Now my pleasure to formally call this meeting to order. And, uh, with that, I'd like to call on our secretary, Judy Nathan, to please call the role When I call, when I call your name, please, um, say that you're present. Um, Marielle Ali. Present Adriana Ali. Here. Uh, Stevie Shaday Arnold. Shirley Bin. Shirley oban Here. Okay. Um, Aaron Bog. Aaron Bog. Camille Reti. Present. Marjorie Deans Stag.
Present. Amy Fair. Anita Garcia. Uh, Tony Giordano. Uh, Dr. Angela Green, present. Navid Hassan. Alice Ho. Present. Rema Quiero. Present. Dr. Darling Meme. Dr. Sharon Owin. Present. Alan Ong. Maisha. Sap Tom Shepherd. Present. Ven Ang. Manny Ra
and Chair. Faulkner. Present. So we have 14 members here. We have a quorum. Uh, is Lara Lai here on behalf of Controller Brad Lander? Yes, I am. And Chancellor Melissa Aviles Ramos. And our student members, Isaiah Tanin. Present and Dalia Diaz Chan present. Great. We have a forum. Great. We're ready to We're rolling. We're ready to do business. Thank you very much. Um, our next order of business is we are gonna hear from our chancellor. And so it's always a pleasure to hear the great things that are happening in the New York City, um, public schools.
And so it's always a pleasure to welcome our chancellor. So, chancellor Ramos Floor is yours. Good evening everyone. Thank you so much for being with us tonight. I know that we've had a number of holidays since we last met. Uh, so I wanna wish everyone a belated e back Happy Passover and happy Easter to all who celebrate. It's also Arab American Heritage Month, national Autism Acceptance Month and Earth Month. We wanna thank everyone for helping us celebrate these amazing, um, these amazing moments. Sheriff Faulkner, vice Chair, Dr. Green, and all of our PEP members, thank you as always
for being amazing partners and being with us tonight and to be hosted in this amazing building, long Island City High School. You are amazing hosts. Thank you so much to Superintendent Hutu and Principal Lenika, um, for being such amazing hosts and to our D 79 programs under, uh, superintendent nce. And since we last met, we've had a couple of of announcements. Uh, we have expanded New York City reads and solves to more schools, including middle school for New York City Reads. We are so excited about this expansion.
Um, we also made a huge announcement about early childhood baselining, nearly $170 million. This is, this is a huge investment for us, and we're so excited. We also announced our class size update, where we are awarding funding to schools, uh, based on the proposals that they submitted. This means, um, an additional 3,700 teachers across New York City, and we're super excited to start recruiting these new teachers. We also completed our listening tour last year and released our reports on the findings
of that listening tour. Um, and the themes that came out of it informed our N-Y-C-P-S Cares launch. And so this is a multi-phase approach to responding to the issues that we heard on that listening tour. The first phase includes, um, our anti-bullying and anti vaping campaigns, which are all student led. And of course, we're super excited about our family connectors. And these are, these are, uh, parent leaders who are volunteering to get trained on all the resources that exist across New York City, um,
in case families need these supports, um, especially when it comes to housing and food insecurity, making sure that we are holistically supporting our families and children because we know that's the way that they learn best. I also wanna remind everyone that we are still in CEC election time. The voting phase begins on April 25th and runs through May 13th. Please, please, please, we make sure that you vote for information and interview candidate profiles, view forum recordings and more. Please visit our website, make your voice heard and votes.
In closing, I want to acknowledge the vote on Fair Student Funding. Wait, which we have moved to the agenda for next week's meeting in Brooklyn to allow for more time for public feedback. And of course, for anyone who is here tonight to speak on that topic, we look forward to hearing from you. So thank you so much and we look forward to tonight's pep. Thank you very much, chancellor. Um, we'll next hear from our two student panelists. Um, we heard from a little bit earlier, but we'll not hear their formal presentation. I'll first call on student panel member Isaiah Tan. Good evening, panelists, parents, educators, and students.
Today I had the opportunity to speak with the leader of the Office of Nutrition and Food Services. We had a meaningful conversation about the state of school lunch, particularly around food quality waste production, how students can play a more active role in shaping the meals served in our schools. I'm grateful to their openness and I look forward to continue this dialogue and follow up with more informed remarks. Next meeting. I would also like to speak about the co-location of PS 2 33
with JHS Blackwell in building Tucson for 2025 to 2026 school year. As someone who knows the importance of a supportive school environment for students education, I notice how this co-location will bring positive impacts to both school communities. PS 2 33 has a space which is currently underutilized while PS two 10 has a growing student body currently in need of a new home in the 2024 to 2025 school year. Estimated travel distance for middle school district 75 students residing in District 27
is the second highest citywide. The NYC do DOE. And I believe that creating an additional middle school placement option will help address the projected district 75 seat need in Queens and reduce travel distance for many district 75 students. I've also revealed the New York City Public School's impact statement, which highlights its plans for ensuring that all students will have access to essential resources. This is not only a location and facility change, this is an investment towards NYC students growth and path to success.
I also like to make remarks on the Chancellor's five Borough Listening tour report. When I read through the Chancellor's five Borough, five Boroughs World Listening Tour report, what out to me the most was how intentional it was in including students, families, and educators voices in the center of his work. Chancellor Melissa Ramos didn't just collect feedback. She engaged over 1000 students, families and educators across New York City to hear their input on key educational priorities. The tour focus on three main areas, ensuring safety
and promoting wellness, strengthening Comprehen comprehensive teacher supports, and fostering family and community empowerment. This project is a thoughtful and commendable approach to bettering schools across New York City or me, and a reminder that leaders are representatives are not above the people they represent, but among them, which is why it's crucial to connect with communities who are impacted by our efforts. What I noticed in the report is that there were some areas which were impact, which were going well. However, many areas which were in need
for improvement were also noted, which included mental health and student wellness, school safety, and family engagement. The chancellor's approach engages families and students in the process of addressing these enduring issues within our school communities. What resonated with me the most, which I'd like to highlight, was the launch of student led campaigns, which will develop anti-bullying and anti vaping initiatives designed not for students, but by students As a student. I greatly appreciate how this approach not only tackles longstanding issues with within schools,
but also provides students with an avenue of leadership development and a sense of inclusion, while at the same time displaying the chancellor's commitment towards student empowerment. I look forward to seeing the implementation of these initiatives and their impact on our schools. So these changes will be gradual, is certainly a meaningful step in the right direction, which is why remaining consistent to this project is vital to its effectiveness. Consistency, build momentum, and momentum is what allows us to set dismantle longstanding barriers. If we continue censoring the voices of students, families, and educators, we can turn this project into lasting change.
Thank you very much, Pam. Member Tanju for that very comprehensive report, the excellent job. And, uh, we should really, again, hold up our students and be very proud. I should say something else. Also, it's not just that he comes here and makes this voice heard. I get tons of, I get emails from 'em all the time about things that we should do and improve. So thank you very much for your engagement and involvement. We'll next hear from panel member Dalia Diaz Chan, panel member, or is yours? Hello all. I wanted to take a moment to discuss some contract items. Um, first I wanted to display support for contracts item number four, which contracts
with the American Museum of Natural History for their Urban Advantage program. This program expands educational opportunities in the fields of math, science, and literacy, taught by highly knowledgeable experts at the American Museum of Natural History. And this program expands opportunities for students to participate in museum programs in school, and provides them with interactive workshops, which further engage them with the topics of literacy, science, and math. With the protected impact of the contract, the Urban Advantage Program is set to enrich education for over 70,000 students.
I also wish to discuss Agenda item 19, which will be brought up to vote in a few days regarding the supply of new scanners to schools with broken ones in the DOE, I'm aware that this is not a proposal to increase scanning in the DOE. However, regarding the widespread use of scanners within the DOE, I believe that there needs to be some reconsideration as to how they're being implemented across the DOE and to what extent scanning should have in a student's day. This is not a direct opposition to the implementation of scanners. Full stop. However, the perience of scanners in students' school days can get
to a certain point where it starts affecting the quality of their experience at school. I happened upon some people discussing the history of scanning and got to see how it can be viewed as a way to decriminalize students and perpetuate situations similar to stop and frisk. However, I don't claim to be an expert on this situation on the Washington Irving campus, my campus, there is a lot of sentiment that it contributes to poor attendance and lateness rates. Additionally, another insight unique to the campus is that it's especially cumbersome given that the campus has multiple schools with CTE programs, which are programs that provide private company internship
experiences, which may require students such as myself to dress professionally when they're there. So there are students such as myself who get hands wanded every morning because professional attire, such as loafers goes off during scanning. There are more effective approaches to root out contraband in schools while maintaining respects for our students. And the honest truth is that student opinion is not really factor that plays into how prevalent these school safety procedures are at their schools. I think it's time we update how we view schools and make changes where they are relevant, perhaps to counteract decreased security. There could be more school security guards at a school
or existing security guards that currently hands-on. Students could instead monitor areas where fights commonly occur such as stairwells, because ultimately decreasing the extent of scanning in schools isn't about making schools less safe. It's about decriminalizing schools and treating students the way we deserve. Thank you. Thank you very much, panel member. And I wanna thank both of our two student panel members for your active engagement. Yes, you can applaud them. Um, these, these are representative of what is happening in our New York City schools, and I think we can all be very, very proud and very satisfied with the work that you're doing.
