##VIDEO ID:https://vimeo.com/1040808744## Moment, but what you say does matter, and it does impact a lot of people. Okay. I think everyone who, yeah. Panama. Thanks everyone. Uh, thank you for all the students that came out and spoke and, and the public that has spoken on this. Uh, we received, uh, well over 1600 emails on this issue. Um, and I have engaged with the Manhattan CCCs, uh, on this. Uh, and I have my own feelings about, uh, all, all of the criticism around the issue, uh, the topic of the contract, uh, especially related to the digitization without, uh, uh, real engagement with actual students on, on how, how it's gonna be administered two years from now and what it means to have validity and, and testing when it becomes, uh, adaptive suddenly without any, without any real understanding of that. And these are things that I wish that, I wish when we were engaging with the DOE as board members, we had involvement early in the process, right before we were presented with a contract, um, to have these difficult discussions, but necessary ones around design of our curriculum, design of how we do admissions and, and, and engagement with the public. Uh, by, by engaging with and, and educating them, uh, and, and highlighting all of the issues that might happen as opposed to just dragging along the status quo forever. Um, Manhattan CUCs have indicated they would like to see this concept, uh, contract extended. Uh, and I will honor their wishes and vote yes on it. But I have strong reservations, strong reservations around having a school that admits only based on a test. No university and I, I went, I went to Columbia. They don't admit only based on the SAT because it's, it's not a valid way to gauge how kids will do that. Columbia. Uh, it doesn't measure endurance. It doesn't measure persistence. It doesn't measure perseverance in the way that you really need to, to, to get through undergraduate and graduate studies. The same thing applies for, for this, and we really need to work on this as part of our legislative initiative and have parents involved in that discussion because nothing, and this is something I learned during the marital control discussions, right, in terms of advocating as as, as, as, as, as an advocate, uh, trying to get a change that I, I believe is ideologically wrong. It's not gonna work unless we get the public out speaking on their own behalf. We need thousands of emails expressing a diversity of, of, of opinions on this. Otherwise, our elected officials will be very loathed to make a decision that they don't hear from people on. So, I'm, I'm appreciative of the people in the room, but people who are listening and you have different opinions, which I may agree with, you need to get masses of numbers to come and express these things to the elected officials. I have not heard from a single city council member who is opposed to this contract, even though they have critical, uh, opinions about the way it's being, uh, administered going forward for five years. And, and this really deprives us as pep board members from being meaningful participants and the conduct and the conduct of, of, of, of our kids' education. And it, it leaves us at the whims of private companies that, that are really good at selling products for one way or another. Uh, and, and, and, and I, I, we're stuck. We're stuck as a system of parents that, that, that are not engaged, uh, meaningfully. And, and, and it's, it's a very, uh, unfortunate situation. So, that's right. Thank you. Yes, Pam Ro I wasn't gonna say anything, but then I got checked. We, we do have to be mindful of the way that we speak and who we're speaking about and who we attempt to represent when we're speaking and we're speaking out of turn. I'm gonna leave that there. The, the, so, so there's some, there's some questions that I had that, you know, and it was late so we weren't able to get responses. But one question I would like to know is, what is the percentage of Bronx residents that go to Bronx High School of Science since we brought that up specifically? Yeah, that's my first question. I'd love an answer, and then my comment. Yeah, but I don't wanna make this a briefing. We've had, it's not briefings. I think it's relevant. You know, make your comment. It's relevant because 30, about 30% of the School of Bronx brother, so, so it is relevant, and I'd like a specific number so that I don't misquote Now, moving on. It was legal less than 50 years ago for people with disabilities who look different, to be mandated to stay in their home. They're called ugly laws. And those systemic structures were not able to be broken down until people stopped passing things that maintain status quo and force the system to pause and examine their practices. And out of that birth, 1979 IDEA, the individuals with Disabilities Education Act and other things like the Home Homestead Act and many other protections that are built in for all students, not for specific groups of students, the law, it, it affords a free and appropriate public education. And that's it. Not the best. And we all have to fight for the best. So I hope that everybody here tonight continues to show up with this energy to help us build a universal design of learning where every student in the system gets what they need. And we're not robbing Paul to pay Peter or taking $17 million to maintain an exam that doesn't work for the majority of our students in the city. I am not opposed to the test. I'm not opposed to specialized high schools. I'm not opposed to, um, accelerated learning. What I am opposed to is maintaining a status quo that keeps a specific group here and pushes everybody else down. Somebody said that we need to be elevated. You don't elevate from the ceiling, you elevate from the floor, you build the floor up so that you bring everybody up with you, and the top is going to continue to be at the top and be higher. Raise everybody up with you. I will be abstaining on this because I would like to be engaged in a, in a conversation where a, about two months ago, I requested that we stop getting five year contracts because it's too long. Things change. And if irresponsible of us to not have the flexibility to change in the middle of a contract when our landscape is changing every day, nothing about us without it. That's it. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Is there anyone, I think we've had, everybody's had a wrap. The, the of conversation, um, it, this is a difficult vote and, and I understand that there's been a lot of discussion, a lot of dialogue on this. We've heard from our senator, we've heard from our congressman, he's actually my congressman, um, you know, Richie Torres. Um, but I have to say that the, and I listened to all the testimony and I read a lot of the letters and the correspondence. I, in fact, was the one that asked the department to postpone so that we could get additional engagement. I wanted the engagement committee to have an opportunity to, uh, pull together the community. The department was willing, um, to, uh, uh, entertain my request that we allow more community comment and conversation before this, um, was brought to a vote. And, and so I know it's difficult. I mean, it is clear that there are problems when we look at the percentages of, um, black and Latino students who enter this school. It is problematic when we look at a number of, um, things. Um, it, it, it does suggest that there are some issues, but there are multiple issues. There's not just one single issue. There are multiple things, um, around this. Should the test be the only determination? Um, someone mentioned in their testimony that, um, students could have a bad day and a, and get a poor grade. And so grades shouldn't be the measurement. Well, the student could have a bad day on the test, and, you know, using that as the only measurement may not be the best way to do it. Um, having said all that though, um, I think the testimony that was most resonated with me was the testimony that came from our students. Again, and my feeling is that, um, I am convinced that if we, and, and I've heard the comment that if we were to defeat this, um, you know, contract, we would really cripple the incoming freshman class. And that's not a position I would feel comfortable. Um, however, however, I I do think it's important that we not let this be the end of this conversation, and that there needs to be an ongoing conversation about, um, how we improve these numbers. There needs to be some real planning. I'm asking the city council to assist us maybe creating a city council initiative that would allow for, um, more equitable test prep. Because there are advantages where wealthy communities are able to provide test prep for their students. I think that does assist not just going to a library and getting a, a Barons test prep book, but getting the actual on hand classroom instruction, I think has a benefit. And, uh, so, so we maybe can go to the council and see if we can get the, the resources to do that. Um, perhaps even changing the date of the exam to allow schools that get funded but only have a month of prep before they have to take the test. Maybe that's another conversation. So, so I'm really hoping that this dialogue is gonna continue. Um, but I would certainly urge members of the panel to, um, approve this contract and, uh, you know, think that we can't risk that we would any way create a situation where students were not able to enter the freshman class or that it would jeopardize a freshman class into coming here. Uh, are there any final comments? I think, having said that, let's proceed to a vote. I heard somebody read a question. Um, secretary Nathan, would you please call the role? I will call the role alphabetically, and if you wish to vote differently on any particular contract, um, let me know. When I call your name, uh, member Ali, yes. To all Member Ali say has seen to choose you can't spend $17 million on a product you've never seen. And yes. Um, member Arnold, yes. To all, uh, member Alvin. Yes, except for number two. I, um, member ti abstain to two and yes, for all the rest of them. Sorry, I got Member Dean, member fair, member Giardano. Yes. To Vice Chair Green? Yes. To all member, yes. 12 member Ho Yes. To all member Member Lee? No. The two, yes. To the others Member Meme? Yes. To member. Member All yes. Member staff. Yes. Member Shepherd, member Ang and Chair. Yes. The resolution passes for, um, all items except for item two. It was 20 votes in favor and no, no votes. No. Oh, I, I said for all items except number two. I am, I got it here. Except number two, one through one, three through 15, unanimous a second. Okay. I'm gonna count the rest. Okay. Two For item two, it's 14 in favor. Two no votes. And four and four abstentions. But the entire resolution passes. Okay, great. Thank you. Um, we're not through yet. We have, um, we, we do have open public comment if there are any signups for that. Oh, there are. I guess there are. I, wow, you stuck it out. So, uh, uh, the floor is now open for open public comment. Let, let's wait until those who are leaving Chair Ulner. Yes. I, I'm hearing a voice. That's me. Oh, yes. I just wanted to say thank you so much to the, um, forum Hill School for International Studies for coming out tonight. I support you and your request. Gonna try to do whatever. Hey Folks. Folks, if you're leaving, can you leave quietly so we can continue with the meeting? BHS Folks, please keep coming and make sure your voice is heard. I always measured by I could have been to Albany twice. Bus. Yeah. Okay. I'm gonna start calling names. I'm gonna call the first group of, um, people. If you could just walk out quietly, go out into the lobby to continue your conversation so we can start the general comment period. Thank you. I'm gonna call the first group of speakers. Um, I'm Mike Langley. Please don't, folks, it's already 11 o'clock, so we really wanna keep moving this. Mike Langley, Matthew Truviso Williams, Patricia mc, McNamara, Louise Butler, and Isaacs Chafe. If you'd make it down to the microphone, just if you get there, you can start speaking. Um, just please say your name so we can track it. Thank you. Great. Uh, thank you. Good evening. Uh, my name is Mike Langley and I'm an English teacher at the Borum Hills School for International Studies. Um, I'm here to speak tonight about the need to amend our campuses' building utilization plan. Our school is co-located with three others, digital Tech, a High School Star Academy, a District 75 School and Success Academy, cobble Hill in elementary school. Here's the issue. Our classrooms are allocated based on an outdated inequitable building utilization plan that has not been updated in eight years and does not reflect the current reality. It's worth knowing the numbers. Our school BHS is allocated classrooms based on a projected enrollment of 600 to 670 students. Currently we serve seven hundred and forty six seventy six over our projected maximum digital tech. The high school upstairs is allocated classrooms based on a projected enrollment of 160 to 200 students. Currently, they serve two hundred and ninety two ninety two students more than the projected Maximum Success Academy. Cobble Hill is allocated classrooms based on a projected enrollment of 340 to 390 students. Currently they serve two hundred and seventy three sixty seven students less than their projected minimum. To be blunt, it does not make sense to allocate classrooms in 2024 based on 20 sixteen's numbers. We have two growing crowded schools in the same building that we have at least five empty classrooms. It is inequitable, it is wasteful, and it places an arbitrary artificial ceiling on what our students can accomplish. We cannot let these classrooms sit empty when children in the same building need them. We're here with two requests tonight. We need help amending our school's building utilization plan, and we need a sane way to amend building utilization plans. The process for us is unclear. We are in a gap in chancellor's, A one 90, and we need a process that doesn't let classrooms sit empty for four months. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, Please. All right. Good evening everyone. My name is Matthew Williams. I'm currently the 11th grade English teacher at Broomville School for International Studies. At BHS, we are starved for space. Despite the fact that we are currently growing, we have grown so much that we have exceeded the enrollment projections of the 2016 Building Utilization Program by 76 students. This stands in contrast to Success Academy, cobble Hill, whose enrollment has fallen, uh, short of the lowest projections of that building utilization program by 67 students. This limited space limits our ability to educate students. As a teacher, part of what I do every day goes beyond the personal and educative interactions with our wonderful and dedicated students. I also do my best to ensure that the physical space of the classroom is conducive and supportive of student learning. I do this by posting completed work, hanging anchor charts, the explicate key concepts, and setting up engaging activities that require specific arrangements of desks, materials, and the like. Because teachers are forced to have our classrooms in multiple locations and students are forced to move around the building, we are severely limited in our ability to do these things that best support our students. For example, in English classes, we often have Socratic seminars, which require students to sit in a circle for a formal conversation. When teachers and students are forced to run around the building between these, uh, activities, uh, these kinds of activities become unnecessarily cumbersome and result in time being cut short from students getting to do activities that would deepen their learning, such as reflective writing or other metacognitive activities. And instead, we must set up and break down classrooms, wasting time that students could be using to deepen their learning. Thank you for your time. Thank You. Hi, my name is Patricia McNamara and I've been a biology teacher at BHS for nine years, and the chapter leader for four. Um, I just wanna thank all the teachers that are here, um, till past 11 and all of you for listening to us. Um, starting last year, we have been fighting for more space in our building, as many others have said, the public school in our building continue to grow. Um, our enrollment has gone up by over 200 students since the buff was last revised eight years ago. Digital tech, another high school in our building is far above their projected enrollment And Success Academies continues to decrease. Um, as of right now, they have at least five empty and potentially many more underutilized classrooms. We need the b amended as a long-term solution to more equitable space distribution on our campus. There is no reason that the Success Academy's principal office is a classroom. You could have 30 kids in that room. There's no reason that French ELA and reading intervention classes are being taught in the science lab. There's no reason that our theater class is taught in our lobby. Besides amending the buff, I think the DOE needs to establish a clear process for when buffs need to be amended due to decreasing charter enrollment. It must also be mentioned that schools with insufficient space will be unable to follow the state class size laws. We don't have a plan for that as of now. Thriving schools should not have to suffer. We've heard a lot tonight about having strong high schools in this city. Let these two high schools continue to grow and give us more space. Thank you. Thank you. My name is Luis Butler and I am the PTA president of BHS in District 15. I'm here to speak about the experience of being a parent of a student with an IEP and how the B is affecting his ability to learn. When teachers try to have pullout groups, which is typical in an IEP, um, plan, they have to go to the hallway because there are no free classrooms in the hallway filled with people going around being loud. If you have a child who might also have a DD on top of dyslexia, it is nearly impossible to concentrate and to learn. The issue is not that my son is sitting in the hallway with small group work with his amazing teachers, and it speaks to our school community that 10 people are out at basically midnight to speak about this issue when it should have been a phone call to Fisher's office. The issue that I have is that there are at least five empty classrooms that success is sitting on, and there is no policy in place for us to easily amend the bup because it serves the charter school unfairly. We are an amazing public school community that serves six through 12. We have an amazing arts department, amazing facilities with teachers who care so much, and it seems to me absolutely outrageous that the teachers have to work around these empty classrooms. Thank you. Uh, hello. My name is Isaac Soche. Uh, I'm the head of the history department at, for Hill School. I teach 10th and 12th grade history. Out of the six of US history teachers, none of us teach all of our classes in one room, all right, outta the three rooms that are meant for history. Um, only three of us teach the majority of our classes there, right? If in my room where I share with the ninth grade history teacher on Friday, there is a seventh grade math teacher that needs to set up and move the tables right? I teach in five classrooms in two different floors throughout the week. For me, moving from space to space does not give me the opportunity to set up the classroom for a fishbowl conversation or a chunked group work jigsaw. I can't bring anchor charts with me or post up their work in our history room for them to see and be surrounded by their hard earned work. Secondly, students do not know where to find me for questions making up work or conferences for my 12th grade students, many of which are full IB diploma program students that are following up on a reflection meeting for their historical investigation or extended essay, or forced to sacrifice their lunch and find me reliably. Many students have after school commitments. So if it's a socio, socio-emotional conversation, they're faced with the choice of pushing forward with a vulnerable conversation with some of their peers who are eating lunch or not having it at all. The same can be said about check-ins that are academic in nature. Our students should not have to weigh the benefits of any given conversation, know where to find myself and the rest of the history teachers to meet their needs any day of the school year. We wanna reclaim the more than five classrooms from Success Academy and amend the book. Thank you. Thank you. The next five speakers, Emma Cook, pki, Amanda Mulvihill, Leon Giron, um, Kensen and Sji. Brit. Hi, my name is Emma k Kiski, and I'm a special education teacher at the Borum Hills School for International Studies. If you walk through the halls of our school, it's obvious how the lack of space impact all of our students having a predictable learning environment where, you know, for example, when and where your classes are, it's important for every student, but I think it's our students with disabilities to whom success Academy's five empty classrooms are the biggest insult, and we are so lucky at BHS to get to have students of vastly mixed abilities and experiences learning together in the same classes. Small group explicit instruction is one of the most consistently research validated methods for supporting students with learning disabilities in gen ed classrooms. And yet our school doesn't have the space to make small group instruction happen. We do small group teaching in the hallways or in a corner of a crowded classroom, or just not at all. All while five classrooms stand empty just a few doors away. Lack of space should not be the reason why students with disabilities are not supported. The lack of space in our building also prevents our students and parents from having the privacy they deserve. In the IEP process, there's often no room available to host parents or students who want to join an IEP meeting. In person. When I'm conducting vocational interviews, one of the main ways students get to have their goals and experiences reflected in their own IEPs, I have to conduct them standing in the hallways. Imagine being a high schooler, trying to be vulnerable and articulate the challenges you've experienced in school while your classmate walks by to get a drink of water. Today, I've heard so many students and parents express fear that they will not get what they need if a decision is made to give opportunities to others. But the issue of space use at our school's campus is a rare issue in this under-resourced system in which giving our students what they need comes at the expense of no other person. Success Academy is not using five of our classrooms. Please set the process in motion to amend the book. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Hi everyone. Um, I will try not to repeat what has already been said and just add on. I'm a sixth grade teacher at BHS, um, and the, there's not enough space for bursting at the seams. And the frustrating thing is that there is available space, but we are trapped by this flu that states that those rooms can only be used by Success Academy. Cobble Hill, um, as has been mentioned by multiple people, students with IEPs suffer a lot because of this lack of space there management needs of small group instruction are not being met to the best that they could be, um, with the best option we have to offer them this hallway instruction. Um, there are also programs like reading intervention and other services that are constantly scrambling for space in hallways in the corner of the library, um, against the window cell. However, they can get a kind of private moment, and it's not right. It's not what they deserve. It's infuriating that there are empty spaces available that our students could be using instead of sitting on the floor in the hallway. Um, in recent years, I also served as testing coordinator for BHS, and this opened my eyes in a startling way to how our space constraints, um, uh, to the space constraints. Our school is faced with many of our students with IEPs and five oh fours have legally mandated testing accommodations that they must receive for state and local tests. And that includes separate location with a reduced number of students, maybe as little as eight students allowed in the room. That means our students take up a lot more room when we are giving these tests in order to give them these legally mandated accommodations because our available space is already at its max. Other non-testing classes are then displaced to alternative spaces like the library, the gym, or the auditorium. Sometimes with as many as four classes combining to share those spaces during testing, there is simply nowhere else for our students to go. As you can imagine, this is highly disruptive to our students' academic progress and learning environment. Um, and we try not to lose learning time even if we lose learning space. Thank you. Hi there. My name is Antonia Ferra Martinelli. I am the c the president of CC 15. Uh, thank you for listening to us today. I'm speaking in my individual capacity at the parent of an eighth grader who attends BHS or Bro Hill School of International Studies. I'm asking that you amend building utilization plans for space equity and create a clear policy to amend BPS regularly. BPS must not be stagnant. According to the Office of District Planning Success Academy Charter serves just 273 students, and this is down from their peak enrollment in 2020 of 430. And as a result, they have more than five empty classrooms. Space planning walked through the building today and they identified whole wings that were not being used. This is completely unacceptable when enrollment at the other three schools is punching above their weight and space to provide mandated services at a premium. Let me illustrate the space problem. My child has lunch at nearly two o'clock and then leaves at three 20. I have seen cheerleaders rehearsing in the hallways, gym in the hallways, mandated services in the hallways. History class can happen in the art class, and there are no subject dedicated classrooms. Our teachers are nomad and materials must be portable. Our students lack, uh, consistent classrooms. And this can be particularly disruptive, especially for students with special needs. It's incumbent on the DOE to distribute space equitably. So I ask the DOE to amend this obsolete 2016 buck to, uh, reflect current enrollment trends and real allocate space so that all the schools in that building can support their students appropriately. Thank you so much. I'll call the next group of speakers, uh, Caitlyn Gibbons. Linda Carl, um, Ling y, um, Virginia Goodwin. Hi, good evening. My name is Kaitlyn Gibbons and I'm the chapter leader of Digital Arts and Cinema Technology High School, also known as dt. And we share a building with BHS. Um, I have taught at the school for past, for the past eight years. I stand before you today, today to address a pressing issue that is affecting the quality of education and the wellbeing of the students and the staff, our lack of adequate classroom space. And I called to ask that we amend the buff to reflect the current enrollment numbers. Our current B is from 2016 and was based on an enrollment population of 190. Today, however, our enrollment is 331 students, which is an increase of over 70%. This growth is wonderful, and it's a testament to the quality of education received at dt, but it also means that the current facilities are no longer sufficient to meet the needs of our students and our teachers. Classroom sizes are expanding beyond their capacity and it's impacting instruction. Teachers are having to adapt to larger class sizes, which limits individual attention that, that they can provide their students. The lack of space also means it's hard to implement interactive hands-on learning, which as we know is critical, um, to, um, students in today's world. Furthermore, we are unable to offer a diverse class selection because we literally do not have the space to provide those, the rooms to provide that class with the students. Beyond the classrooms themselves, our teachers are also feeling the strain. We teach in multiple classrooms using a cart for materials and are often on top of each other. Added in the teacher's lounge. The space is so crowded that we actually cannot prep. And as you know, this is important because a well-rested and supported teacher is better equipped to deliver quality instruction. I personally moved classrooms four times and can attest that frequent moves have diverted from resources away from students' education. Um, as students are forced to spend valuable time and energy adapting to these spaces, rather than focusing on teachers and learning, please amend them up. Buffed. Thank you very much. Thank you. Speaker, over on the, am I right? I actually had some different comments prepared, but I decided to respond because, um, I had shared some data earlier during the, um, that comments. And then I was informed that my, um, I had some incorrect data, so I wanted to go and confirm that. And I spoke to their president of, uh, district 15, and she pointed to me to some additional information, which, um, she was made a little difficult for me, but I was able to, um, understand what she was pointing to, which was some information from District 15. And I do wanna say that the data that I quoted is in fact accurate. That, um, there is a report of District 15 and where, um, there is a, a different view, but it is completely a different set of data comparing District 15 to other districts versus to itself over the course of five years. And so I wanna, and she also pointed out to me that it's important to acknowledge the decline in enrollment, which also is not reflected in the raw data. So I think that's very fair. So I want to say that while the, um, number of SHS, uh, specialized high school offers declined 50% in district 15 in five years, their enrollment also declined 4%. So I will correct myself and say that it was not exactly the same number of, there's a 4% decline in all, and yet a 50% decline in the number of specialized high school offers. So I don't think that I was incredibly disingenuous in my data. However, I wanna make sure that I give the correct, um, denominator as they say. I also wanna point out that, um, from a complete percentage basis, that percent of seventh graders scoring a four in the state math hats in District 15 on a pure percentage basis in just four years declined 24%. So wanna give additional color, which is not just about the specialized high, and this is a exam, but also about general performance District 15. And, and my personal opinion as someone who fought hard to get my daughter into social 15 middle schools, is that the diversity admissions is really has been a complete failure. Thank, thank you. Uh, the next group of speakers, um, this one was signed up as Rachel under Rachel Rosario, um, Gmail account. Um, Johanna Borkin. I'm just gotta go through the list. Ben Wesley, someone named Joanne Mahas. And Kenny Tam. Raise your hand if I called you. Okay. We know you're coming down. Thank you. Sorry, I have, I have to talk to my superintendent. That's okay. Um, uh, it's been late. I'm speaking for the second time. Um, and thank you for your patience. I like staying to the end of these meetings because I really, truly do enjoy hearing what people have to say. I have my perspectives, but I really like to listen. And one of the things that really broke my heart tonight was what I see as a persistent theme of there being absolutely no plan to address the changes in enrollment that we've seen across the city. Uh, we have, we hear when, when schools have low enrollment, we hear about it as the school's fault. When we hear that schools have higher enrollment or that, that students want to go to selective spaces, we hear about the student's rights. Um, we don't hear about a systemic approach to realizing that there are students in those schools that are under-enrolled. And it's heartbreaking that, that every time I come and I hear a school going through a building utilization change, we have something like this where they, we have heartbroken students who rely on a school. And I really, especially, you know, there is a lot of opportunity. And I see the attention being focused into policies that don't scale. Exclusivity does not scale. Selective emissions does not scale. I was horrified. I I'm terrified at this allegation, this dangerous allegation that tracking students should be the future. And I'm really scared that that will be, that that wasn't shot down immediately by the chancellor. Um, if I could just finish my sentence. There was, somebody said, there's, we shouldn't speak about, uh, about us without us, and we really need to whis, but when you're talking about selective admissions, consider the whole that when you give opportunities to the top 10% of students, there's 90% of everybody else who had those is affected in a waterfall. From that, thank you. All students deserve opportunity. I'm gonna call the last group of speakers because I have a feeling a lot of people are gone. Um, Ash Varadi, Whitney Lukins, someone named Ken, Jessica Renia, Joey Zang, um, Greg Corn, Moto Ji, and LaShon gim. Anybody the end of the list, Chip, before you hit that gap, I just wanna say one thing. I, I wanted to Yes, very quickly. Um, I wanted to just take a moment. 