Okay. We'll give it another minute before we do roll call. Yeah. I just wanna make sure that we're live streaming. Morning, Josephine, Randy. Happy New Year. Good morning. To you guys. Just giving it another minute. You too, Anthony. I'm not ignoring it. Okay. So we're live streaming right now. Correct? Yes. K. Great. K. Okay. Everyone is in. Alright. So welcome, everyone. Can we have Andre, the Spanish interpreter, make your announcement? Sure. Thank you. And I just wanna remind our members and our presenters to please speak slowly so
that our interpreters can translate, for our our school communities. So it is 09:33. I'd like to call this meeting to order. Can I get a motion? Motion to open. Thank you, Rima. Can I get a second? Second. Back in. I heard three people. I can't see the face. Veronica was one of them. Okay. Thank you, Veronica. Alright. So happy New Year, everyone. I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday season with their family and friends, and you had time to relax and rest and prepare for the second half of the school year.
So if everyone can please write your district or borough in front of your name. I'm going to drop the attendance form in the chat again. If you need assistance, please write it in the chat, and we will rename you. Okay. We're gonna start roll call. So as I announce your district, just unmute yourself and say present. District 1, District 2 Present. District 3 Present.
District 4, District 5, District 6, District 7, District 8, District 9, District 10, District 11? District 12? District 12 here. Thank you.
District 13. I'm sorry. 14. District 15, District 16, District 17, District 18. District 18 present. Thank you. District 19. District 20. I am here. District 21. Violeta is here. District 22. District 23. Randomizing happy New Year to all.
Happy New Year. District 24, District 25. Present. Thank you. District 26. Present. Happy New Year. Happy New Year. District 28. District twenty nine. Priscilla's here. District thirty. Correct. That is district thirty one. Good morning. Present. Good morning. District seventy five. Brooklyn High School's president's council? Here. Bronx High School? Present. Grandmaizing. Manhattan High School?
Present. And my designee should be on as well. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. Queens High School? Present. And Staten Island High School? Present. Thank you. Thank you. Priscilla? I am on. Hello. Very thank you very much. Okay. Greetings, everyone. I'm just gonna go over the dues. Can you just pull up the screen, Josephine? Thank you so much. During our meeting, these are our dues. Wait to be recognized before speaking. Be here. Be respectful, courteous, and professional.
If you're gonna disagree, disagree amicably. Remember, other members would like to speak, so be mindful of the time we ask you to keep your responses to two minutes or less. Don't unmute yourself to say you have your hands up. Side conversations in the chat are prohibited. Be disrespectful. We don't tolerate that. Do not ask follow-up questions after your question has been answered, and use the chat to ask follow-up questions. Thank you. Thank you, Priscilla. Thank you. So here's our agenda. Everyone, voting members were emailed and our members community at large received this as well.
So CPAC committee, if you would like to join one or more of our committees, The voting members received an email with a link on the questionnaire. Members of the community can join by going to cpac.com. And under the standing committees, there are links to view the committees and a link to join the committee or committees you're interested in. So some announcements. We have a new mayor. Mayor Zoran Mamzani is our new mayor for New York City. He has, appointed our new New York City public school chancellor, Kamara h Samuels, and
you will hear from him a little bit later in this, meeting. We have information for three k admissions. January 14, the application opens. Friday, February 27, it closes. And May 19, families will receive offers. Pre k admissions, January 14, the same, same dates. May 12, they received their offer. Kindergarten admissions has already opened. It closes on January 23. On March 31, they will receive their offers. And January 19, schools are closed for reverend doctor Martin Luther King Junior Day.
And then there's some high school regents information here. If you'd like to screenshot that, it may be easier. And you could go always go on to the New York State website to see the examination schedule. This is something that the district twenty eight FLC Sonia Rueda and Shelley Alban do. They do a midyear checkup. So if anyone is interested, you will be able it's January 13 at 09:30AM and 06:30PM. So we wanna make sure that you're aware of that. And information has already been emailed out.
We have our minutes. Minutes were sent out to the voting members to review prior to today's meeting. So would someone like to make a motion to approve them? District 31 motion to approve. Thank you, Melissa. And a second? Two twenty five seconds. Two twenty five, Veronica? Yes. Thank you. So the minutes are approved with no objections. I'm just gonna ask the Spanish interpreters, to make the announcement again. Thank Thank you.
So now we have our UFT borough parent and community liaisons. So we wanna welcome you and thank you for everything you do and your continued partnership and collaboration with parents and families across the city. So we're going to ask Nicholas Cruz, who is the U of T Community and Parent Outreach, if he would like to get us started. Yeah. Thank you. So could you guys hear me okay? Yes. We're good? Yes. Beautiful. So, real quick, good morning to everyone on on this call.
My name, as you mentioned, is Nicholas Cruz. I'm the director of our, UFT's community and parent outreach department. And on behalf of our president, Michael Mulgrew, who unfortunately could not be with us today, I just wanna begin by expressing a heartfelt thanks to the chancellor's parent advisory council of New York City, mind you. Alright? So applause to you. Your partnership, dedication, and guidance, meaning the world to us, and I'm sure that the
families that that we all serve. Right? So, congratulations to, the newly appointed chancellor, mister Samuels, and to the entire CPAC body. Right? We are truly, excited about working, right, with you all and and looking forward to continuing our long standing collaboration and support, to the families and schools, that we serve across the city. Our department is made up of five, dedicated parent liaisons, who I'm happy to see
that, you know, they're all here, many of of whom you all already know. For those who haven't had the chance, to meet them yet, it's my pleasure to introduce them today and to take a moment to acknowledge the work that they do in collaboration with the work that the CPAC body does. Right? The commitment, the collaboration, the partnership, you know, that all sets the stage, right, for providing, you know, our families the platform to speak out and be a voice for
for, you know, their children, our children, and our families. So before I I share, their updates or before I let them share their updates, I'd like to briefly highlight the mission that guides our work. The United Federation of Teachers parent engagement efforts are focused on building building and strengthening partnerships, through school families, through communities, through our workshops. And our goal is simple, you know, to to keep parents informed and to have
a welcoming, you know, inclusive, active, engaged, partnerships, and and and to continue to serve our our our children. Right? Our parent liaisons are focused on building trusting relationships, providing culturally responsive outreach, and fostering meaningful two way communication. They help families navigate school systems, access vital roles, and engage fully in school life and decision making. Most importantly, parent liaison serve as a trusted connectors between home and school, elevating parent
voices, supporting our communication, and helping schools create inclusive, community centered environments that promote student success. We are grateful for this partnership, for this long standing partnership, and I'm excited to hear, from from all of you as we continue working together from our liaisons, as they continue working with families, and and the incredible work to uplift families, strengthen communities, and and and all the like.
So, thank you. Happy New Year, and and and, you know, may we just continue to, support each other as as this year, continues forward. Alright? I'm not sure if I'm supposed to introduce our folks. But before I do that, I I also wanted to also introduce our, paraprofessional rep, who's, on on the call also, Priscilla Castro, who's also part of of, you know,
just our team. So, what do I do next? Randy, you're muted. Thank you. Priscilla, would you like to, present first, or do you wanna let the borough reps the borough liaisons go first? Up to you. I I will go first. Do you have to share your screen or anything? No. No. No. Hi, everybody. Thank you for having me. My name is Priscilla Castro. I am the chapter chair for the PAAT Professionals of New York City. So I oversee all the PAW Professionals in five boroughs. I don't know, Nick, if you wanted me to talk about, the respect campaign now.
Or Yep. Is that good? Yep. You guys are good with that? Okay. So, I'm here on behalf of Michael Mulgrew who couldn't attend today, but I wanted to give everybody an update in regards to legislation twelve sixty one. So legislation twelve sixty one is a bill that we would like passed at city council. It's to give professionals thousand dollars yearly once this the legislation is a bill.
And why legislation? We did this because in the 2024, we did a a special education survey. And the impact that we got back, was that there was a need of paraprofessionals across the city. And because of that, my myself and, the members of city council, we created this legislation. Within that time, Keith Parles, one of the council members, he introduced the bill.
Just giving you a little back history. Right? He introduced the bill in April 2025. From that launch, the paraprofessionals took ownership and met with city council members in their office, did rallies. We really stood out. April 2, we did a big rally at city Hall. We closed down the streets. Right? We advocated because professionals are leaving the profession. Not because they want to.
It's because, money is not sustainable. So this will you know, the paraprofessionals will really appreciate these $10,000, you know, once it's passed. So within this time, we recently in November, we had, a testimonial hearing at City Hall. It went great. Not only did we have, the officers there, the, you you know, the para officers
there, but we also had paraprofessionals as well to speak out and parents that speak out and counselors to also speak out in regards to the respect check. Right? Because we call it the respect check. And the speaker, Adrian Adams, was you know, just decided not to give us a date after the testimonial, which is okay. Right?
Because we are strong. The powers are strong in And, again, we do this work because of the love of the children. We love that we do. So currently, right now, this month in January, all the paraprofessionals, right, my borough coordinators, because there's a borough coordinators and the PACs, the legislative packs and the boroughs. They're in conversations with the council members within boroughs and meeting with them. Individual meeting. Because we have about I believe, is 10 new council members.
So not only are we meeting with the new council members, but we're also meeting with the former council members as well. So happening this month. This month, we have paraprofessionals who are meeting with the city council members, individually, telling them their story and the need for the 10,000. And once this is done, right, our hope is that with the new speaker, Julie Menon, who she has been a great great advocate, and she has been there every
step of the way, Been very So our hope is that there will be a hearing soon, at least the month of February. So, you know, we can say our story again. It's okay. It's okay. But the goal is that once that's done, that the legislation will be passed under the new leadership. Julie Manning, the new con members. And after that, the legislation going to the mayor's office, it it should be signed,
and, you know, the paraprofessionals will receive the $10,000. So that's where we are right now. And, you know, I wanna thank you as advocates, as parents. You know? Thank you for everything that you do every single day, because I heard you know? Our paraprofessionals are there for your children, and they're there every single day. Thank you so much. Thank you, Priscilla. Thank you for being here, for advocating. What helps you helps us. You know? Power paraprofessionals are are important. You know? They're vital to our children's success.
So every day, they support our children with the highest needs. They provide academic, behavioral, and emotional support that allow our children to, like, to learn, grow, and thrive. So they deserve a live a liveable wage. So if parents you know, we urge you to reach out to newly, elected speaker men in today and see if you can you know, our collective voice can help move this bill, you know, forward. So this is really important that we do this. We know that most of the New York City Council Members have signed on in
support of the power of respect check bill. So please reach out to, speaker Menon and just use your voice and advocate for all our children. Thank you. Is there is there, Priscilla, sorry. Is there, an action plan that you may want for this body to take moving forward so that we can be ready for, you know, that February, you know, proposed date? Well, right now, we're we're the action that we're calling is for everyone to reach out to speaker. We do hear the same thing that you're hearing, that she's receptive to this and
will bring this to the floor. So we wanna be respectful to hers. This is her first full day as Mhmm. Speaker. But if you hear something what we need to know, please reach out to us and let us know, and we will definitely, take action. Yes. Definitely. Thank you so much. Okay. So next, we have our borough parent and community liaisons. We we have this thing, you know, with CPAC and and our our New York City public school friends. So would you like to start with The Bronx first? Oh, thank you. Can you hear me? Yes. We hear you. The Bronx. Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for this opportunity to introduce myself.