Continue your leadership. Uh, we're now about to move into the public comment portion of the meeting. And before we begin, I'd like to read the rules that we'll follow during this portion of the meeting. Um, during the public comment session, I'm gonna, I will ask Secretary Nathan to call forward speakers from the signup sheet in groups of five during the public comment. Everyone who has signed up to speak will be allotted up to two and a half minutes for public comment and two minutes for open comment periods. 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 will understand and know that their time is about to expire. Additional time will always be allotted and provided to facilitate comments that may require translations. At the end of each speaker's time, we will move on to the next speaker. If a speaker is not present, um, you will not be able to regain your, um, um, uh, in the queue and we will move on to the next speaker. 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 staff members stationed in the back of the room and they'll be able to guide you to the appropriate section. Comments during this section should only relate to the proposals being voted on tonight, with the exception of, as we mentioned, the, uh, fair student funding. Um, although that's gonna be on the agenda for next week, um, if you came intending to make public comment on that, uh, contract item, you're certainly are free to do so. Okay, secretary. Oh wait. We first begin with student public comment. Um, so we'll go to the student list. Um, Yeah, there is, um, one student speaker, um,
RA Rachel Wang, but I noticed that we're joined by Anita Garcia and also Amy Fair. No, no, sorry. Maisha S you, I'm sorry. You know, I didn't look at the name. That was my bad. Maisha Sapp present and Rachel Wang. You can start. Good evening. Thank you panel members for giving me the opportunity to speak tonight. My name is Rachel Wang and I'm a junior at Queens High School for the sciences. I was at the meeting last month and I'm, again, I'm here to advocate for my school for a new building. First, I want to thank Adriana for sharing
with me an update after the previous meeting. I understand that even though this issue had, has been made aware, no decision has been made yet. However, I wanna make sure that this is not forgotten. These meetings only happen a few times a year, but QHSS students suffer in our York College building every day. A couple weeks ago, mayor Adams announced additional funding for new teachers. While this is exciting and great news for all schools, how can my school benefit from this without the space to put these new teachers, even though I'm here by myself today, I am not alone in my advocacy for Q-H-S-S-A sophomore at QHSS entered in the New York Post
Scholars contest earning an Honorable mention. This is an excerpt of her article, which has been published in the New York Post, A gym two blocks away, no supplies for science classes, flickering lights, huge classes due to the lack of teachers and absence of lockers. No auditorium, no school buses, no kitchen. The list could go on and on, but we've survived for 23 years. We've adapted when we need a place to perform. We rent out the Jamaica Performing Arts Center when we need indicators for labs. Teachers themselves take the time to squeeze purple cabbage juice for their classes. We have school food delivered to us. We've grown use to these ways, but we shouldn't have to.
And so when the staff heard of a new school building being constructed in Hillside, of course they alerted the whole school. This new building has been the first sliver of hope in a while to leave these conditions behind. It has been the first chance to become, to truly become what we are, a specialized high school with a beautiful real building to match. Thank you for your time and, and attention. I'll continue to advocate for my school and I hope you can, I can count on your support. Thank you. That's the only student speaker who has signed up. I Think there was, is there someone else? Speaker. Oh, okay. Is there another student over there?
Yes. Okay. Please, sorry you're not on the list. Just, just come forward and introduce yourself. Introduce Yourself. What Good evening, Chatam Chairman Faulkner, and other respected members of the community. Uh, my name is Han Hawk and I'm from, I'm a ninth grader at Aviation High School. I'm here with the Muslim stu with, uh, my fellow, um, students and families to, uh, from the Muslim community. To respectfully request a meeting with you, we would like to discuss the possibility for allowing early dismissal on Fridays for Muslim students to attend Juma prayers, which are mandatory in our faith.
We hope to meet soon, along with parents and community leaders to explore a respectful solution. Thank you for your time. Thank, thank you very much. And, um, I guess this is a group that's with you, by the way. Um, Mr. Young. Mr. Ha. Um, it was pretty good speech. Who taught you to speak so well? Um, my father. Your father? Yeah. My father taught me some. My father learned from you. He, he really got, Say that again. My father, My father learned from you. Yeah. Mr. Faulkner. Yeah. Thank you To you. He, he, yeah.
You are a mentor to him and Oh, thank You a lot. Thank. Yeah. Well, you know, I have to say it is, it's, it's a real moment of, of, of sa session and he's proud. Dad is right here. Um, Hawk was my student about, I'm not gonna say how many years ago, but he wasn't much older. Um, much, uh, about the same age. And so this is really a treat for me to see him. Here. He is. It it, i it, it gave me a little pause because he actually is retired, uh, police captain. What? In, in the NYPD. So, um, that I had a former student who's actually retired
is a little scary for me. But, um, it, it really is, um, something that, you know, I, I hope anyone who's ever had the opportunity to work in a school or teach has that experience. And you did a very, very good job. Thank you very much. Thank you both. Sam, you wanna say a word? Quick word. Good evening, everybody. Uh, I'm Just, just here with more than 75, uh, parents and students here. And you are requesting a meeting with the chancellor to discuss about Do My Peers. We really request you to, I know, meet us, uh, at a time of your convenience, uh, when we can conduct the meeting
and discuss this policy, uh, further. Yeah. We'll have somebody follow up with you from DOEI guess there are other speakers. So, but thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Just, uh, if it, if it'd be kind enough, uh, these students are here from different schools, if they can just introduce themselves. Sure. Uh, hi. Hi. My name is Sheik. I go to I two 30 and I'm currently in eighth grade. I'm not proud to say that most of my middle school years, I missed, uh, my Juma prayers, uh, going forward into high school, I would like to change that because every time I pray juma, I feel like peace in my heart.
Uh, I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulder and it, it's just a feeling that I wanna continue feeling. Uh, thank you for listening. Thank you. Good evening everyone. My name is Monteer Dewan. I come from Brooklyn Technical High School and I'm a senior. Uh, I'm here today to represent all of my brothers as well as we fight for this cause. And as I would like to begin, we all are American citizens, but born with the same rights granted to us by the Constitution, that of which being the freedom of practicing religion and the freedom to education. And I feel like that it's frankly absurd that we might be losing one
of them while we try to exercise both. And I think that we should be allowed to exercise both, of course, as we are granted. Uh, Yeah, that's all. I Thank you. No, thank you. Very good. Alright everyone, That's a good day. Thank you. Uh, hi. My name is Ra and, uh, I wanna say, um, I'm from Aviation High School. Um, US Muslims have to pray juma every, uh, Friday. I mean requirement to pray every Friday. And it's also, we don't really have a choice. So it's a little, it's, it's mandatory to pray juah every Friday. So,
Thank you. Uh, hi. My name is Ima Ani, uh, I go to Information Technology High School. And if given the opportunity to pray at the for Gah Prayer, we will not misuse it. Thank you, and have a good day. Thank you. Uh, good evening. My name is Hassan. Uh, I'm a soon to be 10th grader, uh, attending Brooklyn Technical High School. Um, I currently reside in, uh, Woodside, New York with, uh, all my fellow peers. Um, through the years of being part of the educational New York City, uh, school system, uh,
I've always seen that the majority of, uh, Muslim students have always been, um, like responsible in their studies. Um, like always doing their work on time, doing it efficiently, making sure it's perfect, um, and always making sure if they ever miss it, uh, it's, uh, they make it up. Like they, they always make it up, uh, at like a problem. Still time. Um, yeah, that's all. Thank you. Appreciate it. Uh, have a good day. Thank, thank you. Is that everyone? Yeah. Great. Thank you.
Thank you all very much for coming out to the Panel for Education policy. Um, I, I will say another word to the adults here. All of those students spoke on an average of like 30 seconds. You did a great job. So just as, just as a little, uh, reminder to everybody, a little in. But, uh, thank you for coming and we hope you'll continue to remain active in your community and come to future meetings. Um, we appreciate it. Thank you. Jeff Ner. Yes, you Member Shepherd. Do you mind if I comment on this very quickly before we move on to the next question? You can do it as well as they did for 30 seconds. No, I, I wanna say thank you to the community,
our Muslim community led by our Muslim students, um, that really showed up and made the point loud and clear that we live in a diverse city full of beautiful and diverse people. And that the rights we afford, some should be available for everyone. And at a time when our communities, um, are being erased. Um, that the Department of Education stands firm on the fact that we, we do live in a, uh, multicultural society.
A diverse society that deserves and not just deserves, but has a right to respect and the freedom to celebrate their religion and celebrate their culture in a way that, um, is respectful for everyone. So I just wanted to say thank you for the thank, thank you for those comments. I, I see that there are a number of panel members who may wish to comment, so I'm gonna go around the room, uh, panel member, Al did I see Panel member Alman, panel member Alman. And then we'll just go around if there are other panel members who wish to comment. Um, I I will say this to the students, you've stirred the panel to wish to, uh, uh,
comment on the things that you've said. So I think that's a real compliment to, uh, your, your communication with the panel. So, um, job, job, uh, well done panel evolving. Thank you for letting me speak. So I'm gonna say, doodle, Thank you for letting me speak, and I'm gonna say diddle to Tom Shepherd, and I'm pretty sure other panel members is going to address eloquently the community. Thank you for coming out. But this, especially for Rachel Wang, I appreciate you, you do have our support. We are all on the same page, bring more people with you.