'cause we went through this whole meeting and it is what, 1142 and, you know, I wanted to, I know we all want to get home, but I wanted to just take a moment and just say congratulations to Deputy Chancellor Christina Melinda. Um, I, I wanted to say briefly thank you for your counsel over the years. Um, thank you for reminding me when, you know, I kind of like pushed the edges. Um, but, you know, congratulations and I really do look forward to working with you, uh, moving forward. That's all I got here, Paul. Great. Oh, now we open the plug. Um, Erica Kendall signed up for public comment in addition to agenda. Erica Kendall signed up for public comment. I see. Don't ever talk. I'm not, don't ever talk, talk careful on the stairs, please. Yeah, I'm so sorry. I didn't realize I was the last, last person You are. Good evening again, y'all. Um, I stayed because I really wanted to reiterate some asks for supporting my community, um, through supporting, um, through whatever our next steps are. But I really like, I, I realized I needed to say something. Um, earlier, a panel member alleged alleged that a quote black woman was kept from the table to discuss this proposal that we had tonight. Respectfully, all of the people representing the constituencies in my district tonight were black women. Comments like that serve in allegiance to the same systemic forces that allow a school to languish in a black community in a way that would never have been allowed elsewhere in this city. Now, if you wanna say that the chancellor's regs are, are not robust enough, then say that, and remember that you as a panel member have the ability to change them. Because if the DOE didn't follow its own regulations, then it wouldn't have been parents up here, it would've been lawyers. Now, I said earlier that there are many under-enrolled and underperforming schools across this city. Where are they? What do they have in common? And how often do you sit up there and hold the DOE accountable for the inequity in that? The proposal for the Central Brooklyn Literacy Academy is the start of addressing an actual on the ground equity conversation for our families that we've been having. This school provides for free what wealthier PA families and wealthier districts pay for out of pocket or the DOE pays for it. If you know how to soothe them, show me a heat map of the disparities and where they are, and then show me a map of where your precious, specialized high schools are located. Now, I have worked for years as a CEC member to get the DOE to make this particular kind of investment in my community. And it takes different approaches to get different children across the finish line. We know that, and that is this work, and this is merely a start. So if you genuinely care about equity, you'll ensure that we get not just CBLA, but much, much more. Thank you. Okay. Um, thank everybody. Good. Tomorrow morning or whatever. Not tomorrow morning, Mike. Our next meeting will be on, uh, January 22nd, 2025 at Francis Lewis High School. Um, having said that, I wanna wish everybody a very happy holiday. Um, you know, and I want to thank all of you for the work that you are doing on a regular basis. And with that, I'll entertain a motion to adjourn. Is there a second? Is there objection to the motion to adjourn? That better not. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Yeah. --------- ##VIDEO ID:https://vimeo.com/1040808715## Very much. I want to thank everyone for coming out tonight. My name is Greg Faulkner, and I'm the chair of the Panel for Education Policy. And I want to as again, welcome all of you here tonight. Uh, we're anxious to hear the feedback and I'm particularly delighted that we have a number of students who are here who wish to, uh, present testimony on a number of issues. So I wanna welcome all of you. Most particularly, I wanna welcome our students who are here. Um, that's exciting. Thank you. So, so having said that is now my pleasure to officially call to order the December 18th meeting of the Panel for Education Policy. And I'll ask our secretary to please call the role I, Uh, when I call your name, please, um, say that you're present. Um, Marielle Ali. Present Adriana Ali. Present, uh, Phoebe Shaday Hormel. Uh, Shirley. Vin Present. Aaron Boad, Camil Kareti. Present. Marjorie Amy Fair. Anita Garcia. Uh, Tony Giordano. Uh, Angela Green, vice Chair Present. Naam Present. Present. Rema is, yes. Okay. Uh, Justin Lee. Present, uh, darling Present. Sharon Owin. Present. Alan Hall. Present, Maisha Isha. Staff Present. Tom Shepherd. Present. Venus, please. Next, thank something, uh, Manny Vera and Chair Gregory Faulkner. Present and, um, there voting members addition. Uh, LA Brad Lander. Yes. And Thank, thank you very much, secretary. That means we can officially, uh, begin with business. And the first item on the agenda is the adoption of the minutes of our November 20th, uh, 20, 24 minute, uh, meeting. Is there a motion for unanimous consent on the, on the adoption of the minutes of November 20th? How old? So, is, is there a second to unanimous consent? Second, is there objection to unanimous consent? Seeing no objection, the minutes November 20th are adopted. Um, earlier, earlier today, earlier, I just made reference to the number of students who are here and, um, and, and, and talking about real issues that, that they're facing in their school issues that they're facing in their community. Um, but there's one student person I like to highlight. Um, a couple of, I think it was at our last meeting, we made reference to a, a person who, uh, a young man who, um, showed at an early age there some real activism in the school. You know, the department has recently adopted a curriculum Civics for all, and civics for all curriculum encourages young people to get involved in our government, to get involved with the process, to, to get involved in, in, in their community. And it, and it really begin to instill all of these things and all these values in our students. Um, I was recently reading the book by John Lewis. Good Trouble. And good trouble is when you change things, good trouble helps to change things in our country and in our communities. And, um, so, so I had the opportunity just to add a few moments ago to meet someone who actually stirred up some good trouble. And, uh, what was, what surprised me, he is only 13 years old. And, uh, so, so I'd like to introduce him to you and I think it would be really great to meet, and actually, I wanna invite him to come up with his dad. Alex Ner, um, is a student, uh, at Seth Low Middle School, who, uh, what he did was, I guess he saw a problem. He felt like the, the, the length of the holiday there was a problem and on, and what he was able to do is, uh, I think November 23rd, we'll be off December. No wait, we're already off. Excuse me. December 23rd, where, where, uh, gotta be off. But the reason is because this young man organized, saw a problem, organized the letter writing campaign, and did 5,000 letters and, uh, really worked 5,000 that I lower or higher. I'm looking at that higher, more impressive. So, uh, why don't I actually vote to come up and let us recognize if we do work, um, let's welcome a future leader. Uh, come on, come on up. Come on up. Can somebody daddy come as well? Where, where is it? Right? Microphones right there. Oh, you want is he want the mic? Mic? You want me to down? Hello everybody. Hi. My name is Isaac Ner from Middle School, and I would like to say a huge thank you to my school principal, Ms. Harso. So, and everybody else who helped me with my petition, That, that put you to say at 13 years old is so, uh, poised in front of a large crowd like this. So, Alex, we, we want you to continue in your leadership journey. Either we want you continue on your leadership journey and, and commemoration that we have a little pin for you that is worn by, uh, staff and officials at the New York City Public School system. We're giving this to you and, and we ask you to wear it in good health. Well, chair Faulkners making his way back, we are joined by member, um, Anthony Giordano Here. Yes, as a, as a born and raised, proud Sunset Parker, really happy to be here at Sunset Park High. My, my four siblings and I all attended PS 94. Uh, my first job was on Fifth Avenue. My family, uh, my family, uh, ran the Sunset Park bid. It began the Sunset Park bid 25 years ago. Uh, sunset Park is a great community, community of immigrants, a community of of strong community minded folks, so very happy to be here in my home, in my, uh, in my home neighborhood. Thank you. Uh, it is now my pleasure to, uh, welcome our chancellor, and if I ask by our chancellor to make remarks. Good evening everyone. I hope everyone had a restful Thanksgiving break. Uh, of course, that's I first want to acknowledge and thank Chair Faulkner, vice Chair Green and all of our pet members for being here tonight. Uh, our host at Sunset Park High School Principal Megan Miguel Negro and superintendent Janice Ross. Thank you so much. And this building is also home to PS 3 71, principal, Heather Miller and Superintendent Louisan and a D 79 Adult Education Program under superintendent Glen Es Ross. And I wanna echo everything that Sheriff Ner said. Uh, with respect to the great work that Isaac did, we all owe him a huge thank you because December 30, December 23rd is a day off and it's all in thanks to him. Um, and that kind of advocacy is exactly what we wanna see in our students. So we are very grateful, um, and proud of Isaac. I also wanna thank Alan Ung, who was chairing the PEP Engagement Committee, which held its first ever meeting recently to Justice Shaza administration. And as you are all aware, community empowerment is one of my three commitments, and I'm glad to see the pep leaning in. I appreciate that we had the chance to fully engage and to hear from so many community members. And just as we've engaged on this topic, we will continue to engage and empower our communities and other topics as well. Perhaps most notably, we just completed a visit to each of the five boroughs for our listening tour, which brought out over a thousand people to share their ideas across New York City. And we were just in State Island last night. I heard some incredible ideas and solutions to the challenges we face. And I also heard about what's working. What it all reaffirmed for me is that the solutions already exist within our communities. We just need to be available to listen to everyone. Our communities bring so much expertise to the table, and I am excited to continue to empower them. And that's one of the reasons why we just launched our new division of Family, community, and student empowerment unto the leadership of Deputy Chancellor Dr. Mil. One topic that I heard raised multiple times during the listening tour was protecting some of our most vulnerable student populations, specifically our immigrant students and our L-G-B-T-Q students. I wanna publicly affirm that in New York City public schools, we value and care for each and every one of our children, regardless of their sexual orientation, immigration status, or any other characteristic or identity. And we are committed to protecting, protecting the right of every student to attend public schools. I wanna reassure everyone that nothing has changed in terms of how we operate in our schools. Our schools are safe harbors for our children and they will remain. So, for example, New York City Public School does not permit non-New York City law enforcement agents, including ICE that enter schools except when absolutely required by law. We already have a robust set of resources and protocols in place around this, and we will ensure our school leaders are fully prepared and trained on these pro protocols in the coming weeks of month. And to learn more about our support for our immigrant students, visit schools.nyc.gov/project open arms. I wanna close by wishing everyone a happy and meaningful holiday season. I hope this is a joyful time for you and your family. I also know that the holidays can be difficult for many people and it can remind us of the loved ones who are no longer with us or bring back other difficult memories. So I wanna say that whatever this time of year means to you, whatever emotions it brings, I wish you peace and contentment. And please know that you have a community and support system here and your city public schools. Please know how much I appreciate every single one of you. I'm excited for the work ahead. I look forward to seeing you all again in 2025. And with that, I'll turn it back to chair folk. Thank you very much, chancellor. Thank you for your work and also for the, uh, the efforts and support of the members of your team. Um, it's, it's very much appreciated. Makes the work that we all compare with the panel. Uh, uh, much easier, uh, in that regard. I think I need to, I, I should done earlier, we have a new panel member, uh, more for comments at this time. You getting some feedback? Hello? Alright, good evening. Thank you everyone for being here. I'm very excited to be in the panel. Uh, at this moment, our former member of CC three and CC 14 and ccc LL so mainly focus of course of English language learners and supporting English, English learners, but By two other members, uh, Rema, IDO, and Amy. An audit time period, additional time will be provided as necessary to help facilitate comments that may require translation. Will call speakers up in groups of five. The clock will indicate the amount of time remaining for each speaker. And a light will flash when there is one minute remaining, so that speakers will know when their time is running low. At the conclusion of each speaker's time, we will move on to the next speaker. If a speaker is not, um, here, when their name is called, we will move to the next, uh, speaker. Once we've done so, you won't be able to redeem your place in queue. This portion of public comment is only for agenda items, um, being voted on at tonight's meeting. If you accidentally sign up for comment during this section, but wish to comment on other matters, please see one of our staff members stationed that the microphone who will move you to the open public comment section. Again, comments during these sections should only relate to the proposal being voted on tonight. Uh, but before we get into that portion of the meeting, um, we, we made a change over once ago, and that is to move, uh, the student general public comment section to the beginning of the meeting. And so I believe we have a number of students here today who wish to offer, uh, public comments. So as is our custom now, we will accommodate those students. Uh, first. So secretary, would you please, uh, call students up? I'm gonna call the first, um, five student names if you make your way down to the microphone, and then as you get there, you can start speaking. Just say your name first and I apologize in advance. If I mispronounce names, I'll do my best. Uh, Nara Pierre. Damian, Damian Fur ji. Um, and Bing and Willis Tang, your call. Come down to the microphone. See, we have a lot of people here today can. Hi everyone. My name is Nara P and I'm an 11th grader at Boham Hill School for International Studies. I have a, I have a history class and an art classroom. The tables are full of paint and I get my papers dirty. It's unprofessional to turn our work in with dirt all the time. I have gym and dance in classrooms and students get injured, including me when I tripped over and fell over a chair. As captain of the cheer team, I need more space for my cheerleaders. Since we practice in hallways and take up space for people to walk by, teachers should have their own classrooms so students could get their work done on time and more focused so there's no commotion. When I say commotion, I mean packing up early because another teacher needs the room. We never get our work done on time and always being left back on topics and lessons. When teachers have their own rooms, it's easier for us to find them. I have to run around the school to look for my teacher if I need to ask a question on a lesson once the bell rings, if they're trans transitioning to their next class. So they're nowhere to be found. When I'm constantly in different rooms for one subject, I just lose focus. I get lost and then forget I'm in a different room that day for that subject. Then I get in trouble for being late. Passing sex academies, classrooms make me feel angry because we're suffering by being cramped up in the same classrooms without being spaced out. And conclusion, protect high school students'. Education for more space in our mental health. Hear our voices. There's no reason why there's empty classrooms that are never used in just sitting there and can't be in good use. It's just not fair. Thank you. Damien Ley. Good evening. My name is Damien Ley. I've been attending the board Meal School for International Studies for nearly five years now. Throughout my time here, Throughout my time here, I've noticed many issues posed with our school's lack of space. Teachers without homerooms have to move all their teaching materials class to class. When doing so, teachers tend to take longer to set up and get class started, which means less time learning, which will stunt students growth and their ability to have a good understanding of what they're learning. Another issue created by teachers not able to have their own homeroom is the notes we take on the boards in class that they won't be there the next time I take advanced French. So when we write congregations on the whiteboard, I know that it won't be there the next period. I've taken French throughout all my years at BHS and only three French designated rooms, or in our school this year. I take French in the science lab, the same science lab English is taught in math, is taught in theory of knowledge is taught in this science room is a bad fit for these subjects. And this is all a result of our lack of space. Because of this, we are demanding the building utilization program to be amended so we can have more space to learn. Thank you. Thank you. So Chief Rilla, if you can speak if, if it's okay. Good evening everyone. My name is Willis Tang and I'm an eighth grader for marchy. You might be wondering why I'm here since I already took the S-H-S-A-T test in October. The reason is simple failing to be renew the contract for another five years with further weakened out public education system. Some opponents of the test may claim that not all students can afford private tutors. However, there are plenty of free resources. In fact, every student has access to SST review books that can be found online or at libraries that don't charge any fees. Websites like Khan Academy also offer free lessons to help students improve their map and reading skills. Additionally, the dream program provides free tutoring and test prep for students will under, but these helpful resources, any student who works hard and have a fair chance to succeed on the S-S-S-A-T regardless of their background. Now, who will suffer if the contract doesn't go through? Is it just the current seventh graders? No, I believe it is all of us. If we make academic curriculums easier, students in general will get the wrong message and think it is unnecessary to strive for the best. They may also easily develop a mindset of just doing the bare minimum in life. Let me ask you this. If your loved one ever needed lifesaving surgery, wouldn't you want their doctor to be someone who worked diligently to master their skills? Or if you were, or if you were flying across the country, wouldn't you feel safer? Knowing the pilot had undergone rigorous screening and faced challenges to move their expertise, it's hard to trust someone in such critical roles if they've never been tested or had to work under pressure. Their panel members next week is Christmas. Please give the seven readers in the younger siblings a sense of hope. Please vote yes to renewing the S 60 CT contract for another five years. By preserving this opportunity, we can continue to challenge and nurture students, including myself, to reach our full potential and contribute to a brighter future for our nation. Ultimately, we will all benefit from it. Just remem sw seats do not make so close skills. Thank you so much for your time. Oh, okay. Thank you. Can we come to order please? Thank you. Thank you. Uh, the next group of students is Abby Ow. Um, Patty Ow. Um, Melissa, Melissa Ramirez, and Kathy Shin and Phoebe Gerber. My name is Abby Ow. I'm an eighth grade student from Marre Middle School. I'm standing the here to represent a group of my peers who are sincerely grateful for this opportunity this year to take the S-H-S-A-T exam. My group of peers come from different culture, religious and ethnic backgrounds, however, we share the same value. The S-H-S-A-T is race blind. The S-H-S-A-T is an incredibly important and significant standardized examination for eighth graders, attempting to attend a specialized high school. Removing this exam would result in a loss of equality and accepted students. With the S-H-S-A-T being a standardized test, it only tests for knowledge and not for race, gender, or income. This is crucial as in life. People do not care about your social economics. They care about your ability to complete the job based on your knowledge in the field. The S-H-S-A-T allows students to be judged solely on their academic abilities and potential without any bias or favoritism. This exam opens doors for many students, including those from undeserved communities to access high quality education and opportunities that might otherwise be out of reach. By renewing the contract, we are maintaining a system that rewards hard work, dedication, and talent. All in all, the S-H-S-A-T is more than just a test. It is a symbol of fairness and opportunity. By renewing the S-H-S-A-T contract, we are ensuring that future generations of students will continue to have access to the same opportunities that we have. Let's keep the S-H-S-A-T as a cornerstone of our education system promoting equality and excellence for all. Good evening everyone. My name is Kathy, and I'm a current sixth grader from a public school in Brooklyn. First and foremost, I would like to thank everyone for setting out time to come and listen to everyone's voices. I would like to speak about an issue and, and show how the S-H-S-A-T test impacts an NYT student like me to a student like me. The S-H-S-A-T gives me a hope for fairly well high school as long as I am learning and trying my best in school. My, while I understand that some kids might have more obstacles that prevent them from receiving resources they need for the test, either more ways than to just cancel the test. Cancel a test is the most uncreative or uneffective way of solving this problem. Instead of just canceling the test and delaying the problem. Can't we include more opportunities and resources for places where academic scores are lower? Isn't this a much better solution? This is the good and opportunity to rise and take action. While I know people are still thinking, but lottery instead of tests result in a fair chance of everyone winning. But if everything in life is fair in lottery, then MA's life called life, for instance. What you want a lottery to decide who will live and die the next day? This way everyone can get a chance to experience living and dying equally or be called a lottery or who will have a job and who will lose the job. Now we can all experience being laid off and being hired. So now what I'm trying say is that at the end of the day, the sleeping at this point is not gonna help. The test is fair because it's purely based on your academic grades. People who try hard will have all their odds in their favor. And now after all of us, I just said, I encourage all of you to think and listen about what I just said while considering my points. Thank you all very much. I wish everyone here a wonderful night and a safe way home. Thank you. Uh, good evening all. My name is Katie and I'm currently an eighth grade student from Markland Middle School. This year I had the opportunity to take the S-H-S-A-T and it was a challenging but rewarding experience. The S-H-S-A-T is a unique exam that allows students like me to demonstrate our academic abilities without any bias. It's a fair and transparent way to ensure that every student, regardless of their background, has an equal chance to attend one of New York City's specialized high schools. According to the NYC Department of Education, in the 2023 to 2024 school year, over 27,000 students took the S-H-S-A-T and about 4,000 were offered admission to specialized high schools. This shows that the S-H-S-A-T provides a significant opportunity for many students to access high quality education. Additionally, data from previous years indicate that students from diverse backgrounds, including those from low income families, have successfully gained admission through the S-H-S-A-T. For me, the S-H-S-A-T was more than just a test. It was a goal that both automated me to study harder and push my limits. It taught me the value of perseverance and hard work. By renewing the S-H-S-A-T contract, we are not only preserving a fair system, but also encouraging students to strive for excellence. In conclusion, the S-H-S-A-C is an essential part of our education system. It ensures fairness, promotes diversity, and motivates students to achieve their best. By renewing the S-H-S-A-T contract, we are giving future generations the same opportunities that we have had. Let's continue to support the S-H-S-A-T and uphold the values of fairness and excellence in our schools. Thank you. Hello, everyone. My name is Melissa Ramirez and I'm a 12th grader at Forum Hills School. I wanted to address a prominent issue in the building, which should that we barely have enough space for our own classes. Both students and teachers are constantly moving around and switching between rooms for different classes. Because of this, I find it hard to find a teacher. I have a question about if I have a question about work or to check in about participation or social emotional pieces and any other related questions. As we're walking through the halls and passing, not one, not two, but five empty classrooms, we often have to squeeze ourselves. Well, we often have to squeeze ourself into middle schoolers rooms. There are times where we have to go from the basement to the third floor for class. Just because there aren't enough rooms, it shapes multiple p multiple minutes off of the class time. And if this is a presentation day or a collaboration day, it may also be harder to settle into class easier and collaborate with my peers seamlessly. It's like we don't even have space to be in our own school. Having been attending BHS since middle school, it's been an issue for all seven years I've attended, and this year is the most crowded. Also, as an IB student, there are more expectations set for us and being sorry as being that there is a lack of space and increased difficulty to find teachers for help. This adds to the stress we face with the added workload. Simply trying to do our work and graduate has become an exceedingly difficult task for all students. And for those of us trying our best to focus on graduating, we deserve dedicated spaces for all of our teachers to be able to assist us on that journey. Thank you. Hi, everyone. I'm a, I'm Phoebe Gerber, a seventh grader from the Anderson Middle School. As a seventh grader, we are the ones affected by this decision. I have toured many of these specialized schools and have fallen in love with them, just like a lot of seventh other seventh graders. If the S-H-S-A-T does not get renewed, all these, all the seventh graders who wants to go to these schools are out of luck. And it's all because of this decision you made. While this might not matter to you, this affects a lot of people and can completely change people's plans and even chances of getting into college and so on in life. My second point I would like to share is, while some might say that it is unfair that some people can't study as much for this test because of their financial situations, I would argue there are many ways to study without spending thousands of dollars. From my own personal experience, when I was younger, I was the last year of kids who got to take the GNT test. I got one or two books to study from, and I ended up at a school where the teachers, students, and admin teach me in a completely different way, opening me up to so many experiences I never would, would've been able to try, in turn, transforming me into who I am today. All I want is the chance for me and many others to get this, uh, chance as well. I'm not saying they're the exact same thing, but they are very similar. And it shows with that, with effort, a lot more people will be able to do the S-H-S-A-T. Why take it from everyone when there is no school that can allow everyone in? As I said before, this decision makes a huge impact for a lot of people, people, and I hope you can share our point of view as well. Thank you. And the next group of the next group of student speakers is Aria, Sony, Richard Chen and Emily Wang. Hello everyone. My name is Aria Sony and I'm one of the 70007th graders living in NYC Today. I firmly believe that the Shaza should be renewed because if not thousands of young people's futures could be adversely affected if we don't renew the contract and choose to offer a computerized version. Instead, this year's seventh graders will not be able to take the test since the computerized version won't be ready enough. Around 5,000 people get into a specialized high school each year, and not having a freshman class will impact the students as well as the staff. Additionally, making the Shazad digital is no small undertaking as opposes quite a few problems. One is the simple fact that on the computer so many things can go wrong. Even something as simple as the i-Ready experiences, technical difficulties from time to time, and wifi issue or technical issue during the shaza could be severely problematic. An often cited reason for moving to the digital format format is that the current format is inequitable. However, it is not at all clear that making the Shazad Digital solves this problem. While it is true that black and Latino students are underrepresented in the student bodies of specialized high schools, addressing this inequity will require grassroots level changes to our education system. Additionally, making the Shaza digital could worsen this inequity. As not everybody, everyone has equal access to computers. I go to PS 3 34 and I'm close friends with many of the seventh graders there. Most of us have already started the process of studying for the shaza and have toured many of the specialized high schools. When a friend told me that the DOE was considering not renewing the shaza, I was incredulous. The SHAZA is really important for so many people. And by not renewing the contract will impact not only the kids, but the families relying and hoping that they'll get into one of the specialized high schools. I hope that you take our side into account, decide our experiences firsthand, any changes made to the Shaza, and decide that firmly wants to renew the contract. