Good evening every Good evening everybody. It is Thursday, January 15th. Time is already flying. So I my apologies. One moment. Sorry about that. I was getting some feedback as my computer. My apologies. Um it is the
citywide council on special education's calendar meeting for January. We will now get started. Um, can we have interpretation? Please introduce yourself and your service and then in the chat box, please put the pertinent information in Spanish. Thank you for
already putting it up there. >> I'll start with the Spanish. Uh, the following announcement will be in Spanish. Uno uno numero unocomplatim. Spanish announcement complete.
>> Thank you. Spanish Mandarin, please. The mandate is done. Thank you, Mandarin. Appreciate it. All right, Rose, can we have roll call, please? Oh, >> I'll be doing roll call.
>> Thank you. So, Francesca here, Dr. Say not here. Joanne not here. Okay. Heather Mark >> Ying Yanks. Sorry. Sorry.
Susie. Gia. Maggie >> here. Gia said here. No. Oh, excuse. Okay. Sorry. Kim
Jonah, he's a student. He's on the line, right? >> Remember, Jonah is here. Yes. >> Okay. >> All right. So, we are not at quorum. So that being said, we can continue with the program part of the session, but we
will not be able to do any official business other than the program until time we do make quorum. We are one council member short of quorum. We do have council members intending to come. So apologies, but we'll get started. So I'd like to pass it to the office of
special education in a moment, but tonight we have a guest from the intergovernmental affairs team. um they are back to talk to us about what is going on at city, state, and federal level in terms of education and how it plays out. I mean, it's it's early in
the budget season. Um you know, it just start a session in Albany just started. We just had a speaker um and a new mayor um put in place. We have a new chancellor. So, there's a lot of moving parts. Things are are certainly in flux.
I think it's a really good time to have the intergovernmental affairs team here to talk to us about what's happening, but knowing there are a lot of moving parts and things will change and things we'll learn as we go along. But, you know, the governor earlier this week gave her state of the state address. Um,
a lot of interesting stuff in that. Next week, we have the city um the city's executive budget comes out. Governor will also come out with her budget, the floor as they call it. So that'll be the basis of the Albany discussions that'll happen over the next couple of months
and we'll have the the uh one uh one house uh come out and then there'll be negotiations between the legislative and and and the governor to get a budget hopefully this year before April 1. And then after that we'll have city council
and our new mayor um work out their their uh bills and work out their budget. So a lot lot in play. That being said, we have a lot of things going on that financially impact our students. Last year at state level, we lost $314 million because of fair because of
foundation aid changes. Um that that was pretty devastating to the city. Um from if they had just kept the budget as it was. Um you know, at a federal level, we saw some major plays by the federal government. They took away two billion in mental health funding a couple days
ago. yesterday. Apparently, they're restoring it. We'll see what really happens. Uh federal government came down against New York City um on on uh some rights for for uh students. Um
that was news yesterday. Um in the past, they've threatened to withhold money and they have withheld money. Um there is child care money that has been withheld um to New York and a few other states that are not fully aligned with the current federal government's policies.
So there's a lot at play, a lot to discuss at city, state, and federal level. So looking forward to having that discussion. Um we we'll open it up for for questions from from everybody um public and uh council members. Um but first like to turn it over to the office
of special education um Suzanne Sanchez. Please go ahead. >> Thank you very much, Mark, and council members, and thank you everybody uh who is joining us virtually online tonight. Um and looking forward to uh getting right into it with our intergovernmental
affairs team who are joining us uh in person this evening. Um the only uh update that I will that I have to share is um really just to to let everybody know that um despite change in obviously
mayoral administration and as we welcome Chancellor Samuels to his new role that uh the dial team, the special education office and New York City public schools at large remains deeply committed to serving students with disabilities and
their families. And while the uh we might have some governmental changes in leadership, uh the work continues and remains a priority focus for New York City public schools overall. Uh and Mark, I'm going to turn it over because I know we have a lot to get into
tonight. >> Thank you. So, we'll lead it off with with our guests tonight. Um, if you'd like to introduce yourselves to to the audience and then uh really, you know, we can start going into Q&A or if you have an opening you'd like to to give,
please feel free. >> Uh, good evening. My name is uh Katie Jojo. Uh, and with me is David Mantel and I have to say I feel like Mark himself is basically working for IG. He sort of just give a good summary of everything that we're we're working
with. Um we um uh our team is called policy and advocacy uh and we're part of the team along with IGA who works on uh you know legislation and policy coming out of the city, state and uh federal governments and you know figures out um you know how how these new policies
could potentially uh affect us and comes up with some strategies to respond to them. Um and I'll just uh you know you know what you said Mark is right we're kicking off the state and city budget process which is a very important time for us. Um there's a lot going on at the federal level. Uh and you know, we're
happy to I we could quickly summarize where we're at. Um but I think you did that pretty effectively. So we're happy to jump right into questions if you prefer. >> Y I think let's start off. We have a new administration here in this building. We have a new administration across the park.
