So having done that, I'm now, it's now my pleasure to formally call to order the February 25th meeting of the Panel for Education Policy. And I'll ask our secretary to please call the role. Thank you, chair Faulkner. Um, when I call your name, please let me know, let us know that you're present. Um, Adriana Ali, present. Uh, Deborah Altman. Present. Shelly bin. Happy Black History Month, everybody. Good evening, Shirley or Ben Present? Um, Aaron Boad is absent this evening, excused. Right. And Joseph Belli is also absent.
Um, Camille Retti Present. Marjorie Deseg? Present. Amy Fair present? Anita Garcia. Um, um, Tony Giardano? Mm-hmm. Um, Dr. Angela Green is absent. JI Hannah Jones. Present. Navid Hassan Present. Alice Ho. Ian Kla. Present. Rema G***o, happy respect for all my present. Yad Jimenez. Present. Uh, Dr.
Sharon Owin is absent. Alan Ong present. Bernita Parsons. Present. Maisha sap Happy Black History Month. Maisha SAP Present. Okay. And Chancellor Samuels. Present and representing Controller Mark Levine. We have Jordan Stockdale present and our student members, Cassandra Sinchy Present. And Julia Nassef present. Hey, we have, I left you. Oh, chair Faulkner. I forgot you, you know, you're not at the end chair. Faulkner. Okay. Present. Okay. Sorry about that.
Keeping you on your toes. I'll go. And we have 16 members out of 23 present, so we have a quorum and the meeting may proceed. Great. We got a lot of items on the agenda today, so I'm happy about that. So let's proceed. Um, our first order business is to welcome our chancellor. Um, it's been quite a month. You've had blizzards, you've had, uh, a lot of stuff happening, but, and, uh, not only that, appearing before the city council, I got to see you on that, uh, at that hearing. So, uh, you've had quite a busy time, so we're always happy to welcome our chancellor, uh, to the meeting. So Chancellor, Thank you. Yes, it has been quite a month.
Um, you know, so good evening. Thank you all for being here. Um, I wanna specifically acknowledge you Chair, chair Faulkner, um, Vice-Chair, uh, Dr. Green. I know she's not here and the rest of the panel. Um, our host at Long Island City High School with principals, uh, Linus and, and superintendent too. And when I, in my next life, when I'm a high school kid, again, I'd like to be as disciplined as the, the folks from Aviation High School Color Guide. So giving up for them as well. Thank you.
Thank you for helping us start this meeting off. Right. Um, first, let me thank our entire New York City Public Schools community for an incredible effort in reopening our schools on Tuesday. I, as a very popular guy on Monday and not so popular on Tuesday. Um, but you made it happen and you made it work for me. Uh, thanks to our staff students, uh, who thanks to our staff students, uh, our students were welcome back into our classrooms. They learned they ate nutritious meals. Um, they, they, uh, interacted with their peers
and were warm and safe. Thank you to everyone who made this possible. Principals, superintendents, custodians, and facilities, teams, school, food staff, teachers, paraprofessionals, bus drivers, and so many more. I want to also thank everyone for making sure that we work collaboratively to keep our kids safe. I want to, I want, I want, I want to also wish everyone a happy Black History Month and to acknowledge and to acknowledge the many holidays
our families are celebrating around this time of year. Wishing everyone a happy lunar New Year. Um, Ramadan Mubarak, a blessed lent and a happy per room. And two other reminders. Three K and pre-K applications are open for just a few more days. Apply by February 27th. And, you know, I wanna remind everyone also of our chancellors conversations. Um, we have a have a series going on, and I want you to visit schools.nyc.gov, chancellor, chancellor conversations or the schedule.
The next conversation is this Saturday in Brooklyn. Now I want to address an unacceptable incident that all of you may have heard of by now, earlier this month. An N-Y-C-P-S parent in District three made abhorrent racist comments over Zoom while a black student was speaking at the CEC meeting, it was a vial and reckless attack on a young person speaking her truth to power. Let me be clear. Anti-black racism has no place in
N-Y-C-P-S, not in our classrooms, our community spaces, or anywhere in our city. As a former superintendent of this district, I know District three, I live in District three. I love District three. And while I don't believe Alison Friedman's comments represent the prevailing sentiments in District three, I don't believe the sentiments are necessarily unique to her or a new, unique to District three. We have a moment that has exposed
what many in the black community believe to be ever present and simmering anti-blackness in our city. As I continue to pursue truly integrated schools, I am reflecting on a quote that was actually attributed to Dr. Martin Luther King. I fear that I may be integrating my people into a burning house, so this is a moment that calls for action. My office is working with D three directly to build a comprehensive support plan for co
for the Community Action School, for the district and the CC three to repair the harm that's caused. We are also working in a broad, on a broader system-wide plan because we know that this is not an issue that is localized in District three, and that it goes beyond District three. I wanna thank the interim acting Superintendent Higgins for his unwavering leadership. He has modeled courage and clarity in his response. Given my own connection to D three, I didn't want, at first
to interject myself to cause a disruption to that response. I recognized that many heard my silence as being complicit. And so in hindsight, that may not have been the right decision. And D three in particular, under my leadership, has been instrumental in, in implementing many CRSE curriculum. The Black studies curriculum for one, is a very popular across the district and should be expanded throughout the city in more districts and schools.
In addition to expanding the use of our curricular resources like the Black Studies curriculum, there's also Hidden Voices and more we need to equip our staff to have courageous conversations focused on shifting attitudes and interrupting prejudice, addressing controversial issues and coalition building. I also want to acknowledge CE C3, a group of committed parents who volunteer their time and energy to move our district forward. This in incident does not reflect the space
and community they attempt to, to build, and we are going to help them in rebuilding that safe space. But this incident does remind us that just as we are equipping our teachers, we also need to equip our parents with the tools to combat racism and build empathetic, respectful leaders of tomorrow. So we're planning for parent training sessions as well, and that we will launch in March. And most of all, I want to acknowledge the Community Action School
and the brave student who spoke in the CEC meeting. We are providing supports to her and her school community. No student should have to experience what she did. To be confronted by such hateful and demeaning words is especially painful for me as a parent. I wanna say to her what I will say to my own kids. She is brilliant. She has infinite potential. And any attempt to diminish that potential will not stand while I am chancellor. As I, as we near the end of Black History Month, we need
to remember building a more equitable and just system is not, is ongoing work. Not only about a about a single month. We need to build stronger long-term systems and approaches that prevent bias from infecting our society and our schools in the first place. You have my word, that behavior like what we saw at the District three meeting will not be tolerated. We can and must do better. I've been in touch with the CUNY system
and they're doing their investigation. And recently I heard coming to the meeting that, that the employee was, is on, has been put, placed on leave until the investigations are completed. And now I know. Uh, and now as we proceed to our meeting, again, I wanna thank the pep for its partnership. This work cannot and will not be done without you. Thank you. Thank, thank you. And, and thank you Chancellor for that very powerful statement.
Um, you know, that it really, it really means a lot. And I also want to reflect and appreciate and thank, uh, the leadership at District three. And I will say, I understand tomorrow the, the CC three will be a meeting and they have a resolution on the agenda, which will make a further powerful statement as to how that community feels With regard to statements like that. Were just, that were just, um, uh, uh, alluded to. So, um, I think we'll move, we're gonna move forward. But, um, it's unfortunate that, you know, we have to endure these kinds of things, but I get not appreciate the leadership at the New York City Public Schools making a
very clear and strong statement as to where we stand on this. Um, I, I, before I move to our student panelists, we have two of our student panelists with us. I'd like to offer a few comments, um, on some appointments that have been made, um, on the panel. Um, we have a couple of new committee chairs, and I wanna recognize 'em at this time formally, uh, Debbie Altman has taken on the role as chair of our nutrition committee and has already been diligently working. I understand you've already met with food services and been sort of, uh, outlining things, uh, there. So I want to thank you for taking on that role. Um, this past month, the, the, uh, New York City Council
held a meeting, um, on the, the Education Committee held a meeting. And, and I listened to the whole, to the whole meeting. And there was some parts of it that were a little, little uncomfortable, but I tried to glean some things that we could do better. And one of the two areas that they talked about, one of them was parent engagement. And the need for us to really challenge ourselves to be better at parent engagement. And be honest with you, they were actually correct that we need to do better at making sure that parents feel engaged in this process. And what do we have to do to make that happen. So I've asked Bernita Parsons to, to take on the role
as leading our finding ways that we can really work to improve our parent engagement. And so I wanna thank you Bernita, for taking on that role. I know you're gonna be great based on your work at, uh, CEC 10. You were, you know, phenomenal. The, the other item that came up was a discussion that we've been having, I guess as a panel for over a year. Um, and I thought it'd be wise to make it public. And that is the discussion of the contracts committee. It, it, it, it sort of has taken on a discussion that's taken on life of its own. Um, let me be clear. Um, I am very eager to see us re-engage a contracts committee.
Um, I am also willing to let that committee operate in the way that it deems best. Um, we never got rid of the Contrast committee, by the way. What we did was, we said there was no longer a requirement to meet in person because it does cost money to, uh, have the in-person meetings. But that would be something that I would say we can, we can engage. So what I asked, and if, if the first thing we need is somebody who would step forward and be chair, I did approach some panel members to chair. And, uh, for any number of reasons people weren't able to do it. So let me publicly ask, and you can tell me afterwards, if somebody would be willing to step forward and chair, you can be, lead
that committee in the direction that you would like to lead it. So from my standpoint, I am very open to having a contrast committee. I'm very open to creating the transparency that the contrast committee would create. Um, and so, um, if people can reach out to, um, and let me know if you'd be interested, any panel members ensuring that committee, um, it would be very important. Am I seeing some, some nodding here? Let's talk afterwards. Um, but I think at the next meeting, I think she's trying to, I, I know I offered you to you Rema. So are you, are you saying Yes. Okay.
Shirley has another committee, but if you're willing to, I offered it to you. So can I, can I ask you now to say yes to chair of the contracts? I think you'd be a great chair of the contracts. Definitely just said we'll discuss this in a little bit. Okay, I gotcha. I gotcha. Okay. Okay. Okay. Hey, I gotta go, I gotta take those moments, right? So we'll, uh, we'll do that. I got back to you. Okay, thank you. Okay, great. But no, in all seriousness, this is something that we have been going back and forth and I have wr written to panel members and I've communicated. I said, listen, make a proposal to me.
Tell me how you wanna do this. I'm very open to doing it. Um, and, and finding a way that you would wanna make that work. So if, uh, if we can facilitate that, I'd be happy to hold that announcement until the next meeting and then we can move forward and, uh, and then also have people, maybe if there's people who wouldn't be willing to chair Rema, could I at least count on you to be a member of the committee? Absolutely. Okay. So we have a member of the committee. Um, so that's great. So, and, uh, we look forward to you coming back and reporting on the work of this committee. Uh, we now have been joined by our two student panel members. And, um, I want to give, did you want to
Bylaw committee? There is a bylaws committee. Yeah. And a bylaws committee is scheduling a meeting. Yeah, we have, we're she's asking because we have a bylaws committee. And the bylaws committee has have some items that panel members every year the panel has to review the bylaws. And so we've asked the bylaws committee to convene a meeting, which they are working to make happen. And that'll, that'll be announced very shortly. Um, so now onto our two student panel members. Um, we're happy to have two new faces on the joining us on the stage. Um, student engagement and having, uh, students involved in this work is extremely important. Um, so I'm gonna ask our two student panel members if they'd like to offer any comments.
First, Cassandra Sinchy, did I pronounce your name right? It's Sinchy, but yes. Caci. Okay. Thank you. Cassandra Floor is yours, panel member. Um, greetings everyone. My name is Cassandra Cinci. I'm a senior in high school and I care deeply about diversity and inclusion in the classroom, curricula and opportunities offered to all students and their families. I have the honor of participating in the Chancellor's Student Advisory Council, and I'm speaking to all of you today because I believe that student boys should continue to be taken seriously. Happy Black History Month. Um, to all of those participating, I hope that this month has been full of celebration and pride for everyone.
And I'd like to start, um, by sharing a story of a co-location with the District 75 School that I've experienced. This is in support of the co-locations that are placed on today's agenda to start. Our mornings often begin with giving morning announcements together on the loudspeaker, where two students from each school share a joke together and laughter echoes throughout the hallways. The day progresses with each of us waving to each other in the hallways and walking to classes together. But what's made our schools change for the better is the efforts made by students supportive adults
and families to transition from having each school exist in their own separate spaces, to growing comfortable with each other. The incorporation of our Best Buddies program where students from both schools spend their free time together in the cafeteria has fostered genuine conversations that have made my school community more inclusive, diverse, and protective of every student's background. I have the privilege of attending a school where the teachers and students from both schools are able to look out for each other. I wanted to share this story to show that when co-locations are done intentionally, they have the cap capability of strengthening schools and making them safe in integrative spaces that parents can feel comfortable sending their children to.
Secondly, I'd like to speak on contracts. Agenda number three, the proposed contract with the National Opinion Research Center for system-Wide Program evaluation services. It seems that this contract aims to provide evaluation services that go beyond using surveys to analyze a student's performance. I'm just wondering if there is a student voice component, like a student focus group, where students are able to give teachers and administrators insight on how schools can support their learning. Nobody understands students and their needs better than themselves. And I'm wondering if the National Opinion Research Center offers needs assessments, focus groups or reviews, potential research-based programs with students,
not just teachers and administrators. Giving students the opportunity to advocate for themselves might give our schools the vital information they need to support their students. Academically, we should continue to identify services that aim to tackle the root cause of obstacles young people face with navigating the school system. On the topic of contracts, I also noticed last month when we were talking about contracts, a vendor came to speak before the PEPs and that really surprised me. The time we have for public comment is limited. Every minute spent marketing a product is a minute not listening to students, parents, and educators who rely on these meetings to speak about pressing issues that are affecting their beloved schools.
The PEP is special because it's one of the very few spaces where the New York City public school community at large can speak directly to decision makers. And it's our job to protect that right for everyone. If we value student voice, not just in decision making, but in creating safe and inclusive environments, we can show young people that they can belong and make change in their communities. Validating and centering student advocacy will allow young people to open up to trusted adults in their schools and share what academic and social obstacles they need support with. I ask that you all continue to be open to student voices and look within your schools when in need of guidance. Thank you. Thank you Panel, panel member Nessa.
Good evening Everyone. Happy Black History Month, lunar New Year, Ramadan and L. My name is Julia Nassif. I'm a senior at Ville High School, a student leader and someone who cares deeply about fairness, safety, mental health, and student voice. I've served, I've served on student councils and advisory committees because I believe policies should reflect the experiences of the people they affect, especially students. I'd like to begin with the contracts agenda, particularly agenda item one, regarding related services for students with disabilities. I appreciate that this step reflects progress toward
addressing ongoing service gaps. Strengthening strengthening accountability through a vetted provider list is part of the progression toward preventing delays and ensuring students receive the supports outlined in their educational plans. Moving forward, this momentum should continue through stronger workforce recruitment, retention strategies, earlier service matching and transparent tracking systems so families and schools can quickly identify and resolve concerns. The goal should be not only to respond to gaps, but to stop them before they occur.
Regarding today's school utilization proposals with District 75, inclusion must be intentional. Shared buildings should include structured collaboration between school leaders, joint professional development, and inclusive school-wide events that bring students together clear communication with families, equitable shared use agreements, and incorporating student voice into planning decisions can help ensure that co-located communities feel unified rather than divided. I have personally heard from a teacher who taught in a mixed classroom of students
with disabilities and students without disabilities, and he shared that it was the most effective classroom he has ever had. He described stronger peer support, higher engagement, and a deeper sense of community. Experiences like this show that when inclusion is implemented thoughtfully and supported with the, with the right resources, it benefits all students. Inclusion is not simply about placement. It is about access, dignity, high expectations, and meaningful participation. With continued intentional planning, we can move from managing challenges to truly resolving them and ensuring every student feels supported and valued.
Another issue I'd like to address is the anxiety many students are experiencing related to immigration enforcement and ice. The fact that this issue is not frequently discussed in some school spaces is in itself concerning because it does not necessarily reflect the experiences or fears that students may be carrying. Even when enforcement is not incur occurring near schools, the fear itself can impact student mental health, academic focus, and overall sense of safety. Students may worry about their families during the school day showing how uncertain uncertainty can affect wellbeing and learning.
Schools should continue providing clear, know your rights information and reinforcing that they are safe spaces for all students regardless of immigration status. Safety must include not only physical protection, but also emotional and psychological security across these items. The central theme is trust. Students feel safe, safest when communication is clear, when policies reflect equity and when decisions are made with consideration of both physical and emotional safety. Thank you. Thank you very much. I always, I always amazed when I hear our student
panel members speak and they really speak with such clarity and, and, and obviously do their homework and research. So, uh, I want to thank you both, uh, for your presentation and urge you to continue to stay involved with the panel. I appreciate it. Um, we're gonna prepare now to move into the, uh, voting portion of the meeting. And I wanted to just, uh, review the rules that we'll be following during the, uh, public comments, uh, uh, period during public comment periods. Everyone who is signed up to speak on specific agenda items will be allotted up to two and a half minutes. I will ask our Secretary, secretary Nathan to call forward speakers from the signup sheets
and keep an eye on the clock to ensure speakers finish within the allotted time, uh, that's, that's allotted to them. Additional time will be provided as necessary to help facilitate comments that may require translation. We will call speakers up in groups of five. The clock will indicate the amount of time remaining for each speaker. And a light will flash when there is one minute remaining so that speakers know when their time is about to expire. At the conclusion of each speaker's time, we will move on to the next speaker. If a speaker is not present when their name is called, we will move on to the next speaker. Once you, uh, once we've done this, you will not be able
to reclaim your spot in the queue. This portion of public comment is only for agenda items being voted on at tonight's meeting. If you accidentally signed up to comment during this section, but wish to comment on other matters, please see one of the DOE staff, uh, located throughout the audience who will move you into the next section. Again, comments during the public comment section are for agenda items that are being voted on and discussed at tonight's meeting. Um, the first voting item on the agenda is the approval of our minutes from the January 28th meeting. Is there a motion to adopt the minutes from January 28th?
Is that a motion for unanimous consent? By the way, is there any yet motion for unanimous consent? Motion? Is there a second to the motion for unanimous consent? Is there any objection to unanimous consent hearing? No objection to unanimous consent. The minutes of January 28th are adopted. Um, We will now move to open, uh, student comment, period. I will call the student speakers and you can make your way down to the microphone on either side of the aisle. Um, Abid maddi, Vinny dong. Um, Jocelyn ti Grayson MI think it's probably Delius.
Yeah, if you are at the mic, you can begin speaking. Hello everyone. Uh, my name is Abby Mahi. I'm 16 years old. I'm a sophomore in high school. Um, and to introduce more about myself in this bag, um, I worked on Mayor ma Donny's, uh, electoral campaign and worked under the current commissioner of, uh, the Office of Mass Engagement, Tasha Van Kin. Um, and to begin every student deserves equity, especially in education. And if anyone knows about equity, I think it'd be me. But what this proposal is about, the co-location
of Bryant High School is what I and other students and teachers deem as an equitable. It's an easy way for people to fix their problems for the DOE to patch their holes. And I have many gripes with the DOE, but something I wanna point out centrally is the cost of this proposal. Not to me as a student per se, or to teachers Exactly, but to the families who send their children to Bryant High School working class families. Right now, the city is in a huge deficit of $2.2 billion. And whoa. And that will balloon to is $10.4 billion in the next fiscal year.
And how much will all of this cost the extra staff, teachers and administration social workers? It could easily be over a million. Are we lesser students? They are lesser students. District 75 students deserve the same quality of education as we do. So I ask that you provide as, as the DOE, provide equitable resources for them while also maintaining and boosting resources for community schools like Bryant High School and serve all schools in the New York City area and school district appropriately.
Thank you. Thank you. You can, my name is Grayson McDonald and my, and I'm talking about my road in front of my school. When I was in kindergarten to second grade, my road was smooth, but when I was in third grade and fourth, it turned into like gravel. Then when I was playing outside with my friends, some of my friends will get hurted will hurt and me too. And we would need it to go to the nurse's offices
or go home. So I hope you could fix the road in front of my school. And my school was PS 3 98. Great. Bryson, that was very, very well done. Very good testimony. Thank you. Um, and we're, we're taking notes now, so we'll follow up. Oh, could you repeat the school number again? Three. Okay. 3 98. 3 98. Oh, I don't know. Uh, the next speaker. Good evening panel members and members of our community. My name is Jocelyn Perez and I'm here today alongside my classmates, Abu Natasha and Cleveland.
Thank you all for giving this opportunity for us to speak Our voices we share to advocate for the addition of a career in technical education or A CTE annex to our campus. Our building serves three schools and a large surrounding community, which makes it an important educational space, but also one that can stretch beyond its capacity. Right now there is only five N-Y-S-C-D approved CT programs available in old District 25. This severely limits access to hands-on career focus, learning for students who want it and need it. Many of us learn best when we can connect our schools
to real world skills, but our currently physical space does not allow us for those type of CTE programs. For example, our current space cannot accommodate a culinary or cosmetology program every year. Participatory budgeting. Students repeatedly asked for clubs and programs such as cyber related programs like cybersecurity, video game creations, cosmetology and cooking. These requests show a clear interest in career pathways. Unfortunately, these programs are far beyond our school budget and especially without the proper space equipment and facilities. As a Title I school,
our students deserve equi equitable access to opportunities that prepare us for life after high school. Our current school administrative supports multiple pathways for students recognizing the success that does not look the same for everyone during the ongoing economic challenges. Our city experiencing career-focused skills benefit not only students, but New York City as a whole by helping build a stronger and more prepared workforce. These types of long-term planning reflects a clear portrait of what a future graduate from our campus should look like. Skilled, adaptable, and ready for the next step. Whether that is college career or both, we respectfully ask for the panel
for educational policy to support the creation of a CT annex for our campus. This being our first PEP meeting. This the moment represents the launch of student advocacy for a CT annex on the Flushing campus. This investment will benefit our students, our school, and our broader community. Thank you. Thank you. Oh, they did. They weren't gonna give testimony. Oh, okay. It's Vinny. Um, Good evening. My name is Vinny Dong. I'm a sophomore at Queens High School for the sciences. And today I'm here to echo the voices of the panel and the students that have spoken and will speak today.
