##VIDEO ID:174113323## I want to thank you all for coming here tonight. I'd like to now call to order the Wednesday, July 24th meeting of the panel New York City Panel for Education policy. Please note that this meeting is being live streamed over the internet and recorded for posting on the New York City Public School's website with a transcript in minutes of action to follow. If you have signed up for public, uh, testimony on an issue related to your student or your student's, uh, personnel, please speak with a member of the New York City Public School staff. That'll be posted in the audience. These individuals will be able to take down detailed, specific information and be able to provide direct follow-up for you. If you wish to engage with the panel directly, you can always reach out and we love to hear from you. Um, so we want to encourage that and in fact, I'd like to take a moment and have our chairman of the, our Engagement Committee AAN on I I let, Let's, let's get a quorum first. Let's call the role first. Oh, that's probably a good idea. We should wait to have a quorum first. So, we'll, we'll call the role and then I'm gonna recognize, Alan, if you could just talk a little bit about the engagement committee. Thank you. So, secretary Nathan, would you call the role? Sure. Um, when I call your name, please, um, indicate, you know, indicate that you are present. Um, Adriana Ali, say, present. Phoebe Shaday Arnold. Present, uh, Shirley Oven. Present. Aaron Boad Present. Lily Chan Marjorie Deste. Present. Amy Fair, I believe is absent. Um, chair Gregory Faulkner. Present Anita Garcia. Present. Anthony Giardano. Present Vice Chair Angela Green. Present, uh, Navid Hassan, I believe is absent. Alice Ho. Present? Rema G***o. Present. Jessamine Lee. Present Sharon Owin. Also, I believe absent Alan Ong present. Maisha SAP Present. Thomas Shepherd Present. And Venus Ang, absent. And Manny t present. We have 17 members present. There's a quorum. And I just wanna confirm that everybody present has signed the new oath of office for this term. Yeah. Great. Okay. Back to you Chair, Paul. Just A quick, quick point of order. Yes, I'm sorry. Yes. Um, according to our agenda, tonight's first item is, um, uh, electing a chairperson and vice chairperson, right? Yes. Yes. So, as of right now, Yes, we need to do that. We don't, we don't have a chair. 'cause we have to elect a new one, right? Yes. Right. So I'm just saying that just kind of as a procedural thing. Um, so thank You. I think you're right, Tom. Okay. So that, that will be the next order. Um, should I wait them? Yeah, let's, okay, let's do that. Let's, new chair. Good point. Yes, fair point. Um, because of recent changes to the state education law, the member elected as chairperson will serve as chairperson until September 15th, 2024. At which point the term of an independent chairperson selected as set forth in the education law will begin their term. The PEP is solely responsible for the election of its officers elections of officers of the PEP must be conducted in a free, fair, and inclusive manner, providing an opportunity for the full participation of all members. In accordance with the PEPs current bylaws, the Pep shall elect its chairperson from among its voting members. Members may self nominate or be nominated by other PEP members. And after we take one vote, if we need to, we'll take a second vote If a tie exists as a result of any roll call vote. So if you would like to self nominate or nominate a fellow member, please do so. Now, are there nominations? I nominate Greg Faulkner the chair. Second. Second, yes. What do you think? Seconding. Okay. Are there any other nominations? I Nominate Tom Shepherd as chair. Anyone else? Second. Okay. Um, I will ask each nominee to make a short statement if they would like to do so. No more than a minute, uh, in support of their nomination. So, I will turn first to Greg. We'll do it in alphabetical order. Sure. Well, I, you know, I just want to, you know, thank the members of the panel. I've had an opportunity to work with you for the past year. I think we've made some progress in this year. Um, in terms of operation, in the meetings, we've made progress in terms of, uh, beginning to develop a stronger committee system. Um, I'll be honest, it's a two month remaining, uh, term. My goal in that two months will be to ease, create a smooth transition to our new, uh, leadership style and leadership position. I'm really wanna make sure that, um, there's a seamless transition over the next two months, and that's what I'll be working towards. Um, other things that we've been able to do is, um, getting out in the community. I think, you know, as, as members of the panel, we are the, um, I, I, I like to think of us as really the group that is the leading volunteers among the school community. And, um, so one of the things I've really been excited about is getting out into the community, visiting CEC meetings, talking to parents, talking to parent groups, talking to constituencies, to really begin to, um, uh, create the kind of momentum that will help create the kind of things that we all wanna see happen within our New York City schools. Um, but I, but I do want thank everyone, thank our staff. I wanna thank the entire community here. It has been, I've enjoyed all of the 8,700 minutes, uh, seconds that I've served as chair. Not, well, let me be truthful. I mean, not all of them, but most of them I have really enjoyed and look forward to working with all the folks. And I guess I'm getting the signal here. So thank you very much, and, uh, look forward to continuing over the next two months. Thank you. And Tom. Thank you. Um, so being the first member in the history of New York City Public Schools to be elected to this position, um, and having been, uh, elected five times, um, I feel like I bring the voice of the community to this space. Um, I also believe that in order to have fair systems and a degree of balance in them, um, you know, having our chairperson be one or someone, uh, from a community, I think is really important to send a message to the community, um, that their voice lives in. Not just being a member of this space or this board, but also being in the leadership, um, of this board. And, um, you know, to that end, um, you know, I respectfully ask, um, for your vote, um, for chair. Thank you. Thank you. Um, I will now call role and indicate, um, whether you are voting for, um, member member Faulkner or Member Shepherd. Um, uh, member Alicia. Alicia. Member Shepherd. Uh, member Arnold. Member Faulkner. Uh, member Alban. Can you come back to me, please? Sure. Um, member Boad. Member Faulkner. Member Sham. Member Faulkner. Uh, member Sag. Member Faulkner. Member Fair. Oh, absent, sorry. Um, member Faulkner. No. Member Faulkner. Uh, member Garcia. Member Faulkner. Member Giardano. Member Faulkner. Um, vice Chair, green. Member Faulkner. Member Ho Member Faulkner. Um, member Es Member Shepherd. Uh, member Lee, member Shepherd. Um, member Ong, Member of Faul. Uh, member Sap Member Faulkner. Uh, member Shepherd. Member Shepherd. And, um, member Ra, Member Faulkner. Okay. Member Alban, it's your time. Doesn't matter. Shepherd a So by a vote of 12 votes, um, for Member Faulkner. And 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5 Votes for Member Shepherd. Uh, member Faulkner, um, is elected as the chair. I thank you all very much. I get to hold on this for two more months, sir. Yes. Congratulations. Thank you. When thank and thank you for your, uh, spirit of competition. So, uh, you know, we, we can, um, look, look, we, we've, we've all understand that at times we're gonna disagree and we're gonna have different points of view, but it doesn't mean that we have to be disagreeable and we'll all work together. I think we all, one thing I can say that everyone on this panel, um, is committed to one thing, and that is to improve the quality of education for every single child that goes to a school in the city of New York. And whatever momentary disagreements or competition we have, that's, that's the focus. And so, um, I'm confident that we all agree with that. So let's get the moving meeting, uh, underway. We'll Now move to the election of a vice chair person. I'm Oh Yeah. On here. Getting, getting those, having these senior moments here. Let's not go there. Sure. In accordance with the PEPs bylaws, the PEP will elect a chairperson from among its members. Again, members may self nominate or be nominated by other PEP members. Uh, we will have a second vote if a tie exists after the roll call vote. If you would like to self nominate or nominate a PEP member, please do so now. Yes. I would like to nominate chair. Uh, sorry. Uh, vice chair. Angela Green. Second. I second. I second. It's okay. Sorry. No, go ahead. Are there any other nominations? Nominate Tom Shepherd. Second. Anyone else? Okay. Um, we will let each nominee make a short statement. Um, try to keep it to about a minute, uh, in support of their nomination, if they would like to do so. Going alphabetically. I will turn to Member Green first. Thank you. Uh, serving in this role for the last year has been exciting, but it's also been an experience. Uh, I learned a lot and I'm still learning. And as I, I support the chair and support the members on this committee, what whoever their, uh, committees might be. But the member of this, the members of this panel, I'd like to say that, uh, you know, I support working in this space now, new space for me, but working to the betterment of the entire city of New York. Not just one district. Not just one school, but as we work with the Chancellor and all the constituents that, that he that comes to him, I'd like to say that, uh, it's been an experience, you know, very, very interesting and very different. So I'd like to continue in this role to support the members of this panel and to support the Department of Education in their way to move the school system so that our young people get the best, whether it's educationally, safety, environmentally, and so forth. And I thank you for listening. Thank you. Uh, member Shepherd, would you like to speak again? I Thank you. Um, so I, I do want to just very quickly first say, you know, um, thank you to Dr. Green for your services Vice Chair, um, last year. And also to Chair Green for you. I mean, chair Faulkner for your service last year as well. Um, I will say, um, also having served as, as vice chair, um, of this board, I do understand the importance of, um, really elevating what it means. You know, like what this board actually represents, right? Um, we represent governing the New York City Public School system. And, you know, there will be times when, um, you know, there are issues that come up to the public, um, that may be at odds with the, um, with the New York City Public School system as it relates to positions that parents and communities have, and, um, positions that the DOE has. And I think as a governing body, um, we need to have courage to be able to say, um, you know, that we can disagree with the chancellor and vote that way. And I think being Vice Chair would, um, send that message to a community that we, um, are not the rubber stamp that they set us up to be. But we are so much more. And, you know, because of that, um, I would like for you all to consider me, um, as vice Chair again. Thank you. Thank you. I will, Can I ask a question? Yes. Under the new, um, under the new structure taking hold in September, 2015, or sorry, September 15th, um, what, what happens are at that point, are we electing a new vice chair? Are we, like, what, what are the implications at that point? Or are in this election for Vice Chair? Are we electing somebody for the full year or Year? The bylaws? Talk about people holding these positions from year to year. I think the panel could decide if they wanted to do it differently. I was having the same thought, but the bylaws currently have the term of each of these offices is the July meeting to the next July meeting. Yeah. So I think right now that the vice chair would stay in that position. Thank you. Okay. Absent again, absent, I think a resolution, the entire panel could decide To do something differently, put a resolution on. Thank you for clarifying. Uh, I will now call the role and indicate whether you're voting for Member Green or Member Shepherd. Um, member Ali, Member Shepherd. Um, member Arnold. Member Green. Um, member Ban. I'm sorry. Okay. Shepherd. Member Boad. Member Green. Uh, member Chan. Member Dr. Green. Member Dean Stag. Member Green. Um, chair Faulkner. So A great Vice chair member. Green. Um, member Garcia. Member Green. Uh, member Giordano. Dr. Green. Um, member Green. Member Green. Um, member Ho. Dr. Green. Member Esto. Member Shepherd. Uh, member Lee. Member Shepherd. Member Ong. Member Green. Um, member sap. Dr. Green? Wait, no. Just through me. Yeah. Okay. Um, member Shepherd. Member Shepherd. And Member Avaris. Member Green. I believe the vote is the same. Um, one. Yes. So by a vote of 12 for, um, Dr. Green. And five for, um, member Shepherd. Um, member Green is the new vice chair. Before I throw it back to you, chair Faulkner, I do wanna note, I forgot to mention, Lala is here representing, um, controller, Brad Lander. And I think that Dan Weissberg, you're here for, for the Chancellor. For the Chancellor or the chancellor's here In the back. In the back, yep. Well, okay. So just, I just, okay. So now I have you back. Um, sure. Chancellor is here, but, sure. Sorry. Now to member chair, Back to me. I like chair. Would you like to, um, I would just like to say thank you for your votes. Thank you for your votes. If you can hear me. And I just want to say that, uh, we had a wonderful, uh, uh, do we need to activity? We had an activity with all the members, um, training and it training, uh, what do we call it? Orientation. Orientation. Thank you for the word orientation. And I'm really sorry that some people were not there because it, it's, it's an important sort of bonding. And I think that some of us really got to know each other a little better. Not a lot, but a little better as a panel. And I think it's important because during these times, we can kind of air out different things and no matter how different we might think, or we might feel, we, we have to learn that we are still one panel, you know? And, uh, one of the new panel members said she wanted to know all the names of everyone who she's breaking bread with. And that was a very good point, you know, because it's important to know. And regardless of how we feel about one another, at the end of the day, we should be able to walk away. And, um, you know, today I got a lot of hugs and whatnot from people who I might not ne necessarily get them from. And that felt good because that means we're on our way. So I just wanna say thank you to all of you and, uh, you know, I look forward to seeing you outside after this. Thank you. Well, Point, point, well taken. Uh, thank you for that, for those comments. Um, our next item of business is the approval of minutes from our May 22nd, 2024 meeting. Is there a motion for unanimous consent to adopt the minutes of May 22nd? So moved. Is there objection? Is there Objection to unanimous consent without objection to minutes of May 22nd are approved. Um, our next item is, uh, to hear from our chancellor. And I do see the Chancellor is here. Chancellor Banks, would you please come up and, uh, um, and, and, and speak with us. We welcome you to our meeting. We're glad to have you here. How's everybody? Um, good Cheer. Faulkner Vice share. Dr. Green. So good to see you. I don't know if you did this already. I mean, I always welcome all the, all the members. Mm-Hmm. Um, but I know we've got some new members who are here for, really, for their first meeting. I see, uh, Manny Ez, if you just would, would wave, uh, newest member of the very first, very first meeting with Manny Ez. Dr. Sharon Owin. Dr. Owin, where? She's not here. Not here. Not here yet. Oh, no. Okay. And, um, and A-C-E-C-A rep from Queens, Adriana, cia, where are you? Right here. Hey, y'all. To see you. Alright. Welcome. Welcome. Uh, it, it's real cold in here, isn't it? It's nice. Great's Gotta complain that New York City schools don't have enough air conditioning. Uh, but we could get them to turn this down a a little bit. Emma, you are working on it all. Happy. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. It's, but just maybe a little bit of an edge off. But if you keep it this cold and may maybe y'all will wrap the meeting up without being here all, all night long. Um, but it is good. It is good to see, uh, all of you. It is good to welcome new folks, um, to the team as well. And, uh, and I'm wishing a really a great year, um, for everyone who is here, um, that we'll continue to, to improve on working in a spirit of collaboration. We certainly don't have to always agree, and you will not, and that is perfectly fine. But just working together, understanding at the end of the day, what we're really trying to do is just the right thing for kids. And as long as we just keep our enterprise, I think that is, uh, that's who we want to be. I wanna, um, thank the principal who's not here, but Principal Beckman, um, they open their doors here. How many of you, I mean, it, it's, it's been a while since I've been out here on Roosevelt Island. How many of you have been out here in a, in a minute. I remember as a kid, taking the tram coming out here. Yes. Your first time. See, that's what I, that's, that's what I thought. How many of you on the panel? This is your first time on the island. Yeah. Yeah. You said scary. And it's funny, when I was younger and I came over here a few times, I used to take the tram coming over. I I wouldn't be taking that anymore. No. You know, I don't know. Just, I've got a little older. It's a little bit more scary for me. Um, you gotta be used to that kind of a thing. Um, but let me just say a couple things and then outta away and let you get ready to start, start the meeting. I wanna first of all report that the, uh, summarizing is off and running again. You've heard very little about summarizing, and we take that as an indicator of, of, of real success. 110,000 students. We've been at this now for a few years. We're getting better and better and better at it. Um, and all reporting has simply been on the ground showing the kids engaged in wonderful programming. It's so interesting. You don't generally get news about it unless, you know, there are buses that are not showing up and all kind of stuff, and everybody's making a whole lot of noise. But when everything goes really, really well, it's like we don't say anything. We wanna, all we talk about is just the problems. So I wanna acknowledge some arising, this is not even wood, but a knock, knock. We've gotten off to a great start. I want to acknowledge all those principles, all the CBOs that are working with our kids, uh, all the parents and the families, and most importantly the kids. Mm-Hmm. Um, who are having a wonderful summer. And, uh, and, and I, and particular shout out for me to our deputy chancellor Emma Ra, who kind of mans their whole operation. She got a great team. Um, but Emma, thank you so much. These things, uh, can go awry very easily. Um, but you've been manning the manning the ship, and thank you very much. I know we got a few more weeks to go. So, so far so good. And that's what we are always looking for, um, is to make sure that we are, at the very least, are on the, on the right path. I gave some testimony, was it about a week ago, around the foundation aid, uh, formula, uh, over that, over at Fashion Industries, uh, high school. Again, the state has put out a little commission to take a look at the Foundation aid formula. I'm glad that they're doing it. Um, the bottom line is, in order for us to still deliver on all the things that we should be delivering on for our kids in New York City public schools, the state needs to ante up more dollars. Um, and the formula needs to be adjusted, uh, in ways that we did since we got here. I remember Tom was one of the first people that talked to me about adding these weights, uh, for kids in temporary housing. You know, it was one of the first things I heard when I got here. And we made that adjustment. And we are now advocating to the state they should be making that adjustment. Um, because there are a number of things that we're already doing in New York City that the state is not doing. And so we think that the state needs to do, uh, uh, more and to live up to what they should be doing to help all the school districts around the, uh, state. But certainly, uh, New York City, uh, needs them as well. The whole notion around the class size, you know, we're the only district that, that, the class size law applies to all the districts throughout the whole state. But the class size law only applies to New York City. Um, and we believe that we need additional funding, uh, for that independent budget office supports that as well. And so, again, we, we think, um, we want this, we want the state to, uh, to do its job in helping us to do our job. So really, uh, happy about that. And we'll see as those testimonies and those, uh, hearings take place all around the state. Last couple of things I do wanna, uh, talk about, uh, we made some leadership changes. Uh, we've been making a number of them. Uh, uh, one person who is here tonight who we so many of you know, uh, is just one of the most valuable members of our team. And, uh, she's now gonna lead a brand new division as a deputy chancellor. We're gonna take the work that we're doing in special education together, what we're doing with our multilingual learners. We're gonna make sure that we align that work so that all of our kids are getting what they need to get. That work won't be done in silos, but it will be a full on alignment. Uh, the new division of inclusion, uh, and accessible, uh, inclusive and accessible learning. And the person who's leading that work is, uh, Christina Fody. Christina, just stand up. Thank you, Christina. Just really one of the most wonderful and amazing people, um, in our system who leads with her heart every day. And when you match that with her skill and her talent and her ability to put great people around her, um, I think it only Bos well for what we're gonna try to continue to do on behalf of our kids. So many of you on the panel have worked with Christina over the years, and those of you who are new, I encourage you to get to know, uh, Christina as well as all the other members of our team. We've got our first, uh, deputy, uh, chancellor, Dan Weisberg is here as well, Dan. So, again, specifically just for any of the, the newer members as well, who wanna make sure that we're starting to build that relationship, the more that we work together, the better it is, uh, for kids. Um, so throw that, uh, that you hear a couple other internal changes that we made. So most of you on the, on the panel work very, very closely with Kanita Lloyd. And, and yes, let's give Kanita a big, big round applause. Afternoon, a dear. And Kanita, uh, as many of you know, came with me, uh, from Eagle Academy Foundation here as I became chancellor. And we've now moved her from that role, uh, where she will now be my right hand as Chief of staff. So she will be connecting the work that we're doing across the entire agency. And I can't think of a better person to be in that role for me. So shout out, uh, to Kanita. And I know she put a lot of long hours in working with all the ccs or, uh, the pep. Uh, she was here for all the meetings. Um, so, uh, when you see her, please just give her a shout out and thank her for all of the time that she gave in making sure that this body worked really well, uh, together. And we yes, absolutely. Some of you know that. Prior to that, my chief of staff was Melissa Ramos and Melissa Ramos, super uber talented, former principal, former superintendent, uh, in the Bronx, um, left for a while, took advantage of an opportunity to become a vice president at Monroe College. Uh, and I talked to her every day that she was gone pleading with her to come back. And we finally were able to get her to come back. And so Melissa has now stepped into Nita's role as Deputy Chancellor, uh, for family and community engagement, and into gov and communications and all that. Um, and so she's not here today, but you'll see her at your next meeting, but I'm sure she'll be reaching out to all of you even before that time and beginning to get to know each and every one of you, uh, that are on this, this pep. And so please just welcome her also with Open Arms, Melissa Ramos, who's a real star in our system. I'm thrilled that she's here. And, uh, my final one I wanna indicate also is Dr. Kara Ahmed, who has led the division of Early Childhood for us since I came here as well at a Herculean task in trying to rightsize a lot of what was going on in that division. Um, that has been a, has been a huge body of work. Uh, I can't thank her enough for all of her efforts in trying to, uh, take us to another level with early childhood. Um, you know, early childhood has almost two parts to it. One is around the work that we, making sure that the, the providers get paid, say amen. Somebody that that's, that's a whole body of work. Um, but the other part is the level of professional learning in our schools and, and the work that we're doing now with MYC reads as early as three K is amazing. And beginning this, uh, fall, every early childhood program in the city will be using the same curriculum and the same professional, uh, development and training. If you wanna see New York schools, city schools at our absolute best, go and see what it looks like in our early childhood class. It is amazing. And I could take you from an early childhood program in Staten Island and later that afternoon, take you to a early childhood program in Brooklyn. And they're working on the same timeline, the same curriculum. We, we didn't leave it up to the providers. Just say, you come up whatever you think works best. A uniform curriculum timeline training that's attached to it, coaching, that's supporting it. It is phenomenal. Imagine three year olds and four year olds already reading before they even get to kindergarten. That's what we're talking about. So even this fall, as we get ready to roll out the full scale of MYC reads with every one of our 32 community school districts on board, the whole system will be on board starting this fall. And I think it is going to be transformational, not overnight, but it'll be transformational for our school system over time. So I'm really thrilled that this has been the biggest body of work that we have leaned into. But on the early childhood front, Dr. Carmed has now taken a position where she will be leading a national organization for early childhood. So basically all the work we were doing right here in New York, they're gonna start doing this all across the nation. And so, once again, New York continues to serve as a leader in this space. And I ask that you all join me in wishing Dr. Kara me, uh, uh, a a great, uh, new start, new part of her journey, and thanking her for all the work that she did. And, uh, you should all know we've identified her successor. Um, and her successor will be announced on Friday. So we should all be paying, no, I'm not announcing it tonight. Uh, thank you tuned, but you stay tuned. So, uh, we'll be making a big announcement on Friday. We will know who the new, uh, uh, deputy Chancellor for Early Childhood will be. And I'm excited about it. And I think we'll continue to great work, uh, there that we've been doing. And the final thing is just simply that we are, um, we're working hard every day to be ready for opening day. And, and that's what's so wonderful about this work, that even though it's the summertime, our folks have been working, um, for months and months, uh, Dr. Donna Danica Rucks, uh, who's our, uh, another one of our deputy Chances over leadership, teaching and learning. It's all merged onto one shop. It what they're doing is amazing. Met with all the superintendents already this summer. Met with all the close to 1600 of our principals already, uh, just a week ago. Everybody's fired up. They're ready to go. They're gonna get their rest and be ready to go in September. So we can have the best year that we've ever had. And I'm also wishing all of you the best. I thank every one of you for the work, the sacrifice that you make, uh, being a part of this, uh, panel. And, um, and I just, I pray for all of you, uh, every day. I really do. Um, and I thank you for what you do and for all of your sacrifice. And I hope that all of you have a good vacation plan for yourselves as well. 