I am Maria Morales. I am The Bronx UFT parent and community liaison, parent coordinator. I wanna begin by saying, wishing everyone in a happy and healthy and blessed New Year. And, I also want to share something that is coming up. This is an opportunity in collaboration with school district eleven Deepak Chaya, April Parks. We are hosting a parent, a title one parent conference, in The Bronx, and this is gonna be January 31 year from eight to three, PM.
We are working with our communication department to send out the registration link this week and also finalizing the program. So I wish that, you know, you all can attend or some of you can attend. I also wanna encourage you if you are not part of, the USD liaison, listserv to sign up for that. But if you like, you could contact me directly or April for the registration link for the conference. But please sign up, and I could probably put the link in the chat before
I head out to my appointment. So you could sign up if you're not part of the listserv so you could, be in the known and know what we are doing in our boroughs. So thank you for this opportunity to share it, and we'll have more throughout the year, workshops and collaboration with our parent leaders. So thank you for this opportunity. Thank you, Queens. Chelsea. I see her. She's trying to unmute. Yeah. You can okay. I'll ask her. Hi. Can you hear me now? Yes. We hear you. Great. Thank you. Sorry for that. I I I feel that I'm still not Zoom savvy. Good morning, everyone.
My name is Delsey Rodriguez. I'm your Queen's parent and community liaison. Exciting things going around in the borough of Queens. This Saturday, we have in collaboration with Queensborough And Queens North Schools Of Parent Resource Day. If you email me, I can send you that registration link as well as emergency preparedness that's going on at our office on January 26. I emailed the flyer to, CPAC yesterday.
I don't know if you have it. If you if you guys wish to have it and to join, please, I encourage you to register. We do a lot of advocacy, engagement, and, advocacy work for our parents, for our communities, and for our schools. Thank you for the opportunity, everyone. Thank you. Staten Island? Good morning, everybody. Happy New Year. Thank you for the opportunity to be here to introduce myself. My name is Marie Rodriguez, and I am the parent and community liaison for Staten
Island. I just wanna loop you into a couple of upcoming things I have going on here at the borough. The February, February 7, we're partnering with one of our community partners, the Staten Island allowance alliance. At the Staten Island Children's Museum, we're hosting an early education enrollment day and that's gonna be going on all day long from twelve to four at the Staten Island Museum. Parents will be able to come to the museum free of charge for the day,
participate in all of the activities going on at the museum as well as get information and resources for early childhood enrollment for the next coming school year. In addition, I'd like to say for my folks out in the D 75 community, I'm working with one of our community schools, p three seven three, to organize parents to advocate for a new structure. They have a mini building behind their regular school building that was supposed to be,
a temporary structure that is now twenty two years old and falling apart. So I've been working with the PTA. We finally formed a subcommittee, and we're going to be moving forward to advocate for a new permanent structure because all they're getting is Band Aids on all of the the repairs that just keep piling up. So if there are any folks in the D 75 community that would like to be a part and help us push this forward, I'll put my information in the chat, and we would welcome you to attend our meetings.
Thank you for the opportunity to be here and share with you today, and I wish you a successful second half of the school year. Thank you so much, Marie. Next, Manhattan. Cynthia. Happy New Year all. Thank you for allowing me to reintroduce myself. My name is Cynthia Alvarez. I'm the Manhattan parent and community liaison. I'm a product of New York City Public School and a daughter of a parent activist that actually was a part of the group that created the paraprofessionals that went to speak with mayor Lindsey because the community wanted to wanted wanted to, see more
of the communities in the schools, so that's part of the work that was done. So it's important that parents that we support this, the bill because it was created for us by us. I'm, I was a member of CC two, CCSE, the Citywide Council on Special Education, and a public advocate under Tisch for District 75, a founding member of of ECC, and a UFC parent member that was also a part of the group that created.
And I see Christina on the call that, special ed tip sheet by parents four parents. So I say that to say that I've been committed as my work is in collaboration with you. So, you know, the liaison as, mister Cruz has said, and I am so happy to be here. So part of my upcoming events that are coming up are are February 14. We have an underwear drive for survivors of sexual assault.
It's February it starts February 14, collecting it here in our Manhattan office until March 8, which is International Woman's Day. So the reason why is because when the, as sexual assault victims, the underwear is taken for evidence during the rape kit, and they're not returned to them. So we're gonna donate all of the donations to victim service centers who doesn't have a budget, but are the ones that support the parents.
And then April 18, look for it for another conference, but this is the men's conference. Men in Education Conference is going to be here on mentoring and supporting and having a male presence in the schools. So I'm I look forward to sending out all that information. The that was both event will be happening here at UFC Headquarters 52 Broadway. And, my information, I believe Nick sent a a a a sheet with all of
our contacts. But if not, I'll put it in the chat as well. And I'm available in service. Invite me to your schools. I I I I do workshops with parent I can pay PTA as well, and I work with the district and the CECs. Thank you. Happy New Year. Thank you, Cynthia. Happy New Year to you as well. Next. So we have last but definitely not not least, we saved the best and biggest borough in Stuart for Brooklyn. I appreciate that, Randy, and, definitely shout out to all my other liaisons.
But Brooklyn is in the house. You heard? So, thank you so much for having me in the space. My name is Ian Stewart, and I'm the Brooklyn parent and community liaison. And, I'm very happy to be here. Happy New Year to everybody, of course, and, thank you for inviting me to the space. I have, extensive background in community service work, specifically in service providing and, therapeutic services. So, happy to bring that here into the work and into the space as well as the relationships that I have with various CBOs and, crisis management centers that are
throughout the entire borough and, of course, throughout NYC. So I'm happy to be able to bring that experience and those contacts into this work to be able to enrich the amazing school environments that we are all trying to have our young people enjoy. Moving forward, of course, we're gonna have a few events that are coming up out in Brooklyn. Real quick, every, last Thursday of the month or four Thursdays of the month, we have our, parent summits or those are general parent meetings for the, borough of Brooklyn. However, this month will be a little bit different because we'll be doing things hybrid.
So we'll actually be doing ours probably on the twenty seventh. But more importantly, what we have coming up is our, IEP workshop series, prevent presented by, Steven Minster. So those are gonna be it's a four part series. Our first part is gonna be January 22. The next part will be January 29. Part three will be February 5. And, the last part will be, February 26, I think, twenty sixth to twenty seventh.
I I always get that that last date mixed up, but that's the last Thursday of, February to kinda get us geared up, for what's gonna be happening for the rest of the year. And, also, I know all of the liaisons would be happy to to for me to share that we will be having lobby day, coming up in March, March 16. So definitely if you know anybody that's interested in your organizations that interested UFT, we got buses and we got some sandwiches and stuff for y'all too. And we definitely would like to get everybody on board as quickly as possible so
that we're all on the same page on the legislative agenda because we have a lot of new faces, new people sitting in seats, and we wanna make sure that they understand that we are just as dedicated to our children's education as ever before. Also, we're looking at April as being our kickoff month for therapeutic services where we're looking at different types of mental health and, other resources to be able to help, support our parents and community members back at home. So what's that sound like? We're gonna have a couple painting chats. I know y'all wish it was sipping paste, but if it was, it was just
gonna be juice. I'm sorry y'all. I can't. I can't be liable for for sipping sipping, but we could definitely have some juice, some good conversation and paint some pictures on what things we can do to help support ourselves and, the rest of the people in our family unit as we wanna support our young scholars. Thank you again for giving us the space to have this conversation and we hope that it happens more. Echo everything that all of the former liaison said. Please invite us to come out to your schools. Let us know what we could do to help support your PTAs and we love
to go and do events. As you can hear, everybody has a a a a smorgasbord of things to offer. So we hope that everybody finds a place that they feel comfortable and a big shout out to everybody to put this together. CPAC. Thank you all so much. I look forward to meeting y'all all in person if I haven't yet and, all the liaisons. We look forward to also seeing you during our parent leadership series, which I know Nick, might give you some more information about coming up in May. Thank y'all. Thank you so much. So here is the slide with all of their contact information.
So if you wanna take a screenshot of that, and you can share this, please, president's council, presidents, please share this with your PAs and PTAs. They do have a lot to offer. I know every time I reach out to Ian, he shows up, so he's there definitely for Brooklyn. I know the rest of the liaisons too. They all show up, so thank you all for what you do for our families, for our children, and we appreciate you being here today. It's about collaboration partnership always. Okay. So next up, we have DIAL, which is the division of inclusive and accessible learning.
I believe we have Thank you, Randy. Oh, so okay. I'm sorry. Great. No. Thank you so much. And, before I before we kick off, into the presentation, that was requested, and we are so happy that that you guys asked us back, we do have deputy chancellor Christina Foti with us this morning, so I did wanna give, our deputy chancellor just a a a few minutes to introduce and say, anything that's on her mind. Well, I I'm only gonna say a quick hello out of, deep respect and excitement
to be with you all. Thank you all for having us. To our UF two parent liaisons, we love seeing you all, and thank you for all that you do. And, to to CPAC, thank you always for your partnership and collaboration. I wanna leave the space for, all of the content that was prepared today, but thank you for letting me say good morning. Hi, everybody. Thank you so much, deputy chancellor for you. Really appreciate that. And, I just wanna echo to all our U of T, parent and family liaisons. I did drop in the chat for Ian as well. We would love the special education team.
I'll speak for all of DIAL, so not just the special education team, but our colleagues and supporting children and families who are multi language learners. We would love at any time to come side by side or support, present, share resources at any of your parent and family engagement sessions. Johanna Rodriguez, who is our our parent leader on the special education team, is gonna drop her info in the chat. And we would absolutely love to to come alongside and support any of those that that would be helpful for you to all.
So thank you so much for that. So we were asked to come back, and we're really glad about that, to present on parents' rights and around evaluations and the IEP process. So we have a really, a a what I say, a content rich, a lot of information in the presentation, which will be shared with you all after, we present today. And we're also going to share with you our link to the Beyond Access series, which is a family facing series about how tos on different topics related to special
education, and one of them is certainly the IEP process and parents. Right? So we're gonna make sure you have that, and we are all available to answer and respond to questions, concerns, anything after this presentation. We will share our contact information and and really happy to be here. I'm joined by some very, important leaders in the special education team. In the name of time, I'm just gonna ask them each to very quickly just say their name, and then we're gonna kick off the presentation.
Lauren, I'll start with you. Good morning, everyone. Thanks, Suzanne. Happy to be back. Thanks for having us. I'm Lauren Sullivan. I work with the office of supervisors of school psychologists. Thank you, Lauren. Johanna? Hi. My name is Johanna Rodriguez. I'm so sorry. I was typing and talking. I'm typing in the chat. I'm the director of family support. Johanna. Kathy Kaufman? Hello. Good morning, everyone. I'm Kathy Kaufman. I work with the office of supervisors of school psychologists. Pleasure to be here. Kevin McGinn. Morning, everyone. Kevin McGinn, executive director of special education policy. So great to see you all. Joanna Charles.