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Richard Shannon. I'm a student in IS two one Madeline Branan School. I'm here today to urge to pass the S-H-S-A-T contract. Now, the S-H-S-A-T is a fair and objective task that gives every student an equal opportunity to gain admission to specialized high schools. The test ensures that students have the chance to earn their place based on their hard work. If a student stays for years and put puts in the effort they deserve to attend a school, they have worked hard to qualify for it. The issue is in the test. It's a system. We need to improve K to eight school education to better prepare students for S-H-S-A-T. Additionally, since we already take state tests i-Ready and other standardized exam digitally, the S-H-S-A-T should also transition to a digital format. Please support and write sign the H-H-S-A-T contract now. Thank you. Yes, now, hi everyone, parents, students, and PEP members. My name is Emily and I'm currently a 10th grader. Today I'm here to urge the PEP members to pass the SSAT contract, an exam that changes lives. The contract to renew the SAT for the next five years is just $17 million. $17 million isn't even a drop in the bucket compared to the Department of Education's annual budget of over $30 billion. That breaks down to just 3.4 million per year, less than 0.01% of a single year's funding. It's a small investment with immeasurable returns. What does the funding secure? It protects a fair objective admissions process for our specialized high schools institutions that have served as pathways to success for hardworking students, many of whom will come from immigrant families like mine, low income households, and underserved communities. These schools have produced Nobel Laureates leading scientists, artists, and innovators who have changed the world. The S-H-S-A-T gives every student, regardless of their background or zip code, the same opportunity to prove their merit and earn their place. Last year alone, more than 27,000 students with the S-H-S-A-T each competing for a chance at these life-changing educational opportunities. That's tens of thousands of dreams, ambitions, and futures writing on a single exam, an exam that causes pennies per student when compared to the scale of the education system. I've been supporting this class since seventh grade because I believe in the power of education to change lives. We're all working towards a common goal, providing the best education for our community students. Passing contract isn't just about funding an, it's about upholding the principles of equity opportunity and academic excellence that the S-H-S-A-T represents. $17 million isn't too much. If anything, it's far too little to question. When we consider what's at stake, the S-H-S-A-T doesn't just test students, it elevates them. It's an investment in their futures. And for that, it's worth every cent. Thank you. That's the end of the, um, student speakers. Okay. Thank you very much. I wanna thank the students. Um, no matter what your position is on, on these issues, I think we can all agree that our students did a fabulous job today representing their point of view. And before you leave, I, I know some of the teachers were here, are are some of the teachers came with students. If you could just be recognized if, I think there's some that are still here. I wanna thank the teachers for the preparation work that you did. Um, and I know there are a number of teachers and faculty who came in support of their students, and I want you to know that we are aware of that and we wanna thank you for, you know, for, for making that happen. Um, at, at this point, I want to call on our chair of government relations to, uh, David Hassan. Is that, are we ready? Yeah. Yeah, go ahead. Uh, thank you so much, chair Parker. Uh, I, uh, uh, addressing a lot of issues that parents and students have around needs that would be, uh, taken care of better if we had, uh, a venue in which to discuss with Albany what things are not being addressed. And, and many of the things that are at the meeting today, including, uh, the heck Calandra law are, are, should be up for discussion in terms of reform there. And, uh, I want to welcome, uh, elected officials that are here today to speak on behalf of their constituents. And I have a card for Assemblyman Lester Chang. Uh, if you could, uh, if you would like to speak, uh, we would welcome. Thank you speaking, uh, chancellor, uh, Ramos, and thank you, our chair, uh, um, partner and board members. Thank you for, for being here for tonight and, uh, spending your time here with us. I, I'm assembly molested chair representing South Brooklyn, which is, uh, Hurst, sunset Park, Dyer Heights, and, uh, at Sunset Park here again, uh, borough Park. As you can hear, uh, I've been for past month, I've been bombarded by my constituents on CA, emails, phones drop, uh, people dropping my office as well that I can see my meaning. My constituents are here supporting it. And I sit in the education committee up in, uh, Albany. And next month I'll be the new ranking member for cities and Committee up there. So S-H-S-A-T is part of my interest and I support this. And, um, it's estimated at least 40,000 students take this test last year. So we can't disappoint them the for next coming year. And, uh, I really not concerned about what type of test, uh, administer, whether it be the most reliable pencil paper, which I've done taking decades ago, which some of you probably did, or the more advanced additional form doesn't matter. The bottom line up front, please pass the contract for S-H-S-A-T. You cannot delay this. This is a state law. Thank you very much. Thank you everyone. Thank, thank you, assembly member. Okay, thank you everyone. Please, let's come to order. Uh, uh, and, uh, I see some other elected officials that they would like to come to. I see Council member, city council member Susan, uh, please. Uh, district, district 43. Thank you chair. And thanks, uh, commissioner to be here tonight. And council member Susan Juan, a proud immigrant and also represented large IMI immigrant community in Southern Brooklyn. And I'm very proud. We just had, uh, students from my district is 96 to be here and, uh, um, got the award from you guys. Um, well, many of the students in my district go to Specialized High School. Our students works very hard for that test. It's not easy. The creates a even play field where anybody can take the test and the school well enough to receive admission to a very good public schools like specialized high schools. It, it's the best. It's about merit and achievement, not money interest. These kids are not from rich families who can afford private tutors or private schools. The kids coming from hardworking, low and middle class families. The test in particular is a lifeline for underrepresented and the low income immigrant students to gain the access to some of the best public schools in the country. And it further delay in danger the ability of thousands of these students to apply specialized high schools. We cannot play the academic future of those students. The unnecessary delay seems to be about playing political games rather than what is the best interest of our students. The contract cannot hold hostage in order to satisfy some political groups. Students get caught in the middle of these fights that's not fair to them. Or also as the first Chinese American City Council member to represent Brooklyn. I take this issue personally, and then I believe these games is the direct attack on my constituents. We should not defeat dividing the community, but coming together for the best interest of our children. Very often, the Chinese American community being used as a scapegoat for the government's failure to invest in the other minority groups, let the immigrants and all the students to study work hard, contribute to their future. The government needs to be represent responsive to the needs of all community, not pick one group against the other. I want to say thank you all the PEP members, and, but I'm here. I want you guys really listen to the people here. And please vote yes to pass the contract today. That's the best interest of all of us, and also the best interest to our students and the immigrants, especially for the immigrant family. Thank you. Thank You. Senator Elect, Steve Chaff. Nice to see you. Hi. Good evening. Uh, good evening Chancellor. Good evening chairperson. Uh, good evening to all the members of our panel for educational policy. Good evening to all the students who did a great job today. Good evening, parents. Good evening. A little bit about myself. My name is Steve Chan. I'm the Senator elect representing South Brooklyn to include Sunset Park Fence and Hurst like Heights, graves and Bat Beach. And Bay Ridge. And I myself went to school here in Fort Hamilton, so I'm not a, you know, I'm not a Einstein, I'm not Einstein. Fast forward 40 years since 2014, I have been the PTA president student le Lead leadership team member and title one chairperson of two different schools, A Tale of two Schools. I'm gonna tell the story. PS one 12, title one school full of minorities, immigrants. Well, you know what? Let's, let's, let's back up a little bit. Today. I don't only represent South Brooklyn today, I represent every hardworking student in New York City, corner to corner today. I represent every hardworking parent, every supportive parent in New York City, corner to corner. I was the Title one chair person of PS one 12 for six years. I'm in that SLT for 10 years. And I watched as our immigrant families, our low income families, and that is a Title one school. Our low income families nurture their Children. No, when my daughter, I'm a retired cop, by the way, middle class family, middle class family. My daughter is the daughter of a cop. And she never went to tutoring. I'm gonna tell you my story. Me and my daughter, no matter how tired I was, how difficult it was for me, me and her sat at the kitchen table every day for eight years, two hours a day, doing a little bit of math, doing a little bit of reading. And you know what that little girl knew that all she had to do was do a little bit better than daddy. And that's the deal that we had. With that said, she earned herself away into IS 180 7, the legendary IS 180 7 McCulloch Middle School, where I was also the PTA president. With that said, she study her heart out for the S-H-S-A-T without tutoring and she made it. She's a Staten Island Tech student today. The daughter of a cop, the daughter of a middle class family, the daughter of a poor immigrant like myself. And I see our students, I hear our parents. I represent 400,000 people of South Brooklyn. When I say from corner to corner in the entire city, city, as a matter of fact, there's many hardworking students who see this S-H-S-A-T as the gateway to their success. They want to excel. 50 years ago when I was in elementary school, our teachers, our politicians told me a young immigrant that they want me to excel. They want me to do well. Well, you know what kids, I'm telling you right now, you are not doing, uh, I I don't want people to tell you you're doing too good and they wanna suppress you. You keep going. Don't let any obstacles get in your way and you keep going. Don't slow down, you speed up. But my story told, I implore the members of the Panel for Educational Policy to renew the contract for the NCS Pearson testing for the specialized high schools in New York City. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you for your support. Thank, thank you Senator Elect, and good luck to you as you begin your term and service. Thank, thank you. Uh, folks, folks, folks, it's important that we maintain order and I'm gonna ask you to allow us to run the meeting. Let, uh, I'd like people speak. Welcome, uh, city council member Alexa Avivas. This is her home district and she's also, uh, to migrate pleasure, the chair of the city council in, uh, immigration committee and she'll speak on Welcome council member. Thank you. Thank you Chair. Uh, thank you members of the pep. Thank you Chancellor. Um, yes, welcome everyone to Sunset Park High School in the beautiful Sunset Park, of which I'm very, so proud to represent this amazing school community. Um, so thank you for being here, everyone. Um, I would like to talk to you all about, um, about the New York City contributions of immigrants, right? A demographic immigrants make up. 40% of New York City are rich, vibrant history that we are so very proud of. And what I'd like to talk to you specifically about is because we are a school community and because facts are incredibly important, is to talk to you about the importance of our sanctuary city policies. These policies, which have been created and in place for over three decades with clear bipartisan support over the decades were created as a public safety instrument. They were created to make sure that immigrant communities could access city agencies, could have relationships with law enforcement, could make sure that they could come forward with crimes, could make sure that if they were experiencing exploitation in the workplace, that they in fact had a place to go to. Sanctuary policies are a public safety measure, and they have kept our community safe, and they continue to keep community safe across the country. So I just wanna be clear here in an educate with our educational body, that these are policies that are strong not to be rolled back because they keep our community safe. And under the guise of threat of mass deportation, of removal of non-citizens, not just new arrivals, but non-citizens, it is so important to affirm the fact that we will stand here to protect each other. We will continue to contribute. And I really hope that this body will put forward an affirming resolution to let every student know that they and their families will always be welcomed here in New York City. That creating inclusion for people does not exclude anyone. It includes offering people rights, does not exclude anyone. It offers more rights. And we should continue to do that as a body. And I hope that this body will continue to lean into that long tradition, that one, that I am so very proud of, both in this community and as a New York City resident, that we have some of the best laws in the country that tells people you are valued and we will do everything we can to keep you safe. And so with that, I wanna thank this body and I hope you will find and put forward a very strong resolution and tell our children and families that all are welcome here and all will suffer, will not suffer discrimination, and we will protect them. And for those of you in the room, it is illegal to use New York City resident res uh, resources for ice enforcement. It is illegal to do so, and our city is gonna make sure that we use our resources to support our communities, to lift up our community, not to do enforcement for the federal government, especially when it's enforcement based on hate and lies. Thank you so much. Okay. Thank you. I do want to comment on, I, I'd just like to thank, uh, council member Olis and, and bring up and introduce the fact that we are in fact working on a resolution and making it as strong as we can. Uh, and hopefully we have unanimous support from the panel when we come back in January. Uh, uh, having edited and gone through legal on, on all of the issues and, and we've had a really great support from the chancellor's office on, on making sure that we reemphasize all of the policies that were in place, uh, previously and double down on making sure that people feel comfortable bringing their kids to school. So having that in place is critical just for the kids' education, for the school community stability, uh, and, and for the protection of all of our kids. Uh, we have a lot of families that have been living in this country for a long time that may not be fully documented. And this doesn't matter to us. They're human beings and we wanna make sure that they're safe, educated, healthy, and, and, and just able to participate in society fully. So we'll have more discussion about this a, a after in the general public comment, but I wanna make sure that this is not falling by the wayside. Our next pep meeting is after the inauguration, so we have to be a little bit careful about time. Thank you. Yeah, the, uh, important comments. And I want to thank you also publicly chair Hassan, for your work in pushing forward a resolution. I mean, we are gonna make a very forceful comment about, um, this topic in, uh, January, and also panel member Lee, uh, for having, uh, provided input and I think panel member Arban also for having provided input and, and also for many members of the panel who have already signed on and agreed to be co-sponsors of this resolution. It is an important statement of policy coming from this, uh, body, which will very clearly state, uh, where we stand on this important issue. Yep. So the next speaker, are you, uh, elected official? Yeah, I'm, uh, uh, chief of staff of the Senator. And, and I know it's only for elected officials, but you know what, I was a former chief of staff for elected officials. So we go right ahead. Okay. Thank you. Chief of staff. Yeah, my name is, uh, okay. Forget about that. My name is, uh, Dr. Larry, he and, uh, I wanna say a few words. And the first English proverb I learned was there, there is a will. If there's a will, there is a way. I think tonight we all witness it. There's strong wills from students, parents, teachers to keep S-H-A-S-A-T to renew the past to new, to renew the contract. I hope the panel take the lead and please give them away. All right. And personally, as a child of someone who never graduated from high school, middle school, even have a grandchild of someone who couldn't even write their names as an immigrant to this country, who came to this country would barely speaking any English. As someone who gone to schools for 22 years, I know what a merit-based education system can do. It can change lives, it change my, and it will change thousands of people's lives going forward. Please, and I urge the panel to make a full consideration of students, parents, teachers, and schools requests and renew the contrast. Please, I understand that taking tasks is not the only way to achieve American dream, but please help protect American Dream for some of them who choose to working hard birth night candles and taking the test. Thank you very much. Thank you. Okay. Thank you all very much. Thank you for the elected officials who come out tonight. Um, we really, really do appreciate it and we appreciate having your comments. Um, we're now gonna move into the business portion of the meeting. Um, but I, what I'd like to, it's been presented, we'd like to make a slight adjustment in the agenda and move the school utilization proposals as the next item. And then the, uh, contract agenda will come afterwards. Is, is there any objection or is there a motion? Let's do it formally. Um, so is there a second? Is there any objection to just altering the, the, this would allow for more focus on the, uh, um, item that I think most people have come here to provide testimony on. Um, is there no objection to that. Without objection then we'll do that. And which would then be the next item on the agenda is the school utilization proposals. And I'd ask our secretary to please introduce the motion. Thank you Chair Faulkner. Uh, the resolution up for approval is entitled Resolution to Approve Changes in School Utilization, which comprises items, the proposed closure of Ms K 3 94 17 K 3 94, in building K two 10 at the end of the 20 24 20 25 school year, and the proposed opening and co-location of Central Brooklyn Literacy Academy, 17 K 9 69 with Explore Empower Charter School 80 4K 7 42 in building K two 10, beginning in the 20 25, 20 26 school year. Back to you Chair Faulkner. Thank you. Is there a motion to introduce the resolution from the panel? So move. Is there a second? Second, second. Uh, we'll move to discussion before we move to public comment. I'd like to invite superintendent step, might be president if you'd like to, um, offer any comment just up to the MIC Institution. Good evening everyone. My name is Shalene Lindsay and I am the proud superintendent of Community School District 17. Before I begin, I would like to take a moment to acknowledge the staff from 17 K 3 94, who was there, as well as the families who are here this evening. I do understand how you feel and I do wanna take a moment to acknowledge that. Um, thank you for being here. So I also want to acknowledge the principal, Dr. David, who I know has done her very best to move the school. However, despite numerous supports, the both of the test scores, enrollment has been at less than 200 students, and attendance continues to be less than 200 students. The school is not making the necessary progress that it needs to. Mss, K 3 94 has one of the lowest enrollment at the district level for both elementary and middle school. And the proficiency rates are also significantly lower, significantly lower than that of the other district 17 schools, as well as on the city level. As superintendent, I have done everything that I could to support the school community. In fact, I was deputy superintendent at CSD 17 since 2015, and then I became superintendent in 2021 and I managed and led the instructional agenda of the school across the district. So I can say proudly that we did everything that we could to support the school. However, we are not seeing the improvement that we needed to. So with that being said, as someone who loves children and wants the best for everyone in District 17 as well as Central Brooklyn, it is important to make sure the needs of every single student are met and remediated in our community. I know everyone here wants our students to read and be good readers. Strong readers. This is why a proposal has been put in place for a literacy program that would support our lowest performing students, first priority to District 17 and then central Brooklyn, because again, it is our utmost priority to ensure that our students have a bright start for their future. The name of the school would be Central Brooklyn Literacy Academy. And it is specifically designed to support our struggling readers and students with language-based learning disabilities as well as dyslexia and will be the first, and I wanna say that again, the first in Brooklyn to support students. Currently there is one school in the Bronx. However, when parents want support for their students who have dyslexia, they have to spend a ton of money on private school education. We want to mitigate that by opening up CBLA in district 17. My team, I know. So let me just say this. I know that the staff are concerned about their jobs. And again, I see you back there and I acknowledge you. I wanna be very clear that should this proposal go through, I am fully committed to supporting each and every person with finding a position. In fact, several teachers have approached me already for support with finding positions closer to home should this proposal pass. And I have given my commitment to that and to the families. I also wanted you to note that I'll put supports in place to personally work alongside our families with my team to go into district 17 schools that are neighboring, that have robust enrichment programs, as well as instructional supports. I thank you for listening. Have a great evening, everyone. Anyone else? Okay, so we'll move now to public comment. Um, Ian Stewart, Spencer Ingram, Amaya Co. Colon, um, Catherine Paulino and Aliza for Eliza Ellison. Could you make your way down to the microphones Chair? Faulkner? Chair Faulkner? Um, we allow for the superintendent to speak first. I think it's important given the district that this is happening in that our CEC representative be allowed to speak before, like the rest of the public comments. I don't, I don't have any objections that Oh, Thank you. I'm sorry. Is that Amy Drake, man? Eric. Oh, Eric. Hi. Hi. Thank you. Sorry about that. By the way, folks, we have two mics in both files, so if you're in the one eye, you don't have to walk across, you can use either microphone. Thank you so much. Panel member, she for the offer. But I really think that it's important for the parents that are here tonight to be heard. First. I am more than happy to yield the floor to them, and I'm happy to take the, the mic at the last, uh, at the last speaker please. Thank you so much. And thank you Chair Faulkner for, for, um, making the offer. Good evening everyone. My name is Aliza Ellison. I am the PTA President of MS 3 94. I have two children, my daughter and my son. My daughter still goes to the school. She's in seventh grade. My son just graduated in June. They came a long, long way from first grade all the way up to eighth grade. So, um, they both have IEPs and it took them a long time to get situated. But being at MS 3 94 is good. We are there. I'm, like I said, I'm there for the kids. I'm there for everyone. It's not just 3 94 is not just a school for us. It's, we are a family in there. You have kids, they're trying to take away a lot of grades outta there. They're saying that it's only going to be your school for second and third grade. What about pre-K, three K all the way up to eighth grade? What about those kids that's going there? They have family, they have families that have other siblings that go there. You have kids that's in sixth grade. You have siblings that's in pre-K three K. What, what about them? They need to be heard. We all need to be heard. And they're saying that our scores are low they're saying our enrollment is low. Yes it is. But we're trying our best to get it back up. Y'all gotta understand the pandemic took a lot away, a lot of stuff away from us. And we still striving, we still trying to get it together. And I pray that y'all do not, and I pray that y'all do not close the school because our community needs it. We are not proposing that. Don't bring that literacy but bring it for everybody. We deserve it too. My kids, my daughter deserve it. Everybody deserve it. Not just just there. Bringing other kids, taking everybody that in the community, out of the community to bring other people that don't even live in the community to go to that school. What about us? 3 94 is a safe haven for a lot of kids. They come near teachers. And I bless my teachers, my kids, and I said again, my kids came a long way, A long way. My son eighties and nineties in the school that he is in. Why? Because he came from MS 3 94. My daughter, my baby girl came a long, long way. A long way. So I pray y'all, I pray to God, please listen to us and give us a chance to get it together. Great folks. Folks, please, please, I'm asking you to please come to order. Yeah, good evening everyone. My name's Catherine Paulino and I am an alumni of 3 94 who has been deeply a part of the school culture my entire life. MS 3 94 is now being described in an image that it nowhere, sorry, that is nowhere near what the school actually is or used to be. Once upon a time, Mary Macab Student Academy was filled with bright minds and educators that supported those students on their educational journeys. MS 3 94 has always had afterschool programs to support learners in any subject they needed assistance in. And that is something that still occurs today, even with the minimal funding and overall support that they're receiving over the years. Until recently, the school has thrived in serving the Crown Heights community. And it seems like you all wanna strip them of that. Please take this proposal into serious consideration as this decision will disrupt the learning environment by uprooting students or send them to disrupt their educational and social lives. Keep in mind that the students currently enrolled at MS 3 94 will not be automatically enrolled in this new school that already exists. And they wouldn't be first picked. They would have to reapply with the risk of not being accepted to a school within their own community. This will divide the community by isolating families. And I urge everyone, every person in this room, especially the superintendent and her team that's been working hard against the please keep the long-term consequences of closing our school in mind. And let's all work together to keep our doors open and ensure a bright future for all our students. So please find another building. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Leon. I am a parent of three students who attend PS 3 94. I want to start off by saying, as a parent, as a man, as a human, I am embarrassed to have to stand here in front of this pen to give a speech for two minutes to help convince you guys to keep my child's school open. I am also hurt that I have to attend this meeting. In fact, today is my child's birthday, who attends PS three ninety four. I had to look my child in his eye and tell him, we cannot celebrate your birthday at the moment. Daddy has to go fight to keep your school open. I also want to address the superintendent 'cause you love to bring up numbers. I find it very misleading that you stood up here and gave the assumption as if you gave the parents compassion or understanding. It's not true. I love the fact you love to bring up numbers. 