'cause you absolutely deserve it. Thank you everybody. Thank, thank you so much, chancellor. You know, I was tempted when I realized how many of the members have not been on Roosevelt Island to say that we've gotta conclude this agenda, otherwise the island shuts down and we'll be, uh, you know, we stranded here. So, uh, there You go. That's right. We gotta move the agenda. That's a heads up everybody. The heads. So, but I, what I'd like to do though is also echo the fact that, um, you know, the panel does do quite a bit of behind the scenes work. And, um, and I want to thank the panel this month for the amount of briefings and the, and and, and the support staff. You know, I was looking at the number of staff members that attend, uh, some of our briefings to support the work that we're trying to do. And I would see that they're into, you know, sometimes 20 and 30 people who actually come to meetings and, and how much that's appreciated and how much it helps us to be able to facilitate the work that we are, you know, uh, called on to do at these meetings. So I just wanna thank, you know, for that. Um, we did get a chance to speak. You know, we learned that we were gonna lose, um, uh, uh, uh, deputy Chancellor Lloyd. And so a number of us, you know, 'cause we've gotten to work closely with her. But, um, we did have a chance, vice chair and I this afternoon to speak to the new deputy chancellor. And she's excited, we're excited. Um, so we think that they're really great things ahead, um, for us. And, and so we're really looking forward to that transition. Um, you know, so a lot of things have happened. I also want to thank, um, many of us participated in training, uh, for the new panel members and for some of us returning a refresher that was held last month. And I want to thank, um, the, the DOE, um, the staff for putting that together. I think it was really, as Vice Chair alluded to, it was really beneficial for us, um, to get a refresher on some of the new things, but also to have a chance to share with our fellow panel members and to welcome our new panel members. I think that was a great opportunity for us. And as always, I need to, and I'll do it each and every time, but I also wanna recognize these folks sitting behind us. Our, our, our team of Noah means Simonson, Noah. He's right there. There you go all up. He's, he moves too quickly. So I want stand there for a second. Come in. I want to thank you, know him for the work that they do behind the scenes. And of course, our old standby Xavier Edwards, who, you know, stand, stand. I didn't mean stand by, you know, Xavier. He knows. So I want to thank them for the work that they do each and every, um, day. Um, and, and help us to support the things that we're doing. I don't, I don't know how we would really function without the behind the scenes things that they do to help make this, uh, uh, facilitate these meetings. I, I would tell you this with great confidence that the minute that this meeting end, they'll be back working to plan the next meeting and all the details and work that goes into that. So I want them to know that it hasn't gone unnoticed and that we appreciate it. I think I speak for the entire panel when I, uh, when I say that, um, and Darel Say it, say it again. And Darel Who gets everybody here and home. Yeah. Yes. Yes. Say that again. I didn't. Oh. And ourselves. Yes. And Darel. That's right. That's right. Um, so I, you know, again, thank you, um, for that and I guess Zena Yep. You know, I guess Zena, so yes, that the entire team, and so please, and I think that, that, you know, that shows the affection that we have for, for these folks and, and the work that they do. Um, we, we've been setting up a few new systems. Um, some of you may want to have direct contact with the panel. We, I'm gonna always use this. We have a panel email where you can contact us directly, I believe shortly we'll be rolling out a website, um, so that you can have more direct engagement with the panel. Um, I think it's on the screen, but that if you need to reach out to the panel for any reason, you have comment, questions, concerns, it's panel@schools.nyc.gov. That's a way that we're trying to really facilitate greater communication between the panel and the public, um, to create greater engagement. And that is the segue that I will turn to our chair of engagement, um, AAN on who may, uh, if you wanna make an announcement about, um, the work, uh, some of the things happening with the engagement committee. Sure. Alright. Good evening everyone. Thank you, chair. Um, congratulations on your reelection to the chair spot and chair. Uh, vice chair Green. Congratulations on that. Um, seemed like a long time since we've seen each other, right? It's only been a month. But, uh, welcome back all the members and, uh, welcome to all the new members. Um, so basically the engagement committee was created because several or many people or entities or, uh, parent leader organizations such as C-E-C-C-C-H-S, uh, ELL, all the other organizations feel they don't have a voice or haven't been heard. So the engagement committee was created to be a channel, to have a channel for those, uh, groups to get to us and for us to see what a lot of the groups are doing, uh, what they believe in, what they don't believe in. And there's a lot of times we may agree to disagree, but at the end of the day is we want to see what everyone and want to hear what everyone's voices is, uh, are. Um, so at the end of the day is the engagement committee is opening back up. We just started it last year. It was a little slow start. The chair mentioned about the email that we have been promoting the panel@schools.nyc.gov. We want to keep on promoting that, uh, as a channel for people to reach out to us or entities to reach out to us. But more importantly, we need members in the committee. So, um, I'll be sending out an email for, uh, us to form this committee again or to, uh, uh, build it back up. 'cause there's a lot of people that have left those that express interest that are still here. Definitely. And those that are new, definitely welcome and will work towards mission goals and even more to promote it and hopefully be able to hear everyone's voices, um, to help advocate. So thank you Tha thank you very much, chair Ong. And I, I would also add that we've, uh, really are looking also for members of the public. You don't have to be a member of the panel to serve as a public member of any panel committee. So we really wanna begin to encourage, um, greater participation. We've been reaching out, I've been reaching out to some of the, uh, CECs and have actively begun to seek people who might be willing to join us and to sit and be part of the collaboration. Um, I think we have to understand that we are the, the, the volunteer group that really drives this process. Whether you're a CEC member, whether you're on the panel, whether you're a PTA president, I think there needs to be a fostering of a greater relationship and communication, uh, between these groups. I would hope that that would be something that would, that we can begin and see develop as we move into the new school year by bringing these folks into a greater collaboration with us and, and remove those artificial separations of how we're appointed and other kind of artificial things, and really begin to focus in a, in a really, um, in, in a laser way and a very precise way on, on the ways that we can really work collaboratively to improve conditions and improve the, the, um, um, New York City public school system. So, having said that, uh, we, we'll now begin to move into the public portion of the meeting. Um, and I'll, and I think I need to read here a few of the, uh, rules of engagement, um, as we move into the voting portion of tonight's meeting, um, the rules of the quorum as follows, we, we are grateful to have many students who attend our meetings, and we would like to ask that everyone, uh, please be mindful that we do have students in attendance and I noticed sometimes we can get emotional with some of the discussion items, but I just wanna caution folks to remember that we do have young people who are paying attention to the things that we're doing and that you would, uh, just be mindful of that as we mindful, uh, proceed with decoring decorum during public comment periods. Everyone that is signed up to speak on a specific agenda item will be allotted two and a half minutes. I'm gonna ask that our Secretary, secretary Nathan, to call forward speakers from the signup sheets and keep an eye on the clock to ensure speakers finish their comments within the allotted time. So when you reach the two and a half minutes, you will of course stop speaking, which we're thinking. Um, additional time will be provided as necessary to help facilitate comments that might require translation. We will, we will call speakers up in groups of five. The clock will indicate the amount of time remaining each for each speaker. And a light will flash when there is one minute remaining, so the speakers know and can begin the process of wrapping up their comments. And with speaker is not here when their name is called, we're gonna move forward to the next person, um, in the queue and you will not be able to then redeem your position. If you're not here, you won't redeem your position in the queue. This portion of the meet of, um, this portion of the public comment is only for agenda items being voted on at today. Tonight's meeting. So this portion, if you wish to testify regarding an agenda item that is on tonight's meeting. This portion is designed specifically, um, uh, for that reason. So it would have to be, uh, comments related to an item on the agenda. Now, as you know, generally we also have a period of the meeting at the very end where we allow for general public comments. Um, based on a great suggestion, we're gonna begin to tweak that a little bit. And the first way we're gonna do that is normally that's at the very end of the meeting. But tonight, for any students who may wish to speak, we are gonna move that to the front of the meeting. And so at this time, I'd ask the secretary, if there are any students, um, who wish to make general public comment, they would be able to do so now and immediately following their general public comments, they're gonna go home and do their homework. It's summer, hopefully not homework, no homework, summer school. But we do have one student signed up, uh, Lila Torres. Is she here? Okay. So we will, we will again call her at the end. Well, we did announce that we were gonna move, make this move, but we good. That's fine. We will call her at the end. We'll call her. We'll not deprive her of the opportunity. We just wanna make this an opportunity so you know, people can speak. Okay, great. Thank you. Okay. That's it. That's it. Okay. The next item on the agenda is the contracts. Um, committee is, yes, I'm sorry. Yeah, go. Oh, she's Present. Yes. Yes. The member at SEAT sang is now present. So we have 18 members project. Great. Thank you. Okay, this one I wanna call on, uh, contract meeting Maisha SAP to present our contracts. Well, thank you Chair. The contracts committee met on Monday, July 22nd, 2024, and reviewed the contract items being considered tonight by the panel. The meeting was attended in person by me, as well as PA panel members, green and Faulkner. Due to various contract related briefings. We had an anticipation of the committee meeting. There were no questions by panel members at the meeting. The committee anonymously recommended the pool of 18 contract items or consideration this evening. We recommend that contract items one through 18 be considered in a single resolution entitled resolution, um, regarding the approval of contracts. Okay. Is there a motion, Let me introduce the resolution first. Yes. Uh, the resolution up for approval is entitled Resolution regarding the approval of contracts. And as indicated by committee chair, SAP resolution one consists of items one through 18. Okay. Is there a motion now to someone so moved? Okay. Is there a second motion? Yeah. Okay. As we move the second, it'll now move to public. No. Mm-Hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Now, mm-Hmm. Comment. There are no speakers signed up for public comment, Scott. Okay. Okay. We'll now move to panel comments. Are there panel any panel members who wish to make comment, uh, panel members Shepherd? Yeah, I'll make this real quick. Um, I am not opposed to, um, any of the, um, items on the, the, the contract items. I will just say, um, that I am, uh, particularly happy to see, um, the, my library NYC contract, um, as a staunch supporter of, um, New York Public Libraries and the impacts that they have in our schools to, um, see us consider this contract, um, as real partners, um, between the public libraries and Department of education for our students. Um, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm really happy for this and I will just add to it. Um, you know, there is an ongoing issue with our schools and, um, the fact that there are many schools in the Bronx that still do not have libraries or librarians. And in the absence of that, like I do understand that the, the public library partners with our schools in a different way. Um, but I, I do want to just continue to elevate, um, the need, um, for librarians in all of our schools, um, and, and fully accessible libraries, um, you know, with grade and age appropriate books in them. Thank you. Yeah, Thank you for that comment. Panel member. Are there any additional panel member comments? How lie? Thank you chair. Um, this is with regard to agenda item number seven. Um, comptroller Lander was very pleased to hear that the number of three K applicants who are still waiting for a seat is down to around a thousand from what was reportedly 2,600 students. Initially, it's good to see that contract amendments like agenda item number seven with increased seats in response to unmet demand in parts of the city, as well as mention in the RA of a new RFP that will be issued to allow providers to add seats for which they currently do not have a contract. Um, one thing to note, um, as well though, is hopefully similar progress is being made with the additional funding in the fiscal year 25 budget for special education preschool seats for those children with disabilities who are still on a wait list. Thank you. Thank you panel member. Any additional panel member comments? Yes, Madam. Member scuttle, I'd like to comment on agenda item number eight. Um, also grateful for the books, right? And libraries. Um, but one thing that wasn't specifically clarified, um, in, in our briefing was about the accessibility of developmentally appropriate books for older students. So where we have students that, um, receive special education services, that we often have a large amount of older students that are still learning to read or, or, you know, like we're not at reading to learn. And so sometimes the presentation of the material is not developmentally appropriate and if we present something developmentally appropriate, it's not age appropriate. So I just want to elevate that when we are, um, in contract talks, that we ensure that we are considering all student populations in an equitable way and not making accommodations that may result in students not receiving developmentally age grade appropriate material. Thank you. Great. I think, and I think we'll follow up on that, um, comment. So I'll follow up Because we didn't get an answer on that. Thank you. Yeah, I, I will we'll follow up. Okay. Are we ready for the question or any additional comments? See none. I think we're ready for the question. Secretary Nathan, would you please call the roll? Yes. Um, and you as usual, um, you can indicate, um, if you wanna vote differently on a particular contract item, um, indicate as much there are no recusals and I will call the role. Um, member Alithea? Yes. Um, member Arnold, She stepped out. Yes. Oh, she's not here. She stepped out. She stepped out. She stepped out out. No wonder I didn't hear her. Um, member bin? Yes. Member Boad. Yes. The will. Member Chan? Yes. Member Dean Stag? Yes. Um, chair Faulkner? Yes. On all. Um, member Garcia? Yes. Member Giardano? Yes. On all Vice Chair Green? Yes. Um, absent. Member Ho? Yes. Member