Good morning, everyone, and happy New Year. My name is Joanna Charles, and I'm chief of staff with the special education office. Nice to see you. If I missed anyone, from dial, please jump in. Hi. Good morning. Arvina Vallejo. I'm the executive director of school based evaluations. Happy to be here. Thank you so much, Arwina. So, CPAC, we we brought all of our experts around this work. A, we want you to see and know us, and b, we wanna make sure that we have all the right people, to respond, answer any questions, and and present this really important information for our families.
Navigating a large school system, can be challenging. It can be difficult. And our work here in Dial is to make that more efficient, a bit more simple, and family facing, and ease of access for our families. That is our goal. We work with superintendent teams on a daily basis to get to that place, and we are continuing that work. We have made progress, and we have more work to do as always. So that's, I think, why we're so appreciative of being here. Lauren, I'm gonna turn this over to you, and let's share some really important information.
Great. Thanks. Alright. So we do have a content rich. That's for sure. That was a good way to put it, Suzanne. A lot of information that we want to share with you because we understand you have questions around the evaluation process, what's happening with children during that time when they're working with our IEP teams, as well as what are some of the family's rights during this time as well. So we are going to really focus on those two big areas today, and we'll answer any questions you have as we go along. And why is that? Because you and all of the families who you work with are our partners.
You're an integral part of the the IEP process, the special education evaluation process, and beyond. We really need your input during this time. We want families to feel empowered and really to be a part of the process. So, really, the more you know, the more we can advocate. And in the long run, the more, all of the children can grow and succeed. So we'll be referencing a couple of different teams today who are responsible for things like our initial evaluations, reevaluations, IEP meetings, and supporting students through the special education process.
So our school based support teams, our IEP teams are those teams who are in our buildings. They work in our k through 12 school districts, some of our and we also have our CSC teams, our committee on special education. They are supporting students in our charter, non public, private, and religious schools, and then also our CPSC teams who are evaluating and working through the special education evaluation process with our preschool students. And I know I've already started with a couple of acronyms, and that was something
else that you had, mentioned that you wanted to learn more about. So, towards the end, we are going to provide a resource for you to understand, where we, are getting many of these acronyms and what they mean. And we'll do our best to to spell them out throughout the process today. So our special education process that you see here really in steps one through four, and then step five as well, focus on starting the initial referral or the request for referral that starts from starts off the process.
And, we are really going to think about steps two and three for the purposes of what happens during the evaluation and the IEP meeting. What can you expect from our teams, and how can you also be a part of that process? So starting with step one, our initial referral or our request for referral. If a student has a disability or we suspect the student has a disability and require special education services, then we start that process with a request for an initial referral, and we'll talk about who can do that.
And moving right through to step two, the evaluation, once we see consent happen for that evaluation, we start the process and move right through to making decisions at an IEP meeting. So let's see what happens during that process here for us. So how do we request a special education evaluation? Right? And just to be very clear, because sometimes we hear, how do we request special education services? We're requesting an evaluation for a really important reason to determine if special education services
are actually required for a student. So one does not necessarily lead to another. And we start that process by requesting an initial referral in writing, whether that's, through a written letter or an email to the school team. That includes really important details that you see here. Right? As, that you are requesting a special education evaluations, some of the concerns that you have for a child and explaining what those may be around learning, behavior, development, social development, what you see and what you know, about the the child at that time.
And this is for anyone that that suspects or believes that their child may require a referral or, may require special education services. So the rest of the details that are really important to be included in there, the child's name, the preferred language. Why? Because we want to assure that we're setting you up with somebody who can communicate appropriately and clearly with our families in their in their home language. And then if you already have reports that may be associated with an evaluation, we'd love to get them, already so we could start reviewing and determine how to best
meet that student's needs through a special education, referral. So what is the parents' role? Right? And like I said in the beginning, it's really is vital and really important that we're involved right from the beginning. Our parents know our students really well and in a different light and contribute really meaningfully to this process. So that notice of referral, at that point in time, that's where your rights start to get explained to you. And my colleague Kevin is really going to talk about some of those rights for you and what that means.
So as you're the child's parent or guardian, you'll get explained that by our IP team, whoever that contact is for you at whether it's at the school team, the CSE team, or the CPSC team. And that's the point in time that we learn about the purpose of the evaluation. Why are we evaluating this student? And we start to put together a plan. Another impart important part of that process is our social history. This is where our families meet with a member of the IEP team. This is typically our social worker.
Again, this meeting happens in the the, language necessary for the family or an interpreter or translator is involved to support the process as well. But we have social workers in many languages in, all of our many of our teams. So during this process, you're sharing important background information from, you know, birth or even pregnancy right through currently to help us understand more about the student and how we are going to move forward with this evaluation. And we we really depend on our families during this time to to be a
leader in the process. Right? Not just a part of the process, but really part of the leader. The family is, invited to that meeting, and our social workers take really good care to learn as much as possible about students during that time. That's the time where, you're going to learn again about your rights, and you give consent for that evaluation. Again, this happens in your preferred language. Even if you are the one who wrote the letter and requested the evaluation, we really want to ensure that you are informed and understand what this evaluation means for
your child, understand what happens during the process because the team will not begin until they have full permission from you, and you are really, met with our social worker to truly understand your rights. One of those big ones being that within sixty calendar days, we are looking to have evaluated your child and held that IEP meeting and make some decisions, around what's the next steps will be for special education, eligibility for them.
So the evaluation process is really key for us here. Right? What happens once you do start working with that consent? It looks really different for each student. So a lot of times, we get the question about what type of assessments are you going to do, what does this look like. This is the process that helps us understand different areas about how your child learns, what supports they might need, And there are so many evaluations, we'll discuss a few today, that our teams have become experts in in order to create a really comprehensive
profile of the child. So that can include a psychoeducational assessment. K. That's how we understand how your child thinks, how they learn. We look at multiple areas of their development during that time. A physical exam. We work really closely with our families to bring in those physical exams to understand if there's any medical issues that may be impacting that student's learning for them. A classroom observation. Our expert clinicians will actually be able to visit the classroom of your child and watch firsthand how they're learning, how they're interacting with other students, how what that looks
like compared to the other students in the classroom. Right? They're they're trained really closely about how to what and and how to look in our classrooms for our students right from pre k through twelfth grade. And then there's other assessments that may help us explore any areas where your child may need help. Right? That can be, many different types of assessments that we'll be able to talk about. So for a student who may speak another language at home, I know that was a big question that came up from this group, that means that they are assessed
in English in their home language, and we assign evaluators who are able to really determine for the student, is this, an issue related to language acquisition? They are learning the English language, or is this related to an actual disability that they we might be seeing in an educational environment? So here are the big buckets of assessments that we use. And when when I say that we have a wide variety of assessments, I really mean that we've expanded our testing library over the last few years, and our clinicians
have become well versed in these different buckets. Right? So we see, things like our achievement testing, and you you may hear some of these terms, but we want to make sure we understand what those mean, which is different than our cognitive testing. Right? So our achievement testing to start is we're looking for the academic areas, how the student is learning. This helps us understand their unique strengths and needs. It talks to us about where they are performing in terms of grade level standards, grade level equivalents, and also can give us some percentiles that you may often hear
about. So this is the the type of assessment that our psychologists are working with our students, to to start the process, and it's part of our psychoeducational evaluation. Our goal really is to measure the current levels of academic performance and learning characteristics for students, and our achievement testing helps us understand that better. Coupled with cognitive testing, that really gives us a full picture and a full view of, the student's ability. Right? We're thinking about how is that student thinking.
We're we're looking at, their intellectual abilities, and we're trying to provide insight into how do they learn, what is this process, what are some things that may be, causing them to to have, to have difficulty accessing grade level standards. So some of those examples can include things like, executive functioning, reasoning, perception, memory that they, may be struggling with, language, verbal and mathematical ability, problem solving.
Right? All those big buckets that we look at to create a full profile. And then specialized assessments. This is where we're looking in a very discrete area, including things like neuropsychological function to really determine what specific need that the student has regarding a specific subject area or a specific area of their cognitive learn cognitive functioning that can help us, learn more about how to support them. And then lastly, reading skills. So this is where you may be may be a part of the evaluation as
well. Our teams will ask our families to support in completing rating scales that give us a better idea of how you see that your child is performing in many of these different areas. So this can be in many different areas that we have, developmental skills, behavior, daily living skills, adaptive skills, social emotional learning. And, again, these are available in a home language, so, you can really support and collaborate with our teams during this time. But, again, each assessment plan is really unique and individualized, and it starts to depend
on the students' needs, what type of assessments we're using. So to put it all together and and really moving beyond traditional assessments of what you may see, right, being delivered and administered to students, we put it all together in these different areas. So, we've recently gone more digital as well to really keep with 2026 and provide students with assessments that are on iPads. We're able to support students through a more virtual, way.
It's really increased engagement as well. Lauren Lauren, if I if I may jump in, I think you're selling, the work a drip short because, I think the digital assessments are, I think Highlight and the most important aspect of those is that they're culturally responsive and that they were selected specifically to meet the broad range of students and families that reside in New York City, and I think that's really important. And I also wanna share, also in the name of time, there are so many
different reasons why a student may be struggling in their school and or academic environment. And what Lauren is detailing is a very complex, methodical, evidence based, and research based approach to the school team determining why that student is struggling, academically or otherwise in their school setting. And it is unique to every individual student and their family, and it's a really
complicated process and it's crucial that as a system we get it right. And the parent your parent, boy's parent participation in this process is is is key to everything that that is going to happen with that child's development of their IEP, if in fact they they do require special education services. And that's why presentations like this are really so important. So, Lauren, I just wanna thank you for for really being so comprehensive there. Yeah. Thanks. No problem. So and just to be clear there, right, if we need to focus on that
a little bit, the academic and cognitive assessments as well as many of our others. Right? Certainly, culturally responsive. A lot of research has been done, with many leading experts in the field of bilingual assessments and language development for our students, and we've really selected, a pretty comprehensive, group of assessments that allow us to really look at how a student is acquiring language and help us to support what language they're assessed in and really determining is this a language acquisition issue or a something more like a learning disability or a
language disability for that student. So, yes, we do see many of our assessments, you know, new over the last few years, really, really focusing, on language for our students as well. So, in the interest of time, I'm going to move us right through what happens at the IEP meeting, right, like Suzanne just described. Here, we're talking about if the student is eligible based on all the information that our team has put together and based on their unique learning needs.
Again, this is not necessarily leading to an IEP or a disability classification for our students. We can see a student who is ineligible or declassified and is supported in a different way during that time. But if the student is determined eligible, then our team does work, with a full, group of stakeholders to make sure that we've connected, what that student needs in terms of specialized instruction based on their stew their strengths and their needs to create a comprehensive profile and IEP for them.
Okay? So, as we partner with you through this process, again, it's really encouraged that you're collaborating whether it's through the social history, through rating scales, through the IEP meeting, about what your child knows and needs. So Kevin is going to talk to us a little bit about what some of your rights are throughout that process as well. Thanks so much, Lauren. So the last slide that Lauren covered, you know, really regarding parent involvement is a really know that the group had asked us to speak about and that's the rights their parent has in the special education process.