'cause I stand here with numbers that can prove. PS 3 94 is not at the bottom of your total pole. There's numerous schools and District 17 or underachieving worse than PS 3 94 with lower number of students as well. I'm not gonna sit here and act as if I'm opposing your literacy program 'cause I am not. I stand with your literacy program. But as a parent, I feel that program is entitled to my child as well. Why should I have to look three of my kids and tell them? To some people, you're not worthy enough of their program, you're replaceable. You gotta come out the very school you go to every day to allow other kids to come into not only come there, be afforded the treasure of being transported. It's a slap in the face of me and it's a slap in the face of my kids. It's a slap in the face of the community. Good evening everybody. My name is Ian Stewart and I'm currently the parent and community liaison for the UFT. However, this evening, I'm not just a representative of the UFT. I'm an advocate for the children, parents, and educators who have dedicated their hearts and lives to PS 3 94. PS 3 94 is not just the building, it's a cornerstone of this community, a safe haven for our children and a place where generations have learned and thrived. And yet tonight we are here because a decision has been made, not with us, but for us to close this vital institution. There are many statistics that are gonna be floating around tonight, but what I want everybody to notice is that during the quarantine, during one of the, one of the most biggest issues that NYC has faced, and, uh, 3 94 still managed to find ways to improve in math and ELA scores consistently through the last three years, closing this school under the guise of establishing a literacy, uh, a literacy program for grades two and three will create more gaps than it does fill. What happens to the students in grades K 4, 5, 6, 7, and eight? What assurances do they have that this new program won't fail to expand? Leaving prime educational space to be consumed by charter schools? Where is the plan for protecting community access to these grounds and facilities? There has never been a, there's never been a confirmation about a moratorium about this building while this program is being put forward, that there won't be another school that'll be able to put in a book to be able to get access to all of them spaces that have not been utilized. The truth is we have no assurances. What we do have is a community left in the dark. Parents excluded from discussions. Staff blindsided decisions dropped like bonds on the very people this council claims to serve. And what has been the response of those entrusted to represent us? Silence, deflection and promises with no foundation. In reality, I cannot ignore the broader context. We are on the brink of an era that promises to challenge our, our margin marginalized communities more than ever before. However, today we are going to draw the line. We say no to this closure. We say no to erosion of our rights, our voices and our schools. We say yes to children, yes to our future, and yes to a community that needs to get a proper opportunity to let its voice be heard. Thank you. The next group of speakers is, um, Amy Drake Tais Fullerton. Um, Erica Kendall, if you wanna speak now, um, Naomi Pena and Tiffany Melville. Hello panel. Thank you for being here tonight. I am here as a CEC member of, of District 17. I would like to be able to speak on the support for the central Brooklyn Literacy Academy, but I also want to be able to acknowledge that the closings of public schools is a huge concern. It's a problem right now considering what's going to be happening in the country in the next, uh, month sooner. Um, I do wish that we would be able to think about what is it that the schools need because the enrollment is low. And for there to be more support, especially funding to be able to think about what we need at schools as a school district to be able to keep enrollment up, to make sure that kids are getting the public school education. Uh, one of those things I think is something like CBLA, though this is something that brings in students, it also keeps students in the district, in the city. Hello, my name is Taiz Fullton. I am a member and borough president, appointee of the Community Education Council for District 17. Um, I just wanted to voice my support for the, for the Literacy Academy itself in our district, district 17. It's much needed and it is definitely a great investment and I advocate for further support to get those, uh, what you would call those, those guarantees that these parents and, and, uh, con members are asking for. We just want the support to make sure that it is going to work within our district. And I just like my fellow, uh, council member, Amy, would portion and, and ask that we do more to pay attention to our schools before they get to this state. And I just wanna make a comment about our superintendent and their office. I feel like that they do what they can and they need more support to get more done. So I do wanna thank the superintendent and her team for all the work that they have done and continue to do. And I wanna thank you for listening and I hope that you do approve the, um, literacy Academy and District 17. Um, good evening. My name is Tiffany Melville and I'm a member of con, the CEC Council for District 17. As a member of the CEC of District 17 and an advocate for equitable education in our district, I wholeheartedly support the proposal to establish the central Brooklyn Literacy Academy. Our district faces significant challenges in addressing the needs of students with dyslexia and other language-based learning disabilities. The creation of CBLA represents a transformative step toward step forward in bridging this gap and providing critical resources for children who have long been underserved. For too long, the children in our community have struggled with literacy barriers that impact their academic performance, self-esteem, and future opportunities. Dyslexia, one of the most common learning disabilities, affects a substantial portion of our student population, not only in District 17, but New York, many of whom go undiagnosed and unsupported. This proposal not only brings vital services to our district, but also underscores the importance of recognizing and addressing the systematic inequities that have perpetuated these struggles. C-P-L-A-C-B-L-A offers a powerful opportunity, opportunity to reimagine how we support children with read and challenges. It provides a pathway for those who may not have access to costly private interventions, while also fostering a culture that destigmatizes learnings with disabilities and celebrates neurodiversity. By creating a school that prioritizes early intervention, research-based teaching methods and a holistic approach to literacy, we can transform not only the individual outcomes, but the trajectory of our entire community. I applaud the inclusion of the measures to extend C'S impact beyond its student body, such as adult literacy programs and par for parents and community members. The establishment of CBLA is a step toward addressing literacy inequities and improving social outcomes in our district. This is not just about the school, it's about creating a brighter, more equitable future for Brooklyn. And I urge the panel to support the proposal and help us bring meaningful change to District 17. Good evening panelist. Um, my name is Naomi Pena and I am one of the co-founders of Literacy Academy Collective. Myself and a group of six other women joined forces to create the nonprofit literacy Academy when we collectively between us have 10 dyslexic children, and we firsthand witnessed the true pain that our children experienced in New York City public schools trying to mitigate and advocate for the services and truly the structured literacy practices that they needed in the classrooms. Myself, I have four dyslexic children. My oldest is 24, and I can tell you firsthand, particularly for my oldest, the New York City public system solely, um, abolished his dreams and his self-esteem as a learner and as a reader. And because of witnessing all of that, we decided that the only way to really change the system is to advocate the creation of a school that can support students who have language-based learning disabilities like dyslexia. What we do at South Bronx Literacy Academy, the first school that was opened honestly in the country, is not brain science. It is truly just good instruction based in the science. And I will tell you that the outcomes that our children are having are massively impactful. A young eight, uh, a 8-year-old girl last week shared to a group of visitors from the state how deeply difficult it is for her to read. And when she was in her previous school, the teacher was not equipped to help her. And in a room with adults and with other students, no one made fun of her at SBLA, but in fact supported her. And that story alone made every single adult in the room cry as it should because we've been doing wrong by kids for decades and for generation. So I stand before you because the goal is to continue to support our students and that as CBLA, we will elevate every single struggling leader to be proficient. Thank you. Good evening. Good evening. Um, I am Erica Kendall. I'm the President of the Community Education Council for District 17. Um, and I'm in the unenviable position tonight to talk about two, um, very ous ends of the same, of a, of a very long spectrum. Um, I of course, like I would love to be here just to say I completely and wholeheartedly support CBLA, my council unanimously support CBLA, even though they all were not here to join us tonight. Um, but you know, parents like Naomi and the families at South Bronx Literacy Academy, they speak and they talk about the work that's that South Bronx Literacy Academy and that this work has done for their child, not just academically and in terms of literacy, but their self-esteem. When you have a school that is, that is capable and fully equipped to support a child and being able to develop the skills that are gonna help them become a meaningful citizen, being able to contribute meaningfully to their community, it changes the self-esteem of the community because they are watching the evolution of a child who they knew were struggling at one point and now they are blossoming. The challenge here is that every parent deserves that. And the parents at 3 94 deserve that too. And so the reality here is what we are seeing is the school, and I am not going to do the data, and I'm not gonna do the numbers because they're ugly in a lot of places for a lot of reasons. But the reality of it is, is when South Bronx Literacy Academy was in its infancy, I connected with the women who were the founders of that organization. And I told them, I am here for the sole purpose of making sure that whatever you create in the Bronx is turnkey. And I want it in Brooklyn. I want it in my community because I knew that my kids would need it. It breaks my heart to know that it has to come at the expense of closing a school. But I have seen what I need to see to understand why that decision is being made. And so I say this to you, there are lots more, three 90 fours across this borough. There are lots more three 90 fours across this city, schools that have low enrollment and by extension, because if enrollment means money and you don't have the enrollment, you don't have the money either. So there are a lot of three 90 fours. So the DOE has to be held accountable for ensuring that the engagement is top-notch, that the strategy and the providing for communities is top-notch. So that long before we get here, a lot more work is being done. Thank you. The next group of speakers is Stacy Kendall Welch, David, David Welch, Carlene Brown, and Athea Calendar. Calendar. Hi. I am the school counselor at, uh, MS 3 94. And, um, my, my main concern is about the student. Um, I, I heard it said that the concern of the staff was about jobs and what they were going to get, but our main concern is about the students there and what they're gonna have to face. And, um, it's been said already that, you know, we have struggling readers and struggling students there. And the question that we ask is, why not for our kids? Why not bring pro this program a program, some program for our kids to benefit from? And then on top of that, we're gonna traumatize them by taking a school away from them. MS 3 94 is a unique experience. These are kids that have been together with one another from K or even pre-K through eighth grade. So now you're talking about seventh graders who are not gonna graduate together with their other seven seventh graders who they grew up with, and teachers who have practically raised them. I mean, you wanna talk about unfair, that seems unfair. It seems that maybe we could be a little more creative about the process of bringing in this program that would not traumatize and further disadvantage students that are already disadvantaged in so many ways. We may have, we have low enrollment, but of that enrollment, we have over 40, about about 40 students that are in temporary housing. So they're already dealing with instability. Why are we trying to bring them more instability by not providing or keeping them in a stable place that has loved them and taught them many of them since they were very young. So that is our concern, not about our jobs, but about where are our students going to be received? Where are they gonna go? Where are they gonna get educated? Where are they going to be cared for? The way we have cared for them and the way we wanna continue to care for them, that's our concern. And they deserve the same groundbreaking education that we are trying to bring in, seemingly for nameless, faceless students that we don't even know who they are yet, but kids whose names and faces, we know we want to put them out. It just does not seem right. So I pray that the Panel for education policy will see that and maybe go back to the drawing board. What is another way to bring this program in here without having to turn our kids out? Thank you for listening. Good evening all tonight. I rise to seek a modification to the proposal to close MS 3 94. My modification is to allow all students of MS 3 94 to have the opportunity to the innovator state of the art and great strategies that the literacy program proposes at this time as a special educator, a UFC chapter leader, a proud parent of a public high schooler, and an individual who has a strong love for intervention. And for my students, I highlight a concern, one major concern that I would like the panel to consider. This program focuses on highlighting an opportunity for students with reading challenges, and the lens seems to be focused on dyslexia. So, panel members, what happens to the students whose parents cannot afford the opportunity to be able to get their child a diagnosis? My other question is, what about the students who are not dyslexic, but may still struggle with reading other reading challenges? We know there's a broader umbrella. And what about the great peer mentors? We know our children learn best from each other. We see how they play on the playground. If I'm a great reader, I can help my friend out as well too. So if we are eliminating all kids who are not able to be identified as having a reading challenge, what happens to them? And I would like to also consider, what about the parents of MS 3 94 who still needs support in literacy? What happens to them? They're no longer going to get the help that these wonderful parents from the CBL program just were able to share with everyone here. So as I ask these questions, I'd speak for the students of MS 3 94 who also need help. I speak also for the students across the state, the city, the country, and most importantly, I would like you to remember closing the door for some ultimately closes to opportunities for many. Let's all blink. Thank you. Good evening, everyone. My name is Carlene Brown. I have been a special education teacher at PSMS 3 94 for the past eight years. Over the course of the these years, my colleague and I have worked tirelessly and diligently to ensure that the students at PSM 3 94 are proficient in math and ELA. Unfortunately, at the start of the 2024 school year, we have been faced, we were faced with a, with a proposal for the closure of the S3 94 school by the end of June 25. So bring in a new school slash literacy program. This proposed new program will service or provide instruction for students who are faced with reading or learning challenges in and around our school community. Mrs. Speaker, we are not against the program, modify the program, keep our school open, and bring the literacy program to M 3 94. We have the space train the teachers at TS M 3 94 to teach students who are faced with reading challenges within and and out of the school community. I think this option will have to reduce the funding issue New York City face with both staffing and resources. Thank you for your time. Good evening everyone. My name is Dr. Erna Welch David, and I am the proud principal of MS 3 94. I will be remiss not to start by saying that I, I am, I just wanna publicly thank my superintendent for the words that she said, and you gave her grace to speak. You also yielded, you also gave grace to, uh, president Kendall to speak, but I wasn't afforded that opportunity as the principal who steps into that building every single day for the last seven years. It is with proud, it is with profound disappointment that I stand here today as my school faces the potential reality of closure. This news is not only disheartening, but deeply unsettling for the students, family and staff where pour their hearts and energy into making this institution a beacon of learning and growth. What makes it even more painful is the fact that as the CEO of 3 94 28 years of a veteran of Department of Education, 21 years as a school administrator, 12 and a half years as a principal, and the past seven years as a leader of MS 3 94, I was not excluded in the conversations surrounding this decision to be excluded from discussions about the very future of my school feels like a missed opportunity to explore creative viable solutions together. Our school is not just a building, it's a family. It is a place where dreams are nurtured, potential is realized, and lives are forever changed. I have dedicated my career to serving students, supporting staff, and building community to the see the future of this community in jeopardy is very devastating to me. I firmly believe that with the collaboration, with collaboration, transparency, and trust, we could have come together to explore other options, including sharing my school, building with this new school my experience has taught me. Please allow, I just wanna say this to the chancellor, please allow principals to have the seat at the table so they're not standing here like me trying to fight for my school when I wasn't part of the discussion. Have a good night. Okay. Thank you. Thank you everyone. Thank Thank you. That is the end of people who signed up for public comment on proposals. Okay. We are now going to, um, we're now gonna move to panel member comments. And as is our customer, I like to first offer the floor to the panel members from the Effective Borough. And that is Camille Caare and just, uh, Justman Lee, which who wants to go first? I'll go first. You're a senior. Oh, okay. I was gonna, because you're a senior panel member, but, okay. Sorry. Yeah, please. Floor is yours. Um, thank you everyone for coming out tonight. Naturally, we never wanna support school closure, um, especially in, uh, your community. And this is a very difficult decision for everyone involved. Um, you know, as far as the community outreach goes, I am a strong believer in nothing about us without us. And so I appreciate all of you coming here and telling your stories. Um, but the DOE has been engaging with the community for many, many, many months now. The engagements started at, at the end of the last school year. There have been multiple community meetings. The CEC has been actively involved. Um, the, there have been joint public hearings, elected officials have been involved. Okay, Folks, folks, hold it, hold it, hold it, hold it, hold it. We we're gonna allow, we give respect to all of the speakers even when we disagree. We need to be patient allowed of speakers to complete their comments. So I do have a lot of concerns about this proposal and, um, and the way it was rolled out. Uh, uh, but I, I do wanna recognize all of the work of our CEC President, Erica Kenel and Superintendent Lindsay, um, trying to come together for, with a solution that's, that's very challenging and, and trying to really, uh, understand and, and find solutions for what is best for the children of District 17 and families. Um, I too have been watching the pathway of Naomi Pena and the Bronx Literacy Academy, and I know that Erica has been speaking for many, many years about the challenges that, that your district has faced. And so, um, while I welcome the Central Brooklyn Literacy Academy, I, I understand the hardship that this is being, that is being placed on your school. And superintendent Lindsay has promised us that every single child would be, um, accounted for and helped to find a new and loving home. A new school for them Can continue. We've known for many years that the need for the DOE to create schools that could accommodate students with dyslexia and other learning challenges has been great. Um, and because there are so many students at, um, at 3 94, I think that going forward, they would certainly be qualifying for this program. Um, I would say that we, we must hold the DOE accountable for community outreach. Um, we should never have a school closure announcement and have so many parents coming to the table saying that they didn't know anything about it, and a principal saying that she didn't know anything about it, uh, nonetheless, um, I, I ha have to say that I'm glad that priority is being given to District 17 students and the surrounding districts for this new school. Um, because we have to ensure that the access is available for every child who needs a seat, especially those in your neighborhood and the neighboring districts. And so, um, I have to say that I am in favor of this proposal, and I will be available to you all if you have any trouble at all, finding a school for your children. And I would appreciate if you would reach out to me if you, if you do need help. Thank you. Excuse me. Uh, no, not at this point. I'm sorry. Okay. Hold on, hold on a second. What's your name? Okay, we're gonna proceed with the panel member comments and we'll look to see if your name is on the record. Um, panel member Lee. I, I really think we should hear Hold, hold on. We folks, folks, With all respect Chair, I really do believe we should hear from the community member, Wait, hold, hold it, hold it, hold it. What we, what I said was we were gonna, we are continuing to check the list because in fairness, we have to follow a process and if we do it for one person, we have to do it for all. So I think we did locate your name. Okay. You signed Travis Thornton. Yeah. You signed up for public comment General, not specific to a motion. That's why we weren't able to locate your name. So would you like to be bounced up to public comment on this? We'll, we'll allow that. Go ahead. Go ahead. Please start. Good evening, panel for educational policy. I'm Dr. Travis Thornton. I have been an educator for over two decades. And while this is my first year at MS 3 94, I've seen firsthand the importance of a strong school community, a place where students feel safe, supported, and valued. I see these children every day, not just in my classroom, but as I walk my dog. That's why I'm dressed down. I see them playing in the park, interacting with their friends, their laughter echoing through their streets. This school is more than just a building. As Dr. David said, it's the heart, heart of our community. It's where these children learn, grow, and form lifelong bonds. While I understand and support the need for specialized resources for students with dyslexia, closing the school to accommodate for these needs for our second and third graders only is not the answer. We cannot neglect educational needs of the entire student population. Instead of closing the school, we should explore bringing those specialized services directly to MS 3 94. This would allow all students, including those with dyslexia, to benefit from a high quality education within our own community. This approach ensures that no child is left behind, and that every student has the opportunity to reach their full potential. Forcing our children to travel further will uproot their daily lives disrupting their routines and friendships. Imagine the stress of lagger commutes, the increased risk of accidents and the precious times stolen from our childhood, from their childhoods. These are not just statistics. They are our children. They are our future and our community. To disrupt this education, to force them into overcrowded classrooms is to deny them the opportunities they deserve. Research consistently shows that this displacement can significantly disrupt a child education, impacting their academic progress, and increasing the risk of them falling behind. This closure will not only impact these children academically, it will have a profound and lasting impact on their emotional and social wellbeing. I urge you panel for educational policy to listen to the voices of our children and consider the impact of this decision, and make sure that we explore alternative solutions that address the needs of all our students, including those with DYS dyslexia, while maintaining the vital role of this school in our community. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. So, we'll turn now panel member Lee. Uh, thank you, chair Ner. Um, thank you to all the members of the MS 3 94 community who have come out and spoken so impassionately about your school community and advocating for your children. I really, uh, this, this, this proposal, it comes with a tremendous asset to the overall community. Um, and as you know, Camille mentioned it is never easy to decide to close a school. I empathize with you. Our schools are often our children's first homes outside of their homes, uh, filled with people who love them and tend to them and care for them. Also, in a system that funds students and not schools, it is very difficult to come up to provide a robust, well-rounded education at the economy of scale that MS 3 94 is operating at. And particularly on the K to eight continuum, the lack of, the lack of specials, the lack of steam, the lack of art, music, et cetera throughout the continuum. It harms our students because it doesn't give, we know our students are diverse learners who learn in many ways. You know, we've got a very high stakes high school decision coming up later this evening. Um, it's often those experiences in the K to eight continuum that pique our students' interests and drive them towards our, um, our high schools that are oriented around steam, around music, around art. And so without those fundamental experiences, which in under-enrolled school struggles to provide, we are really depriving our kids of vital educational options. I I, if I could change the funding methodology with, with the wave of wand, I would in a heartbeat. Um, you know, the introduction of CBLA is going to provide a program tailored to the specific NeuroD diversities of students who struggle with dyslexia and language-based learning. And to be clear, you do not need a diagnosis to apply to this school. This is one thing that came up very clearly in our conversations with Superintendent Lindsey. You just need to know that your kid is struggling, which I think as parents, it's pretty easy to know your kid is struggling with Renee. It's in the educational impact statement. Um, as a parent of two kids with disabilities, one of whom has received special receives support and a specialized program that is specifically oriented around their particular neurodiversity and one whom did not, I can tell you it is transformative and affects the whole child and provides them with not only the academic skills they need to be successful, but, um, the overall sense of self as a capable, competent human being. And so with that, I support this. Thank you. Okay. Thank you Madam Member. We have an additional panel member from Brooklyn. My, uh, pen maisha sap. Would you would to offer comment? Okay. Please. I, we hear you. Would you please allow us to continue? Um, yes. Maisha. Okay. Again, I'm gonna ask that you please maintain an order during the meeting. Thank you. Hi. Um, my name is Maisha and I listened to what's going on. And, um, a lot of this stuff is layered and triggering. It's a familiar systemic nuance that a lot of people don't recognize because it's, you can't see it, but if you understand systems and you understand how things move, you understand it's the same old thing And it's quite triggering. We should be embarrassed that a principal stood up and said she was left out of the conversation. How a black woman left out of a conversation that has to deal with black children who historically have been left out of the conversation. I have a problem with that. You cannot serve what you do not see. And so the formula feels familiar, and that's quite triggering for me. And the dynamics of the differences of when people are a part of the conversation, when you have principles that are aware of the, that are within the conversation and know how to navigate the system, who are left in the conversation because the, the principles of their own ecosystem. When I look at schools, individual principals that lead the ecosystem, they know what's going on in their schools. So it's, it's, it's, it's an interesting dynamic on how it can happen in one way and not in the other. And then, and then we talk about, you know, how it shows up. So I'm not okay with that. So, yeah. Uh, is the superintendent still superintendent? You're, you have the Floor. Thank you. Um, I would like to respond to the statement that I did not address the principal or the community. I would like to start by saying, um, last school year, I had a conversation with the principal about the state of the school as it landed on New York State, um, list as one of, of the bottom 5%. And it's been for the last few years. So we began talking about how can we support the school, put more supports in place to both city enrollment. We talk about diff we also discuss different options for the school. I met with the principal, alongside with my deputy superintendent in the month of September to let her know about the proposal. And then from there we begin to talk about perspective dates to meet with the school staff and then the parent community. If you look at the document here, which states significant changes in school utilization, and you turn to page four, it outlines every single date that I met with the school community that I met with the staff. I had conversations with the district leadership team. And during the meeting on, um, the October meeting in which I met with the families, the community, and the staff, I did tell them that if they had more questions or concerns, I would avail myself alongside with the Office of district planning. We all said that we would return to the school, but no one contacted me for further questions. So this is the first time that I'm hearing that there were more concerns. Okay. Folks, folks, folks. I'm sorry, folks. I'm sorry. Everyone I Hold it. Just allow her to finish her statement please. Also, there was a joint public hearing that took place in which none of this was said. But I do need to stand before you today as the proud superintendent to say that I did my due diligence and I would never, ever blindside a community. This is a school that I've been concerned about, and I understand that there are concerns in the back, but again, I have the, the data, the information is right here in front of you. And again, I met with the principal, alongside with my deputy superintendent to have a conversation. I also visited this school numerous times, of course, the last few years to discuss the state of the school. But again, during the month of September, that is when we discussed this proposal and the path forward. So I just wanted to make sure that I clarified that. And also to clarify that as the superintendent, I have done every single thing. Myself and my district team have provided ongoing professional development to the school community. The state, New York state sent a coach to the school to support the school, has given the school lots of funds also to provide academic support to the school community. And I'm not saying that Dr. David did not do it, that she didn't use the fund or that she mismanaged the fund. What I'm saying is that this school, because of its status on the New York state list as one of the bottom 5% schools, has received a wealth of support, including myself and my team in the school on a weekly basis, to coach and to provide folks, Folks, folks, folks, sorry, again, I'm gonna ask that you please maintain order. You know, we, we listen very carefully to what you have to say. And I know there's a lot of passion around this. I hear you. We are listening. But allow people to complete their, their, their statement. It's really important that we allow people to fully complete their statement and then we'll, we'll have a response. Superintendent and I, and, and again, you know, my team has offered up support to the school community by way of email. And there is a wealth. I track my team and the way that support is given, especially our schools that are ranked as like the bottom five performing in the district. We have a plan in place to support all of our schools. So I want to be very clear that the supports have been there and have been consistent, and I have been forthright with the community. And it is evident here on page four. And anything else that happened before that, I can go into my phone and I can give you exact dates of when I met with the principal to discuss the proposal. Thank you for listening. Thank you. So, so folks, folks, please come to order. There's no need for, for, for that kind of conversation. I, I think what we've heard tonight is that there are a lot of opinions and there there is a need for further discussion. So with the desire of the panel, I would be willing to entertain a motion to table this proposal. Sheriff Walker. Folks, folks, folks, folks, please again, please let us, let's proceed. Chair Alman. Yes. Um, before I say yes or no on that, do you mind if I make a quick comment please. Um, yeah, there's no second on the motion, so I guess thank you. So I've been listening very carefully to everything I heard here tonight, and I do want to just highlight a few things. Um, one, I wholeheartedly agree with President Kendall that there are many three 90 fours in this system that we have not been paying attention to. I also, um, have to take a, a, I have to say this part out loud because I think