both have come out with limited amount of information on educational priorities and changes that we're going to see. For the most part, it seems like it's status quo from a public facing standpoint. Are there things going on that we're not
hearing that you can talk about or is that when we got to wait till the state of the state of the city coming up in a week? >> I don't think there's anything going on that that you're not hearing. When we were here over the summer, I know we talked about the things that we knew no matter who the mayor was or who the chancellor was were going to be things
we'd have to deal with in Albany. Those things uh remain true. Um you talked about the foundation a changes from last year. We'll certainly have to uh continue to press that with the state legislature. um you know once we see the governor's proposal we'll have a better sense of if there are any other changes
to the foundation aid formula um that we want to you know engage with them on but we still also want to talk about what happened last year and always concerned about anything that impacts our funding obviously um you know we still do have to work with the legislature on an update to school governance law which is
uh very important to making sure our you know our schools continue to run um and uh you know we still are implementing the class size law. Um, that's still going to be a major priority because it's still state law regardless of the mayor and the chancellor and I know that they're uh working at that. So, those
are certainly three things that I expect us to be talking about with the state legislature. Um, uh, no, you know, no matter what. Um and uh you know once we review the the state the state budget the proposed state budget more fully once the uh governor's bills come out
we'll we'll be able to uh you know prepare the new chancellor to to go to Albany to talk about those things to talk about anything uh else that uh is in the governor's proposed budget that we want to make sure the legislature knows our stance on that will happen at the um you know the at the joint uh
public hearing that the assembly and senate will hold on the education budget. uh later this month. >> I'll I'll just add to there's also new leadership over at the city council as well. There's a new speaker and they just announced chairs I believe earlier
today and the new education chair is going to be uh council member Eric Denowitz who as some of you may know is was a prior to being a city council member was a high school special education teacher. Um and so I I'm sure
he will also bring his priorities to that position as well which should be interesting to see. Yeah, thank you for that intro and and yes, uh new speaker. Uh definitely some changes already. Um pretty quick, but uh certainly interesting. I want to open up to
council members. Uh any any questions that you you'd like to ask before? >> Excuse me. This is Rose. I'm trying to check and see if you can hear me in Zoomland. >> Rose, we can hear you. >> Okay. Thank you.
>> Dr. Sny, please. >> Oh. uh issue that's brewing in Harlem is around equity and diversity again. Um in our district we have uh district five
which I live in um but district five and three and four which encompass most of Harlem. um this new 3K prek mandate um and how kids are moved from prek to public
elementary schools. Um I can just speak for my own district and will speak of schools in the district where I served as a former CEC president for several years there. Uh we worked really hard to diversify our schools under Chancellor
Karanza and bring different programs to improve the public schools there. Um, and now that some of the schools have improved and we have became more genderified as a community, some of our local zone schools are seeing an influx
of um, black and brown kids being pushed out of their local zone school. um and our more uh new neighbors uh which are really a lot of the professors employees at Columbia University who
have sort of um moved around with these particular schools that we have worked to make better have infiltrated that particular local public school. And so my question tonight is how do how is
this administration going to still deal with the issues around equity and desegregating our schools and making sure that schools that we do desegregate remain um available. Um perfect example PS125
was a school that became the first progressive school in Harlem. We work diligently to make sure we put priorities in place that free lunch, special education, and el children will remain in that building. Um, and in the last three years, looking at the data,
speaking to parents in the community, that has drastically changed. And we know that the previous administration kind of did away with a lot of that stuff. So, I want to know how is this administration going to make sure that the work that was done to make sure
those schools that were heavily segregated in the DOE will not revert back to um what it looked like previously where we were extremely um segregated and how are you going to deal with enrollment because the issue is enrollment. Um, and what we're often said is because of the
my school situation, principles do not have autonomy over how they enroll kids. Um, and I'm just curious in my district, why am I getting an influx of Caucasian and Asian children and particularly black and brown schools and the black
and brown children are then relegated to schools that are more that are struggling. Um, and so maybe that's something we can work together to look on. But at National Action Network, a lot of the parents are working with me because we're concerned about that that
as our communities become gendified and people move in, we welcome the diversity, but we can't push the people who have been there out and their children out. So, I really would love to hear what is the ideas or what's happening around that because that has
been quiet for the last several years. >> Can I ask a clarifying question? you mentioned um policies that the previous administration had sort of walked away from. Um could you just is there anything specific that you had in mind when you said that
>> we originally had um under the Kuransza administration kind of moved away from the G&T notion and which really was helping to segregate a lot of schools with across the city. Um and we wanted to have a more inclusive way. You also had certain districts like district
three, district 15 that actually had a desegregation group that worked to desegregate those schools. When that administration came in, you have a set of parents um particularly from place that was arguing about acceleration and expansion. And so
a lot of the things you've seen that the prior Bill Delasio administration put in place to help desegregate schools and really deal with selection schools where kids had to take tests and all these different things. Those things began to
slowly erode away. Um, and it was never made clear how they were going to keep the markers that were put in place to help these schools become diversified because as you know, New York City is the most segregated school system. And
so I just want to know um with the mayor who's press um today just announced the whole uh equity equity and justice department. How is this current chancellor in the in the in in the administration and deal going to deal
with the segregation issue and deal with the influx of schools and how they're funded and how they look in our district. >> Thank you. That was really helpful. Um I I'll say this. Um both the mayor and the chancellor have made it clear that um diversity and integration are priorities
for them in the school system. Um the chancellor um I don't know if you uh any of you ever worked with him. He's been a superintendent in two community school districts 13 and three where he did um uh a lot of work around uh thoughtful
school reorganization and mergers with this being one of the priorities. He had one of those I believe there was a one of those district-wide diversity plans in in 13 when he was a superintendent there and he's done a lot in in district three to think about uh you know school planning for the whole in a
district-wide sense as a person from district 5. I'm sure you're very familiar with district 3 as well and the different uh things that uh you know they think through um when they think about schools. Um, I think that uh it's it's and you you hit the nail right on the head when you said it's about
enrollment, it's about admissions because those are policies that we actually do as an agency have a lot of control over and um do have uh and do and there are a lot of things that you know we can do. You know, we're talked we talked a lot earlier about the state, about the feds. Um but for the most
part, those are mostly local policies and there's a lot that we can do there. So, I'm I know that they're both very interested in the topic and looking forward to hearing feedback and ideas. What you just shared is actually really helpful and uh going to be very helpful for me sort of writing up a summary from this meeting to share. So, thank you so
much. >> And I'll I'll jump in being a resident of D3 and being part on CEC3 when Kamar Samuels became superintendent at three. We were part of that process. you know, he came in and he definitely
worked on diversity. Um he he did mergers with the primary focus on diversifying schools that were segregated and combine them into one. Um you know, so he he's had that he did win a grant um for
diversity in D3. Now, it was cancelled by the new federal administration, but there was a federal grant he had received for district three with a plan that was in place to continue diversifying D3. So, you know, I will give kudos to now Chancellor Samuels for