Today I like to talk about the importance of increasing student, student voice and student opinions in the decisions DDOE makes every single day. As students, we experience the direct outcomes, the results, consequences of the de decisions the DOE makes every single day. If we are the one who are facing the outcomes of the DOE'S decision, it is the students who should have a voice in those decisions. Today I am here to empower students to call
for the DOE to increase student engagement in making policy, deciding policy, or deciding actions from personal experience. With this being my fifth pep meeting, I have seen a lot of people speak before this panel From October of last year. When I have started for my first time, there has not been a lot of students that have spoken before. This pep From October, I have only seen two, three. Today's the most amount of students I have ever seen speak.
If the DOE makes decisions that affect students every single day, it should be the students who should be able to come to comment and to give opinions about what they think the DOE should do. Today I am adjoined by my fellow classmates back there and today we will make a comment on things that would matter to us the most. Thank you. Thank you. The remaining student speakers are Stephanie Zao and Lila Torres. Wow. Um, first I would like to say great job to all the students, how, who have spoke so far,
especially the student members. 'cause you guys did great. It definitely does not sound like it's any of your guys' first time and, um, you did better than some of the adults in this room. Okay. Okay. Um, good evening everyone. My name is Lila Torres. Um, I go to school in the Bronx. I hope you all having a great evening so far. Great day. Um, I would just like to start off by saying hello to the chancellor. Um, and I fully support him. I hope you're having a great time in office so far. Um, now I would like to let everybody know I'm 11 years, 11 years old. I'm in sixth grade. I'm on the basketball team.
I'm on the cheer squad and I'm in debate. I have cheer practice from two 40 to four 15 today and basketball from four 15 to 5 45 and debate from two 40 to 4 45. Um, and I'm here today. I had a game yesterday in basketball and I have a game tomorrow. My point with all that is that students have important things to do too. They don't just come here with like nothing else to do. Like you guys might have to call out of your out of work to do it. They have to call out of sports and other afterschool curricular activities. Okay. I'm running outta time with Mario. Okay. Now for like more important stuff.
We've had like a, this busing, we have this busing contract currently for about three-ish years now. I don't think it was a great idea 'cause we're paying people for doing a poor job. That's like when a parent is in a store and their kid's throwing a tantrum and they're like, oh, here I'm gonna buy you something to be quiet and get up it. We shouldn't be re rewarding bad behavior. Um, okay. Um, now I'd like to bring up how our teachers are behaving and talking to students because I have an actual question for everybody in this room. Do you think it's okay for other students to be calling kids retarded or calling them autistic? It's not. Yeah. So I just wanted to say, uh, like a few,
like a month ago, um, one of the teachers told one of the kids who wasn't behaving, if you don't, if you don't stop, I'm going to report you to the dean. And he didn't. And then she goes, I just wanna say that there's a school in my campus that's a D 75 school. And they were like, oh, I'm gonna send you to D 75, where the kids also don't know how to act. I don't think that's appropriate if we're getting in trouble for saying that to other students who adults shouldn't be saying that, oh my God, I gotta hurry up. Um, and um, one of the teachers was like using Google Translate to speak 'cause he was quote unquote being lazy that day, quoted by him. And then he was like, it was speaking slow. So he's like, wow, even Google translates being autistic.
I said, wow, that's not an appropriate comment. And then he goes, oh, well it's because when kids weren't taking vaccines and stuff when I was a kid, none of them had autism or any of those other things. And he went on about that for like five minutes. I dunno how it's appropriate to say to 12. And um, 12 year olds, 11 year olds, 13 year olds. And then one last thing about the same teacher the other few weeks ago before break, um, my class had an incident with that teacher because he like, if you guys dunno what the pace for test is, look that up after I'm done speaking. Um, he was being sex. Sex. You know, your time has expired. I've given you a lot of extra time, so you have to wrap up.
I am. Thank you. Um, like, blah, she was like being sexist and body shaming people. And then the next day after that, all the kids had to write reports. Parents got emails and texts about it. And then my friend's class, he kept on telling her to go on. She passed out. Um, she went to the ER and he made her say sorry the next day. And her mom was informed, so she was like in the the er. Um, that's all. Um, great job as student members, you guys should be able to vote because you guys are the ones getting affected by citizens panel member h Those last words and get those last words in should Be lowered. So then kids who are being affected by it are still gonna be in the public school in the year after. And I don't think we should be putting panel members on the spot right when they're on stage.
Thank you. Have great night, Stephanie. Um, Okay, so that concludes the, uh, just by that portion of the meeting, we'll move on to the, uh, next voting item. And that's a consideration of contract. So I'll ask this. Oh Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead. Um, hello. Sorry. We just wanted, um, to, uh, congratulate the student that spoke before the pep. Um, Vinny was right when he said that like, there is an unprecedented, like there is an incredible amount of turnout for students coming here before the pep. And we just wanted to say that that is something that you should all be very proud of
and something that you should be more encouraged to do and share with your school community. Um, we all, like me and Julia, appreciate the research and the preparation and the practice that has gone into speaking before the PEP and advocating for your schools. It's very clear that you all are civically engaged and care about the communities that you're in. So we just wanted to acknowledge that and, uh, we hope that this continues in future pep meetings as well. But we're here to support you, um, at future meetings. Did we want you wanna speak? Also, If you Wanna join Advisory.
Did you wanna start? Yeah, Sure. So the reason why we're up on the stage is because of the Chancellor Student Advisory Council. And we wanna just give it a big shout out in Amalia Orman because it's such an amazing program and it causes every, uh, p like every person from different districts, from different boroughs to come together and to create one goal, which is to better New York City public schools. So I hope everybody searches it up and tries to join. Thank you. Great, thank you.
The next agenda item is consideration of contracts. I'll ask Secretary Nathan to please, uh, introduce the resolution. The resolution up for approval is entitled Resolution to Enter into Contract Agreements. And tonight this consists of items one through 11 and 14 on the agenda. Is there a motion from the panel to, uh, accept the resolution Motion? Surely. Is there a second? Second. Second. It has been moved and seconded. We'll now begin public comment. Okay. The speakers who have signed up. Tiffany Rodriguez. Lemme just Mike Robles,
Amil Padilla, Quentin Mein and James Jennings. Yeah, that's all on con. That's it. So if you get to the microphone, you can begin speaking. Sure. Just wanted to be sure. Yeah. Good evening everybody. Thanks. Sorry. Uh, thank you for having us again and I appreciate being first this time versus the last time where we may have not been, uh, seen appropriately. My name is Mike Robles, uh, for the agenda, uh, I'm a parent
of two young girls over at PS 1 91. I come here as I stand together with the folks over at the parents at Center, uh, at the, the center school and the CAS and also the MSC, uh, which in light of everything seems to, uh, have an opportunity for us to speak together. Awesome. I want to thank you doc, uh, chancellor for one of the words you said, I think Is this talking about a utilization proposal? Uh, I thought this was public forum. No, no, It's a contract. We're in contracts. We just made a motion. Okay. So at The end of the meeting if you wanna talk about Absolutely.
Yeah. So just come, unfortunately we're back at the end of the meeting again, but it's, uh, that'll be an open comment period. There were other people whose, whose names I called? No, all of them. That was it. Okay. That's it. Okay. They signed up in both places. Yeah. Hmm. No other contract. I gave all five names. I'll just, is Emil Padilla, uh, Quentin Mezzan and James Jennings? No. No. Are they here? I guess now I'm on, You're here. Raise your Hand. Is there anyone that name was called or had intended to speak on the contracts?
Okay. Okay, so we'll now move to panel member comments there. Any, any panel member wish to make comment on any contract items? Yes. Panel member Casre. Thank you so much. Uh, Camille Casre, Brooklyn Borough President Appointee, uh, I wanted to, Uh, call out a change that was made to the contract's agenda that, um, is showing up on the website right now. There's a last page under item, um, sorry, last line under item number 14. And there were technical changes made to previous contracts.
The majority of these are somewhat inconsequential. The difference of 50 cents differences in, uh, writings or maybe the, the name of a vendor was a little bit backwards. But, um, one item that ha is listed as a technical change is a material change for literally the difference of $1 million more than what we voted on. This is a request for an authorization with Kiddom Inc. Um, and it is listed
as an incorrect option, amount of $1 million where the correct option amount is $2 million. So, because this is such an extreme change, and I believe the PEP needs to vote on anything this large, and, uh, whether that's a rule or not, I think you would all agree that we should be revolting on this. Um, so I'd like to propose that we backtrack item number 32 from our last meeting and put it up for another vote on the next meeting. Agenda. Thoughts
Second. Just gimme, gimme a second. Can I just clarify, Camille, you're saying our last, um, meeting Top line, So you're saying we voted on this and then there was a change afterwards, correct? Yes. Okay. So, so what I'm trying to understand, you're asking for us to reconsider, the contract has already been adopted, so you're asking for a motion to reconsider. So the contract was adopted as $1 million option, but the DOE is trying to sneak through another $1 million. I'm sorry to I I I think the best way to proceed is to ask
for an explanation to, to verify that that is actually correct and Yes. Hold, hold, hold it. Hold. Can you hear me? We stand? Yes. Okay. Um, so Camille, technical changes are allowed for what, what is deemed to be, um, immaterial changes. So I think what you're referencing is an option. The option gives us the option to renew a contract. It's not a guarantee, and as I understand it, for my team, it was a clerical error and not a material change. Okay. Then, then I have a question.
Did we vote on the wrong amount last month? Was it supposed to be 2 million last month and Clerically was written as 1 million? The the 2 million is the option. So it's not the base. You, you voted on the base contract term with the options. The options was, the option was correct, but the amount was incorrect. Can I give you this document and you can explain it to me? Okay. No, no. We're, I'm gonna rule on this and I'm gonna rule that, that motion, I'm gonna rule that the motion to re let me finish. I'm gonna rule that demo motion is out of order and that what we need to do is, is after the meeting we'll sort of come together
and see what actually, 'cause it's a lot of questions that are being raised at this point. So my rule, the ruling is the demo motion is out of order. Okay. Okay. So then like, are we even able to vote on these contracts at all? Because there is a line called technical changes. It doesn't have, But it's in relation to that one contract. No, there it's five or six different items and there's nothing here on this that says we can, um, vote no to the technical changes. So if we vote to all of these contract items, that includes the technical changes. If, if, as I understand it, if you, if you choose to,
you do not have to vote on the technical changes. You're not, you're not required to do that. Okay. Yeah, but you're gonna put them through. So, so procedurally would they vote no on the, just the changes or would they vote no on the entire contract? Um, they could vote no on the changes. Yeah. Uh, chair, partner, uh, I I'm sorry, I was at the rest restroom. I missed it. I, I, I wanted to make a motion to amend. So just remove the technical changes. Is that something that was brought up yet or not? And if anyone seconds that To remove the technical changes. I'll second that. Motion. Second. Okay. So that mo Yes, that motion would be in order to remove the technical changes.
Okay. So is there a second to that motion? Second. Okay. Is there any discussion on the motion to remove the, and that as soon that's related to all the contracts, Whatever's in the technical changes, Whatever technical changes. Okay. So, um, is there any discussion? Let's proceed to a vote Secretary called the role, And when I call your name, please indicate how you wish to vote. A yes vote is to remove the technical changes from, um, being considered tonight and a no is to keep it on the agenda. Okay. Um, It, it needs time. Is there a motion? I think everybody agrees. Is there a motion for unanimous consent? Yes. On this? Have everybody agrees then I to do roll call? Okay.
So does anybody object to unanimous consent on this? I we can't interrupt the vote. I think you, Well I'm asking is there objection to unanimous? No. Okay, so the motion is adopted. Thank You. Thank Is any other? Okay. Thank you. Chair Barkman. Yeah. Any other comments related to contracts? Any other panel member wish to offer? Any comment? Okay. I guess we can proceed to a vote on the contracts. Oh yeah. Um, there are no recusals and so when I call your name, please indicate how you wish to vote. If you wish to vote differently on any item, please let me know. When I call your name. Uh, member Alizea.
Yes. To removing the technical changes authorities in Oh yes, thank you. Yes to all. Uh, member Altman? Yes. To all Member Ban? Yes. To all Member Katti? Yes. To all member Dean Stag? Yes. To all Member Fair? Yes. To all Member Garcia? Yes. Is Tony shot off? No. No. Okay. Um, member Hannah Jones?
Yes. To all, Uh, member Hassan? Yes. Two agenda items. One through 11 and 14. And that's all of them. That's All. Member ho Yes. To all Member Esto? Yes. To all Member Jimenez. Um, can you come back to me? Sure. Um, member Ong? Yes. To all member? Some yes. For SAP, Mr. O and Chair Ner Dole. And back to you Member Humanez. Um, I'm just looking at the number of which one
I'm going to abstain. Sorry. That's okay. Yes to all. And abstain from item number seven. Number seven. So the resolution passes and for all, but item seven, there were 16 votes in favor and on and no abstentions and no na votes for item seven. There were 15 in favor. One abstention and no na votes. And So the resolution, Resolution is adopted. Okay, we'll now move to the next resolution. Consideration of proposals for school utilization when the secretary introduced the resolution. Yep. On one second, Gimme some talent.
That was an easy one. Okay. Uh, the resolution up for approval is entitled Resolution for Significant Changes in School Utilization for Queens. And this consists of one, the proposed grade expansion of Hunters Point Elementary School, 30 Q3 84 from a K through five school to a K through eight school, beginning in the 20 26 20 27 school year, and the reciting of grades K through three of Hunters Point Elementary School from building Q3
75 to new building Q3 41 and co-location with P 0 0 4 Q at Q3 41. A new site of existing district 75 school PSQ 0 0 4 75 Q 0 0 4 in building Q3 41 in the 20 27 28 school year. Excuse me. Next, the proposed opening and co-location of P eight 11 Q at Q zero 80. A new site of existing district 75 school
PSQ 8, 11 75 Q eight 11 with PS 80, the Thurgood Marshall Magnet School of multimedia communication, 28 Q zero 80, and building Q 80 in the 20 26 20 27 school year. Next, the proposed opening and co-location of P 1 77 Q at Q 1 0 9. A new site of existing district 75 school PSQ 1 77, 75 Q1 77 with Jean Nzi Intermediate School,
29 Q 1 0 9, and building Q 1 0 9 in the 20 26 20 27 school year. Next, the proposed opening and co-location of P 4 38 Q at Q4 45. A new site of new district 75 school PSQ 4, 38 75 Q4 38 with William Cullen Bryant High School 30 Q4 45, and building Q4 45 in the 20 26 20 27 school year. And last, the proposed reciting of Queens High School
for the sciences at York College 28 Q 6 87 from building Q 7 74 to building Q4 97 and co-location with P 4 38 Q at Q4 97. A new site of new district 75 school PSQ 4, 38, 75, Q4 38, and building Q4 97 in the 20 26 20 27 school year. Back to you Chief Faulkner. Great. Is there a motion to accept the resolution? Motion?
Okay. Is there a second? I give both. Second. Second in motion. Okay, so we'll now move to public comment. Superintendent. Yeah. Oh, is the superintendent district 75 District Dr. McCoy? Dr. McCoy. Good evening. My name is Dr. Keisha McCoy and I'm the proud superintendent. Take the sign down please. I'm sorry, is blocking me? No, no, no. Oh, okay. I'll do it again. Good evening. My name is Dr. Keisha McCoy and I am the proud superintendent
of District 75. Woo. Thank you. Tonight you will consider five space utilization proposals that if approved would create much needed additional space for district 75 students in Queens. Over the past several years, we have experienced increased demand for district 75 seats. Together these five proposals essential to increase the number of students who can be served by District 75 and to offer D 75 students school locations
closer to their homes. A few words about each proposal for proposal one and five D 75 is excited and grateful to be part of new inter internet, inter, sorry, intentionally designed inclusive spaces in D 28 and D 30 for proposals two, three, and four. I have had the chance to engage deeply with the communities of Q 1 0 9, Q 80, and Bryant High School.
In addition to the joint public hearings, I've had the privilege of participating in community conversations, walkthroughs and SLT meetings. Some of the most common community questions that come up include safety and accessibility as I have shared with each of these school communities. D 75 has deep experience in co-location. As a district 75 former principal, I had six co-located buildings. Safety is my first priority, a superintendent
and safety for all students and staff in co-located buildings will be prioritized and will be achieved in terms of accessibility. D 75 would not place any student in a building that was not accessible for that student. During community engagement, additional questions were raised about available space and these questions were addressed at the offices of district and space planning.
Given my experience with co-location and my engagement with each community, I am confident that if approved by the PEP D 75 students would contribute to the community of each of the proposed schools and thrive. I ask for your support for all proposals. Thank you. Thank you. I am Dr. Venice, proud superintendent of Queen South High Schools, and I'm here to speak in favor of the reciting of Queens High School for the sciences to the hillside location end,
I would like to start by thanking principal, Dr. De Jesus, our staff and educators, our scholars and families for their commitment to excellence despite the facility change, uh, challenges they have faced. I know Pep after Pep, you have heard from our brilliant scholar VI Dong about the facility and the environment challenges. Yes. At Queens High School for the sciences and how they face these challenges year over year, the reciting brings the possibility of hope for a better learning environment for generations to come.
The reciting of Queens High School for the sciences will allow scholars, staff, and families to learn and be welcomed into an environment that is fitting for a true high school experience, a school with a cafeteria, a gym, stem labs, and music and art rooms. It will allow for the continued growth of the student population while also addressing class size mandates. But most importantly, it will give what is the number one school in the city and state, the principal,
the educators, the families and scholars, scholars like Vinny Dong, not only what they deserve, not only what they've spent years advocating for, but what they've earned. Thank you. Good Evening, everyone. My name is Lisa Algo and I have the honor and privilege of being the community superintendent of District 30 New York City Public Schools is proposing to expand Hunters Point Elementary School PS 3 84, from K to five school to K to eight school, beginning 20 26, 20 27 school year.
New York City School is also proposing to recite PS three 80 four's, grades three K to three, along with pre-K from Q3 75 to new building Q3 41 parcel C in the 20 27 20 28 school year. This plan was generated through a long-term engagement process with the District 30 Community Education Council committee, and brought a community which included discussions and presentations at several CEC 30 meetings,
a virtual community conversations, and a survey that was completed by over 700 district 30 community members to gather feedback on how new building Q3 41 can best meet district needs and priorities. These engagements highlighted a strong desire to add both elementary school and middle schools seats in Long Island City, specifically in the Hunters Point and Court Square neighborhoods as soon as possible. If this proposal is approved, it will respond
to growing demand and the priorities expressed by the District 30 community by adding middle school seats to the neighborhood next year and allowing PS 3 84 to serve more elementary school classes. Additionally, this proposal, if approved, will increase seats by expanding PS 3 84, a high performing elementary school in Long Island City. If approved, this proposal will also provide PS 3 84 students continuity,
ensuring they can remain at a high quality school alongside their peers and staff through middle school. Additionally, New York City School is proposing to open and co-locate a new site, section K to five site at an existing district 75 school PS Q 0 0 4 with PS 3 84 in Q 33 41 in the 20 27 20 28 school year. In an effort to meet the projected need for more district 75 seats in district 30 and Queens.
The proposal will allow for opportunities for collaboration and partnership across PS 3 84 and PS 0 0 4 Q At 3 41. Thank you very much. Okay. I will call the speakers who have signed up to speak on the proposals. Um, council member Debra Alexander. William Petsky, um, Georgia Lyo. Is there another superintendent? Oh, I'm sorry. Yep. She, oh, please. Sorry. I'm sorry. Go ahead. There's two more
Please. Superintendent. Well, good. You can begin. Good evening panel. No, no, we have to have, no, we, we have a couple more superintendents. I think we've, We're Right here. They're right there. Come please come forward. No, I didn't, I didn't. Let me just give you online my apologies. Dr. Hus, superintendent of Queens North High School, I am speaking on the proposal to co-locate the 75 at our Bryant High School in the school year of 2026 and 2027. Um, I actually can't say more than our young ladies who said it best, um, but I do wanna emphasize two points.
First, I think, Julia, you talked about structure for our student in both schools to be autonomous and to collaborate. I wanna share that we have 22 buildings for our 25 schools. Eight of our buildings co-located the 75 program. So we as a district team are absolutely experienced and positioned to support the co-location. In collaboration with my colleague, Dr. McCoy and her team, we understand structures, we have systems in place to support both population seamlessly to ensure safety and security for both population. And then Cassandra, I wanna thank you for your words.