that like, just using a term like struggling readers understates, the real issues that students with dyslexia face, and I think it's kind of messed up, like for us to just kind of minimize what a particular population of students with very real challenges have to face. Um, and as I have been saying for many years, the engagement process around these changes in school utilization need to be improved. I would, I would ask that the DOE, the office of district planning and this board look to update the chancellor's regulations around changes in school utilization so that the process can be clear, it can be transparent, and that it, like, it is, it doesn't feel like rushed processes. Right. That said, having heard from the parents staff principal at 3 94, having heard from the superintendent, having heard from CEC members and having heard from the literacy collective, I would say that I'm open, um, to supporting this particular change in utilization. All that said, I would support tabling this particular change in utilization Thank you panel member, so that we can all have an opportunity to come to a conclusion that we can all agree with. Okay. So, so there is a motion to table. Is it? Let us let, well let, we didn't haven't done it yet. So let's, uh, calm down. Is there, is there a second to the motion to table? Second. Second. Second. Is there objection to the motion to table Then we have unanimous consent on the motion to table. So motion to table is adopted. Oh, oh, sorry. I'm sorry. Oh, I'm sorry. You were okay. We'll have to take a roll call then. I'm sorry. I'm, I didn't to see your hand. That's alright. Okay. Um, so we'll have to call the roll motion to Take. Yeah. So, uh, when I call your name, indicate you, um, how you wish to vote. A yes vote is in support of the motion to table, um, the vote on this reso on the resolution. Um, member Ali? Yes. Member Ali. Yes. Member Alain. Member Ca No. Member. Yes. Member fair. Member Ano? Yes. Vice Chair Green? Yes. Member Hassan. Uh, member ho Abstain. Member Piero. Member Lee. No. Member. Yes. Member Wyn. Member All Member S Yes. Member Shepherd or Yes. Member? Yes. Um, member Sheriff Fox. Yes. And I'm going to return to Member Piero. Did I miss someone on the call? Sorry. No, sorry, I did not see you arrive. Um, so member Arnold, how do you vote? So yes, so the motions, Carrie, So the motion to table is adopted. Okay. So, okay, so moment or so can I now ask you to come to order? So I think this is, speaks to the fact that the panel listened and, uh, I know there was a lot of promotion here, but as a panel, the panel does listen. The, the Department of Education, our chancellor, we we're listening very carefully to the comments that were made and, uh, feel that it did warrant it. You're welcome. And we, it did warrant an opportunity for further, um, discussion. And, uh, so, uh, we thank you for coming out and thank you for your, uh, for your testimony. Chair Ner. Okay. Um, Chair Ner. Yeah. Who did? I, I heard, I was just wondering like, how, what is your vision for the next steps here? Because, um, we actually had a long conversation during the briefing sessions, um, asking about what would a truncation look like and kind of went through all of the other alternatives for trying to save the school. And so, you know, I I don't feel like it's fair to send people away without a real course of action. So I'm just wondering what the vision, But I don't wanna give a rash answer. I think it's important for us. We heard the comments from the audience, uh, we listened. Do we have an exact plan? But what was suggested is that we needed an opportunity for further collaboration and I think this represented that in this load. Yeah. So, so in terms of a timeframe, the earliest that we would be able to reconsider this would be at a February, Brooklyn meeting. So it gives us a substantial amount of time to really, and, and I know our staff and our folks were taking careful notes on the comments that were made. And I think that some of the comments that came from the community would be the basis for us to form a conversation, um, around what, what was missing. Not that there wasn't a lot of due diligence and a lot of work. We heard the superintendent that there was a lot of work being done. Um, but there clearly, um, needs to be a little bit further engagement, um, around some of the issues, particularly when we start hearing conversations about something that might be harmful to children, um, to delay, to, to delay an additional month when we are considering something that might be, um, harmful to children, I don't think is inappropriate. And so, um, we don't have the plan yet, but we will thank you again, by the way, I would say to the community, um, keep you, keep, keep, don't let this be a, an opportunity that you come one time and then we don't keep coming to these meetings and keep being involved. Um, and keep raising your voices. I think I, I think it is important. And while you may feel people are not, listen, people who are listening, so don't make this a one-time thing. Get involved in your CC elections, get involved in your school councils, and continue to come out to our panel meetings and speak out on important issues. That is very, very important that that take place. Yep. Yep. Chair, we have one other comment. Um, uh, and then we're gonna move on to the next agenda, right? What makes parenting so powerful? We gotta make it make sense. 'cause you're not, it's not about not having, it's about how can we be about what it is that you're doing? Make it make sense. We gotta stop with the scarcity and take it from one and give it to a another even when it, it's the tone of that. We have to deal with that with gentrification. We have to deal with that in so many different elements. So when we say what systemic racism looks like, it's the fact that you're not at the table when bigger decisions are made. It's the fact that we can have a conversation and the tone of what systemic looks like. It's echoing in the holes of this auditorium. So we have to make it make sense when we talk about, um, uh, supporting and, and, and giving people who are coming out and saying, it's not about not having it, it just gotta make sense how we, how can we be a part of this? You know? So let's just make it make sense. And please, like Chair Faulkner said, you know, stay at it. Have at it. Thank you. Okay, thank you. So I don't know, I, I'm gonna welcome you to stay for the remainder of the, I hope you will. We'll stay for the remainder of the meeting. Um, but if, if people need to leave at this point, um, I want to take maybe a, a small break as people depart, but if you're gonna stay, great. Stay. Stay that great. Um, we'll now move on to the next, uh, item on the agenda, which is our contracts agenda. And I'll ask, yeah. Okay. Okay. There's a second. Hold it. That's okay. Two minutes. Don't, don't leave. Don't, don't go Take your seats. Yeah, we're ready to, we're gonna, everybody take your seat. We're gonna, we're gonna reconvene. That's all right. Well, you know, let's good. Yeah, yeah. Stretch your legs. This isn't a big this, this I know. Yeah, but I think it No, I do. I will say I do, but I don't, I'm not gonna do, I'm not gonna do it. Yeah. I not, I don't think we have enough of our panel members. Okay. No, we have majority here. Okay. Okay folks, let's come back to order. Thank you. It's good to stretch your legs. Uh, panel members, if you're in the audience, please rejoin us on stage. May my panel member sap, we're looking at you and panel member, our new panel member. Please join us on stage. Okay. We'll now move to the consideration of contracts. I'll ask our secretary to please introduce the reso. Sure. The resolution up for approval is entitled Resolution to Authorize Entry into Contracts, which consists of contract agenda items one through 15. Back to the chair. Okay. We'll now begin with, uh, public comments. We have a lot of speakers on this, so I'm going to call, I will first call the elected officials and, and education council members and then we'll return, we'll move forward through the list. Um, Linda Far, Steven sto, Deborah Alexander and Benjamin Morden and Debbie Cross. Hello? Yeah. Uh, my name is Linda Quarles and I'm the first Vice President of the Citywide Council in high Schools. So I'm speaking today as a parent of one graduate and one current student at special ed high schools. I urge you to vote yes on the S-H-S-A-T Pearson contract. I understand that there are some on the pep, including those who have attended specialized high schools, those whose children attend or have attended specialized high schools or private schools who intend to vote no on the contract. I find that not only hypocritical, I find that a slap in the face to all the young people who you're voting to never have an opportunity experience the benefits of attending a specialized high high school like you and your family have. I have spoken to countless parents these past few weeks about this vote. And of all the things that mystify them, this mystifies them the most, how someone can take advantage of life-changing opportunities that this has opened for you and your family members and pull up the ladder behind you. So others cannot experience these same opportunities, is unfathomable. One pet member blog that when they attended Brooklyn Tech in the eighties, there were only about 30 black students among the 10,000 students. Not only is this a bold faced light, this intended to criticize this, just that for being inequitable. Meanwhile, the truth is that over 50% of Brooklyn tech students were black during those years. So what happened since the eighties? It caused such a steep decline in the percent of black students at specialized high schools. I'll tell you what hasn't changed. This is that and in fact, the primary factor that led to this travesty is a closing of over 60 gifted into talented middle schools programs, which by the way, were closed in the name of equity. Let me give some specific examples about how backward, how these backward policies, um, supposedly secret equity by removing DT programs and getting rid of tests like should that end up. Let's look at Brooklyn's own district 15. It used to be the crown jewel of Brooklyn with some of the most sought after middle schools. In five short years since it has implemented its diversity and admissions initiatives, the number of students gaining admissions into specialized high schools from district 50 has plummeted 50%, including a drop of 73% from MS 51 and 72% from MS four. Four seven. Let that sink in. MS 51 went from being one of the top schools in the city sending schools to specialized high schools from sending 122 in 2019 to just 33 last year. Of course, that is only just one measure of academic performance. These policies harm kids as it's clear. Maintaining a singular test permission not only improves the performance of schools and students is far more equitable for all. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Steve Sto. I'm the president of CEC 20. Our CEC passed a resolution 10 to one asking the PEP to approve the Pearson contract. Remaining comments are my own. Please approve the Pearson contract. I hear talk about turning attention to the state legislature. Why I'm guessing some of you on the PEP would like to amend or repeal pet calandra. That's wrong. The answer. I share the concerns about the lack of black and Hispanic representation in our specialized high schools. But lowering standards and taking away opportunity is not the answer. The answer is creating more accelerated learning opportunities in underserved communities. Over the last two decades, the number of g and t and screen middle school programs in black and Hispanic neighborhoods has plummeted the banks, mayor Adams and former Chancellor Banks for recognizing the need to reverse that trend. But not enough has been done partly because of political interests that push back. Here's some of my advice. Don't adapt a one size fits all approach. Keep expanding accelerated learning, but do not dictate from the top how these programs should work. And every district or school, we need variety like the new Bard Bronx, which has a very different admissions criteria from the specialized high schools, which is excellent. Mixed ability classrooms hold back kids of every race from achieving their full potential. Last week a teacher from Newton, Massachusetts published an article which reads, quote, my school experimented with education equity. It failed. We put high achieving students in the same classes as their lowest performing peers. The results have been devastating. Classes are not equitable and they are not excellent. End quote. We are not evil people to group kids by ability. It is common sense. Two myths about the ssat that need to be shot down. Test prep is not a silver bullet to admission. We use test prep in my family didn't matter one bit. And yes, test prep costs money, but New York City public schools offers free prep. That unfortunately, often goes underutilized. Why fix that? It's also a myth that specialized high schools get more funding. Also not true. Specialized high schools educate kids at 30% lower cost than the average high school. Finally, opponents must stop fostering jealousy and resentment among our communities. My two boys didn't come close to getting specialized high school offers. Guess what? I don't care. They're better off in other places. Not getting into specialized high schools does not doom any kid of any race to a life of struggle. Look at the specialized high schools for what they are. One set of options and create many other options for accelerated learning throughout our city to the opponents of the specialized high school. On the pep, do you truly care about providing accelerated education for black and Hispanic students or you're just irrationally obsessed with tearing down the specialized high schools? Don't worry, I know the answer. Thank Good evening everyone. I'm Deborah Alexander. I served for 11 years on CEC 30 and I'm currently the second vice president on the Citywide Council for High Schools. All comments tonight are my own. I assume you will pass this contract tonight because not doing so would hurt a lot of kids. And I think you all know that. But we know that the larger issue here is the, that itself. I've heard people make callous comments that, oh, the sky is not falling if a contract doesn't pass. What tongue deaf privilege that betrayed. The reason so many parents favor a single test entry method is because they have children whose educational love language, if you will, is objective measures. Measures like standardized tests, shy kids, kids with behavior issues, executive functioning issues, kids who aren't challenged appropriately in school and therefore don't get grades commensurate with their aptitude. These kids rely on objective measures like the shaza, particularly given the disparities between middle schools don't discriminate against these learners who have as much right to their appropriate education as anyone else. Please note that Ivy and elite colleges have returned to requiring the SAT and a CT. Finding that testing was a better way to admit underserved population every time this is, that is scapegoated. It distracts from the real issue. The doe's failure to sufficiently prepare every student. 47% of students are not proficient in math. 51% are reading below grade level. Why then are you so obsessed with eight out of 400 schools that are designed for students who are already on grade level and beyond? Beyond the PEP and DOE should work on rebuilding the academic pipeline in underserved neighborhoods, bringing back the merit-based elementary and middle school gifted and talented programs that were stolen from those communities and for decades, supply to stream of students to the specialized high schools. I am curious how many of you share one of your fellow panel panel members sentiment that voting to not approve the contract would be a powerful tool to create a problem for a $40 billion city agency. Except the problem you, you'll create will actually be for 30,012 year olds. Think about them when you cast your vote. Thank you. Wow. Uh, good evening, Kyle. Um, it's, it's a pleasure to be with all these amazing education advocates and what you guys did are I applaud you. Um, my name is, is Benjamin Morden, and I'm one of the two Manhattan representatives on the Citywide Council in high schools. Uh, and I've been serving families on education councils for six years now. Uh, tonight I address you as a public school parent with two daughters in high schools. Four years ago on December 8th, 2020, uh, I as a CEC member then addressed Chancellor Carranza. I pleaded with him to, to address learning loss, the pandemic learning loss. And, and what did we see? What, what happened? Yeah. Today we see thousands of kids who need, who still need academic recovery, and 120,000 students left the deal. OE What did we learn? We have to be responsible to stakeholders, to students. You know, I'm just emotional about how we're not being responsible. What has happened the last 25 years? We've lost 300,000 students in K 12. That's the size of the Chicago Public School District. That's enormous. Tonight we are here to recognize the S-H-S-A-T stakeholders. Who are these stakeholders? The stakeholders are the state, the students and the schools, the specialized schools. The state outlines specifically. What's the admission process? They couldn't be more clear. There are eight schools that if you don't, if you take away their ninth grade admissions, they will be on the chopping block. There'll be another eight schools that are gonna be out for termination. We have 30,000 students who are pursuing excellence. Give them the opportunity, give all of them opportunities. You are providing opportunities and speak. And speaking of excellence, over the past 100 years, we've had 45 Nobel Prize winners in New York City public schools. Two thirds of them were from all public high schools, from neighborhood community schools, and a third were from specialized high schools. Let's give the next generation the same opportunities. Thank you. Do the right thing. Good evening panel members. Uh, I'm Debbie Cross. I'm the president of the CCHS, uh, representing 300,000 families. My council unequivocally asked you to pass this contract, but today I'm speaking as a parent of three New York City Public school children, one of which graduated. I've been hearing a lot of false assertion about the ssat floated out of ignorance or malice? Maybe both. Uh, the cost, you know, uh, it's really $130 per, if you count eighth graders that take the test, but it can be taken by ninth graders, eighth graders. So it's $22 per test, right? Versus 40 billion. Uh, and it's in line with the cost of the prior contract, um, appearing extend the old contract or pull a paper test together. You know? No, the DOE doesn't own the material. That it doesn't work that way. Um, and it's a complex business to put together a test. You can't sign a contract for one year. It's a niche business. And that's why there were only two bidders, which brings me to Pearsons. Okay? I don't like them. No, nobody likes them. Uh, but, but the reality is they've delivered on this test. They have a track record. Uh, and, uh, by the way, I hope all of you reviewed the RFP. That's public. I, I reviewed it. It's pretty thorough. The DOE did a good job there. Um, computerized test is inequitable. Please don't put, don't pull a governor, KU on us, right? Where all our kids have computers. Um, so we want our students to be prepared. The SATs digital. Um, and then, so this is really about, is the sh that the sole criteria for specialized high school. It's not about the contract, right? Uh, so no matter how you personally feel, okay? It's been the only source of stability for parents of children applying to high school since the pandemic. It's changing every year. The rule are, are changing every year. The isn't. So it's, it's a reassurance for parents. The test is eminently preferable. I have three kids. I prepped all three of them. They all got in. Okay, you can prep it. A book costs $20. That's it. And you can borrow it at the New York City Library. Um, and there are three programs that my colleagues mentioned. Then, I'm sorry to tell you this, the CHAAT is an excellent predictor of success of our students in special ed high school, right? The workload, the workload is rushing. Okay? If you can't pass that test, you will suffer in specialized high school. And finally, uh, most colleges are moving back to standardized testing. So I don't think we're the only ones here. So please pass the test, the contract. Thank you. Excuse me. Sorry, Judy. Excuse me, please. Before the next round of commentators, can we have someone from New York City Public Schools make a statement regarding the mixed, uh, classroom. The, there was a statement made by Mr. Steven STO regarding children of mixed abilities being in the same classroom, and how that is detrimental to all of them regardless of race. I think we need to address that right now. And I am shocked and disgusted. It wasn't address immediate. We have differing opinions on this, and I'm going to ask if any one of our chiefs of school support want to address this directly, or curriculum and instruction. But in the end, I think that what we need to do is move on with the agenda. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. I'm going to call a group of five speakers. Um, the, um, um, Ken Em, Steven Chan, um, Jean Han and Vio Lala. Good evening. My name is Yatin Chu. I'm an alum of a specialized high school and the mom of an eighth grader. I took the S-H-S-A-T in 1984 years after entering public schools as an ELL student. Today, I am speaking as a co-founder and co-president of Place, NYC, a grassroots group of volunteer parents that advocates for accelerated education in New York City public schools. When place learned that the Pearson Schack contract was taken off the PEP agenda in October, we were concerned it was not long ago when the PET voted down the contract for the gift and talented test when Mayor Adams kept, while Mayor Adams kept the program without the test. New York City's gift and talented program is now a name only to save the S-H-S-A-T. We started an open letter campaign urging pet members to approve the contract. And to date, 5,000 parents have signed On Monday, when we confirmed that the Schat contract was on the agenda, we asked parents to email all of you. Over 1,300 emails were sent in the past 48 hours that we are aware of. As you know, public school parents are busy people, but because of the importance of this vote, we are here in Sunset Park in Brooklyn, asking you to approve the shack contract tonight without delay. We hope you've heard us loud and clear. New York City families want our children to have the opportunity to sit for the S-H-S-A-T in the fall of 20 25, 20 26, 20 27, and beyond, just like the hundreds of thousands of New York City students in the past decades. Please vote yes to assure our seventh graders that they have a test to take in the fall. Thank you. Hi, uh, good evening everyone. Uh, my name is Ken Sand. Uh, I want to, uh, thank the panel for giving me the opportunity to be, uh, speaking my, uh, my comments here. Uh, I am the, uh, coming, I'm, I'm here as the PTA president at, uh, William McKinley, 2 5 9. This is my second year as PTA president. And our school, uh, our student body, uh, is majority, majority, uh, immigrants, right? First generation immigrants, and we are a Title one school. The majority of our, uh, families are low income. And, uh, a lot of families, when they start sixth grade, I have many, many families coming to me. Hey, you know, when is the, you know, do we have the dream program? Uh, when, what, when or where do we sign up for the S-H-S-A-T test? Uh, I, I often would have to tell parents just, just wait. Right? Everybody comes. Uh, we will contact you. Uh, we will, we, we, we'll sign you up. And, uh, you know, right now, everyone at our school is, they offer, uh, more or less about the, the Dream, uh, program, right? The application to, to, to file for the dream program. And, uh, under our, uh, great leadership of our school principal, Ms. Gary, she also, uh, was able to secure, uh, a, a program, a partnership with Creative Connections, uh, to offer s free SSAT prep within our school. Because a lot of our families, they, they just, they just can't travel, right? They sign up for the dream program, but they can't travel. Parents are walking, right? And, uh, they just cannot send a kid. So we have, uh, beacon in our school, which offers after school programs, and, and students will, will stay beacon and they will stay for, uh, uh, SSAT prep. And, um, I also want to talk about opportunities, right? Uh, because we should be creating more opportunities for our students, not take them away, right? The, a lot of our families are looking forward to the S-H-S-A-T and Spec Specialist High School as a pathway right to, to, to excellence. They wanna come out of poverty, and they look at the, uh, uh, having a higher education as a form of getting out of poverty. Poverty. And, uh, I want to ask all of you today, please pass it, pass the vote on it. Pass it unanimous. Okay? Because the, the, the best we can give to our, uh, children for this holiday season, especially, the best gift you can give to them is to pass this vote. Thank you. Thank you very much. Hi, everyone. My name is Jean Han, and I'm a public school parent from Queens. I would like to address a comment that Chair Faulkner said during the Pep Town Hall last week. Great question. If, if this just, that should remain test only as the only way for admissions, uh, into the specialized high school. As any parent who has or is about to apply to high school, knows the introduction of a random lottery number has actually reinforced and necessitated an option for admissions that is test only for accelerated students. Currently, there are five different admissions options with the majority of schools relying on a student receiving a decent lottery number that is randomly assigned and having high grades for screen programs. Since 50% of the applicants will undoubtedly receive a quote unquote bad number, it is akin to having a door slammed in your face. If you have had your heart set on a, on an accelerated school, even OPT op programs can be out of reach if one's lottery number is bad. And as for relying on grades, sometimes seventh graders don't get the GPA needed to qualify for screen programs, because sometimes life happens and there are situations beyond the student's control, such as, as in my case, uh, my child's case, a death in the family, uh, there could be illness, et cetera. There are also students who are twice exceptional. Also, as in the case of my child, who, although might be accelerated for their age, are neurologically diverse, but, uh, whose grades might not necessarily reflect their potential. A bad lottery number leaves only the specialized high school audition schools. If your child is fortunate enough to have a talent and one's zone school, which may or may not be an appropriate setting with the chiat, anyone can study for this single test and have hopes of attending an accelerated school. If the New York City public School system wants to retain enrollment, which it should, then it is in everyone's best interest to end these relentless attacks against these eight schools out of, over out of hundreds. And urge the pet members tonight to all vote yes to, to please pass this contract. Thank you. Hi, my name is Steven Chan. As the parent of a current seventh grader, I urge pep members to vote to renew the Shaha contract for another five years. Specialized high schools are the crown jewel of New York City's public education system with a proven check record of the sex. Many liberals novels are among their alumni, a testament to the quality of education provided this success is largely due to the she, she a fair, objective, gender blind, and race Bryan examination that ensures admissions, it's based solely on merit. For many immigrant families. These schools represent a crucial pathway to social mobility. They are dream schools that these parents sometimes work multiple minimum wage jobs to support their children's education and future opportunities. With my family, my parents, as immigrants working multiple minimum jobs, okay? They are being one, the, a specialized high schools account for only a small fraction of the city's overall school system. Rather than undermining their success, we should focus on expanding this model to create more schools like them. Serving a broader population, failing to renew the Sheha contract under the head RA act will mean no incoming freshman class, a devastating outcome. Have we considered the consequences? Families with resources will turn to private schools or leave new City, city altogether. This will harm not only our communities, but also the city's revenue basis, as many of us are taxpayers and all abating citizens. With that said, pre-sign the five year social contract. Now I'm also reading the open letter from Twain. Dear Pap members, we are writing to you as members of the school leadership team, SLT, and Twain School for the Gifted and Talented, a Citywide Middle School located in Coney Island, Brooklyn. Over 82% of our eighth graders take the she shack making specialized high school, the most sought after educational pathway for our students. We understand that an important vote related to the specialized high school admissions test will be presented at this, uh, monthly panel education policy meeting. Specifically the contract for digital version of the share share will be reviewed for approval. The DOE has requested this contract to develop and administer a digital exam, aligning with all high state test, S-A-T-P-S-A-T on YS grade three to eight math ELA exams already in use by newest city students since no hunter for paper format math speaker time has expired. Okay, your time has expired. Please pass the contract. Uh, the next group of speakers, um, Vito Label Ling, Antonio Elli, GE Fang, and Bernard Chao. Thank you very much. My name is Vito Label, and, uh, I, I was just shocked at the, this whole thing tonight. I, I look around and I started this journey, uh, in 2017 when I retired from the police department to take over the PTA at 180 7. Uh, I had no idea when I did that, that, uh, six months later in 2018, the attack on the specialized high schools and the S-H-S-A-T would begin, um, that one thing that started really impacted my entire life. I look around and I've made some great friends over the last seven years, people I've seen, people I've worked with, people who I've advocated for, and I am proud to say that as a PTA President Way seven, we fought and saved the S-H-S-A-T at that time. And now I'm the executive board member on the Brooklyn Technical High School, where three of my kids attended. We have a diverse executive board, African American members, Hispanic members, Asian American members, Caucasian members, and we unanimously supported this contract for the specialized high school test. But what really, really impacted me tonight were the kids from 3 94 and all of the other kids like them that are struggling, struggling to just meet the standards, and they need all the help that we could give them. Okay? And, um, you know, here's the thing, pulling down the kids that are doing well does nothing to help those children. Nothing. I have run for elected office and I have lost, but never in my life what I have thought at 62 years of age, I would start as chief of staff for Senator Elect Stephen Chan. We were PTA presidents together, and now we're gonna continue to fight for the children of this city, all of the children. It's not about funding. There's plenty of funding. It's about focus. And I want to thank that superintendent for trying her best under difficult circumstances. And even if you disagree with her decision, what she's doing is she's trying, and I promise I'm gonna try as well. Thank you very much. Thank you. Please pass the test. Next speaker, please. Good evening. My name is Ling Yi. I'm a community, uh, organizer and an immigrant advocate who has lived and worked in this