for pushing that process more than any superintendent in D3 that I was I'm aware of. um you know and so you know there there has been a a past push by him. Um there was also an
article in Chalkbeat today um about the third rail as as chalk um framed it. Um it does talk about when now Chancellor Samuels was in D13 as superintendent there. talks about D3, talks about his
what he did and what he was planning on doing and trying to do um before he you know moved from D13 to three um and then while he was in each of those two roles. So there there is some history of him being for integration and you know not
just being a talker but being a doer. So I just want to put that out there having been part of that process and living through it. feel again like Mark is auditioning for my job that uh and you you made me think of one more
thing um uh you know often we talk about these things um in a in a kind of siloed way diversity integration you know what we we've already touched a little bit on the class size law we also touched on a little bit about enrollment at the you know the city's changing enrollment
across the whole city um you know it's lower enrollment around the city all these things are going to necess require for us to think thoughtfully about school planning and about how we plan uh you know enrollment size capacity for schools that makes them successful
models and um all those things are a factor there. So I think those are all things that um we should start to think about together and in in one you know one complete thought um and I I I can see that very much being how we how we start to think about this um and I think there's going to be a lot of
conversation about this in the future. So, thank you. >> Any other questions from council members? >> Go ahead. >> Um, another issue that I would like to make sure that is kept at the forefront
is around the push when we started a few years ago around dyslexia and and putting these different assessments in at the lower grades. But over the last several years, there has been no conversation or no real
uh plan brought forth on how you're going to deal with middle school and high school students who are currently in the system who are dyslexic who have these issues around whether it be dyslexia, disgraphia or these neurode
diversion issues that really require something different than children who are just uh have reading variations. Okay. Um and so I would love to see what is this administration or how are you
going to keep the ball rolling because over the last couple of years it has been said we're going to do more. We're going to do more but we have yet to see what are you doing for the kids who are in those system that are not in K to third grade where you started this
initiative a few years ago. >> So I can add Excuse me. I can add a bit to that. Not necessarily around uh federal, state or city funding priorities, but I can I can share that our colleagues in we are working very closely with our colleagues in the
division of school leadership around reading and literacy gaps for students who are in middle and high school and with focus around helping those students close that gap. So while and New York City Reads is expanding to more middle
schools this school year and there are also programs for students in high school to close the reading gap as well as the centrally funded IEP teachers uh who are in many high schools and their
work is on geared towards closing that gap for students who do and do not have IEPs. That said, I I think uh I like your your comment is really well timed and well taken. There is much more work to do on addressing students who are
significant grade below grade level in reading and literacy and that is a focus that we are going to continue to move forward on and look forward to sharing additional information there uh because it is a great need in New York City public schools. >> Okay. So, I'm going to be clear. I
didn't say reading variation. I said dyslexia. Dyslexia, which is a total different type of reading variation, right? That needs a specific type of support, a specific
type of assessment. Um, and so I am I'm hearing about the re the literacy programs that you have put into place are great. I see them working very really well in my district. But I'm talking about dyslexia,
kids who are dyslexic. And the reason I'll give an example. My son is in district two at ICE. He is dyslexic, severely dyslexic. And I chose to keep him in public school and work with the public school. He's in middle school,
but there are teachers in his building who are not trained to support his needs. and all their great efforts and all that they do, they still cannot meet his needs because teachers don't really understand how to support that. So, I know that there was a time when the
former mayor stated that he would do work around that. Your office stated that you will work on something for middle school and high school children. I have yet to hear about dyslexia. I don't want to hear about other reading initiatives because every child who has a reading initiative is not the same as
dyslexia. And we know that most of the children in our system, there's a large amount of kids who are dyslexic across the nation. So, I just need to know what we're doing around that because there are specific things we can do. They're very expensive, but this administration,
if we're going to help kids, I I it's been three, four years. When are we going to start talking about middle school and high school kids? Go ahead. >> Yeah, I I think um the point that Sai is making, we've tried to make it at this table many times, is a child with a
learning disability around reading and writing is very different than a child who is just behind and has literacy gaps. They're it it's com they're two completely different ballparks and um we just constantly hear the the needs of
learn kids with learning disabilities being lumped into the New York City reads and the in the um the interventions that are being done to help um learners catch up and fill in gaps. But those are not what these kids
need. These kids have a learning disability. They learn reading different. This isn't about they fell behind that they this is it's they're two separate um uh profiles of students who need different interventions and um
continuing to lump them into the the initiatives to catch up and and that is not helping these students cuz that that they're they're completely their issue is completely different than a child who struggled and has some gaps and is maybe um behind in their comp. It's they're
completely different students. Thank you, Heather. Thank you, Dr. Sai. I mean, I'll jump in. I I had a case this week uh come up. Uh you know, parent called saying, "I need help. It's a sixth grader at a middle school,
dyslexia, disgraphia, ADHD, kids struggling. School ain't helping and school's just not equipped to handle a kid at that." I honestly told the parent, you need to be asking at the IP meeting coming up for CBST to look for a
non-public school, be it an 853 or a private school, because there's just nothing that that school's offering or see if CBST has got a different program. There's other great programs in the city, but everything I hear is they are at capacity and waiting list. And that's
part of the challenge that exists is we are not serving the students with the most need. and Heather and Dr. Sny both nailed it, right? It's it's disgraphia, dyslexia, it goes on and on. There's there's a few
more. Um just calcula obviously for the math side of things. Um where we're just not serving those kids past fourth grade for the most part. You know, it's I won't say they're a lost cause, but it seems like we're just not getting the
funding to be able to support those students. And that's the real issue here. It's not that there's a not a want, but there was a severe lack of funding being given by the prior administration who happened to have dyslexia, the the leader of the prior administration, which is interesting
that he just threw those all the kids away and just said, "We're not going to care about you." Thankfully, we got a new administration be at the mayor level and at the superintendent level, and hopefully they will not throw these kids away, and they will focus on all of our students who need help. And but it is a
money game. Let's just be very clear. We need and and I I've spoken to Suzanne and team frequently and Heather and Dr. Canon and Maggie and Susie and Ron and and and Joan have spoken and Francesca
has spoken about the need for for dyslexia students and more programs for dyslexia. You know, we really need a dyslexia be a learning academy or whatever in every district. We need at least in every district to have an
academy and it's got to happen. And that's probably still not enough because we still have way too many kids. And it's not just going up to fifth grade and saying, "Hey, you know what? We're done. We need to have through high school and up to the date they turn 22 years old because there are still kids who are graduating from this school
district who still can't read. And that is one of the great tragedies and it's part of the prison pipeline that's happening because we're graduating kids who can't read. We've got to fix it. But the first thing that's got to happen is the person right across the the park,
the guy up a floor, those two guys who got to start doing and stop talking at from those offices, not those two individuals because those are new guys. But we have to have less talk and more do. And part of that doing means spending some money and building out the programs. And they can't do it for free.