But I just want to let you know, thank you for your advocacy. Thank you for your school doing what they need to do to push for their needs. And, uh, as well, the school is not gonna be completed until 2026, so no official announcement is not gonna make an, will not be made until closer. So, but keep doing what you do. I appreciate you and I appreciate all the students. Thank you. Okay. Uh, who is next panel member? Hassan, not you ready? I put you didn't wanna No, no. Okay. Go ahead. Hi. Oh, thank, thank you so much. Uh, ASAM, welcome to the Muslim community.
I was very, uh, surprised to see so many people showing up today. I'm like, what did I do? Uh, my name is, my name is, my name is, I'm a panel member. Uh, and, uh, belated to everyone who's here. Uh, I grew up in Brooklyn in one of the first immigrant Muslim communities in the neighborhood and went to public school. And that one of the biggest issues is always being new to a place that isn't used to people like you. Um, and observation of religion was very important in my household. So, um, squaring that with the fact that we have a regular workday on Fridays, which is usually a day of congregational prayer
and rest for Muslims, it's very difficult. Uh, I hope, uh, that you'll see, uh, positive engagement. We've already had Muslim community meetings with the Chancellor's Office, um, um, multiple times. And we'll bring up this issue of adjusting schedules, hopefully, in a way that allows for kids to go to Juma and, uh, and still continue the school day, maybe later. What that looks like is, is up to us, and it's really important given the number of Muslim students, Muslim community members. It's, I think, an estimate of around a million in New York City, which is a large number. Um, and building a schedule around, uh, people
who are observant and, and can still do really well in school. And I really resonated with the, the student who was saying, we work really hard. I, it's, it's all the parents fault, I guess it's the credit of the parents, uh, that are putting all this pressure on the kids. And, and I really appreciate, uh, uh, the adults in the room for, for showing up too. And finally, a little bit about the Constitution. It applies not only if you're a citizen, it doesn't matter whether you're a ci as long as you're living in the United States as a, as a human being. Protections are afforded to you, whether you're documented or not, including the First Amendment, including the all of the Amendments and the, and the Bill of Rights.
And so, uh, I'm, I'm appreciative of people who are citizens who are standing up for their, uh, uh, less, uh, less fortunate at this point in America, uh, residents of this, of this country that are, that are being targeted in, in a very heinous way. So, thank you again, and, and looking forward to continuing this discussion. Thank, thank you for those comments. Nowman Hassan, is there any other panel member who wishes to, uh, panel member Caare? Uh, Camille Casare, borough president, a appointee for Brooklyn. Um, I just wanna thank everyone for coming out today and, and telling us about the experience that you've been having.
I've heard a lot of stories myself, really awful and degrading stories of how Muslim students are being treated. It's absolutely unacceptable. And I want to ask, as a body, if maybe we could just write a letter of support, like a statement of support, ensuring that our Muslim communities know that we are with you and we stand with you and believe that you have every right to continue in the path that you have been afforded until this moment.
And Let, let's figure out something offline and we'll do something. Um, thank you so much to, to best that support. Um, final comment, you panel member. Thank, thank you chair. Um, um, thank, thank you so much. As others have mentioned for coming out, um, I think one of the things when we talk about our school system being diverse, accepting when we go to work, you know, we're supposed to bring our whole selves to work. And when our children go to school, I hope that they're able to bring their whole selves to school. And so whether that's their culture, their religion,
whatever that may be, I hope that we can work together to be able to accommodate, uh, this reasonable request. Um, I know in a lot of workplaces, including my own, there are prayer rooms, there are spaces for people of different faiths. And so I think that's something that I look forward to, um, working with you all on. Thank you. Thank you. And, um, I believe Chancellor would also like to make a comment. So let me introduce the chancellor. Thank you. I just wanted to thank all of our student speakers tonight. Um, you know, after a long day of school, I am always impressed when we see young people take
advantage of an opportunity to come to these forums and express their concerns and push our thinking, whether it's around a particular space in a school, whether it's, um, advocating for religious accommodation. Uh, we are always open to following up on, on these items. Um, so thank you and we look forward to having deeper conversation. Thank you. So I guess in summary, I can say to the students here tonight, to the students from the Muslim community to the students who spoke about, uh, the school buildings. You've been heard so we'll, we'll be following up
with you, uh, uh, shortly. Thank you very, very much for coming out. We will now move on to the, uh, voting items on tonight's agenda. And the first item is, uh, uh, contract consideration of contracts. And I'll ask our secretary to present the resolution. Uh, yes, the resolution of for approval is entitled Resolution to Enter into Contracts. Um, however, item 19 has been moved to the agenda for April 30th. So you'll just be considering items one through 18 and 20 and 21 this evening. Okay. Is there a motion from panel member to consider the, uh, uh, resolution?
So moved. Is there a second? Second, second. It's been moved and seconded. We'll now move to public comment on contracts. Uh, I see that there are two speakers signed up for the contracts. Um, Nadia Bisra and Mark Gonzalez, if you could come down to the microphone and you could start speaking when you get there, You can begin once you can reach the microphone. Okay. Thank you. Mark Gonzalez. I'm co-president of Citywide Council in Special Education, but I'm speaking on my own behalf. I am very concerned about the contract, especially one
and two, when you look at the details. Time and time again, the lowest bidder was struck down because of technical issues. Boxes were not filled out. Minor technicalities as such, we're gonna spend more for other vendors than just going back to these, the vendors who had a small technicality extending to just fix the errors. So we spend about 15.8 billion in the classroom out of a 41.2 proposed budget. Why do we spend so little in the classroom? Because we wasted on stuff like this
where we do not get the lowest bid. We're now in number one, gonna go with a vendor that has had a data breach in the past, has got lawsuits against it for problems. But that's what we're proposing today with number one. It makes no sense. Lemme give you another example. We've got an amazing AA in Rose Morgan for CSE. The procurement process is so crazy that when she needs to buy a printer, the cheapest printer Rose can get is an $801 printer through the system. I can go to Costco to Best Buy to PC Richards and pick one up for less than half the price with much cheaper toner options or ink cartridges options.
But we've gotta go with these insane procurement contracts, which are hurting our kids because we're giving it to other companies and to other vendors and not giving it to our students in the classroom. We've gotta fix this procurement problem. Thank you. Good evening, members of the panel. Thank you for taking the time to hear from me tonight. This is my first panel meeting, and I just have to say that hearing the student testimonies has made me truly hopeful for our city's future leaders. My name is Nadia Bisra and I'm a proud graduate of New York City Public Schools. So I know firsthand what every dollar means for students in classrooms.
That foundation is why I'm about to graduate from Columbia University this spring. I grew up right here in Queens and my family runs Deluxe Delivery Systems for 17 years. Deluxe has served the DOE delivering Regents exams, payroll laptops, and more. We're concerned about the new Courier contract agenda. Item three, contract B 2 8 0 2 and how it was awarded. This contract is supposed to be about best value, best Deluxe has 17 years experience with every service class, and our overall bid was close to $1 million less over three years,
yet we were only awarded the exams class where our price was higher. But our reliability was recognized for temporary storage and fulfillment and distribution where our bid was over $627,000 lower per year. We weren't selected. That's inconsistent and makes you question what best value really means. Another concern, after all, bids were in the DOE allowed the other vendor to lower their price through a voluntary price reduction deluxe. The lower bidder was never given that chance. That just isn't fair or transparent.
The DOE spent million dollars on courier services last year. This contract proposes a six and a half million dollars, spend a 161% increase for special deliveries. DOE spent $1.5 million over three years, but now plans to spend $3.6 million and estimates nearly 40,000 off hour deliveries. A service we've never had to provide at that scale in 17 years. The numbers just don't reflect the actual need. We've tried to get answers through a protest and foil request, but never received scoring breakdown or documents. I know the current contract ends in June,
but Deluxe has handled over seven DOE contract extensions in the past, always continuing service smoothly with almost no price increase. We always put students and schools first while staying fiscally responsible. This is more than a contract. It's about doing right by our students, our schools and the public trust. We all share. Please pause this contract, demand full transparency and consider a res solicitation. Thank you for your time. That is the extent of the speakers who signed up to talk about contracts. Okay, we'll now move to panel member comments. Chair Faulker. Yes, chair. Um, chair.
That was a long time ago. I know. Um, thank you Chair Faulker. Um, I want to, um, speak to, um, a couple of these contracts. Um, uh, I am, uh, generally in, uh, support of most of them, uh, since we're not talking about contract item number 19 until next time. Uh, I'm going to exclude that from, uh, my comments for this week.