Esto approve all. Uh, member Lee? Yes. Member Ong? Yes. Member Sap, yes or no? Member Shepherd. I'm staying on 15, 16 and 17 And yes to the rest of Them. 15, 16, 17. Um, member at Sang? Yes. Member RAs? Yes. And is member Arnold back? I think she's gone for the evening. She's gone for the evening. Okay. So by a vote for all items other than 15, 16, and 17. There are 17 yes votes. So those all pass. And for items 15, 16, and 17, there are 16 yes votes and one abstention. So the resolution passes. Resolution passes. Thank you very much. The next item on the agenda is, um, are amendments to the Chancellor regulations A 4 1 12. And Chancellor Regulations a seven five. Five. Secretary? Nathan, could you please introduce Yes. The resolution to the panel? Yes. Um, the amendments to chancellor's regulations a four 11 and a 7 55 are divided into two distinct resolutions. The first resolution is the resolution regarding amendments to chancellor's regulation, a four 11. And the second resolution is resolution regarding amendments to chancellor's regulation A 7 55. Okay, great. Is there, is there a motion to consider resolution regarding amendments to chancellor regulation? A four 11. Is there a second? Is there a motion? Yep. So move, is there a second to that? Second. Second as we moved and second it. Um, we'll now proceed to, um, Do this, bring the other resolution up. Oh, we're gonna do Okay. Yeah, we're doing both. Yeah. Okay. Is there a motion to consider resolution regarding amendments to chancellor regulation? A 7 5 5. Is there a second? I heard a second. Second. Okay. Um, we'll now move to public comment regarding the proposed resolutions. Please note that this portion of public comment is only for the amendments to Chancellor's regulation being voted on at tonight's meeting. If you accidentally signed up to comment during this section, but wish to comment on other matters, please see one of the staff members at the microphone and we will move you to the general public comment section. So this is only for testimony regarding, um, the two opposed changes to chancellor regulation. Any public signup, There are no public comments nobody has signed up for to comment. Okay. Therefore, we will now move to panel member comments. Panel Member Shepherd. Thank you. Chair bark. Um, so I do have just one concern, um, about us approving both of these regulations tonight. And, um, it is, uh, really not the, whether or not like I agree with them or not just from a, um, from a place where, um, like I represent CECs in the Bronx and at this time, um, we're dealing with annual meetings at all of our education councils, so they're reelecting their officers. And, um, you know, I just think that in order to allow like, like a fair opportunity for our education councils to, um, uh, chime in on this issue or on these two regulations, um, I just don't think like we should be voting on it right now. And, um, uh, as such, um, I would like or I would move to, uh, postpone consideration, uh, on these two items until our September panel meeting. Mm-Hmm. Okay. Is that, so your, your motion is to table to specifically oppose? No, sir. My motion is to postpone the vote on these two items until our September meeting. Okay. So is there a seconded motion to postpone voting on these items until September 2nd? Okay. Um, is there any comment? I don't, I think it goes, doesn't just go right to a vote. No, no. Uh, uh, postponements are debatable. Debatable. You're right. Yes. Yeah, I mean, particularly with, um, chancellor's Reg CR four 11, like we're talking about how police and emergency personnel interact with our students. Um, and to do that in the absence of community, robust community engagement, uh, is very inappropriate and antithetical to this agency's mission to community engagement and community empowerment. Um, we don't have a single student here to talk about what goes down when the police or the EMS come to their school, uh, when a crisis occurs, um, you know, to do, it's, it's disrespectful to our communities to do this at this time. These regulations are both nearly a decade since revision. Um, I don't understand what's the hurry to do this, you know, I agree actually with the content of the revisions of both of these, um, both of these, however, to do it at a time when the vast majority of our stakeholders and our communities are completely disengaged from our schools is just inappropriate. And it makes it seem like we are doing something nefarious or shady by doing it in what is more or less, although this is a public meeting, kind of a secret way during a quiet time of the year. Um, and I would love to see these resolutions passed with robust public engagement and robust public approval of them. Thank you. Sure. Is there any, any other comment from panel member? I see. Is there anyone from DOE that could offer comment? I see Mark representative, would you please, you know, um, offer any guidance here? I gotta use the sketchy mic, right? So I I truly respect, uh, panel members' position on this and I really, really want you to understand that. A, we've, we pushed this back twice already. School's about to start. We wanna make sure that we are doing the best for our kids. Everything in this regulation is to support young people. I don't know what else we could possibly add to these regulations to su support our students any more than we've done here. We are also, um, providing additional measures to ensure that the school safety agents are not called during times of behavioral crisis. I think it's all pretty much laid out there, right? And if we filled this room with tons of students, right? I'm not sure what else they're gonna ask us to put in these regulations that's not already there. We were intentional, intentional about redirecting student behaviors to the people who are responsible for supporting young people. We were intentional in identifying, having principles, identify all members of a crisis team names and positions, documenting that in the, in that in the report, and making sure that teachers are trained not to call school safety agents. Principals are not calling school safety agents for god's sakes. We've been putting the regulation that the school safety agents cannot use mechanical restraints on students for behavioral issues. And I, I respect and appreciate your, your constant advocacy for young people in this space. But just note, advocate for young people as well, right? And we're going to make sure that we are doing the best work that we possibly can on these regulations to ensure that young people are not taken out in by EMS for behavioral issues that, uh, we are training staff to ensure that they are checking every box before calling EMS. And when I say calling EMS, you better be at your last step when calling EMS for a young person, especially for what you may consider to be a crisis situation. But it's really a behavioral issue, right? We are really putting in the work and we are really intentional about trying to get this regulation in place so that we can start doing the necessary training we need to do with both agencies to ensure we are doing the best for our young people. So thank you. Thank you. Um, I wanna, I wanted to speak about the extent of the parent engagement because I know that's of a concern. Um, we did post this, I just do wanna note we got comments from four advocacy groups, three of whom are really represent Student Voices, advocates for Children, legal Aid Society, and legal services for New York. I see that Nelson Mar is here, who was very instrumental in the first incarnation of the reg. We also heard from Teachers Unite. We made a number of changes, um, LA earlier this month in response to the public comment. Um, we also had, um, something we have done on, we did with a four 12. We did a parent engagement session with parent leaders and there were probably over 20 parent leaders on the phone. We did a long session with them last month. Um, so, you know, just to know that there has been the parent and the parent voice and the voice on behalf of the students. Um, I know, I think Nelson showed up later I don't know if you wanna speak about the timing. Um, I think Mark addressed everything. The one last thing is we did put a new provision incorporating the state regulation on restraints. And that is something that's really important, super important in addition to all of the other parts of the reg that have in place for the start of the school year. Okay. Just gentlemen, go Ahead, Nelson. Let's, yeah. Okay. And I'm, I'm gonna come back to you. Lemme let finish and then I'll come back, back to you. Well, Thank you. Good evening. Um, thank you panel members. Uh, thank you Chair for giving me the opportunity to speak on this. As, uh, Ms. Nathan said, we did submit comments. Um, I did want to first say, um, just to introduce myself, Nelson Maher. I'm an attorney at, uh, Bronx Legal Services. Our organization, uh, provides free civil legal services to low-income residents throughout the city. I work in the Bronx office, and our organization actually was, um, the one who brought the lawsuit around the improper removals of students by EMS in the New York City Public Schools. And as part of the settlement was the, um, uh, the, the regulation chancellor's Regulation a four 11. So, uh, we, we are actually very happy to see that the regulation has been updated. Um, we definitely wanna commend the Department of Education for taking these important steps. 'cause a decade has passed and a lot has changed. Um, secondly, we do also wanna commend the Department of Education for its tone and nature of the overall changes to the regulation as it expands the focus of the regulation away from the mere response to, to a child in crisis. To include more information and emphasis about how school officials can be proactive regarding such situations, including meaningful follow-up described in Section eight third. Um, there, there are a couple of concerns. Um, specifically, uh, we think that, um, it's important to ensure that parents aren't arbitrarily prevented from speaking with their child. And on scene 9 1 1 responders by, by the inclusion of the word unreasonably in the section of seven A and a one and seven A two. So I don't know if that's been changed. We did make that change. Okay. Great. That's awesome. Um, I think the, the last thing was, um, when we wrote the regulation originally, we were very insistent upon language, uh, letting parents know that they have a right to a copy of the incident reports with these incidents. And that was removed and, and we again, would like that put back in the ation. It has been restored. Okay, great. So then there are no concerns. You're good. Thank. Yeah. And I, and I just wanna thank your organization for the work that you do in advocating and protecting the rights of individuals. And I, I appreciate your coming to the meeting today. And, uh, I've heard a lot about your organization and the work and, uh, so you're like the stamp approval for people who advocate to make sure that folks have their legal protections and are those protections are guaranteed. So I wanna convey to you, and thank you for the work that your organization does in that area. Thank you on Information. Thank you. Yes. Um, so is there anything to preclude us from having in September having this on the agenda, just for review about implementation, about how, so we, we can go forward with the vote tonight and have it revisited on Mike. Oh, is there anything to preclude us that's on? Um, But I, but I think that the head of security kind of said that they want to be prepared for September. Right. And so that as you delay, you know, this has been delayed twice. No, I'm saying let's go through with it today and have an informational session added. Can always can revisit it in September. Absolutely. It can be addressed. Yes. And so we can go through with the vote, not potentially have anything negative happen on, on our watch while these, these improvements to the regulations were, are being. So It can be re revisited. But I, you know, I want to call a panel member bin who had her hand. Did you? Yeah, I, I, Because she had her hand. I don't want to be redundant 'cause I think it was covered, but I have to, um, I understand what the public engagement, um, which has been done. But I gotta also have to side what Mark Raptor said. I'm sorry. Chief Rap said, um, because these things are out a decade and if we don't upgrade them, we want to limit it outside of influence, meaning law enforcement EMS. Because once EMS is called what's wrong, PD has to be called to, they will also have to come to the scene. So to minimize, uh, you know, altercations and escalation Yeah. It's pruded for us to go ahead with these changes. 'cause all these changes are positive, they're not negative. Okay. Tom, I know you, you wanted to comment. Thank you. Thank you Chair Faulkner. So again, I am not saying that I disagree with any of these regulations, right? And I have to be clear about that. Um, the point here is when we talk about engagement, and we talk about input from like the public, who are we talking about? Right? And I have, you know, immense respect for Nelson. I've known Nelson for years, right? And I have immense respect for advocates for children, et cetera, right? But part of this process does in fact include our education councils, right? And my concern as literally their representative in this space is that they should have an opportunity as elected parent leaders, right? That represent 32 districts and four citywide districts to chime in on these issues, right? They could say they agree with all of it and life's good, right? But the opportunity for them to do that so that it is memorialized and part of the record is important when we just go ahead and do it, and then we come back to them after the fact, right? Does send a message that their input is kind of unnecessary. And what I'm saying is that we can of course, begin to have conversations around implementation and those things. I don't think there's any of us here that would disagree around this regulation. Right? And, but I would also respectfully submit that I'm almost certain that like, things are just not going to completely fall apart if we wait until September and allow for our education councils to have an opportunity to chime in on these important issues. Yeah. Did you wanna I don't, I don't disagree, right? That the more voice we have in this space, so the more leverage we give, right? Here's, here's the thinking. We're a large school system and we literally have to turn this cruise ship around, right? And it's not gonna be easy work. And the sooner we get to it, the better off we will be. The other piece to this is we have to do a lot of in-school engagement with not just our internal agency, but an external agency as well. I have to remind the police department that you no longer have the authority to come in and do the very thing that you think you have the authority to do. Right? Our young people are protected