You said that you took it right out. Our job is to teach student reading and writing, more importantly, to teach them to be human. And when our students of both D 75 and gen ed population see each other in the hallway, they are not learning about empathy. They're experiencing empathy. They learn love, they learn patient. We're talking about integration, we're talking about understanding. And we can't do that over a book, over the TV or iPad, but we have to see each other in the eyes. We have to talk to each other, shake each other's hands, and this co-location allow that forum for both population. And I strongly urge your consideration in approving this
proposal to support our D 30 families. Good afternoon. Uh, good evening. I'm Dr. Eric Blake, the superintendent of District 28, and I'm here to support the co-location of District 75 with PS 80. This is not about adults, it's about the children and their families. Every child deserves to attend a school that is safe, well resourced and tailored to their needs. And also in close proximity. There's no point of having students being bused all over the city when these are our families in the same district. So I'm here to support the co-location of
District seven five, along with PSA to the principal is there, is also in full support. And I'm willing to work along with my colleague, Dr. McCoy, to get this thing through. So I'm urging your support for this proposal to be approved. Thank you. Okay. Before, just let, before we move to the public speakers, have we heard from all the superintendents who wish to speak? Okay. Good evening panel. Um, this is gonna be brief, which is unusual for me, but, um, my name's Debra Alexander. I am co-president of the Citywide Council on High Schools, and I could not speak about, uh, QHHS any better than the students
or, um, superintendent, um, ven ness. So, um, I'm just gonna urge you, um, on behalf of our council who passed two resolutions in favor of this reciting to approve the reciting. Um, QHHS is, um, is amazing and I wanna applaud the students for not only advocating for themselves, but paying it forward. Because a lot of their future classmates are the ones who are gonna benefit. So it's pretty, a pretty amazing civics lesson, uh, and lesson in kindness. Um, you are one panel tonight voting, um, making one vote,
but this has been many years in the making and there have been a lot of people advocating for this for, for a really long time. So thanks to all of them. Um, and, uh, as a, a tenure veteran of CEC 30, I wanted to also jump in and say, um, I'm really excited to see the, um, expansion of, of, um, Hunter's Point Elementary. And I encourage everybody to look at that neighborhood holistically because it's for 13 years that I've been around, it's like a slide rule where everyone is sort of putting out fires and you need to look at
that neighborhood and plan for it, because elementary school kids have to go to middle school and middle school kids have to go to high school. So please don't just put out the fires, look and plan for that neighborhood in particular. Thank you so much. Hi, uh, I'm talking about the PS three four expansion. Uh, my name is William Petski and I'm a parent of a kindergarten applicant. And so there's probably like a 50% chance we'll get in, I mean, we'll know, know in a month from now, uh, but just based on the lottery number. Uh, so expanding PS 3 84 q to a QQ to eight
K to eight school brings stability to a neighborhood where it is sorely lacking. It brings the neighborhood ability for families to envision themselves in Long Island City for the long term. So what is Long Island City that I'm talking about? I'm talking about the hard geographic boundaries on all sides. Queensboro Bridge at the top, and on the side you have the sunny side train yard and the Newton Creek and, uh, which borders into Brooklyn. And then on the other side, east River. So that's, if you squint at the map, it's a trying. And, uh, PS 3 84 is at one points of those triangles. And the, you know,
since these boundaries are, are hard boundaries that are hard to cross for pedestrians, it creates a strong sense of community within the neighborhood, uh, for those people that live and work there. So that has made it very, so it's been a very appealing to as of late to young families. However, this demand has outpaced the supply of school seats, uh, as such many families have had had to send their children outside the hard boundaries of the neighborhood, which are dangerous or impossible to pass for children are even adults. And so, uh, another families just don't even
want to stay for the long term. They abandon the neighborhood entirely. So, coming back to the triangle, uh, within this area, there are three densely populated pockets, and PS 3 84 serves one of them. And so by expanding this to K through eight that serves, that creates stability into one of these three pockets. And one of the other two pockets already has a K through eight, that's PS 78. And then the third pocket, there's a plan, uh, to give, get a K through five, and then eventually a middle school by 2031. So the CEC and Office of District Planning came up with a creative plan over the last year with community such
as parents like myself, talking about a K through eight in PS three four, which builds stability eventually within a few years to the entire neighborhood of the all, all three of the major densely pop, uh, populated pockets of the neighborhood. So, um, let's vote yes and make it work. Thank you. Hi, my name is Georgia Nu and I'm the chapter leader, uh, of Bryant High School. And I have been a teacher at Bryant High School for 30 years. I'm here to speak against this colocation because it will not serve district 75 students
and it will not serve Brian. I have been in the system long enough to know that sometimes decisions have been made before the final vote takes place, but I still hope that you prove me wrong and you'll vote against this plan. I'm also in the system long enough to have seen how Bryan High Schools and other ne Bryan High School and other neighborhood schools like Bryan fight for their survival. Who is undermining them the same DOE that is supposed to protect them. The DOE has shown contempt and disregard for zone schools like Bryant
for a very long time now. It has undermined our reputation and it has undermined our enrollment. I'll give a couple of examples from the Long Island City area, where for years now, under the pretext of choice, the DOE has created a very expensive mess at the back of the taxpayers, directly effective affecting Bryan. Over 20 high schools have been open in the last 25 years. Most of them have been allowed to directly or indirectly select students fostering academic segregation. Yes, academic segregation
that is not far off race segregation and socioeconomic segregation. The DOE decided that it was better to pay rent to house some of the schools in completely inappropriate converted office buildings when schools like Bryan remained under-enrolled. Recently, another school building for three and a half thousand seats was open on Northern Boulevard, very close to Bryan without even considering the effect that it was going to have on our school. It was not building flossing, it was not building Bayside.
It was not built in Whitestone where schools are needed and people are here telling you that schools are needed. They were built right across from Bryan. And again, there was an opportunity to fix things by moving existing schools into the building and leaving space for the D 75 programs and facilities that these 75 students deserve. It was also an opportunity to bring to Brian the nursing program that is now housed in the, in, in the new building to also support our students. Instead, the DOH chose to open three
new general education schools in the building, passing the bill to the taxpayers, the DOE fool, the dis 75 parents, I'm sorry, your time has expired, that their children will find placement. They're only to run This time has expired. First year of operation. I'm finishing please. One moment. I'm sorry. Your time has expired Because these decisions were voted by your committee. Just one moment. Okay, now you are, you want to open another, uh, school inside Brian mixing two high needs populations
and adding onto the taxpayers the expense of another administration and the remodeling needed. We asked for the cost we did not get, I'm Gonna have to ask you to wrap up. Your time has expired. I gave you additional time. No, I, excuse me. Excuse me. You need to follow the rules here. I I've given you additional time, but I I would have to do the same thing for every other speaker. So I've tried to be flexible, but your time has expired. Uh, are there any other speakers? Yes, I can submit it. Absolutely. Yes. You can submit written testimony. Yes. The next group of speakers are Daniel Lop Preti Lee
Alexis Hallo a, uh, Steven Menzer, Demaya Jean and Whitney tus. Okay. Good evening panel members. My name is Daniel Presti Lee and I'm a CEC 30 member speaking on my personal capacity. I'm a parent of a third grader at PS 34 Hunters Point Elementary and co PTA president at PS 34. And I'm here tonight in strong support of the per of the proposal to expand PS 34 into a middle school. As a longtime resident of this community, I have seen firsthand the tremendous growth in Long Island
City and the increasing demand for a local middle school. Our families are deeply invested in their neighborhood schools and PS three four has become a cornerstone of that commitment as a parent of of a 3D four student. I believe this expansion reflects thoughtful planning and responsible growth aligned with the needs of our district. As a resident, I know how important it is for families to have access to strong community-based middle school options. I respectfully urge the panel to approve the expansion of PS 3D four into a middle school and con,
and to continue supporting investments that strengthen District 30 and the Long Island City community. Thank you for your time. Good evening. My name is Alexis Ez. I'm a district 30 parent, a 20 year resident of District 30, and a member of CEC 30. Speaking in my personal capacity. Tonight I wanna express my support for a K three eight expansion of PS 3 84. We're seeing population growth all over western Queens in East Elmhurst, Jackson Heights, Astoria, and acutely in Long Island City. We are especially lacking in middle school seats. However, we've also seen a 55% increase in kindergarten
enrollment at PS 3 84 and a 65% increase in enrollment at neighboring PSIS 78. Over the last several months, I've participated in presentations by the Queen's District Planning Office to understand how they came to propose an expansion of PS 3 84 via community outreach and a public engagement survey in its current capacity, PS 3 84 is, it is at a utilization rate of 99% as a CEC 30 member. I have also heard directly from current PS 3 84 parents who are eager to keep their elementary age children in this
school for their middle school tenure. If this proposal is approved, it will respond to the priorities expressed by the District 30 community through the aforementioned engagement process and to help meet growing demand by adding middle school seats to the neighborhood next year and allowing PS 3 84 to serve even more elementary school classes. I also support the co-location of Hunters Point Elementary School and the PS 0 0 4 Q District 75 program at the new PS 3 41 Q building. Since the Office of Student Enrollment places students based on their individual needs rather than their district
of residence, but also aims to identify appropriate seats as close to a student's home as possible. This co-location just makes sense at present. Over half of district 75 students living within a mile and a half of PS 3 41 currently travel much longer distances to get to school. As the parent of a child with an IEP who re reserves receives multiple special education services in our community school, I know how important it's to be close to home. It's a huge relief to have both of my children serve by the same community school. By co-locating these school programs,
students will have access to rooms and amenities, specifically designed for district 75 students, including OT and PT rooms, a speech room, multipurpose room. And furthermore, creating an additional elementary school placement option in District 30 will help address the projected district 75 seats. Going forward in district 30, it'll give district 75 students access to new, new facilities specifically designed to meet their needs. I hope you will vote to approve this expansion and co-location. Thank you. Good evening, chair, chancellor and the panel. Uh, my name is Steven Mintzer
and I'm here to, in strong support of the district 25, uh, co-locations in three sittings. Um, I know this panel is gonna make the right choice and approve all these things. Um, the data is clear and the need is undeniable. Our communities need these seats and our students with disabilities need these opportunities. I'm here tonight to just thank you for your continued commitment to the meeting these needs. The expansion of and resit, uh, and sitting of two five programs across queens alongside strong community and academic schools leads to better outcomes for our students, families, and school communities alike. When specialized programs are placed thoughtfully
and proactively, everyone benefits art drive. Students deserve appropriate space stability and access to high quality programs close to home. These proposals move us closer to that goal and they reflect planning that centers students rather than postponing necessary action. I will continue to advocate for specialized programs in every building where they are needed. And I will continue to come here before this panel. And thank you for your leadership and your commitment to students with disabilities. And I'll see you next month in Brooklyn. You can Begin. Thank you. Hi, good evening. My name is Whitney Toussant. I am the co-president of CEC 30. Thank you for coming to my district tonight.
Um, we appreciate you being here. And I am in full support of the great expansion for PS 3 84. Not only am I the co-president of District 30, I'm a resident of Hunters Point. This has been in the works for a very long time. We've done a lot of community engagement around this and when I was president, I had to even reach out to our sitting Congresswoman ni of Velasquez to hurry up and get this building built because it was held up for so long, it was formerly known as Parcel C. So I'm very thankful to my partners in district planning
and at the SCA and I am so thankful that we worked really hard on this proposal to expand the grades in 3 84 to K to eight to give our community the much needed middle school seats. 'cause we heard that for years and we are in full support of this. And then also for not only the grade expansion, but the location of pre-K to third grade in the new building with our D 75 seats for K to five in that building. As we've heard, our D 75 students are often on buses for hours just to get to a location to
where they are close to. And these are our most vulnerable children. Um, I don't wanna take up too much time on that because I did see this fire from Bryant High School and I understand their concerns. I think a way that we could have gotten around some of the rhetoric if there was more information about what was gonna go on given to the public, because I wholeheartedly agree with, uh, Dr. McCoy, the superintendent for D 75 and what she said. I think D 75 co-locations are great. The elementary school that my child goes to, um, PSIS 78 is co-located with the D 75 school. And not only do these children's learn empathy,
they are living it when you are in a building with a D 75 program. And I think it is great, I think that more information should have been given out, um, to this, uh, to, to Bryant High School because some of the things I see on this flyer, they hurt me a little bit because I don't think the co-location with D 75, I never heard it go bad. And I really hope that the information is given to this community so that they know it is going to enrich their community and not hurt their community. And we have given Bryant their choice about co-locations before because Motion Picture High School was supposed
to be co-located there and we didn't do it because we fought for them and we listened to them. But I just cannot, in my heart of hearts, fight against the co-location for a D 75 school. Um, thank you very much. Go. So first I'd like to say good evening to all on the panel. I'm a 10th grader at at Queens High School for the sciences at York College, which hopefully it won't be at York College for much longer. Um, I like to share my experience of being A-Q-H-S-S student. So first at our school pe gosh, from periods one through five and I have PE period five,
which is the last one. The bad thing about that is that we're forced to leave at least 20 minutes before the period ends because we have to accommodate the, your college students who come in and they have the gym from 12 o'clock to two o'clock. However, our gym period ends at 1212, so we often leave around like 1150 and then we have 20 minutes, sometimes even 30 minutes to do. We're just dismissed and we don't have anything to do. So I like to say that a new building would be great for us
because it would make it safer. Like other than the extra 30 minutes we have after class, we also waste five minutes just getting to gym 'cause we have to cross the street, leave our own school, and it's very unsafe on Jamaica Avenue. Um, and just a new building. Oh, also the students often wait outside and they sit on the benches, which it works when it's warmer outside, but now there's snow everywhere. That's not a viable option anymore. So I'd like to say that a new building would help us. It would give us a safer space. We wouldn't have to waste time and get kicked out
and we would get to stay out inside in a heated environment. Thank you. And I hope you take this into consideration. There were a number of students who signed up just to speak on the proposal. So I'm going to call them now, so I didn't, we didn't get them in the earlier student open comment section. Um, um, Lillian Wang, uh, Logan Garr, Mandy Lee, we hung Chin and Eric Lee. You can begin. Um, good evening. My name is Eric Lee.
I'm a sophomore at Queens High School for the sciences and I'm incredibly honored to be speaking here and and proud of everyone who's spoken before me and who's going to speak after me. Our school has the honor to serve over 500 students. Yet for those 500 plus students, we share a single floor with your college. That severely limits the amount, the amount of clubs, as well as the amount of teams that are available for 500 plus students. We share a gym that is two blocks away, not conne,
not even connected to our main building. For 500 plus students. We have room, we have room with un unsatisfactory air conditioning that oftentimes leads to rooms being unheated or, uh, too cold, as well as occasionally making, uh, distracting noises that take away from academic learning for 500 plus students who have minimal natural lights and windows as well as cramped hallways that leads to difficulty between transitions. And lastly, for 500 plus students, we struggle
to maintain access to the library as well as difficulties maintaining, uh, testing rooms that are important, if not essential for the learning and growth of students. We need a form of change to address not only the issues I've mentioned, but also to ensure that current and future students alike are worried about studying instead of worry about how to get to the gym with a foot of, of, excuse me, with a foot of snow in the way you've heard enough from me. But now I think it's important to hear from all the students
that face these challenges on a daily basis. Thank you. Good evening. Uh, to the panel and those who are listening, I am we Hong Chen and I am a student. I am a software student at QHSS. And like my classmates at QHSS, we are here to advocate for new school building. I would like to share my experience at QHSS. Currently we only have 14 classrooms in our current building that is not enough classrooms to have enough enriching academic classes to, um, fulfill the needs
of our academically talented students to illustrate. That's, if you do the math, that's only 120 periods of classes that the principal can schedule. And that includes, um, all the required classes. And considering that we have a new school class size mandate that is not enough to schedule, um, schedule different elective classes that our school body needs and our student body needs and consider, uh, little space for flexibility when not
when, uh, in case things in our classrooms go wrong, such as, um, when there is heating issues or anything that in case that we cannot use that classroom. Considering this, I hope that you vote yes on this proposal and, uh, so that future generations can have a good and enriching academic experience. Thank you. The speaker on to my right. You the one gentleman over on the right speaker. Okay, you can go. Okay. Thank you. Hello Panel. Uh, I am a freshman at QHSS
and I would like to talk to you about music program. Oftentimes our music program, the room is too small to accompany all the different instrumentalists. I see times where there's barely enough room to walk around in and sometimes there isn't even enough space for people to play in. And this is very bad for us when we decide this and this could possibly demotivate some of our current students. And even Fuse the students who decide to try to learn something new
and go into music when they see how chaotic it could be. At times when this happens, it could take away future opportunities for these people later in life to go into music as quill or even just enjoy it as a pastime. Mm-hmm. And when we decide to host concerts that we do twice a year, once in winter, once in spring, we have to go to a separate auditorium slash torch, which is too small to accompany the entire orchestra. During the winter concert this year,
we had trouble fitting the entire orchestra on one stage to play. And even the audience was very little for how much people could have attended. There, there was little seats and there was even communication issues getting to be able to play in the auditorium. And uh, I feel like if we were to get a new building, this would be a chance to possibly fix many of these problems and help encourage people to playing music. Thank you. I would like to thank you Chairman and the rest of the panel for your time. Thank you. Um, greetings panel and my name is Mandy Lee.
I'm currently a sophomore at Queen Task for Sciences. And I just wanna take a moment to share the opportunities this new building will provide to the QHSS community. This isn't just about having a new space, it's about expanding what's possible at Queens High School for Sciences. A new building will make our school more accessible to the student population and allow us to finally grow our PSAL sports program. Right now in our school, we don't even have the basic teams like basketball or soccer available for students. With proper facilities, students will have more chances to compete, represent our school in build stronger school spirit.
It also transforms our learning environment. Currently, as stated before, we have 14 classes on one floor serving around 500 students. Many classrooms are small, cramped to even have pillars in the middle of the room. We've made the best of what we have, but we have, but we shouldn't have to settle. Two HSS is known as the top number one high school in New York City for its academic success. Our environment should reflect our academic success and this excellence, a new building meets more opportunity, more support, and more room for students to truly drive. We ask for your consideration and thank you for your time today.
The, the speaker was being modest. I I have heard that. Queens High School of Science with Frank Number one in the nation, not j Beyond New York City. So, uh, being modest there. Thank you. Be my left. Okay. Uh, good evening. I'm Stephanie Zoe, a current junior at the Queens High School for Sciences. Um, every year that I've been in my school, I've taken a visual arts class. And when I'm not in school, I tend to volunteer in the summers at a visual arts program for middle school students. So something that I've seen is important, both when I'm volunteering for students younger than myself
and at my own school as a student, is the space that we're in. Uh, when you have a physical space for an art classroom, you want like a large open classroom to move around in and large spaces that they can put their papers on to draw. And that's something that's kind of hard to do at my school. Uh, as we noted before, is that our classrooms can be cramped and small and our, our classroom is no exception to that. Uh, just earlier this morning, me and my classmates were trying to provide feedback on each other's work. And when trying to move chairs around or walking around the classroom to make our way to other students' desks, it was very hard to move around in. You have to spend a lot of time shimming
around people's backpacks and chairs. Uh, being able to have a classroom that's really designed to be in our classroom in the first place could be a great help to our school. And I think that it would allow more of my classmates who are interested in visual arts to consider having a visual arts course during the school year. Uh, thank you for considering our school tonight. Good e Good evening everyone. My name is Lily, no Yang, and I'm a freshman at Queens High School for the sciences. I'm here to share some experiences that we students at QHSS face every day. One issue we face in our current building is the heating system is broken and, and unpredictable.
One classroom can be extremely cold. For example, our science lab room, while other classrooms is, are far too hot. The classroom sizes combined with the unbearable heat makes learn the learning experience much more difficult than it should be. We have no control over the heating system making it difficult for us to concentrate in class, forcing us to rely on alternatives like fans. The windows in our current building barely open, which reduces airflow and makes classrooms feel suffocating. Especially with 25 or more students in a room. We hope the new building will provide a better environment
where students can feel comfortable while learning. Thank you. Thank you. And the rest of the student speakers, Kelly Chen. Um, someone named Sed and Nathaniel Williams. When you get to the microphone on my right, you can begin speaking. Hello everyone. I hope you guys are having a wonderful day. Isn't it just a great day? No. Okay. We, we came here with a purpose. We hope for a new building that's gonna give us unlimited new opportunities. We believe that this is, this will open new doors in all realms of education for us, for a freshman that will get admitted into
our school in future years. Having a new building would help them and us current students, academically, athletically, and socially as a larger campus would allow us to expand greatly in numerous ways that's gonna benefit the student body and mind. So, uh, to this I have a personal story. So me, myself, I'm a soccer nerd and our school, unfortunately doesn't have a soccer team. When I learned this, I was really sad. And then I know that this new building is gonna allow us to have more athletic, uh, opportunities
and possibly build a new soccer team. And, uh, for me, who's a nerd, that's gonna be amazing. And so, enclosure, I would like to ask for the board to consider relocating our school Queens High School for the sciences. Thank you very much. I thought you Were gonna ask for a new soccer field. We're on a roll. You can either one. I'll start, go ahead. Okay. My name is Nathaniel Williams and I'm here to talk about my experiences at Queens High School for the sciences. So to be, to begin. Classrooms are too small in QHSS, so, for example, Yeah, course.
I think this happened the last time. I think this happened the last time. Oh, we got a, we had something left. Yeah. Makes you, okay. Go ahead. Um, and Could you move closer to the microphone, please? Is this good? Yes. Thank you. Okay. To begin, classrooms are too small in QHSS. So, for example, my second period AP seminar class, the, the rooms are just way too small for us to really move. And another example is my music appreciation room. Like the room is just filled with, with desks. 'cause we have to accommodate so many students in one classroom, so it's very difficult to move in there. And, uh, like in addition to this,
teachers are generally able to have much less one-on-one time with students due there being so many students per class. Like for example, for example, in my Algebra two class, like I wish I could get more one-on-one time with my teacher, but like, there's too many people in the room. And I, I believe this new building would address these issues by allowing us bigger classrooms that aren't crammed. And at QHSS, we must use the York College gym, which is a four, four to five minute walk away from, from the art school. Traveling out is dangerous, especially during our,
this extreme weather that will happen. Um, this new building was solve this by eliminating the need to travel outside to get to class. Um, now our lunchroom in QHSS is a small area, no bigger than the average classroom. There, there isn't even enough space for everybody to be able to sit and enjoy their food. The new building will help this by providing us a new, more spacious cafeteria. Now finally, at QHSS, we don't have enough money to host extracurricular clubs. During our, during my freshman year, we used to have clubs during the school day every Friday,
but these had to be canceled midyear due to us not having enough funding. If we, if we are able to get this new building, we will have more space and in turn, more funding through increased student interest. Please heavily consider providing us at Queens High School for the sciences, a new building. Thank you for your time. My right. Hello everyone. My name is Kelly Chad and I'm a freshman at QHSS. I'm here today to advocate for a new building for our school as our current space has many issues that can be solved with this new building. One of our many concerns that many students share is how the gym is separate from our main school building.
This is an issue due to the fact that we have to travel in harsh weather conditions such as snow, rain, ice, and et cetera, that causes our students and I to worry about our safety. I remember one time my friend was just about ice skating on her way back and she's not the best at it. Uh, additionally, another issue arises during our student government initiated events. Taking supplies from the school leading to the gym is difficult, leading to multiple trips back and forth. This is especially difficult during the harsh weather conditions as our supplies could get ruined. As we travel, this causes us to lose time set up leading to a cascade of delays to add on.
Since the gym is ran by your college clean up where these events are difficult, as we are often asked to leave immediately after, by having this new building, our gym will be at our new house and we won't have to worry about these travel issues and don't have to worry about leaving so quickly. We need this new building and we need a new place to call our own. Thank you for listening. Thank you. Continuing with the adult speakers, you have a big act to follow. Mm-hmm. Uh, um, Theresa Catone, Molly Malu, Victoria Medellia, Yatin Chu, and Francisco Cabral.
Good evening panel. My name is Victoria Medellia. I serve as CEC 30 co-president. I am speaking in my personal capacity. I'm here to show my full support for the grade expansion of three PS 3 84 and the reciting co-location for grades K to three. This has been a thoughtful and collaborative process that has heard from the community about the need for more middle school seats and more D 75 seats. Our children deserve a space in their neighborhood where they don't have to be on buses for unnecessary extended periods of time and have the opportunity to move on to middle school with their elementary classmates. As temporary co liaison to 3 84, I've joined PTA meetings,
SLT meetings, community meetings on the joint public hearing. And this has been the ask through and through. I'm hopeful for the potential partnership with administrators that addresses the needs of all students. I also wanna thank the ODP team who have met with my co-president, Whitney and I every Friday since last April for coming to our CC meetings to inform the community of each step for listening and for incorporating the feedback from parents and families to work on moving this forward. For the students of District 30 to the panel, I encourage you to vote yes on this proposal. Thank you. Good. Uh, good. Excuse me. Good evening everyone.