This building cannot do it if they don't have funding. And it's got to be an initiative from Kamar and it's got to be an initiative from Andani and they've got to do it. Dr. Canon, >> the last suggestion, I don't like to bring a problem without a solution. And one of the things I would say is that
one of the things that can can really work at a basic level a few years ago when you guys implemented the social emotional initiatives across the public school system to really help kids who were having emotional challenges and you trained teachers and you trained
families and you did all this work around helping people understand mental health and emotional health and how it affects learning. Author Gillingan Wilson are well-known training systems that have been around
for decades that really help children. They are expensive, but even if you train teachers in buildings to know how to to to use those different training systems, that's a start. And so it's not
a big um rocket science thing. It is something we can do at the basic level but I think it has to be thought about at the middle school and high school level. Um because I can say to you when you brought the initiative to district 5
at PS125 when we advocated I have seen tremendous strides in children just training all the teachers in the building in North Gilly right and so I think there are things we can do but my hope is that this team will go back and
critically think about it and think about ways you can support middle schools across the city and and just training staff who teach our kids that would start. >> Thank you. And I uh you know was lucky
enough to work um for the the team at the time that was doing that uh mental health training. So that's a that's a great suggestion and something I am familiar with. So that's very helpful. Um I just want to also say you've you've all made me think about um something else which is you know in in the speech the governor gave this week she did give
highlights on some of her education priorities. Um, there's going to be a back to basics in math initiative. There's going to be a further uh literacy initiatives, which I'm sure sounds familiar to everybody in this room, both of these things. Um, and there is going to be an initiative on
um, you know, the teacher pipeline and getting more teachers in the pipeline, which is very exciting for us because, you know, that's a big need of ours right now. Um, and I know, you know, thinking through this conversation, one thing I'll be looking through when that language drops is, you know, how they've taken into consideration students with
special needs in all three of those areas. And I hope that we can have a further discussion about that once we do see some some language and make sure that that's what um, you know, something that we can all work on together. So, thank you for that. >> Thank you, Joanne, please.
Um, I have to agree with my co-c colleague on the council with this 100%. Now, my dear buddy in the corner, I don't want her to get on me later and say I
put her on the spot. You're gonna have to be You're gonna have to be John tonight for me, Haml. Okay. So, >> put me on the spot. That's why I'm here. So, let's do it. >> Okay. So,
it's a conversation that my colleague has brought up and you guys know I'm always throwing things at you. So, I had asked before I think Johanna has um stepped down and went back to I think
what she said AP or principal now. Um, with DA, I had asked questions about the dyslexia school that was open and I had brought up to you guys that I had asked her about the data, like how is it
doing, where we at, how things are looking and y'all said that was a good question and y'all was going to check into it because I had spoke to y'all. I wanted to see how the data was doing to
see if it was possible to see how those that school and other schools was open if that was something that we could start looking into opening to the other districts. remember that conversation we
had and move forward so that more districts and burrows will have that school and that will actually piggy back to what my colleague here is saying now
to circle back to Gillahham she is 100% right about that program that is an excellent program now I have heard a lot of teachers complain when they started saying they wanted one
district to choose one reading program because everybody was using different reading programs and some teach some principles and them was complaining and this is when I was on the district level that they already invested so much money
in getting in and Gilham because that's not a cheap program and then with HMH and they had to retrain their scaff apps. So, some schools are trained and they can do it. And then that's when I was speaking to you also about reading
specialists like different things we can bring in because of this dyslexia and different things in the different diagnosis that they wanted to start circling around and just bringing into the schools. go with different avenues.
This may benefit and answer some of her questions because these are things that I was bringing to you guys at DAO to see what we can do since we was working on that other project because this all ties
in to what we was working on. So some of the work has been started. So if we connect maybe half of the work is done now I don't know how they feel about bringing and Gilham back but that is an
excellent program because a lot of students it has helped a lot of students. So what do you have to say on that? >> First I have to say thank you for the recap of our previous conversation because that's always helpful for me. I
always say uh unless I write it down, if I have it, if I don't have it in front of me, it happened five minutes ago, I'm gonna forget about it. So, I appreciate that. Um yes, you know, so first of all, yes to every single thing that you said and Dr. Canon has said. Um
Central Brooklyn Literacy Academy, right? This is its first year. Um and we are all eagerly awaiting their data on how students are progressing from in that school from where they started in September. I believe their midyear kind
of reporting uh will be coming very soon if not already and we can double check and then their end year right as have students progressed in their reading levels, what interventions have worked for them and then use that to springboard across other parts of the
city. Um, and I am a big fan like like me mo mo many educators are of Orton Gillingham. Um, and it is a program we know that has proven effective for children who do have printbased learning disabilities including dyslexia.