community. For most of my life, I had worked at various jobs, including elected officials office, uh, the local council member's office, and a congress member's office. But no matter which office and which role I work in, my job is always about empowering community members and bringing stakeholders together. And when I led the participatory budget, uh, budget project for, uh, city council district right here, uh, my team, um, deliver the highest participation numbers all City Council district in New York City. And our secret is finding colony grounds to bring together people to, uh, improve the community that we all share. And yet, I have never seen anything more divisive for a long time than the politicalization of the S-H-S-A-T test. There are over 1800 public schools in New York City instead of working systematically to improve the educational outcomes across the board for all schools, all of our children, the attackers of the S-H-S-A-T test, choose to attack eight schools that are delivering good results for children. Uh, you know, for children of immigrant, family for children, low income family, all across the board. This attack is nothing more than ideological virtual signaling. And this cre this is creating division, and it does not solve any problems. We need to stop dividing the people of New York and stop focusing on improving the system as a whole. I immigrated to New York City as a child, and I benefited immensely from good public education. Now I'm a mom and my child is, I'm sending my child to public school. And for the record, I did not go to specialized high school. And I don't know if my child will want to go to specialized high school when she grows up, but it doesn't matter. It's about preserving opportunities for the children who want it. When I look at my daughter in her eyes, I wanna, I tell myself, we need to preserve this opportunity. We cannot fail our children when they have the potential we need to help our children. Doesn't matter whose children they are, we need to help uplift them. Please pass the contract. Thank you. Hello. Good evening. Um, chancellor Ramos, chair Faulkner, and members of yes. Thank you so much. My name is Antonia Ferrara Martinelli. I am the president of CEC 15. I am here speaking on my own capacity as the parent of an eighth grade student. I have to correct the record. Uh, one of the early speakers said that the number of students admitted to the specialized high schools after the, the implementation of the District 15, uh, diversity plan decreased. That could not be further from the truth. That is not true. We have actually had an increase in the number of students admitted to the specialized high schools. In fact, we've had modest increases in the number of low-income students who have been admitted to our specialized high schools from our diverse and enriched middle schools here in District 15, which is where we are tonight. Here is another fact. The specialized high school exam is a state mandate under Hect Calandra. Why doesn't the state fund it? This should be a line item in the state budget. This should not be something that the pep votes on. So I want you all to think about that. Thank you so much. Um, Ang Bernard Chow, Vincent Lou, Johanna Borkin, and SD Sephora here at the microphone. You can, if you were one of those names, it's okay. Please start, say your name. Good evening. My name is Vincent Lu. I'm a former member of CC 15 and former member of csaw, the Citywide Council for English Language. And I'm also a father of two. One of them is sixth grader. Although he does not need to take S-H-S-A-T next year, I believe the opportunity to sit for exam should remain applicable to all students, and that includes those from immigrants families, which constitute all L populations. As you know, current law mandates that the, uh, S-H-S-A-T is the sole criterion for the emission to the specialized high schools. Not approving the contract will lead to vacant seats in these highly sole AP schools with no incoming, the consequence will be devastating. Failing to approve this contract essentially deprive all students of their chance to be admitted into these specialized ice cream. Furthermore, the shift towards computerizing the exam should not be seen as controversial. Our burden students are already accustomed to performing many tasks on computers. They take assessments on computers to iRead. They take state exam on computer. They even complete and submit their homework via platforms like Google Classroom. I learned. So moving to digital exam, it a natural professions. Therefore, I urge you to approve the contract for a five year renewal and fulfill our application to all of our, our working students. Thank you. Thank you. Hi, uh, good evening, KAF. Good evening Chancellor. Uh, my name is Johanna Jokin. I'm the parent of a 10th grader, um, and a proud district 15 parent, uh, who is very proud to have sat in this very auditorium to craft help craft the diversity initiative that continues to send kids to great high schools from this district. And which continues, uh, to, to now have an admissions policy that doesn't have parents hand wringing for months, which is an enormous thing. I'm here to ask you to vote against this contract. One of, I have to say, I'm so excited that, excuse me, this is my time that I would, I'm so excited to see a pep that is actually using its power. As we saw tonight with the parents from 3 94. Um, I'm so used to coming and hearing the words, we will hold them accountable when bad, when terror, when hard decisions are being made, that, that then become meaningless when your power is actually your vote. I also know and have come to appreciate that the specialized high school test, no matter what I feel about personally about those schools, is a New York City tradition. It's a cornerstone of this system. It's a lifeline for immigrants. It's a, who have to, would otherwise are navigating a complex and impossible high school admission system. But this, that's this. Tonight, it's about Pearson, it's about this contract. It's about a bad contract. I've heard, um, parents in fearmongering and scare tactics around what's gonna happen next to the ninth grade class that's not, um, enacted. Well, I, that makes me even more scared. The fact is, you, this has been pushed down the road because the, the cassette has a bad smell. It doesn't pass the sniff text. And you're giving to Pearson who has run it and had those results five more years, possibly more. This is your accountability tool. Now, in order to be able to do that, um, we've heard, we've heard that without p, that Pearson basically is the only one who could administer it. They're the only ones who responded to the bid. That also should be the alarm bells. Why? Maybe it's because this contract system means that it's pretty much a rubber stamp when who applies, if you'd reject it, and maybe that somebody will actually get better results and somebody who can. A, we can have the discussions. I don't think this just, that should be the s they just should be voted on here. But I think this contract should be, and it's a bad one. Thank you. My name is to, uh, and, uh, it's, uh, almost, uh, Christmas end of the year. And the yet thousand or thousand families are still here waiting for you, the PEP, to decide whether the kids could take this, uh, S-H-S-A-T test to pursue their dream schools. As a parent of two kids, uh, living in New York City, I have been through all this stressful process. And now there are more, even more factors affect, uh, affected the, the application process, like such as the lottery numbers. It's, it's the lucky number or not lucky number or where, where, which area you live, uh, whether you have free launch or not. And, uh, besides also, also besides the seventh, uh, grade kids, uh, seventh grade kids, uh, your GPA, right? But, so think about all this pressure on this, on the process and on about all of this. I would see S-H-S-A-T open up fair and object, uh, uh, fresh air window for the parents and the kids. It is a fair and objective test because everyone can take the test and, uh, get equal chances based upon the grade, uh, the, the scores they get, regardless of which middle school you attend, which academy Acade academic group you belong to in seventh grade, and, uh, what area you come from and what lottery number you got. So the test do promote that promotes equality in education. It encourages academic excellence. It's, uh, um, the specialized, the successful, also specialized high school program give New York High quality of education. And, uh, it's prepared our students college and beyond. So, and also it's also, uh, encourage diversity. Uh, students, of course, students need to study hard for the test while the DOE provide dream school programs on weekends, I know, and the summer program, it gives students who might could not afford the test for preparation, more accessibility. And, uh, besides also about Please finish your time is expired. Besides appear as I Kurt Pearson, they spend eight months to, to, Yeah, sorry, your time has expired your time. I mean, we asked you that everybody's been following the rules. We'd ask to respect the process and your time has expired. You're not actually thank. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Every, The next group of speakers I'll be calling. There's a lot of speakers. Let, let me just remind everyone, we have a lot of speakers in order to accommodate all speakers. We'd ask that. Please be respectful of the time. Um, we're listening carefully, but it's really, so far we've done that, um, uh, throughout the night, and I know there's a lot of passion around these issues, but it's really important that everybody, you know, respect the two and a half, uh, minute time allotment because we have a lot of people that we want to hear from. The next group of speakers is Catherine Hudson, tan, Rahan, Maron, Casey Cohen, Leoni Hamson, and Wawa Chin. And as you get, if you get to the microphone, just say your name and start speaking so we can keep moving. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Catherine Hudson Tan. I am currently serving on my third year of FLT at MS 1 67, but I'm Pierce Knight speaking as a proud parent of two public school students, both fourth grade and eighth grade. So I've just gone through this application process with my eighth grader, uh, and I will say we got the most abysmal lottery number that exists. And one thing that still gives hope to this process is the specialized high school. Uh, every student should be, have opportunities to maximize their individual potential. To me, that means two things. One, that identifying and supporting those students who struggling and raising them up, as well as identifying and challenging those students who want and need more accelerated instruction. The specialized high schools offer one such path for kids who seek this academic rigor. There's been talk of the specialized high schools being inequitable. Make no doubt, the real inequities and disparities are deeply entrenched in our education system way before high school. We need to focus on improving access to quality education for all our kids starting in elementary school. And that's the problem that needs to be fixed. In actuality, the specialized high schools provide an opportunity for equality. All students in New York City are eligible to attend one of these top institutions regardless of race, sex, socioeconomic status, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, borough priority, or even the dreaded exa decal, computer generated, randomly assigned number. In fact, students that qualify for free or reduced lunch make up 48 to 64% at these special ed high schools. Why can't we provide opportunities for disadvantaged students without taking away academically rigorous programs from others? The Dream Institute and the Discovery Program are two existing city programs that help students from underserved communities prepare for and pass the schat and attend these schools. Failing to approve the Schat contract would undermine this entire system that has a decades long record of graduating students to excel in their chosen field and contribute to a better society for all of us, please vote yes to accept this contract support meritocracy, not mediocrity. Equal opportunity. Not equal outcome. Thank you. Thank you. I oppose the Pearson contract for development and implementation of a digital S-H-S-A-T. Pearson has an established track record of being unable to adequately for perform their obligations on similar contracts, as has been detailed online and in the media. Problems encountered with Pearson testing contracts include but are not limited to erroneous scoring. Online service disruptions, extensive data breaches, and the list goes on and on. Pearson's poor performance led New York State to drop them as a vendor for the annual New York State. Third through eighth grade examinations in ELA and Math. Several other states have similarly discontinued their Pearson testing contracts. The New York State 1971 had CALANDRA Act requires admission through a competitive objective and scholastic achievement examination for three of our high schools status and science. Brooklyn Tech, the F-H-S-A-T developed in an attempt to meet that state requirement has produced discriminatory outcomes for years a result in part of this test's of skills not covered in New York City public Schools. This particular exam requires extensive test prep. As you've heard, for most students, which contributes to its segregation of our high schools, it should be discontinued. Hect Calandra single test requirement should be amended to eliminate its per perpetuation of racial and gender discrepancy. In our high school admissions disapproving, the proposed contract would not negatively impact admissions for the next class of students in the eight specialized high schools that currently use the S-H-S-A-T five of these schools are not required to use a single competitive exam for admissions removing this. Okay, folks, folks, I mean, again, I'm gonna remind everybody hold the speaker poll. We'll credit the time back to you. I'm gonna ask that the speakers be allowed to complete their comments. Removing this unorthodox method of admissions from these five schools would open up opportunities to address the extreme segregation at these schools. That results from using a single test for admissions. The three schools currently required by New York State to admit students via a competitive objective and scholastic achievement examination can and should use an alternative examination for admissions. Until such time as he calandra is amended, there remains ample time for renewal or extension of the existing contract to allow for a paper S-H-S-A-T for next year's admission cycle. Finally, any examination developed to fulfill the requirements of New York State should be paid for by New York State. Vote no on this contract. Our children deserve better. Thank you. Please approve the sheath SAT contract without delay and don't waste taxpayers time and money attacking t calandra in Albany. The sheath sat filled an important niche in the New York High School application process, and it's crucial that it remain the sole apolitical determinant of entry to the specialized high schools as it has been for the past 90 years. I just went through the admissions process with my son. New York has over 400 high schools. There are schools for students good in the arts schools that screen based on writing abilities, schools that screen based on grades, including schools looking for high grades and lower grades. Many desirable schools set aside more than half their seats for low income students. And many also set aside a lot of seats for students receiving special education services out of the 400 New York City high schools. Thank goodness there are eight that screen through the she set. For students like my son, that test provides a legally mandated guarantee that students whose talent is performing complex intellectual tasks at high speed have the same safety net as students with all the other talents, priorities, and special needs. Why a test instead of grades? Because other schools already use grades and the brightest students may not get high grades in middle school. It's easy to resent and hate on bright kids, but many of them also have social and emotional issues and their teachers don't love them. Most New York City middle schools are very boring for fast learners. And when fast learners are bored, they often and underperform and misbehave, especially boys, but they can knock a standardized test out of the park. And like it or not, for the past 90 years, that's been an excellent predictor of their ability to thrive in a highly competitive high school environment and go on to do amazing things like win Nobel Prizes. I support the right of every child in New York City to receive a rigorous education that meets their academic, social, emotional and physical needs. The she sat is crucial in ensuring that that happens for a certain segment of our kids. Please approve this contract so they can continue to have that opportunity. Thank you. Thank you. PEP, um, I'm we Watson. I'm the founding president of the Chinese American Citizens Lines of Greater New York. And we have been fighting this fight for years because when we saw what happened, when the Department of Education comes out and shows us all these charts and graphs and says, we're going to cut the number of Asians in the schools, the specialized high schools, not because they suddenly became dumber, not because they suddenly became stupider and lazy. It was nothing that other than race, race, it was sheer racism. And we do not believe that anyone should ever be excluded based on race. Thank thought. The point of these tests for generations has been that they will try to see each individual not as a reflection of some race or religion or ethnicity or their parents' wealth, but it was really just by what that kid can do. And you saw it today, today with the kids today. They were amazing. And it shows that when a sixth grader comes out and can do a very cogent presentation with logic, I thought that was stunning. That meant that it starts much earlier. You don't wait until eighth grade and say, oh, we don't like the numbers. We're gonna just go and change it. No, these families have been working on it and there's no disgrace to study. That is what it is about. That is what students are supposed to do. They're supposed to study. And these kids who have studied, whether they're borrowing books from libraries to do it, and I'll tell you, it's not just borrowing. You get to keep some of the books they're given to you for free from the library. Just as another one of the children said, you can do it for cheap. And it is very important to remember that the test works for generations as it works. It's the proof is in the pudding. You've got 15 Nobel Prize winners. You'd be a laughing stock in the world to get rid of this, this treasure to the world. Absolutely. So I thank all the people who talk before me. Keep the test, approve it past the test. Thank you. The next group of speakers is Lisa Marks Zang, Eliza Chan and Kaela. You can start speaking. Just say your name. Hi, good evening Path members, parents, students who are here, and elected officials who came tonight. My name is Lisa Marks and I'm the mom of three young New York City students. Most an alumni of Bronx Science, who devoted my career to teaching in Title one schools in Brooklyn and the Bronx. And I'm also co-president of place, NYC and all and all volunteer group, which advocates for high quality education and rigorous standards for all New York City students so that they can excel and develop their unique skills to become leaders of tomorrow. We've heard from so many speakers tonight, and we all know that the special ed high schools are life-changing pathways to a better life and a better world for all of us. 16 Nobel Prize winners have graduated from these rigorous highly academic schools. But what's left common knowledge is that up until recently, many other local New York City public schools have also produced Nobel Prize winners. I highlight this to acknowledge that there has been a shift in the quality and standards of public education in the last 25 years. The pipeline is broken. I'll say it again. The pipeline is broken, not the test. When I attended Bronx Science over 30 years ago, it was much more culturally diverse school at that time. Also, at that time, Brooklyn Tech was a majority African American population. Yes, a majority, they can do it. Everyone can excel on this test and to think otherwise shows a bigotry of low expectations. Thank you. Unfortunately, what has changed is the rigor and standards in elementary school through middle school education for the worst. Beginning about 20 years ago, g and t programs were cut simultaneously. Overall academic standards have been lowered to present day where my fourth grader is told she won't be learning long division until sixth grade. It boggles the mind, but the chiat is not the problem. A a doctor does not blame a thermometer for causing an illness. The shaza is not the root cause of students being ill prepared. Please pass the shaza. Do not smash the thermometer on the ground. Fix the educational inequities in schools like school ps uh, MS 3 94 tonight. Give them the resources they need, but do not take away opportunities from all students. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Uh, hi. My name is Don. I'm a queens parent. My both children have graduated from special high school, but tonight I traveled from Queens here to support meritocracy and quality education and to support our children. The liberal extremities take every opportunity to attack the tide, and for the past years, we parents have gone together. We go everywhere, use every platform to count them and say loudly that we want to keep I-H-F-A-T-I really don't have much to add. After all the wonderful children have spoken, they have spoken very clearly in every perspective and the great depth that how the type is fair, it's transparent, it's objective, and it's important. It's important because it motivates the, the children to learn. The test is an important part of the studying itself. It's also important because to many low income families, students in New York City whose parents work in restaurant in laundromat, in nail salon. So these tests might be not the only way, but definitely the most realistic way for them to exceed their parents, for them to get rid of the priority and for them to realize their American dream. We have been fighting for this tide for the past years. I'm also the president of a group, uh, called New York City Resident Salon. We have many supporters here tonight. We have been fighting for the tide for the past years. And today we're here again. We want to say, please keep the tide, please sign the contract, please. No more delay. Thank you. Speaker. Hi. Um, my name is Kamala Carmen. I'm not usually one to play drinking games, but watching the engagement hearing on this topic last week made me come up with a good one. This meeting is playing about out along the similar lines. So if you're watching with a beverage at home or you're snuck a flask into this auto auditorium, here's a surefire way to get hammered in no time. Every time tonight you hear the word brown jewels as in the specialized high schools are the crown jewels of the New York City school system. Take a drink every time you hear. If this contract is not approved, there'll be no new classes in the eight specialized high schools. Take a drink. You should be getting a good buzz on, but there's more. Take a dainty sip when you hear work hard as in only kids at specialized high schools. Work hard. Take a big switch. When you hear people will leave New York, you might not actually, actually, I thought you might not hear the sky is falling, but we did hear that. So if you're thirsty, you know what to do. The amount of hysteria that has been whipped up by this contract is beyond. There have been editorials and columns mostly in the New York Post and other right wing outlets for weeks. There have been exhortation in social media for people to send emails to defend the contract, to show up here tonight. They're using their political capital to get Richie Torres to tweet out sternly worded videos and Chuck Schumer to issue a statement. Hey, Chuck, you're only in power for a few more weeks, please get to work and shore up our civil rights. Appoint some more judges. The New York Post has been talking about it, quote, intensifying fight and progressive quote, aiming to destroy schools. Are you people paying any attention whatsoever? Where is this boogeyman you were so scared of? Have you noticed any organizing on this issue from the folks you think are out to get your schools? Because until today, when the op-ed criticizing Pearson that I wrote yesterday appeared in the Daily News, we haven't been doing much of anything other than watch you catastrophize. It's like you've fallen in the grip of some mass delusional paranoia. Who knows? Maybe it's the drones. We know the panel members will already have received their instructions on how to vote. So they will vote yes. It doesn't matter to most of them. As it seems not to matter to most of you, that Pearson is a walking disaster delivering faulty tests, breaking the law with a track record. So pathetic that New York state had to fire them as purveyors of the state tests. You believe somehow that without the S-H-A-C-T, there can be no specialized admissions, even though only three of these eight schools must have the test. And that doesn't even have to be the S-H-S-A-T. None of them have to have a digital test. What I'm saddest about is the poverty of imagination. I see around me. I don't think you understand that there can be problems in the crown jewels. There can be. Okay, I'm gonna ask that the audience again. Uh, and we're not, and I'm gonna allow you to have a additional time. I'm gonna ask the audience, not interrupt the speakers and allow to speak. We, you know, we've been very respectful and when we hear differences of opinion, we need to respect and not silence people and allow people to speak even when it's uncomfortable or even when we disagree. One of the things we want to do, we had a lot of kids here today. The kids did this perfectly. So, so let's, let's take their example and, and set an example for our children that we can have dialogue, we can have dialogue we disagree with, but that we can be respectful. And so I want to return. You can, uh, complete your comments. Thank you. Um, there could be remarkable GMs in schools. You probably consider unworthy of your progeny. I'm sad when kids think egged on by their parents. Maybe you're the test prep industry that preys on families. If they don't snag a specialized seat, maybe they won't get to college. They want, maybe there's, you know, they're in seventh grade and worried about a good job. My immigrant ethnic Chinese husband attended a specialized high school. He is a smart guy, but he is not a nova laureate nor a captain of industry. Our children did not, um, attend, apply to specialized schools. Um, and yet my child won a first in the New York City Science and Engineering Fair. She got her master's at 21 in her college classes. She sat next to other kids who went to specialized schools because they end up in the same place. The sky is not falling. Drink up. Thank you. Hi, my name is Elizabeth Chan. I'm a former New York City public school student, and I'm also a parent of a public school student. And I just fighting for the S-S-H-A-T uh, scoring test because specialized schools serve a need in our community. Bronx Science, 40% of the students are poor, and the specialized schools give regular students a free world class education and shame on former alumnis and student parents like her that benefited from the specialized schools, but don't support the funding of the SSHT test because for us immigrate kids, it's very important because we won't have the privilege that she has hypocrite. And that is a hypocrite. And, you know, and shame on the side. PTA for not supporting the SSHT test. And, and also shame on former Mayor Blasio and his son that spoke out against Brooklyn Tech because the, he was a millionaire mayor, but he still put his kid in a specialized high school. So what does that tell you about the privilege of going and the, and the amount of respect that people give to the specialized high school? And more than a few city officials have went through our specialized high school, mayor Adams came through our special high, our high school, and the new chancellor says she wants excellence. So why is she not helping funding or pushing funding for the SSHT and stop pitting blacks and brown against Asians and vice versa. Stop making this a political fight. Something's wrong with our public school education for the New Yorker City education when we spend so much per kid, but only a few of our students make it through the specialized high school. And my sister going to a underperforming school in the Bronx made it into a specialized high school. So we need to stop downgrading our students' education. We need to strive for excellence. We want our New York City students to have career and jobs that pay well. So those, they don't become homeless. No kid left behind policy does not mean kids get a suburb education. It means give our kids a world class education. Rich kids will go to private schools. So who do you really think not funding that, uh, testing will impact having specialized schools? Actually it benefits our all our other schools because it forces our middle schools and elementary schools to be better so that our kids can make it into the program. And it also, we had the dream program that also like pushed kids into the SST program. My son did the dream program and I felt like he got more educ. Your time has expired, so please record. Okay, thank you. And, uh, one last thing. No, not, no, no. Your time has expired. Oh no. Uh, the next group of speakers is Brittany Kaiser, sole, Lee Chen, Christian Lee and Kenny Tan. Start when you get to the microphone. Hi, this is so moley. I am, uh, actually an immigrant mom of a seventh grader. Uh, I wanna just say one thing because we are talking all the time about special high school is like they are the best. Not no, they are not. For some kids, there are, there could be a lot of challenges and breakdown. So I don't think this is something for everyone. So if your kids, they don't go to this high school, doesn't mean that they are dumb. They might be even smarter, better with emotional intelligence iq. So nothing safe. So for me, to be honest with you, my dream was always for my son to become a national soccer player. Doing that at it. I loved soccer. Um, but one day after all the efforts I did, his coach told me he wouldn't get, get far with that, with that goal. It was the sad news. I I, I took it badly at the beginning. I said, is there anything wrong with his legs, with his arm? They said, no, everything's fine. But he doesn't like it. He's not good at it. I didn't burn down the soccer field in New York City. I stood cheering for those kids, his friends that they are doing very well in soccer and they're all getting sober and I'm gonna cheer for them. But you know what, something happened one day I found out my son got into gifted talented program. I was not cheering for it, to be honest with you because that I I myself, I was always this student and I'm very success successful. So after they got rid of the gifted, talented, so we sent him, he got a lottery number, so whatever he was deserved to go with the lottery number. And then even in that school, he go, he became an honor student and I found out he's really enjoying doing math. You can't give him three hours of math classes and science. He enjoys it. He does it and he's so fast. The hardest problem you give him, he can do it in a second. So I I don't help him. He doesn't have tutors, nothing. So my only thing today, I accept what he is with as I, I believe he can be a good, um, candidate for this specialist high school because they are measuring their ability in math and reading, which he's good at. So my question is, sir, if he doesn't