My name is Francisco Cabra. I'm a parent of De la Greater at William Bryan High School. And I'm speaking primarily about the location, um, the colocation of District seven five at Bryan High School. Over the past several months, we have met with the DOE to discuss the proposal colocation of Digital seven five at Bryan High School. During those meetings, we raise important questions, many of which remain unanswered. Our concerns are serious and practical. We have asked whatever the building truly meets the needs
of the students with physical and mobility change. We have also raised concerns about transportation, particularly given the heavy traffic in the surround areas. It limit capacity for safety accommodation for additional buses, schools. In addition, we have question the cost efficient for this proposal ends. Its long-term planning. Tonight, you heard example of successful co-locations in all these schools. I want to be very, very clear. I am not opposed to district seven, five students being placed in all these schools.
As a parent and advocate, I strongly support inclusive education when it's done properly, when what I oppose is co-located G 6 75 students in a building that is not fully equipped to support them. A building that lack the necessity infrastructure and accessibility to ensure they are safety. It is also very concern to me then a brand new school building opened just last September three blocks away. Yet most of the seats were allocated
to general education students with only limit consideration given to G 75. Is this the way then DOA talk about inclusion? This is not just about space. It's about safety, dignity, transparency, and responsible planning. It's about ensuring that students with disabilities are placed in environments that designed to support their success, not place them. Whatever space appears convenience to the DOE. As a member of the PAP, you have the power
to make a difference tonight. I respectfully ask you that. Do not rush this vote instead visit Bryan High School, walk to the building with a school leadership team and see the concern firsthand. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, good evening. Uh, thank you for the pep and Chancellor Samuels for hearing all of us out. My name is Yahu. I am a citywide parent advocate specifically for expanding and having more accelerated programs in our city. I am here to speak in favor of the co-location
of the Queens High School for the sciences. For far too long, this school has been in a, I wanna say a very inconvenient and really lackluster, uh, building that has not served their needs. We need a functional school building with cafeteria gym classrooms and extracurricular space for all of our students. And that goes, uh, for the, the students from the Queens High School for the sciences. Um, I'm not gonna add anymore to all of the comments made by the students. They speak for themselves.
I will say that as a parent advocate and someone that other parents come to for advice on, um, high school specifically, uh, sometimes parents are concerned about having their students travel very far for a specialized high school. And as a Queen's parent, we only have Queens High School for the sciences. As the only S-H-S-A-T specialized high school, um, many of the parents who want their children to have an accelerated rigorous academic program have
to send their kids to other boroughs. Many, uh, including mine who travel one to two hours each way to Manhattan, to Brooklyn, to the Bronx, um, to attend specialized high schools. Uh, and I'm really happy to hear that the Queen High School for the sciences will have a modest, um, increase to the space to allow for more seats offered to Queens families who wanna stay, stay closer to their homes. Um, so I hope that you will pass this co-location
and give the students and the families of Queens a new home where their students can thrive. Thank you very much. I'm really impressed with all the students that spoke today. I'm up here shaking like a leaf and I'm a grown adult. My name is Molly Mou and I'm the parent of a second grader and a fifth grader who attend PS 3 84. I'm here tonight representing dozens of families who have been advocating on behalf of hundreds of students in our school and wider Long Island City community for or middle school for more middle school seats in our neighborhood.
We've attended P-E-P-C-E-C-S-L-T and one LIC meetings calling for the kind of opportunity we have before us tonight, a possible expansion of PS 3 84 from a K to five to a k to eight every year. Our elementary school has expanded to fill the needs of our growing community and this growth has been exponential. This year we have just over 35th graders seeking a spot in middle school. Next year, next year we'll have nearly 100
and the younger grades are even bigger. The trend is clear. There will soon be an avalanche of students looking for middle school seats heading our way in Long Island City. This expansion pro pro, this expansion proposal is an opportunity for a near term solution that will provide so much relief to so many families. You've heard tonight. So many of the families here advocating on behalf of their students tell you that when they don't know where their kids are gonna go to school, it's stressful. They're worried about them thriving,
they're worried about their education opportunities, they're worried about their futures. This proposal will provide so much relief. Please vote yes to expand PS 3 84 so we can continue to build this wonderful community. Thank you so much for your time. The next group of speakers are Laura Simpson, Reverend Letitia Thompson, Quentin Mein, Tyler Larson, and Rashida Brown Harris, the speaker to my right. I think you, if you're ready, you can start. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Laura Simpson.
Uh, and I serve as the Secretary of Community Education Council District 30. But today I'm speaking in my personal capacity and I want to express my enthusiastic support for the expansion of PS 3 84, um, and also the reciting of younger grades in the new building of Q3 41 alongside PS oh oh four QA new D 75 program site. Um, as a a new member of the CEC, um, I've been able to witness our co-presidents, Whitney Tse and Victoria Matius, working closely with the Office
of District Planning. And they've worked with the ps uh, 3 9 3 3 84 community extensively. And we've heard from them the support has been clear and consistent. And this proposal does three things that our community has been asking for. It adds middle school seats in Long Island City where families have desperately wanted a neighborhood middle school option. It expands district 75 seats geographically within District 30. So it's children spend less time on buses and it uses a new building responsibly and reciting existing space to serve both general education
and D 75 students in an inclusive, well-resourced environment. This, uh, the whole implementation's been thoughtful. The community engagement has been genuine and the need is real and well documented. So I strongly urge the panel to vote yes on both the great expansion and the reciting. I got a minute. So I am gonna say I wanna briefly address the proposed co-location. I, uh, William Coen Bryant High School Children with disabilities in District 30 have faced unacceptably long bus rides because programs aren't geographically accessible. Every new D 75 seat we can add locally. It matters.
Students with disabilities who live in the neighborhood deserve to learn in their community schools. That's not a community that's protecting itself. As a flyer I was given says it's a community drawing a line around who belongs. Mm. And I have to say, one cohesive comprehensive neighborhood school should mean all of the neighborhood's children. So I, I'm urging you to approve that co-location as well. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Tyler Larson and I am a school-based instructional coach at 1 77 Q I'm speaking today in support of the co-location of 1 77 Q
with IS 1 0 9. One of the pillars of education in our city is community. The co-location of D 75 schools provides not only opportunities for students to attend an appropriate program in their, in their community, but also allows students to grow within the 1 77 Q community from kindergarten through adulthood. A community that is vibrant and filled with students that add value to all spaces that they have had the chance to be in The addition of a middle school will help us focus on the needs of our adolescent students from a curriculum and social emotional context. Keeping students in grade six through age 22 in one building provides a unique set
of challenges that this co-location will help to eliminate. The middle school needs of D 75 students in District 29 cannot be ignored. It is the duty of the New York City public school system to provide each of those students with an option in their community. Why our most vulnerable students are required to travel upwards of an hour on a yellow bus while their general education peers can walk to school every day is a question I ask each morning as I watch our students come off the bus frustrated and exhausted. This and all D 75 colocations are stepped in the right direction as a proud member of 1 77 Q and the D 75 family
and a proud New Yorker, I strongly believe that the path to equity for all members of our city starts in the schools. The colocation of schools specifically D 75 helps build a future that includes compassionate citizens. A future that all students deserve to grow into a future where both neurodivergent and neurotypical New Yorkers enter adulthood. Having experienced a unified sports program or a Best Buddies program, a shared lunch period or bake sale, a school dance or birthday party, where all types of students intentionally exist side by side. A friendship, a future
where equity is a lived experience, not just a concept. Yes, the logistics are sometimes difficult to navigate. Yes, there are shared use spaces that require planning and coordination. Yes, there are traffic concerns. Yes, sometimes co-location is hard and dare I say inconvenient, but we do not advocate for what's convenient. We advocate for what's right, the students and a more equitable future of our city are and will always be worth the effort. Thank you. Speaker to my left. Good evening, Reverend Leticia Thompson. Um, district eight Parent Bronx Bread,
HBCU, educated. And um, I first wanna say that the discussion around this co-location is, um, it grieves me because it again, shows just how we lack in the area of parent and community engagement. Um, we should not have a flyer against inclusion in our public education system. Um, and yet we have one because obviously it was not communicated effectively as to what inclusion looks like in all
of our schools in the entire system. D 75 is not a district. It is a program that helps our children to be included and to get the services that they need so that they can be productive citizens. And in District eight, nearly every single one of our schools is a co-location. It works. We expand as we need to. We just finished giving up some seats in our gen ed school to more D 75 seats because we understand that
it doesn't just help the school system to become inclusive. It doesn't just check a box, but it builds compassionate citizens. It shows our children that they are a village, that they are a community. And when we hear the uss and the thems, we are not addressing the fact that some feel like they're not part of the village and that others don't belong. And so I wanna say, I know you're gonna do the right thing. I know 'cause we do this all the time, all across the system. So I already know what's gonna happen.
But I wanna say that we need to make sure that we also care for the community that didn't get enough information, that they feel slighted, that they feel imposed upon because they're also parents. They're also part of this system. They're also part of our village. So thank you so much. Hey y'all. Hey. Peace and blessings. My name is Rashida Brown Harris. My pronouns is she, her, hers. And I'm here representing PAC New Settlement PAC Parent Action Committee. And yes, I'm Bronx all day. Um, but I did live in Queens.
I did live in Queensville, folks who know me. I lived in Queens. Um, I lived in Westside Projects right next door to Bryant. And my mother lives in Woodside to this day. But on the other side, west side, um, Skillman Avenue. So I got peoples in Queens. So I say all of that to say that I'm not here just to be talking, to be talking. Um, I got peoples in Queens and I know the importance of having a D 75, having D 75 seats in that area. Um, and, and I just wanna say that we have to work together. We have to live together. Our kids need to learn together. And the sooner we all learn the importance of supporting
and loving and respecting our D 75 community, the better off we will all be. Um, anytime there's an opposition to a D 75 school in a school, I hear like, yes, they should have this. And yes, they should have that, and they deserve that, but not in my school. Right. And that's something that our babies hear us say and they repeat it. And like, um, Reverend Leticia Thompson said, I think we need to, um, dig deeper into the work being done in the community and, um, the families. Um, so we can get a better understanding of what we're doing
and what we're not doing. Um, and how we could just be a better society, um, when we work together and know that there's gonna be a little bit of compromise, but it's gonna be for the betterment of our babies in the future. So yes to the D 75, um, um, seats and sites, locations, um, for these proposals and thank y'all panel. And, um, just thank all the brave youth who came up earlier and spoke. Um, they're doing, they're doing the thing. So thank You'all. Hello, my name is Quentin Mein. I am president of District 28 CEC. I am president of Queen High School President's Council
and I am vice president of D 75 President's Council. And with all those titles, I'm just a dad. No, actually I'm a dad. Not just a dad. I think a dad is cooler than the other titles, but the other titles sound better at times. Now I have six children. Don't ask me how figure it out. Two of my children on the spectrum, my fourth grader and my fifth grader. So I had every fear that every parent of a child with special needs has. And that number one fear is we can't die. We can't die because the world doesn't understand our children. They're not gonna advocate for our children. They're not gonna fight for us the way we will
and they'll never love our children the way we will. And that scares us, brings up our anxiety stress levels because we see a system that's broken. We're having a conversation of children trying to go to the school in their neighborhood, and they're being fought out like no, go somewhere else, 45 minutes away, an hour away. These are children in the same neighborhood. They go to the same park, they go to the same grocery store and the same church. And now we're like having this conversation because of the misunderstanding. However, these are my fourth and fifth child. I was one of those parents that didn't understand
with my first three children. It wasn't being taught to me in the schools. It wasn't being taught to me in the community, in the church. So I didn't know what these parents were going to through until I became that parent. And now I fight as that parent because now we are a family in D 75. D 75 isn't a place to get stuck. It's a place to be seen and heard and give you the tools you need to build a foundation to grow my son. Oh, thank you. But I got all these time left. I can't take the collapse, but my son who's went to, who's in P four, is graduating fifth grade in D 75.
And for the last two years they've been pushing me to tell me that he is doing so well academically and vocationally that he does not need to stay in D 75. He needs to go back into special education in line to get a diploma. Thank you. I'll take those. That was because of the support we got. He didn't start there, but he got that D 75 isn't the last stop. It's a stop in a journey to independence together as a community. We can build that for everybody. Thank you. The last group of speakers are James Jenning, Arlene De Jesus and James Vasquez.
Oh, okay. I might have called your name, but make your way down. Did you sign up to speak about the um, the propo, the openings and closings. Okay. So what Make your way to the mic. What's your name? I can't hear her. Mr. Jennings, you can go first because you can catch train. I'm gonna, You can begin rolling. Yep. Thank you. My name is James Jennings. I'm a teacher at Bryant High School. And I firstly want say that as a teacher of, uh, ICT classes, I definitely don't wanna put this as a NIMBY situation
or a situation where we are trying to disparage students with disabilities because I teach students with disabilities. But this is more about some of the concerns with the EIS statement and in terms of the designation of William Color Bryant as being underutilized. And it doesn't take into consideration factors like we need space to have IEP meetings with students so that they can have a private space. And sometimes, unfortunately, that is an empty classroom
as opposed to a designated order size or a half size room. But the other concern is that in the EIS statement, it doesn't indicate what is going to happen to the lab space. It just casually mentions that there's nine lab demo rooms, four prep rooms and three laboratory rooms. But there's no indication that those rooms are going to remain intact for the multiple of science courses that need to be taught at the school, including the new regents that require additional lab time.
And not to mention the electives, which unfortunately we don't have the space to provide laboratory time for even the AP classes, which I teach one of the AP biology classes. And there's a constant issue where there's not enough physical lab space to deal with teaching these students that are on a college readiness career. And the other concern is that one of the issues that was brought up in the EIS statement was
that the college readiness level is going to decrease from the past three years. But how are we going to do that if we're not making sure that the students have access to the lab resources that they're going to need to be college ready and to prepare for not just regents, but also AP level courses. Thank you. You can begin. Good evening everyone. Um, first and foremost, to the students who are here asking for more space, I understand you shift came to Bryant T High School. We are losing students. And I will tell you why.
I started at Bryant High School in 1994 as a science teacher. I also taught kids who had IEPs. We also had resource rooms. We had things that are no longer available at our school because slowly through the do e little ways of undermining our school, we have lost those resources. No one in my school will say anything against any district 75 student. We welcome every child. We have kids who are migrants. We have kids who are living in homeless shelters. And again, we are the underdogs of my community. I grew up in that neighborhood.
I have had family who've graduated from William Coen Bryant High School, and I have seen how the DOE has undermined it. When someone sits there and says that we do not want D 75, that is the furthest from the truth. Our problem is our school is a hundred years old. We have one elevator that doesn't function all the time. We've had people trapped in the elevator. Our bathrooms are the pits. Where are you gonna put a child who has special needs to get changed because they soiled themselves. We don't have the physical facilities. We are speaking with our hearts, not because, oh, we don't want these children. Every child is welcomed.
We have to understand though, when someone comes in and says, I spoke to everyone. I'm sorry Dr. McCoy, you did not speak to me. I would give you the nice little tour without worrying about my job. I'm on my way out. I'm a laboratory specialist. I was a science teacher and I know what the DOE thinks of laboratory specialists. I'm less than 20 people in the entire city. I sit there and I work hard for all our students to make sure that every child, whether you are in self-contained or in a regular re science class or in an AP science class, you need something to do. I have it for you. When someone comes in and sneaks into the prep rooms
and says, whoa, this will be nice, we're gonna take this room apart. You are just saying to the kids, there is no equity. I could have gone to Stuyvesant High School. I was asked twice to be a laboratory specialist, but because I grew up in that neighborhood where William Lum Bryant High School is located, I said, I can't do that to the kids. Someone care enough about me to turn me on to science and I'm gonna walk away. It is a hard fight. And when I sit here and I listen, oh, we don't want D 75, you are absolutely wrong. You cannot say that to me or to anybody else who cares about our kids. We have to sit there and face a lot of difficulties. Thank you for listening.
Good evening. My name is James Vasquez. I'm the district representative for Queens High School for the United Federation of Teachers. And it is amazing to hear our students speak. Wasn't that incredible? It is really incredible to see what happens in our public schools. And it is the hard work of all the school communities that do all of this. I was here last year thanking the panel for creating real seats, um, um, real seats as the creation of the new schools. And it's really appreciate that hard work. And again, with the, uh, with the vote on siding, uh, uh, of moving Queens, high School of Science to New York,
to this new building will create more seats. And that's great. The school over 24 years has been there struggling of the space that's there. They deserve that space. They deserve to move into that building. And I encourage you to sit there and to support that. I encourage also the schools in District 30 or or their expansion, if you heard the parents or the community speak out of what they've been looking for, it is important that their voices are heard. You heard the students speak earlier that it's important that their, the community's voices are heard in all of this. The unfortunate thing is though, what we hear some of this is that we see that the Department of Education again fails sometimes to hear those voices.
It is clear that there is a need to serve the D 75 students. It is there a need for us to find those seats? It is. There is a need for us to do this and I'm glad D 75 is also gonna be opening up at the new site as well. Um, if this passes, but you also heard some of the frustration. You had a parent here from Brian's High School who said they didn't get their answers, uh, questions answered. And they asked the Department of Education to come back to them and speak to them. And that's an unfortunate thing. 'cause that's what they've been asking for. I implore you to listen to the parents of the community. D 75 students are our most vulnerable students. And as you heard earlier tonight,
it is such a wonderful program that sits there and inspires and moves our kids forward, which is what we all want for all of our students. And that's an incredible thing. But we know what we wanna service all these kids. But when the, the Department of Education came to Bryant High School and told them, if this passes, we are going to fix this, we are going to give you this, we're gonna give you that. All of these things. Why don't we, we have to wait for a vote to give these schools the support that they need. We should be giving 'em the support from the get go that said they've told, told you what we need. We understand that there is this need for D 75 seats. We encourage the Department of Education to continue
to create more seats and we look forward to HBCU getting a site in the near future as well. Thank you. Um, before I turn it back to the chair, I just wanna make sure that there's not another person who signed up just in the open comment, who intended to speak about these proposals? There are. Raise your hand and come down to the mic. Okay. Okay, great. Thank you. I wanna thank all the speakers and again, it's been noted. Thank the students who've come out. Um, please come back, um, and, uh, continue to make your voices heard. This is really great. And New York City Public Schools
is really working to ensure that we are training folks to be engaged civically. And if we train these students to be engaged civically, we won't see some of the things we happened at last night, state of the u uh, when was the state of the Union, um, that ridiculousness. But alright, we'll have students trained who'll be able to, uh, engage properly in our community and become community leaders and really address some of these kinds of issues. At this point, we're gonna turn the floor over to, uh, panel member comments. Um, we'll begin first with the panel members from Queens, um, panel member Shirley Alban, would you start us off? Okay. Good evening. I am Shirley oban
and I sit here as the Queen's Board President's appointee to the Panel for educational policy. But before we get to business, I have to say she is a chief of, uh, where one of her boroughs. So happy birthday to Chief Daniel Domingo. Okay, so back to business. I would like to thank our students for their articulate advocacy along with parents', families, community members, and stakeholders. That is what it's all about. Before I go into what I want to say or had planned to say, I need to address certain comments that I heard Adriana will address the
public engagement piece. But I would like to say that Adriana and I have went to every scheduled walkthrough for each of these school utilization proposals. We attended, well, I'm gonna say I attended 99% of all the engagements, all the joint public hearings. Um, and I'm just gonna reiterate about an a comment that was made about first space utilization. How they will develop or how what space is gonna be used cannot be set until it's approved.
They're not gonna make plans without it being approved. So once it's approval, the community will be notified. Uh, what's, how the share spaces and the community spaces will be developed if the proposals are approved. Second, D 75, and particularly with Bryant, the appropriate D 75 students will be placed if the proposal is approved. So D 75 students who do not have a mobility issue will be part of that co-located D 75 school if it's approved. So now I'm gonna go into my stated comments.
We must remember that the common theme or importance that New York City public Schools serves and supports. All New York City public schoolers, New York City public schools are their second home. And our schools are used to all scholars in their communities. They have rights, they have a right to warm, safe, welcoming environment that has high quality, rigorous transcendence, academics, and a holistic approach to all those who walk through those hallways of that school building. These rights also include a right to our auditorium,
a cafeteria, a gym, enrichment activities, resources, services, and to go to school with their peers and siblings in their own communities. The basics can be of, okay, these also can be used for community use. I'm talking about the gym and, and auditoriums. It brings the school community and the community together where those schools are resides in, and it also contribute to those schools environment how welcoming they are, what they have, the what the school is made up also contributes
to the environment for our scholars. And we want the best and we want for them. There is a high needs for seats in all the grades in Queens, and that includes D 75 seats. Andy Friend who's in the central office had made a statement in the community engagement, I will not support a proposal that will harm students. And I echo those sentiments. I will not, uh, uh, uh, favor or approve anything that will harm any New York City public school students. I'm gonna use Francis Lewis in a high school for an example. We all know, especially in Queens, that it's a great school
or it's a highly de desired school. We also know that is a second largest school in New York City. It is also a zone high school. It has a graduation rate above 90%. But what we don't know, or what most people don't know is co-located with a D 75 School. P 11 Q Francis Lewis is a model reflection of New York City and the ball of what our schools should look like, not just in race, ethnicity, cultures, languages, but also the numbers fluctuate from schools a year.
But approximately they have 550 multilingual language learners. They have approximately 600 special education scholars, and again, co-located with D 75. And for Francis Lewis is not alone. I'm not gonna name all of them, but Bayside High School, Queens High School of the Teachings, Queens Metropolitan High School, Martin Van Buren, Springfield campus, and our whole school tonight, long Island City. There are examples of co co-location with D 75 and it works. Panel for Educational Policy is here to service
and support all scholars in New York City public schools and make informed decisions that are best file scholars and the system as a whole. I'm going to end with three points to remember. So to remember who we are, the world's volatile use, its diversity as a strength. Keep in mind, diversity doesn't encompass just race, ethnicity, culture, economic status. For example, some people like baseball and the majority who do like baseball, love the amazing mets versus the rocks bombers. The next, the next,
The next thing we, I'm gonna bring out we QGTM is a model that the Queensborough president has been saying for a while and it stands for Queens Get the Money. The Borough President, uh, Richards Jr. Has allocated over nearly 120 million to New York City public schools in our borough over the past fiscal year. And another over a little more, over over $40 million this year across the boroughs. And in particularly aiming equity, but to ensure that all schools, communities,
and students who have been marginalized and underinvested become to par in the standards of what education should be within the borough. Why? Because education is the key and is a fabric of our society to economic success, our wellbeing, wellbeing and our families and communities. Lastly, Khalil Anderson, a product of D 75. New York City Public Schools student is now our New York State Assembly member rep for Assembly District 31 in Queens. Since 2020, all our students deserves the best.
