I've pretty much given up on that. There's, let me point out another inadequacy. There's errors in the meeting minutes. For example, in August 2025's meeting minutes, I oppose resolution 283 and 284. And the approved meeting minutes
say I support that. So, there's also that inadequacy. And again, what I told you before is that when you passed Gavin's repeated opposition to two resolution 248, all that was going to happen was that the Department of
Education, who had already killed 248, was going to reiterate their gender affirmation guidelines. And that is exactly what happened last month. Again, I was the only speaker during the second session. I said um that the bureaucrat
and I'm going to read the part that I didn't read last ma month. The bureaucrat said New York and this is just a reiteration of what happened when resolution 248 was passed. New York City, this is them speaking, the New York City public school bureaucrats. New
York City Public Schools is committed to supporting its LGBTQ plus students, staff, and family populations and maintaining a safe and supportive learning and educational environment. What's missing here? What doesn't it
say? It does not say anything about all students or people. And it definitely says, okay, and I'm going to wrap it up. It definitely says nothing about protecting the safety of biological girls in our schools who are forced to
share their locker rooms with biological males and you do not care senate. >> Thank you. Um the next speaker is Mitch. Mitch, I am you should be getting a note to unmute. Right. Evening. I am in New York City.
>> Can we hear you? >> Am I audible? >> Yep, we can hear you. >> Okay. City, I am a New York City public school graduate and the >> We can hear you, but it's it's kind of muted. Can you speak a little louder?
>> Is that better? >> Yes. >> Yes. Way better. Okay, sorry about that. Airpods not great. So, good evening all. I am a New York City public schools graduate and a district 2 parent of a middle schooler. The resolutions before you over the past several months have
collectively asked one question. Do we support the entire student community or choose to raise only some? Do you support students who excel when taught in ways that accommodate their needs? Do you support students who want to play baseball or badminton or bowling with
their cisgender peers? Do you support students who are immigrants, as I was, who want to learn without fear? These recent months, the votes have shown that you do. The curbcut principle highlights how supporting those who most need it
benefits everyone as a whole. I hope you keep following that north star. It's >> refreshingly pleasing. >> No, you can do it, puppy. You can do it. >> I'm sorry. Somebody else has muted. >> Sorry.
>> Go ahead. Go ahead. >> To conclude, it is refreshingly pleasant to speak in praise of the council. The hybrid format enabled that. So for that also, thank you. I will yield the rest of my time to people who want to go home earlier.
Thank you so much. Appreciate your your comment. Okay. Um Okay. And then so Okay. So that concludes the second public speaker session. There were no resolutions that there were no resolutions this month. So there's nothing there's no vote on them.
Uh that you should have received the draft minutes of the November uh 2025 CC2 meetings. Are there any comments or corrections? I'll give everybody a minute because please >> high school decisions will be released
on March 5th, not April 15th. >> Okay. >> On page three. >> Hold on. >> I don't know what my I'm sorry. First to be released on March 5th. >> Okay. Okay. >> So, it's actually April 15th.
>> March. >> Oh, it is. It says March 5th here. >> Obvious page three. >> Yeah. Page three. All other high school applications closed on December 3rd. Offers to be released on March 5th. >> But lower down in the bullet point.
Oh, I see. Below that. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Okay. >> I think you'd have a very unhappy Gloria. Okay. Um, with that correction, are there any other corrections?
So then the minutes stand as approved as amended with that correction. Thank you. Uh, is there any new business? Um, I just want to highlight um the uh issues going on with the Row Hotel closing again. Um, we discussed this in the last meeting, but Craig, thank you
for posting on the CEC2 website where people can go if they want to donate. Um, there's a lot of families moving out, so um, we're going to need to give them a lot of support. So, if anyone's looking for anything um, to support around the holidays, it's a great um,
really great thing to support. So go to our website, it's on there. Thank you for sharing that. >> And we can put it we we had put it up, but we can also put it up again on our social media. So if I don't do it, just remind me. But I I'm trying to do it tomorrow. Um that being said, uh can I
make get a motion to adjurnn? Second. All in favor? Great. So do should we go straight to the working business meeting? Should be quick. Okay. Uh, so I'm going to call this meeting, the working business meeting of CEC2 to order. It is 9:01.
Uh, we'll do a roll call. >> Guess I won't make you hold. >> Okay. >> Allison Bowen. Allison Bowen is here. Gloria Chu. Gloria Chu is here. Daniela Grov >> here. >> Daniela Agro is here. Gavin Healey.
Gavin Healey is here. Aaron Carr is here. Cody Linquist. Cody Linquist is here. Sam Low Sam Low is here. Tall Masalsh. Tall Maselch is here. Roo Moblinov.