Um, and we are eager to support all students who have print-based learning disabilities including those who have dyslexia. So I think on one hand I will kind of defer back to what Mark said about what is the intention and appetite
uh now to expand those kinds of schools and those kinds of programs and also what can we as a system do in the interim. Um, and I know that schools have these schoolwide MTSS programs and different schools are
implementing using one of the approved reading literacy interventions, right? And uh, yes, some schools did have to pivot and change. Um, and we work closely with the division of school leadership who is really uh, rolled out
all the New York City reads work and print-based disability supports. And there is clearly much more to do. We will we will we can absolutely share progress reporter dating a progress reporting from central Brooklyn literacy
uh as a you know I think they're right in the middle of their first year. So we can share we can reach out to their principal and see what they have and what we can share around their progress. And to your point, Joanne, what interventions are they using that are helping students who have dyslexia uh
learn to read and catch up, but also develop those fundamental literacy skills. So, we can absolutely do that. That's the second school cuz what about the Bronx state school as well? That was the original one that first has opened.
So, that was the one. And then also just want to just this the last thing remember some parents also that was on the team was requesting to inquire how can they assist as well and remember we
was trying to see if the parents and some different ones that want to step up like how we was doing parent members remember other parents was willing to step up that maybe could that had the background and some of the degrees that
could have got trained with organ and remember I I'm not I'm forgot who I think it was Dr. Uh um Christine Mendez, I'm not sure if it was her or who they was going to see with your team was
going to see if it was possible if the training could come through DOE through a funding that could help and that could help as well, especially with everything that was going on since it was a costly
program to do on their own. Especially some teachers or some staff might have been able to train because if you had a certain Orton Gillingham level of training, you was able to go
and retach the program. I forgot the level it was. So that circle back. So that may also help as well. And so some of the teachers and everyone that's maybe in middle school and high school, they may be able to get trained a little
bit that way to help the students that's there until they exactly find out. But this school that's opening and that has opened, I don't know if you know the answer to this question, but you can go back maybe find out. and the training
for like a school like this to open. Is this school equivalent to what a nest school is to open? Just out of curiosity because you know everybody from the ground up has to be trained uniform. So
something like this is that the same and is that's the reason why it's a delay in opening it so fast because of the price similar to what it is with the nest schools that's opening with the training
of the staff. So the tr similar to your point. So uh in a in a specialized program of nest or horizon or as that supports children with autism all the staff there have uh the same the
same training and they're all speaking the same language so to speak and they're all approaching supporting students in the same way. and the South Brooklyn Reading Academy and the Central Brooklyn Literacy Academy. Uh I believe they also all have uniform training. Um
and they use very simil they all are using consistent interventions and other schools are using consistent interventions now that everyone is using uh evidence-based interventions from New York City Reads that from a from an approved list so to speak. Um and SBLA
and CBLA are doing the same uh specifically for students with dyslexia and other printbased disabilities as well. Um and we have also we are the dial is also seeking to expand what's called the
iatre program which is also for students who have dyslexia and other prince-based disabilities as well. Um and we are uh do have an open ask I would say out on that so that we can have a few we can have more of those programs in other
districts um where students need them most. And by the way those are uh largely elementary and middle school where we have them now and we absolutely need more. Those are ICT model uh with very specific focus on literacy
development for children with print-based disabilities. Um, I was going to ask if um, can sets providers that do ELA all be trained with Orton Gilliam? Because I know especially in the older grades, my son
included, received set services to make up um, the gaps that were missed when he was younger. and um his sets last year and the year before was Orton Gillingham trained and this year his sets provider
I don't think is and also when we're talking about now the limitations on what parents can get from a P4 um when they get a sets provider for their child or homeschool um sets providers for their children um they there's like just
one rate now they can't do the enhanced rates without going to um to mediation and things like that or and um because of laws that pass and there are providers that are Orton Gillingham
trained and they charge more um to to provide services because of that specialized training. And so then those parents who really need those for their kids have to fight to get a an enhanced rate. So if if all of the SESS providers
that did ELA intervention um were trained with Orton Gilliam, it would I could just see it working across the board, especially if we can't if the funds aren't available to train all of the ELA teachers in all of our schools,
at least the sets providers. So I want to respond to that. I want to be really thoughtful in in my response to that um because I I recognize the challenges that families are having with P4s, but I also want to acknowledge that this admin previous administration
invested a great deal financially in significantly raising the sets rate. Um and that um that that was intended to attract more sets providers and that was a really heavy lift as they
say. um and and not enough right and um Orton Gillingham is certainly one evidence-based proven method. It is uh a very expensive method is a very timeconsuming method and if that's what our children need then that's what they
should have and I I have to go back uh to what Mark said earlier about funding for these kinds of really uh with these kinds of initiatives. Um I don't have the data on hand and I apologize for that but our centrally funded IEP
teachers the seits are trained in a v in a variety of literacy intervention tools that do support children with print based disabilities and are seeing significant improvement there and so we can share that next time and we need more like there's no debate that we need
more there's no debate there's no doubt Absolutely. The the the our students in Milan High School are who are several grades behind. I think it was Dr. Canton who brought up about social emotional components and what that does to their self-esteem and their confidence and
their interest in coming to school is can't be overstated. >> That's my life. >> I I I share some of that uh personally, but that's for another day. Um, and we are, so I don't want to sound like a broken record, but like we are working
with our partners across the aisle and school leadership and we'll continue that. Um, and I think it's great that we have our intergovernmental affairs folks here to hear these needs and to and that we have Katie Jay and David to be able to speak to this from in larger
audiences around legislation like, hey, we our kids need these supports today. like we've done, we've moved forward with using assist of technology to support students with learned disabilities and we have to do more. Uh
and that is heard and we are going to continue to talk to our our partners in DSL and make sure that when we reconnect with you all, we have some concrete um and tangible pieces of information and progress to share.