by the adults in our schools. And I have to remind our principals that we now have a regulation that says there is no autonomy in this space. You can't allow this to happen anymore. Right? I can't do that right now. As long as we're we have this regulation as existing in place, they're gonna keep on doing business as usual. Yeah. I can start the engagements, but the regulation gives me the authority to say, no longer can you do that. Here it is in black and white, just like every one of our educators are looking for direction in black and white. Well, I have it here in black and white, NYPD, I have it in black and white that you have to stop at the door. And just because we dialed 9 1 1 and called EMS, you were the first ones to get here. You don't get to act. Right. We need strained medical professionals to do what they do. We don't need the enforcement of the police officers to do what you do. And that is restrain and then transport. That's not what we need in this space. We need to have a regulation in place that provides direct guidance for all of our educators as well. Our external partners. The NYPD School Safety Division is standing by waiting to make the necessary changes they need to make to the school safety agents, patrol guide, procedures, to make sure that they're in line with our regulations. We can have as many engagements as we want to, um, after this process. And I assure you, Tom, the voices of the parents are important voices in this space as well. CEC members and all the other members who I can tell you agree that we're doing the right thing in this space. Yeah. And, and I don't know that we'll ever have enough representation. Right. As far as all the people who support young people out there. I can tell you we're doing the right thing in this space. Yeah. And we need to move this along respectfully. Yeah. So, so what I'm hearing is that delay for a third time will really create some harm. I mean, I think that's what it summarizes to. There are some, there are some members up there respect. Um, respectfully, sir, there are some members here who work directly in schools Yeah. And they will tell you that this is Yeah. On an everyday basis. So, so I, I think that we can accomplish what panel member Chef is talking about by, um, coming up through the engagement committee, creating policy as to how we move forward to ensure that, that the kind of engagement that you feel has been lacking when we present these resolutions is, is taken care of. But I, but I think when you look at the potential for harm and that this wouldn't be the first way we've delayed this three times, um, you know, um, and that there's the potential to keep something in place that we all kind of agree needs to change. I think we all come, you've said you don't see anything that really stands out that's harmful, and that we need this, this change. Then I, I think maybe the idea is that we create this, move forward with this change and then come back and look at how we engage. Because if there are problems in that we're somehow not able to communicate effectively with the parents and, and stakeholders, let's look at how we need to tweak that, but not make that be the problem that delays us doing something. That's very good. So with that, unless there are an, unless there are other comments, are there any other comments or from the panel? Yes, I agree with your last, I agree with your last statement. Mm-Hmm. That maybe we can look at the way that engagement occurs. So for example, um, there was a session, um, similar to the last regular, the four 12. So there that was had with parent leaders. Um, maybe it would be helpful if we were aware of those sessions in advance of the session and we knew exactly like the invite list. Like is it just, um, president's, council presidents? Is it CC presidents? Is it all members of these bodies? Like what does, is it the title one reps? Like the Citywide and Deepak are often left out? So what is the scope of the invitation? Um, could we maybe receiving and be like, some of us do overlap in spaces, but a lot of you don't. And and it may be beneficial for, for you yourselves to hear from the parent leaders, um, because also there are concerns that are brought up in those spaces. And we did not receive a briefing or a list of even concerns that were brought up in those spaces by those parents. So we don't know if those concerns were addressed in the latest rendition of dysregulation because we're totally unaware of what was actually said in that session. Mm-Hmm. So maybe if either we could receive a report, if we could receive an invitation, um, just something that helps us understand that engagement. And then maybe like when we are having these conversations with said leaders that we represent that when we hear this, that gives us the opportunity to say opportunity there was an engagement session and they can say we were left out. And then that's another conversation to give the opportunity without necessarily lengthening our meetings Yeah. Or delaying votes that support students. Yeah. So if we could create some kind of matrix that shows that the engagement was sufficient, um, so that items when they're good items can move forward. Because I think you're right. We're, we're concerned that we wanna make sure that people have been properly engaged. So I think we can accomplish that. Um, in addition. So, um, yes, if I May just add one last thing. Sure. Um, the mechanisms for that with our education councils are resolutions. Mm-Hmm. Our education councils take up issues and they adopt or not resolutions, um, around these, these issues. Right. And with no education council resolutions on this issue, right? I'm not saying engagement didn't happen. I'm not saying that this is not a good thing to do, but we have to be able to say in writing, right? Like if you talk about things like contracts and stuff, like you gotta be able to show in writing that our education councils were part of this process, right? That our education councils, you know, and then that becomes like our role as CC members in this space to follow up with, you know, our education councils are saying, Hey, you know, we're talking about this issue. Did you guys, you know, come up with a resolution in support or against so that these things are on the record when they're not on the record, then we don't know right. Where CEC stand on these things and that, and that is the whole point. I'm not debating whether or not this is a good idea. Again, think it's, you know, a great idea and Nelson spoke and, you know, all of the issues have been addressed and that's great. I just need to make sure as the CEC representative for the Bronx, that CECs have had an opportunity to submit whether or not they are, you know, in, you know, aligned with this. And the only problem I have right now is given the fact that this is the summer. Yeah. Right? And our CCCs are in the middle of their annual meetings and do not have like officers in a lot of their spaces. Right. They couldn't pass a resolution now to say that they are in support or against it, even if they wanted to. And that is the issue that I'm having. I'm not debating if the rest of it, I think it's great, but we, I have to make sure that they have the opportunity to submit their, you know, support or reservation about an issue before we vote on it. Not after. Okay. Um, are we waiting for the question or there, are there any comments that I, I just, I just, yeah. Panel member. It just reminded me. So with the, I'm sorry, with the public comments, can we get a copy or remind us to look at the link to see what public comments has to do with certain agendas? So we know, and because we, we know, like if they come to public speaking, we know what, because we are present, but sometimes we don't, uh, get the comments that was dialed in or was written, written, written. So if we can get, uh, or go look at this x, y, Z to look or actually give us copies of those comments, it'll be, um, if it could be printed for the additional document, we, that'd be great. We are required under state law to do an analysis of public comments received and our response to the public comments, um, a very long, um, an response and analysis was posted last night. Um, you know, we can accept comments up to six o'clock on the night before the meeting. I didn't make the law. And then we posted our analysis of all the comments. Um, so that is on the website. We did include, um, some of the things, there was a lot discussed at that meeting with the parents with where there were CEC reps and parent leaders. Rema, you were there. Um, and we, that there, you know, there were some suggestions made a lot of, you know, very moving discussion. Um, but we do a full analysis and that is always posted the night before the meeting as required under state law. The posted it's under, if you go to the agenda for the meeting, you will see under chancellor's Reg a four 11. If you click, you'll get to the analysis. And under chancellor's, reg a 7 55, um, it was also posted. Okay. Second. Okay, let's, let's proceed to vote. Uh, well river, what we're voting on is the motion to postpone. So that's the first item. Uh, or the question, should this question be postponed? A vote of no would be, not to postpone, but to move forward a vote of yes. Would be to postpone this item. Um, until the next meeting. Until September. Until September, sorry. Yeah. Right until September. And so I will call the role, and if you wanna vote differently on the two resolutions, on the two regulations, you can indicate as much. Um, member Elisa? No member Arnold has, she's gone. Okay. Um, member Boad? No. Oh, sorry. I I will go back. I skipped, um, member Obanen, that's a no. Member Chan stepped away. Okay. Stepped back. Um, member Deans? No. Um, sheriff Faulkner? No. Um, member Garcia? No. Member Giardano? No. Vice Chair Green? No. Member Ho No. Member Quiero? No. Member Lee? Yes. Um, member Ong? No. Member Sap? No. Um, member Shepherd? Yes. Member of Ang and Member Ra? No. And Is Member Chandak. Um, so even without her presence, um, the motion is defeated. We have two yes votes and 14 nos Call the question. So, um, okay. Uh, there's a motion to call the question. Is there a second to the motion to call the question meeting? We will now proceed to a vote on the original motion. Second? Second. Is there any discussion? No. Let's proceed to a vote. I will call the role. And again, you can indicate a yes for both or decide if you wanna vote differently. Um, member Ali say Yes, and I'd like to add that I'd love to hear more about this in September as suggested by panel member. I believe to bear. No. Jordanna. Thank you. Um, member, member Ban. That's a yes. Um, member Boad? Yes. Both. Um, member Chan. Okay. Member Dean Stag. Yes. To both. Um, chair Faulkner? Yes. On both Member Garcia? Yes. To both Member Giardano? Yes to both. And I'd also endorse having it on the agenda for an update for September. So this could be subject to public discussion. And comment. Vice Chair Green? Yes. To both. Um, member Ho. Yes to both. And also the September Suicide Prevention Month. Oh, wow. Um, member Esto. Yes. To both with the Caveat that it A, is on our agenda, and B, that there is a discussion immediately about parent and family and community engagement and what that looks like in reporting back to the panel. Thank you. Okay. Um, member Lee? Yes. And ditto to everything Nina said. Um, member Ong? Yes. Member sap. Yes. To both Member Shepherd. I have State On both. Member Ang. Member ris? Yes. On both. Okay. So the motion carries on both resolutions by a vote of 15 yeses and one abstention. Great. Thank you to motion passes. Thank you panel. And, and I, and I think we are mindful of some of the comments regarding engagement. Um, and I think that was a, that was a great discussion. I think there were two separate things here. The, the merits of the resolution were good, but there were real issues around are we engaging in a sufficient way? So I'm going to turn to our engagement committee chair. You knew it was coming, um, Alan on, who's been great and asked that Alan, um, convene a meeting and let's announce it with everybody. And let's really have a real conversation about are we doing the kind of meaningful engagement that we can come to a meeting and feel confident that we have touched all those bases. And, um, how we would do the, I don't have sort of the answer now, but let's really come together and see how we would've to do that. I saw a panel member ER's hand first, then Panel Member Shepherd, and then Panel Member Garcia. Thank you. Um, so the analysis of public comment is there for 7, 5, 5, but is not there for four 11. Um, it was One I checked last Night. Don't see it. Yeah. Um, and, and I motion to add this conversation to our September agenda. Yeah, No, I got it. It's On check last night Actually. Yeah. Was there, I definitely, I definitely checked it last night. We checked Absolutely. Double checked. I just checked now. I was here for seven, five. That, but also I motion to add the sep to the September agenda, the conversation about the implementation in, with the public in our meetings. So, Okay. So you wanna add to the September agenda? Mm-Hmm. And a discussion or a resolution. What are you looking? A Discussion. So exactly what panel member Jordano asked for a discussion. So we just approved four 11 the discussion two months later about implementation and everything that everybody asked for, um, as the caveat to voting. Yes. Because it sounds like it makes sense for students. Yeah. Okay. Um, we'll double check. I just opened it on my phone, but we will definitely check. Um, so on a four 11, um, And that may be a sign in issue. Um, so I did elevate that my, my iPad typically doesn't work, so I always have to go in through the public forum. And even then it should be posted for the Absolutely. But through the public facing. But I think these are items, technical items that we need to iron out. Um, Well, because it, but it, it's relevant to the vote that just happened. Yeah. 'cause if the analysis of public comment is there for us to review, then it has to be there for us to review. And that's the caveat of saying yes. When things happen in reverse orderer, I agree with. And that ensuring that in the future it doesn't occur. I Agree with you. That's why I referred it to committee to come back and really do a deep dive into how we do this engagement. Let's take one more comment on this and then we're gonna move on. Yeah. Uh, chair Walker. I'm gonna make, oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. No, I didn't made a comment. Yes. I'm sorry. As she was having the comment before. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Okay. Ahead. I apologize. I Just wanted to know if and when we have disengagement from the community, we also need to have an, an part of this whole, um, caveat. We need the stakeholders who have, and those of us who've been involved in discipline in schools with physical altercations, we need teachers, guidance counselors, principals. We need the staff to be involved in the conversations because people who come in make comments, parents, it's their child, it's my cousin, it's this one's community. But you have to be in the building. You have to be in the classroom. You have to be in the office to understand what it is. Do have to break up a fight, do have to take a weapon from a child, a teenager, someone twice your size or a little child. You need the input of people who do the dirty work. Mm-Hmm. And I say that in quote the dirty work. So make sure we include that in our conversation when we have these lost a little quiz about how we, you know, the community, make sure you've been part of the system who have to deal with the problem. Okay. And especially when you don't wanna hurt a child, you don't wanna get involved negatively with their parent. But you really have to understand that there are two sides to every one of these stories. Please understand. You have to have been there to understand, okay, there's three sides. Right? Okay. It's the parent, not my child, it's the teacher. He did this and the truth, and it's the child and then it's the truth. Okay. Thank you again. Panel member Garcia, you always bring us a laser focus. Thank you. And where, where we should be, um, really focusing and paying some attention. Um, who is that panel member Shepherd? Yeah, I'm, I'm gonna just make this quick. I would, um, uh, love to, um, participate in this with, uh, uh, panel member Ong. Um, you know, I have, um, you know, really worked with our Bronx CCCs for, you know, years now as their representative. And, um, um, you know, if we're talking about a committee whose function it is, uh, to engage with our communities that does, that does include our education councils. No, I agree. And, um, you know, I would, um, you know, with your, uh, permission and with, you know, um, with your kind of blessing work with you, I think that's to really engage with, um, our education counselors. I do believe that, you know, these issues, it's really important to have, it's not just conversation with them, but really figure out how we can memorialize their viewpoints in, uh, these conversations. Well, One of the conversations we had, and we had a meeting yesterday, center for Working Group to talk about how we actually would engage CEC members in the process so that we're not, you know, there's like a regular mechanism that CUCs would be engaged in, um, the committee engaged in the work. So those are conversations that are ongoing. We're just trying to figure out how we do it, how we actually make that work to improve the level of, sometimes what I've found in going to some of the CCC meetings, sometimes the problems are really big, but sometimes it's a matter of just that there's somebody who values their comment and values their input. And, and I, and I've seen that in several of the meetings that I've gone to where it was just a matter of, Hey, I want to know that our opinion is important, that it is valued and that we're listening. So I actually agree. Yeah. So let's move on. Is it urgent? Said, Yes. You said something about engaging with our CECs and what that looks like. And I, I agree with you, right? Mm-Hmm. I also would just respectfully submit that they have five representatives on this panel And we're gonna include Vincent And we need to be included. You are in those direct conversations that That was part the Conversation fact Represent. Yeah, I should have said that, but that's part of the conversation. Okay. Um, so I think we've got gotten to the point that we're at the general public comment. I don't know if there are any signups. Yeah, Just a few Follow the trends of, uh, the evening. Lila. There we will start with Lila Torres, our student speaker. Why is she not up here? Oh, that's, uh, yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. It's different. Yeah. You gotta go in the Room. Good evening. Um, good evening. Hope y'all are having a great summer. Um, um, I have a, like two or three topics I would like to speak about. Um, so first, a lot of kids don't have school buses and one of them is including me. And because of that, my parents have to pay a lot of money every week just to get me to school. And my school's only 20 minutes away. And It Shouldn't be fair that my parents have to pay for that when we only live so far away. And I got a bus when I was around eight years old, nine years old. And I only got it for two years, one and a half. And then my brother left the school and I did not get to keep my bus. And my last two years of school, now my last year in elementary school, I don't have a bus still. And I've been saying this for a long time and I don't find it fair that kids that live close to the district only a few minutes away get a bus when they could walk to school or something. And then kids that live about 20 minutes away or 30 minutes away, get a bus that don't, they don't get a bus and then the kids get a bus when they live like five minutes away. I don't know if it's just me, but that doesn't make any sense. And some kids with, I appease IEPs get a school bus when they live a certain, when they live a certain amount of time away, like my brother did. And now I don't have a school bus 'cause he left and went to middle school and yeah. And about the school lunch, um, yes, school lunch is not very good. I think we can all agree on that. And, um, I've been trying the school lunch recently and it was okay, just not very good. 'cause I've chipped my tooth on the apples before. Yeah, it's permanent. I don't trust it very much. And yeah, I think we should change a school lunch and maybe have like a survey for kids when people put up the, the QR codes on the walls, right? Oh, a smart idea. Kids are not allowed to take their phones out in school and use it so it doesn't make sense. Hand them out to the kids, tell the kids what it is so they don't just throw it out. Like what my brother used to do with all of his papers. And the last thing is, um, about the acs. So in gym and cafeterias, some schools, they in classrooms, they don't even have an ac. And recently in summer school, I threw up a lot because I got sick from the heat and there was no AC in the cafeteria and I got sick because there isn't one. And in gyms it doesn't make sense for no AC to be there when kids are sweating a lot. Um, they're playing games and sports and it's on their grade. So perhaps they would have an additional room for them to go in, like to cool down or have an AC in the gym, have the doors actually closed, in my opinion. And, and I see a lot of school buses when I walk by every day, the windows open. There's no ac I've been on a few trips recently and there were no ACS on the buses. So the kids were sweating, complaining, cranky going on the trip. And then they have to walk up, wait for the teachers to get tickets or whatever. And it's not fair that the kids and the teachers have to wait in the buses in a hot bus and not do anything. And I think our staff should be better trained because, Because A few days ago, a week or so ago, I got, um, I got in trouble. I got like in trouble with the teacher yelled at because I get carsick and they got mad at me for saying, I need to sit in the front of the bus. I feel, I feel like the teachers need to be tested on some of these things like they do in restaurants, you know? Yeah. And hope you all have a great evening. That's all. Thank you. Thank You. Thank you. Thank you Lyla. Any other comments? I will call up the, um, remaining speakers that can make their way down. Um, Gavin Healy, um, Theresa Catone, Elona Nae, Craig Slutkin and GE In two and half minutes. Yeah, it's two minutes off. Yeah, it's two. And and as you're coming up, I'll also ask you to be mindful of the time. Um, it's a two and a half minute two, uh, two minute, uh, presentation. Let's see, I don't see, is Gavin here? Gavin Healy. See Gavin didn't see him. Theresa Catone. Okay. Hello. Hi. So, um, timer, so my question is about the creative curriculum required for all three K pre-K programs that was mentioned by the Chancellor earlier. It was brought to my attention that DOE will now require teachers to follow a specific sequence of the curriculum with no flexibility to choose lesson plans within this approved curriculum. While uniformity across classrooms has its merits, this new requirement brings up concerns regarding resources. This is especially true for community-based organizations that have not received payments in a timely manner, nor access to shop duly for bulk and discounted supplies. Um, so for example, if a center has eight classrooms and they're doing a unit on balls, they need to have eight sets of balls available at one time instead of one to two sets that they rotate between classrooms throughout the year. So this becomes a conflict between theoretical best practices and the realities of funding cash flow and resource management. What are the panel's thoughts on this? Um, just should I ask my follow up question now or It A commentary? You have a, the time is running. Okay. So the follow up question is, what flexibility do teachers have in the curriculum to tailor needs for students, particularly those in three K that may not be ready for it due to either a late birthday or special needs such as those associated with early intervention or CPSE? Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Asking a question later for a question. You asking us a question? She's waiting for an answer. Is there for an answer? Are you waiting for an answer? I would like an answer, But I can, yeah. Okay. So I, I'm, I'm gonna try to answer that, that as best I can. And, uh, oh, uh, DC uh, uh, deputy Chancellor, do you wanna, you want me to take a shot at it or would you like to, uh, do so? Sure. Deputy chancellors, one of the deputy chances. Good evening everybody. Good to see you. I, I, I was, uh, talking to another parent so I didn't hear the, I show The question that's may, maybe it'll be best if we, uh, got your information and we'll make sure that's to connect with you. We'll make it, we'll make a time to jump on a Phone. That would be fantastic. Thank You. So, so let me take your information right now. We will get right back to you within the next few days. Very good, thank you. And, and just for the record, I would say that even though a curriculum is, you know, uniformed so to speak, there's always, uh, room for differentiation. So I am positive that you can, you know, vary if, depending on the needs of your child for the learning style and, and things like that. Okay. Thank you. Uh, the next speaker is Alona Nae. She here? No, uh, Craig Slutkin A little taller, so thank you. Thank you. Um, that's good. That's fine. Thank you. Uh, my name is Craig Slutkin and I'm the newly elected president of CEC two, but I am speaking on my own behalf tonight. Uh, and I do wanna welcome everyone. This is a D two school, so welcome to, welcome to district two. I just first wanted to congratulate Chair Faulkner and Vice Chair Green on their reelections. Having watched you both run these meetings over the past few years, you run, you both run these meetings in such an inclusive and professional manner, and I can only hope to emulate that on my CC. I also would like to see, I see in the audience my good friend Effie Zachary, I wanna say hello to him as well. You beat Me to the pun. I won't charge your time here, but you beat me to the punch. I was waiting, we were waiting to recognize him and welcome him, our former colleague back, uh, to the panel. Uh, I would also like to thank the chancellor Deputy Chancellor Weissberg Canita Lloyd, and tr Kelly for their help with geographic priority in Manhattan for high school admissions. The results from fall two 20, the fall 2 20 23 cycle came out. And once again, D two and D three were in the worst placement rates. Having set, having it set for geographic priority for the entire borough, and keeping a portion of that priority bucket so that students from the outer boroughs continue, continue to have some access to these six schools. Seems like a really good balance. I've had many parents come to me expressing their sheer joy in this new policy, and many are now thinking twice before looking to leave the system. So thank you for listening to our community. I also want to ch thank the chancellor for his comments on class size. I hear so often that having great teachers is so critical, and as the chancellor said, if you have a small class, but a mediocre or worse teacher, it doesn't help anybody. Thank you. And thank you and Deputy Chancellor, we, uh, thank you Chancellor Banks and, uh, deputy Chancellor Weissberg for your advocacy As we start to implement. Please, please, please have your superintendents include the CECs in the planning over the next couple of years. And thank you. And looking forward to a year, great year ahead. Thank you. Congratulations on your election as, uh, chair, and we wish you well. Congratulations or condolences. Well, yeah, I'll talk to you in September. Yeah. So I'm gonna check, is Alona not here? And nor is Gavin Healy. Okay. That is the Oh G Lee, I'm sorry. You were my apologies. It's okay. That's okay. Thank you so much. Good evening. My name is Gia Lee. I'm a special education teacher. This is either my 24th or 25th year, um, going into profession. I'm also the chapter leader at my school and a steering member of the Black Lives Matter schools, NYC since the founding of it. And I'm here to talk on two things. One has to do with early childhood education, and yes, it's been painted a picture as this great bringing in of a, a standard curriculum across the schools. I would argue that one size does not fit all, and that there have been programs that have been deemed culturally responsive, like the units of study that existed that was free, written in 11 different languages and the process. So it's not just the content within the curriculum process matters. And as an educator, I can attest to the fact and if there are any other educators in the room that you teach to students, not to the curriculum. Another issue with creative curriculum is that it is owned now by a private equity firm, KKR. Please look into it. Um, just as other mandated curricula I teach, um, elementary, I taught second grade this past year. I'm gonna be teaching fourth and fifth grade this coming year, mandated curricula. We see them as resources, but we have, as educators, we have the professional wherewithal. It's written in our contract, article 24 in the UFT contract to be able to use our professional wherewithal to teach to our students. The second item has to do with CEC 14. And Tara Sutton, who is a, also a FELLOWING member of the Black Lives Matter at schools, NYCI beseech you history is looking at us and will look back on this moment on where we stand in support of a black woman who's standing for the promises of what we can do to unify. And instead, it's not about doing Zoom meetings. The community is well aware of that. This