But, um, uh, contract item number two, I do have a, um, rather significant issue with. And that is, uh, when you go into the contract and you look at the, um, the class numbers, uh, class number seven is for security and access solutions. And if I have a problem with contract item 19, which we're not talking about till next week,
then I also have to have a problem with contract. I, I mean with class number seven in, um, contract item number two, um, uh, you know, spending more money to set up our schools, um, uh, in ways that promote Big Brother and and over surveillance of our children is something that, um, I take issue with. And, um, uh, as a matter of principle, um, I cannot support, um,
you know, just spending more money on, you know, security cameras and, and those kinds of, uh, things here. Um, I will also say, um, that if there is ever a question with any contract and, um, whether that contract was, uh, fair or, um, allowed for companies to, or vendors to make changes or update pricing, um, I think that,
right? Like, like we, we do extensions all the time where we will extend a contract out for a month or two or six or a year. Um, but if we are talking about, and I'm speaking to contract item number three, um, where Deluxe is saying, or the, the person that gave comments is saying that all Deluxe really wants here is to be able to, uh, bid the contract fairly. Um, what's the rush? Um, why can't we, um, pause the contract,
allow for them to fairly bid a contract, and, um, whether that results in cost savings or, uh, if it's more money than a real explanation for why that would be, but in honest contract. Um, so I will be abstaining from, uh, item number three, uh, and voting no on item two. Thank you Chair Alman. I go back. Sure. I I just would say that there was a fair process. The implication that it wasn't fair is I think not accurate.
Um, there are any other comments? Alright. Yes. Panel member Casre. Panel member Casre, panel member Casre. Uh, thank you so much. Camille Kesty, um, or President appointee for Brooklyn. Uh, I actually wanted to praise one of our contracts, uh, agenda item 11, uh, which is a contract for art supplies. Um, I'm very happy about this contract because it's on an as needed basis, so very accessible.
Uh, access to high quality art supplies is so important and can impact the experience of our children. Art can be life changing, helps with mental health, build self-confidence. I'm really glad to see significant funding being allocated in this way. This is an example of putting our money where our mouth is. So thank you for this. Um, when we create opportunities for children to develop talents, we're helping them to solve a lot of their long-term challenges. The children learn patience.
They, um, learn how to develop ideas and it art helps them to develop an important part of their brain. Supports many students that are kinesthetic learners, allow students to express themselves in different ways. So I, I'll just stop there and say, love to see more of this happening and thank you very much. Sure. Pam, did you wanna comment? Yes. Um, I would like to comment on, uh, the remarks made on the first and second agenda items. Um, and I would just like to say, um, I intern in an IT office for a law firm, right?
And us interns, we wipe computers that are like a decade old so that data doesn't have any sort of breach once it gets donated, even if it's going to schools, right? And this is exactly the kind of stuff that could signify insecurities in a system. Um, and just data security is a major concern, especially since we're talking about youth data, um, and student data, right? As well as staff members and teachers in the DOE.
Um, and I would also like to state that there are vendors who are being considered and have things like lawsuits in the past that have never gotten a verdict and are now serving the DOE for things that may not concern the interchange of student or staff data. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Any other panel members wish to comment? Yep. Panel member. Good evening everyone. Adriana Ali say she her here for Queen CECs. Um, I didn't have a chance a few minutes ago to jump in and thank everyone. So I wanted to thank the students from Aviation High School
for their amazing presentation. Uh, I would like to thank Rachel Wang and her counterpart who was mentioned, the author of the post article that is Angela Yee for their continued advocacy for Queens High School Sciences. Uh, and I wanna thank the students who came tonight to continue to advocate for their right to practice their religion and their right to demand a free and public education. Um, you guys are my heroes. As to the contracts, I'd like to echo panel members shepherd's comments, uh, specifically in that I cannot in good conscious support the surveillance of black and brown children, especially when we know how harmful and damaging surveillance can be.
Um, so I will likely be abstaining from that contract. And to echo panel member CA's, uh, comments about a win here, I would like to thank all of our people who worked on this, especially for, uh, the item that Camille mentioned, but also agenda item number 16, which is, um, a contract for them to consult for halal school lunch services. And I hope that that means that our Halal school lunches will be more delicious in addition to how nutritious they are. So thank you all for that also. Thank you. Any other panel Ms. Wish to comment? Then let's proceed to vote.
Um, secretary Nathan, would you please call the role? Uh, yeah, there are no recusals on the contracts items. Uh, so when I call your name, please indicate how you wish to vote. If you wanna vote differently on any particular item, please indicate as much. Um, member Ali? Yes, member Ali. Say, I would like to abstain from one, two, and three and yes to the rest. Um, member Albin? Yes to all Member Boad. Member Retti abstain. One, two, and three. And yes to everything else. Member Dean Stag? Yes.
Member Garcia? Yes. To all, uh, chair Vice Chair Green? Yes. Uh, member Hassan. Oh, we lost him. We'll come back. Oh, he pro, I think he went out with all of the students. Um, member Ho. Yes. To all Member Guo? Yes. To all, um, member Mira May. Did he go? Yes, ma'am. Okay, we're getting him back. Also. Come back to them. Member Owin, uh, member Sap. Yes. To all, uh, member Shepherd
Abstain On item one? No. On item two. Abstain on item three. Yes. To the rest. Okay. Um, we'll come back to you. Are we joined by member Hassan? And, um, member Meme? Thank you. Chair Faulkner? Yes. To all. Has anybody else? Oh, okay. Um, we are, we are joined by, um, Tony Ano. And do you have a vote on the contract items? Yes. Yes. You have a vote or Yes. Your vote is yes. Yes, yes and yes.
Yes. Okay, Tony. Um, has anybody, has anybody else joined us? So I didn't call. No. Good. Okay. Yes. The, um, motion carries. Um, for item one there were 13 yes. Votes, um, and four abstentions. Item two, there were 14. Yes. Vote two abstentions and one no. And item three, there were 14 yes votes and three abstentions. For the remaining item, it was, uh, 17. Yes. Votes. Great. Thank you very much. Um, we'll now move on to the next item. Is that a question?
We'll move on to the next item in the agenda, the consideration of proposals for school utilization Secretary, uh, please read the, uh, resolution. Uh, yes, excuse me. The resolution up for approval is entitled Resolution to Approve Changes in School Utilization And it comprises the following items. The proposed opening and co-location of P 75 Q at Q 71. A new site of existing district 75 school PSQ 75, the Robert E. Perry School, 75 Q 75
with PS 71 Forest 24 Q 71 in building 71 in the 20 25 26 school year. And the proposed opening and co-location of P 2 33 Q at Q2 10. A new site of existing district 75 school PSQ 2 33 75 Q2 33 with J hs two 10 Elizabeth Blackwell 27 Q2 10 in building Q2 10 in the
20 25, 20 26 school year. Is there a motion from a panel member to consider the resolution? So moved. Is there a second? Second. Been moved and seconded. We'll move now to public comment. Uh, there is only one speaker signed up. Je Singh, who's the, is the principal. I think he's actually the principal. Superintendent. Superintendent. I'm sorry. I Apologize. Superintendent, First Superintendent, would you like to comment? Good evening. Members of the panel, thank you for the opportunity to address you again tonight.
In support of the two proposals you just read and indicated, I will tell you regarding proposal, uh, to open the colocation with 75 Q oh seven five with Q oh seven one, that the New York City Public School system is specifically proposing this new elementary school site in District 24. Because the number of district 75, uh,
students residing in District 24 and will travel more than two miles to go to a district 75 school is really exceeding what we would ever expect. And this district is the fourth highest in the city with shortage of seat for district 75 student. And the second proposal, um, the New York City Public School is specifically proposing
a new middle school site in District 27. Because District 27, believe it or not, has the highest district 75 middle school seat deficit in the city. I should sit down, but I will continue. District 27 has approximately a deficit of 132 middle schools seat for district 75 student when compared to the number of districts 27, uh, residents who require
district 75 services. We have spent some time to engage those two school communities. We have met with them on different occasion. We have gone to the joint public hearing, we have gone to the community, uh, meetings. We have met parents, staff, and the two communities really the are, are really ready to partner and to collaborate. As a matter of fact, our superintendent are here,
principal district 75, principal Mr. James stopped easy. And you will see that I am the only one standing here because there is virtually no opposition to those two proposals. They love district 75 student, they love district 75. They are fully aware of the work we've been doing to improve the district and to ensure that our student continue to thrive. They are fully aware that we have been creating different
pathway for student to experience success. So tonight I came before you to ask you again to vote in support of those two proposals. Thank you. Thank you very much, superintendent. Are there, are there any other presentations from superintendents or any other school? The principal, the would one of the principals wanna speak? Anyone else going wants? Yeah, We got one. Good. There we go. Good evening everyone.
It's an honor to be here. My name is Colt Singh and I'm the proud principal of Elizabeth Blackwell Middle School two 10 QI do have something written, but I will say after, uh, that speech, I think, uh, you know, I, I don't think we have to go much further. I think that was awesome. So once again, I'm here to share a proposal but also support BD 75 location that would bring a new district, 75 middle school site to our community by co-locating it with Elizabeth Blackwell Middle School,
middle School two 10, a building that's located in Ozone Park. This proposal would open a new site for PSQ 2 33, a district 75 school that already serves students across Queens. The reason is very simple. As mentioned, district 27 has the largest gap in available district 75 middle school seats in the city. After doing an assessment, our building is only, I believe, 79% utilized. They have a need we could satiate that need. So we are here to sati satiate that need too. Many of our students with IEPs are traveling long distances,
as we just heard, for services, some of them up to an hour and a half and two hours, which is clearly unacceptable. And by all means, outrageous if approved, the site would serve. Sorry, 48 to 96 students with, sorry, I don't need this. I'll just talk. It's gonna serve 48 to 96 students who so desperately need the seats. So I think it's very important that we suppo, uh, support this proposal. My entire school community is behind the proposal because we are going to do what we deem to be correct
and right, the right thing to do. So I thank you for your time and once again, we're looking forward to the co-location and housing these students who really deserve the equity and respect like every other student. So I thank you for your time and have a good evening Everyone. Thank you. Okay, thank you. Any other speakers before we move to public comment? And let's move to public comment panel. Oh, we did. Oh, okay. Thanks. Uh, no public speakers. No public speaker. Okay, so panel of comments. Yes. I can't see. I see your hand. Shirley. Yes. Panel member. Alban.