get challenged, he's getting bored. He does crazy things and I don't want that for him. I want a good future. Your time is expired. Just thank you. If he doesn't go to this school, if he doesn't go official high school reaches school. Do you guys approve? Knowing that we are not very good with lot, our lottery number is always been low. So what would, okay, so we pointed out your time has expired. Next speaker please. Thank you. Good. Do you think I'm a speaking here as a proud parent of a New York City public school student in support of approving the Pearson contract for the S-H-S-A-T? And I guess, obviously I can't speak for everyone here, but for me, this is not a game including a drinking game. This is very serious Areas. There's always room for improvement in the current system for admissions to specialized schools, which I acknowledge, but that's not where we are here tonight. Any improvement to the process requires proposals, debates, active inclusion of voices of everyone affected. And I've heard the panel tonight talk about the importance of inclusion of voices before decisions are made, including for MS 3 94. So this is another time if we're gonna make a major change that requires inclusion of all voices, which is a process, and that takes time to consider the alternatives. With that said, right now where we are is there is no plan B, don't let anybody fool you. If this contract is not approved, there's a great likelihood of a disaster with no students being admitted to some or all of these specialized schools in 2026 with chaotic and unpredictable consequences. And that to me is totally unacceptable. It's a common misconception. That's that the S-H-S-A-T based on the admissions process, uh, that the S-H-S-A-T based admissions process for specialized high schools mainly benefits the wealthy and privilege. Many others here have commented on this. The privileged and well connected have many other options, including private schools leaving the city. But this situation is quite the opposite. Specialized high schools are a lifeline to students of all backgrounds who lack privilege and connections. I saw Representative Richie Torres of the Bronx, who represents, I don't know who, if everybody knows this, the poorest district per capita in the United States out of 435 house districts. He represents the poorest district and he's a strong advocate of the S-H-S-A-T. He understands what's best for his constituents, and I hope the panel acknowledges that as well. I can think of no one who will benefit from the rejection of this contract tonight. I see only 30,000 students next year who will be deprived of the opportunity to take this exam. And I don't want to see that happen. I hope the panel agrees with me. Thank you. Goodnight. Hello? Uh, my name is Chenko. I'm here to speak on as a member of a st of the Stuyvesant, SLT as well as a private citizen. I just want to let you know that the Stuyvesant, SLT voted unanimously to request an urge, the pep, to prove that it's sh a contract as a parent of, um, of a specialized high school student and as a for of a seventh grader was preparing now for the test. Um, you know, I'm also a, um, an alumni of Brooklyn Technical High School in the eighties during a period of 20 consecutive years, uh, where it was majority black and Hispanic. Um, and some people have, you know, so and every student, you know, uh, had took the S-H-S-A-T to get in. And some people have accused this just out of being racist and discriminatory. They spent a lot of time and resources, uh, to destroy the race blind, uh, objective standardized tests that generations of black and Hispanic students took in passed and the specialized high schools that they attended. The fact is the test wasn't racist then and isn't racist today. But what has changed are that the gifted and and accelerated programs that were once in almost every neighborhood have almost all been eliminated or worded down to be meaningless. Um, a lot of high performing black and brown students also get scholarships to private schools that Asian students do not qualify for. Um, there's also an ethos back in the day that students were encouraged to study hard to try to get into the specialized high schools. Philip Schuler in the, in Brooklyn, the middle school was a majority black accelerated middle school. That once is a school. It's still there currently, but once was a steady feeder school to Brooklyn Tech. A lot of my classmates from Brooklyn Tech came from there. But today it doesn't do that anymore. It doesn't send that many students to specialized high schools. Instead of attacking the shisha and the most rigorous schools that serve high achieving students who are often from low income immigrant families. I urge the pep to focus your resources on helping students become high achievers. There's a crisis of low academic achievement across our city, across our nation, okay? I urge you to address those inequities, the low expectations, the bigotry of that, uh, and taking away opportunities from students who can achieve closing down schools. So I urge you, please approve the contract. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Kenny Tan. I was raised in Brooklyn, and I am a product of the New York City Public School system. I'm a proud graduate of Stuyvesant High School, and every year I tutor dozens of students for the specialized high school admission test. Now, you've already heard many speakers tonight voice their support for the S-H-S-A-T and some more eloquently than I can, so I won't for you with the same arguments, I'd like to share some information that I learned recently that I'm sure will be of interest to families that are here tonight. According to a New York City public school staff member who is involved in the contracts process, assuming that the PEP does approve the contract tonight, the hs, the digital S-H-S-A-T will not be adaptive next year, but it will be adaptive starting the following year. Furthermore, next year's test is supposed to be a digital version of the current test in both format and content. New York City Public Schools is expected to release two digital practice tests around the end of this, this school year with an interface identical to the platform by Pearson that the real test will be administered with. And on that note, every year New York City Public Schools releases two practice tests for the S-H-S-A-T. However, many of the items that is questions are repeated from previously released practice tests. In fact, this year, only a dozen out of the 228 practice questions were never seen before. My hope is that as part of the S-H-S-A-T contract renewal, you will require Pearson to provide practice tests released in the future, composed of entirely new questions. By doing so, you will provide more free test prep resources to all students that study for the test in the future. And finally, if there's anyone here tonight who can provide more information to families about the digital S-H-S-A-T test specifications, I'm eager to speak with you. Thank you. Hi, my name is Kaiser. I'm a parent, a former teacher, and also here on behalf of the Alliance for Quality Education. For almost 25 years, a QE has been fighting for full funding and true equity for all students in New York state. From crumbling infrastructure to libraries to afterschool programs, there are so many needs in our school system. I hope that everyone who came out today to advocate for their own kids access to high quality education keeps showing up when it's resources for other communities that are at stake. It is inaccurate and shameful to imply that students learning with people who are different from them is a negative Thank you panel member Ali say for interrupting that false narrative. We already know that testing for specialized high schools favors certain children over the majority. We also know this PEP will still vote in favor of directing $17 million towards those tests. That's because the mayor who is currently under investigation appoints the majority of you. And it's abundantly clear that mayoral appointees are just here to rubber stamp his pro segregationist agenda. The one-sided engagement tonight is not reflective of the priorities of the majority of our large and diverse DOE community. It is evidence of marginalized communities disengagement, knowing that this process is a facade and a foregone conclusion. Instead of expanding opportunities for all NYC students, we are continuing to gatekeep public school resources through a competitive and selective process that only a fraction of parents know how to game. New York City is the most segregated school district in the country. We call for the end of the discriminatory use of specialized high school admissions test as the sole determinant to entrance into NYC specialized high schools. Others have addressed the alarming and embarrassing track record of Pearson. Pearson made mistakes in tests and in scoring, the shiza has allowed a massive data breach harming our students and has reused material from its curriculum in its test materials. This invalidates test data because anyone who uses both curriculum and tests from Pearson would have an obvious advantage viewed charitably. This is lazy and irresponsible. More realistically, Pearson has manipulated tests to increase their profits. Instead of throwing more money at testing for specialized high schools, we urge you to push for the redirection of $17 million to go towards proven strategies that benefit the majority of students, like making class sizes, smaller mental health services, more afterschool program teacher recruitment, high impact tutoring. The list goes on, vote down the contract. Thank you. The next group of speakers is Anna Ser. Ying won Warren Liu, um, Ash Barak. Yeah, Jessica Shilling, or Ling sorry. You can start. Someone who gets the microphone can start speaking. Great. Good, Good evening. Um, this is Warren Liu. I am, uh, speaking on behalf for my, uh, two kids. I know everyone is tired right now. Um, some are may be sitting here four or five hours, but I just need 15 seconds of your attention. Two question for members. First of all, let me ask you this. Is it easier to break the glass or is easier to fix it? Now, if we are gonna destroy the SHSD program, what's our alternative solution? I don't hear anybody talk about that. The second question I have is directly related to me. I have a dollar. She, she's interested in drawing and she's great at drawing. She have a great academic record. Now, here's sad things that we have a really bad lottery number. Most of a regular school that she want to attend, she has a zero chance. But my question is, does she or should she have a chance to try LaGuardia Specialized High School? If you guys take away the chance, that means she got zero chance to any other school she likes. Now, what, what am I gonna explain to my daughter how I'm here to urge members? Think twice. What you doing? Because your decision could affect tens thousand of students and family members. Many of my colleagues left for New York City already. They leaving to Long Island, they left to, uh, New Jersey for better education program. Now, specialized high school program is only chance that is left for my kids. And please don't take that away. I merge everyone of you just passing the program, passing the country. So just put end to it. I feel there's too much, uh, debate going on right now about this. I I don't know why we have debate about this. This program has gone on for half centuries, actually 53 years right now. Why suddenly we talk about like, you know, take down a program, delay the program. I, I, I don't know the reason behind it. I really don't know. Second thing I want to talk about is that people saying that it costs too much to, to fund a program. Here's a funding thing. Other states, they all have a accelerated or advanced program. They have a limited budget, but they were able to, and they still, they still have the program. North Carolina, Virginia, they still have the program as of today, right now. And why, why we, why good time is expired? I do need to wrap up. Sorry. Uh, good evening. Uh, I signed up as Yen Yen Wang with my lead. Uh, but I'm Phil Wong. And, um, I, for, I'm a parent of three daughters that all attended, uh, New York City Public Schools. I'm here to, to talk about two issues. Uh, allow me, uh, the first issue actually, uh, before I get to the S-H-S-A-T, uh, there's an issue, uh, that's going on right now in school District 24, uh, where there's a co-location problem of there's gonna be an international school to be co-located at the Joseph Quinn, IS 77 at 9 76 Ker Avenue Ridgewood. That will be discussed next month. I know that. But, uh, allowing me to talk about this for 10 seconds. That was actually stop a lot of parents from coming in here next month. Yeah, they um, the problem is that, yeah, we said in the beginning that the discussion is, must be related to the motion. Okay. Alright. Sorry. Then I will talk about it next month. I'll be here next month to talk about the co-location problem. Okay. Um, I'll be very brief because, uh, every, most of the issues that I want to bring up is already, if you'd like to bring that up, I guess in general, public comment. Okay, sure. I'll do that. I'll do, thank you. Thank you. Alright. Yeah. Um, let me get to it. Uh, heck Calandra is a state law. And by not making it happen, violates the state law. And PEP members here sign a statement that they will adhere to the Constitution of New York State, New York City Charter Laws of New York State Laws of New York City. And you cannot allow that to happen by not approving the S-H-S-E-S-A-T contract, it, it breaks the law. It's that simple. So please adhere to the law. Approve the contract. Now, if there's an issue about, oh, we gotta go to Albany, or members here will go to Albany, uh, talk about fixing it. Changing it. Uh, uh, well, this happened a couple years ago. The chancellor Richard Carranza was in Albany. And then, uh, uh, that, that did not go well. Right? And then we, the parents here will be in Albany, if any of you members will be in Albany. So, uh, let me wrap that and I will see you in Albany. Thank you. Right. Hi, my name's Anna Ellinger. Two kids, one graduated from Brooklyn Tech and one is currently in Brooklyn, Latin. And I'm also the PTA Vice President. But everything I'm saying is my own. Sorry, I'm nervous. My own words. Um, a couple people mentioned, and I wanna mention bad lottery numbers. The fact that that's something that we have to say parents for our kids, to you guys or to anybody, is a horrible thing that that's like some, my kid was a Triple f I'm not gonna say what that stood for in our house, he was a Triple F. Luckily he took the, that he had free tutoring at his Title one school, junior high school, as did his brother. He had free tutoring after school by some of the amazing teachers there. They both did great on the gisette. They both went to great schools. I don't understand why we're throwing the baby out with the bath water. None of us love Pearson. But if that's what we have right now, that's what we have. If we wanna spend the next five years trying to figure out something else, I think we should do it. But right now it's our option. And there's a lot of kids. There's really good schools and there's kids that are happy. Why are we messing with it? Why aren't we making all of the hundreds of high schools we have in New York City just as good, if not better? I don't, it doesn't make any sense to me why we're always like picking at these nine schools and we're not helping these other schools that need it. So I know we have to vote. You guys have to vote on it. And I'm really hoping you keep it because there's a lot of kids that, there's 30,000 kids that take this test, that wanna go to these schools. It shows they're good schools. It shows that it's working. The schools are good. I think we should just have more of them. I think that's the problem, is that we don't have enough schools that kids aren't terrified when they get their Triple F lottery number. We just need more good schools and we not, not need to not tear down the ones that we're happy with. Thank you. Hello, my name is Jessica Schilling. I'm a parent of two students. Um, we waste a lot of talent in this country. We waste a lot of talent in this city, but the specialized high schools aren't the problem. They're a solution. And the test isn't the problem. It reveals the problem. So, so instead of attacking the tiny jewels, can I get a bone Jarry martini straight up? Um, instead of attacking the tiny jewels, um, and pulling up the ladders for, from schools, from people who have been tending these schools that have been reliably pulling people out of poverty in one generation, what is the solution then? Because will breaking something that's working, uh, fix something that isn't working? And that's all I have to say. And I hope you ask the concept. The next group of speakers is Adam Lee, Chantel Bradford, Karen Sloan, David Rem, and Charlia to make your way down to the microphone. Somebody there you can start. Good evening. My name is David Ram, a 60 year young, born and raised native New Yorker and the very proud father of a former New York City. K through 12 public school graduate daughter, Ava m Ava began her public school journey at PS 1 0 1, where I also attended many moons ago as well. Ava finished her public school education at Peter s Stuyvesant High School, having taken the specialized high school admissions exam and having scored an exceptional 600 score on the Shaza test. My commentary tonight is to respectfully request of this pep panel to support and sign the contract tonight to support, uh, to support the Pearson Corporation administer test as it has since 1971 and stays the sole metric for admission into New York City's specialized high schools. Let's guarantee that all kids can continue to enter New York City's gems specialized high schools, which rely solely on objective, not subjective, standardized testing that the Shaza test guarantees free of bias. It is a complete false narrative and allegation that the Shaza test, um, is a, um, discriminatory test against minorities and also against gender-based girls. Again, my Colombian daughter, Ava Rem, daughter of a first generation immigrant mother from me, Jean Columbia, is double proof that neither minorities nor girls are biased against by the SHAZA test. Ava's world class received education that she received at Stuyvesant, enabled her to attend and apply for Harvard. And I told Ava Harvard is gonna be easier than Stuyvesant. In closing, I respectfully request of this pep panel tonight to approve the Pearson text. And please don't discriminate against the majority Asians. I've fought for Asians in the city. There are 17 Nobel Prize winners that come out of that school. And I'd also like to make notice tonight that I'm running for mayor of New York City, David Ram New York city.com, and I will support all children. And to the Pep Mans on here that a previous, uh, specialized high school, your, your time has expired specialized high school students and refuse to support this. It is disgraceful. Look at your paper. Hi, everyone. So, uh, can I, can I get a, a interpreter because, uh, you know, I speak in, uh, Mandarin Better? We need an, is there an interpreter here? Yeah. Was there somebody, uh, I can volunteer to interpret if that's okay with the We have, we have, we have, we have our folks Two, are they here? Right There. Someone, I think he's coming forward now. You, You, Uh, yeah. Uh, everyone, uh, I'm the parent of the student from uh, t uh, okay. I heard that. Uh, today, tonight there's a voting from PEP about the, uh, about the, uh, special high school, uh, about the SAT examination to special high school. So, uh, definitely I want to request you to vote for, uh, passing the five year contract. So I really hope that every member from UPP can vote for this project. I want to ask a question why I'm not sitting over there, uh, because I'm not very capable to be sitting in this, uh, position. So the, so the school, the school has a very important, uh, job is to educate all the people to be very capable to serve back to this society, to this country. I want you to think about what I said. All the students, or actually all the people, they have to work very hard to get a very good results, either from school or in the, uh, in the future society. So I want you think again. So I really hope and the request that the PEP members will and must vote to pass this contract. Yeah. Will end up must for five. Yes. Yeah. Thank you. No, there's no, we haven't yet. Um, I have my name up. I'm not sure if I Clicked the wrong thing. I have, I still, I'm still calling names. Got it. Sorry. I just wanna, I know I had called names and very few people came down. So the next group, um, is Michelle Lee, Greg Cuomo, Cassandra, Chu y Lynn. And I really do apologize for all the, my bad pronunciation tonight. Yes, you may speak. Yes. I thank you for the opportunity, uh, to explore the S-H-A-T-T-A together tonight. Um, uh, the spin I want to put on my talk, 'cause I don't want to just be repetitive everybody else, is that, uh, there's often something stated that, uh, za studying and prep opportunities leave out middle and low income students. Uh, but SZA material and resources are readily available. Uh, for instance, Suzette workbooks have never been better and available pretty much everywhere. Um, one way to get a workbook, as we already discussed a few times tonight, is at a library. There's also now a plethora of PE past DOE handbooks available, which has, uh, two practice tests in each handbook as well. Um, there was free Shaza Prep available through many libraries, and many middle schools have their own programs as well. Uh, plus there are income focus programs that are available through sources like Telecon Admission Squad, navigate the Maize, the City College NOAC STEM Institute, heck, even the Doe's Own Dream program. And the list just goes on and on and on. Um, and these are just not hour long one shot things. They're actual prep full blown courses. Um, also, I am Greg from GREATS Turning NYC. I'm a tutor for the S-H-A-S-T. And, uh, I can tell you that myself and other tutors offer many pro bono tutoring services. Uh, it's Penny and Ivan also do as well. And I know there's a, a whole, whole bunch of others as well, um, that offer that. Furthermore, um, I myself, uh, provide hundreds of hours of material that's freely and publicly available, uh, covering every single aspect of the S-H-S-A-T. Again, hundreds of hours worth of material as well. The internet, a bounds with material. Uh, I am also the moderator of R slash S-H-S-A-T, the largest S-H-S-A-T community anywhere and every year, thousands of test stickers, uh, inter interact on this community. And, um, guess what, of those thousands of them most are middle and low income studios. And also, guess what, uh, there are actual students doing the work and wanting to do the work. Okay. So there are free resources available, uh, and some of them available for thousands of students at a time at a shot. So, uh, and when I mean free, I mean free as in no cost and also freely available, like it's readily available at the snap at the tip of the finger. Thank you. Hello, my name is Michelle Lee. I am a parent SLT co-chair at the Anderson School, a key through eight school located in Manhattan. On behalf of the parent leaders of our SLT and PTA co-presidents, we urge the members of the vote of the pep to vote yes to approve that contract. We have over 94% of our eighth graders, um, who take the chiat. And our school has one of the highest application rates and acceptance rates across all new New York City middle schools. So, you know, without, uh, further pressing on the, on the data, suffice to say this is a very important vote for our students and families. Um, I do want to now kind of put on my parent hat. I have two children. Uh, one of them is a middle schooler. And I don't wanna repeat many of the great points from tonight, but I do wanna reiterate that the purpose of the test is not to exclude, but it is to identify the students that will best match the school's offering and succeed in that environment. Not every school is a good match for every student, and that is okay. Just as you would not expect a student with no performing arts training to thrive at a performing arts high school like LaGuardia or Special Music School, you want to ensure that incoming students at a specialized high school are appropriately prepared for accelerated coursework. What matters is that we provide more opportunities for students that best match their educational needs and not take them away or change the mission and nature of already successful schools. Now, in the past several years, we've seen firsthand the stress on parents and students on the ever-changing admissions for elementary and middle schools and high schools. Um, our school in particular was impacted, especially with the 2021 g and t uh, vote that was, um, declined. And I do want to reiterate that changes in admissions, they do make an impact on these schools. And even though our school and our teachers will always try their best to accommodate a wider range of learning, what we did see when the middle school screens were taken away was some students coming in two grades below, while some students with three grades above. And that is a very difficult thing for a teacher to accommodate no matter how wonderful that teacher is. And I think that for any change that's done to these admissions, I would urge the pep to really study what the impact of those changes have been, both on enrollment, on whether, uh, parents wanna apply to those schools and whether those schools can still maintain an accelerated status. Thank you. The last two speakers, I have signed up on contracts Hin and Moto Shihi. Yeah, I have. Okay. I'll come back to you. I can make your way down to my Hello. Um, I am a, a VP of East Side Middle School and SLT member of another elementary school. But I'm speaking today as a mom of two girls. Um, I moved to New York City from Los Angeles 15 years ago. My husband and I fell in love with the diversity and kindness of this city. And, uh, we started a family here. P p's bylaw says PEP is committed to representing the diversity of voice and opinion within New York City School community. There are over 700 high school programs in New York City Public High School. If you don't like test, there are excellent schools that admit students by school grade a safe auditions or lottery or others. Um, there is no one size fits all. Let people who want the test have it. I urge all the PEP members to vote yes to the S-H-S-A-T contract. I agree that the diversity within each school is very, very important. But let's not divide people by voting this down. It will create chaos. Let's look at, um, and tackle the root problems first. Why are, uh, why are high hope the, uh, public school students not performing at the grade level? Those students are not getting equal opportunity. I urge PEP members to work on the real problem. Let's give them equal opportunity by fixing K to eight education. pre-K for all was a great start. Let's discuss what else we can do together for our city. Please don't waste your time lobbying to scrub S-H-S-A-T many immigrants American Dream. Thank you. Um, if you signed up as public comment, just can I just have your name so I can find your, excuse me. Okay. Thank you. Should I get started? Yeah. Okay, perfect. Um, good evening everyone. Happy holidays. Merry Christmas. We're about just one week away from midnight and Christmas, so we, it's only a week away. I'm Dr. Ivan Khan. I'm a Bangladeshi New Yorker, a former resident of Elmhurst and Corona and PS 19 South Ozone Park, PS 100, the Sophie Davis Program at City College in Harlem. And of course, Kensington, Brooklyn, where I received my DA and MPH from SUNY Downstate Medical Center. I've dedicated my life to the uplifting of immigrant communities and my black and Latin allies. My father, uh, was a high school. My late father was a high school teacher at Wingate High School in Sheep Set Bay, and an assistant principal in Harlem's Waley High School. So the work that we do, um, is deeply personal to me. We wanna make sure that all of our black and Latin allies that have faced systemic discrim discrimination, just like new immigrants, have every single opportunity to succeed in this amazing city of ours. I first came in here to the city of 1987 as a poor New York City public kid my entire life. I knew firsthand how differently the city funded black and brown districts like the ones I grew up in. We all know that today it's less than 50% of students are grade level proficient EL in math. So, and that rate is a lot worse when we look at our most marginalized communities. In order to tackle that, I'm one of many organizations that's given 30 full fledged tutoring scholarships to only black and Latin youth. No Bangladeshi are allowed to have my scholarships. It's only reserved for my allies in the black and Latin communities. With that, we've helped almost 200 students since the start of our private scholarships. One of them includes Samantha Farrow, who grew up not too far away as a child of Haitian immigrants. She ended up at Stuyvesant High School as a recipient of our scholarship program. And in the dismal year when Stuyvesant was only able to get a handful of students of, uh, from the black community, we wanted to make that 7,700, our company prepped at least more than half of them. So the work that we're doing is helping Sarah, uh, Samantha is now a freshman at Wesleyan University. She led her school at Stuyvesant High School's Black Student Union where I was a a, um, a returnee guest. She returned back to a partnership program called Dream Chasers that's in Harlem and South Queens to make sure to teach kids very similar to her from her own community to make sure they had the same exact opportunities. So I wanna thank you all for getting the band back together. 