is about a woman who's trying to exercise her powerful, her power of freedom of speech. Thank you. Thank You. Uh, that is the end of the speaker signed up for public comment, Public comment. We'll now move to panel members who may wish to make comment, um, panel members. Well, you're gonna yield to panel member Lee, panel member. Right. Thank You. Um, happy disability pride month, everyone. Uh, yes. And I, as we get ready for the start of the school year, um, I do not know within the doe's vast organization whose responsibility this is, but I beseech you before high school admissions, before high school, um, admissions and applications open in theoretically October. Um, in the spirit of disability pride month, can we please correct the dropdown menu for our autism specific programs to automatically disaggregate by nest and aims so that families and sometimes students independently are, can easily select the program to which they are eligible. It's a flaw in the My Schools thing that you, you only have one dropdown for all autism programs, and I imagine it promotes people applying to programs they are not eligible for. Um, which yeah, is obviously detrimental. Thank you. And, um, I, I'm not trying to target you this evening, Christina, welcome to your new role. Um, but you know, earlier what last year this panel approved, um, or was it the year before, uh, you know, the door lock and security systems, um, for our schools, and I was reminded of this, and I know they're rolling out Borough by Borough, neighborhood by Neighborhood. Um, I was reminded of this when I was at Tweed the other day for PEP training. And as I walked in the door for Tweed to Tweed, um, two parents also came in at the same time. They were non-English speakers and security was unable to help them. And it didn't seem like security was trained to call the translation line that they're supposed to be able to call when a parent does not speak English. The parents, you know, I was able to assist them with my very imp proficient Spanish. Um, I'm working on it every day to get better. Uh, and they were looking for an enrollment center and had come to Tweed erroneously. But I think we really need to, um, be cautious of that because there weren't any personnel, unlike a school environment where, you know, you have Holly Glot and multilingual personnel at the ready to help. Um, ideally when somebody needs it. Um, in this instance, there was nobody near the front doors of Tweed to assist these parents, uh, o other than you know, me. And again, you know, my capacity, like I just happened to be there and my capacity to communicate effectively where they needed to go and how a family welcome center would function for them and help them find a school for their kids is, is insufficient to the task. So, um, I imagine this occurs across our city in, in many situations, district offices, et cetera. Um, I think we can work to be more accessible to our families, and I'm happy to partner and support and always thank you. Yeah. Yeah. I think you raised a a good and a good point. The problem is, um, the most, those, those the folks who likely denied it was not a DOE employee. Um, they, they work for a company and, you know, and, and their job is to manage the building. So I just wanted the record that it's not, those Are, I know those, they're not school safety agents. Yeah, Exactly. They're not trying to malign school safety agents. Yeah. But yeah, it was, you know, um, not the warmest welcome for people looking to enroll kids in our schools. And I know we need them there. Yeah. Hold for one second. Let me have Mark, um, representative if you could say something. Absolutely. I'll come back to, um, you know, panel member, um, come back. Absolutely. I'm sorry that that was the experience that that family had that day. Those, the security off the security guards that are at Tweed headquarters are in fact trained to reach out to face and have someone from upstairs come down and support those families. I'm not sure why it didn't happen there. I will follow up again tomorrow. Rest assure that the school safety agents in the school, every one of the school safety agents now has a smartphone provided to them by the New York City Police Department. And it has language applications on there, right? So if they have issues and it's got a translate, a translation application on it. So there should never be a parent not properly serviced or turned away. But as it relates to Tweed, I'll follow up tomorrow and ensure that every one of those, um, security guards are reminded of their responsibility to reach out to face, especially when they have parents who, uh, uh, families who speak languages other than English. And it doesn't have to be a family coming to seek support. You know, TWE is a beautiful place. We have people wander in all from all around the country and outside the country just because they think it's a museum and they want to, you know, and they always are, are, are, receive proper support and help. I'm sorry that that happened in that particular day, but I'll definitely look into it. And I mean, I don't want to, let's not look, I don't wanna 'em malign them. The, the security agents overly once, you know, once I was able to tell them to tell security what it is the families were looking for, they were able to hand over the relevant paperwork and everything. Um, but a quick question about the smartphone for the school safety agents. Can we just, I, are they, it's a yes or no, are they by policy, um, automatic, like, are, are those smartphones on the building's wifi or are they relying on cellular networks? And if so, have they been assessed for dead spots within the buildings? Yes. I will have an answer for you tomorrow on Okay, great. Thank you. All right. Remember, they're not ours. They're there. All right. No, that's why I ask. Alright. And Thank you Chair Faulkner. And I, I promise I'll make this quick 'cause I actually just jotted it all down here. Um, so, you know, the first thing I wanted to do is really just take a moment and, uh, just say thank you, um, to our Bronx, CEC presidents, um, uh, for reelecting me to, to do this again, right? Um, you know, this is going into year five for me. And, um, you know, I just want to say on the record for all of them, uh, thank you for you entrusting me with the opportunity to, uh, represent you again. Um, I do also want to say and welcome all of our new members, um, you know, uh, you know, welcome and, and, you know, I hope you got a good taste of what you could expect I did for, you know, a little while to come. Right? Um, I do also want to take a moment and, um, uh, just say congratulations to Deputy Chancellor Fody, uh, deputy Chancellor Ramos and Chief of Staff Lloyd. Um, I've had the opportunity over the years to work with, um, uh, uh, Dr. Fody on many issues as they relate to, um, students in special education and students with disabilities. And I just wanna say thank you for your hard work and, uh, being, uh, deputy chancellor, now's well deserved. Um, and you know, the last thing I, I really wanna just touch on tonight. I do, I do want to, y'all know, I come in here and I, I, I bring issues every month, but this time I actually want to, uh, really just say thank you to Chancellor Banks for, um, you know, his, uh, advocacy around, uh, you know, this update to Foundation Aid. Um, I have been a part of those conversations for many years, and as the state, uh, commissioned Rockefeller to take a look at, um, you know, foundation Aid, um, I think that there's a couple things that we need to consider here. So this is not just changing the formula to add or remove or change, um, groups of students, right? I think we, you know, when we consider that Foundation aid is really built on, you know, a successful school's model, um, I think we have to reconsider what does a successful school mean in 2024? And what, and how is that different than 20, like, like 2000 and 2007 when we got here, right? Um, you know, one of the things that I hear now is when we talk about education in New York City public schools, we are no longer talking about education in the context K to 12, we're actually talking about education in the context of three K and pre-K to 12, right? And we are also talking about education in the context of students that don't speak English as a native language, right? And students with disabilities, and students with special education and IEPs and students in poverty, students in temporary housing. And the list goes on and on, right? So I think we need to redefine what a successful school means in terms of how it supports all of those students, right? And, you know, I agree and support the chancellor's, um, proposal here to add a weight in the Foundation Aid formula, um, for students in temporary housing. But I think that we need to do more if we are having a conversation around a formula that hasn't changed in like almost 20 years, right? Then we should be asking for everything we need and not trying to piecemeal it together. Like we gonna have another conversation tomorrow, right? So we're gonna be talking about this now, right? And then chances are right, it's gonna be etched in stone somewhere for a while. And then like an opportunity to address the real needs of our students, we'll pass us by. So I think that we need to redefine what our expectations are in a school. We need to include three K to 12. We need to include poverty and students in temporary housing and special education and multilanguage learners, et cetera, right? And, um, I will, I'll go back and forth to Albany with you, right? Um, to make sure that the state gives us every don that we need in order to support all of our students. And, um, the last thing I do want to touch on, uh, is transportation. Um, so, you know, I, my son has the privilege of, uh, attending the Urban Assembly New York Harbor School, um, this fall. And their indoc is this week, right? So, um, I live in th frog's neck houses in, in the Bronx. And you know, behind where we live is the New York City ferry, and you get on the sound view line and you take it end to end to Wall Street, and you get off at Wall Street and you walk another block and you get on the Governor's Island ferry. It's kind of dope. He get to go to school by ferry when everybody else get to go by boat and train. So I'm, I'm ecstatic about that. His mama not so much. But anyway, I digress. Um, the issue here is the fact that for high school students, the New York City ferry is not free. And, um, you know, I remember times when I went to Harbor to visit, um, that students were actually out like surveying the public about whether or not the ferry service should be free for students, right? And the, there was an article in, um, Gothamist where the cost of the ferry is gonna be going up from $4 to $4 50 cents per trip. And that the cost of Fair Fares, which is the program to accommodate our students, um, that fair is gonna be going up from a dollar 35 to a dollar 45. And, um, you know, I would just respectfully submit that when a significant population of our students live in poverty, right? That, you know, $15 a week, you know, adds up to $60 a month just for their kids to go back and forth to school on a ferry. And, um, we need to take a look at that. And I would just also respectfully submit that, you know, that experience of riding the ferry, um, is a great experience. It's calming in the morning. Um, I've done it with my son a few times, and I would invite or ask that the system really look at how we can make access to all public transportation in this city free for all of our students. Now, if we have to start with high school, fine, right? But, you know, at some point, you know, our children should not have to pay to go to school, whether they go to school by subway, whether they go by, go to school, by bus, or whether they go to school by waterway, right? And, um, you know, and I'm not just, and I'm not saying this to advocate for students at Harbor, right? Because there are, you know, I got off the Fert Wall Street and I noticed that there were people all over the place coming from everywhere. And it is an incredible opportunity, um, for our students to have another way to get back and forth to school. And I do think that, um, we should look at how to make that free for our, our young people. And lastly, but, but remember, I remember it's two minutes. I know. And last that's, I I was very flexible. Yeah. Yeah. I promise last, we're reaching a point now. So would you please wrap, wrap up? Yes, sir. Wrap. And lastly, um, that whole fair, fair process, um, I just wanna make sure that that process opens up for parents to apply starting, I believe, August 1st. And I just wanna make sure that parents that are, you know, going through that process, that it's completed by the first day of school, so that they're not paying full price for their students to be able to commute back and forth to school while that's all being processed. Great. Thank you Chair. Uh, Faulkner and I yield back. Sure. Any other comments? Uh, Pam, while you're getting the mic, I will add that our next meeting is in, is in Staten Island, so we can follow up and we'll all get a chance to take to Staten Island Ferry. So, uh, at the Patruda School, which will be held on August 22nd to 2024, so I'm getting some stuff in while you set up and, uh, we'd all enjoy, uh, taking the Staten Island Ferry. Um, are you ready? Thank you. I'm ready. Thank you, chair. I'm excited about the ferry and I'm gonna change the subject. Um, I would like to take this opportunity on behalf of the Comptroller Comptroller Lander to talk about a topic not mentioned enough in this space. And that is integration in our schools, the 70th anniversary of Brown versus Board of Education past this spring. And it brought little discussion at the pep of the still unacceptable state of integration in New York City public Schools. As the chancellor recently noted in his introductory letter to the D 15 Diversity Plan, evaluation and Reflection. His core beliefs include, quote, that all students deserve high quality learning environments close to home, diverse, high quality learning environments close to home, and that we need to constantly reflect on our progress to ensure continuous improvement. End quote. In closing, he also notes that our diversity is one of our greatest strengths, and I'm glad to see it uplifted and prioritized in District 15 end quote. But we would ask, shouldn't it be uplifted and prioritized in all of our districts and in all of our schools recent headlines about the ongoing underrepresentation of black students at specialized high schools, or the enormous systematic barriers that students with disabilities face in accessing those same schools may as many note only represent a small proportion of schools and students. But these statistics are a leading indicator of what happens at many schools when integration and inclusion are not prioritized. Public schools should provide inclusion and access. They should never