Good evening everyone. Again, this is Shirley oban, um, the Queensborough president appointee to this panel. Welcome to the world's borough. And the world's borough believes in the value of diversity, equity, and inclusion. We, that's what is the, our main strength of this borough and of New York City. And we take the lead in that and I'm very proud about that when it comes to co-locations, this is the co-location. Queens welcome all the time. District 75. These are the Coca-Cola locations that we'd love to see
and we would like to see more, especially in district 27 off the mainland for the Rockaways. That would be great. I know we are, we're in the works with that. Um, and trying to come up so they can travel less. When students, our children goes to schools in their communities, it strengthens the communities when they can go to school with their friends, it strengthen those friendships and those community ties within the school and outside the school. That is our strength at schools of many communities outside. So they should try to go to school
by choice within their communities. And we are always in, in, in favor of these 75 locations. Thank you Peterman Bald. We need just do the world's borough. The world's Borough leader. The Bronx is God's country. No, and I only reason why we say we're the world's bar. Okay. We're the most Outta order. Yeah. No, no, no, no. We're the most Diverse, we're the most diverse confidence in the United States. Any other panel members wish to, uh, comment? Yes. I'm sorry. Panel member who's
I was just laughing at how funny you are. Okay. That was great. Panel member Shep. Yes. Well, wait, let me, let me have panel member Mao speak and then I'll come back to you. So I wanna say thank you Queens for always welcoming District 75. Thank you Queens. Um, I, I do wanna mention though, like a little bit of math and we're still short between potentially 36 to 84 seats, um, of the 132. And we're planning to fill 48 to the 96 if we do six, eight, and 12 ratios.
And so just wanna keep an eye on that. We're usually short seats. Um, and that while we're like building programs expanding and changing, like let's also look for inclusion opportunities so that we're, we're not always looking for self-contained space. Sometimes we just wanna share your space because we already do that in the community and in the bathroom and in store and at the doctor. And so we just wanna be like aligned with what, what a community looks like. We can't just be a community outside. And then when we get to school, we're segregated. Um, we, we are a wonderful city but we are one of the most segregated school systems in the
country, in the world. And so I just wanna center us back in. Like we have a lot of work to do, but how awesome we are in doing it. And I just wanna also say we rarely, if ever hear from or see the district 75 principal. So thank you for attending tonight because I think you're the first one this year. Maybe we've seen an AP or, but like I appreciate that you're here. Um, I appreciate district 75 leadership particularly. 'cause you may have four to 12 sites. Um, you start your day early, you end your day late
and we always have problems. So I wanna thank you for your time and, and for being here. Thank you Gentlemen Shepherd. Thank you Chair Faulkner. Um, I remember five years ago ago, and I've said this at, at several panel meetings. I remember five years ago when our conversation around district 75 programs are very different. And it speaks to how far we have come as a city,
how far we have come as a school system, and how far we have come as communities in welcoming, uh, students in district 75 programs into our schools, right? Like, because they're all of our schools and, and we all have a rightful place in them. And, um, it really does speak to the advocacy of, um, people like super superintendent Luan, um,
panel member is scared of, um, and so many who have over the years not asked, not begged, right, but demanded that our students, our students in district 75 programs be allowed, um, access. So I wanted to say just thank you to the community for really upholding and uplifting the values that say we, if we all exist as part of a community, we all have a place in it. The last thing I want to just elevate from, um,
debriefing calls was, um, a question about facilities. Um, particularly I think it was bathrooms, et cetera, right? Like making sure that this space, um, had the facilities necessary to support our district 75, our students in the district 75 program. Um, I was, uh, reassured, um, that those spaces would be, um, altered and improved in a way that really, uh, supported, um,
the students in, and it was brought up in the context of the District 24 program. And, um, and then I brought up the District 27 program and got the same assurances. So I do want to thank, um, uh, the, the office of, uh, uh, department of school facilities for, um, uh, agreeing to do that and taking up that and making sure that, um, that we're not just including students in our schools, but we're making sure that the space can accommodate them as best we can.
Thank you. Chair Faulkner. I yield back. Thank, thank you. And I think on that note, um, as, as a recognition of the tremendous support that the panel expresses for this, this motion, I would, uh, be willing to entertain a motion for unanimous consent, um, on this motion. Is there so motion, so move one of the rare things that we do as a panel. So I think this is a real, uh, mark of, uh, how we respect and appreciate the work you've done. Uh, is there objection, but let me, let me, I gotta I gotta do the motion though. But, uh, um, is there objection to the motion
for unanimous consent? Seeing no objection to the motion for unanimous consent. The motion is adopted. Congratulations, and thank you for your great work. You do. I We will now move to the opening comment period and I'll ask secretary if there are any, uh, folks signed up for open comment. Yes, there are. Chair I follow, um, Allison Lobel Thomas a row vain, Jonathan Greenberg, Catherine Spun and Nway. And when you get to the microphone, if the first speaker can start,
please just identify yourself before you start speaking. Sure. Hi, I'm Alison Lobel. I'm a physical therapist in District 29 in Southeast Queens. I work in five schools, which means I go to two or three schools in a day and I use my car to get from school to school. There are not trains in this area. There are very few buses and we're having trouble with getting reimbursed for our travel. I used my personal vehicle and I just got a check at the end of January for two months
that I used my car in 2023. And I have not received money for this school year. I'm owed over $600 for this school year when I go to the gas station. They don't say, no worries. Pay me in two years. When I go to get my car maintained, I pay right away. And if I'm going to be able to see all the students on my caseload, I really need to be reimbursed for the travel and for using my own car. I also, um, for my license, take courses, and it's part of our contract that we get reimbursed for tuition reimbursement.
So I'm lucky I confront the city the money because it took nine months. I took four courses last year, totaling over $1,200, and each of them took nine months to reimburse me. I sent in the paperwork right away and it took nine months. So just asking for respect and for what's due so that we can keep servicing the most vulnerable kids in this school district, in this community. And that's what we're here for. Thank you. Hello. My name's Tom aa and I'm an occupational therapist,
but I'm also the occupational physical therapist, chapter leader in the UFT. I was here in September to speak at the, at the pep meeting about outsourcing of our services and the ninth session expansion, which still hasn't happened. Um, I sent in a summary at your request in October. We've heard nothing since, but why I'm here today is to talk about two things. The track reimbursement that itinerant providers who go to more than one school per day are entitled to you for using their own vehicle and tuition reimbursement that therapists for courses that therapists have to take in order
to maintain their license. That's contractual. We have, we have delays dating back, you just heard 2023. We have date dating back to 2022 that people owed thousands of dollars. All we wind up doing is submitting the same paperwork multiple times. We don't get a response from the DOE. The DOE creates an email, a generic email with no name attached to it. They lose paperwork and we just wait. We file grievances, multiple grievances. We win the grievance and we still wait. The system is broken. It's not working, and it needs to be fixed. Thank you.
My name is Jonathan Greenberg. I'm a member of the Community Education Council in District 30, uh, which is this district that we're in right now. Um, I'm here to speak about, uh, charter school citing after an incident last month into our district. Uh, we found out as a council about Zeta Charter School's proposal, uh, to cite a school in our district through a local elected official who was notified inadvertently about plans to move into a planned, uh, vacated annex at PS one 50 in Sunnyside.
Uh, she learned this from a discussion with a Zeta representative inquiring about the, about their, her council district. The community was galvanized to speak out against Zeta's proposal and a petition that was elevated by our CDC gathered 500 signatures. Current procedures for charter school co-locations would not have permitted public comment or notification that until a one 90 process had already started. And an educational impact statement was completed
with disclosure, which dis discloses plans that would include the charter school in the proposed space. Our district currently has needs for programs like three K pre-K special education incubation sites for new schools, a SD programs that should have been prioritized over a charter school. Entrant. Community needs should always come first. Uh, we have a resolution that we are in the process, uh, that we introduced in our meeting earlier this week.