When we talk about special education rights, I think the first thing that comes to mind for many is due process, whether it's an impartial hearing, a mediation, or a state complaint. But before we get to those conflict resolution procedures, I think we'd like to talk a little bit more about the rights that parents and guardians have throughout the special education process so that we're not just talking about that end of the line, you know, conflict resolution. And each of these are potentially lengthy conversations on their own and we have limited time today. So I'll be discussing these at a high level and then sharing some resources with you in the chat and then also in the deck that you can visit for
additional information. And, of course, we're happy to come back again and talk about some of these in more in more depth. Broadly speaking, a parent's rights during the special education process include the right to participate, the right to have a certified additional parent member at the IEP meeting, the right to be fully informed, the right to consent, and then the right to challenge and appeal decisions that have been made about their child's, special education. Lauren, you go next slide. So first and perhaps most importantly, you as the parent have the right to take part in the decision making, related to your child's special education needs.
That includes the right to bring other people to the meetings who have the knowledge or special expertise regarding your child. You have meetings scheduled to the time that works for everyone, especially you as the parent, and that the parent would have an interpreter if needed. You just need to let the IEP team know and that your request an interpreter will will be provided. Next slide. Sorry, Lauren. Actually, could you go to the slide regarding parent member additional parent member? Just one. Sorry. So a support that's provided by state regulations to ensure that you can fully participate in the IEP meeting is the right to have a certified additional parent member at
the meeting. This is another parent of a student with an IEP who has been trained by our partners that include NYC to support other parents at the meeting. Parents who would like the support of an additional parent member just need to let their CSC or school or CPSC, their preschool team know at least three days before the meeting. And because I know we have some great parent advocates in the audience or the or people who are connected to great parent advocates, we have information here about the certification process if you're interested or you know somebody who would like to become an additional parent member themselves and support other families during the meeting.
Sorry, Lauren. I was a little bit out of order. If you could go back to the, language support slide. So I did touch briefly on your right to have an interpreter as needed at special education meetings. This include this, of course, includes interpretation for students, and parents who use ASL. You also have the right to translated versions of your child's IEP upon request. And so, there's information here that we'll share out around how to make those requests. You can also just make the request directly to your to your IEP team or school or CSC. Okay. Thanks, Lauren. Sorry.
Can you back up just a little bit to, inform yes. A critical part of your participation in the special education process is having the understanding of what decisions are being proposed. And at certain points in the process, your written consent to those actions. This can number this can cover a number of things, including advanced notice of IEP meetings and then clear prior written notices advising you of actions that are being proposed. When we talk about consent and informed consent, that means that you've been fully informed about the action for which you're giving consent and that you understand and agree in
writing to that action. Consent is voluntary, of course. Otherwise, it would not be consent, and maybe withdrawn at any time. But the caveat there that once if you, you know, actions that took place prior to to your withdrawal of consent, are not are generally not undone. And so consent is something that is kinda time stamped. And if you go to the the due process piece. You're right to challenge and appeal. Thanks. We've talked a lot today about the importance of the parent's voice in the special education process, but we also know that sometimes parents don't feel heard or they disagree
with the decisions that are ultimately made by the IEP team. And so this brings us to your right to challenge and appeal decisions that are made regarding your child's special education. First, parents have the right to file a state complaint to ask the state education department to investigate com concerns that the district has violated a law or regulation related to special education and their child's receipt of a free appropriate public education. Parents can also request mediation so that you come together with the school or the district under the supervision of trained mediator to work out any of the disagreements that are related to your child's special education.
And that can include, you know, agreements for, modifications to the IEP, additional services, evaluations, etcetera. Many of the same things that are often brought to impartial hearing, can be done in a less contentious environment. And then, of course, you have the right to file for an impartial hearing, so so that the impartial hearing officer hears both sides of a disagreement and decides whether the the district needs to take any steps to fix it. And then as part of that process, you and the district both have the right to appeal the impartial hearing officer's decisions, to the state review officer and then, somewhat
rarely beyond that to federal court, depending on the the type of claim that's being made. And so your your rights do not just end at the impartial hearing, stage. If you disagree with those with that decision, you can also appeal beyond the impartial hearing officer. Next slide. I'm sorry. Keep going. Like I said, these are really weighty lengthy conversations, and so we have some some resources here that you, can reference for more information. Most importantly, I think it's the procedural safeguards notice which is the state's approved created form that outlines everything that I've talked about today and really goes into detail about
these rights and then other, other rights related to special education for for students with, with disabilities. There's also information here about the state's complaint process, which is completely handled by the state, information about the impartial hearing process. And then for parents who have filed an impartial hearing and have received an impartial hearing order, that requires the district to take actions, there's an information here about the impartial hearing order implementation unit, which is a a separate DOE office that handles the implementation. And, I see the question in the chat around state complaints.
We'll put this information in the chat, you know, as as we go here so that you have the information around filing these complaints. As part of the, you know, we I I talked a lot today about, parent inclusion and how important that is. I think that, we understand how overwhelming not only the terminology, but also the acronyms related to special education can can, can be and how alienating it can feel when when people are referring to, acronym after acronym that you have to stop and ask
what it means and look up. So we have created a special education glossary that, includes both acronym, you know, spells out what acronyms mean, but also gives a definition of what each of those, each of those terms refers to to help you navigate the process. I think that I handed over to my colleague Johanna to speak about family resources, in addition to the glossary and to the other the links that I've shared that our office has developed, to help parents navigate the process. Hi. I'm gonna talk really quickly as I'm gonna drop, links in the chat.
And I did say any specific special education concerns to email us at our general inbox. That is a live person. That is me and my colleague, Britney Wilson, who, do investigate any and all things that come through the inbox with our district teams and other central level folks. And we take care and resolve with our teams, as quickly as we humanly possibly can. And so we're gonna drop links to these resources that you see on your screen. This one in particular is related to our IEP meetings, where parents can use and
prep for IEP meetings. They're broken up into, elementary, middle school, and high school. I will drop the link to where all these resources live. Next slide, Lauren. As you see, I will the inbox is there as well as the live link. We also have guides, preschool guides, kindergarten guides, school age guides, as well as transition planning guides. We also have hard copies as well of these guides and digital copies. I did drop I don't know if people came in later.
Our Beyond Access, which is our webinars that we provide are also on this web page, and I'll also drop that in the link as well. And so I'll drop all these links for you all here. We're really excited about our Beyond Access, which is happening in two weeks. So we look forward to having you guys there as well. Those videos and webinars are recorded. So if you cannot make it on the fourteenth, those are edited and put on our YouTube channel where parents can also access it at a later time if they can't make it live as well.
So we do appreciate your time. I know we talked a lot. It is a lot of information, but thank you always for having us. We really do appreciate your time. So I'll drop it, to Suzanne and or Randy. Thank you so much, Johanna and, the entire dial team. Thank you all. Some of this is not some of it is a little dry, some people might say. Right? But to us, this is, we live and breathe this, so we really appreciate the time. There is one question that I, I wanna quickly respond to. One is, Veronica's question about, the mandated three year eval process.
So Lauren Sullivan's gonna connect back there with you on that, Veronica. And the question about related service providers for high schools, I just so important. And right now in New York well, across the country, there's a shortage of occupational therapists, and it is it has been a challenge, to hire not to hire, to find OTs who are licensed and, and are available to work. So we have implemented a loan forgiveness program.
So if if it's a licensed OT who has college loans that we we pay portion of those loans. We have scholarship programs as well that we offer, And we actually have an OCHE hiring hall, tomorrow, January 9. But to give you all an example of the kind of the current state, we have funding right now to hire approximately 40 occupational therapists, and we had 16, signed up for the hiring hall tomorrow, despite tons and tons and tons of advertising and,
getting the word out with local universities, as well as LinkedIn and and Indeed and places like that. So we are we are continuing to look for and recruit occupational therapists. We're leaning on our contract agency vendors as well, and we are, working as hard and as thoroughly as possible. And we're not it's not an excuse. We we have to provide the services, and we are doing everything we can and completely understand that weekend services doesn't work for every student and or their family.
And, going to, yes, Melanie Leon can share the link for the hiring hall information. We are doing everything we can, and we are going to continue and not stop and certainly not be satisfied until we have the clinicians in place to meet the needs of our students and families. And we will keep this group updated as well on on the progress that we're making there. So appreciate that question and very much understand the challenge and the concern around the related service provision there. Despite being at, you know, over 90% compliance, that's not good enough.
That's thousands of children not receiving their services, and that's the work we're focused on on a daily basis. So thank you for raising that. Thank you so much, Suzanne. This presentation was absolutely amazing. It was everything we asked for and more. So we appreciate you and your team sharing this information, not just for our members, but for everyone watching on YouTube that they can see, and we can also have people refer back to it so that whatever they've missed, outstanding.
Like, there there's no words to express the importance of the work that you do and how many families are now gonna benefit from hearing this and seeing this. And I did write in the chat for anyone who did not see. We will be sharing the PowerPoint with the members. And, if you have any questions, unfortunately, we're over time right now. So if you could write it in the chat or share your contact information, someone from dial team will respond. So thank you so much, Suzanne. Thank you to your team. Thank you, Lauren. You guys were amazing. Thank you so much. I'm gonna I'm gonna ask, the Spanish interpreter to make an announcement again.
Hello. The following, announcement will be in Spanish. Thank you. Thank you very much. Okay. Next on our agenda, we have face updates. We have Jesse Mojica here. Jesse, are you ready? I am ready. Good morning. Good morning, Randy. Good morning, everyone. Always a a pleasure to be here, to present, at CPAC. So just a few updates. Happy New Year as well to all. We're excited to hear a couple of upcoming, updates, at the FACE office. First, we wanted to start with our upcoming town halls.
As we all know, each education council host a town hall with a chancellor once during its two year term, and these town halls are valuable opportunities for family and community members to hear about, system wide up the updates, raise concerns, and share directly with, the department's leadership on issues. So, they, offer space for open dialogue and connection throughout the school community, and we hope you'll consider joining us for one of our January town halls. And, we actually have a town hall this evening in District 9, hosted by CC
nine, at 06:30 at the Mott Hall Science and Technology Academy. And next week in District 29, on January 15, we'll be having our second town hall, for this, this actual calendar year, at 06:30 at PSIS 208, at 74 Dash 30 Commonwealth Boulevard, and we'll include all this information, in the chat members for your review. Also, as we talk about education councils, as everyone at CPAC knows the the importance of all of our respective parent leadership bodies, obviously, the chance chances parent advisory council,
president's council, and community and citywide education councils, as well as our local PAs and PTAs. So there are opportunities with respect to education councils. There are vacancies on the council, and we encourage, families to attend council meetings to observe the work firsthand and information on upcoming meetings and will include this in the chat as well. Will be at the New York City Education Council's web page as well as will include a link, where families can review current vacancies and submit applications through the CCEC
vacancy applications link. So we encourage, that, that be shared and all parents who are interested in serving, either at their district or citywide council, if, you you know, if they qualify. They you know, for instance, if they, have an IP, they're eligible for CCSE and or district seventy five, council, if they're a district seventy five parent, as well as, if they reside in the district or they have a child in the district district school, they can apply to their local, district, CC.