>> Let's keep in mind Orton Gillingham is basically 90 years old now. I mean this is effectively it's it's its anniversary is I think this year or was last year. You know we got 90 years of of science of reading and all of a sudden in the last four years we discovered science of reading again. It's it's pretty
laughable that that's the progression that New York City went through. We knew about it and then we went away with it and thankfully the prior administration um started the process with NYC reads. I won't say that's hitting the kids with dyslexia. It's not. It's a good start
for the general public and and general students, but we've got to do better with those kids who, as Suzanne said and Dr. Canton and and Joanne and and Heather, it's the printbased, it's dyslexia, disgraphia, dyscalcula. Those kids need much more intensive support
than they're receiving today. And it is impacting their lives and their future. And it's going to impact New York State's lives because we're going to have to spend a lot of money funding them. I mean, it costs what, $30 plus th,000 to put someone in Rikers as opposed to pennies on the dollar
effectively to educate them in this building and all the other,400 buildings in the city. It is a no-brainer. But you got to spend money up front. You got to invest in your students. You got to invest in your community. And we need the person across the hallway, up across
the park, the person one floor up to invest in our kids. It is critical and Albany as well. Thank you. Now, I will say one other thing that Governor Hokll proposed earlier this week is intensive tutoring. I think that's a
nice step and that was a good call out because that is something that we saw works and it's again another thing that you know it's talk is cheap. We'll see what she puts in the budget as KJ talked about. um money talks, you know, much
more than just yapping. So, we'll see what the governor puts in in the dollars and cents to to make that happen for our students. But it it's critical that we address this reading deficiency that's pardon me, reading challenges that our kids have, the deficiency they have in
grade level because of something they were born with. And it's something that they can learn to do, but they need help. And it's our job as educators and a community to help them be able to read. Maggie,
>> so bringing it back uh to our inter intergovernmental affairs. Um thank you for being here again. Thank you for your time. Thank you for listening to us um on these issues. I
want to bring it back to the special um service providers, special education service providers. So, OT's, PTS, paras, we are facing um as you know uh federal
challenges in terms of uh changes and how that's impacting our students statewide and citywide. Um there have been professional degree changes. Um can you talk a little bit
more about that aspect if you can? Uh also the educational department changes including um office of special education possibly moving to um HHS um
or department of labor. Um can you talk about block grants uh and the OCR how within the state that's impacting within the city how that's impacting and what you guys are doing uh what are the you know things that are proposals or or or
things that you're moving along here um because as you can tell related service providers are critical uh not just sets but also um the OT's PTS and the works speech providers and if we
don't have stability within those budgets for them, if we have professional degree changes like that, that can affect the pipeline for future um providers. We already in a crisis, so we really need for
that connection and that advocacy. Give give us some advocacy tools that we can um bring up as a community. You're you're referencing at the federal level >> of offices to different out of the
federal DOE and into different >> right but then how is it how does it like >> within the state within the city how are you guys coping with us how is it directly going to affect us and what can we do as a community to advocate state level city level
>> to you know kind of cope with those uh you know fails >> I I got it I don't know Suzanne if you want to start and then we're happy to jump in. Yeah, >> I just wanted to add on because Maggie and I had the opportunity to speak about this yesterday and so I I think part of this question is also and Maggie if I'm
speaking for you incorrectly please tell me u but one of the things we spoke about yesterday was the change in professional designation from the federal government and removing occupational speech physical social work from that designation which means uh
>> borrow money which means less uh federal grants available for those folks and uh they're already national shortage areas. Um and I think that was part of what what what we kind of tangled with yesterday in trying to think about it.
>> Yeah. I mean, I think every there's so much happening with the federal government that um is of is of deep concern and it does change every day and I think that dynamic makes it very difficult to kind of plan around
um in this issue and in so many others. Um, you know, I'll just say I think we have been relatively lucky, at least from the funding side of things so far and from a policy standpoint. I think
we've done a good job of kind of holding firm to the things that we know are important and the way that our system needs to operate. And I think the state has also done an admirable job. But, you know, to be blunt, if there are,
you know, um, significant changes in funding or otherwise, you know, it really is going to be dependent on the state in a lot of ways to kind of pick up the slack for some of these issues. Um, and I think, you know, now is a good
time to kind of, you're asking about how to direct your advocacy. I mean, you know, if you can have luck with the federal government, then more power to you. And I want to know how you're doing it. Um, but I think a lot of that is going to have to be directed towards the
state and towards, you know, city council and towards the administration, the administration itself, because um, you know, every day brings kind of a new issue, a new kind of thing that the federal government seems to be trotting
out. Um, and you know, I think we try to be as proactive as we can be, but lots of times we're we are just having to react to what they're kind of putting out. I I want to add um you know we spend a
lot of time debating whether they are doing the things they do intentionally like do they realize the impact that they're going to have or I mean you know sometimes I think they just are just going along their day deciding that this is a funny thing to do today and then not really thinking it through. It's
hard to say sometimes. Um but we spend a lot of time thinking about that impact. Um I will say primarily the thing that we thought we talk about all day every day is funding. Um, you know, we're very lucky to live in a locality in a state that takes funding education seriously. Um, and that has allowed us, I think,
um, unlike other places, you know, as as stressful as these federal things are, um, we know we do have more resources at hand, um, I think, um, it's going to be very important for our state and local leaders to continue to think of, uh, you know, a strategy for how to address
those. I will say, you know, I think our our team here has been great. Our legal team has been great. Um, everything that the federal government does, we have a pretty quick and effective response. Um, we've been able to successfully respond to many uh things that they've done to
and and and like David says, it sometimes feels like they're trying, they're testing to see what will work. >> Yep. And um, you know, I think we're very fortunate to have a team here that's done a great job of pushing back at that. Um, but ultimately I think it begs a bigger question for us as a as a
city and a state where education funding is taken seriously about how much we want to be reliant on on a on a system that clearly doesn't value public schools. So on that when you when we're talking about um the funding that we
have available within the state and again when I say advocacy I'm not talking about the federal government. I'm talking about city and local, you know, districtwide and um the state. Um we had this pending at the last uh well
at the part one that we had you guys come. Um you know, we it's not equitable with the with the with compared to other districts in the state and in the country when it
comes to charter school rent. Um, and we need the state to pay uh like all other districts in the state have. We are the only ones that have to pay that rent here. That's the cost to
us. We're taking that money out from our kids in public schools and we're putting it in in these other schools that by the way disproportionately uh push out uh you know with statistically push out students with disabilities who need more supports,
okay, who don't test well. Um, you know, we as a CCSC, we we hear those stories of, you know, parents frustrated because the city can't really do much. I know that's, you know, it's out of your
hands, but I also want to like let you guys know that I mean, our community understands where the funds are going and how it's not being, you know, all the things that we brought up today.