We did not have a quorum, so it did not pass, but I expect it to be passed next month. Um, there really needs to be changes in how charter schools are cited in our, in our city. Um, we are really calling on New York City Public Schools to improve the A one 90 process to prioritize proactive planning to benefit the needs of the community school district before offering space to charter schools. And in addition, we really need resources to empower the, the office, the district planning office,
community school district, and the CEC to advocate for the needs of the affected district and ensure those needs are met. Thank you. Welcome. Hi, my name is Catherine Sp. I'm an occupational therapist in District 30 at, uh, PS two in Alfred Berg School. And I'm also an assistive technology evaluator. I conduct evaluations throughout the whole city, um, for students who need special software to access their curriculum more independently. Um, unfortunately, I'm here today to discuss the lack of tuition reimbursement
and, um, I am feeling quite disrespected. I have two masters. I have, um, assistive technology practitioner license that I worked really hard for. Um, it's almost like the DOE is telling me not to take courses and not to better hone my skills and not to be a better therapist for my students, because it's almost impossible to get reimbursed. It takes months, and then you have to fill out some other forms saying that you still haven't gotten reimbursed, and then you have to file a grievance, which entails doing all the paperwork all over again to submit,
and then you still have to wait. Um, so a lot of therapists in my field are kind of not taking courses anymore because they can't front the money for the courses, and I would think that the DOE would want therapists to take courses to better their skillset, to be the best therapist they can be for students with special needs for any student in general. Um, so I'm just very disheartened by the process. Um, I've been in OT for 18 years. The last three years have become, I don't know why,
but it's just become months, months, months to get reimbursement. It used to not be that way. We used to get reimbursed within a month. Um, so that's why I'm here today. Thank you for your time. Hi, my name. Oh, whoa. Okay. Hi, my name is Nat, uh, hwe. My, my pronouns are they them. I, I'm also an occupational therapist and work in District 15 at MS 4 4 7, which is a Nest school. Before that, I was working, I've been there for three years, and before then I was working in District seven five. I'm also here to complain and about the lack of, uh, timely, uh, reimbursement
for our tuition reimbursement. I actually haven't taken a course since I've worked in regional schools that is, that we have to pay for because as a, I'm also a union delegate, so I'm very aware of all the members that are emailing all the time and that haven't been paid for sometimes six months, 12 months. I have a colleague that only just got reimbursed, uh, for her course that she took in 2023. I personally can't afford to take a course that's five, $600 and then wait two years to get reimbursed. Um, it's part of our contract and it's contractual money that we are entitled to,
and we should be getting it reimbursed in a timely matter. Um, and we also need these courses to uphold our licensure and to, as my colleague said, to learn, uh, better techniques and stay on top of our practice. And it means that a lot of therapists are not doing that because we're not getting reimbursed for the courses that we need in order to maintain our licenses. Thank you. Hi, thank you to the panel for Hearing US app today. Um, my name is Mariella Perez. I am a speech teacher with New York City Public Schools,
and I service three K and pre-kindergarten students with disabilities all throughout Queens. I am proud to be a part of the DOE since 2017. In 2022, I began working in as, as an itinerant provider, a traveling speech teacher. One of the great things about Universal three K and pre-K is that children are being identified as students with special needs at a crucial time, much sooner than they would have if they had not attended a three K or pre-K.
The downside, of course, is that there is a growing need for related service providers, OTs, PTs, speech teachers, and unfortunately, there just aren't any enough of us to keep up with the demand in the world of, uh, preschool special education students cases. First go to agencies to try and find therapists, and then once different agencies, you know, fill the gaps there remain many children left without services because there are no therapists see them.
And oftentimes it's because it doesn't make financial sense for the agencies to pick up just one or student and one preschool and one at another. And that's where I come in. I'm part of a small troop of New York City Public School employees who travel to these preschools and daycares and service the one student that no one wants to pick up. Some of the kids I've seen have been waiting for services for over a year. I'm the first speech therapist they've seen since they qualified for services the prior year. Unlike my colleagues, the speech teachers, um,
that work in the school buildings. My car is my office. I go to four or five different schools or day cares daily, and I have to pay parking every single day to see these students. I know every teacher reaches into their pockets at one point or another. Um, but in addition to that, I pay almost 1400 a year to service students on behalf of public schools. I am not a private contracted worker who can write these things off. I'm a New York City employee, and I shouldn't have to bear the financial burden of doing my job. At this moment, I'm waiting for travel reimbursement approval certification track in the
amount of 13 82 50 for 2020 2 22, and then another 5 56 for 2023. In addition to this year, another $445 in track payments. That's $2,384 and 45 cents out of pocket to work for the New York City Public Schools. So I have responsibilities. I write reports, I do everything in a timely manner. I just wanna ask that the same consideration, uh, be made for me. I hate to do this, but unfortunately, your time has Expired. All right, well, that's all. Thanks. The next group of speakers, Macarena Moraga,
Magali ra, Whitney Amp, Marlene Rossi, and Sarah Lindo. Good evening. Thank you. Um, thank you for, uh, the opportunity to speak tonight. Uh, my name is Magna Moraga. I'm a resident of Astoria and the parent of a thriving 8-year-old student in the Horizon program at PAs 1 71 Q. I'm here to represent a group of concerned Horizon parents who want to bring to your attention the fact that there are very few middle school and high school programs available in Western Queens
to meet the growing demand for this program. Our children have truly benefited from being Horizon students, especially in terms of social skills, thanks to the innovative approach that the programs, administrators, teachers, and staff take to teaching kids. Um, and yet we parents and caregivers have very little access to information concerning where our kids will end up once they transition out of our lovely elementary school program. Children in the spectrum already face enough challenges every morning. We don't know if something in the environment will stimulate them to the point of a meltdown,
whether they'll be accepted for who they are, or, um, if they have to ride the bus for hours on end to get to school. A very challenging issue for autistic kids. So we strongly encourage the members of this panel to support Horizon students by one, increasing availability to Horizon programs at the middle and high school levels in Western Queens and throughout New York City. And two, improving communication and transparency around accessing the Horizon Program to illustrate, um, and to the best of my knowledge, there is no clear list available of, um,
available horizon programs at the middle and high school levels in Queens. Many of us here in Queens hear about the Louis Armstrong alternative, and yet, on my schools, um, that program does not even appear, that school doesn't even appear listed as a Horizon program. Um, so I trust that this panel will take our concerns into consideration and work to offer solutions for Horizon students and fees. Thank you. Good evening. Um, panel members. Thank you for, uh, giving me the opportunity to explain a concern. As a mother of district 30 of my, uh, fourth year, uh,
fourth grade, uh, kid at East Elmer's Community School. This is about overcrowding, uh, over crowding has taken space from my school's, um, um, kids. And, um, I'm bringing this to our attention because we, um, need a solution. Uh, I brought this to the CEC meeting on Monday, the District 30 meeting, and all I got was, I'm sorry, there's no solution. I, I'm talking about how, uh, so over crowded that we, that the principal has to take, uh, the science room
to make it into a classroom. She also had to take the library to make it into a classroom. What's next is the music room is the art room. And, um, this cannot happen. Um, my, I have other two kids, so a 15-year-old who is, uh, in the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts. And my other kid who is in Louis Amster Middle School, they all attended this little school in East Elmhurst. Uh, and all, they both got this, um, base of music and arts thanks to this little school. And they all thank goodness they're being able to go
to really good schools based on this formation. And now my 10-year-old, I'm sad to see that maybe next year she will not have a music room. She will not have an art room. Why? Because the principal needs to make space to, uh, to create a classroom. Uh, what's gonna come next? Uh, the, to other kids coming, uh, in the future. There's not gonna be our room. There's not gonna be room. Um, there has to be a solution. So I currently request to please put it in your agenda. Uh, I learned at the CEC meeting that the city planning is building schools, um,
that are over credited. Um, I don't know if this is, could be a solution for our community in ERs, um, maybe to stop, um, or kids, um, signing up to the school, because I believe from what understand, we cannot, um, um, uh, you know, put kids away or, um, stop them from signing up. But there has to be something done. And, and we're talking about the arts. We're talking about music. Um, basically it's all we have in our community. And there's no music schools. There's, there's no nothing in our community that it's,
it's, this is the only thing we have. Thank you for your, uh, attention. Thank you. Hi, my name is Whitney Toussant. I'm the current co-president of CEC 30. Um, I'm gonna elevate some of the concerns from my fellow council members and from the community members you just heard. Um, I know we just talked about this, but I'm gonna reemphasize these points. Um, we found out about Zeta Charter School coming to our district, uh, through a building that was underutilized because it was accidentally leaked to our local elected official. When Zeta reached out to them in relation to learning more about our district, um, we were able
to find out from, um, the chancellor and Deputy Chancellor Weissberg that debt proposal was scrapped. Um, but the way the current process is, it completely disadvantages our community and our council and district planning in relation to prioritizing the needs of the public school, um, district. So we are asking that you all revisit, um, a one 90 and prioritize our needs. First, we know what the law says, but the regulation is how you implement the law. And our district and their needs need to be prioritized. First, we heard from a parent just now at 1 71
with the Horizon Program District 30, we need Horizon program seats. We need new n programs seats. We need more special education programs because the Annex and one 50 is in Sunnyside. And we heard from parents there where their children are riding the bus for an hour and a half each way just to get to a special education program. We need incubation sites for new schools that are coming online, and we don't have that. Um, we did write a resolution supporting the priorit, the prioritization of public school community district needs. And again, please revisit a one 90 and implement that. Now, I don't wanna use all my time to talk about that
'cause my other council member is here. But I do wanna elevate what we just heard from a parent from the East Elmhurst community. Um, community elementary school, that's a small school. It used to be a Catholic school. It's leased. They cannot add to it. And the parent is right. They were basically told Your principal has to reimagine a lot of space. But why do we tell our poorer communities to reimagine? Why do we tell them to reimagine? We need to find more space for them. Yes, the principal does a great job, but there are children getting services in the hallway at that school. There are children that will now get music in the classroom.