So we'll include the application link there, and we encourage everybody to share that and review that if interested. Also wanted to share a couple of updates programmatic updates. New York City Public School Cares in Action, is a citywide initiative focused on strengthening trust and partnership between family schools and New York City Public Schools through on the ground outreach and community based events. New York City Public School Cares creates welcoming spaces where families can access resources, receive support, ask questions, and connect directly with New York City public school staff and community
partners. So this work centers on meeting families where they are and responding to local needs and reinforcing schools as trusted hubs of support for students and caregivers. So New York City Public School Cares continues to host monthly events in participating districts, currently including districts 4, seven, eight, nine, ten, twelve, nineteen, twenty three, twenty four, thirty one, and thirty two. And, also, we'll include this information in the chat members, but just wanna go quickly about some of the event dates on January 6, District 8, January 8, District 9,
January 9, District 32, January 12, District 7, Also, January 12, District 24, January 13, District 10, January 15, District 12, January 15 as well, District 19, and January 16, District 31, and then concluding in January with on January 20 with District 23 and January 22 in District 4. Also wanted to share, our progress continued progress with our, L ambassador program.
As of January 5, there twenty twenty five. There are four forty six registered participants and the program officially launched in December, 2025. So as of 01/05/2026, I should say, there are 446 registered participants and the program officially launched in December. Program remains open to all families and pilot schools and engagement continues to grow. This work is part of a broader collaboration between the Office of Multilingual Learners and the Office of Family and Community Engagement in support of the English language development curriculum
pilot under the New York City Reads initiative. Together, we are strengthening family engagement through culturally responsive outreach that ensures multilingual families are informed, supported, and meaningfully connected through the pilot. Building on three years of successful science of reading trainings for families, FACE will support the l ELD pilot by partnering closely with the curriculum vendor, hosting and managing the training platform, and providing consistent communication and reminders. This approach ensures families receive clear, accessible information and feel empowered to support their children's
learning at home. Also want to update all on the family connector sessions that continue weekly on Wednesdays at twelve and 6PM with the next session scheduled for January 14. These sessions are designed to serve as a bridge between families and the many programs, services, and supports available through New York City public schools and partner organizations. Through family connectors, families have the opportunity to hear directly from guest presenters representing New York City public schools offices and trusted community partners.
Presenters share timely information, walk families through available resources, and answer questions in real time, helping families better understand how to access supports related to academics, social emotional well-being, health, special education, multilingual learner, multilingual learning, and more. Family Connector session also creates spaces for families to ask questions, share feedback, and feel more confident navigating the school system by offering consistent, accessible opportunities to connect. These sessions help strengthen family voice, increase awareness of supports, and foster strong home school
partnerships across the city. Families are encouraged to attend these sessions that best fit their schedules, and no prior experience or preparation is needed, just a willingness to learn and ask questions and engage. Also want to update that beginning this January, BASE will launch a new science of reading and math workshop series designed to support families of k to five students. This seven part virtual series translates research into practical, easy to use strategies that parents can apply at home to strengthen literacy and math skills, particularly for students who may
need additional support. These workshops aim to demystify how children learn, build parent confidence confidence, and reinforce families as essential partners in their child's academic growth. So those workshop dates coming up for January 15, January 22, twenty ninth, February 5, February 12 and February 26 and March 5. And all of this information I know I'm sharing a lot members, but I'm going to include all this information in the chat for your review. So please help spread the word by sharing the New York City Public School Science of Reading and Math Workshop flyer with families in your communities, and we'll share that
flyer with you, in the chat as well. So I know that's a lot of information. I know I spoke really quickly about a lot of things. Just trying to, be as thorough as possible. But, Randy, I turn it back over to you and thank everyone for the opportunity to share this information and our work with you. Thank you, Jesse. Yes. That definitely was, a lot, but, I know you always put it in the chat, so we're not, we're not worried. Okay. So we tried something different last month where we had a little game to test
your knowledge, and it went over quite well. So we're gonna do it again. So the same thing as last time where if you answer the question correctly, we're gonna go by raised hand. So you have to it's still like a buzzer. You have to hit that quickly. The first hand raise will answer the question. If they get it right, they will get to you to use the next to speak what the next question is going to be, which category, but then everyone's hands go down, the next hand's raised, first one gets to answer the question, and so on. We know that we're a little over time.
So if the chancellor comes, we're just going to, we're just gonna pause, let the chancellor speak, and then we'll go back to the game. So don't worry. And I'm gonna turn it over to you now, Becca. Hi, everyone. Okay. So I I'm guessing I should just pick the first category. I forgot how we did it last time. Yeah. We'll pick the first category, and then they raise their hands. Okay. So we'll do a six five five basics for 100. So all SLTs should have a minimum of blank members and a maximum of blank
members. In determining the size of their team budget, allocations must be considered. So raise your hand if you know the answer. No one knows the end. And thank you thank you, Rima, for not Rima, just so you know, be aware that Rima likes to answer all the questions. So we wanna make sure that we give everyone a a chance to to answer before she just gets all of them, you know, right. No one knows that you you would just answer the fill in the blanks, minimum, maximum team members. I got a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 17 because we have not
updated a six five five. Unfortunately. Okay. So you get to, it's gonna Wait. It's not revealing. Hold on. Okay. K. Pick the category, Rima. Who's who for 500? Wait. I gotta move the box. Sorry. Do 100 if it's easier. Do 100. Okay. Deputy chancellor of early childhood education. You know the answer. Please raise your hand. We had so much fun with this. Is everybody on? We had so much fun last month. Okay. If you know the answer, just raise your hand.
Randy, and I'm am I allowed to play? Sure. Sure. You wanna get the answer? That is deputy chancellor Simone Hawkins. Thank you so much. So, Suzanne, you can pick the next category. Oh, I get to pick the next category. Okay. Oh, this is fun. I'm gonna go with an acronyms for 300. I think you're gonna like that. Oh. Oh, MDR. Raise your hand if you know the answer to this. It was on the slide I just presented, so somebody will see who was paying attention. Come on, members. What are we doing here? Alright. Go ahead, Rima.
Manifestation determination review. Thank you, Rima. Take the next category. Procedures for 100. Okay. The notice of election meeting must be in writing and must include. Got it. Melissa. What is ten days? And it has to include the date, the time, and the location. And if it's gonna be if it's a hybrid, it has to include the, Zoom link as well. Or if it's virtual, the Zoom link as well. Well, not no hybrid. Oh, sorry. That's I I I heard it, and I was like No.
No. No. Yeah. Hybrid. Yeah. I read the thing wrong. It's okay. Yeah. Okay. So this so for your election meeting notice, these are all the things that must be included. I'm I'm showing you I'm doing my mouse on the screen that you can't see. I'm sorry. But all these things must be included. And if they're not included, that is a grievable election just for excluding one of these things. So please make sure screenshot this, and you have this on, your election meeting notice that it will be coming in the spring. Yes. That should have been a 500, point question.
Thank you, Christina. So pick the next, category, Melissa. NNYCPSChancellor 400. Oh, okay. Go ahead. That was she said, NYCP, ugh. Cancer. C channel. Oh. We'll just Sorry. But we'll just do this one. And go ahead, Quentin. Who is doctor Tisha McCoy? How are you doing? And the answer is? Yep. Thank you, Quinn. You get to pick the next category. Awesome. Who's who in NYCPS for 500? K. You need to put your hand down so you can ask the next question.
Okay. Chief of family, community, and student empowerment. Oh, here we go. Doctor Melendez. Doctor Anne Marie Lopez. Oh, I forget to ask in a answering a question. Thanks for letting me play, guys. Even though I break off the rules. You're so formal. Okay. So you get to pick the next category. Who's who for 200? The chief of safety and prevention partnerships. Quentin. Who is I think he's doctor chief Mark Rampersand. Is is Mark Rampersand a doctor? No. No. Not yet. Not yet.
Not yet. It's possible. Okay. Yeah. Anything's possible for us. Okay. Quentin, you get to put your hands on. Oh, that is so funny. Mark comes on at the same time you picked his question. You see that, Randy? And, after I got my question right. You see this? Yeah. Okay. Somebody just let me know if they see the chance to come in. Okay. So you get to pick the next, question, Quentin. Alright. We're gonna knock out who's who for 300 in NYCPS. Let's do it. Deputy chancellor school leadership.
Raise your hand. Raise your hand. I got that one, Randy, if no one else does. Go ahead, Suzanne. Deputy chancellor Danica Rucks. Okay. You get to pick the next category. Alright. I'm gonna go big, and I'm going acronyms for 400. ICT. Should've dropped the link to the glossary, Suzanne. Yeah. Seriously. Sorry. How can I answer that one? I'm gonna Okay. We got Melissa. It's a great class teaching? Close. Close enough. K. Hands down. Hands down. Melissa, pick the next category. Alright. I'm gonna do process and procedures for 200.
Okay. The principal, parent coordinator, or school webmaster must update the school parent leadership contact information system accessible through the principal's portal within blank calendar days of the election. Caroline. I'm trying to make sure I'm right on about this, but if I'm not, I'm sorry. Five days. Right. Wait. Oh, yay. Okay. Sorry. Got it. Thank you. You know, I wanna go to the UFC. Can we go to UFC for 200? Alright. So Staten Island UFT parent and community liaison.
We just had them all on. Melissa. Bree Rodriguez. Very good. Very good. You get to pick the next category. I'll go big. Process and procedures for 500. Okay. This committee may be formed at a general membership meeting and must be an agenda item. After this committee has been formed, the members shall meet and propose changes to the current blank. At the next meeting, this committee will propose these changes to the membership for review. This must be an agenda item. The third meeting, the membership must vote to approve, adopt, or oppose the proposed changes
to the blank. This must be an agenda item. Well, I'll still go for it. What are the PA or PTA bylaws? Can we go to 8655 basics for 300? Okay. Pursuant to this to state education law section two five nine zero dash h, the SLT is responsible for developing an annual school blank that is aligned with the school based budget for the ensuing school year. I'm gonna go again and say that I raised my hand first. But I will say, what is the CEP or the comprehensive educational plan?
There you go. Yep. Can we have, acronyms for 200? And those are show? Alright. VIP. Brandy, Lauren and I are ready if we have no if we got no other hand. To okay. We have Quentin. Let's see Quentin. Go ahead. What is the behavior intervention plan? Yes. Way to go, Quentin. Let's go. Hey, Quentin. You pick the next category. Alright. We're gonna go for UFT 500. Did we have the other one? Oh, it says that. I think we did. Staten Island, UFT parent and community liaison.
Who might be in there twice? And Melissa. You guys did last time. Is that Marie Marie Rodriguez again? Oh. Oh, you know what? It was supposed to be Brooklyn. That's why. Sorry. Mistake. That's wrong. That's Brooklyn. Yeah. We already had Staten Island as a question, but I think the question didn't get changed. That come up with Staten Island? That's weird. Okay. Mistake. Sorry. Melissa pick. No. Melissa didn't get the answer right. Oh, well She said No. Well, the question was already answered. Right. Right. Right. To ask you. Go ahead. Pick. Pick. Eight six five five for 200.