Sorry, I'm tired. Roo Maflinov is here. Tamira Reed. See, let's let's see your thumbs up. Yep. >> Tamira Reed is here. Sabina Serene >> here. >> Sabina Sinise is here. And Craig Slutzkin >> here.
>> Craig Slutzkin is here. Rachel Kenny. Rachel Kenny is here. Ethan Quac >> here. >> Ethan Quac is here. We are all present. That's 12 plus the two student members. >> And just for the records that three of four of the people are present. >> Oh yeah. Yeah. I'll correct that. >> Yeah. Okay. Um so just a couple of quick
things. The first thing is just on the meeting schedule and we we don't need to answer this today. Um but I just want to remind everyone we have our chancellor's town hall scheduled for March 5th. That's for those of you who have never been part of that, the chancellor is required under under New York, I think
it's New York State education law to go to each uh CEC and CCA and CCEC uh during the 24-month term and speak. And it's a town hall. It's about an hour. We can ask questions of the chancellor if there's time. We can have audience ask
questions. Sometimes that CC's do that, sometimes they don't. Um I know when it was I don't know and I honestly don't know how it is with the current chancellor. I know when it was with uh banks it was literally an hour. Like he would get up and walk out after an hour. Um I I don't know if there's more
flexibility, but in any event, um it's scheduled for March 5th. I I say it's it's it's officially scheduled. However, if there's a new chancellor, the schedule could, you know, could theoretically change. Who knows? Um, but one thing I want us to think about, and I'm okay either way, is what a lot what
we've done, what CC2 has done in the past is they have done the calendar meeting the same night. So, right after the town hall is over, the town hall over is is over at 7, they go directly into uh the the monthly meeting. And that's just so we don't have to come out
twice during the month. We could do that. And again, we don't have to decide this now because we're let's let's see who if if this if the day sticks. The issue is our meetings are towards the end of the month. So we have a meeting the last week of February, then it would be the first week of March, then the last week of
March, then the last week of April if we did if we if we skipped the March meeting, if we did the March meeting on March 5th, that would mean we would have about seven weeks in between our meetings. So, it's just something to put on your mind, put on just to think think about and we can talk about it at the
next meeting. Just in terms of scheduling, do we want to have two times that month that we have to come out? Do we want to skip that? But then are we okay with having a sevenweek lull between between our meetings? >> You can't you have to do it every month. >> February is a short month, Craig.
>> I know. >> Yeah. I know. I I I get that. But yeah. So >> could we stagger the February meeting one week earlier and the April meeting? >> I think the week earlier might is might be vacation >> vacation >> vacation week. That's why Yeah.
>> Yeah. So then we would be two weeks which you know. So um just something to think about. >> Okay. Um treasures report I'm assuming there's no update. >> We don't have no updates because we voted last time. >> Yeah. And >> you have any questions just
>> Yeah. And I think Victor might have brought or otherwise if you have expense reimbursements you have already he has the form otherwise he has an electronic form speak to Victor he'll he'll process it. Are there any liaison school reports? I know some of us have been go I
know people have gone like I know Tal had had two two visits recently. I know some of us had re you know there may be a report doesn't have to be a report but I know several of you have been going doing that. Just keep in mind if we have the uh SCA uh recommendations next month, even if you haven't gone to the
school, I think it's a good idea just to reach out and see, you know, say we haven't met, I haven't come down to my visit yet, but you know, if there's anything really pressing, please let me know so we can we can get it in. Yeah, you can. This the start is through Victor and then once
Yeah. Yeah. And if and if the schools aren't getting back to you, did he leave? So the superintendent left. If the schools aren't getting back to you, just let let me know or let the superintendent know and he'll he'll nudge the principal. >> Yeah. It happened with me. Yeah. >> With street. Yeah. >> Yeah. Still >> Well, that's you know, I'm not going to
comment. >> There are >> Yeah. Um >> can I just say one thing >> about that? In my experience, a lot of the very experienced principles like they know how to put it in and so when I have reach out sometimes they're like I
got this. So right. Yeah, sometimes that might be why schools are not >> right >> replying. >> And and I also think this is a theory that a lot of the principles, especially the more experienced ones, they know how much the
C SCA takes us seriously. So I I don't know that they invest, you know, a lot of time in us on that, but we should definitely try and and it's good for us either way, whether or not the SEA does or doesn't prioritize what we want. I think it's good for us to know. It's good for us to speak to our our
communities so we can empower them to also advocate within the DOE with their elected officials to get resoa money, things like that. I mean, different pools to pay for different things, but it's I I think it's still a worthwhile a very worthwhile exercise.
Um, okay. Any other new business? Okay, then everybody, u I'll make a motion to adjourn the working business meeting. Um, Lori second. Everybody in favor. All in favor? Anybody opposed? Okay. Have a very good holiday season
and uh see you in January. >> Good night everybody online. Thank you for your participation. >> Thank you.