Could you imagine being a small child and being stuck in a classroom all day and just have things cycle to you? Why can't they still have a music room? We need to do better with the site referral process because parents in our district have, they have referred Sites For new schools all across our district and not gotten a response from the SCA. And the only time our district has been successful doing that is if the proposal comes from an elected official. And it shouldn't be that way, especially in communities like East Elmhurst. Thank you. Okay. I, I just wanna say, um, also we've heard a number of comments about utilization issues.
And I'm looking over at our chair of utilization. We have a committee on the panel mm-hmm. Uh, with utilization. And I'm, um, hoping that we could connect and, and, uh, begin these conversations. So thanks for bringing this to our Attention. Thank you. And I'm gonna pass my iPad back to my fellow council member, Marlene, so she can wrap it up for us. Hello everyone. Marlene Rossi, CEC member, uh, district 30, and I'll continue on. Um, where my council member left off, uh, we'll go back to charter schools. Um, and the rent
that New York City Public Schools has to pay for these charter schools. Charter schools where most of our public school students don't attend. However, we are paying their rent. Charter schools turn children away that need IEPs or might negatively affect their academic performance metrics. Um, it's just, it's, it's not, it's not something that, uh, it benefits our students in any way. Uh, if they, if they want to have their schools, the charter schools, why does New York City
Public Schools need to pay for their rent and then not use those funds for our own students in our schools? Which clearly we need more programs. We need Nest Horizon programs. We need nest programs. We need more services for our special needs students. We need more capital buildings. C, more money for capital planning. Um, however we pay for charter schools. Rent Also need, we also need to improve the practices around the, the, the co-locations, right? Because we have instances where charter schools have had enrollment declines and still have not released that space
to the co-located public schools that need the space. For instance, I'll have, I have an example in District 15 where Ham Hill School for International Studies is co-located with a Success Academy, Burham Hill. And they've said 10 classrooms have been sitting empty since the beginning of the school year. And the public school needs those classrooms back. They also said that their building utilization plan hasn't been amended since 2016. This is also unacceptable, and these practices should not continue. I wanna stop there on that end.
And I want to take it back to East Elmhurst, um, community, a community where I grew up in, I went to school, I went to school. I actually attended the Catholic school that the previous person spoke about. It is a community that has not changed in the last 30 years. However, the community has increased and grown probably a hundred times what it used to be 30 years ago. We need more schools in that area. We only have two. And that will help continue, um, keeping these programs that are needed in our communities.
'cause we don't have additional money to spend on extracurricular activities. Music, Unfortunately, again, this, your, your time has expired, but I think I have some good news that, um, I think we've heard you on this and I, and some of these things are really items that have to be addressed in Albany. And we're gonna begin a process of lobbying on some of the exact issues that you're bringing to us, because we have the same frustrations. And, uh, so I'm looking over at our chair of, uh, intergovernmental government relations. And this is something that we're actively talking about taking up. I don't know if you wanna make a comment. Uh, chair, uh, Hassan.
Thank you Jay Ner. Um, and, uh, thank you for bringing this back to our attention. We have a very long list of sort of government priorities, which includes legislative, but also administrative priorities where we need Karen's voices heard. Uh, I'm hoping that we can schedule the meeting for next week. Yeah. And the notice will go out 72 plus hours before it's hybrid. So don't worry. You can sign on. Uh, and then also please do send us emails at the panel's address. My personal address, my DOE address is on the website, uh, so that we can compile a list of, of, of the many, many things. But the big, big, uh, big issue items include, uh, works
around SCA around, uh, foundation aid, around, uh, busing. Uh, and, and there's a list of at least 10 things that are high priority that we need attention from Albany for and various government departments. So, uh, we'll take this up. Thank you so much. And, and if we do take this a step further and actually go to Albany and do the kind of things that we may need to do, spread the word and join us so we can, you know, we can go up there and fight together because I, I agree with you. It's unfair. Thank you. And we have two more speakers signed up. Um, Mark Gonzalez and, um, Stacy McLean.
Hi, Mark Gonzalez. Uh, speaking as a parent, uh, three things quickly. Fair student funding. I know you got, you pushed it to next week, but let's look at it. We have 37 waits for fair student funding, right? We had a working group two and a half years ago. Convened, had some recommendations, three things out of it, but there was a whole slew of things that did not happen. We were promised the working group would come back. And it hasn't Think about this. There are 88 other Sams not fair student funding. They're used to fix a fair student funding problem, right?
We have 37 weights, but 88 counteracts to fix the weights. Why is that? Chancellor first, deputy Chancellor, CFO, you've called on Albany to fix foundation aid. You've told them to fix the weights that the formula's all wrong. We need to get our house in order and fix our weights too. It's unacceptable. I've gone up to Albany and I'll be up there on May 6th again to tell them to fix their stamp stuff. And we can't do it here. It's time to fix our own house. Second, it's at a PA meeting for a middle school kid.
Find out we've gotta cut our budget because one of our providers has not been paid this calendar year. So what we do, line items had to cut, field trips, had to cut travel for kids, had to cut art science and music had to cut PD for our teachers to take care of the funding. That's not happening because the DOE is not paying their bills. We heard from the OTs, the PTs, the speech, the ats, they're not doing their job. I don't know what it is. I had a D 75 teacher come
to me last month, say she hasn't been paid. Can you help? Thank goodness the the DOE took care of that once I elevated it, and we got her paid within the week. But why did he keep on coming out? Why aren't we doing our job? It's unacceptable. We've gotta get better at this. Thirdly, there was a lawsuit two weeks ago in California on Google. Lawsuit alleges that Google is again stealing students individual privacy and using it. Why are we still using Google? We've heard this time and time again. It's time to get Google out of our schools.
That means Chromebooks need to go, software needs to go. We need to find a solution where our kids' data isn't being stolen and used against them and sold. It is time to throw Google out. Thank you very much. Hey, good evening. Oh, thank you. Good evening. Pen and community members. My name is Stacy Yo Geisha McLean. I'm a certified holistic wellness practitioner, mindfulness coach and yoga instructor working across New York City to support educators and their wellness. My services provide educators with the benefits
of safe spaces to breathe, release, reset, and reclaim their sense of calm and clarity. I facilitate that through nervous system regulation, through movement, meditation, breath work, and restorative practices. I offer professional development experiences that directly address staff burnout and emotional overwhelm. I would love to bring a live demo or full wellness session to your next leadership PD meeting. I'd be honored to partner with you and your schools.
You can reach me at, well, I have flyers I can give out to, uh, you all. And I can also, if you reached at Isha Stacy at Gmail. I'll spell that for you since I have a little bit time left on the clock. Y go G-I-S-H-A-S-T-A-C y@gmail.com. And thank you for your continued service to New York City schools. Uh, that is the end of the public sign. Okay, thank you. Um, thank members of the public for coming out and thank you for your comments. We will now move to brief panel member comments. I underline brief. Jeff Faulkner. Yes. Thank you Chef Faulkner.
Um, I wanna start by saying, uh, we approved, um, almost a billion dollars in contracts tonight. Um, it is unconscionable that OTs and PTs are coming in here asking for a few hundred dollars, um, to be reimbursed for travel or, you know, couple of thousand dollars in tuition reimbursement when we are approving contracts. Um, and, you know, talking about money moving on
that kind of scale, it is to me absurd, um, that OTs and PTs should have to come in here with hat in hand to ask for a couple hundred dollars, uh, to reimburse them for travel or their tuition. Um, I do also want to, uh, say that I am in complete solidarity with CC 30, uh, Whitney and Jonathan as they came up and spoke about how we really do need to change, uh, a one 90. It's something I've been saying for almost five years. Um, so, uh, I do hope that, um,
uh, this panel, uh, will take very seriously, um, that concern and, uh, revisit a one 90 and really do make it into a regulation that empowers and not disenfranchises parents as it relates to changes in school utilization. And the last thing that I want to say, and it's kind of off the beaten path a little bit, um, I do recognize, um, that, uh, Pope Francis passed away a couple days ago.
And I am not a Catholic, but I am a Christian man. And his value was that we don't serve ideas, we serve people. And when I look in this room and I, you know, have the honor sitting at this day is what I do see, um, are people that are serving people, I look in the community and I see people that are serving people and you know, it, it really does move forward a legacy of service that I
commend everyone here for. And the very last thing I want to say in that vein is in my community in th frog's neck in the Bronx, um, a staple of our community, um, Preston High School was, uh, threatened with closure. And, um, you know, I want to personally thank, uh, the Attorney General, uh, Leticia James, uh, for helping to negotiate a contract or an agreement to keep Preston High School open. Uh, I am a staunch supporter of public schools
and everyone here knows that. But I also support, um, institutions of our communities. And Preston has been an institution, uh, in the Bronx and S neck for many years. And I just want to say, uh, thank you to the Attorney general for being able to, uh, help negotiate an agreement to keep Preston open. So with that, I wanna say thank you Jeff Faulkner and I yield back. Thank you. Are there any other panel members who wish to make comment a member cast? So thank much. Sorry.