That's that money. We're talking about millions of dollars that is not going to our kids, but it is going to charge school rent. Okay? So, please bring it up to to the state uh leadership.
Um, something that really really concerns me and goes back to the uh conversation around early uh preschool education is is uh early intervention. Um that's a that's that comes from the
state. That's decided by the state um and the city. Um but so what's what's going on with um pay increases to early uh intervention providers? I is that something that can be done? How can we
advocate for for an overhaul to the early intervention system? Yes, we're we uh here at this uh council we have to concern ourselves with yes the the the kids that are within the system. But if
you have infants and babies that are not receiving their uh interventions, critical interventions, then what you're going to end up seeing in preschools and in elementary schools are students that
are going to need much more supports, much costlier supports. So again, what is the rationale in the state and in the city for this astronomical failure overall?
I want to uh first share something that I think actually applies to both the charter rent and this which is um this is a a mayor's first year going up to Albany is a is a really good opportunity to look at things with fresh eyes. So, you
know, I I imagine both of these topics definitely being part of the state conversation. I know there are many state legislators that feel strongly about the charter rent. I am sure that we'll talk about it at the state budget hearing. Um, and I think, you know, both the governor and mayor have already made
it clear um that they want to do a lot for child care. They have this wonderful 2K plan that I'm, you know, I think sounds very exciting. We're very excited to see the details of. So I think it's going to be of great benefit to us as a city. Um but we have to look and see are
there holes? Are they thinking about uh the early intervention? Are they thinking about the kids who aren't uh you know who are going to need a different setting and different services? Are they thinking about how they're going to pay for that and how they're going to find providers and how they're going to pay those providers an
appropriate wage? And I don't know, you know, this is what the budget back and forth allows us to do. allows us to raise things. And you know, David and I are both very fortunate to work with a man named Mark Trager who was always fanatic about this topic that you said you can't call it pre-K parole if you're
not serving students with special needs. When he was in the council, he brought up the time when he worked here. He brought it up all the time. And I I bring him up because I know we have many many people uh who would be happy to be part of a a broader discussion and coalition around this topic.
Respectfully on that point though, um it hasn't happened. 3K and and 4K have not been appropriately serving students with disabilities all the time. That is why there are 4410 programs that are being
that are closing from the state because they don't get the appropriate funding. And unfortunately, there are programs that can serve certain students with disabilities, but there are students with disabilities that because they
didn't receive the early intervention services and supports that they needed from the very beginning. Okay, we're all here and we our kids are the are were the ones that received the early intervention. That made a huge
difference in our kids' lives. Right now there's toddlers and infants, babies that are sitting at home without any services for months and years. And by the time I mean it's so fast by the time they turn two, it's too late for them.
They can't speak, they can't they have more behaviors, etc. So respectfully, I do think it is a great idea the push for um even younger than 3K, but how is that going to serve students with
disabilities that need more support? Um and please make that request and demand from the state and the city like we have a huge crisis with that population of students of future
students. They're babies now. It might not be I don't know uh uh I'm not sure what the what the governor and the state legislators think about these students but according to their budgets that they
pass every year those babies and infants have been worthless and that to me and to all of us here is unacceptable. So this is you're you're I understand you're just doing your jobs, but it is really frustrating to see that day in
and day out. And the same thing is happening with FAPE 22. How does the state how does this how how cities and districts are expected to meet that FAPE 22 if uh they don't have the funding? If these schools are not being supported,
for example, non-public schools are not being supported. Um and and many other schools are not being supported. They're not being told that the that the students and the districts are telling families in IEP meetings as well that no it's it's not
true. It's it's 21. The child can stay here and we can support them until 21. Why? Because they don't have enough money. And that's the that's the truth. So first early intervention and and save 22. >> Thank you. And I'll say this, it's part
of my job to tell the chancellor and to tell other people when the time is right to push for things. And I'm I'm going to tell you the same thing. I'll tell him the time. This is a good time and I'd love to work more on this uh as we enter this budget season. Thank you for raising this up.
>> And Katie J and David, I'll jump in. Transition aid is also something that should be on the table. I mean, we we're we've lost out of $1.8 billion and running in transition aid funding. Again, we are the only district in the state that does not receive transition aid. 1.8 billion.
That would do a lot to fix our class size uh situation we're facing. But, you know, that's the reality of the charter school rent. You know, we're sitting on $300 million a year for how many years going back. You know, again, if we want to have the class size law, the state needs to actually fund it. And, you know, they talk they're funding
foundation aid. Yeah. But they're taking it all the way right when you take out sweep out that half a billion a year between those two programs. So, it's it's cute. They talk, but the real world's completely different. Um, let me let me jump it quickly. I know we're running out of time. Senate Bill S18
from Jackson, Assembly Bill 8440 from Topia. It's the bus a bill. We need the DOE to push it this year. Last year they did not. We We heard there was no talk at all from from the city um regarding that. We really need the DOE to push
that. It is critical. Um obviously at federal level a couple things have happened in the last week. um HHS came out and held up funding um for the state um which is impacting every county in the state of New York is critical we get
that I know it's not you it's federal but we need our our congressmen and women are are and our our people at at city council and at city hall to continue pushing back to get that funding reversed because that is going to have traumatic effect on our kids if
they can't have those programs. You know, we governor just spoke about how she wants to fund kids, but if the federal government's pulling the carpet away, ain't going to happen. They've got to step forward and and push it in the meantime find a way to fund it. Governor Hulk talked about 180,000
new teachers needed over the next 10 years, that's great. But with the professional degree status changing at the federal level, we need CUNI and we need Sunni to step up and make sure that they are finding pathways that are inexpensive or free. If you want to
become an aiologist or a nurse or a teacher, speech, OT, PT, those professions, they should have a special pathway more so than the governor announced this week. And there's got to be real money behind it to encourage those people, those students today to
become. and it's got to be in CUNI and Sunni and they've got to do a bigger job of selling that. Um, yesterday transgender became an issue again at the federal government where there was an investigation in New York City over sports and transgender
students. I did not hear any response from this building. Maybe I just missed it. But is there official response to that? >> You mean to the letter they sent yesterday? >> Yes. I don't I doubt we've written back yet, but our response has been the same that it's been, you know, we've been
dealing with this issue for a while. They tried to take some magnet school funding from us about this early in the year and our response has been unequivocal. Nothing would have changed about that for sure. >> Okay, great. Thank you. And then, you know, fi finally chalkbeat yesterday had an article about uh Burke
from the federal um department of education talking about different programs within the still living for now Department of Education. They talked about IDA. They talked about possibly
funding an increased level. You know, it's supposed to be at 40%. Congress and and prior administrations have never gotten there. um last Trump financial budget had it flat for IDA. It'll be very interesting
to see what happens if if that number gets cut, increased, or stays the same. But something else to keep on on the radar. Any other questions from council members or public? Anything else? Public council members.