K. SLTs must use blank decision making process as their primary means of making decisions. Okay. Okay. Josie, did you see who is that person? I think Tanya. No. It's the person. Oh. Who's on tabs? I don't know. Tanya. Consensus based decision making. Wait. Yay. Okay. And, Tanya, pick the next topic, next category. New York City Public School Chancellor for May. Alright. NYCPS Chancellor from 2002 to 2010. Tanya, is your hand up again? Oh.
This is a guess. Who is Joel Klein? Take it. Woo hoo. Quinton's on fire today. Next category. I learned from Rima. That's that's a good teacher. So I will go for a six five five basics. I'll do 400. The required members of the citywide high school subcommittee are Where is it now?
Go ahead, Rima. Two. The five borough high school presidents and the superintendents for the citywide high school for all the high schools in the city. That's done. Pick the next, category, Remo. We'll finish six five five for 500. Okay. Blank may not serve as a members of the SLT in any capacity in the school where they are employed. Caroline? What is the parent coordinator? That is like, the next category. Let's go with, UFC for 300. K. The Queen's UFT parent and community liaison.
We just had them on. We got people. Oh, sorry. Tanya. I didn't see. Kelsey, Roger, Gust. K. You can pick the next category. Acrony is the 500. Sets or s e t s s. What is the special education teacher support services? That's it. I I think I'll I think we need to hire Quentin because he he's he's he's got he's got it all. No. I'm with Rima. Rima's holding back. So the reason that we let Reema answer the questions is because we did the questions. So she does the question she can't answer.
But because we did did these questions, she she's allowed to answer. So I can't answer, but I do know the answers. But Gotcha. I think it's a decently fine thing. We're we're always hearing the acronyms. And they're important. We you know, we're trying to make them to the subjects, to the topics that we have, you know, that we can test your knowledge after. So we wanna make sure everybody's paying attention. Exactly. I'm gonna go with acronyms for 100. Alright. IEP. K. Tanya. Individual educational plan. Say it again? Individualized educational plan.
Okay. Next topic? Process and process, procedures for 400. Just put your hand down so you could answer again if you want to. Okay. Compliance with, whoops, compliance with blank. This regulation is the primary ruling document for all president's councils. In the event that a president's council's bylaws contain any provision that conflicts with this regulation, a provision shall be deemed null and void, and the provision of this regulation shall be deemed controlling. Melissa. What is the a six sixty? You can pick the next category.
I'll try I'll finish off process and procedures for 300. Okay. Filing an election grievance. All election grievances must be submitted in writing and must state the name of the comp complainants and include a telephone number or email address where they may be contacted. Anonymous complaints and in person or telephone complaints will not be accepted. They must be submitted no later than blank number of days after the election meeting or announcement of election results if later. They must allege a specific material violation of this regulation or of the PA slash
PTA's bylaws. Rema. But it's five days. Next category. UFT for 400. The Manhattan UFT parent and community liaison. Ashley. Cynthia Alvarez. The next category, please. New York City Public School chancellors for 400. Alright. New York City Public Schools chancellor from 2011 to 2013. Tanya. Hello? Karina. What did you say? Oh. Karina. Oh, no. It was chancellor Dennis Wolcott. Alright. So, Becky, you pick the next category.
Well, we'll just go with state, obviously, in the chancellors. We'll do 300. Yes. Alright. New York City public schools chancellor from 2014 to 2018. Tanya, was your hand up from before or again? Farina? Yes. You got that right. Okay. So oh, sorry. Go ahead. Transfer for 200. New York City public schools chancellor from 2018 to 2021. Hippo. What is happening? You're gonna fly. What happened? I don't know. I didn't put that there. Okay. That was a freebie.
Everybody got a freebie. So do UFT for 100? Mhmm. Alright. Bronx UFT parent and community liaison. I bet Rima doesn't know that one. Rima, are you gonna answer that one? Oh, she doesn't. No. She knows. She's giving somebody a second. We're we're both on our DLT meeting as well, so she's talking in our DLT right now. Oh, okay. No. Sorry. Very good. Is there anyone else for Bronx? Bronx is Maria Morales. Oops. Sorry. Sorry, guys. One more question. Right? Yep. Alright. New York City Public School chancellor from 2024 to 2025.
Caroline. This is a little tough, but I wanna say two names. Chancellor David c Banks and Melissa Aviles Ramos. Oh, because she's oh, I see what you're saying because she took over. Okay. I give it up, though, because, you know, that's my chance to do. Okay. So we want to thank everyone for playing this is, CPAC Jeopardy. Do you want us to con like, do you guys like this? Do you want us to continue this every month? Because, like, this is this is kinda fun. And we get to test your knowledge and your skills, and we always will have, like, a category based on a presenter so we could see, you know, what you've,
what you want. Sound good? Everybody gave a, you know, a thumbs up or something? Okay. Great. Anyone have any suggestions for upcoming meetings on other things? Like, we did this jeopardy and you guys like it. Would there be something else that you guys would be interested in? They can include it in the questionnaire we send out in the email every month. Yes. So the questionnaire that's sent out, we ask for it to be back in time for us to send it over to the chancellor and, and his team. So we wanna make sure that your voices are heard.
There's a lot of times, like, we would have liked to have more questions for, Dial and Ola, but sometimes the schedule just gets really tight. So if that's the case, we won't be able to ask your questions live. But at least if you ask in advance, you will get your answer at our meet at the meeting. So please use that questionnaire. It's to help you advocate for your district and your community. Okay. So, Chancellor's running a little late. If if Dial doesn't mind or Face doesn't mind, if we have any questions that
we'd like to ask. Absolutely, Renee. It'd be a pleasure. K. So were there any questions in the chat for for dial that were didn't get answered yet? I'm gonna look back. There was a question that was emailed. I think I sent you in chat. The last step payment in chat. I think we got the majority. Right? We spoke about the related service provider. We spoke about the mandated three year review process. That was in the chat. We're gonna be sharing the PowerPoint, and and looking to partner, and support the UFTVs
on any of their family and parent engagement activities. Reema, I see your hand. Is that for Okay, Rima. Us or Yeah. Actually, so thank you. One, amazing presentation, very inclusive. I super appreciate that. My other my question is, or comment question is if we can just talk a little bit about how we support families with translating IEPs. And I do wanna highlight that there is kind of an issue there where sometimes the document doesn't fully translate, particularly, like like, the headings will be translated and then
the text will not be. But it again, that's that's an issue I'm highlighting as a president. But as just a parent, can we just talk a little bit about, like, parent rights with translation in regards to IEP and IEP meetings and interpretation, please? Absolutely. It'd be our pleasure. And, Lauren, I don't know if you wanna jump in on that as well, but it is certainly every parent's right. And Something we take very seriously that IEPs are translated into the family's home language, and a lot of work has been done around this with different groups and different divisions
within New York City public schools, I think, as you know. And one of the one of the questions, Rima, actually that CPAC here, I think that Randy had brought up at one of our first meetings, was that families didn't always know that they had the right and or the opportunity to have their child's IEP translated. And I'm wondering if you feel that that message is is being shared broadly enough or if that's a place that DIAL should lean into with our our partners in
face as well as language access a little bit more deeply and, aggressively. And, Rima, just to get to your, the the quality control piece, I think for us, it's really important that we know when these things happen. And so if you can send us those so we can make sure that we hold the vendor accountable. We're also working with the Office of Language Access to really think about how do we hold our vendors overall accountable for some of these, for for the services they're providing, and how do we do that well and keep track so that we are
using so that our families are getting the best quality, either interpretation, translation, or, supports, all the time. So happy to partner with you and others, in this space to to really think about what that tool will look like. We have some ideas, but I think there's there's definitely others that you have that are very very pertinent to specific things, whether it's the IEP translations or other things that are are not always on our radar. So happy to take immediate feedback from those particular IEPs and then also know that
we are working on on a quality control tool where we're really thinking about how we're holding people, our vendors accountable to to creating high quality products. Thank you for that, Christina. Yeah. Maybe on on DLT. No. But I I appreciate your response. Like, this is a response for everyone, so that's important. I mean, there's a lot of times that you have translation services for a parent, but if they really don't understand the content, it doesn't really make the translation. You know, like, they say, like, my Spanish is not so good looking or, like,
you know, for the for the different languages. So we just wanna make sure that parents are understanding what's being said, not just in their language, but the content to that's being explained too. That's, you know, difficult. And and the office of language access provides free translations, for families during the IEP process and of the IEP. And Kevin McGinn is gonna drop that link here so that we can you all can share it out broadly as well so that everybody has access to that. Thank you so much.
I mean, Dial, you guys are incredible. I I've had conversations with you all, and I've shared, you know, like, my daughter had an IFSP in early intervention. So, like, I've been through that all the way through IEP in high school and everything. And this team, you guys are, like, outstanding. I've never met as as many people that are just, like, devoted to the work that cares so like, I could cry. Like, it's just it really is. Like, it's an emotional thing to make that connection with people that they truly care. It's not about just, oh, like, let's check this and check that, and it's not
like a box. It's real people doing the work to benefit all our children and their families and to make sure we're all getting supported. I I've I've never seen, like, a a team work as hard as you guys do, and and we appreciate you. Like, there's no words. There's just no words to express, like, how much we appreciate you all. Thank you so much, Randy. That that that means a great deal, and we are so, you know, having a child in this day and age or probably any day and age is not easy, and and having a child with a disability is is, requires so much more of
the family, whether it's a single parent, multigenerational household, whatever the case may be. And when I've always said when you work under deputy chancellor Foti, the first thing you do, you learn very quickly is that you care. And if you don't, you're not you're not in the right place. And, we feel that deeply every single day, and this this is the, this is the work. This is why we're here. This is what we need to be doing is getting the word out. And we're fortunate enough to have partners, in our other divisions, like deputy chancellor Melendez
and deputy chancellor Rox and the others, who are here, who Mark Rayer Persand, who works to keep our kids safe. And and we're just really grateful for the partnership. But CPAC is, if you guys are more than, like, a lever for change, you are a conduit, and and the access to families that you have is is so is where we need to be. And so just thank you for that, Randy. It's really, really kind of you. And then, Randy, if I could echo the gratitude and thanks, Suzanne. I do think, so many of us come to this work in advocacy, from an
advocacy lens because we ourselves have experienced in some capacity or other, and it's very personal to us. You know? On my on my end, I think most of you know that I have an adult brother with very, very significant disabilities and, parents who had a very limited education themselves and watched them struggle, watched him struggle, watched him never belong, watched him never have a community, watched, you know, my parents feel so embarrassed and humiliated trying to get him an IEP that worked for him, and always feeling like they didn't have
the education that the educators talking to them had, and therefore, they didn't have the right to actually ask for what my brother needed. And that you know, my biggest hope as a kid was, you know, the prayer I used to say to folks was to at night was, how do can can you make us equal? Can somehow could you make us equal? And so the the life's work here, myself and my team, you know, our life's journey is about, professionally, is about creating the equal path for, for all students with
disabilities and certainly for our families. It shouldn't it shouldn't have to be a struggle, and, you all are are the the brightest lights for us, in terms of your advocacy, and, our gratitude is is unwavering to you all. And so we appreciate the acknowledgment, Randy, but we also, you know, we do this for all of you, and we do it for your children, and it's truly a labor of love. There's nothing else we'd rather do. I appreciate you saying that. Right. I appreciate it. Go ahead. Brandy, I just wanted to add.