All our students deserve to go to school in their communities. All our schools should be a reflection of New York City and Queens, right? We're a diverse city, the most diverse in the world. So our schools should be a reflection of that. Our, it helps our social, emotional and our togetherness. So in, in that light, I am in favor of the expansion of 3 84 of K to eight, uh, reciting of Queens High School of the Sciences, and all five proposed colocations for each
of these buildings. Thank you. Good evening everyone. Adriana Ali, she her here for Queen C Sees. Um, before I touch on the parent engagement piece, I would like to say thanks to the parents that were here tonight and the students that were here tonight, along with leadership from CEC 30, though they may be speaking in their personal capacity, um, for advocating for our middle schools during this time in a child's life and during this time in our collective parenthood stability is incredibly important. Um, so thank you and I lend my voice to support yours.
Now, with respect to the conversation regarding, uh, co-locations of D 75 schools in general, but specifically Bryant, there were multiple opportunities for each of the school communities, um, communities, significant community and parent engagement specifically. And these engagement opportunities were outside of the dedicated walkthroughs, the dedicated community calls and the dedicated joint public hearings that each of the schools, including Bryant High School, Were processed too.
Um, Shirley and myself and many others, some of which are in the crowd, attended multiple walkthroughs. Um, at one of them we discussed with the principal the importance of SLT members being included in the following walkthrough. And I do believe that they were included in the subsequent walkthrough that we attended, but I think that was two for Brian and one for, excuse me, one for the others, plus the, the calls and the interactions with the community. All of that to say, I think in this instance, it is a question of what is being said is not necessarily
what is being heard. Um, and I respect that that does happen sometimes, but, uh, I, I I hope that the school community at Bryant and the community of D 75 students that are going to be entering the school if the vote passes this evening, work together, uh, to create a sense of community because the students deserve it and the students deserve it. And so do the teachers and so do the parent community. Thank you. Thank, thank you both panel members. And, um, I think we
after as a panel, thank you both for your advocacy in these areas. You began talking about the needs for these services way back in, uh, almost six months ago. Yeah, several months. So I wanna thank you for your lead, both of your leadership in this area. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, we'll now open the floor to other panel members who wish to speak. Yes, panel member Altman, and then panel member. Hi, Deborah Altman. Um, CEC representative for Staten Island District 31. Um, I just wanted to say first I'm so happy about the queen's, um, high school, um, science. I first, my first, um, meeting, uh, with the panel was in November.
So I was, uh, one behind Vinny, um, when it comes to the meetings, when he came with the, uh, one of the satellite food trays to display what the actual food looks like in the satellite, um, schools that do not have their own cafeterias. That actually sparked my passion because my daughter went to one of those schools that did not have its own cafeteria. And I connected with the Office of Food and Nutrition and continued to ensure that I had a meeting with them to find out there are 400 schools that do not have their own cafeterias across the city.
And I hope to make a difference with the resolution for that. I am so happy that this will be one less school that does not have a cafeteria, and that they will have the same options for food equity and for nutrition as the other schools in the city. Education starts with nutrition. The second thing I wanted to speak of is a little personal, but I do wanna, um, advocate for district 75 students. My daughter started out as a private school student, looked no different than anyone else. Then she became a district 75 student, and all of a sudden the looks changed in our neighborhood, but then all of a sudden when she became a district 31
student in a specialized high school, something changed. Again. We lived at the same address in the same neighborhood. She was the same person. The only difference was the supports that she needed. You couldn't see them in the hallways, you couldn't see them by looking at her. The only difference was the funding. She needed to have the same education as every other student. The stigma needs to stop. She's now currently teaching as a teacher assistant. Other students at that specialized high school, no one in that school even knows that she came from District 75
and she's now in a specialized high school. So I'm very proud of the fact that she received the same opportunities in the DOE and to show the community that district 75 can thrive and can succeed like everyone else. And it begins with co-location of schools. It begins with those opportunities to meet their fellow students in those neighborhoods that they play with in those playgrounds and see them at those grocery stores. And having the adults, their parents support that success and those friendships because that co-existent that to be co-existed. And the community starts with us, the adults,
we wanna make sure we stop that stigma with us and not pass it down to our students or our children. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Panel member. Any other panel members? I see? Yes. Panel member casre and then panel member Dean, actually panel member. Dean Sta was next. And then panel member Casre. Good evening, Marta. 35 years fighting for the 75. Tonight. It's raining. It's raining to 75 all over, uh, Queens. I don't know how to say thank you to all of those parents who've been supportive, the staff, the administration. Finally, I cannot say we have a friend
with D-O-E-D-O-E is with us. For those of you who don't understand what it is to have a special needs child, it's not just teaching them to learn to read, to do some math. They need socialization. Without that, they cannot get to know that their community and they belong in that community. You cannot take them out. They belong here. The only way they're going to to learn, because they are visual. They need to see other children like them may not be doing what they are doing, but they need to learn visually.
And if you don't drop them with the other siblings, with the other neighbors, you are taking their lives away. And tonight, thank you everybody for supporting us and we have a long way to go. But so far I am very happy. Thank you. Well, Vincent, but yeah, Since the students have to leave, I'm sorry, Camille, we'll come back to you. Um, we would like to, um, make a motion to, um, to separate the Queens high school su um, high school for the sciences proposal separately. Um, and I'll make a MO for motion for you and, and, and we're making along with, uh, um, motion
with unanimous consent. Second. Yeah, the motion is to separate the two items. Is there a second? Is there objection to separating this item and voting on it immediately? Seeing no objection, that is done. Um, is there any fur? Is there any discussion on that motion? Let's proceed to a vote. Is, is there, in light of the historic nature of this, is there a motion for unanimous consent on the approval? I'll move. Okay. Is there objection to unanimous consent that not be will hearing? No objection to unanimous consent. Congratulations. Queens High School of Science you're not having Now I understand you have to leave to go do homework.
Yeah. Congratulations, Vinny. Yeah, Vinny, I think the cafeteria ought to have a section named for Vinny. Yeah, you get your own booth. Its own booth. Um, okay. Congratulations. Let's return. Um, are are there any other comments on any other Yes, I Member Casare. Thank you so much. Uh, Camille Caare, Brooklyn Borough Presidents appointee. Okay, hold on. Congratulations, Everyone, guys. Queen High School of Science. Just give the moment to Yeah, No, I'm happy for that. Um, so I wanted to talk about
my experience with D 75. Um, so when my children were attending their co-located elementary school, I was very involved. I was PTA president there for many years. And, um, our school was a, uh, one of the very first ICT schools that was created by the DOE. Um, what ended up happening is that we had a lot of children that were sent to the school that needed a lot of special services. Sometimes a child would come
and the school could not provide all of the services that they needed, and the families were directed to a D 75 program. And when that happened, um, it was almost like the parent had been given this death sentence for their child. And they were terrified of the idea of not just going into a program they didn't know about, going into a program that had a lot of stigma attached to it, and also leaving their two other siblings
at their zoned public school while their other child had to travel miles and miles and miles away. And the disruption that was caused was really heartbreaking. And, um, having experienced that and being friends with these moms, um, and knowing all of their children, I realized in that moment we just have to find ways to bring more services to our communities. And so for about 10 years, I have been strongly advocating
for D 75, um, nowhere near Marjorie's time, but I have, uh, been steadfast and, um, I wanted to suggest that the DOE think even further than where we are right now. So I appreciate all of the advocacy that's been happening and all of the seats that have opened over these years. But I would love to start seeing more programs that look similar to the Children's school
in District 15, which is a, um, integrated D 75 gen ed and whole entire school program. And so it's not about co-locating D 75 with another school. This is actually a full integration. And so the whole school has all of the services for every single student that goes there. Um, it's expensive, but I think that we can start moving in that direction and just thinking about how can we, you know,
we call D 75 a program, but we're not treating it like a program. We're not treating it like Nest or Horizon or ais or even g and t. So, you know, we have all of these programs in our schools, but then we still say o and D 75 program, but you can go over there. And so even though we're bringing people together, we're creating like more integrated classrooms, integrated schools, I, I feel like we can just sort of push it a little bit further and there's a lot of moving parts there, but I have faith.
And so thank you so much and I appreciate all you do. Thank you. Panel member, um, and a member Esto. So hi everybody, my name is Rema. I'm the Bronx representative for the borough president of the Bronx. I am also a district 75 parent. All this whole row is our district 75 parents. If you didn't know, um, some of the comments were very difficult to listen to, um, because even in your statements, while you felt that you were being inclusive, we were not, um, when we say things like, um, district 75 students,
we believe they should be somewhere but not here. The button negates everything that we just finished saying. So please understand that this is a kid that could live across the street from you or next door to your apartment that you're talking about. These are district, these kids, but we are just calling district 75 a place so that we can get the funding to support our students so they're not a burden on your students so that they get what they need and your kid gets what they need too. Now, what you were talking about, Camille, is called Universal Design of Learning.
It's called UDL, which we absolutely should be moving towards because district 75 students deserve to get their title one money that they don't. You get it? So we have to start thinking about the way we quantify dollars and cents and, and start thinking about you get fair student funding in district 75 doesn't. And students within the fair student funding formula don't fully fund special education. And so we really have to think about when we start talking about the dollars that we know where the dollars are, they're not here.
We get what we need and that's it. And every dollar we get is basically restricted to provide a service to a specific student. So we can't get art programs, we can't expand to computer science. We can't offer electives. Not in the way that, Excuse me, ex excuse me, excuse me, excuse me. You're out of order. Would you please take your seat? So we, we listened to you and we appreciate that and I think that we all need to redefine and we need to redefine to red the conclusion. We allowed you to have an opportunity to speak.
We allowed, please, excuse me, other people have an opportunity to speak as well. The, the language. What? Rema Rema don't engage. Don't engage, okay. You're not disrupting the meeting. I'm gonna ask that you please come to order or you'd have to leave the meeting. Thank you. I'll wait for you. Lemme know, Greg, when, when, If you need, you gotta interrupt us. So if you need additional time, you can, when you say, I'm you, you, when you're good, you can, and then you can have additional time if you need to apologize for the disruption. So welcome to the life of a district 75 parent
where this happens to us regularly. And we regularly have to defend the basic right of our children, which is protected by the same laws that protect the right of your children to receive an equitable education from the public school system that we all pay taxes into to say the building is not equipped for disabled students. Makes me wonder what your definition of disabled is because her child is disabled. My child is disabled, their children are disabled, her child is disabled, and they all look different. My child doesn't need an elevator. None of our kids need an elevator.
Elevator does not define disability. That's a physical disability. And those children can go to general education programs. All right? So, and and I appreciate the statements because this is how an honest dialogue happens where we make better decisions because we are constantly listening to the public. So thank you. And I also wanna say, um, another speaker had mentioned something about students and families of Queens having a home for their students and expanding programs. We should absolutely lead our lives with that intention for all. So if there are programs that service an increasing amount
of 20% in Queens versus 4% in Queens, then we should prioritize the 20% of growing students and focus on those programs so that we are not taxing other programs that do not have the supports, that do not have the staff or the training or, or the expertise. Which, what will happen if we don't open these programs and create these colocations and your children will be on those buses and the contracts run out March 1st. Again, we won't have contracts. And welcome to the life of two hours on the bus. I know we're not in Far Rockaway,
but those families struggle with busing. They struggle. So I, I just would like for us to contextualize. We need to redefine inclusion. We need to redefine how we look at funding. We need to redefine how we look at community. Because if you don't think that the disabled kid that lives next door to you deserves to go to school with your kid, then we gotta redefine ourselves. So thank you for the time and thank you for everybody that advocated on behalf of District 75 today. That's what we said we were gonna do. Okay, I'm sorry, what's there? Did somebody have a hand here? Uh, ONAP,
Thank you. Now I acknowledge everything you said, panel members. This is, um, the impact is so tremendously great and do understand, although we sit and meet on the stage, a lot of us have private conversation with, with each other. So this is a check-in later. Hey girl, how you doing? You know, what you cooking for Sunday? You know? Um, and I'm excited looking forward for the, the potluck.
I mean, we're just foodies up here, man. Um, but what I wanted to speak about, um, in addition to this, my brain says we have to be able to hold more than one thing. So we, we also have to get in the habit of recognizing who people are without the absence of you. Yeah, I don't know if that makes sense, but there are multiple issues in here that we need to recognize that are important. And one doesn't disappear just because we say so.
I don't, I don't know if that's the struggle as a black woman and this month I wanna talk about it. I wanna talk about the fact that I can talk, bring this conversation back to the fact that a child experienced racism from somebody who was supposed to be a leader. And parents, we have our children after school. If you, if you have a child in high school, you know for sure that you have your child is your child for the next 30, 40, 50 years.
So what we're pouring into our children in the short time that they are in school, we have to remind them about the imperfections that come in the form of leadership. We have to remind them the historic context. It is important that I think, and I'm speaking the month of February, that many people look into the African American black heritage curriculum. It's so important. Why is it important? I'll tell you why it's important because we always need
to be reminded whose shoulders we stand on. We have PLC now or people of color who, um, at times forget that, you know, civil rights, uh, legislation in 1964 and 1965 is a reason why you can move the way you can move today. Sometimes, you know, a, a basic course in just understanding the shoulders that you stand on will disrupt the narrative
that you have to fight for scraps. If you recognize the shoulders in which you stand, then it will never be a competition with the people who got you where you are today. And so when we begin to start making those type of alignments and grounding the things that we do, and it's not at the absence of you, it's, wow, I have shoulders. If it wasn't for the people that have come before me, I would not be able to get the loans, the housing, the, the, the bilingual in that,
that we're able to take advantage of today. So I would encourage everyone to look into the black African-American curriculum to understand the shoulders that, that allow you to have the privileges that you have today. And with that chancellor, I would love to be a part of the workshop and grounding in the fact that we are still dealing with a pervasive issue that has gone behind closed doors. And let's face it, that teacher who said that,
she only said it out loud, what many people think anyway. So it's not like it's gonna just disappear. She just said it out loud. So we also have to remember our duty to teach students that not everybody is, is, is ready to teach. Not everybody should be teaching. We have to do damage control. And so, although it's a very inconvenient truth and an uncomfortable truth as a black African American, we tend to have the, uh,
to put this pervasive concern almost as if it's white noise. But the reality is, is that it has not been treated. We have not healed from this ill, and what was the, anyway, I'm not gonna go there. But the fact of the matter is because it has not been treated, it has been allowed to play out generation after gener generation. And I'm hoping that she is held accountable. There should be a zero tolerance. You are a teacher. What you pour into your children is important
and it lasts a lifetime. So I'm very uncomfortable with this, but it's a great opportunity to just examine the fact that systemic racism has not gone anywhere. Just been pushed a little to the back. So as allies and stuff like that, you know, we just have to, we have to deal with this Ill, because it has been going on for too long. So Thank you panel member A Any other comment? Any other panel members wish to comment? Panel member Parson. Good evening everyone. Bernita Parsons, Bronx, CC Rep. So happy to see some Bronx sides out here.
Um, I wanted to comment really quickly. I am a D 75 parent. My son goes to PX 180 8 at seven 90 in the Bronx Excellent school that he goes to. Some people won't agree, however, um, I want to highlight that my son is number one, a black young man and he has disabilities. And to come to this setting and see what he has to face every day is disheartening. It got me a little bit of emotional
because the older that he gets, the more in public that he has to now comprehend the people that he has to face every day. And it's so sad that we cannot come together as a community. Like people on this panel and people in the audience had said, um, these are your people right next door to you that you don't even know and they need the support that they need. And you are there and you're saying, no, no, no, no, no. Let them go somewhere else. And that is so sad. But they are becoming the products of our community
and in the public every day. And soon he will have to go to work and face these people every day. So I hope that the DOE have more engagements in regards to district 75 and remove the stigma and remove the taboo that is not just about changing diapers and mobility and accessibility, but being inclusion, being together what it means. Okay, my mom, he doesn't know Mommy doesn't have a disability, but that's my mom, that's my brother, that's my sister, that's my grandparent.
He doesn't know that. But he should not come into a world that now he has to face two disabilities or two minorities, a black man and his disability to survive. And I hope that we do something in regards to that. I yield. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you panel member. Are there any additional comments? Are we ready to proceed? Okay. Are we ready to proceed to a vote? Secretary? Call the roll. Yeah. And when I call the roll, please indicate how you wish to vote. If you wish to vote differently on any of the proposals, um,
I'd object for a unanim consent on all of them. Yes, you can. Second, is there a second to the motion of unanimous? Is there objection to unanimous consent? It is therefore so ordered. The motions are adopted. Okay, the next item on the agenda is we have some, uh, panel member resolutions. And, uh, so Secretary, if you could read the roll. Yes. The resolution up for approval is entitled Resolution for Uniform Eligibility for Parents of Multilingual Language Learners, mlls to Serve on Citywide and Community Education Councils. Thank you. Is there, I would like, is there a motion
to adopt a resolution? No, we gotta appear the Public First Motion. Well wait, let's, let's have the motion. Is there, is it moved and seconded? I second. Yes. I like to offer, um, kind Ban is the author of the Resolution and Opportunity to Speak first. We do it. Oh, no comments. We do No Comments. That's Fine. Okay. We can do, well, we can do it first and then I was gonna do it first. It's the Author of the Resolution. It's a little different since we're doing resolutions now and then we can move to public comment. Okay. So in partnership with, uh, C Citywide, um, community Education, I said that
for the ENG English language, or let's start over. Citywide, uh, council on English Language Learners, um, the summary is to, there's a bill, there's a Senate bill and an assembly bill. They to uniform the eligibility for parents' representation on the community education councils. So the CCCs, the CSE, there are different. So when it comes to cce, which is mandated by Education Law 25 90, they must sit on, uh, they must send a representative on high schools.
Well, because of their eligibility for, uh, uh, el per, uh, El parent is different from the other education councils. They have not had representation on the Council of Citywide High Schools for 15 years. So again, all families voices should be heard, they should be all families should have representation. And that is the key to change the law, to ensure to uniform. Uniform. The eligibility of a parent to represent, uh, LS high schools is, is, I find it, it actually ridiculous. Uh, like I said, the example I gave earlier
with France Lewis have 5, 550 LS multilingual language learners. That's one school, one high school. Could you imagine? So they have no representation on the City Council of High Schools is crazy. So could you, so the, so that is why the resolution was crafted. So in a partnership with them, and, um, I see, uh, chief, uh, deputy Chancellor is shaking her head, which is that, uh, department is part of dial. So we are asking to, uh, the state legislature to please change it. So all our schools, all our parents, families,
high school families are represented on the Council for High Schools. Okay, thank you Patman. We'll now move to public comment. I will call the people who signed up to speak on this resolution. Uh, Debra Alexander, yin Chu, Laura Simpson, Rashida Brown Harris, and Marlene Rossi. And when you get to the microphone, if you're there first, you can begin speaking. Thank you. Uh, good evening Again. Panel members and Chancellor Samuels, uh, thank you for the opportunity to speak about this resolution. I'm in support of passing this resolution.
Uh, I was an ESL student when I first came in the seventies. Uh, my parents were the el parents that you are talking about. Uh, my student, uh, went to a dual language bilingual program, and I, you know, was, uh, with hundreds of, of EL parents, as you know, as member Auburn said there, there el member, el parents in so many schools. Uh, as a former CC one member, we always had a tough time filling our lc. And in visiting citywide ccs as well
as attending Cecil meetings, uh, it was always a struggle to get parents to want to sit on these, um, panels. And very often in the 20 19, 20 21, we didn't have a quorum at, at Cecil to even perform business. So I'm really happy to see that you, um, you know, advocating for the uniform definition of how parents can be eligible to serve and that the eligibility is broadened a little bit
to give flexibility to parents without the, um, years of recency experience on that. Anything we can do to help l parents, um, be present on the parent councils to advocate for their students is a very important thing. So I hope you pass this resolution. Thank you very much. Hello, this is Laura Simpson, um, c Secretary of CC 30, uh, speaking in my personal capacity and reading the words of my colleague Marlene Mossi, who is our English language learner, parent rep for CC 30,
who was not able to be here. My name is Marlene Mossi and I'm in District 30 CC, English Language Learner. Parent Representative District 30 is one of the most linguistically diverse districts in New York City. Our families speak many languages, navigate multiple systems, and rely on strong advocacy to ensure their children receive equitable access to education. I'm here today to strongly support Bill S 63 55 because this bill recognizes something critically important lived experience matters. Bill S 63 55 would amend current education law
to allow parents who have ever had a child enrolled in school as an English language learner to continue serving on councils that represent L students even after their child exits those services. This change is not symbolic, it is essential. I have served four terms as an English language learner representative across two different districts. Through that service, I have helped elevate family voices, support multilingual parents, and ensure that policies reflect the full, the real needs of EL students, not just on paper, but in practice. Without the passage of this bill, I and many experienced advocates like me will no longer be
eligible to serve simply because our children have progressed academically. That is not a failure of advocacy. It is a success of the very programs we support. Current law unintentionally forces out the very parents who have institutional knowledge, deep understanding of the system, trust from multilingual families, and years of hands-on advocacy experience. Bill S 63 55 ensures continuity, stability, and meaningful family representation. It allows councils to retain experienced leaders and prevents the loss of hard earned progress. English language learners are not a temporary population,
and advocacy for them should not be temporary either. It's important to support Bill S 63 55, not just for me, but for the countless families whose voices depend on informed experienced representation. Thank you for your time. Thank you C-C-E-L-L for sharing awareness around this important topic. Your leadership and your commitment to educational equity is appreciated. That's from Marlene. Thank you. Thank you. Um, love this resolution. Hope y'all do the right thing. Wanted to give a special shout out to, um, district eight in the Bronx who
highlighted the clarity in this law around the ELIGI eligibility for the EL parents, um, on their council. And just wanted to shout 'em out because they read through and they figured it out, um, to understand, um, to have, um, a el parent on their council. Um, I got it, Leticia, I think I got it right. And so they did the right thing and y'all do the right thing with passing this and thank y'all so much for the consideration and understanding the importance of this. So thank y'all. That is the extent of the people who signed up to speak on the resolution. Okay. When I open a floor panel, members who wish
to speak, yes, panel member Hasan, I want to recognize the never ending work of C-C-L-C-L, president Theresa bta. She's been asking about this for it feels like decades now. Uh, and I, and I think as part of the government affairs work for the panel, we have to make sure that this is one of the top priorities on our legislative agenda, along with all of the other things that we need all the need to do for us this year. Um, the, the number of students that have come, uh, into the city school system that don't speak English, uh,
is in the tens of thousands in the last, uh, three years. And, and the fact that we haven't been able to engage the parents, uh, authentically by giving them authority on, on, on different, uh, uh, parent representative bodies, uh, has, has been sort of a black mark against the system. And, and just like so many other things under, uh, the New York State Department, the New York City Department of Education, uh, uh, the authority lays in Albany to, to update things and getting them to move on simple things. This, this has no budget impact has been, uh, too difficult.