>> Yeah. >> Go ahead, Ron. and then Ron. >> Hi. Yeah. Um so we were talking about the last year here tonight and we talked about the last year I think maybe few months ago when the DOE's um leadership
teams here and we keep talking about um many educational topic here tonight and before but um I heard that um from your team that we need to advocate uh in the state level and the city level to let
the uh registrator to pass the law or the or the act that favor our our student and and families. But like the the last year uh law, we have the law that passed last year and cited by the governor. But still I we are still
talking about the last year um right now and in that law we have the we have the the screening standard. We have the uh we have the fund that uh funded by the private insurance company and we have uh require the state education department
to um to implement th those those uh th those fund and those um those stuff to make it possible for for our student in the public school for screening for um for for staffing for everything. Uh I
just wonder so what about the DOE have any agenda for training the um the relative staff like the um the OG staff or the teacher or the or any program or any plan or any screening budget for
that >> I'm sorry the this is for which law. >> Hi, the law is the Delasia Dinos SS Act S54A1A/ A2 A9A
signed by governor last year and affected this year January 1st. So it said that within the state educational department to assess screening standard K to5 guide intervention and develop resource.
>> Okay. I I will get myself more familiar with that specific bill. Uh it sounds like the what you it sounds like it's um uh requiring state ed to do something first. >> Yeah. He requiring the private insurer
to cover Dilasia testing and express and establishing a center for dilia and within the state education department to set screening standard for K to5. >> Got it. So, um, when a bill directs
state ed to do something, state ed has to, you know, typically they review the bill. They, um, create, um, either regulations, um, or guidance that, uh, comes down to districts. Um, I'd be happy to look into that and get back to you about where that is and if it's
already come down to us, what we're doing to to respond. >> Yeah, it passed last year and decided by the government last year. So it will be it is effected this year in January 1st. So you just simply say that the the state passed that to require the private
insurer to pay for the screening and I'm not sure how the DOE will support that. >> Yeah. So you're saying it requires private insurers to pay for the screening and then I it sounds like the state is to give some level of guidance on what's a you know what's a qualifying assessment
for that. Is that what that does? Yeah. >> All right. I will definitely find out more. Thank you for raising that. >> Any other questions for intergovernmental affairs? >> Oh, I just had I've heard um I had to
step out for a second, but I heard Maggie talking about early child education with the 2K program that's coming out between the state and the city. Um, I really would like to hear more about how are you going to support community- based programs. As you look
at the the new mandates around class size matters, a lot of our elementary school where you have placed these 3K and preK programs are going to have to decrease that those programs and send those kids back to community spaces so
that schools can actually mandate more spaces for kindergarten. That's some of the conversations I know in my district because you can't just build another building. Um, and so where you have used space because it particularly in district 5 where we have a large charter
population housed within our public schools. A lot of that space we do not get back once we give it to them. So principles are going to have to find ways to to meet the mandates for class size matter with the space they have. And so where they the only place that a
lot of conversation is talked about is those 3K and pre-K programs that are in elementary schools that you know having those families go back to community based programs. But the bigger issue is in community- based programs. You have lots of kids coming in with variations.
Whether it's autism, they're being diagnosed much younger at two and three. Um and there are not enough 4410 programs for these kids to go to. So the way you have designed your enrollment process is that programs, community based programs cannot turn away k
children with special needs. That if they get a seat that the school has to find a way to work with them in CPSC to support the kids, but there's not enough providers to go to those places. Okay? Because I run one in New York City. And what I want to say to you is if you're
going to have two year olds now come into these programs, you need to make sure that as you're allocating funding just to sit them there, that you're also thinking about those children with special needs. And and just an example, in my school, I
have four classrooms and they're we're general education program. We're not special ed, but in my 3K class of 15 kids, six of them have variations and five of them have ISFPs they came with. And that's in all my
classes. I have anywhere from half the class to at least onethird of the class. And the problem is the teachers I have are not trained in special education. So, if I do not raise money to train them to support these kids while we're waiting for a placement or while we're
waiting for them to get evaluated, teachers are getting burnt out and they wanting to quit. And so, if we're going to add 2K and be excited about 2K and 3K, I think it's a great thing, but we're not addressing the issue. And CPSSE
is not supporting community programs. they're telling us we don't have providers. Um, but the kid is showing up every day. So, my advice would be maybe training general ed programs or training these schools to at least know how to manage the challenging behaviors so that
children are not um subjected to places that can't support their needs. And so I think as we expand the program, we have to really think about how are we going to integrate early intervention at the state level and department of
education because there's a major disconnect when my two-year-old kids are time for their um IEP for 3K. If they're a if they don't have an agency that's going to do the crossover, they have to start from scratch. And I think that's
really unfair if you already know a child has a disability at two that if a family missed that window that they they now have to start the process all over. Um, and so I think that needs to be thought about and on a different topic. Um, and