Uh, I just wanted to acknowledge our OT and PT and speech therapists that came out tonight and also let you know that, uh, we have seen all of your written public comments as well. So thank you for taking advantage of the written public comment form that is on the PEP website. I hope more people will take advantage of that form because it, it makes it very easy for us to track your comments and, and follow up on them. Um, I just wanna say that
we cannot, we just can't treat our therapists like this. We need them. They are a critical part of this work. Um, there's no excuses for not reimbursing people for money that they've put out of their pockets. I think anybody who's been a CEC member knows that this is happening regularly to our parent leaders as well, just waiting and waiting and waiting to get reimbursed for things. Um, I think in this period of time where we are searching desperately for staff,
the idea that we could sacrifice the staff that we have that is working so hard right now, it just doesn't make any sense. So like there, this retention piece is really critical. Um, we have contracts with car services to pick up pet members. So why are we not seeing transportation contracts for our therapists? Um, they should not have to use their own cars if they don't want to. There should be some sort of like c CECs get credit cards for expenses.
Therapists could have the same thing. Um, the DOE could create a partnership with the continuing ed, um, vendors or schools to pay them directly. Like there are a lot of ways to solve this problem and, and our staff should not be bankrolling the DOE. So I just wanna say that out loud. Um, then as far as the charter schools go, and Jonathan and Whitney, thank you for being here. Um, there is actually a bill that Senator Lou
has on the table right now. It's S 1 4 2 3 that creates, um, more transparency around charter school co-locations, um, and charter schools kind of popping up in new spaces without having to have a public process. And so this bill would, um, enforce a public hearing process so that you wouldn't just be hearing about this through word of mouth. It would be a formal process. So I would, I would ask if you
and your community members would please support, um, Senator Lou's bill, S 1 4, 2 3. Um, and then lastly, there's another bill by Senator Jackson that is, um, supporting the bus workers wages and benefits. That's S 1 0 1 8. And I think Rena will talk more about that, but I just wanna elevate that as well. Thank you. Okay, thank you. Um, yes. Okay. Good evening everybody. I'm not gonna be redundant.
Um, people hit certain points very clear and very well, I can, you can't hear me? Yeah. Okay. I said I wasn't gonna be redundant. Um, because, you know, I'm gonna bring up two points. The first point is about I have to give credit to SCA, they have promised to put Queens heavy for the last capital plans. 'cause we are so way behind everybody else with seats. I don't think we even gonna ever catch up with the population growth within the borough. And I, you know, hopefully we'll come up with a, a more streamlined process, um, especially to be in,
in compliance with the small class mandate. That's, and the other point that, what I'll bring up, I don't think anybody's gonna bring up we're the world's borough because because we're the most diverse providence in the United States, not just in the city, we speak over 200 languages. And for interpretation not to be present in every of our meetings is unacceptable. It is a deterrent for people to speak and if they feel comfortable to speak in their own language, they should be able to. 'cause this is what we encourage because again, we are a city of diversity,
equity, and inclusion. And, um, regardless of what, why we don't have interpretation today is just still unacceptable. Thank you. Okay. Any other comment? Yeah, go ahead. Thank you. Good evening again, everyone. Adriana Ali, she her still here for Queen CECs. Um, I just wanna quickly echo my colleague. Here's comments we can't be the city of. Yes. If not everybody's able to speak or hear yes in their language. Uh, April is a very important month for lots of reasons. April showers bring me flowers.
April is also our American History month. April is autism awareness month and neurodiversity celebration month. And earlier this Ed, before I go on with all the great things about April, earlier this week I attended the New York City Reads and New York City solves press conference. And like the Chancellor, I was diagnosed with A DHD in adulthood. So I want to thank you Chancellor Ramos, or, uh, chancellor of VLEs Ramos for sharing so openly and so candidly of yourself with us at that presser. If she's still here, I can't see that bark. But if you are, thank you. Um, April is also a very important month
for Puerto Rican history. And during administrations like this one, it's incredibly important to actively remember and teach our history. So a few days ago, on the 19th of April was the 26th anniversary of the Mento Monte read. So following the death of David SaaS on the 19th of April, 1999, an uprising was organized by a group of fishermen who were supported by local activists and subsequently activists across the island and in the diaspora to oppose the continued test bombing on and of the island of Vieques
by the United States government and the continued harm to the people of the island of Puerto Rico and those of us that are in the diaspora. So chancellor, I hope that this history is included in any forthcoming Puerto Rican or Latinx history curriculum because it's not only the pretty step about Puerto Rico that we're gonna teach, we're more than beaches, okay? We're much more than beaches. I wanna thank my fellow panel members for voting favorably on tonight's utilization proposals. I look forward to our upcoming trip to Albany to further discuss our charter discussions. And the presidents from our CECs are
also invited to join us. Of course. Thank you Whitney for being here and thank you everyone. Goodnight. Thank You. Any other comments at this end? Panel member Escaro, Thank you for centering Puerto Rican history. I love you. Um, that's the great stuff. Um, the, to the horizon parents, um, and, and two all parents that require specialized programs. I'm sorry, that we don't do a really good job of, of programming for our students of advertising the great programs that we have for our students.
Um, once upon a time there was a district 75 site list on the website that has since been removed. There is no horizon list. There is no nest list. Um, and, and so I appreciate that you elevated that. Um, you might be able to find it in my schools, but that shouldn't be like what we have to do. It should be listed on the website, like all other programs and you can find it in my school tool. Um, and I just checked to see if I could do that. I can't like double checked. Um, so I just wanna elevate thank you for the horizon parent because we, we fund these programs and we painstakingly pull from places that we don't have
to build these awesome programs that really serve kids. And, and then we don't talk about them and we, we don't highlight them. Um, and probably 'cause we don't have enough. And, and so I wanna, I also heard that right Far Rockaways and um, we have lots of kids taking really long bus routes over there, there is zero other option for them. And it's actually resulting in some kids having like attendance issues and school avoidance issues because they don't wanna be on the bus that long because it is a, a very sensory, um, experience. I, I mean, hey, if we're gonna Albany,
let's take school buses, you know, we can really talk about busing. Just wanna put that out there. Um, yeah, itinerant teachers, um, folks for those who don't know itinerant teachers fill gaps that the schools can't fill. Like these are students that are not gonna get service if these teachers don't go there. Um, so we, we have to be better about that. S 10 18, I have a document for everybody so we can get on board with understanding what employee protection provisions are and really support that work to try to fix busing just a little bit before we get out of this system. Um, but in perpetuity where it's legislated
and so we don't have to keep fighting for the same things. Um, that this is something we build for you to build on later. Um, and want to finish with, um, yes to the interpretation, um, wondering what are we gonna do with our bylaws and our name. I don't wanna miss that and I didn't see it on any of the upcoming agendas. Um, but I do wanna know what is the response that we were promised for our name being the panel for education policy. And it may be being adjusted in our bylaws to what it says in the Law. Yeah, I think we talked about that. You
have to submit the resolution. Okay. No, so she said she was gonna get back to us just to check on the, the Specifics, the, the, the legal aspects Of it. Yeah. Because if it was just a, a change in bylaws and not a need for resolution. 'cause I already motioned to do this, so I'm just, if we could be clear on the process so I can do whatever I have to do, ready to do it. Okay. Again, panel members, when these kinds of questions come up, talk to me before the meeting. I, I didn't know, just, just reach out to me before the meeting. It doesn't have to come to a panel meeting to ask that question. You could text me, Greg, what's happening before we do this?
I mean, I think that, um, So I, so it came up when I was reading my notes. Yeah, but Again, text me. We, we wrote the card. You know, you could talk to me in the car. I, I swear. So, you know, let's, let's, in other words, let's not, I think there are times we could, you know, resolve some of these things before we come to the panel meeting. Um, so we'll I'll follow up on that. Um, I'll definitely follow up. Um, does that conclude your marks? Yes. Okay. Are there any other comments? Yep. Um, thank, uh, good evening. Thank you very much for seeing and hearing this problem for multilingual learners. Bilingual parents need support
and I'm happy going forward with, uh, with our language access expansion. Uh, and thank you for working on that. Um, uh, I'm also happy that CC 24 yesterday pass a resolution supporting to, um, um, uh, working on books for elementary students, for multilingual learners that every bilingual, uh, program could have, uh, working textbooks for students. Um, I would like to talk about a little bit about offset of our contract.
1 billion contract. I'm very happy if, if somebody from BOE just consider talk to the vendors to recommend them, uh, summer, uh, in terms for high school students in this company who was awarded, I would be very good idea. And, um, and this is end of term of also CECs and many of members not rainbows yet. So it'll be excellent if one person dedicated from DOE could fix this problem with everyone. 'cause uh, like I hear, not only, um, uh, teachers or,
or, um, but uh, but also CC members are waiting for long time for reimbursement and please support them. This is not big money, this is just peanuts, but it's frustrating for these people that they even don't have rainbow this kind of month. Thank you, sir. Okay. Thank you panel member. Any other panel members? I see no, the hands. Uh, thank you all very much for your comments. I wanna thank members of the public for coming out tonight. Um, and guess what? If you enjoyed it tonight, we get to do it all over again next Wednesday and another borough we'll be, uh, our next meeting of the panel for education policy
will take place on Wednesday, April 30th at Sunset Park High School in the Bur Brooklyn. Um, and there's more information if you, uh, that'll be a fairly, uh, substantial agenda with a lot of important topics. So we definitely wouldn't invite you all to come out with that if no other business before the panel. Is there a motion to adjourn Tonight's meeting? Second. Second. I assume this is unanimous on adjourn. The meeting is adjourned. Thank you very much everyone.