be spaces that erect barriers perceived or real to students. But that is what many schools do. Eliminating exclusion and segregation should be front and center for all districts, for all schools, and for all decisions that DOE makes, whether it is enrollment policy or CC election community engagement, or the school utilization decisions that are voted on by this body. In our recent joint report with New York Appleseed Intentional Inclusive School Mergers, and I have a few copies for anyone interested with me, we discussed this in the context of reducing class sizes as DOE seeks to satisfy that very important law, how they can also use school utilization to foster greater integration and inclusion. As DOE considers all of these types of decisions. And as this panel votes on school utilization or chancellor's regulation amendments, shouldn't the first metric be, does this create greater integration? Does it create inclusion? Does it create accessibility? Thank you. Thank you. Are any of the comments you have, panel majority, Um, member Laura, I, uh, I'm really pleased to hear you bring this issue up. Um, as you all know on, uh, this panel also sits on the Board of Education Retirement System, and a couple of us are representatives on t-shirt retirement system. And there we have a constant battle with the Bureau of Asset Management that sits on the controller's office in terms of having, uh, in terms of disparity in our asset managers and the fact that 65% of our employees are, are pe identify as people of color. Yet, ma the money is only managed by about 7%, 6% if you're looking people of color further on this board, I just recently was brought to my attention that an initiative in terms of getting MWB vendors brought with, uh, with, with limited, um, um, uh, uh, bidding, uh, has been blocked by the controller's office. So maybe we can actually have a discussion of that then. I think that's in the, um, under, uh, under, uh, uh, ka ian, uh, purview to have an update on where we are within the terms of MWB vendors being included, um, and the controllers preventing that from happening, uh, through the initiative. Are any other comments regarding this? I do. Yes. Yes. This is gonna be brief since it brought up I'm, I, I'm big on diversity and in, in equity in, in education and, and then, and everything. I just wanted to remind in line what, um, Laura was saying, we hold the crown or the belt. We are the most segregated education system in the country, and we're the most diverse. So that's, that says a lot. Any other comments? You know, and I have to echo, I, I can't contain myself, I echo what panel member Gano saying, we have been working for over a year to try to bring diversity in the investment community with regard to, um, how the city, the city is a pension between the five municipal pension systems of $250 billion. Less than 1% goes to any persons of color or minority vendors. And that is unfortunately at times blocked by the Bureau of Asset Management. When we present firms that are qualified and that can be included as part of the financial life of the city, it is blocked. And I am somebody who's always reluctant to merge these two, but I can't contain myself. I think that if we're talking about fairness and diversity, we have to really be complete and not just say, yeah, the DOE we got work to do, but there's also work to do. And I, and hopefully you'll bring this back to the controller, there's work to do in that space also to be, to bring equity to investment. If we were able, we could change communities lives financially, if we would certainly create more opportunities for black and Latino folks to be involved in the financial life of this city, uh, panel member. Yeah, no, I just wanna comment on that one. Um, Laura, um, I think it's a bit rich for the controller to make that statement of inclusion and diversity when New York City is so diverse, they have a program that only 2% is allocated to firms run by people of color, and that's not even met that 2% annually. So I think it's just, it's ridiculous that land would even make a comment like that, my opinion. Yeah, I hear you. I'm happy to bring back all that feedback. As you all know, I have nothing to do with burrs. I am a policy analyst, so I'm, I'm happy to bring that back. I know You're just Don't think it's hypocritical whatsoever for the comptroller to fight for integration on our schools and separate those two things. Um, I don't have any feeling of hypo hypocrisy from bringing up that issue, which I think is important. And historically, it's been a long, long time that DOE schools have been segregated as panel member Vin mentioned. And, uh, there's absolutely no reason that I should not bring that up. I I don't like your necessity, but you know, there, there's something about when you criticize someone else's house when your house is not clean. And so it, it becomes very confusing to us to say, DOE should be doing steps in this area when it doesn't seem that it's being replicated in the other end. And, uh, and that's a conversation that we can have. We have a meeting tomorrow at, uh, with uh, uh vs. But it's really important, and again, I reluctant to merge these two, but I think we really need to talk about the lack of engagement and lack of diversity that takes place in the area of like, finances in this city. And the MWB issue is a DOE issue. Yeah. That, uh, exactly that that approved. Exactly. That's, That's a DOE issue, specifically panel member Muco. So thank you. July 26th. Happy birthday. July 26th, happy birthday to the A DA, right? The Americans with Disabilities Act. Oh, yes, yes. So I, I just wanna highlight that 'cause we're one short day, one and a half days away from that. Um, and in the interest, right? And I, I love Deputy Chance, but we're going there, right? So, um, hearing a, a large number of IEP students with no placement, particularly those that are in the kindergarten, but we've changed turning five, we're gonna call it turning five for the purposes of this comment, but it's kindergarten something process. Um, just wanna highlight that we still have a large number of students that don't have seats and that this is a recurring issue every year. So what can we change this year to not be having the same conversation next year? Um, integrity of specialized programs and, and ESY programs, right? So the, um, extended school year programs, we have students that are, that have, for example, ICT, so they're supposed to be in not a self-contained class, but in summer program end up in self-contained classes, which is technically a change in placement. So, and then we have summer rising classes, which are averaging at 30 plus students. And then we have five Nest students in a class with four teachers. So how can we maintain the integrity of the placement they have on their IEP and also reduce the class sizes that we're seeing in the summarizing programs. Um, also the, the hot buses, the hot school spaces, um, that's always a concern. And this particular panel and staff becomes jaded when we hear about it because we always hear about it, but it's still a really big problem. And the issue I wanna talk about is safety and training that the individuals working, summarizing, whether it be from the school or the CBO requires specific training, um, around first aid. Part of first aid training is recognizing the signs of heat exhaustion and knowing when not to participate in particular activities that can exacerbate these conditions. The people in the CBOs and even the teachers at times are unaware of students' medical histories, 5 0 4 plans, because again, these are summer programs, these are not their regular teachers. They may not be in the same building, but we are engaging in activities that exacerbate these conditions and are creating safety concerns. And we're not addressing them. And I don't know if it's because it's summer because the contracts, but we need to be more mindful that if we talk so much about safety, like basic things like first aid need to be a universal thing among staff, um, and Member, could you bring that forward as a possible briefing Yeah. Topic, because I think that's, um, you're raising something very important And I appreciate that. And you know, as, as a lifeguard, I I, I, I've, we've had to do CPR on a, on a, a child in summer camp from eating outside, just being outside too long. There wasn't even physical activity and the student passed out and needed CPR. So it, it's a big deal because when you have 35 kids, how do you one teacher then provide the support, activate the, the building response team or the general response protocol? So there, and, and then the, we just talked about the crisis team in the regulation and, um, that the leader has to be somebody that's full-time. That doesn't mean that the other people in these spaces are full-time staff. So there may be social workers that are like somewhere else twice out of the week. So we need to make sure that that training is universal and that everybody has an idea at least of what to do or who to go to. That is always in the building for sure. Exactly. And then the same thing with the buses, right? So if you look outside on a hot day and you see the bus windows open, that means that that bus has no ac. So just, just for yourselves, look around the next couple of weeks and just see how many buses you see like that. Um, and I would like for us forward thinking that we have bus contracts next year, what can we implement in these contracts to prevent these companies from utilizing buses that don't have ac particularly in the summer when we don't have our full, um, roster of students. So theoretically there should be buses still left over. So why use a larger bus if you have two smaller buses in the name of student safety and maybe 'cause contractually they don't have, do You know the number of buses that don't in the system? The fleet that don't Have OPT should be able to find that information because they, they know each vendor and each vendor has X amount of okay, um, routes that they can take for this type of bus, this type of bus. They know which buses don't have it, and I would love to see that information and I'll give them till September. So no. Can we do a follow up where we can find out exactly how many buses in our system or what percent are without air conditioning unless somebody has that information? Yeah, I obviously, yes. So we can get that. I'm just curious as to what that number is. Okay. Any other panel members wish to? Yes, panel member. Um, I know New York City we're saying that, um, it's the highest segregated school system. Um, I just wanna make sure when we say this that we don't, you know, um, make it a problem with like children and students who find merit, um, excellence, um, the item to, you know, um, blame them for achieving like, uh, high grades, like for example, for S-H-S-A-T schools, um, I know like a lot of high achieving, um, students are in those schools are not black or Hispanic. Um, can we like, invest in high quality tutoring, um, programs to help more students be able to pass these tests, um, so that we can, um, increase the diversity in these schools, but not remove these kind of, um, programs for our New York City students because this is a valuable, um, these are valuable schools that make New York City good education. Really good. Thank you. Any other? Yeah, I'm gonna clarify. Yeah, I didn't say New York City. New York State is ranked the most segregated in the country, not New York City. We contribute to that number, but let's make it a little clear. As the state by state, we are number one as being the most segregated. And then it's not about just tests, it's more about, it's not about tests in schools. We're segregated in not diverse in a lot of things. Right. Um, it's not just about tests. So, but anyway, I don't wanna get into this, but, okay. But it's New York State, not New York City. Okay. Do I see your hand? No, just a few comments. I think, um, it's important to, you know, to be able to hold space to say what you have to say without it being a consequence to something else. Like to hold space to say it's segregated and it has nothing to do with the fact that that too is also a issue, but it's its own issue and it's, it's not a either or, you know? Um, and just to own the fact that this is a problem and that may be a problem, but it's not at the absence of one, if I'm, if I have a problem here, it doesn't mean that you don't exist. And I think we, we just need to just own the space that we take up. Um, when, when, when we raise issues, it's not at the consequence of something else most of the time. And, uh, the other thing I wanted to say was, you know, I look forward in the near future where we get the opportunity to really connect the, um, the issues that, that, that Laura, um, brought up and, and the investment stuff to understand that it is not separated. And I, and I as an educator would love parents and employees of the DOE to really understand what their retirement dollars are doing, to have more education going towards the parents and employees to understand when they're getting, when their money is coming out every month, where is their money going. And to be able just, you know, my, you know, looking forward, uh, to better conversation, to be able to possibly, you know, decide where they want their money invested, you know? Um, and we haven't really had those conversations. So one is not separate from the other. I I think we're moving slowly into that area. You think so? I, I do. I think we are. Um, the door was opened. That makes sense. And I think that we're, um, beginning to have those conversations in a serious way, and I think they're gonna, we're gonna continue, it's gonna be about accountability and making sure that, you know, accountability and equity and fairness are gonna be topics that we're gonna be digging into how we relate to, um, when we propose women and minority owned businesses for contracts and then they get delayed, um, and they're not moving forward. Those will be come things that I think you're right, we need to take a little piece of the ownership in looking into those things. Thank you. So are there any other panel members who, okay, um, as I said, our next meeting is gonna be August 22nd, and because of Tom's comp, we're all gonna meet and we're gonna take the Staten Island ferry. Yeah, I'd say that you alluded, you alluded to it, how re how restful it is and how great it is, but in, in all seriousness, Tom, I'll pay for your, yeah. In all seriousness, the next meeting is gonna be Thursday, August 22nd, and, um, we'll be hosted by panel members. Bogart and Panama sang, we, they're gonna be our host. So we look forward to planning great activities, uh, that you'll put together for us. So we'll, but we'll see everybody, uh, then in, um, Staten Island. Um, if there's no other fur, if there's no further business, this meeting is adjourned. And thank you all very much. Thank you. And I will make note that the time is 8 28. Yeah.