Uh, and I hope that everyone in this room, uh, advocates with their local, uh, Albany elected officials to make sure that, that these, these things that are so simple for them to do, don't cost any money. Uh, get done as soon as possible and get the governor to sign them so that we can change the process for the next, uh, CEC election process that's coming up next year. Uh, I fully support this. I hope everyone votes for this resolution. Thank you so much. Thank you, panel member. Any others? Okay. Are we ready for a vote? Yes. Um, I just wanna shout out that, um,
Cecil is a really important counsel and, um, my mother came here from Italy when she was a child, did not speak English. Um, went through the public school system, was not treated very well as non-English speaking students were then and sometimes still are now. Um, but what Naveed was talking about engagement, honestly, I feel like we are really lacking the engagement with this cohort of students and families more than students.
Um, I'm a little bit on the fence about this bill because I feel like, while obviously we want parity across the board, it also in a way gives the DOE um, like a pass on actually engaging the way we want them to. And I really feel like that engagement is actually critical to this work. Um, having representatives on the council that
maybe have not been connected to the program for 10 years. 'cause that could happen theoretically. Maybe that doesn't make a lot of sense because 10 years in this system for an L student could be really life changing in terms of what the DOE is able to offer. So, um, while I agree with the concept of parity and all of that, I, I'm, I feel like I have to abstain from this because I, I'm just a little bit unsettled with the idea that we are not engaging the way we need to,
and I'm concerned that this is just gonna further the lack of engagement that we really wanna see. Okay. Thank you Parliament. Any other comments? I think we're ready to call the question. Ready for the vote? Secretary Nathan, we please call the role. Yes. So a yes vote is in favor of the resolution and a no says not to pass the resolution. Member Ali, say yes. Member Altman. Yes. Member Ban? Yes. Member Casre Abstain. Member Dean Stag? Yes. Member Fair.
Stepped away. I dunno which way to look. Um, member Garcia. Yes. Member Hannah Jones. Yes. Member Hassan. Yes. Member Ho. Yes. Member Quiero. Yes. Member Jimenez. Yes. Member Ong. Yes. Member Parsons. Yes. Member sap. Yes. And Chair Faulkner? Yes. So we don't need to wait for, um, member fa to return on the resolution passes. We have 15 Yes. Votes. Yes. Congratulations. Thank you.
Uh, thank you Panel member Almond for your leadership in that area in this area. Appreciate it. Thank you. And another word on reso, you know, we're starting to see the panel doc presenting a number of resolutions. I know we have some good, great resolutions coming up Next, uh, month Panel member Casre and some others are doing some really great resolutions. I, I just want to shout out CEC 22. I received the resolution and, and it's not often that we get the resolutions from the CEC, so I wanna encourage this. CEC presented a great resolution that dealt with our environmental issues within our school. Um, I wanna see more CECs if they're listening,
please send us copies of your resolution so that we can review them. Um, I was really excited to see a CCC resolution. Please send them to us. You, you, we have a panel email. You can email us directly. Uh, we wanna engage further. So I think this is a great thing when the, when the CECs and the in the, in the, um, and the panel begin to make public statements about our positions on various issues with impact us, uh, our kids in the school. So please continue. Uh, resolutions. Please continue. I think New York City Public Schools, the largest school system in nation has an important voice and that voice can continue to be heard
through the resolution process. So let's, let's do more of that. And I, so I thank the panel members who are engaging this and let's see even more of these, uh, resolutions coming forward. I really appreciate it. We'll now move to open public com. Vote panel members if you have any final comments. Anyone for the evening or rest? No, no Public comment. Public comment. I'd go to the public, we'll go public, public comment and then we'll go to open comment, right? Yeah. Yes. Okay. Yeah. Quero About the Resolution. All I should
Say is about the resolution that we just passed. Camille, I appreciate your comments and, and I do agree, but I also come from a borough that really struggles to fill the LC and so I was on that CEC and that we fought to get that L rep. Um, I, I just, I wanna say we hope that you, that the DOE continues to try to engage and be better because we have so far to go, but we also like, are really dying for representation from, from people. Thank you. I support you, but okay. Are there any other panel member comments? The resolutions?
Yeah, because I didn't want do the open comment. Yeah, no. Any other comments? Open comments? Any Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Not on the, well, again, um, I gotta call the public ahead, I know's. Yeah. Know I got you. I got you. Okay. I will call, um, speakers for, for the open comment, um, in groups of five. Um, please just make your way down to the microphone, um, so we can keep this moving. Thank you. Jean. Uh, levy or Levy? Deborah Alexander, William Petsky.
Jill Caruso and Abbi. Oh, that's a student and Teel Ridge Member. If you get to the microphone, if I called your name, you can, you can begin while all the people are coming down eventually. So, and she's also signed up, So I can't hear you. I'm sorry. We're reading Sequentially and she's also signed up. Laura, so she's gonna go before me. Is that okay with you? Did I call her name? No, you called my name. Okay. Jean Levy. And did And who is, who is the other speaker? Laura. Okay, let's go. That's fine. Oh yeah, I know. We thank you. Uh, I know it's late. I'll try to speak.
Just give me your name so I can just make a note on the side. Uh, Laura Forer. F-O-R-E-R. Thank you. All right. Uh, members of the panel. I am, I am Laura Forer, uh, Harlem mom, uh, with a child at Center School. And I do wanna begin with what matters most Center School parents are outraged by the anti-black racist comments made by a District three center school parent at the January CEC three meeting that Chancellor Samuel spoke about earlier. Comments made while a student from Community Action School brave spoke out to defend their school from an impending, excuse me, phase out enclosure. Our community shares a deep remorse for the harm caused
to black students and families at CIS to black families everywhere, including within center school as one CIS student. So eloquently put it, a school community must be a safe place to learn a warm and welcoming sanctuary. Tonight you will hear from parents representing four district three schools whose sanctuaries are at risk. Community action. PSIS 1 91 Manhattan School for Children. And the Center School parents from each of these schools will tell you the same story about how the doe's plans to append these school communities have lacked any meaningful parent engagement. Parents feel blindsided now
because plans the DOE developed last year were not developed with us despite what superintendent Dr. Higgins is currently saying at the Manhattan CB seven meeting. At the same time as this one has taking place and parents have serious concerns about a process that has not been transparent and that has failed to engage families by design. The DOE admits that working brute meetings held last year were flawed a series of closed door private meetings with instructions to keep information secret. Yet the DOE is moving ahead anyway with closing or relocating our four schools while promising to fix the process next time. But we learned today working groups will no longer be used
to develop plans to meet enrollment or class size issues for the foreseeable future. We were shut of parent engagement last year due to a flaw in the working group format. And going forward, because we won't be on the agenda, parents and students at CAS 1 91 Center and Manhattan School for Children should not be the Guinea pigs. In a failed experiment, steering parents who have predetermined outcome is not parent engagement. We are here to state our concern that parent voices are being ignored at best or at worst. Silenced. My name is Jean Levy. I'm here to raise concerns about how distrust was injected into the process Last year, district three leaders told 1 91 parents not to trust us,
called us privileged. White parents suggested that it would be weird that we were, that we would care about black students at 1 91. Please don't pit parents against each other. Leaders also alarm parents at PS nine with hypothetical concerns about providing services and stairwells when practical options remain available. PS nine needs an estimated four additional rooms to meet the 80% class size cap next year. We're just asking for one more year of time at, at that building. PS nine also has 17 flex and admin rooms. It could easily come up with four additional classrooms while keeping its room
for mandated services, while keeping its dedicated separate spaces for art, music, science and library because it has additional rooms that it uses for enrichment. Right now, these feel like workable solutions and not a solution that merits scare tactics. There's another trust issue with the DOA rooted in institutional racism. Community action in the one 90 ones. Middle schools serve most predominantly black and brown students. Multilingual learners, high needs students, students with learning differences, students that live in temporary shelters. Yet these middle schools are targeted for closure because the student data does not align neatly
with enrollment and proficiency metrics. And closing 1 9 1 90 ones middle schools is aimed at creating space so that they can DOE can Force Center School to move there to provide PS nine, its own dedicated facility with Room to grow asap. They can't wait one year. This is a wealthier wider school where the parent association spent over $1 million last year and this year is requesting $2,500 in family donations per student. This is a school that the DOE wants to prioritize. This is systemic bias playing out in real time. And right now as we're here meeting with you guys,
district three leaders are over across town at the Manhattan Community Community Count CB seven meeting, telling people that we don't wanna move to 1 91 because we don't wanna integrate. That's a lie. Just last week we asked, we moved to the CPE Meet building in Central Park. I mean in East Harlem. We'll move to any building anywhere that has facilities that will meet our pedagogical academic needs. Please reconsider and keep us there for one year and keep CAS 1 91 and Manhattan School for Children Open. Thank you.
Good evening, Mr. Faulkner. Distinguished members of the pep. And congratulations to you, Mr. Samuels, for your appointment as the, as the superintendent, um, and for the good work you did in District three and for your wise words tonight. And thank you members of the PEP for all you've said. The recent comments by a Hunter College professor have cast a question of justice, diversity, equity, and excellence in our school system into the focus. But something has gone lost in the fury. What does excellent education look like for diverse learning communities? How are kids of color best served?
Let's talk about the center school, my school. Let's talk about the what equity, diversity and excellence look like there. It's a student body and staff that there are nearly half people of color. It's a five to eight education that takes every kid from every corner of the district and from all economic walks of life. It's knowing every student by name. It's untracked classes where students of all abilities learn together side by side. It's a school where every eighth grader takes the algebra regions and Latin regions. And over 95% have passed for the past 20 years. It's a school where all of our children go onto the
best high schools in the city. In fact, in many year where kids of colors have hair fared so poorly on the S-H-S-A-T, our school is one of the few that reliably places black kids into specialized high schools. Our four year program has tremendous success. Closing the achievement gap for both kids of color and students with IEPs. Our numbers speak for themselves. The proposed move harms good equity work we're doing right now. A few questions. Will the plan to move center school and its more than 100 kids of color from PS nine, one of the wealthiest schools in the city make the building more
diverse is the plan to move center school and truncate. PS 1 91 to make room for PS nine explicitly for families who would otherwise leave for private school or the suburbs, is that an equity move is closing community action. Whose students so bravely stood up for their school? Is that the message you wanna send? Shut them down. Does moving and closing schools where there is such an outcry for true parent engagement and reflection? Is that it? Okay, sir, your time has expired. Thank you. The next group of speakers, Georgia Lin. Olivia Greer and Radha. Sorry for the pronunciations.
Sidiki, John Weinberger and Alexis Klo. Klo need s. Ooh. Thank you. Good evening, pep. Hi Chancellor. My name's Olivia Greer. I'm here to speak on behalf of PS 3 33 and in very proud partnership with the other three schools in our district that are at risk right now. And in particular, community Action school who could not be here tonight. We have said over and over there has not been meaningful community engagement. The working group process failed its history, has been misstated and continues to be misrepresented.
We parents of all four schools are here for problem solving. But imagine our surprise to learn that a competing community board meeting was scheduled last minute in our district with Dr. Higgins tonight, making it impossible for one coherent and constructive discussion to take place. That is not community engagement. And the only rational takeaway is that a predetermined outcome long predated any of these meetings. MSC is a K to eight school serving a community that is diverse by every metric that is the foundation of who we are. Closing grades six through eight would fracture our community
and leave vulnerable students with no option in the district that truly meets their needs. We serve a significant population of students with disabilities, including many students with mobility challenges. And for decades we have built deep expertise in serving these students in our district. There is no comparable middle school option prepared to meet their needs in the way that we do At MSC. Inclusion is not an afterthought. It is our model. Students with disabilities are integrated into every aspect of school life, academically, socially, artistically, and athletically. We believe that every child
and every adult in our building benefits from learning and growing together. For several years, our middle school was neglected. Less than four years ago, a new principal stepped in and began the hard patient work of rebuilding programming trust and the bridge between our elementary and middle grade middle grades. We are poised to enter a new chapter and yet at the very moment when we are regaining strength, the district proposes a phase out. We ask you to recognize that MSC is a thriving K to eight community, a model of inclusion and a school in renewal. Please allow us to continue this work. Good evening. Thank you for allowing me
to address you again this evening. My name is Alexis Ka. I'm a district 30 parent and member of CEC 30 speaking in my personal capacity, chancellor Samuels, I'm so glad you're here tonight. Congratulations on your appointment and I'm glad you're here because I wanna address several things that have been occurring within our school communities. Things that I see as being connected. We have a CEC in Manhattan that is continuing to double down on discriminating against trans and gender expansive students. We have school principals in educators who have not been empowered to share vital, know your rights information with vulnerable students.
Meanwhile, a co-founder of Place NYC, who was here tonight openly shared that she sees no problem in calling people the R word except she used the actual word. And most recently as addressed by the chancellor tonight at CE C3 in Manhattan, the council students and attendees were subjected to a disgusting display of anti-black racism when a virtual attendee had a zoom mishap, quote unquote zoom mishap. The viciousness clearly rooted in white supremacy cannot be tolerated and it must be called out for exactly what it is.
Not just racism but anti-black racism. During black history month of all times, I wanna express my solidarity with the brilliant black women that I serve with on CEC 30 as well as the black educator, staff, students, and families throughout the entire N-Y-C-D-O-E. No one should be subjected to this kind of hatred when a school board or chancellor doesn't take from an immediate stand, not just words, but in actions against anti-trans resolutions or the throwing around of hurtful language like the R word. And it is, is it truly any surprise that anti-black rhetoric would get swept under the rug?
If not for the dedication of black parent leaders, including Tanisha Grant, Quan McLean, and my CEC 30 Sister Whitney Toussant, I'm certain this would've quietly gone away. But since it is out in the open, I'm urging each and every one of you on the panel to reaffirm your commitment to all students and their families. Black Brown, immigrant disabled, L-G-B-T-Q or otherwise, both in words and actions. We know better and we must do better. Thank you. The next group of speakers are are Tiffany Rodriguez Francisca, Fort Lewis, Julianne Parmenter,
Greg San Ano, and Whitney Toussant. Good evening everyone. Especially Vinny who went home already. Um, Okay. My name is Tiffany Rodriguez and I stand here as a parent and advocate to speak for the children, families and communities who depend on R-S-M-A-C-A-S-M-C, SMSC, sorry, and Center School and other district three schools. Thank you Chancellor for acknowledging and addressing the pain caused by the racist attack. Those remarks were harmful and unacceptable, but I wanna say something important. Comments like that do not happen in a vacuum when schools
that primarily serve black and brown children are repeatedly labeled as failing. When statistics are shared without context. And when communities feel dismissed instead of supported, it creates a narrative that our children are the problem. Instead of the system being responsible for meeting their needs, we are fighting for resources, stability, and equitable investment. The very things that prevent failure. What we are asking for is repair. Acknowledging where the system has fallen short, investing in our schools instead of destabilizing them and partnering with communities instead
of making decisions about us without considering us. Our children are failing because they have been failed. And that is something we have the power and the responsibility to change. It has been said here tonight by the panel members that children deserve to learn in their communities. I'm pleading with you Chancellor once again to move forward in a way that centers equity, dignity, and real solutions. As for parent engagement, I found out about this possible and only proposal in December as center school was touring our school. Thank you. Good evening. I am FCA Fort Lewis. We are a queen space family
with a daughter in sixth grade at the Center School. Dear members of the panel, thank you for the opportunity to speak candidly about what is happening in District three to address under enrollment the pattern of closing under-enrolled predominantly black and brown schools, while expanding and protecting wealthier, wider schools reflect systemic and institution institutional inequity. Regardless of whether this is framed in terms of class size law, or low enrollment. At the October, 2025 working group meeting, district three leaders stated that PS nine should increase kindergarten enrollment
to 100 students to help capture families who might otherwise choose private schools or leave the city. This policy, this policy choice, highlights how privilege operates within our system. Resources and buildings are being aligned to retain already advantaged, primarily white higher income families, while schools that serve largely black and brown students like Community Action School, PSIS 1 91 and Manhattan School for Children are treated as unsuitable for additional investment in the proposed reconfiguration. PS nine, an overwhelmingly white school
with a parent association budget of roughly $1 million last year and family donation requests of approximately $2,500 per student this year stands to gain an entire school building despite needing only a few additional classrooms to meet class size targets for the 2026 and 2027 school year. PS nine is uncommonly blessed with resources in a moment where many schools in district three are being asked to make significant changes just to stay open. Slating the closure of high need schools for low enrollment while judging their
success by proficiency. Metrics that ignore systemic inequities perpetuates institutional racism within the education system when decisions, when decisions are shaped to preserve comfort for affluent families. And the resulting consequence is the closure of schools that serve predominantly black and brown students institutional biases being reproduced. Thank you. Okay. Uh, good evening. My name is Greg Ano. Uh, I am a center school parent. I was born and raised in this city and I went to public school elementary through college. Two weeks ago, our community was shattered
by a racist comment made by a center parent. As a community action student was speaking in opposition to their school's potential closure. The harm inflicted on that student and on community action school and on black students and families broadly was profound. The center school, PTA and families are united in rejecting anti-black racism and are committed to accountability and building an equitable community. We stand firmly with, uh, community action school as they heal and seek to heal from this harm and as they seek to continue to serve their students. And we stand united with the schools in our district resisting a
flawed series of moves. As the inevitable consequence of this incident, we have been told that MS 1 91 must close this year. We have been told that center school must relocate to 1 91 in September, and we have been told that if these changes are not made immediately, PS nine will be forced to provide mandated services in hallways. None of these outcomes are inevitable and none of these decisions need to be made urgently. Reasonable adjustments could be made to repurpose PS nine's already existing spaces temporarily, such as using their second music room
or their robotics room as classrooms, or even taking one or two rooms from center school. This would preserve all of PS nine's core enrichment programs and mandated services in separate rooms while allowing center to remain for one year, allowing time to find a suitable long-term solution that does not require the closure of another school or place center in a pedagogically inappropriate facility if center is forced to move. So PS nine can expand. A year earlier, MS one 90 ones closure becomes a certainty,
but dismantling one 90 ones community will not help its students erasing. The school will simply make the data look cleaner without changing the actual experiences of those students. These are good schools. Please give us one year to come up with good solutions. Sorry, you didn't call my name, but I did sign up and we are part of the same group, so we work in tandem. Okay. 'cause there are still a number of names that I haven't Called. Okay. Oh, maybe it is. The thing is that we kind of like work the same thing together. Okay. Sorry. And for the timekeeper, what's your name, please? Daniella Lara for the timekeeper. I just wanna introduce myself so you guys understand
the depth that I be working with the DOE, uh, chance. I hope my face looks familiar because we've been in many, many, many, many, many meetings together. My name is Daniela Lara and I'm a parent of four children all to the DOE two in middle school right now, two in college. Uh, and I'm a current, I used to be a PTA president of PS 84. I'm the current, um, representative of center school for the three President's Council. I'm the treasurer also of the three President's Council. Um, just following the anti-black remarks, maybe by member
of the center school community, we now So big. Oh, sorry. Yeah, you started the time before I finished my intro. Anyway, my point was I understand what you do. I know the responsibility that you carry. Um, and that's what I want you to listen to me carefully, uh, because I have faith on the responsibility you carry. Um, so yes. Following the anti-black remarks made by a member of the center school community, we now understand that those remarks are being used to accelerate the center school's relocation and finalize the closure of one out in one middle school that will amount to collective punishment
and opportunism compounding an already inequitable situation, further harm to one black serving school in being used to justify closing another. We appreciate Dr. Higgin's Swift condemnation of the anti-black remarks, but that concerns most extent beyond words, amongst extent to the black and brown student of Community Action School by the school open and helping its thrive, especially as applications increase and the community works to heal. And it must extend to the students of 180 1 by investing in his middle school, not dismantling it.
If the DOE truly values academic performance and enrollment stability, it should be, it should not jeopardize the center school's outcome by relocating it to a facility that does not fit its educational model. Simply to give a well resourced majority white school an entire building. It does not urgently need next year. The harm is already done, cannot be undone. But we can prevent it from deepening support, community action school, invest in 180 ones middle school and allow the center school to remain in place for one more year while we work together on a solution
that does not require closing another black or brown school to benefit a more affluent, wider one. Thank you. Hi, Whitney Toussant, CEC 30 Co-president here in my personal capacity, um, chancellor Samuels. I wanna thank you for your comments tonight. That is what they should have let you release on Sunday. What you said tonight was, in my opinion, is spoke directly to the moment and it made me as a black woman feel, seen, feel heard, and I know that would help that family that was affected by those comments immensely,
the community as well. And I'd love to see some more actions behind that because again, like you touched on earlier, as a black parent leader in this space, what happened at that hot mic moment is just a symptom of a much larger issue with anti-blackness in New York City public schools. So thank you for talking about that tonight. Um, I do wanna touch on what I heard from these parents from Manhattan. I don't understand why a school that is so affluent giving, I guess given priority in this moment because their PTA sent out an email Fear Mongering about getting art in a cart that has been happening
and I'm tying it to District 30 at PS 3 29 East Elmhurst for years. They are almost at 140 capacity, 140% capacity. They're getting everything moved out in a cart. Their students are getting their services in the hallway. So if we can recognize how stigmatizing that is for an affluent community, we damn sure better recognize how stigmatizing that is in a lower income black and brown community and it's not right. Um, so we brought that up last time I was here the last time we were also here. We discussed getting a Horizon Middle School
program in District 30. I heard it's in the works. I really wish I could have said thank you, but I wanna say thank you at the next meeting. So give us an update on that one. 'cause we do need the Horizon Middle School in District 30. I appreciate y'all, um, for that. And then, um, yeah, look at more schools in the East Elmhurst area of our district, because like I said, those students, the buildings are not accessible. 3 29 is at 140 something capacity and our students are gonna serve like their services in the hallway. So if this affluent school can fear monger and get a whole building because of that, my students in East Elmhurst have been getting their
services in the hallways for years and they were told to reimagine their space. So thank you very much. The next group of speakers are Mike Robles, Theresa Catone, Amil Padilla, Molly Malu, and Victoria Madelia DiUS. Thank you again for having us. Uh, appreciate that. Thank you. Thanks. Um, proud parent of two wonderful daughters at, uh, PS 1 91. And I stand with the con, uh, the CAS, the MSC, uh, and the the center school for keeping the status quo.