I mean, hats off to Dial. They really are an amazing an amazing, caring, division in all ways, and always. But also just wanted to further elevate the translation because the chat is really lively around that, and I know it's very real. And it's really important for us that families all know that, yes, there is a form. You don't have to submit the form. You can just tell the people at the school while going through your annual or whatever, conversations or meetings.
You can just say, I would like this in my language, and then just express the language of choice. These are not translated automatically, obviously, for a million reasons, particularly the fact that they're so, personal and long. And so we wanna make sure that we have we provide everyone with access to that document so that they can actually advocate for all of the things that their student child deserves and needs, and and they're clear about that. So please please please know that as soon as you get the document, you can
ask for them to be translated and available in your language. And if they are not or that's met with some sort of concern or issue or question, please please reach out to any of us. We are more than happy to make sure that it happens so that you have it. And we will continue to talk to our our language access coordinators to make sure that whoever is working on IPs, our our teams and our schools, that they are aware and offering that as well. Thank you. That's that's really important to make sure that our parents know and they understand that this is available to them.
I do have a suggestion. I know that I've talked to, Christina Fodi. Sorry. There's two Christina's here. I think that the comfort dog program would actually benefit a lot of our students, with different abilities. And Kirsten Kinsella, who does the who runs the program, is outstanding as well. And I think that there definitely can be, you know, some kind of collaboration to have, these comfort dogs in the schools. I The comfort dogs. And I I just was gonna say, chief ampersand's here here, and, I saw I saw his face light up when you said that, Randy.
I see. I jump at any opportunity to be the work for folks who do the work for our special needs students, it is it is my pleasure to be able to have any part. Right? So when I hear about an opportunity for us to elevate and escalate the work, that, Christian is doing, which is so amazing, and I wish that every each and every one of you had an opportunity to just see it in action the way that young people who are challenged in the moment don't even realize that they deescalate
by just sitting there and rubbing the dog. It it's it's crazy. I think it's a brilliant way for us to, reach our young people, and in some cases, even reach the adults. So I welcome any opportunity to to, elevate and escalate this work. We are trying to expand it to more schools. Obviously, it's going to take some attention, from hierarchy in order to do that, but I I I I'm here, and we're game for it. Absolutely. Thank you. I've had many conversations with her, and she's explained the work.
I know that it's a very small team, doing this work, but she's actually explained, like, you you just think that it's a comfort dog and they come to the school and they you know? No. It's so much more. It falls under academics. It falls into social emotional. There's just so many things, and she's another person with such a huge heart. Like, this this cabinet, I don't know. I've been around for twenty years now. This is my twenty first year. And this cabinet and, like, everyone at New York City Public Schools, I I try not to say DOE. So when you hear me pause, it's does not say DOE, New York City Public
Schools. But you you guys are just incredible. It's it's been, like, a complete three sixty from what we're used to as parent leaders. So we're just so happy with everyone here and the work that you do and how you come out and you support us and our children. It's it's just it's incredible. But I know Reema has her hand up for, like, a long time. So I'm sorry, Reema. Go ahead. Thank you. And, again, thank you, DIAL, my favorite office. Sorry, we guys. This is what it is. Thank you for sharing the general information too because while we're talking about special education,
the interpretation translation issue is system wide. And so thank you for sharing. There's a parent facing portal, which is what they shared. But if you go in there, there's a link to the info hub for staff if you need to help them help themselves. And that's where they'll find the form to request the information and the emails and all of the support that they need. My question, when students have an IEP and a mandate for language services, can we talk a little bit about that? And, you know, like, my favorite is always about d 75, particularly because a 100%
of the students have IEPs typically for a 100% of the day, and it conflicts directly with language services. So we can talk a little bit about how we can support, families in that situation. Thank you. Thank you for that, Rima. And, multi layered, multilayers there, and I'm gonna, ask Kevin to jump in on that if you have anything specific, to talk about there, Kevin. If not, we can connect with Rima offline. Yeah. Rima, it might be good to to connect offline and get a little more information about the scenarios that you're that you're experiencing, but certainly, sympathetic and understand some of
the challenges that can that can come up when when a student is recommended for, a high volume of services and then maybe has language services that are that are needed on top of that and how that how difficult that can be to juggle. But but absolutely happy to to speak to you about that unless you added more more context you wanted to share to to share here. Rima is double dipping right now, so she's Okay. Just trying to be honest. So, unfortunately, there, the mayor's having a press conference right now, and our current chancellor
is there. So he's unable to be here today, and he regrets that he can't be here. He really wanted to meet everyone. He was looking forward to getting to learn and know all of us here, but he will be on for next month. If anyone has any questions that they wanna ask, we do have, you know, his cabinet members here. So you could just use the raise hand feature, and we'll call on you in that order. Caroline? Hi, everybody. Thank you so much for always joining us in conversation. This is one of the most transparent spaces to directly talk with you guys.
So I'm always, excited to come to this particular meeting of all the meetings we go to. So my question is more about the different, initiatives that were already in place and how that's gonna carry forward for this particular chancellor as far as New York City Reads, an ambassadorship program. We know that it's continuing. But are the prospects for that changing, like, the end goals? Are are the parents going to be engaging in another level, or is it going to continue to be the same type of, I guess, you could say timeline for
all the different initiatives that are going on, including New York City Cares? I I can start us off and maybe, the team can can chime in on on New York City Reads at schools and and all of the things that happens in our in our wonderful school spaces. When it comes to our parent leader or our parent work, whether it's the New York City Reads ambassadors or the Family Connectors, we have been working diligently to continue those programs because they're very popular and you guys, have shown that it's not only a good place to get information, but it's also been very helpful in in arming
you with information to support your communities, whether it's your schools or your houses or your buildings. I mean, it's it's been incredible the the anecdotes that we've received from all of you in the field. And so we are very grateful, that you have taken that empowerment and shared with others. And so those are going to continue. The interesting part about where we are right now is that we are working on making them happen in our districts. And so soon, you will have invitations of these workshops taking place in districts. And whether it's a school or a district office, we will send those those pieces
of information because the goal is to have that work live with all of you locally, and not be governed or supervised by us centrally. And we know that you can do it, and we've seen that you do it, and we've seen how you support each other. And so those are gonna continue. We're grounding them now, with the hopes of of making sure that you guys have everything you need to continue them on your own as well. So so that's where we are with ambassadors and and family connectors. And then I think, Danielle, I think I saw oh, go ahead. Sorry. The chance there's actually hang on.
Ah. Anyway, I just said that. I said I don't want He just did. Yes. He did. I don't wanna end the meeting, and then he comes on, and then we end it. Okay. Okay. Thank you, doctor Melendez. Sorry. Time. Let's just give him a moment to settle. Get off of me in a minute. Chancellor Samuels, are you Yes. I'm on. I'm here. I'm I'm ready. You know, we just had a wonderful announcement. We are moving the needle right away on universal, childcare.
And so I I would encourage you all to listen to that announcement from the governor and the mayor, wonderful partnership that they've started, that actually is right away bearing dividends for all of our, three for three k, pre k, two year olds over the next two years. Just a wonderful commitment from, the governor and moving in the in in the right direction. So hi, everyone.
So, I was totally committed to making this call. I didn't want you guys to leave the call without me coming on, just to say how honored and proud I am to be your chancellor. And, just really super excited to get to work. I as you know, you guys represent, you know, all of our parents, all of our families across the city, but you also represent me because I have two kids in the public school system.
And, I really want to be a part of you holding me accountable to showing up as my best. And I will hold you accountable as well because you are you need to show up for me and show up for my my my kids. So this is a true partnership from my perspective. Parental empowerment, parent parental engagement, engagement of families, empowerment of families is is is really at the heart of the leadership that, I've, tried to emulate across, two districts before
this and certainly as a principal and as a teacher. I had a chance today of visiting district, thirteen, arts and letters three zero five united, a school that, I really led the merger of during the pandemic, and just before the pandemic, actually. And to see what that school is today and the promise that it shows and the model that it shows for our city, truly warmed my heart.
And I had the privilege of reconnecting with parents that I met during that process, and it really touched me here. And it's it's a it's something that I'm super passionate about, and still I'm ready to really move in in in a in a continue a great direction that we're heading in with all of our parental, and and family engagement strategies and empowerment strategies. That's a that's a hallmark of my leadership. So thank you all. Well, thank you. Thank you for being here.
So just wanna say on behalf of the Chancellor's Parent Advisory Council, congratulations on your appointment as chancellor of the New York City Public School System. This is, like, a a meaningful moment for our school system, and we look forward to your leadership at a time where families and students and educators are seeking stability, transparency, and partnership. So CPAC stands ready to work collaboratively with you to elevate parent voice, to strengthen trust, and to ensure that decisions reflect the needs of our students across our diversity.
So we wish you great success as you step into this important role and remain committed to supporting a shared vision of equity, excellence, and opportunity for every child. As I I commit to being your partner. Thank you. Thank you. So, do you have time to answer some questions? Sure. Yes. Absolutely. I didn't know if you just would have any I gotta do. Come on. I have time to answer your questions. No problem. Okay. So what are your priorities, your mission and vision, and about parent involve parent empowerment,
parent involvement, engagement? Yeah. Look. I believe, all of our schools, need to be safe. And when I say safe, I mean, not just physically safe, but social, emotionally safe, spiritually safe to schools where where where where children can be affirmed and our young people can live out their best selves. And they won't do that unless schools are also rigorous. I I do believe in really ensuring that our students are being and our young
people are being pushed to really achieve their full potential. That's what I want for my my own child, and that's what I want for all the the young people around the city. One of the very cool things is that we now are committed to not just a reading program, but, MTSS, which is which just means and I I I am committed to making m MTSS that that acronym makes sense for for all of our families.
And what it just means is that no matter where your child is, when they come into the a school, a a a a family will I'm sorry. A teacher and a principal, everyone in that school will know where that child is on the pathway in in their reading progress. And so what we have done is to ensure that we have a host of interventions that we are, that that we can point to to make sure that our
our our teachers know, okay, if a student is here, they need to get this. If a student is here, they need to get something else. Because we can't have a one size fits all approach when we have so many different and diverse students, across our schools and are in different areas. So we need to make sure that we are pushing them and giving them exactly what they need. And finally, when we have when we really, you know, emphasize our rigorous schools, when we really emphasize, how safe schools are, then families will will really want to benefit
from the wonderful diversity that our that our kids have to and our our city has to offer. And so I wanna make sure that our schools are truly integrated, and we're gonna have a lot of conversations and a lot of work that goes into that. But when when when our when our our students need to be affirmed when they come to school, and that means they see themselves in the curriculum, and they see, other great things in the curriculum. So they have windows and mirrors, in our curriculum. So that's the work that we've been doing with, our hidden voices curriculum.
And and we have to expand on that work. And it's and when we think about our class size, when we think about, making sure that every student and every young person, is being seen and heard and connected with, a a teacher, we really have to make sure that we have smaller class sizes. And that's what that it's not about a compliance with the law for me. It is about ensuring that teachers have the support they need to connect with individual students, every single day in a classroom.