'cause if this is gonna be a, a policy fight for the next year, you, you got us here. So we look forward to this vote tonight and thank you so much for having me. If, if someone inadvertently signed up for the general comment, but wanted to speak on the contract. Um, so if you could just do, I know the signup is a little complicated and I wanna make sure that everyone who wants to speak and signed up can, um, can you just give us your name so we can take a note? My name is Kevin Zal. I signed actually, but was not called. Yep. Okay. You may speak. Okay. My name is Kevin Zal from CC 20. I'm also the parents of the district 20. Um, everybody has set it from many different viewpoints and everything, and I think that is very well stated. We need to have the SHAT and please pass the contract over here. I just want to emphasize, reiterate the two points. One is pulling down the SHAT and specialized high school does not newly help anybody. If in contrast, he might hold on the education quality in the whole city. I mean, when we talk about, um, there are some families not capable of sending their kid to prepare for the S-H-S-A-T, the answer that is the little girl has emphasized before the DOE, the city should be able to help those families, but not to tore down the education itself. Same thing. The little girl even sees that our life cannot be a list of natural, it's something we have to work for. So please pass it. Thank you. Did you sign up? And if you give us your name, I know some of the the sign up is still being wrapped In your name. Yeah. Hi, my name is Joe Ney. Okay. Okay. Hi everyone. My name is Joe Ney. I am running for SD Mayor. And, uh, I think, uh, I have to say it's AC, S-H-S-A-T is very important. Before I was, uh, used be a learn senior teacher teach grade seven, grade eight student in Whitestone. In class, there's some student is very smart, they respond very quickly. Some student is not so quickly, it's hard for me to make a ans very hard make, make a an that's me. I can teaching to, to, to everybody equally. Finally, I was fired. So if ISAT canceled like a student in learning center, I teach, they make a mess. The class can go on. To be honest, I myself also used to be a, uh, kids when I was a kid, I studied a class that's selected by the, by the by the score is higher. That's make me learning something quicker. And, uh, also doing good job in society. I think now people got talents. Even people got different talents like we all driving, right? Somebody probably never driving, but most people driving, just imagine a car yelled to pedestrian, that's called civilization. But if I ask all the cars drive as silly as a pe pediatrician, what do it call, that's called a weird and anti civilization. So I think the most important thing today is not an issue. Cancel or not cancel is not an issue. We should next time we, we we, we, we have a vote for different regulation regulations, not for cancel it or not cancel it. Cancel it is, is anti symbolization. I guess that's very serious situation. So make the education bank work. And June, our education, June our next generation. So I strongly ask everybody to think that seriously before God, your time is expired. Sure. Oh, sorry. Thank you. Uh, that as far as I can tell is the end of the public comment on a contract item Chair, Faulkner? Yes. Yes. Panel Member Shepherd. Thank you. So, um, let's go ahead and get this started, right? Are we beginning the panel member comment? Yes. I, I just wanted to, before we do that, and I'm gonna recognize you next, I wanted to, um, just thank our, um, chair of engagement because one of the things I wanna point out is that this panel did a great job in engaging the public on this particular topic in our December 11th meeting. We had a historic number of people attend that meeting. There were over almost 300 people who tuned in. And then there were another 40 or so 44 that gave public testimony. Um, I wanna thank the panel members who attended that session. We had several of our panel members there. I I think this has been great engagement and I think that's important. Um, somebody mentioned over a thousand emails. My emails are ringing late at night and up asleep, and I'm hearing the, the emails coming in. Please stop. Um, so, um, but no, this is important. And, uh, and I, and I really appreciate that and this is what engagement is, is about. So I just wanted to thank the panel. I wanted to thank our chair specifically for taking on that assignment. Um, and I want to thank, and, and I wanna thank all of you. Um, although some of us had different opinions and some of the dialogue and the conversation was difficult, that's what democracy is about. Difficult dialogue and listening to different opinions and then, uh, arriving at a decision. So, um, I appreciate all of you coming out and, uh, you know, panel has a difficult decision ahead. And so I'm now going to throw the floor open for panel member comments and Panel Member Shepherd, you are recognized for comments. Thank you, chair fa. So, all right. So, you know, I've, I've heard a lot tonight, right? Um, I've, I've heard people say that if you are opposed to this, then you are tearing down specialized high schools. That is the farthest thing from the truth. I grew up in the Bronx in the 1970s, and I'm a product of New York City public schools, including Berkeley Tech. So let's be clear when we have these conversations that we throw around things that are actually true. That said, I'm gonna start with a number 3,994. 3,994. If you go to info hub.nyc.org, um, is the S-H-S-A-T offers by residential district Fall 2023. There is one district that had 548 offers a single district out of 32. Now people have invoked Richie Torres's name, uh, as someone who, um, supports, um, the S-H-S-A-T exam. Um, I just want to say if we consider 548 in one district out of 3,994, that is 14% of all the specialized high school offers went to a single district. Now, if we're gonna go to Richie Torres's districts, district seven in the Bronx where I live, that's District seven through 12, right? District 7.0 0 3 13 people out of 3,994. So when we are having conversations about equitable access to schools, I have not been convinced at all tonight that this process is fair and equitable for my community in the Bronx. And when you add up District seven through 1246 in District eight 20, in District 9 55 in District 10, the biggest get total was District 11 with 70. And District 12 had 12. If you add them all up, you, you had one district that had more than twice as many offers as the entire borough of the Bronx combined. And if you add up, 'cause people have been substituting race with like poverty, right? Like, like the poor people, right? Like, like 40% of the students that go to these specialized high schools are low income and poor, right? So I went and looked at the districts who represents the highest poverty in the entire city. There's 17 of them. And when you add up all 17 of those districts, you had one district that still had 20 more offers than 17 districts combined. So if we gonna have us a conversation about equity, let's talk about it. Now, I've heard people say that, you know, the problem, a test problem is the system. Guess what, it is possible for more than one thing to be true. It is possible for there to be a problem with the system and a problem with the test. When I look at the numbers that I'm looking at, where you see 17 districts disenfranchised by a test, where once one district can have 548 offers, and the 17 poorest districts in this city add up to 528 combined, there is a problem with the way that K to eight runs. But there is, you cannot convince me that a test is fair when it produces those results. The test is working exactly how it was designed to work. It is designed to disenfranchise the Bronx. It is designed to disenfranchise central Brooklyn. It is designed to franchise Harlem. It is designed to to, to disenfranchise parts of Queens. It's what it was designed for and for people that say, this is, you know, 90 years no head Calandra was passed in May of 1971. How do I know? I went back and looked at how old I am, and I was born in March, 1971. So this law has been on the books literally as long as I've been alive. And just because, and, and I want to clear something up, right? Because I, I, I'm, you know, I serve time in the military and you know, people are walking in saying, well, you know, this is law and you know, we are duty bound to, you know, oh, you know, like uphold it no matter what. There are two things there, right? I wanna unpack a little bit with that. So back in September, right, we had a contract for Core Craft, right? Where we said that we, and, and it came up, right? Like, like, you know, it is a state law. We have to like rock with court craft because the law says we have to, and guess what? We said no anyway, right? So what that did was it sent a message to Albany that we found that completely unacceptable, right? So for the folks that say that, you know, because heck Calandra is on the books and we have an obligation to follow it, no matter what, I would humbly give to this, to this, you know, my colleagues, that if we can make that type of decision just a few months ago, we can do it again. The onus is not on us, right? When it is Albany that created this mess in 1971, before 1970, and we have to be clear about why we're dealing with this, right? Because people say, well, back in the eighties, right? Half the people that went to Brooklyn Tech was black. Yeah, half the people were black, half the people in the hall looked just like me, but most of the people in my calculus and physics class didn't. So if we gonna talk about it, if people come up here and they wanna talk about a specialized high school experience and what that means, I went to one of those specialized high schools, and I can tell you just because you got in did not mean that you came out the other end going to Harvard and that, that you came out the other end being a Westinghouse recipient. It I went into the military. So let's like, like we need to clear all that, that up, right? So the last thing I'm going just really just like, I'm gonna just say this as far as this con and people have spoken out about Pearson, and again, things work how they design to work, right? But you know, just at the end of the day, I think we have an obligation to call out systems and the way that they work and who they design to work for, and who they designed not to work for. So whether it is online or on paper, I'm voting no on this contract because I understand what this test represents. Thank you Chair Faulkner, and I yield back. Thank thank you very much, panel member for your comments. Any other panel members? Miss wishes to be recognized. I see, yes. Shirley move. I would like to start off saying that I am listening. I always listen. I will continue to listen. And I'm going to say from the, from the get from the beginning, I am going to abstain and I'm going to tell you why. So, and it's based on nos and yes, first point for why you should vote no on this contract. Um, patent member Shepherd touched on it. I'm gonna come from another angle. This te is not the act of giving a test, right? Equality and equity are two different things. It's not that act of doing a test. The regions does not do this. And I'm gonna get to this. State exams do not do this. We give other assessments. It does not do this. It consistently decades of research and study. If we still believe in math, is empirical data done across the country and the city that it continually marginalized blacks, Hispanics, students with IEP and those with disability. These groups are already marginalized in other mandated services. Are we in the business of continually marginalizing our students? Or are we here to serve all of our students? That is one thing to do. We, our schools should reflect New York City diversity is a strength, not a problem. I'm gonna go, I'm gonna, I got a few points I'm gonna ask to bear stability of our infrastructure when it comes to digital and technology. All I have to say is look at remote days. This should going digital should be based in and come up with a backup. Technology is what technology is. So what is the backup? If the system chooses to fail the day of administrating digital business backup, it should be a backup. Then we're going to Pearson, which is, uh, another issue itself. I'm gonna summarize it by 19 lawsuits across the country, 2018, this company had the largest student data breach in the history of the United States and hid it. And SEC had penalized them by finding them a million bucks. There's other issues, I'm just going because other people can bring it up if they so choose to. There is still a written contract which expires September 30th, 2025. We can always extend that to make sure our digital works properly. And there is, yes, it's the last fall admission exam, but there is another admission exam under this contract in the summer. So we can also come with alternatives when, because we are actually talking about a contract that's going digital to make sure we have backup right on. Um, um, the next one is unfunded. Unfunded mandate. And quite a number of people said small class sizes was unfunded. Even though the states said they gave us extra money, the state provide funding or performed the region in the state exam. Why do we have to come outta pocket for mandated from the state? The state law says objective, competitive and standard academics. Again, like panel membership said, that is not the act of testing. It's designed, right? Why would the math section have ninth grade math? I, I think I articulated 10th grade math, 11th grade math for a newly eighth grader. That's not standard academics for a newly started eighth grader class. If you wanted to make it equitable, put it part of the curriculum at the end of the seventh grade, that all threats for the sette. That's what will make it equitable. There's too many. This system is designed to segregate and marginalize and we need to have those real conversations, which I'll bring at the end of this meeting. Um, but, um, the next point is left out information. It was intentionally in pertinent information was left out when we were briefed again, continually we'll be backed into a corner or put in a position where we have to vote yes because of X, Y, Z is not our responsibility to have a backup if the contract doesn't pass, right? If they really want to, if you're servicing the system, there should be backups. It shouldn't be relied on this contract. No one is against a accelerated learning. And going back to the unfriended mandate again, it's not the same test from 1971. Test changed at least twice, I think three times. Again, it's about the content of the test that's marginalizing these same groups is not the act of giving an assessment or performing an exam. Seven. Um, okay, yeah, going back to left and to corner. We did not postpone the vote. I mean, I would probably say maybe October, but November we didn't ask to postpone. We asked to postpone student privacy. So again, it was designed to push for a yes vote. There will not be any further conversation. 'cause you, because this the one says cyclical. Yes, because it keeps coming up when the come contract. Because otherwise nothing gets done. Changes have been in this country when people want to not obey laws. And I'm gonna give an example. If laws weren't broken, would we still be under slavery? I mean, I know it's extreme civil rights. Would that will happen? Women's suffrage? Would that happen if people took, didn't take a stand because the voices are being totally ignored continually. So I will talk, I I have no problem with people who votes. No. And then finally for no, the structure is designed for this vote to pass. I'm gonna, I'm gonna be frank. My vote don't count. My vote will pass without my vote. I'm here to listen and, and know that I'm hearing you. My voice matters. But really honestly, if you look at the structure of this panel for educational policy, my vote don't count. So, so why we should vote yes, it's mandated by law. Then transitioning to, to digital tests has benefits. We ought eventually have to do it right, but it will come with certain benefits that will help with accessibility. Eventually it will be, uh, um, adaptive, et cetera, et cetera. So we should vote yes. I have also that two wrongs don't make a right. Yes, a a majority of the system is being marginalized, but I don't believe, uh, of marginalized for the students as well. I know as adults and as children, when you anticipate something when it's your turn and it doesn't happen, it's disappointing. So it's not fair that way either. And I understand that as well. But the system, again, should have provided the way. So this is, doesn't happen. Three for me is a big one, is the effect on a system. What will happen when eight of our schools, if Texas, if there really is no backup, um, will affect on the system of the school. When you have eight high schools not pulling in, uh, a, a, a freshman class. How that affect, uh, admission. People think admissions, the Hunger Games now, it will definitely have a effect on high school admissions. We are in the, we are. Um, and then further conversations need to be had I honestly, that we should. And I hope that even if this past conversation will occur, because we are in the business, our specialized high schools honestly shouldn't be about academic rigor. All our schools should be academic, have academic, uh, we should all have excellence. Uh, education. A specialized high school should not be specialized just based on that. And there are high schools in the system who are as good or even better than specialized high schools. I support accelerated learning. And also back in the seventies, most of our schools had accelerated learning in our tracks. Now, accelerated learning has been segregated into a small group. And, and, and that's not what the business we're in. We are to support all our students. And, and that's why I'm gonna abstain. 'cause actually it doesn't matter if I vote no. And it doesn't really matter if I vote. Yes, thanks. Sorry. Any other? Yes, good evening everyone. My name is Adriana. I represent Queen CC. Um, we heard a last night and I've been listening the full time, still listening now looking forward to listening in the future. We've heard in particular, it's stuck in my mind at least about 17 Nobel laureates. And that's incredibly kudos. Not easy. Uh, however, I'd be shocked to hear any credible Nobel laureate say a single thing we've heard come from the mouth of them. What we haven't heard anything about is the psychological effect of being one in nine in the entire school. And then zoom that in and be the only one in your calc class. Have you been the only one evidence anywhere ever? Yes, me too. And you and you, right? The psychological effect of that and of being the only one who looks like you in a class like calculus, in a class like physics, in a class like biomed, whatever it may be. The only being the only one in a class like that tells you something about yourself, your people, where you come from and where you're going. Because if you're walking alone and you're alone and alone, you can expect to be alone the whole time. And that is not what we should be prepping and priming our black and brown students to accept and to be prepared for. I think that before I say that, I wanna thank all of you for coming tonight and sharing what you had to share about your experience with the success, the hope that you have for your children, the dreams that you have for them that resonate with all of us up here. I think because we're all parents and having a dream for the heart that walks outside your body is tricky and it's weird and it makes you say and do things you never thought you were gonna say or do. But to say that there's just not enough support for all of them, or to say that equal opportunity, not an equal outcome. I'm not gonna go into the rest of them because the, you can just review the tape. But what I will say again, what we haven't heard is, um, from enough black and brown parents who are also prepping their students for this exam. And we didn't hear, um, unless I missed it from any alum of the three schools that are required under hc, have them come back and, and, and testify in front of all of you about how great their experience was and how much they wish they could go back and how they can't wait to send their own kids there. Because if that was said, I would, I would love to have heard it. Um, queen CECs will also be abstaining tonight. Thank you. Okay, thank you. Are there any other comments? Uh, yes. Uh, panel member, um, excuse I would like to quickly say, uh, that I just make smaller research on, on cc, uh, on Manhattan CC three urgent panel to pass the resolution, pass the contract, same cc, but at the end I would like to see something. Guess how manage students go to this schools, how many English language learners students go to this schools or last year, who is the best loser? But our city is diversity and everybody, uh, should find something for itself. People who want to study the arts, they could have more at school. People who have want to now learn more, um, and be sciences. They more school like that. More school in Bronx. Why not more specializing school in Bronx. This is one of the solution. Nobody want to go from airport to Staten Island to school. And then this is the law. So the appears on contract, it's not perfect. Probably it could be this test making school, but the teacher and money goes to the teacher. But so far we don't have any other option. Thank you. Any other? You have Panama, but Lee, Um, thank you everybody for coming tonight and hanging with us when we approach hour five. Um, appreciate your passion and dedication to your children. And, um, I not gonna reiterate, think my colleagues have already said about the gross racial disparities, um, in admissions trends, but I do want to just acknowledge that to say that those trends are somehow inherently meritocratic is a very ugly line of thought that is asynchronous with the values of our schools, the values of our cities. Um, I just wanna put that out there. The other thing I wanna observe about this contract and about this rollout is that, uh, 80% of the contract proposed contract term involves an adaptive test. Um, we, the panel have not seen a model of this test. We are being asked to radically change the way your students take this test and the testing experience of students to come sight unseen, just taken on faith. And as somebody who's had a relationship with this agency for 27 years at this point, um, it's, it's not good form to take these promises on faith. Uh, we have not seen what it's going to look like and what the user experience is going to be. And it feels reckless and irresponsible to vote in ignorance. Um, additionally, the digitized rollout, proposed rollout of this test is happening in a way is proposed to happen in a way that does not comport with the digital rollout of any other test our students take. There has been no beta testing. There has been no, and there will be no beta testing. You know, we could theoretically move along with a paper version of the shaza for another year and perhaps take ninth graders hoping for 10th grade admission, many of whom have already taken the shaza and pilot the digital shaza with them, collect user experience and you know, do a responsible rollout. But that's not the way this is written. And the test, your children who are sitting in seventh grade have prepared for sixth grade are preparing for is not the test. They will be administered and it's a bait and switch and it's unfair, you know, and in to that end, you know, I will not be approving this contract. Additionally, I feel that Suzette has almost a reaganomics sort of trickle down effect. Having just gone through the high school application period process for the second time myself. It's had a sort of trickle down segregationist effect on our high school admissions processes that particularly harms our students with disabilities. And, you know, in the manner that we hear principals talking about how they do not offer ICT after 10th grade, they just have to push kids into sette. We don't offer these services as though it's a buffet that people get to choose from, um, and not a legal mandate. And to that end, I'm not concerned with comporting with this legal mandate more so than any other legal mandate we failed to uphold. Thank you. I yield back. Thank you. Uh, any other panel members? I see any other hands? Yes. Uh, panel member Casre, uh, the member Ali and then panel member. Uh, Uh, thank you. I just wanna co-sign what Tom and Justin and Shirley, Adriana have said and just add to that. Um, it seems like people who came tonight and people we've heard from feel like this is just a straightforward vote. It's mandated by the state law. It's been in place since 1971, a law that the DOE must follow. And while we know that the DOE is frequently out of compliance, for example, with the individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the law that supports our students with disabilities, with the every Student Succeeds Act that created school leadership teams, many of which are out of compliance on a regular basis for years and years. And title one parent advisory councils also out of compliance. Um, there's an enormous amount of fear mongering. And I have to say that I think a lot of this was caused by the DOE and it could have been avoided. What we have been hearing in briefings, in PEP meetings, um, for months have been mixed messages. We hear, uh, if the contract doesn't pass, there won't be an incoming class. And then at the same time we hear the DOE will pay for contracts that are required by law no matter how the ve pep votes. Um, we also have heard that there's no field testing for a digital test planned, no plan for a phase in of the digital test. And parents have repeatedly asked for a one year extension of a paper test, um, justifiably so they're saying their children and they don't feel comfortable with the digital component that their children have been preparing for a paper test. And so with all of the feedback we've received, with all the feedback that the PEP has given, the DOE Hast hasn't fudged, they doubled down. They decided that they wanted to delay this contract to give us more information, but still refused to take any of our suggestions or work collaboratively with us. Um, ignoring what you all are saying, immediately switching to a digital test that is likely unreliable and continuing to contract with a vendor that has come under fire time and time again. So I feel pretty confident in saying that PEP members could have all agreed on a one year contract extension for a paper test, but the DOE refused to engage in that conversation. And I could also imagine that PEP members would support structured community conversations to discuss the problems of inequity that come from a single test model. And I would even say that the PEP would support a task force creation to try to solve some of these problems. But the te, the DOE doesn't want any part of this. They, um, just subscribe to this is the law and we're doing the best that we can with what the law is. And um, and they're totally okay with strong arming many of our PEP members to vote yes for something that they know has proven to cause disparities and pit parents against one another. All the while big business is taking funds from our coffers and in the meantime, the children are the losers in all of this. And so, yes, the DOE is, uh, obligated to follow the law. They did not make an extension for the prison labor contract that we voted no to in September. And I expect that they will do the same thing with this Pearson contract, we were told only a couple of months ago that no matter whether we vote yes or no, the DOE is bound by the law. So for my fellow PEP members and colleagues who value equity, who are doing the work to explicitly dismantle the barriers that the DOE and the law have placed in front of us, whether within the education system or in an individual school, we all can agree that this law has contributed to racial disparities and no one in over 50 years has managed to find a solution. So I suggest you vote with your conscience much in the way we did with the prison contract. Um, if this test is required by the state, then you are not bound by your vote. And as for me, I'm going to be abstaining. Okay, uh, who's next? Um, yes, thank you, chair, er. Um, thank you everyone for, uh, your engagement tonight. Uh, but also over the, um, the engagement session and some of the kind of feedback we've heard from the community. I am not against accelerated learning, um, but I also know that equality is not the same as equity. I also know many families and many students have their hopes set on these schools. And so with that, I'm going to, uh, read a statement. On behalf of the Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, I'd like to read the following statement. Over recent months, my office has received input from families in every Manhattan School district regarding the SHAZA contract. Before the panel. Today, feedback from our community members has highlighted significant concerns about the format of the test, whether it should be digital or paper accessibility, and how to ensure parents and families have the ability to prepare and plan. I'm thankful for the panel's work to ensure these issues were heard and expect New York City public schools to ensure there is strict compliance with every contract. Additionally, any conversation about the SHAZA must include an acknowledgement and discussion about the truly abysmal admission rates of black and Hispanic students at our specialized high schools. These are incredible institutions where young people are learning skills that will prepare them for life. The fact that just 4.5% of students receiving offers this year were black and just 7.6% of students receiving offers this year were Hispanic, is shameful and an indication that what we are doing isn't working right now. State law requires that there be a test administered to determine admission to these schools. And because of that, I do believe this contract should be approved. We owe the students who hope to attend these schools the clarity and confidence that an exam will indeed be administered. This must include a way for every student who wishes to take this exam to do so in a manner that meets their individual needs, including in some cases paper. And ultimately, we must not let this distract us from focusing on improving our admission processes and investing in and fully funding ways that we can ensure that these schools are reflective of the diversity of our city. They'll be stronger for it. Thank you. Thank you very much. Madam Member. Hi, I am Vina Zang from Island Parent Elected member. Um, the first thing I wanna say is have students in the Bronx been surveyed if they want to even attend specialized high schools? I'm asked this question because from personal experience joining this advocacy for merit. When I joined CC three, um, meeting, then President Lucas Lu said that he would try to get GNT schools into District three. And many parents answered back, get your segregated program out of our community. And another instance on the steps of Tweed, a black parent was telling, making a speech, saying that his child is in a specialized high school. We can do it, but black people in the audience was calling him a traitor. Now, if I was a black student, I wouldn't want to go to a specialized high school. If my people is calling me a traitor, they're not proud of me. So we need to think what message we're sending to our children if we're we're proud of them or not when we're talking about specialized high school. Secondly, for the core craft contract that we voted for in September, panel member SAP related that low wages. Can I, can I just ask that when you make comments, direct them to the chair and not at individual panel members? Oh, no, I was just, thank you. Speaking of an experience, so she said that low wages is equal to, is equivalent to slavery, and slavery is not. Okay. So I voted not to table the vote because no is just no, that low wages is equal to the slavery. So the court craft contract, we didn't approve it because of that. Okay, let's not have a cross conversation. Let's proceed what you're, So I'm not going to vote for an extension, even if it was on the table, because we have to be respectful of people's time. We can't do this every year. So $17 million over fif five years is a lot of money to me, but it's only a drop of a bucket for the New York State education budget and DOE does have to do better. Our black and Hispanic students are fleeing to charter schools to get an education, and that's not okay. Um, thank you to students and families and elected for coming out today. You guys all nailed it. Couldn't have said it better. The S-H-S-A-T to me means hope and voting no is shattering hope for families and shattering hope for our students. So please vote Yes. Thank you. Okay. Are there Any, uh, let me just, just clarify something. Yeah, Yeah. Panel member sap, go Ahead, please. Um, I appreciate your professionalism. I really think people need to get schooled on, on, uh, cultural competence. You, you, you, you have some lessons to learn with that. I think before we even talk, we need to understand historically how words show up historically. Okay. Um, and it's very, very important because even leading with good intentions is not enough. When people have dealt with systemic racism for decades, it is distraught that breaks the camel's back. And we have to be aware of not just delivering the, not just what you say, but how you say it. It is crucial in order to keep this, this, uh, conversation going in a way that is impactful. And it has to deal with power empowerment to keep people empowered. Our job is to, that is our duty. When we're talking to children, you have to be aware of who you're talking to and, and in what context and what words you need to use. I have one correction that you said in Amendment 13. I did not say lower wages were, um, equivalent to slavery. You have to know Amendment 13, and I'm gonna give you the duty to look up Amendment Amendment 13 because you misquoted me and it, and it's important that we, we, we just, we have to say, um, facts. Eric Adams did not go to a specialized high school. Like we have to be aware of, of what it is that we're saying because this is such an, an.