Uh, I'd like to paraphrase or read a quote from you, doctor, uh, sorry. Chancellor Samuel. Uh, when our students feel seen, valued, and respected for who they are, we build that crucial sense of belonging that allows every child to thrive. I ask you, how do you feel seen and valued if your community school is gone? We have an opportunity here to keep that community school and keep everything opened. If we have the right resources at PS 1 91, we are really strapped for the right teachers at administration. I think Tiffany had discussed that before, and I think that goes into that, the underperformance that we have.
And I think with the right assets in our school will be a better, better served. I'd like to also just share, I too am a parent of a child that was in D 75 and I worked hard to have them as part of the community school so she can be part of her sister and their family together. And so when you do take these community schools away from us, we lose options for our families to be together. So I asked you to reconsider keep the families at MSC together, keep the families at cas, uh, at CAS and the families over at the center school together, and give us another year, another times to look at proposals, other resolutions that we could do
and hopefully work together for. Thank you. Thank you. Um, good evening again. Uh, Victoria Medallia. This time I'm speaking as p as 3 98 PTA president fourth year in a row. I can't put it as eloquently as my son did, and I promise you he did that on his free will. On his way here, he asked if he could speak. So I'm beyond proud of him. Uh, the gravel that he speaks of has little tiny shards of glass on it. So we have had many instances of students getting cut so deeply that the bone is visible. This has been going on for years. We talk about reimagining the space our teachers used to teach out there. So it was good two years ago and all of a sudden it's not. When we asked the DOT, it's a spring thing.
When spring comes around, it's the next year. It's bureaucratic. You know what, speaking of disparities, um, the most recent snowstorm last month where, um, my queen's people, 34th Avenue open streets, right there was Sub-Zero degree temperatures for the following days. That avenue where we dismiss, uh, K through five didn't get plowed for 10 days. I reached out to my council member over and over again. I walked the mile of 34th Avenue. I took photos of all four schools on that avenue that had both sides plowed. Why couldn't we get ours? Because there's not a bike lane.
My son didn't make that choice. His students, his fellow classmates didn't make that choice. His principals didn't make that choice. The opposite side where bolero is all clear, it wasn't just a bike lane that was cleared, it was also the car path. And this also on the side is where our students that take busing, I have a child that has, um, that uses a wheelchair 10 days. And that wasn't cleared. Unacceptable. So I'm asking the chancellor, I'm asking you guys it shouldn't be a request. I advocate and I pushed for it Sunday morning. What did I do? Hey, council member just FYI, there's a snowstorm coming.
Can we just get that plow? The DOT. It's A-H-O-R-T. It's the, this, it's a, that it's a, that it's unacceptable. It's the bare minimum that we ask. We had K through two dismissing in the lobby. We have third grade in the playground. We have grandmothers that pick up their, their grandkids. We have siblings and strollers. It's completely unacceptable. You wanna talk about that? A disparity? It starts there. Yeah. Can, before you leave, can we make sure that we have a way to follow up with you, um, Lee? Yeah. I don't know. Somebody with from DOE. Yeah, they're gonna connect somebody coming your way. Let's make sure that we get that, because those are safety issues that need
to be dealt with right away. So we'll take your information and we'll follow up to make sure that, that that dangerous situation gets cleared up. Who's calling? I can't Yeah. Yeah, go ahead. I just wanted to know, when you spoke to your council person, did they, what was the response? Yeah, sure. So at first it was, it's not the DOT, it's so HRRT, the most recent one when I asked ahead of time for this particular snowstorm. Oh, it's, um, you know what the, the, what the answer is? And they said, do your, can your custodians do it? No. We share our head custodial
engineer with a neighborhood school. And we have two custodians. The onus is not on us, it's not on our school. We have to do better. This isn't the kid's choice. This is like literally where they get dismissed. And if there's a safety issue, someone slips someone's fault. And then what I'm trying to get ahead of the problem before someone gets serious. Andrew, I agree With you. No, and you're right. Thank you. I'm seeing Yeah. Sap Public common stuff. Yeah. We have more people. Oh, I'm Sorry. I thought we, We have more people to speak. Okay. Okay. We Had completed No, no, no. The next group of speakers, max Miller, um, Matt Harrison, um, student
Lara Simpson, Jimmy Amodio, um, Spiro Doula, and Reverend Leticia Thompson. If you're at the mic now, you may begin speaking. Max Miller. The D three proposals make me exceedingly sad. The absence of genuine parent engagement, rush decision making. Our constituencies have been here ready to put in the honest work. And the DOE is not C-A-S-I-S 1 91 MSE middle gone and abruptly relocating another thriving middle school and putting its continued success in danger.
It's a knockout blow to vulnerable populations. Progressive ed, real inclusion, K through eight, IB choice and diversity of education as a whole in our district, the DOE behind its numbers, class size law and efficiencies of scale will transfer that cost to current and future students and families. Fewer good choices for middle schools in our district. The cost to the DOE will go beyond the loss of positive outcomes in student retention as a template for the rest of the city. It's deeply disturbing. Does the DOE want to move forward like this? Minimizing voices maximizing ho homogeneity of education,
excising choice, eroding trust in public ed, ripping apart communities, district by district, pitting schools against each other, as is the case with center and nine where the DOE drove a wedge of fear and loss straight through 16 years of harmony in a few short months, creating acrimony that will take careful restoration work to mend seismic shifts in education policy gifted and talented regents to name two, the impacts on schools unknown. Our schools collectively are well positioned to be part of the solution to those.
Can the DOE say with certainty that the conclusions will be the same? I don't think so. Better solutions will follow center, will relocate laterally, and maybe some or all of the middle schools will survive. The proposals will be better when the door is truly open and we have a real seat at the table. Maybe the DOE will come to understand that a shift in the balance between choice and economics will lead to great retention and outcomes, greater retention and outcomes. In turn, this will provide the efficiencies that have become your top priority and maybe a template for how to truly work with parent
and school communities will emerge. But sadly, it is too late for thoughtful implementation of any of these proposals by September. I'd like to add that. Scheduling mergers and closings meetings. Excuse me, sir. Y afternoon excuse Expired. It's two seconds. You, I gave, I gave you a few more seconds already. You're really over time. I'm sorry. It's, it's the DOE scheduled a similar meeting. Yeah. Could you send us the testimony in, you know, we'll, you can mail it in to us and you, you'll be able to complete the testimony. We Couldn't be at another meeting 'cause we had No, I understand. Thank You. And that also I understand. Thank you. Your time
has expired. Thank I under I understand and I appreciate all of your time. You Can begin. Okay. Thank you. Uh, so good evening again. Uh, this is Laura Simpson from CC 30. Speaking in my personal capacity as a parent and a parent leader, mayoral control expires in June. Mayor Ani has reversed his campaign position and now supports continuation. And I understand the appeal of continuity, especially of class size mandates looming. But I have to be honest, mayoral control as currently structured leaves ccs with very limited authority.
We can zone schools, um, we can advise, we can hold forum. Um, we could write resolutions that carry more weight, but no binding power over anything. Uh, and we watch decisions get made over our heads and then explain 'em to our communities. So if Albany chooses to extend mayor control, even partially, it must come with real structural reforms. CCC meaningful roles in, in closures, charter school decisions, uh, utilization. And not just after the fact hearings and our resolutions.
I love writing them. We do love passing them, but they need teeth, otherwise they just kinda get ignored. Uh, so to pivot, what happened at CC three last week is a symptom of a system that asks communities to show up but not to lead. It asks them to bear the weight of institutional racism without recourse, uh, students shouldn't be the last line of defense against decisions that were made without them. We elected voices in our school communities. Any extension of mayoral control must also be an extension of community power, not the transfer
of authority from one administration to another. So if you are supporting that extension, please reform it. Parents want to be involved. But look, I've been here like for four hours. And what am I gonna do? Like after this? I could say I said something, but I need more. We all do. Thank you. You may speak. Bye. Good evening, Chacho Samuels panel members, community members. My name is, uh, Matt Harrison, and I'm speaking as a special ed teacher at Cria Heights Academy in my own personal capacity. Um, I'm excited. I appreciate the work that you guys put in.
I appreciate the passing of the proposals. Um, any proposal that expands, like opportunities for like, you know, high quality instruction, especially here in Queens, especially with inclusion of exceptional learners, that makes me so joyful. I just ask that you please remember some of the other schools, um, that may be unscreened, right? For 15 years we've been toiling in restrictive spaces. Um, you know, we, we have 75% Title one population. Over 10% for population are, uh, English language learners. Over 20%, uh, learners with disabilities.
'cause we still use that term. Um, but, you know, we still believe in like, educating all our students with a whole student approach, um, four year graduation with a CTE diploma. So we feel passionate about the work that we do, but we are doing it in the hallways. Uh, we, you know, we don't have a gym, you know, like that takes place in a cafeteria or a classroom where again, good old hallways. So, you know, we just ask that, you know, you keep us in mind. We look forward to like having our own proposal and our own chairs, you know, sometime soon. So thank you for your time this evening and thank you for your work. I appreciate you. Good evening again, Reverend Leticia Thompson Long
EI wanna give a shout out first to Dr. Christina Melendez. I wanna thank her for her partnership and empowering Bronx families. We appreciate you and we wish you the best in your future endeavors, and you will be missed by those you chose to boldly collaborate with. And now, from our real public comment, in the same way that black parents, families, and community members are called upon to join with others in their causes, we are now calling on those whom we fervently supported to reciprocate in our time of need.
And collective affront hate speech misnomer as insensitive or misunderstood only when caught on a hot mic, is an insidious part of the foundation of education and needs to be rooted out. We are calling on those who know that without Black American advocacy for all resulting in the Civil Rights Act, there could be no rights for all. Black history is US history. Anti-black sentiments are hate speech, period point blank. And they must not be tolerated.
There is nothing to investigate. Apology not accepted. Censure, sanction, fire and remove, if necessary, eradicate this racism against foundational black Americans. Now, Good evening. Thank you panel. Thank you everyone for their comments. There's a lot of amazing messages here. My name is Jimmy Amadeo. I'm here again, uh, representing Consolidated Bus, borough Transit and SNT bus, just, uh, to get the message out that we're looking to get a better understanding of experiences, concerns,
and ideas in hopes that we can proactively identify any problems and improve our service. Like the panel member mentioned before, let's make better decisions by constantly listening to the public. If anyone would like to tell me their story, we're here to listen. Thank you. Uh, the next group is Quentin Mein FCA Fort Lewis. Teel Eckrich, Rashida Brown Harris. James Jennings. Okay. Okay. Just, that's what I thought.
Thank you for saying that. Um, good afternoon. I'm Quentin Mezzan Jr. As you heard my dad over here, I'm the number three of his six kids. Awesome. Yeah. Um, I'm a senior at Cambria Heights Academy, where my father is PTA president and I currently serve as student government president. Um, this year my school has helped me and my class accomplish the goal of going on a senior trip, which they haven't been able to do in three years. I've proudly saying I'm graduating with an advanced degree diploma and been accepted to my top colleges, St. John's and John J. College. I'm not. Thank you. Thank you.
I'm not here to boast about my personal achievements. I'm here to shine light on my school and my founding principal, Ms. Medici, who has led Cambria, has a cur academy for nearly 20 years. Our, um, our school has the highest graduation rate in the New Visions District and some of the highest regions passing rates. But behind those successes are real challenges. During my four years here, I've seen our student athletes struggle with Aller Gym. I've seen our arts programs limited without an auditorium. I've seen how difficult it is to build a strong parent and community engagement when we simply don't have the space. Our outdated cafeteria doubles at everything.
Event space, gathering space and meeting space. Our sports teams only play away games and often traveling long distances at night, um, which is both difficult and unsafe only to go to these schools and be booed and treated as outsiders. Despite all these, we continue to succeed, but we, um, but imagine we can do the, um, do what, imagine what we can do with the facilities our students deserve. We knew schools. We with new school spaces becoming available, and Catholic schools closing in our city. I urge you to consider Cambria Heights Academy
as a top priority when it comes to, um, these opportunities arising. We would love a space of our own, and we are also open to co-location if it meet, if it helps move the process forward and meets our needs of our students. Our community is strong, but our future is bright. We just need a space that matches our potential. Thank you. Thank you. I, I think the model of Queen High School for the sciences is contagious. And we're gonna have students advocating for, uh, space, which is great. Uh, the last group of speakers, Marlene Rossi, Kim Noran, Cindy
Erner, and Joe Patrick. Hey, panel. Rashida Brown Harris. Okay. All right. We ready? Mm-hmm. Damn. I tried to write this down. Where's Joe Belli here. I'm here tonight. Okay. Shea on you. Joe Belli. He made that comment about the Bad Bunny halftime show. Y'all know what he said, right? Oh, Okay. So he referred to the Super Bowl halftime show as the R word, a derogatory term commonly used when referring to differently abled folks. Um, question panel. Are y'all having a discussion with him?
Um, as a panel, are we having a discussion with him through some of our DOE networks and platforms with our resources, our trainings, our professional developments and, uh, workshops, counseling, courageous conversations, anti-bias trainings? I ask these questions because this is what's needed. We need this in all of our PAs. PTAs, SLTs, title one pacs, president's Councils, CEC, citywide Councils High School, president's Council, CPAC and pep. Um, we were at City Hall this morning, um,
to testify at the City council committee, um, to combat hate. They had a hearing because a new city council speaker and a new chair of the education committee are proposing bills under our noses that nobody knew about or knows about under the fake guise of safety. And we strongly oppose these bill, um, proposals because these bills will further harm the black and brown community. I say all of that to say that we pushing for transparency in 2026. We want transparency. We want community conversations. We want real discussions and real opportunity to listen
and to be listened to. We want and need the people's voices to be heard. And as, as a black woman, I'm tired. We are tired. We are tired of being tired. And Allison Freeman, anti-black racism, racist statement made at D three CC meeting was disgusting. And yeah, we want her to be fired because we need actions to be taken when it causes the black community harm. Any other group actions are taken immediately, always. But when it comes to black folks, we gotta wait. We gotta calm down.
Oh, it's not what you think and, okay, but let's investigate and we're tired. And so we need everyone to stand up together so we can all take action together so we can show that this is not tolerated, that we're not having it, and we're trying to move forward in a better future, to do better for ourselves and our black community and all of us as a people. Okay, thank you. Um, just related to the question you asked about, uh, panel member Borelli, uh, when that, when I was notified that that happened, we, I did communicate with him in writing. I sent it to the panel. We are also asking, he did, and he apologized. And we are asking that, um, there be some continued,
just some of the items that you mentioned that those take place. But, um, within I, a day of seeing that I wrote, notified the panel, asked him to apologize, let him know how unacceptable that was and why it was unacceptable behavior. And we are asking him to engage in, um, that kind of training that you, uh, spoke about. Thank you Chair Faulkner. We all need it because not all of us are gonna get caught on a hot mic or tweet about it. Thank you. Thank you. Hi. I know it's really late. I'll be quick. All right. I'm not a policymaker and I'm not an elected official.
I am a PS nine parent, and I also am a New York City educator. I have a third grader and I also have a pre-care. And this year, because of the class size reduction law, my son's third grade class dropped from 30 students to 20. The difference really, truly has been remarkable. And not just for everyone, but for him specifically. In a small, a smaller class, he's more confident. He takes more academic and social risks. He feels seen, he feels supported, as will the parent and a teacher. I know this isn't accidental. Smaller class sizes work and we all know that they allow teachers to build relationships and respond
to individual student needs. And that's everywhere. I fully support the goal of this law. PS nine does not have the physical space to implement it without harming children. We are operating at 105% capacity, and nearly 30% of our students receive mandated services. As a parent or a child with an IEP, I have one eliminating service provider rooms for speech, ot, PT social groups. It's not a small inconvenience and we can't do it. It directly impacts children's development.
These services cannot ethically or legally take place in hallways. And I know some schools have that, but that's not fair to these kids. Um, it cannot take place in shared open spaces without compromising privacy and IEP mandates. And if you don't have a child with an IIEP, you may not understand why this matters. But I do have a child with an IEP and I do understand deeply why this is so important. Without a facility solution, complying with this law will mean sacrificing the very supports that make PS nine work. Our children deserve what every single child in New York City deserves
properly sized classrooms, appropriate service spaces, and a school environment that allows them to thrive. Thank you. Thank you. Hi, I'm Cindy Erner, and I'm here speaking as a parent of a third grader at PS nine and a perspective PS nine kindergartener. My parents went through the New York City public school system and my mom taught kindergarten and p in a public school in the Bronx for many years. And my husband and I are thrilled to have our children attend public school here in New York City. Haley, our third grader has been at PS nine since kindergarten. And in kindergarten, first and second grade, she had large class sizes. Last year, her class had 30 students in it.
And this year, in third grade, as a result of the class size law, she has 20 students in her class. What has that meant for her? Hailey has come home and talked about how much more comfortable she is in the classroom. Um, she's able to walk around without bumping into other students or furniture to have choice. Time to have small group learning. Her teacher is able to give her and all children specialized attention. A chall a more challenging reading assessment. Book groups, deep learning and wit and wisdom, and some added fun and choice time all has become more manageable in the classroom. In order for PS nine to continue to comply
with the class size law, which we want to do, we need more space. Our building has been overutilized for years. We've been talking about our space issues for years. We've discussed at our PA meetings. Our admin and PA representatives have been part of the district working groups. And we can't wait another year. We know that an elementary school one year can be the reason why a child thrives. And one year can be a reason why a child could stumble In this unpredic unprecedented world, we have the power to create safe spaces for children to thrive. Please allow PS nine to continue to meet the needs of all the children in our school. We want PS nine to continue to be an equitable, kind, warm,
special space for the 550 students thriving in our community. Thank you for your time and for your leadership. Uh, hello. My name is Joe Patrick, and I am a PS nine fifth grade teacher, as well as a UFT chapter leader. Um, I'm standing here today to, because I'm deeply concerned about PS Nine's ability to meet the New York State class size mandates without additional instruction space. As a fifth grade teacher, my classes were often 30 students, over 30 students a year. With the implementation of the class size mandates I've experienced how lower class sizes are a huge win for students,
especially our most vulnerable learners. But the classroom of 23 students, I interact with each student every day, both personally and academically, allowing me to build strong re stronger relationships with my students. As a school, we have been discussing what class size mandate means to PS nine. Since the application process opened over the past year or so, I, we have shared information gained from our district three working group meetings with our community through U of T chapter meetings, SLT meetings and PA meetings. PSI cannot continue to reach their class size requirements
unless the district and the DOE staff implement a workable facility solution next year to get closer to our class size goal, we are for, we will be forced to close mandated service provider rooms. By doing this. Our service provider rooms, our service providers will potentially be violating HIPAA laws when servicing students because they may be forced to service students in public spaces such as hallways. We have made many changes already to close to our glass, glass size goal. However, the closure of service provider rooms does not sit well with the PS nine community, especially when a reasonable solution
to our facilities problem has been presented to our district three community. Thank you for your time. We invite you, all of us here from PS nine. We invite you to come visit our school, to walk through our building to see our space limitations firsthand. Thank you. Thank you. That is the end of the public stick sign Up. Wow. Well, I want to thank all of you for coming out and for your, uh, resilience and, you know, uh, the late hour and staying and, and, and presenting your point of view. I, I would like to just say a word and I'm gonna go get to the panel.
Um, you thought I was wrapping up, eh, thought I was gonna sneak it in? No, I, I I wouldn't get past that. But I wanna speak to the, um, families in district three. I've been, I think I've attended many of the meetings and meeting have written, I think I got over a hundred letters and I tried to respond to many of them. I just want you to know that we are listening. Um, so folks who may feel that, you know, the panel's not paying attention, we are listening very carefully. It's a difficult question and we're paying close attention. I think the panel's been engaged. Um, I know when I get home there'll be 25 letters. Um, you know, uh, and all have some, you know, passion
and concern for their children. So, um, I just wanted to, uh, I know sometimes people feel frustrated that they come and they talk to us and we're not paying attention. I want you to know we're paying close attention. Um, and we understand this is a difficult, you know, there's strong arguments on all sides. And so we're trying to, uh, do what we can, um, in our capacity to work out a solution to this problem. Thank you. Um, now we'll open it up to get inside. Yes. Na well, wait, wait, wait. Na no nave.
Well actually let go to Raji 'cause he hasn't spoken during the meeting. Really? Yeah. You wanna you wanna give back? Give it. Wanna recognize you? Hello everyone. Raji Hannah Jones. CEC Brooklyn Pointee. Uh, I just want to thank everyone for sitting it out. I really want to thank the small children that are sitting in their seats. 'cause you don't have to be still. 'cause I will be acting up if I was in your position. But I will say that it, it really does mean a lot. Um, we don't see it. But I was one of those little kids sitting there when my dad was on the
school board and squirming and trying to entertain myself. And, um, unfortunately I didn't have a tablet. I wish I did back then, but, um, I had to listen. But, uh, it does mean even though we're planting some really good seeds. So parents, if you do have your children, now, I don't recommend that you do this all the time. You know, give your children grace, but, uh, it does mean a lot. Um, I also want to thank the, uh, color guard that came out here. Uh, for those that don't know, my dad served in the military for 20 something plus years.
I grew up in his entire career. I served on the ROTC from sixth grade all the way to my sophomore year in college. Um, although I didn't join the military, um, one thing that the ROTC has always taught me is, other than just respect and discipline, is how to communicate, how to lead, uh, how to be a, uh, a steward to my community. So when you look at those young cadets come out here in their uniforms looking so spiffy and clean, uh, understand that you saw women, you saw men, you saw black men, you saw Asians.