And we're gonna be pushing as much as possible and partnering with our union, officials and partners to make sure that that happens. Thank you for that. Next question is, how will you ensure that colocated schools and essential programs receive equitable support, particularly when they're often given lower priority than more highly sought after programs? Yeah. So something we're we're really thinking about is, you know, ensuring that's that that schools are, really using the resources that they they they have.
And we've seen some wonderful colocation practices in our city where school two schools, they come together. They have one, team. They come together. They share, an art teacher. They share so many different ways. We have our, our building councils, right, that are really, put together to make sure that across buildings, our our our our schools are sharing their practices and doing ex
not only sharing practices, but sharing resources to make sure that every single child in that, school has an opportunity to do something well. Now in it's not every school that is necessarily, has has those practices. So what we need to make sure is that we we are connecting across districts, across schools when in order to spread the best practices of, how how to use resources within a co located campus. I think that's something that we we can do, and we're gonna be working towards,
continuing to do that. K. I know it was kind of answered, but I'll just ask because it was a question that was submitted. Will you continue the following key initiatives from previous administrations that are already producing positive outcomes for students and families, like New York City Reads, Reads Ambassadors, New York City Salves, and Family Connectors? Yes. We are definitely going to continue, but I would even we have to operate on lessons learned. One of the things that I really try, pride myself on is being a reflective practitioner.
I am I'm always trying to reflect on how to get better. And so when we think about reads themselves, for reads, we have to we have to think to ourselves, what is the next, what is the next step to ensuring that we have the highest quality, experience for our child? And sometimes that now that, teachers, have a good understanding of what the curriculum might be, it's okay. So how am I using that to make intentional decisions for the child for the
child that's in front of me? And so as we go forward, we wanna take that and use resources that are already available to whether it's, like I said before, hidden voices or, civics for all. How do how are we creating, like, these interdisciplinary experiences for students to really do a lot better? So I don't just, think about it as the reads that we've we've started to implement, which I think, we've seen some strong progress with. We I also think of it, as how do we even get get better.
For for souls, I've already said, there you know, as a as a former math teacher myself, I am looking at ways that we can ensure that the way we communicate about souls and the way, we are working with our teachers and the way we're working with, our principals, we can think a little bit differently. And I just want to and this is coming out of my own experience on the ground with Solv, right, where I where I've seen us work with, our parents,
and our parents have have questions. And sometimes, you know, it's a very simple question. We are talking about kids being better at understanding the conceptual understanding of math, kids being better at making sense of a problem. And then we and then our parents said, well, you know, my kid is in fourth grade, and they don't know their time stables. And sometimes we're so concerned with the conceptual understanding piece. We don't really honor that as a real issue. Automaticity in math, being able to, know your time stables is actually a lifelong skill
that you need to acquire. And we need to be able to speak directly to that with parents, so that when they're doing algebra, when they're doing, problems at the higher levels, they are able to, factor doing algebra quickly. You can't be counting on your hands at that time and expect to do well at an eighth, ninth grade algebra test. And that's what what I think is is truly important. We can't throw out the baby with the bathwater when we do these initiatives. K.
How will you ensure that parent leaders have a real voice in decision making and not just use as advisory feedback when it comes to policy changes, regulations, initiatives, and overall governance? Yeah. This is so huge. Two things. First of all, advisory and, feedback are super important, and they've always helped me throughout my career with, in talking to families. But the idea of democratizing our mayor mayoral control is to ensure that we are
exploring, ideas for parents, not only to have access to meetings, not only to to to really be present in these spaces, but to have true decision making, power. And I think that's something those are ideas that, we are really thinking about very closely. And I think you can, expect to see, more thoughts around that in the upcoming weeks and months. Looking forward to that. K. How do you plan to monitor and safeguard the proper allocation and use the use
of funds designated for specific student populations and classrooms to ensure they could directly benefit students? Yeah. That is a critical, component of what we have to do. We wanna make sure that we continue to have a lot funds, the vast majority of of our funds, attached to schools that are really, making sure that our schools get the the vast majority of what we have and what we do.
And as we get closer to having, you know, budget concerns and so on, we wanna make sure, as in today, that our highest priorities are are, have are well resourced. Right? This is what the governor, I think the mayor, really rolled out today, and that we we will continue to do that. When we think about our students with special needs and our m MLLs, in in in many schools, we have ensured that we have, an appeals process in place or
we have ensured that the the the weights that are, ascribed to to those, students have we've we've targeted schools with a higher, concentration of the of those students. So we wanna make sure our most vulnerable students are receiving, their equitable ways of funding. And that's something we're we're always, working working with with our our financial our chief financial officer and and others.
Okay. What is your plan to continue and strengthen mental health support for students, including counseling, social workers, and school based services? Yeah. That that is, you know, a huge one, especially since the pandemic. You know? It's hard to be an adult, but, you know, sometimes I'm kinda feeling it's harder to be a a kid these days. It's hard to be a to be an adolescent, especially when, you know, as a former middle school principal myself, I see how our our students, sometimes are struggling.
And first and foremost, we have to make sure we continue with the social media, with our with our no with with with our policy on on cell phones in in schools, I think that's made a huge difference. Students are are now talking to each other more, and so we have to continue to make sure that's funded. Also, I think, you know, teachers are amazing, people, and they they are also our frontline, but they need the support of the the the social worker, and they they
need the support of guidance counselors. But there's also so many great organizations that are working to, offer programming in school, and we have to make sure that we continue to coordinate with those programs and that are helping young people to really, reflect and think about their skill sets and think about how to, engage with the world. And, we are committed to continuing to do that. We'll work with the office of, climate and culture in in department, and, we're certainly
mindful of the needs of our of our adolescents. I have a I have a 16 year old year old at home, and his needs are dramatically different than my six year old. Right? And so, we need to make sure that we take our adolescents and we take our young people's mental health super seriously. And there are several ways, to do that, and we're gonna continue to build on that in the department. If I may, can I add to to that? Oh, yes. Oh, Mark, I didn't realize you're on. I mean, I should know, but I didn't realize you're on.
No problem. No. That always got your back. Every one of our it should we should we should not, discount the fact that we've done amazing work to ensure that every one of our students have access to a social worker, a, school counselor, and or our school based health clinics that provide those services and supports as well. Also, I wanna brag about the work that New York City public schools have done with 40 of higher 40 of the higher educational establishments to the tune of three hundred three hundred social work interns now in our schools providing mental health supports to
our young people. And the work that we have prioritized in training our crisis teams around the importance of mental health support through the work we're doing in trauma informed care, of which 900 parents have been trained in thus far. And that's a that's a huge task that we need to, you know, recognize and elevate. And, eventually, we are going to work to have students who are peers, peer to peer mental health supports and training. So you guys look forward to that. Okay.
Mark, notice how I said continue and strengthen. It wasn't something to do with continue and strengthen. We know that it's there. Yes. So I just Yeah. Make sure. I I have to I have to, give my give Mark a a whole bunch of credit in in front of every body, Mark. I am gonna say this guy this man is is capable of deep of of keeping, 900,000, kids safe, and he's he's more than capable to capable of keeping this
one individual here safe. And he done he and his team have done an amazing job with me. And and I just wanna say thank you, Mark. And, yeah, just all just for all you do. I had no idea. You guys have zero idea how much goes into what Mark, and his team does to not only keep us physically safe, but so so emotionally safe, every day. I think Mark Mark is always he always makes himself accessible, especially to parent leaders. So you you have an incredible team.
So I apparently, I I I'm gonna have to run, so I'll take one one I'll take the last question if if you have one. Okay. So I'll I'll go to the last question then. So looking back, on your time as superintendent in New York City Public Schools, what legacy do you leave behind? What, I'm sorry, what legacy do you believe you left for students, families, and educators, and how are the lessons you've learned as superintendent shaping what you will do differently now as a chancellor? Wow. Man, I'm happy I made you ask that last question.
I was at that's it's a really good one, and I need to I I I I will have happily say that across two districts, the one thing that I've truly learned is when when you keep the young people at the center of your thoughts and and and thinking every single day, you will be okay. And so what what I've done is to keep young people at the center and realize that the families that entrust us with our kids with their kids every single
day deserve to be heard, not just heard, but listened to, and their ideas are completely valuable and should shape, the decision making, every single day. And so for me, what we did in District 3, with our working groups that produced outcomes. Right? And so it wasn't just about having a working group. It was about, yes, working on these things that we're going to, do together. And, we've we and we did that in the Harlem section, and we're in the
middle of doing that when I left in, other two in the other two sections of our district. I think that, is super important to me. It's not just about do parents like you and do parents love you. It's about how what are we achieving when we work together, and are we solving the biggest problems together? That's what I think about and leave, the that's what I think about is my as my legacy. And as I've as I'm leaving and well, I guess I've left already.
I still live there, so I haven't I haven't left. But, as I think about District 3 and District 13, those are the things that, come to mind. K. So Alright. I appreciate you being here today. I know that you do watch the YouTube videos for people. So and and now I know you watch them. So if you go back to look Dial's presentation today Okay. I I can't even say enough, but I know you Awesome. Thank you so much for being here today. Thank you. And, yes, the Dial, Christina Foti, and her team, I have to say they were
they were they were great for as a superintendent, and I see how much even better they are than I even thought they were or I know that I'm a chancellor. So I'm excited. Thank you so much, guys. Talk soon. Thank you. Have a great day. Alright. You too. Okay. So we did manage to get our chancellor, on the call. So it shows his dedication to parent leaders. So that's a great first impression for us, and we appreciate him being here. We appreciate everyone behind the scenes because I I I know, like, sometimes I look a little distracted because I'm getting the text messages behind the scenes as things are
happening. So I just wanna thank Face. You guys are also outstanding. You've come such a long way from where FACE was originally to where you guys are now. Like, god bless you all. So thank you for uplifting Parent Voice for working with us as true partners, and collaborating. And and, again, Chance's team, you're you're all so much appreciated. Kevin Moran Kevin Moran's a goat. Like, he's he's always there. So, like, you I can't say enough.
Like, everybody is just terrific. So thank you so much. We're actually overtime. We are done with our agenda. Does anyone have any questions or any comments that they'd like to share before we go? For the Spanish line, is there anyone, any of our voting members in the Spanish line that has a question? There are no questions on the Spanish line. Thank you. Okay. If there are no further questions, would someone like to know Brandy, I just wanna quickly remind everybody to not forget to do the interim report Oh, yes.
Due this month. Interim financial reports July from July 1 to January 15, they are January 31. Even if you did not fundraise, you still have to fill one out and just put $0 in the income, the expense, sign it, date it, give it to your principals. They still have to be uploaded to SPLCI. So make sure that that's done. If not, everything is only until January 15. That's the cutoff. So please make sure. And if you have ever have any questions, you know that we're always available. You can email us at CPAC. Someone likes to make a motion to adjourn.
Motion in the chat. Second. Second. Alright. That was Rima and Caroline? Yes, ma'am. Okay. Thank you all for coming, and have a great day. Thank you, Kevin. Thank you all. Have a great week, everybody. Thank you. Have a good one. Thank you. Happy New Year. Happy New Year. Take care. You too. Happy New Year, guys. Happy New Year.