That is what the military, in terms of the institution of the military. The military was the first institution that integrated. And they understand that you cannot have a united front unless you have everybody in it. Also, the military also recruits in very marginalized communities. So why you say people thank you for your service. Understand they come from the very marginalized communities that you were just talking about, saying they don't belong to half schools, or they don't belong to be in your specialized high schools
or in your g and t programs. Guess what? They're defending your country. And guess what? Their children are going to integrated schools with every resource known to man. I was one of them. I was one of them. I never known from the time that I started school as a kindergartner right up until the time I graduated from high school. I have never known a segregated space. And that is thanks to the institution of the Department of Defense Schools. Study it, study it. And you will see that some of the most, some of the most average students do well, better than some
of your GT affluent white students. Study the data, it's in there. Go to study every Department of Defense schools and look at how their teachers are paid and respected. How they're, how they're led. Their, a lot of those schools that I attended had dual language programs embedded in the curriculum. I learned German had to, had to, I was exposed to computers at a very early age, very early age, which allowed me to be the, the IT professional I am. Now, I've been exposed to everything.
Travel experience in any, I don't, I don't have a master's degree, I don't have a PhD. But I'm able to get down with the, with the best of them, and I'm able to communicate with the best of them. So I will say this, the issue of racism does not, that burden does not fall on black folks. It falls on those who are benefiting from racism. So it is your job, white people, affluent people. It's your job to fight this burden. We have done our part. We really have. When I look around the room
and I see the black history posters that say determination, perseverance, and courage. Do you know what those people had to go up against? Do you know the obstacles that they had to go up against? Do you think that that's what we want as black people? That you know how hard that is to go through those obstacles? And very few of us get through, many of us lose our lives doing it. And so you have to understand the concept behind when we talk about integration and what that means. You, if white children fare better when they're around black kids and learning around black kids
and Latino kids and Asian kids and kids who have disabilities, fair better, communicate better and go into boardrooms, understanding that when they see leadership that is all white, they say that something's wrong. Now, I'll get to the other part because my sister just stole my thunder when she talked about one of our panel members saying, got on his panel, uh, his, uh, platform and said the R word. Now, unfortunately, he's, he has a lot to learn. And, uh, I will say to Joe Borelli, I would love
to invite you over to my house to get, uh, to learn a couple things. 'cause I have a thousands of books that you can, that you can get from my house. But here's the thing, when you say things like that and you save them so freely, we live in a, we're living in a country now to where those things, these people are being emboldened, saying these things, doing these things. And we bear the brunt of all that. We bear the brunt of that as a city, but also understand another fact. And I've been saying this a long time. We live in the most segregate, most seg city. Our our city is the most segregated city district in the country. We have the most, uh,
segregated city schools in the country. And what are we doing about it? We're still talking about GNT. We're still talking about screening kids and the moment that we talk about equity, diversity, inclusion, but those who really believe in it, really don't, really don't. I'm looking at my neighborhoods and I'm even looking at some of the comments that I heard today. And I feel that we have a lot of work to do. Don't shake your head at Donald Trump. Look in the mirror. Look in the mirror. He is the very reflection of what you're benefiting from now. And so when you go in your school and you see 8% of your, uh, 8% of your demographic
of black kids got in your, your, uh, specialized high school, that's unacceptable. Principals should be outraged at that. Superintendents should be outraged at that. Anytime that you're looking at a underutilized school or under-enrolled school with bad leadership, that falls on the superintendent, that falls on the, that falls on the community, not just on the community, but it falls on the superintendents and it even falls, apologize for this, the chancellor as well as well as the mayor. But here's the thing, they have a responsibility
to make sure that they're staffing and putting the right people in the right places so that our children are get the right resources. There should be no reason why our children are on the front lines fighting the battles that us adults should be fighting for them. But you know what else? We should be putting 'em at the forefront, asking them the the first question, what do you want? Rarely do I hear us ask them panel member what they want. Panel. I'm, I hate to do this Because you're on a roll, but I'm, I'm almost Done. Yeah. Thank you. So I, I'm charging everyone to really just
go home and reflect on what this is about. This is about all of us. And if you truly believe in democracy, you want all and every last one of our, our institutions to be where it needs to be. In order for us to be successful, we have to be integrated through and through. We have to be. And I'll end it. Thank you. Thank you, Pam. Member, um, who I saw in a lot of hands who hasn't had a Pa Pamela affair. Yes. You Okay. I wrote mine down y'all, so I could be focused and get y'all outta here on my end. Okay. So again, happy Black History Month.
Um, my name is Amy Fair, a Bronx mural pep appointee. And I stand before you as a educational parent leader, a black parent and a black professional committed to growth, equity, and accountability in our schools. The events this month from our president of the United States, including those involving a professor at Hunter College. And for those who don't know, our president had a picture of Barack Obama, Michelle Obama as monkeys. It reminds us that the fight for dignity, fairness, and true inclusion is ongoing. And the disappointment we feel must turn into a resolve. History teaches us that generations fought
to ensure our children would be judged, would not be judged by their color of their skin, but be judged by their ability and not by bias. That trust the foundation of equitable education must be protected. Bias still shows up in grading, mentorship, access and opportunity. Black history shows us that progress comes not from enduring injustice, but from confronting and dismantling it. It also teaches us about responsibility. Educators and leaders hold power. That power can uplift or it can harm. This moment calls to reflective accountability and a renewed commitment to using authority to empower,
not diminish our students. Our black resilience is inherited, but our children should not have to turn pain into motivation just to succeed. Black History Month is not just a remembrance, it's a blueprint for action. So to the Chancellor as a black man and the leader of this system, you understand both the weight of this matter and the urgency of this moment. We look to you for leadership grounded in lived experience, moral clarity, and unwavering accountability if necessary, we would love for you to reevaluate. I would love for you to reevaluate or pause any partnerships with Hunter College
until there's a clear evidence that meaningful action has been taken to address harm, ensure accountability, and prevent this from happening again. Let us all seize this moment, and I agree with you, Rashida and everyone who said it, that we all need to recommit to the respect, the protection and equity that black students and black history demand and deserve. Mm-hmm. Okay. Um, panel thank you panel member Hassan, Uh, thank you, chair Faulkner, thank you to all the panel members. I want to thank all of the students that came to speak out today, uh, and and advocated for their communities
and themselves as everyone should, especially the students that are directly impacted. I wanna thank all the parents that came out. Uh, I wanna echo the statements of Chair Faulkner. We have gotten probably thousands of emails at this point in, in talking about how we're rolling out the implementation of the class size law and how it's coming into sort of its final formal years. What we might need to do to make sure that we don't break schools that are serving communities that are, uh, historically underserved. Uh, we're, we're gonna make sure that, that we do the right thing for the kids as, as advocates here. Um, yesterday we saw, uh, electeds,
uh, from the federal government go and listen to the president of the State of the Union. One of them took with them the mother of Dylan Contreras. Uh, she has been with without her son for, I don't know, it's almost a year now it feels like. But just under that, uh, when he was taken by ice from a New York City public school's, uh, setting, uh, while he was in court, but still he hasn't been in school. He hasn't been able to graduate. Dylan is stuck in a prison in Pennsylvania. Um, uh, if you reach out to me, I'll, I'll tell you how to write a postcard to him. I did that. It was really lovely because he replies, uh, that's the only contact he has
with the outside world in terms of being able to freely communicate. If you go over there to speak with him, and if you have other people you wanna talk to, they only let you talk to one person per day. So you have to pretty much camp out near that, near that private prison to be able to speak to more than one person. It's, it's a terrible shame. So on that point, we need to make real plans, uh, as a city of immigrants to implement policies for what happens when something like Minneapolis comes to New York City. Uh, that's something that I've been hearing more and more from all across the city. We're having dozens of meetings at this point a week across the city
to do know your rights for kids, uh, and, and, and, and adapt to what changes ice, uh, uh, does when in the way it implements its policies because they see how we're responding and they change the way they behave. So that's, that's critical to be ready before that happens. Um, it's Ramadan right now, and I, I'm hearing a lot of people very legitimately criticize, um, uh, the professor at Hunter College. But some of those same people work in the same body where there are elected members who represent hundreds
of thousands of people in the Borough of Queens who are saying disgusting anti-Muslim things. And, and they, they are not doing anything about their own colleagues. So I would like to reach out to them to do both things and to do them well and swiftly to make sure that, uh, city council members like Vicki Paladino are, are ced and stop tweeting things that are incredibly destructive to the New York City fabric saying that all Muslims should be deported, de naturalized and gotten and out of the city attacking our, our mayor
and a and a part of the community that includes black Muslims, uh, that is currently in one of its holiest months, are, are, uh, trying to observe a time that's introspective and, and to, to, to better themselves. To see this happening, uh, at this critical juncture is, is disgusting. And I stand with the black community. I stand with black Muslims. I stand with all Muslims and I, we stand together. Thank you so much. Thank you. And finally, we have a legislative agenda. Uh, this is the legislative session chair. Faulkner has mentioned this, and I wanna make sure that everyone is involved in the discussion around what the priorities of parents
and students are in what we want from Albany. As, as part, as the chair of the Government Affairs Committee. Uh, I would love to hear from all of you email all of us on, on the, on the things that you need Albany to do, including changes to mayoral control, uh, which I have been very critical about in terms of the way they don't respond. The system as it's set up as a governance model is not responsive to the needs of communities and we need to change it. So that's all I'll say. Thank you so much. Thank, Thank you. I was actually trying to get the attention of the, uh, uh, panel member from CEC 30 who brought that up. Can you connect with, um, panel member Hassan,
and let's have a conversation about what you think that should look like. We also have a parent engagement committee, and I like to connect you with the parent engagement committee so that we can move from just, you know, having thoughts, but really come up with some concrete, concrete plans as to what that would look like. So some of the things you mentioned, what would that actually look like? What would more parent engagement actually look like? And so it would be great, I wanna invite you to connect with us and join us in, in developing how that, how, how we move forward in that process. Thank you. Appreciate it. Um, who's next?
Uh, Panama Sack. Quickly. I'm not quick. Okay. The mic is saying you're not quick enough. Hold on a second. Uh, okay. Quickly, this is just an observation and understanding how important it is to hear parents speak. I just wanna say for parents, anti-blackness is not a one-off. It's not a one-time event. This is woven in the fabric of so many people. And what is happening is that people are using bait and switch.
And I, I just, I'm just putting it out there. And bait and switch is a, a strategy and speech where you talk about a topic, you get people's attention, and then you switch off onto the topic that you actually wanna speak about. That is a strategy, and I just, I'm saying this, please be mindful because anti-blackness is a very sensitive topic and with love when you're talking about anti-blackness and you're really talking about an event that occurred and then you transition without a pause
to talk about the matters that you really came here to talk about, it comes off as so inauthentic. It, it comes off as inauthentic, which means that if you really gonna have these conversations, these real deep conversations that have been so pervasive, you need to be more mindful and what strategies, what speaking strategies you use. Thank you. A anyone else on this side? Anyone else over here? You, Pam Luciana. Hello again, everyone. Ana Ali, she her.
If here que CECs, um, I, I'm gonna make comments about a few different things this evening. I'm gonna talk about the incident in district three first, but from a different perspective. I would like to thank, and, and I'm gonna name them, um, appropriately. Uh, Tanisha Grant, who is the executive director of P-S-P-N-Y, which is parents Supporting Parents and why, along with Whitney Toussant, who is the co-president of CEC 30, who has unfortunately left already. Um, they held a press conference and held space for community members for the affected CEC members, um,
and space for panel members who had the time and opportunity to join, to hear directly from the affected people from the community and from the wider New York City Public School system. Um, And, and to discuss like what they would like to see happen next. And it is, while I am very thankful to Ms. Grant and to Ms. Ong, it is not the responsibility of two black women who are not even from that district to go ahead and hold space for the community that way,
eternally grateful to them. Thank you both, and thank you to everyone who participated. Um, but that was a ball that was dropped by your office Chancellor. Um, and thank you for your comments this evening, but I agreed they would've been much better placed on Sunday or immediately after. Um, at that press conference, assembly member Jackson said something that has like tattooed itself on my brain. She said that we cannot allow our enemy to educate our youth. And I think the important bit of that for me is that our enemy is anyone who is racist, anti-black racism. Like panel member SAP said, like panel member Fair said,
like panel member Hannah Jones said, is woven intricately into the fabric of the American system. Every single flag that you see waving looks different to a black person. It looks different to a brown person. When the majority of white folks that I know see a American flag flapping in the wind, they feel welcome. They feel safe. And when people from my community see that flag, they understand that there's danger, there's danger around something is rotten in the state of Denmark. There was a, uh, a moment earlier also when one of our students, sorry, segue, one
of the students in the audience, um, mentioned a callous remark made by a teacher at her school about, uh, Google being autistic. Uh, I'm autistic. I have a DHD as well. And phrases often throw me for a loop. But, uh, one that I deeply, deeply understand is the phrase sharing is caring. And in New York City, this, you know, in the context of our class size, for me this means that we cannot always build a bigger table, but we can almost always drag up another chair. We can almost always make a little more space in the circle.
And when I was growing up, um, my parents taught us that the only time that you're supposed to look in your neighbor's bowl is to make sure that they have enough to eat, never to see what they're eating, never to take from their bowl, but to make sure that they are full to, and that, in my opinion, is what it means to be a good New Yorker. That is what it means to be a good person. That is what it means to be a good parent. And we all may not agree on much, but I know that we agree that our children deserve the absolute best. So, thank you. Uh, that is all I have for this evening.
Um, and I look forward to next month. Thank you. Thank you. Oh, we'll go around. Who's kind? Alman Yeah. Roll on. Good evening again. Queenborough President appointee to the panel for educational policy. Uh, I don't wanna be redundant. I'm gonna first thank our host school, long Island City, and the principal for hosting us. Um, they're amazing students. They cook for us all the time. Food was awesome. Um, so thank you holding the space. We had a really good meeting. Um, I am going to touch on, I was going to touch on inclusiveness,
but I'm gonna come from a different angle because I think Pan Hannah Jones made my point. So Camille, we, there were apparent leaders who've been having conversations for like five years with Central. And I know Chancellor, this is your, one of your priorities to make our system inclusive, right? There are examples across the city and within this borough who have done that. And with, with, with success, because children learn better with children. You know, the, the elephant in this room, is he not here over there, right?
But kids don't see that. Kids are taught that kids taught to matter about race or differences in ethnicities and food space because they're here. They pay attention more than what you tell them. So they observe it. So we are teaching our students, we are teaching our children to, uh, accept segregation or not inclusiveness. So we have to be that example. I'm, I'm a firm believer of leading by example. But there are students, I remember there are schools that the kids don't even know. There's students with IEP
because they go to gym together, they go to art together, they sing together, you know, et cetera. That is part I have seen last year. New York City solves with the, the illustrative math. This high schools I visit high schools in, in Queens. And they have schools that had students in IEPI hate this term, general population together, having lessons in algebra. It can't be done. They flourish better. They don't see all that we bring to up together. Data is like south peers and they help each other. They make each other better.
So going towards that inclusive system is very important and it will help our communities. It's a shame that most of our students are taking the lead in this, um, and, and, and acknowledging that there are the future. So we need to, uh, step up our pace and go behind them. Now when it comes to, uh, this black history month, but I'm gonna go through another angle. You know, I'm wearing my shirt. I mentioned a few times, one of my favorite, um, Martha Luther King sayings is always the right time to do the right thing. Right? I think we did the right thing tonight.
I hope we continue to do the right thing. But I want to go through the aspect of integrity. Integrity means you are doing the right thing, not only in the light where everybody can see you, but in the dark. We have to instill those values in this system among ourselves because that off mic, bad mic option just revealed light of what people are doing in the dark or how they feel in the dark. And we know this exists. So we need to instill integrity to do the right thing
for our fellow human beings, right? I don't see race. I see race as a human race. I was always grow up. I was fortunate to grow up that way. I don't see color. I don't see different. We are all humans. And I always equate to the rose. A rose is a rose. Regardless what color it is, it's still a rose. It's the same with us. Doesn't matter. I mean, if we all look alike, we'll be boring, right? We'll be a very boring planet. And then I want to end this, uh, someone asked to, uh, I'm gonna recommit or redo my oath. I think hopefully my track record shows
that I advocate for all children. You know, most of the time when we do things, when we accomplish things is w it, it never benefited my child or my French child. It's always for the future. And I always feel this way because I am, uh, a product of, you know, my parents. Most of my families are immigrants. Um, a lot of them speak different languages. And even those who were born here don't know the system. If we knew, if people knew what New York City Public schools offer, what our resources and communities are out there, it would be so much better.
And this is why I am doing that work to ensure that our families know what is out there, especially those marginalized communities. Um, and I wanted to, this will lead me into saying goodbye. This is her last pep meeting. Dr. Christina Melendez. I will miss you. I know face gets a bad rap, but I'm gonna tell you right now, it's been a pleasure partnering with you. You have made my education youth advocacy so much better. We never, we don't always see eye to eye, but we always want the best for this system. And I'm going to miss you. You have, have a good night.
Mm-hmm. Thank you, Pam. I'm going around. Any other panel members wish to offer comment? She, she, yeah, go ahead. I just wanted to say, uh, one thing personally, um, you may not know who has a disability. Disability doesn't have a look. So just think twice before you make that, that judgment call on someone. Um, a neurodivergence has no look. So there are a lot of things out there. There's, we're all unique. Our d DNA's unique. There's a lot of things out there. So just before you, you jump to those, you know, judgments and then just have that stigma about it.
Just look at them as a human being. Um, I just wanted to, uh, write, read this on behalf of a parent who couldn't be here today. Um, so my name is Wanda Yvette Belina. I'm a mother and I serve as district 75 representative. I'm here because what happened during the February 10th meeting at Community Education Council, district three cannot be dismissed as a hot mic moment or a misunderstanding. A student stood before adults to testify about their school. They, that takes courage. That takes trust. And while that child was speaking racially,
harmful language was captured. Language that echoes a history of our black and brown students should have never have to carry inside in, in educational spaces. As a mother, I cannot imagine how that student felt as a representative, I am clear our governance spaces must be safe for student voice. This is not about one individual, is it about standards? When students participate in civic engagement, they must know the adults in the room and on the microphone will honor that dignity. I urge the panel to formally reaffirm protections
for student testimony, strengthen expectations of conduct in public meetings, and make it unmistakably clear that rhetoric rooted in racism has no place in New York City public schools. Our students deserve respect, not resilience, training for racism. So that's from Wanda. And I just wanted to state, we just passed, um, the D two 10, um, uh, um, chancellor's regulation, the amendment to prevent something like this from actually happening. So this will be the opportunity. Every, every problem that happens is an opportunity to
what we're gonna do about it, what our response will be. And I'd like to see that resolution that we just passed for that to actually go into effect. And let's see what actually happens. Thank you. So happy respect for all. Again, theme of the night. I think, um, whether we're talking about disability, race, or other, um, so I wanna start with, I appreciate everybody speaking about the comments, whether it is about the image from the White House, whether it's about the CC comments, whether it's about checking ourselves about our own members. We appreciate that because the only way that we are better
that we represent you is if you come and tell us when we are doing it wrong. That's the dialogue that we need from you. And so I appreciate that. And I'm not gonna kick a dead horse. Um, I have a request. So it's respect for all next month is neurodiversity month and the month after is autism acceptance. We have to get comfortable with saying the word disability because disabilities get funded. Special needs do not, you will not find special needs on any budget. So we cannot say that. So the boldly reimagining team, um, boldly reimagining special education did two years
of work under Columbia, um, with four different groups. Other New York State Education Department and DOE, everybody was there, all stakeholders. And we created an inclusive and interdependent guide. And I would be honored if everybody here in a leadership role or listening would read it. Or if Chancellor, you could ask your team to re you know, revisit the, the guide and just familiarize themselves. Um, this administration has said special needs more times than I, I can count. And as a disability parent and a disability advocate, I, I can't anymore.
I'm sorry. Please, because you are going to set us back. We took all this time to make people understand that being disabled is not a bad thing. That there's nothing wrong with it. And that everyone is different. Everyone has a special need. We're not all getting funded for them. We need the funding, we need the understanding because then we have comments like things that we heard tonight that we're not sensitive to all of the students, that we are mandated by law to serve. And so if we could say it loud and say it proud, that would be much appreciated.
And, and the mayor to in, in press conferences, we want him to be comfortable with disabled because people are, and that's okay. So, so that's, that's my one request. And I think the, the guide really explains, it's, there's a paper that says, say this. Don't say that. It's very clear. I, I request if everyone can do that, so that we can all raise ourselves to a higher standard when we talk about a community that by the design of our meetings can't show up. She just read testimony from a Bronx D 75 parent who I guarantee you couldn't come
because they are a D 75 parent. The disability makes it inaccessible. We don't have an online hybrid option for them. And, and honestly, written testimony is not gonna be, uh, spoken into the record. So, or, or in the minutes. So I, I just pleased to do that. Um, the R word. We do that Though. We, we can Into the record So we can we, no, I'm with you. Listen, I'm sorry. It's after, it's after 10 o'clock chair. We are good. We are. It's after 11. We are good. We can do that. Yeah, it's after whatever he said. But if we can, that would be appreciated. And then I just wanna say out loud,
I don't know if anybody knows this. I, but a member of the, the contracts team passed away last week. Um, James Sarkis, who does a lot of work with the Office of People Transportation contracts. And we might end up on the opposite side of things a lot, but that's only because we really care about these kids. And so I just would like to honor a moment of silence for all the work that he did for the, the family that he leaves behind and for all the time that he spent working for our families, taking time away from his.
So Your impact is not unnoticed. And thank you to his family. And finally, Christina, why? So Christina is my co-parent with my child when I got a B up here because I am one of those New York City public school parents whose child loves to advocate and was just built for this space. And I rarely talk about, you know, my child, but I wanna thank Christina for always giving me the space to be able to bring her and not be concerned about it. Um, and thank you for protecting her.
Um, because in the October meeting when she was attacked, you were the one that was there. And I was stuck up here. And tonight when I was attacked and then she was attacked and you were there for her. And I had to be up here. I'm gonna miss you. Okay. Uh, anyone else? Okay, well thank you. Well, thank first of all to the audience, um, you know, for being here and staying to the very end, uh, there was a lot of good stuff that came out. Today's meeting, and guess what, everybody, ladies and gentlemen, exactly.
One month from now, we get to do this all over again. Hopefully not as late. Um, so we'll be our March 25th meeting. We'll be at the High School of Telecommunication Arts and Technology in Brooklyn. We look forward to seeing you all there. Thank you. Panel member, uh, members, is there a motion to adjourn? Is there objection to the motion to adjourn? No objection. We adjourn.